Bamboo Spirit Blog Entries

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A Collection of Blog Entries from the Bamboo Spirit Blog(www.bamboospiritma.blogspot.com)

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There are no superior styles, just superior fighters. (Posted on 9/7/07)

Many in the martial arts community have paraphrased the above quote over the years. At the

outset, I would have to say that the quote is largely on target. However, a closer examination of

this quote reveals a more nuanced understanding of just what that quote is talking about.

Let's take this quote at face value. If you assume that all styles of martial arts are all equally well

designed, then the phrase "there are no superior styles" may very well be true. What if some

martial arts styles are better designed than others? To phrase this another way, what if some

styles are just badly designed or have poorly constructed curricula? If that is the case, then the

assumption that "there are no superior styles" is incorrect.

I can speak from experience that (setting aside the quality of instruction...which will be

addressed later), some martial arts styles are just poorly designed. For example, I know of one

that requires you to learn 30 discrete self defense techniques per belt level. The curriculum was

designed in a way that you had to know approximately 300 different self defense techniques by

the time you tested for shodan. Very few of these techniques connected with others. How is the

average student expected to call up the right technique at the right time in a self defense

situation? I don't think that's realistic. This is an example of a poorly designed martial art style.

On the other hand, a well designed martial art style is one where the techniques and the conceptsare broken down into easily digestible components and where the material is easy for students to

remember. Easily remembered techniques tend to become instinctual responses and therefore

gives the person a greater chance of success in a self defense situation.

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So, I would argue that the idea that there are no superior styles is just bunk. Naturally, it comes

down to who designed the system and wrote the curriculum for that particular martial art style.

That brings up the topic of the quality of teaching.

For the purposes of this post, I will separate out the designer of the curriculum versus those who

teach the curriculum.

As noted above, I believe that some styles are inferior to others largely because the curriculum

for that style was poorly designed. So, even if you had a superior instructor, you are still stuck

with a systemic problem; i.e. the poorly designed curriculum. To be sure, the superior instructor

can sort out and break down the curriculum and alleviate the systemic problem. The optimal

situation is when you have a superior instructor coupled with a well designed martial art

curriculum.

In any case, let's set aside the issue of the poorly designed curriculum or inferior martial art style.

What do we look for then? We look for quality of instruction. Note that the above quote does notexplicitly say anything about instruction....only about styles and fighters. I think that it is

overlooking the role of good instruction. What if you have a person with average ability coupled

with superior instruction? What if you have a person with exceptional physical abilities paired up

with a poor instructor? We can speculate about who would prevail in such a confrontation. One

thing for sure.....the person with exceptional physical abilities would fare much better under

superior instruction. I think that we can all agree on that.

So that means the "superior fighter" part of the quote may not be entirely true.

So what are we talking about here? I think that the real key to becoming a good martial artist ishaving a good instructor, regardless of style (for the most part). Naturally the optimal situation is

when you pair up a well designed martial art style/curriculum with an excellent instructor. But

that does not always happen. You may end up with a good instructor in a bad systemic situation.

Or you can end up with a poor instructor in a well designed system.

My personal preference is that I would look to see how good the instructor is. What makes a

good instructor? My opinion is the following:

(1) The instructor has a deep understanding of what he/she is teaching. Beware of instructors

who have only a surface understanding of what is being taught.

(2) The instructor emphasizes the basics/fundamentals of the art. Beware of instructors who

teach immediate/advanced materials to beginners.

(3) The instructor breaks down the concepts/techniques of the art into simple easily digestible

components. Martial arts is a lot like food. If you feed them small bites, they will be able to

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retain the material much more readily than if you were to stuff their mouths with food, leading to

indigestion!

(4) The instructor emphasizes constant repetition of what is being taught. This would encourage

a feeling of competency among the students. This would also serve as building blocks for the

next level.

(5) When correcting a student's technique, the instructor should focus only one thing at a time. If

the instructor stops a student and gives them 5 corrections to work on, that will be counter

productive as the student will become confused trying to correct 5 things at once.

(6) The instructor should focus on two or three themes/concepts/techniques per class. Make it as

easy as you can for the students to be able to walk out of the dojo and remember what they

worked on in class. I have seen instructors engage in a blitzkrieg style of instruction such that the

student would remember very little the next day.

(7) Lastly, there must be a progression from one class to the next. Very often, I would repeat the

same material or some variation thereof in the next class so that the students can remember the

techniques and gain a feeling of competency. Unfortunately, I have seen instructors teach entirely

different things from one class to the next. This leads to confusion and a weakening of their

martial arts foundation.

