5.5 Principles for More Effective Striking in ANY Martial Art

Posted on September 9, 2018 by Jon

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 three dimensions, so why train exercises that only incorporate one or two? Training muscles in isolation, unless it is used to rehab a specific injury, range of motion, or strengthen a particular muscle to add to the whole, does not work in martial art.

Our strike conditioning exercises must train movements in three dimensions utilizing diagonal, rotary, and angular strength, as well as prime moving muscles.

2. Stored Elastic Energy (SEE)

Stored Elastic Energy is basically the potential energy stored in tendons and connective tissue as a way to power movement.

An easy exercise to begin to feel stored elastic energy is to stand in a natural stance with feet shoulder width apart. Bend your right arm and raise it up to shoulder height as if you were about to throw the most telegraphed punch in history (don’t worry, it’s just an exercise). Now, lead from the elbow and pull your fist back. Allow your torso to rotate, but keep the feet planted and the hips facing forward. When you reach the end of your range of motion, hang out there for a second and feel the tension (torque) on the spine. Now simply relax and release that torque to throw the punch. Don’t add any driving forces with muscle. You can’t propel it any faster; you’ll just slow it down.

Feel it?

Try it again.

Do it with the other arm. Remember the feeling. This is stored elastic energy (SEE).

The point here about creating torque or stored elastic energy (SEE) in the spine is essential in being able to move powerfully without winding up or telegraphing the movement.

If you are having trouble feeling it, try to exaggerate the movement.

Make it much larger than necessary to study the feeling. It should feel like a tension in the lower back near the bottom of the spine. When this tension (torque) is relaxed (released), the movement happens.

3. Structure / Kamae

Many people tend to use the terms alignment and structure almost interchangeably but in actuality, alignment is a component of structure.

For example, looking at a natural standing posture, good alignment would be:

Crown up
Chin down
Shoulders packed down
Spine lifting up (through crown)
Spine pulling down (through the sacrum)
Hips under shoulders
Knees under hips
Mid-foot balance
Chest is relaxed
Butt not sticking out nor is pelvis tucked under
Knees are over the toes
Weight evenly distributed (50/50)
No leaning forward or backwardThis puts the whole body into proper alignment.

Structure also includes (in my lexicon) the balance of tensions within the body’s soft tissues. The bones act as compressive struts pushing outward from the center while the soft tissues (fascia) act as the stays pulling inward towards the center keeping the tensional balance in the body.

4. Breathing

How often do you think about breathing as it relates to striking?

Yet it is absolutely essential to maintain proper breathing when in combat or simply hitting a heavy bag, mitt, or an opponent. Lack of breath control affects the rest of your body and hinders your overall performance.

5. The S.A.I.D Principle

Why are all the above ideas important to understand in relation to striking and martial movement?

The SAID Principle – Specific Adaptation to Implied Demand says every activity that we repeat consistently causes an adaptation in the body.

The critical thing to note here is that it does not matter at all how we value this adaptation. It can be something that we want like how healthy exercise increases lean muscle mass and burns excess fat, or it can be something we do not want like how eating junk food to an extreme causes our body to adapt by putting on weight.

Both of these are examples of activities that cause adaptations in the body. Our goal is to train adaptations we value highly like the enhanced neural connections in our nervous system that increase our skill level. Keep this in mind when training. We do not want to train bad habits!

5.5 Elements of Efficiency

Efficiency is defined as the amount of useful work divided by the amount of total work. In other words, how much effect are you producing for the amount of effort you are expending?

Ever see a batter “swing for the fences” only to completely miss the pitch?
Ever see someone try to pick something up that is really light, but they believe is heavy?
How about watching someone using the general whole-body tension we discussed above trying to hit a heavy bag?

How much effect, i.e. force from the strike embedded into the target, is gained from the huge effort expended?

You must train to have your strikes be both effective (devestatingly powerful) and efficient (uses the least amount of force or energy to accomplish the movement). Only then can you be said to have mastered the art of striking!

Learn exactly how to upgrade your striking skills in ANY martial art with these resources from Warrior Fitness Training Systems…

Conditioning the Fists for Striking

Posted on September 6, 2018 by Jon

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 to fortify the structure of our strikes.

