“Yī’, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ, shí!” “Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyu, ju!” “Hanna, dul, set, net, dasot, yasot, elgob, yadol, ahop, yol!” For those of us in the martial arts, there are, I would imagine, very few of us that cannot count to ten in the language… Continue reading Fighting Words: The linguistics of martial arts.
The keyboard warrior. The eternal "expert". Mr. Know-it-all. In martial arts we have all had our run ins with these types. From belt collectors who brag about their multiple month long training sessions with specific martial arts to the Armchair Quarterback explaining the game to you, as if they knew better, they are quite annoying.… Continue reading Why do non-fighters think they can fight?
The third entry from Mao Yuan Yi's ChaoXian Shifa 朝鮮勢法 (Korean Stances) we will look at is the "ban tou" or Leopard Head Strike. The technique is familiar to a great many arts and find a number of iterations within the Wubei Zhi. Ban tou is related to two previous entries, Ju Ding and Zuo… Continue reading Ban Tou: Leopard Head Strike
Fitness, and especially martial arts, is replete with sayings and training koans. Many of these sayings are rather suspect, sounding good on the surface but not standing up to scrutiny. Others are so counter intuitive, they foster resistance to them to this day. One of these sayings is “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast”.… Continue reading Slow is smooth and smooth is fast
Are you enjoying the Witcher on Netflix? I am. I think you should watch it. It does some big things very right. But, not according to idiot Andrew Klaven: “Immediately I was put off by the fact that there’s a queen in this who fights like a man,” he declared. “There’s a couple of scenes… Continue reading "Women Can't Fight with a 10 Pound Sword."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hL3lUzlktM Greetings and Happy New Year from all of us at TPLA! It has been a big year here for us and we have been working behind the scenes all over the world. 2019 has been a year of changes, renewals, and challenges. But as we enter 2020, we are invigorated with a sense of… Continue reading Happy New Year!
"It is easier to take 500 calories out of a diet than it is to put them into a workout. " Happy Holidays! The holidays have us pretty busy, but I saw something come through my feed that made me elated. In the pubic mind, there is a pervasive tendency to focus on diet when… Continue reading Exercise is the #1 Health Tip from Diet Experts.
We have our first guest contributor here to the blog! Actually two! Ben Judkins of Kung Fu Tea and his wife Tara recently hosted Damon Honeycutt for a workshop last Sunday. Damon is one of the progenitors of the lightsaber movement and last winter we hosted him here for the Symposium. Here is a report… Continue reading Exploring Creativity and Authenticity: A Workshop with Damon Honeycutt