In closing, I believe that the first part of the quote "there are no superior styles" is just plain old

bunk. The fact that there are superior fighters rests on a shaky foundation. It may be true if that

fighter has superior instruction. Conversely, it may not be true in the case of where the fighter is

paired up with a poor instructor.

I have had many conversations with many martial artists regarding the issue of instruction and I

keep hearing the same assessment over and over.....most instructors do not know how to teach.

Many assume that because they are good at martial arts means that they are good teachers.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Teaching is an entirely different skill set and takes years

to learn. I have seen 8th degree black belts who could not teach their way out of a wet bag. I

have seen 2nd degree black belts who are incredible instructors. One would be better off with

that incredible 2nd degree black belt instructor. Unfortunately, there is the unspoken assumption

among many that the higher rank the person is, the better teacher he/she is. Not true.

Modern Arnis-What it is and it isnt (Posted on 10/19/07)

First and foremost, Modern Arnis is a self defense system designed by its founder and

Grandmaster, Remy A. Presas. While Modern Arnis and many Filipino martial arts (referred to as

FMAs) have origins in bladed weapons usage, Professor Presas preferred not to teach the bladed

aspect of the art. Over the years, it evolved into a stick and empty hand oriented art, with much

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emphasis on the concept of "the flow" and "counter for counter." Modern Arnis is not a

competition oriented art, whether it be padded stick sparring, Dog Brothers type of sparring or

other similar types of sparring. As Professor said many times "Use Modern Arnis only for good."

Much of the evolution of the art by Professor was due to his encounters with violence in the

Phillipines and his decision to teach self defense. Modern Arnis is not about knife fighting. If you

want to learn in depth fighting skills, there are plenty of knife fighting instructors out there tolearn from.

One may ask "if Modern Arnis is a self defense system, why do we train with sticks?" Very good

question. Sticks should be thought of as a conceptual and training tool designed to develop eye-

hand coordination and hand speed. Training with sticks also enhances perceptual speed in terms

of recognizing where an attack is coming from. Once you reach a comfort level training with

sticks, empty hand self defense will be that much easier. In addition, stick movements are easily

translated into empty hand movements.

Along with training with sticks, drills are prevalent in Modern Arnis and is designed to build

muscle memory and perceptual speed. As Master Chuck Gauss of Detroit, Michigan has said so

many times, these drills are used to build skills. They are not combat....they are designed to build

skill and make your movements second nature and instinctual. Many of these drills focus on

gross motor movement as those are less affected by stress than fine motor control.

Modern Arnis is NOT about the current MMA fad. I love watching UFC on Spike TV and admire

the athletes who participate in that kind of competition. However, the legality of the techniques

employed in those competitions for self defense situations is quite questionable.

Lastly, the underlying concept of Modern Arnis has been alluded to above; i.e., counter for

counter and going with the flow. Modern Arnis is designed to teach you how to flow with

opponent's attacks using the least amount of energy and using his strengths and weaknesses

against him.

Cross Training (Posted on 11/8/07)

A simplified early history of martial arts in the US and in Canada (1940s, 1950s and 1960s) is

that one could only train in one martial art style or otherwise be seen as deviating from the truth

or be seen as betraying your sensei/guro/sifu/teacher. Along came Bruce Lee who advocated

cross training in order to shore your weaknesses and strengthen your overall martial repertoire.

His views were not well received by many in the traditional martial arts community then. Brucewas probably influenced by two things: (1) the atmosphere of the 1960s where conventional

wisdom was more or less thrown out the window; and (2) the cultural freedom in the US to

explore and investigate different martial concepts, as opposed to the traditional society of Hong

Kong. He was probably greatly influenced by the American idea of seeing what works.

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The idea of cross training has constantly been on my mind for many years. One has to be careful

when cross training. One would have to keep in mind the cliche "jack of all trades and master of

none." I think that to make cross training work, one would have to do so in an intelligent manner.

One cannot just study several martial art systems, cherry pick a technique here and there and

give it a new name. I think that you must have an overall strategic idea of what you want to do.

First, I think that it is imperative that a student have a base art. I would go so far as to say that thestudent should have at least a black belt, or a substantial experiential equivalent, in the base art

before embarking on a cross training journey. That presumes that the student and the base art fit

each other well. For example, a tall lean flexible person might be better off studying TKD and

achieving black belt before cross training.

Setting that issue aside, once a student has sufficient experience in the base art, he or she must

decide how to approach cross training. It is my belief that every martial art system has a

weakness. Don't buy any of that "ultimate" system crap. There isn't one. To use the above

example, the TKD person might decide to pursue different avenues depending on his or her

preferences and needs. The TKD could pursue a system that emphasizes ground fighting, or one

that emphasizes joint locks (aikido or small circle ju jitsu, for example) or one that emphasizes inclose fighting (such as wing chun or JKD) or a weapons based system (such as iaido, kendo, or

Filipino martial arts) There are many choices.