This type of training will work to enhance the power generation of all manner of striking.

Do these push-ups slowly and purposefully with full attention to the movement. These are not meant to pump up your beach muscles, rather they will strengthen the connective tissue in your hands, wrists, forearms, and shoulders to build structure and encourage the correct alignment for all your strikes.

Fudo-ken (fist) Push-ups

Place the weight of the body on the fists. Make sure the wrists do not bend. After performing several repetitions (or as a separate exercise) simply hold the body in the Fudo-ken push-up position. Relax as much as possible and allow the correct structure to support the body on the fists. Try this in the upper position, lower position, and halfway point of the push-up.

Do the same isometric holds with each exercise.

Shuto (sword hand) Push-ups

Hold the hands in the form of a shuto strike. They should close to a 45 degree angle with the thumbs supporting the fingers. The weight is on the meaty, inside portion of the hand.

Fingertip Push-ups

Place the pads of the fingers on the ground like you are clawing it. Try to squeeze the ground as you press up.

Wrist Push-ups

Place the wrists on the ground. These will be very difficult at first if you have not done them before. Take them slowly. If necessary, perform them on your knees to build strength.

Train these basic exercises thoroughly. Study this well!

Be sure to check out part 2 of this article, 5.5 Principles for More Effective Strking in ANY Martial Art.

Learn exactly how to upgrade your striking skills in ANY martial art with these resources from Warrior Fitness Training Systems…

Muscle Building Secret of an Escaped Convict

Posted on September 5, 2018 by Jon

Muscle Building Secret of an Escaped Convict

There’s an 8-second strength and muscle-building trick once used by a Russian spy to literally bend steel jail bars and rip open his heavy shackles to escape prison… not once, but 4 TIMES! Anyway…

Research shows this single trick will explode your muscle and strength gains from your very first workout. Check it out!

=> Muscle building secret of escaped convict (use THIS next workout)

World famous strongman competitors and legendary bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger have used this technique to make their most stubborn body parts more powerful, dense, and eye-popping…

Even some of the “baddest” cage-fighters like Connor McGregor and Georges St. Pierre…

And history’s best martial artists like Bruce Lee and Jean Claude Van Damme have used this method to build lethal force that can instantly put an end to any fight…

I’m talking about a specific kind of isometrics. Which…

According to a recent study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology this method boosts strength by 45% while increasing muscle growth by 5%…

WITHOUT having to perform endless amounts of sets and reps that bombard your joints with painful inflammation and injury…

Basically, adding this one max static muscle stimulation technique to your workouts will have you building muscle FASTER…

While keeping you “in the game” for decades to come. Check it out…

=> Max Muscle Stimulation (do these if you want more strength & muscle)

The Strength of Structure (and How to Train It)

Posted on August 24, 2018 by Jon

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 delivered. Your kamae is quite literally the foundation upon which your entire martial art practice rests.

A weak, or structurally flawed, kamae will limit the amount of power delivered and reduce the effectiveness of every technique employed. Conversely, a strong kamae is the key to the effective execution of all your techniques. A strong kamae carries the support of the ground and efficiently conducts that power through the user with minimal noise creating, in effect, a transparent power.

“You can’t shoot a cannon out of a canoe.”

Water provides a very poor base of support to maximally fire a cannon ball thus it will not travel very far. This is exactly what happens with a poorly constructed kamae. So much power bleeds off in different directions that the mean effect of the movement is extremely reduced and more energy is required in order to compensate for the inefficiency.

How Do We Build a Strong Kamae?

There are many different forms of strength training but only a few, very specific, methods of strengthening the structure (kamae). The key to strengthening structure, as you will see, is training the connective tissue – fascia, tendons, and ligaments, and strengthening the bones, rather than working on muscle. The benefits of this type of training are enormous; not only does having a stronger structure increase the effectiveness of martial movement and techniques, but also acts as a natural form of injury prevention by improving the strength and elasticity of the tissues and increasing the body’s overall resilience.

We will examine 4 main ones here from the EARTH section of Warrior Fitness working on strength, structure, and stability.

