Weakest Direction Theory is BS

Warning: The following post is going to conflict with the most basic, fundamental principle you “know” to be true in martial arts.  Chances are you learned this principle on your first day of martial arts class.  Since that day you have repeated it almost every class.  You have taught it as truth to every new person you’ve ever trained with.  It’s so ingrained into your psyche that it’s practically dogma.  Most likely you will read this a instantly brand me a Budo Heretic.  Yup.  It’s that controversial…

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My Morning Routine

For the past several weeks there has been a running theme interwoven throughout my blog posts.  That theme has been practice, Daily Personal Practice (DPP), to be precise.

I’ve gotten several questions about the details of my own DPP since I refer to it several times in my writing.  So I figured I would pull back the curtains and give you a more detailed glimpse into my Morning Routine of DPP in this post. Continue reading

Best Way to Program Your Training

One of the most oft asked questions I get from people, from both the online and offline worlds, is about their weekly workout schedule:

“How should I program my workouts?”

“How many days per week should I train?”

“Is it wrong or bad to train 2 days in a row?”

“How much rest should I have between workouts?”

“Is there one best way to program my training?” Continue reading

Are You Practicing Wrong?

Are you making progress in your practice, or do you feel like you’re running in circles, making lots of motion but essentially getting nowhere?

Maybe you’ve got this whole practice thing wrong…

We all know that practice is absolutely essential to the development of any skill.  But how should we practice?  What qualities should our practice have to make sure it is both effective (increasing skill) and efficient (making the best use of time)?  How long should we practice, how often? Continue reading

Principles, Techniques, and Internal Power

For some reason people seem to use the terms principles,techniques, and internal power interchangeably within the context of martial arts practice.  Because of this mistake, they then tend to get confused between them.  While they are all obviously related, each term is separate and distinct and should not be interchangeable with one another. Continue reading

The Way of the Warrior

Daily training is absolutely essential for the warrior.  It must be firmly ingrained into your routine until doing your practice becomes as natural as brushing your teeth or taking a shower.  No thought or debate is required, you simply just do it every day, sometimes twice a day.  It must become habitual. Continue reading