Here is the tricky part. I really do believe that once a student starts cross training, one should

stick with the system he has chosen (after an investigative phase to determine the next course of

study, of course) and take the time to integrate it into the base art. In my case, I started out with

Cooper Ryu Vee Jitsu and have concentrated on Modern Arnis for the last decade. These two

blend very well. There are other aspects of the martial arts that I would love to study....such as

groundwork and pressure points. However, I am not in a rush.

The best martial artists that I have seen out there are those who have cross trained. Why?

Because they are more well rounded and are better prepared for any contingencies. Just look at

the MMA scene. The best fighters are those who are equally adept at kicking, punching, kneeing

and the ground game. If you are weak in any one of those areas, your weakness will be brutally

exploited.

I could write more on this topic but I will stop for now. To summarize, cross training, done

properly and intelligently, can be extremely beneficial, not to mention expanding your martial

horizons. Yet, at the same time, you do not want to become a jack of all trades and master of

none.

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The Impact of MMA on the Martial Arts Industry (Posted on 5/15/2008)

This was briefly discussed on the Animal List as well. The consensus seems to be that while

MMA will remain popular as a form of entertainment/spectacle, its presence in martial arts

schools may be somewhat limited. I have to agree with this consensus for the reason that the

appeal of MMA is limited to a certain demographic group and that is the 18 to 35 year old males.

I dont see the desk jockeys, professionals, soccer moms, or children joining schools that teach

primarily MMAs. Again, MMA will primarily draw in the aforementioned demographic.

This entry is limited to discussing the impact of MMA on the martial arts industry, not about

what they teach or some of the problems inherent in what they teach.

However, the presence of MMA shows on TV may help create more informed consumers. When

one hears announcers talking about a well rounded game in terms of punching, kicking and the

ground game, the fan/consumer is going to say to himself/herself, anybody getting into the ring

better have all three elements lined up or hell lose. Pretty soon, the fan/consumer will start

hearing terms like reality based martial arts and start assuming that these are more effective

than what is being taught in many martial arts schools such as the McDojos.

Lets think about the potential impact of MMAs on the martial arts business based programs.

Lets face it, there is a lot of bullshit being taught in a lot of martial arts schools. Sorry for the

strong language folks but its reality. Like a lot of martial artists who have figured it out, I have

seen my share of this bs. And its bs on several levels.

First, a lot of what is being taught will not work in real self defense situations. Many of them

assume a compliant opponent in order for a technique to work. Sorry folks, but life aint like that

out there. The impact of MMA and other reality based systems such as Krav Maga, Muay

Thai, Brazilian jiu jitsu, Filipino Martial Arts etc have opened a lot of peoples eyes and have

caused much rethinking of how martial arts/self defense is taught. Many of these martial arts

assume that they are working with non compliant partners/opponents.

So when someone, familiar with MMA but not wanting to practice it, walks into a martial arts

school, he or she may want practical self defense skills, not the kind of stuff that is taught in

many McDojos. I have seen TKD students who couldnt defend themselves against a wrist grab

or a knife attack. I have seen schools teach students to use a high/rising block against stick

attacks. Ugh. That may have seem realistic back in the 1950s and 1960s but the bullshit meterof the average Joe and Jane Sixpack will go way off the chart. Oh yes, take a look at a typical

karate book from the 1950s and 1960s and see their depictions of effective self defense

scenarios. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that the effectiveness of these techniques

are extremely questionable.

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According to some on the Animal list and, also in my opinion, the impact of MMA on the martial

arts industry is to force many schools to address realistic self defense situations or start losing

business. An example might be the traditional karate school that does not know the bunkai

(applications) of traditional Okinawan/Japanese kata, thereby reducing kata to a meaningless

dance. Ive seen a fair share of those types of schools. Unless this kind of school starts

addressing this deficiency, the savvy consumer may move onto something else that will addresstheir needs.

While there may be more savvy and aware consumers in todays environment, there will be

probably be a large number of those who will unfortunately be hookwinked by some of the

schools out there. I would think that its up to the responsible martial arts instructor to ensure that

effective self defense is taught and not go the way of the McDojos. Whether he wants to or not,

the martial arts instructor may have to respond to the presence, popularity, and impact of reality

based self defense systems such as MMA, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, BJJ, JKD and Filipino

Martial Arts by instituting some element of the above in his school.

Rank and Related Topics (Posted on 8/14/2008)

In this post, Im going to address two assumptions that are common in the world of martial arts:

(1) That a black belt rank or a high rank equates to a high level of skill.

(2) That having studied martial arts for x years means that the practitioner is highly skilled.