Loaded Carries – These provide a unique challenge to the body as they are a type of moving isometric exercise. Kettlebells or dumbbells are a great place to start, but loaded carries can be done with just about anything.

There are 3 basic loaded carries we will discuss here:

Farmer Walk – Hold 2 kettlebells at the sides and go for a walk. Try to maintain a neutral balance and move from center.
Rack Walk – Hold 2 kettlebells in the rack position and go for a walk. Try to maintain a neutral balance and move from center.
Overhead Carry – Hold 2 kettlebells overhead and go for a walk. Try to maintain a neutral balance and move from center.

Static Holds – Unlike lifting or carrying, static holds can be done anywhere with zero equipment. They also place a great emphasis on strengthening connective tissue for supporting the body.

Static Kamae Hold: Pick a kamae and hold it for time. The goal here is to relax in position and allow the connective tissue to do the work, not the muscle.
Static Push-up: Hold the top, middle, or bottom portion of a push-up for time. The goal here is to relax in position and allow the connective tissue to do the work, not the muscle.
Partial Lifts – Partials allow you to develop the connective tissues and bones in a way that full range of movement lifting cannot. By doing partials you are supporting more weight than you would be able to in a full range lift.

Push Testing – The push test is a very practical way of testing the quality of one’s solo training for internal power. The body, when properly trained, acts as an omni-directional structure. This allows the practitioner to neutralize any incoming force by diffusing it throughout the structure rather than having to surrender to it or resist against it.

I cannot over emphasize how critical this type of training is to your development as a powerful martial artist. Not only does this type of training condition the connective tissues, bones, and muscles, but it forms the body into a cohesive unit that is both resilient and powerful.

Study this well, my friends!

Check out my bestselling Integrated Strength Program for more complete trainiing information…

Daily Mobility Practice – The Fountain of Youth

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Jon

All movement skills, especially martial movement skills, must be built on a foundation of both stability and mobility. Today we will cover mobility.

A complete mobility practice moves each joint in the body through its complete range of motion bathing it in synovial fluid.

Movement is the only way your joints get nutrition!

Many trainers and coaches tend to look at the current rage of joint mobility protocols as recent innovations in sports science and training. Everyone is talking about mobility for health, mobility for prehab or injury prevention, mobility for warm-ups, mobility for fending off the ravages of aging. Everyone is talking about the benefits of increased range of motion for sport performance and martial art training enhancement. And, just to be perfectly clear, this is a good thing. They are all correct. Mobility training is the rage for a reason.

However, as with many “new” types of training methods, mobility work is an ancient idea come full circle.

This is not a new idea. In fact, Hua Tuo (2nd century AD), one of the patriarchs of Chinese Medicine and creator of the famous qigong set, The Five Animal Frolics, once said:

“Just as a door hinge will not rust if it is used, so the body will attain health by gently moving and exercising all of the limbs.”

Hua Tuo’s The Five Animal Frolics model movements from the crane, bear, monkey, tiger, and deer. Each animal emphasizes different health benefits and you can choose a specific animal for specific results. The movements form arcs, spirals, waves and spins, in order to accommodate all ranges of motion for the body.

Now what does that sound like?

Health by moving and exercising all the limbs… hmm… reminds me of a certain new exercise protocol called joint mobility. And this quote from Hua Tuo is just one example. There are many more within Chinese Medicine as well as Indian Yoga that all point to the same idea – mobility is essential for health. Or, more crudely but succinctly put, move it or lose it.

Each session can range from a quick 5-minute recharge to a 30-minute in-depth deep practice. It’s up to you and how your body feels on a particular day.

For example, did you do a ton of heavy lifting or a super intense metabolic conditioning session the day before?

Maybe a longer, deeper mobility session is required to aid in restoration and recovery.

Or, did you just get out of bed and maybe only have 5 minutes before you have to get ready for work? A 5-minute quick-n-dirty mobility session will charge you up and get your body moving (literally!).

Daily Practice

I have been performing my mobility practice almost every day for over 15 years now. However, there have been a few times when I decided to forego it for several days in a row just to see if I could notice a difference. After 3-4 days without it I began to notice. Muscles were tighter. Movements were less fluid. Joints were crunchy. When I finally stopped my no mobility experiment on day 5, the contrast was amazing!

