The Paleolithic Origins of Standing Postures
The origins of standing practices are lost in the mists of time, but one can easily imagine that they began with ancient hunters as a way of attuning to their surroundings and gathering deep reserves of energy and strength while becoming invisible to the prey they hunted. As they were used by hunters, warriors,…
The Effective to Efficient Continuum of Training
What’s the difference between being effective in your training and becoming efficient? When you first started to drive a car, you sucked at it, right? You couldn’t turn on the radio and the turn signal at the same time, and I’ll bet when you tried to wave at someone outside on the sidewalk, you turned…
“He Opened My Eyes to Budo…”
Way back in 2009 I started studying this weird, rarely talked about, even more rarely taught aspect of traditional martial arts called internal power. To say it opened up my worldview when it came to martial arts training would be a huge understatement! Now, to put it in perspective, I’d been training in martial arts since…
Train the Body, Everything will Follow
How do you get great at so many different facets of martial art at one time? What one thing can you do to bring up your game across the board, no matter what are you practice? Train the body. ✅ Want to get better at grappling? Train the body ✅ Want to…
Why Body Skills are Critical to Martial Arts
Body skills are the foundation of ALL martial and athletic movement. In fact, in my mind, they are the foundation of all good, powerful, pain-free human movement! What are body skills? They are the qualities that connect, support, mobilize, and strengthen the body from the inside out. They create a highly resilient, dynamically stable body…
21 Day Wuji Standing Meditation Challenge
21 Day Wuji Standing Meditation Challenge Why Wuji? The health preserving and sustaining effects of Wuji Standing have been documented in hospitals and medical clinics across China. The reason this practice has such a profound impact on health and recovery from exercise is that the standing meditation acts like a system-wide reboot for the whole…
Musashi on Posture in Strategy
In his classic work on the art of strategy, Go Rin No Sho, Musashi gives the following instructions on Posture in his art. “Keep your neck straight, putting some force in the hollow of the nape; lower your shoulders, with the sensation that the torso from the shoulders down forms a unity; keep the back straight,…
5.5 Principles for More Effective Striking in ANY Martial Art
Part 1 of this series, Conditioning the Fists for Striking can be found HERE. Being able to strike with power and precision involves a lot more than merely knowing the technique. Practice must include these principles of effective striking techniques for all martial arts… 1. Whole Body Power All movement in real life happens in…
Conditioning the Fists for Striking
One of the most underdeveloped aspects of the martial artist’s arsenal is the conditioning of his fists for striking. The tendon strength, wrist strength and flexibility, and the overall structure of the strike is an exploitable weakness that needs to be addressed. In this article we will examine several different push-up variations and isometric exercises…
The Strength of Structure (and How to Train It)
As we discussed in the previous post (see here), all martial movement must be based on a platform of both mobility and stability. Today we will discuss stability. Kamae is much more than just a stance or ready position. It is the platform from which all movements are made and from which all techniques are…