Both of these assumptions/statements can be rather dubious.

Lets start with the issue of rank. It is my opinion that rank has been abused and corrupted to the

point where it has become meaningless. Simply put, too many people are chasing after rank

rather than focusing on the acquisition and perfection of martial skill. It is generally accepted that

the modern origins of rank in the martial arts can be attributed to Jigoro Kano, the founder of

Judo. Kano was apparently influenced by the western educational system of promoting students

from grade to grade (as Japan was going through rapid Westernization during Kanos lifetime).

Besides systematizing various styles of Japanese jiu jitsu into Judo, he also instituted rank in

Judo as a way of delineating which students had learned the various aspects of Judo. Kanos idea

had enormous influence on other martial arts styles as other martial arts adopted Kanos method.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, rank has been corrupted in various ways in the last quarter century.

First, it appears that many practitioners have now focused on rank rather than focusing on skill.

The commercialization of martial arts does not help. it is common to see various martial arts

schools to guarantee a black belt in a set period of time, usually for a hefty fee. Secondly, there

is the problem of martial arts instructors who have fallen into the trap of surrounding himself/

herself with as many black belts as possible and inflating the instructors ego in the process. Oh,

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look at me....Ive trained X number of people to black belt. Im an awesome instructor blah blah

blah.

With respect to instructors, the problem is the focus on rank rather than the quality of the

students. In my opinion, the best martial arts instructors/grandmasters etc are those who have

developed great martial artists among their students, regardless of rank. They are more concernedwith helping their students acquire and develop great martial skill. Many of these folks are

usually quite honorable when it comes to the issue of rank. Not so for others. I know of one

prominent martial artist who has stooped to giving out 4th or 5th degree black belt certificates

after meeting them only two or three times. It appears that this person does not want to put in the

time to develop great students and is resorting to the instant gratification of surrounding himself

with high ranking students.

Then there are those who believe that either being a black belt or having high rank equates to a

high level of skill. Not so. Ill give an example. I remember attending one of Professor Presass

seminars at a kung fu school (not in Ohio) where there was a large number of black belts underthe head instructor. At first glance, the sight of the large number of black belts was quite

impressive. You would think that these black belts would at least know how to walk and chew

gum at the same time, eh ? Not in this case. Im not talking about unfamiliarity with the art of

Modern Arnis. I am talking about folks with atrociously bad eye/hand coordination or

athleticism. If it sounds harsh, so be it. It became evident as the seminar moved along, that these

black belt students did not have the basic functional personal protection skills.

I think that, for many, chasing rank has caused an erosion in the desire to refine their martial art/

self defense skills. This is unfortunate.

Then there are those who believe that, because they have spent an X number of years in the

martial arts, equates to a high level of proficiency. Some go so far as to believe that they dont

need to train anymore.

An example of this mentality that I encountered is when I attended a seminar at Dan

McConnells school in Columbus a few years ago. It was being taught by Dan and Ken Smith in

place of Professor Presas, who was ill at this time. Dan was contacted by a martial artist who

expressed a desire to attend the seminar and e-mailed his martial arts resume. The resume was

quite impressive and documented a nearly 50 year history of involvement in the martial arts.

According to this resume, this fella had studied various arts such as Judo, karate, boxing etc

since the 1950s. He came to the seminar. Unfortunately, he struggled with the basic moves ofModern Arnis. Let me tell ya, this guy could not walk and chew gum at the same time. He lacked

basic eye hand coordination. Harsh? Maybe. But its the truth.

The point is that rank or X years in the martial arts really does not mean squat. Acquisition of

skill is the real key/goal in the martial arts and it is from this that a martial artist should derive

satisfaction, rather than some external motivator.

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To be sure, in most cases, the more years that a person has spent in the martial arts, the more

likely that he or she will have some level of expertise. But its not always the case.

In any case, rank has its place but I believe that, by and large, it has been abused in various ways

in todays world, both by instructors and students alike. Instructors have fallen into the trap of

placing more importance on rank promotion rather than skill. Ditto for students who have

become rank chasers. I often wonder what about the satisfaction that comes from working

hard to improve your skills or going through a difficult test? I have no doubt that many martial

artists do derive intrinsic satisfaction from their hard work. Unfortunately, there are those who

want it quick and easy. And there are those who delude themselves into thinking that they do not

need to train or put in very minimal training because they have put in an x number of years.

In the next post, I will address the issue of globalization of martial arts which will relate to the

issues raised in this entry.

Globalization of Martial Arts (Posted on 8/18/2008)

In the previous post, I addressed the issue of rank and how, in my view, it has corrupted a

number of students and instructors alike. I further addressed the fact that one has spent an X

number of years in the martial arts is not necessarily an indicator of martial expertise or skill.