In my experience, mobility training and breathing exercises are the biggest bang for your buck daily practices that will only reward you more and more with each passing year.

Benefits of Mobility Training

In no particular order, here are some of the benefits of mobility training:

Lubricates joints and allows them to receive nutrition through synovial fluid
Aids in removal of toxins
Reduces joint pain and inflammation
Increases range of motion (flexibility in motion)
Increases energy by reducing unconsciously held tension
Prehab for injury prevention
Mobility is foundation of all sport, athletic, and martial movement
Decreased mobility leads to increased pain and stiffness

For your daily training, here is my own personal full-body joint mobility routine. Implement this first thing tomorrow morning and feel amazing all day long!

Be Dangerous to be Kind

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Jon

Inside the heart of every man lives a warrior waiting to be unleashed. Unfortunately, this fierceness, for the majority of men, lies dormant and untested. But, I assure you, it is there.

As boys we pretended to be superheroes, Jedi knights, or ninja warriors. I know I did all 3 with matching costumes, capes, and weapons to boot. In fact, I distinctly remember when I was 6 or 7 leaping off the back deck of my parent’s house in New Hampshire fully garbed in Superman Underoos (on the outside of my clothes, of course!) and cape fully expecting to fly.

We ran wild, climbed trees, built forts, engaged in mock sword battles, and real fist fights as boys – not to test our mettle, but really just as an open and honest expression of our warrior nature.

As we grew up though, things changed. We grew tame (lame?). The wildness was repressed and replaced under the well meaning familial and societal pressure of becoming a responsible adult. We went to school, got a job working for the man, and become domesticated.

We shed our capes in favor of business suits.

We took off our Lone Ranger masks and put on listless, polite faces.

We put down our pretend weapons and picked up pocket protectors.

We suppressed the wildness and ferocity of the warrior in our hearts and tried to follow the expected path – college, corporate job, marriage, family, retirement, death. One more masculine casualty – a would be warrior turned tame and toothless, a tiger no more, really just an aging house cat.

But is that really all there is?

Doesn’t the wildness remain?

Yes. I assure you it most certainly does. For as I stated earlier, inside the heart of a man – every man, no matter who you are – lies a warrior.

Being a warrior is not confined to myths and legends or historical anachronisms. Nor is it merely the province of those in uniform who stand on the front lines and protect us with their own (though they truly embody the warrior spirit).

No, warriorship, at its essence is the birthright of every man. For all of us are made with a warrior’s heart, strong and dangerous.

Yes, dangerous. The most dangerous men I have ever met have also been among the kindest and friendliest. Is this a contradiction? No, not at all. Only the truly powerful can choose to be truly gentle. Those who lack strength and courage have no choice.

A warrior must have the strength, skill, and ability to wield violence. Notice that I did not say, “be a violent man”. There is a vast difference. The warrior’s capacity for violence is tempered by discipline, a sense of justice, and a strong moral code.

Moreover, the warrior’s role in society is that of a protector and defender of life. His strength must never be used to intimidate, but only to motivate, to inspire, and to protect.

Méthode Naturelle creator Georges Hébert wrote at the beginning of the 20th century, “Être fort pour être utile” – Be strong to be useful

Those of us who walk this path of strength have a duty to use our strength to help others and to defend and protect those who are not as strong.

As Spiderman once said – “With great power come great responsibility.” 🙂

Strength must have a higher purpose.

The Warrior’s Creed

This might be my own personal bias, but I believe a warrior has a greater responsibility, one of both self and others. My perception has been colored, for the better, I think, by my teacher, Jack Hoban, author of The Ethical Warrior: Values, Morals and Ethics – For Life, Work and Service, and his mentor, Dr. Robert L. Humphrey.

These 2 men are both true warriors whom I admire greatly. Jack served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer and is a master level instructor in the Bujinkan martial arts. Dr. Humphrey was a boxer and Marine Corps officer who survived the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

There is much, much more to both of their stories, but for now, we can sum up the essence of what it means to be a warrior like so:

“The Warrior Creed”

Wherever I go,
Everyone is a little bit safer because I am there.
Wherever I am,
Anyone in need has a friend.
When I return home,
Everyone is happy I am there.
It’s a better life!

