Gyokko Ryu’s Internal Power Training
There is no doubt in my mind that Hatsumi Sensei possesses unusual power in his budo. Anyone who has trained with him can tell you that! But what is it and where does it come from? More importantly, how can YOU develop it as well? Soke’s martial movement displays many of the characteristics associated with Internal…
We Were Once Warriors…
We Were Once Warriors… For centuries the warrior has been the archetypical model of physical fitness and power. This is due to the extreme nature of their training and overwhelming odds that they must have had to go through waging war in the ancient world. The multifaceted development of skills required for the warrior’s brand…
Resolving the Tension Paradox for Martial Artists
In order to truly begin our quest for Integrated Strength, we must first resolve the tension paradox between conventional strength training and internal power… “Don’t use muscle!” “No power!” “Relax!” “Move naturally!”
Theme for 2015 – Integrated Strength
New Years Day, 2015 Warrior Fitness HQ Happy New Year, Warriors! When I first began Warrior Fitness way back in 2008 the goal was simple – utilize my knowledge, training, and experience from several different disciplines under the broad heading of Strength & Conditioning to enhance the performance of martial arts. I began by creating…
Top 9 Posts From 2014
It’s that time of the year again. Time for the Top 10, er… 9, best blog posts of 2014! This year saw 2 distinct themes emerge: a critical examination of what internal power really is and its relationship to martial arts training, specifically, but not limited to, Bujinkan Martial Arts training, and the importance of…
A Glimpse Into Internal Power Training – The Push Test
The push test is a very practical way of testing the quality of one’s solo training for internal power. As explained in Weakest Direction Theory is BS, the body, when properly trained, acts as an omni-directional structure. This allows the practitioner of internal power to neutralize any incoming force by diffusing it throughout the structure…
Martial Software or Martial Hardware?
Remember in The Matrix when Morpheus downloaded those dozens of different martial arts programs (software) into Neo’s brain and he instantly could perform all the techniques from those arts? That is a perfect example of a software upgrade. Techniques instantly available at your fingertips – literally!
25 Life Lessons from Martial Arts Practice
At 41 years old, I have now been training in the martial arts for over 30 years. It does not seem like it’s been that long! Some days I look at the huge expanse of knowledge and history that is real budo and feel dwarfed by its enormity. Other days I feel like I have…
Imperfect Training for Injury Prevention
“All-round sports training must include the capability of coping with unexpected and sub-optimal conditions” – Mel Siff, PHD author of Supertraining In a recent post, Are You Practicing Wrong, I covered why I think the idea of “perfect practice” is utter nonsense when it comes to training yourself how to improve at pretty much any…
The UN-Natural Athlete
I was never what you would call a natural athlete growing up. In fact, I pretty much sucked at every sport I tried – baseball, basketball, soccer, kickball, tennis… you name it, I sucked at it. To make things worse I was also ridiculously shy and introverted as a kid, so that combination, on top…
Lost Empire Herbs