Here, I will point out how meaningless pursuit of rank can be when viewed in the context of the

increasing globalization of martial arts.

In recent years, the term globalization has become the catch all term for increasing competition

between corporations and between nations. Several years ago, Thomas Friedman, a columnist for

the New York Times, wrote a terrific book called The World is Flat in which he analyzed the

effects of globalization of commerce in todays world and how that is driving increasing

innovation and competition.

I would argue that globalization has had a profound effect on the martial arts in todays world

and because of that, the notion of rank needs to be reexamined in this context. As stated in the

previous post, more importance needs to be placed on skill rather than rank.

If one were to travel back in time to the 1950s and look for martial arts schools, one would

probably find only (as far as mainland US is concerned) judo, boxing, and perhaps karate for the

most part. American GIs were just starting to bring karate back from Okinawa. Tae Kwon Do

had not yet become the force it is today (would not essentially until the 1970s). Chinese martial

arts were, for the most part, taught only to the Chinese. Likewise, Filipino martial arts were not

well known and not well spread. Furthermore, FMAs were taught to Filipinos. Brazilian jiu jitsu

was not in the US in this time period. Ditto for MMA. Add in Krav Maga, Indonesian pencak

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silat and many other martial arts. They simply were not available in the 1950s. Consequently,

methods of self defense, as practiced in the 1950s, were not highly evolved. As an example, I

recall seeing an English language Japanese karate book published sometime in the late 1950s. A

section of that book focused on applying karate to self defense situations. Suffice it to say that

the self defense techniques portrayed were incredibly unrealistic.

Fast forward to today. There is an incredible cornucopia of martial arts to choose from and study.

I have noticed that the trend is to teach more realistic skills for personal protection than those

presented in the past. Students are looking for and demanding more realistic self defense skill

sets. Another factor not present in the 1950s is the incredible proliferation of martial arts videos

and books. There is an unbelievable amount of information available to anyone who has the time

and discipline to learn. Then there is the availability of untold number of videos on YouTube.

One can type in virtually any martial arts related term and find some relevant videoclips. An

additional factor to consider is the popularity of MMA/UFC events, particularly on TV.

What it comes down to is that the globalization of martial arts has resulted in a vast amount ofinformation available to the public through the many different kinds of martial arts, videos,

books, YouTube, and other media. It is natural, then, for those who study martial arts to consider

how to deal with techniques of different martial arts styles. An obvious example is what do I do

if Im taken down to the ground or what do I do against a Muay Thai kick?

The real question is what do I do if I run into a bad guy who is emulating his favorite UFC

fighter or has some knowledge of knife fighting skill? Like it or not, that vast amount of

information is going to find its way to the bad guys. Some of the muscle guys on the 9/11 plot

had trained in martial arts in the months leading up to the attacks on that fateful day. Ditto for

some of the street tough bad guys.

While rank may be an indicator of skill, it is not the end all be all when viewed in the context of

globalization of martial arts and the vast amount of information available. The determining factor

whether one is successful in a self defense situation (aside from conflict avoidance), is not rank

but skill. I have seen black belts who do not possess the bare minimum functional skills to

protect themselves. I also have seen martial artists with rank below black belt (mudansha in

Japanese) who are extremely well equipped to defend themselves. Ditto for those who have an x

number of years in the martial arts and have achieved a certain rank. It may not mean squat, as in

the case of the fella who claimed to have trained in the martial arts for 50 years.

The other factor to consider is the evolution of the martial arts since the 1970s. More specifically,Im speaking to the evolution of martial arts styles. Take, for example, Tae Kwon Do. In the

1970s, this art was reasonably characterized by who could throw the most kicks in the shortest

amount of time. In other words, the fastest and the mostest to use a mangled cliche. However,

TKD has evolved to include intricate footwork, feints, baits, and lots of conditioning. Suffice it

to say that TKD has come a long way since the 1970s. Another example is Karate. To put it real

simplistically, most schools taught a variation sport karate, with tournament sparring and

perfection of kata. Nowadays, it is common to see Karate folks examining and exploring the kata

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applications in terms of grappling moves and pressure points. Kata applications are absolutely

devastating for self defense purposes.

The next factor to consider is the fact that it is quite common for martial artists to cross train in

different arts. A tae kwon doist may be a black belt in that art but what if he supplements his skill

by learning Brazilian jiu jitsu ? Lets suppose that he gets blue belt in BJJ. What is his overallrank? As you can see, its meaningless. What we have here is a person who has an impressive

skill set, being able to draw upon the classic TKD kicking skills as well as the ground game of

BJJ. What really matters is the skill set rather than some artificial benchmark such as rank.