-Dr. Robert L. Humphrey

Everyone who calls themselves a warrior believes that they should possess greater strength, greater power, and greater skill; should they not also possess greater compassion for others and a greater sense of responsibility for helping others as well?

For those who have the strength and the skill, but no accountability, they cannot be called warriors – they are merely thugs.

Ready to Upgrade Your Power? Click HERE now.

10 Books Every Warrior Should Read

Posted on February 1, 2018 by Jon

I am what you would call an avid reader. Some would even say my reading habit borders on a reading obsession since at any one time I can be found to have at least three, sometimes four books going simultaneously. I have several on my nightstand next to my bed, a couple on the coffee table downstairs, one or two on the kitchen counter and, of course, my bathroom book.

Usually I am reading one book on fitness or health, one book on business, and one fiction. I also continuously have audio books playing in my car anytime I drive, creating a mobile library.

Great warriors train all the time. Reading is a form of training that must be practiced by the warrior on a daily basis. Feeding and training the mind is just as important as feeding and training the body. Remember – knowledge is power!

Here are 10 books that are a must in every warrior’s library. Expand your mind and pick up these books!

Also, if you have any recommendations, be sure to let me know in the Comments section below – I am always on the look out for new books to add to my collection.

1) The Warrior Ethos by Steven Pressfield

WARS CHANGE, WARRIORS DON’T We are all warriors. Each of us struggles every day to define and defend our sense of purpose and integrity, to justify our existence on the planet and to understand, if only within our own hearts, who we are and what we believe in. Do we fight by a code? If so, what is it? What is the Warrior Ethos? Where did it come from? What form does it take today? How do we (and how can we) use it and be true to it in our internal and external lives?

2) The Ethical Warrior: Values, Morals and Ethics – For Life, Work and Service by Jack Hoban

Jack Hoban was shaped by service in the U.S. Marine Corps, a life-changing epiphany at a Cold War bar, and mentorship under two masters: The 34th generation grandmaster of the shadowy art of the Ninja and a sage of the Natural Law who may just have deciphered the meaning of life. He now delivers a revolutionary view of moral values for our time epitomized by the Ethical Warrior – protector of self and others as equal human beings. Hoban’s methodology reaches from the Greek ancients to the counterinsurgency efforts of today’s Marines to provide ethical clarity and confidence in our moral actions.

Having been exposed to both Dr. Humphrey’s and Jack’s teaching on this since I began studying Bujinkan martial arts back in 1989, I cannot recommend this book enough!!

3) The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi

Composed in 1643 by the famed duelist and undefeated samurai Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings analyzes the process of struggle and mastery over conflict that underlies every level of human interaction. For Musashi, the way of the martial arts was a mastery of the mind rather than simply technical prowess—and it is this path to mastery that is the core teaching in The Book of Five Rings. This brilliant manifesto is written not only for martial artists but for anyone who wants to apply the timeless principles of this text to their life.

The classic book on strategy by Japan’s most famous swordsman. This book is one I read over again every few years and constantly find more nuance and deeper understanding as my training and years of experience grow.

4) Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Lutrell

This is the story of the only survivor of Operation Redwing, SEAL fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, and the extraordinary firefight that led to the largest loss of life in American Navy SEAL history. His squadmates fought valiantly beside him until he was the only one left alive, blasted by an RPG into a place where his pursuers could not find him. Over the next four days, terribly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell crawled for miles through the mountains and was taken in by sympathetic villagers who risked their lives to keep him safe from surrounding Taliban warriors.

5) The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (Modern Library Paperbacks) by Edmund Morris

This book tells the story of TR’s irresistible rise to power. (He himself compared his trajectory to that of a rocket.) It is, in effect, the biography of seven men—a naturalist, a writer, a lover, a hunter, a ranchman, a soldier, and a politician—who merged at age forty-two to become the youngest President in our history. Rarely has any public figure exercised such a charismatic hold on the popular imagination. Edith Wharton likened TR’s vitality to radium. H. G. Wells said that he was “a very symbol of the creative will in man.” Walter Lippmann characterized him simply as our only “lovable” chief executive.