So given the above, it is my opinion that rank is useful only insofar as determining ones place

within a style, school or organization. However, the quality between schools and organizations

can vary wildly. So, rank does not necessarily equate to martial skill.

Its okay to be proud of your rank but I would caution one to not to get too caught up in rank or

become a rank chaser. Continue to focus on the skill sets needed to survive an encounter.

The Human Potential (Posted on 9/11/2008)

It has recently been announced that Lance Armstrong will be coming out of retirement in an

effort to win an unprecedented 8th Tour De France (Tour De Lance?). Some skeptics have

declared that the odds are against him. For one thing, he will soon be turning 37. The oldest

person to win the TDF was a 36 year old in 1922. So its safe to say that, at least in the modern

age, this is a young mans sport. The skeptics also point out that he has been out of competitive

elite bike racing for a full three years and doubt that he will be able to regain the edge in time for

July 2009. Let them doubt....that will only fuel his competitive fire. I would never count out

Lance Armstrong, who has long been known to be a training fanatic. One of my all time favorite

Armstrong stories concerns a 7 hour bike ride on Christmas Day in the French Alps. During this

session, which is not uncommon for Lance, he whipped out his cell phone and called some of his

rivals and asked what they were doing. Invariably, they would respond that they were spending

Christmas Day with family and enjoying the holiday meal. Inevitably, they would ask Lance

what he was doing. Im riding my bike up the Alps getting ready for the Tour; how come youre

not training your ass off today? Two things to note from this episode.....he is so singularly

focused on the TDF that he lives and breaths it 24/7 and will train any time. Furthermore, he is

not above playing mind games with his opponents and inducing fear in them.

For me, Lance Armstrong represents someone who has squeezed every last drop of his potential,

particularly after he conquered cancer. I believe that many people just waste their potential....not

only athletically but also as fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, co worker, friend etc. In other

words, do most people really try their best? I believe not. Lance is a symbol of what can be

achieved if you work at it and have focused goals. The same can be said for other all time greats.

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Look at Michael, Larry, and Magic in the NBA.....they were all known for their ferocious

practice habits and being surly if practice did not go well. Bud Wilkinson, one of the all time

great college football coaches, said everyone has the will to win; but not everyone has the will

to prepare. No wonder why Michael, Larry, and Magic won multiple championships. Ditto for

Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. These guys just could not stand wasting their potential.

They never truly rested on their laurels and were willing to put in extraordinarily long hours andepic workouts to achieve their goals. They didnt get to their elevated status by practicing

occasionally. Others have had this drive as well.....Bruce Lee, Professor Remy A. Presas, Martina

Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and many other greats had the same characteristic.

On the other hand, there have been cases of people who were blessed with incredible/ out of the

world talent but never got anywhere because they took their talent for granted or didnt do much

with it. One of the saddest cases I have seen involved a basketball star a year ahead of me in my

hometown of Barberton. Barberton has a deep basketball tradition and the best to come out was

Alvin Robertson, who was a gold medalist on the 1984 US Olympic basketball team. He was on

the All NBA defensive team a number of teams. In addition, he still holds the NBA record for

steals in a season and was considered to be one of the best defensive players in the NBA for quitesome time. Oh yeah, he scored the very first basket in the history of the Toronto Raptor

franchise.

So, this kid who was a year ahead of me had all the tools to be better than Alvin Robertson. He

started dunking when he was in grade 8. He had a far better outside shot than Alvin ever had. He

had it all. He was going to be the best player Barberton ever saw. There really was no doubt.

Long story short, he fell in with the wrong crowd and dropped out of sight. Never did play for

Barberton High School. He could have easily earned a college scholarship. Easy. But he wasted

his talent. An incredibly sad case. Then there was a classmate of mine who was an incredibly

talented football player....it seemed that everytime he touched the ball, he scored a touchdown.Same story as the basketball star. He fell in with the wrong crowd and dropped out of sight.

Nothing drives me crazier than one who wastes potential.

So this development of Lance Armstrong is going to be quite interesting. According to a Vanity

Fair article, he has already been engaging in epic workouts and will be training in Aspen,

Colorado due to the high altitude. No doubt that he will push himself harder than he ever has in

his life. I sure hope that he can do it in July 2009.

Are we all trying our best in life? Or are we muddling along in life and waiting for things to be

handed to us on a silver platter? Thats the question posed by Lance to the rest of us. Its up toeach individual to answer that question.

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Deliberate Practice (Posted on 3/22/2009)

In the past 15 years or so, a growing body of research has delved into the issue of expert

performance. What made Bobby Fischer a great chess player? Why is Tiger Woods on the way to

becoming one of the greatest golfers ever? Why does someone become a top notch pianist or

martial artist? This body of research has indicated that talent is essentially irrelevant. What is

relevant, as shown by the below link, is hard work, more specifically, "deliberate practice" a term

coined by a brilliant psychologist named Anders Ericcson. I'll post the link to the original article,

that started it all, in the next entry. First, a sampler:

Deliberate Practice

And here's a fun read from the Freakonomics section of the NY Times:

Freakonomics

For those reading this blog, this has obvious implications for those who are teaching or working

with somebody or for yourself on your personal journey of self discovery. The next entry will

cover key points of the original paper by Ericcson.

Original Article on Deliberate Practice (Posted 4/1/2009)

At the end of this entry is a link to the original article on deliberate practice that started it all.

Since then, it apparently has grown into a distinct field of academic study. Be warned, the article

is a rather dense read. Nonetheless, several key points of this article are as follows:

(1) Talent is largely irrelevant

(2) 10 years of deliberate practice is what is needed to become an expert performer in any

given field (such as golf, violin, piano etc).

(3) The more accumulated practice time you have at a given activity, the more expert you will be.

For example, Bobby Fischer became a chess grand master at age 16. Many have attributed this to

natural in born talent. This article and others have argued that is not the case. Fischer started

studying chess at the age of 5 and accumulated hundreds of books on chess strategy (by oneaccount, he had 400 books) by the time he was an early teenager. He also put in prodigious hours

of practice and games. No wonder he became chess grandmaster by the age of 16.

The article need a neat job of analyzing the expert levels of violinists and pianists. It found that

the more accumulated deliberate practice one put in, the more expertise one gained.

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It all comes down to practice, practice, practice. For a more precise definition of deliberate

practice, you need to read the article.

The last interesting point that I picked up from the article is that the experts in their field

benefitted far more from one on one instruction/tutoring than the classic classroom instructional

method. This should not be surprising. With personal instruction, you get much more refinedlessons and attention to detail to what you are doing. The classroom instructional method is more

suited to the one size fits all methodology.

For me, as this relates to martial arts, this was quite interesting. I believe that those top notch

martial artists are those who have spent more time perfecting the art than others. It is not

necessarily the talent that counts. Its the hours of practice! As Professor Presas, the founder of

Modern Arnis, used to say all the time You must flactice!!

Expert Performance

One on One Instruction (Posted on 4/7/2009)

One of the interesting aspects of the previous entry concerns the observation by Anders Ericcson

(in his landmark research paper) that one of the keys to obtaining expertise in a given field is to

engage in one on one instruction rather than group instruction.

This has particular relevance in the martial arts. One of the more intriguing aspects of

Balintawak arnis is their particular emphasis on one on one training wherein a student trains witha senior student. The role of the senior student is to raise the bar so as to stay beyond the reach of

the student and elevating that student's performance.

An excerpt from the chapter on Balintawak from the book entitled "Warrior Arts of the

Phillipines:"

"The basic core of Balintawak training is a reactive counter to counter style which is more

effectively learned one on one. The student is taught offensive and defensive techniques with the

instructor acting as a coach to guide the student through his moves from the very basic to the

advanced. In the latter stages of the student's training, a level or plateau will be reached wherethe student and the instructor will give and take all the techniques of the style........

After learning the basic offensive and defensive techniques, the Balintawak student is, from day

one, placed in harm's way. The instructor delivers random and continuous attacks/strikes,

generally at a speed just beyond his(her) current ability to defend against, thereby pushing the

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student to develop past established comfortable limits. The student's mission and required

mindset is simple: to defend and counter the attacks.

The result is an instructor led training framework called agak that immerses the student in a

dynamic state of attack and counters that must be overcome. This free flowing engagement

programs and conditions the student to respond instinctively to random attacks with vigilant andproper offensive and defensive techniques executed smoothly and systematically. Speed, power

and economy of movement are emphasized.

As the student improves in this counter to counter play, the attacks become stronger, faster and

more complex, progressively challenging and raising the bar to extend and push the student's

skill level. At all times the instructor guides the student, from the most basic to the more

advanced techniques. Eventually, the student's defense, timing, speed, body mechanics and

techniques improve to a level where he is able to meet and overcome his instructor's attacks.

However, as the student improves, the training level correspondingly escalates. The higher the

skill level of the instructor, the farther the student can go.

A good Balintawak instructor constantly keeps the student in a state of jeopardy, challenging, and

at the same time encouraging the student to match and respond to the instructor's varying

intensity and escalating skill level. At the highest levels, the distinction between the instructor

and student diminishes as they engage both in attack and defense with equal vigor and skill. This

is the principle behind the name cuentada."