6) Eric Greitens: Resilience : Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life (Hardcover); 2015 Edition by Eric Greitens

Eric’s letters—drawing on both his own experience and wisdom from ancient and modern thinkers—are now gathered and edited into this timeless guidebook. Greitens shows how we can build purpose, confront pain, practice compassion, develop a vocation, find a mentor, create happiness, and much more. Resilience is an inspiring meditation for the warrior in each of us.

7) Meditations (Penguin Classics) by Marcus Aurelius (1995) Mass Market Paperback by Marcus Aurelius

One of the world’s most celebrated and persuasive books, Meditations, by the Roman ruler Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 121– 180), fuses the stoic statutes he used to adapt to his life as a warrior and manager of a domain. Rising to the royal position of authority in A.D. 161, Aurelius discovered his rule assailed by catastrophic events and war. In the wake of these difficulties, he set down a progression of private reflections, plotting a logic of sense of duty regarding prudence above joy and peacefulness above joy. Mirroring the sovereign’s own particular honorable and generous set of accepted rules, this persuasive and moving work draws and advances the convention of Stoicism, which focused on the look for internal peace and moral sureness in a clearly confused world.

8) Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level (Third Edition) by Mark Divine

You are capable of twenty times more than what you believe. Are you living in your 20X factor? Or have you settled for a lesser productivity taught by society, your upbringing, or the things you believe about yourself? I want to wake up the authentic, connected warrior within you.

But waking up to a bigger reality is only the first step. The next step is learning to win in your mind before you ever enter the battlefield of life. Unbeatable Mind will teach you to starve your fear, overcome negativity and connect with a deeper and heightened sensitivity to what’s going on around you. You’ll clear emotional blocks, step into the shoes of self-mastery, and become the leader of others you know you were made to be.

9) Spiritual Journey of Joseph L. Greenstein: The Mighty Atom by Ed Spielman (1-Mar-1998) Paperback by Ed Spielman

The Spiritual Journey of Joseph L. Greenstein, World’s Strongest Man is a fully-documented and illustrated biography that also details the methods Greenstein used to train himself for the “impossible”. As a vaudeville star, he bit through iron bars, crushed steel spikes in his hands, and held back airplanes tied to his hair. These feats were all the more amazing because he stood only five feet four inches and weighed in at just 145 pounds. But The Mighty Atom had developed his own technique for tapping into the “life-force; ” a technique that encompassed Asian methods of concentration, Jewish mystical writings, and a then-unheard-of vegetarian natural diet. He unlearned the subconscious mechanism that forces us to stop when we think we have reached our physical limits. Each time he broke an iron chain, he revealed the enormous potential of the life-force. That potential exists inside every one of us and, as The Mighty Atom showed, it is within our grasp.

This is literally one of my all-time favorite books!

10) The Unfettered Mind: Writings from a Zen Master to a Master Swordsman by Takuan Soho

Here’s the classic samurai-era text that fused Japanese swordsmanship with Zen, and influenced the direction that the art has taken ever since. Written by the 17th-century Zen master Takuan Soho (1573–1645), The Unfettered Mind is a book of advice on swordsmanship and the cultivation of right mind and intention. It was written as a guide for the samurai Yagyu Munenori, who was a great swordsman and rival to the legendary Miyamoto Musashi.

Pick up a free copy of my book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts HERE

MEN – Pick up a free copy of my book, Dad Strength HERE

The Process of Becoming Masterful

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Jon

“Remember that mastery is not attained once after a lifetime of practice, but earned every day.”

– Jon Haas

Usually when we think of someone who is a master, be it a master martial artist or the master of some other craft, we think of them as attaining mastery at the end of a long lifetime of practice.

But mastery is NOT something that’s attained once after years or decades of training – mastery is something that is EARNED every day!!

You can be masterful in one moment and then a fumbling fool in the next (ask me how I know!).

The goal of becoming masterful isn’t to wait until some distant future when every move you make is perfect and every word that comes out of your mouth is sage advice, it’s to consciously create those moments of mastery every day until you have more of them rather than less of them.

Daily practice is the key.

Do you ever think about what it would be like to be a master martial artist?