Given that the Balintawak training methodology places much emphasis on personal one on one

training and given that Professor Presas did a great deal of one on one training with the Masters

of Tapi Tapi, it is no wonder that Professor was incredible as well as folks like Master Ken Smithand Master Chuck Gauss. I have experienced much one on one training with Master Chuck

Gauss and can testify to the effectiveness of this type of training as opposed to group instruction.

With that in mind, I have slowly incorporated private training as an element of the Modern Arnisprogram here in Oshawa for two reasons. First, I would be constantly training and thus sharpen

my skills. Just look at Professor Presas who continued to improve over the years as a result of

constant training. Secondly, the private training would serve to enhance the student's skill levelas well. I have observed that whenever I corrected someone's technique by working with them, Inoticed immediate improvement than if I had merely coached them verbally from the sidelines.

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Incremental Improvement (Posted on 8/5/2009)

Very often martial artists or those engaged in athletic endeavors will reach a plateau or they may

find that their rate of improvement dramatically slows down. The tough question to be faced is

whether one is willing to put in the work necessary to achieve a 1% or 2% improvement in their

performance?For some, it appears to be not worth the effort to see only incremental improvement in their

overall performance. I think that it's worth it for the reason that incremental improvement really

adds up over time. Let's say your performance improves (admittedly, when it comes to martial

arts, this can be subjective) by 1% or 2% each year for the next 20 years. You are looking at a

substantial improvement over a prolonged period of time. While this is easy to understand

intellectually, it's harder to put in the effort over a sustained period of time. But it can be done

and it is noticeable. For example, if you look at videos of Professor Remy A. Presas in the 1970s

and compare them to the videos he made in the late 1990s, one can see a very noticeable

difference in his performance level. His movements became much more refined, subtle andefficient compared to 25 years earlier. His timing, rhythm, and body management were just

superb.

The great thing about incremental improvement is that they are long lasting. It's safe to assume

that the incremental changes come as a result of hours of practice, aided both by instruction and

self discovery and tend to be more ingrained. Naturally, this goes to the question of motivation

and desire to practice when you know that improvement may be only incremental. But it's worth

the effort!!

On this date in 1955......(Posted on 9/5/2009)

Professor Florendo Visitacion publicly unveiled his self defense system called Vee Jitsu.

Preceding the introduction of his art was many years of study in the Phillipines, Hawaii,

California (Stockton) and New York City and cross training with many well known artists over

the years. From 1955 onwards, he upgraded and improved his self defense system, unveiling Vee

Jitsu '65 in 1965 (the lineage that I come from), Vee Jitsu '75 in 1975, Vee Jitsu '85 in 1985 and

finally Vee Arnis Jitsu. There are a few other branches of Vee Jitsu but the ones I mentioned are

those I'm most familiar with.

As recounted in earlier posts, I studied under Professor G. Rogers Cooper at the University of

Notre Dame. In turn, he studied under his father, Professor Robert J. Cooper, the head of Cooper

Vee Jitsu Ryu. Professor Cooper was a direct student of Professor Visitacion and has passed

teachings over the years along with Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do and Capoeria. It is a

tremendously varied self defense system. For reference, see the following articles:

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Wikipedia

NY Times

Another Look

Changing Needs Over a Lifetime (Posted on 11/11/2009)

One topic that I have been thinking about lately is the fact that different people may face

different kinds of threats and should train accordingly. I have been thinking about this due to the

fact that I have been teaching different groups of people lately, ranging from 4 to 5 year old

children, to adults to senior citizens. One would not expect a pedophile to use MMA type

techniques on young, vulnerable children. On the other hand, adults up to the 40s/50s should

think about preparing for someone who may want to use MMA techniques or knife attacks.

Because senior citizens are more likely to face property crimes than others (at least according tothe latest statistics), they have a different set of needs/threats to prepare for.

Just as the medical needs of person changes during a lifetime, so too does their self defense

needs, at least in terms of physical threats. What should never change over the course of a

lifetime is the overriding need for environmental and situational awareness coupled with

common sense and good judgment.

To expect a 4 to 5 year child to be able to stand toe to toe with an adult and prevail is sheer

fantasy and a waste of time. Better to focus on stranger danger, conflict avoidance, escape

techniques and awareness until they attain the physical maturity to hurt someone in self defensesituations. Likewise, I believe that its probably foolhardy (as an extreme example) to try to turn

a senior citizen into an Olympic style Tae Kwon Do kicker. Again, a waste of time. However,

barring any major physical disabilities, seniors can train in and use a wide variety of techniques

to defend themselves. Again, conflict avoidance, environmental and situational awareness,

common sense and good judgment is of paramount importance.

A good instructor should take this factor into account when teaching their students. Likewise,

students should assess the most likely threat and accordingly focus on training to meet those

potential threat scenarios.

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