Not just to be awarded the title “master” but to really and truly embody all of the sublime skill of martial mastery at the highest level of human achievement…

What would it feel like to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you could easily control and subdue the most violent opponent with the most minimal effort, like a lion playing with a cub?

What if I told you that mastery is NOT something automatically attained after a lifetime of practice, but is instead conferred only upon those rare few individuals who, through their own efforts, take consistent, specific daily actions to achieve it?

Then mastery would not be just a far away, imagined future state, but instead a real and attainable goal built by taking action every day, right here and right now.

Remember This

Remember this – it is critical to your success – EVERY single legendary martial master: Musashi, Ueshiba, Bruce Lee, Kano, Takeda, Takamatsu, Gracie, Hatsumi, etc…

ALL of them began as unskilled, know nothing novices, white belts without a clue.

Their consistent daily training formed them, forged them, into the revered and feared masters that we know today.

“What one man can do, another can do.”

You can choose to follow in their footsteps. You can choose to be masterful, to be legendary.

However, as you follow them, do NOT seek to become them – instead, seek what they sought, the process of mastery.

Find the process of daily mastery <<==

Finally… There is a Researched, Tested, and PROVEN Method for Developing Internal Power and Unusual Strength from Martial Arts…

What is Specific Physical Preparation for Martial Arts?

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Jon

Every once in a while it’s fun to think about how much the exercises we train on a daily and weekly basis actually translate, or carry over, to the activities for which we’re training.

Depending on your training program this can either be a great way to confirm that you are moving in the right direction, continuing to make progress and see results, or it can be a bit disheartening to realize just how little what you are doing actually carries over to your chosen field of endeavor.

In the case of budo (martial arts) practice, like any other sport or physical activity, there must be exercises specifically crafted to enhance performance. A solid base of General Physical Preparation (GPP) is necessary, but not sufficient.

What is GPP?

The first step in ensuring you are building martial skills on top of a solid foundation is General Physical Preparedness (GPP). The goal of GPP is enhanced work capacity. This is the ability to run faster, jump higher, and hit harder.

When work capacity increases, it allows the budding warrior to adapt more easily to increases in both mental and physical demands. In other words, it increases your capacity and level of readiness to absorb higher levels of specificity in training. In order to be more, we must become more.

When talking about the martial arts, which tend to be seemingly limitless, one must possess the physical, mental, and spiritual endurance to “keep going!”

Moving From GPP to SPP

While the goal of GPP is muscular adaptation and general readiness for training, the main focus of SPP is neurological adaptation — to train movements, not muscles.

Specific Physical Preparedness builds on GPP by increasing the development of characteristics necessary for a particular sport or activity — or, in our case, martial arts.

It is a uniquely designed and targeted system for enhancing strength, flexibility, endurance, and conditioning which builds on the GPP base by furthering development in the exact physiological profile of the martial art.

Therefore, GPP helps to make you effective while SPP makes you efficient. The end stage goal is of course to be both effective and efficient in each and every movement.

The Training Process Cycle

If your strength and conditioning program is stuck in the GPP phase of development then you may not be realizing the type of performance gains that are possible with a specifically crafted SPP level.

Strength and conditioning training must eventually approach as close as possible to the demands of the activity to maximize the training effect.

Since your body adapts specifically to the stresses placed on it, you improve according to the type of training you do. This is exactly why your training program must cycle through from the general to the specific.

Ready to take your martial art training to the next level?

Check out the vast array of SPP for Martial Art Training Programs Available from Warrior Fitness Training Systems HERE <<===

On The Habit of Excellence

Posted on August 17, 2017 by Jon

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

Lately I have been thinking about the virtue of excellence. This wasn’t always an important virtue to me. When I was younger (and dumber) I believed that I could get by on just being adequate at things and sort of drift my way through life. The only problem with drifting is that things only can drift one way, downstream.

No one has ever drifted to the top of the mountain.

Now I am convinced that we must all live the virtue of excellence in order to have full, complete, productive, and happy lives. And to be of service to others.

The most often talked about value in Greek culture is areté. Translated as “virtue,” the word actually means something closer to “being the best you can be,” or “reaching your highest human potential.”

This is our daily struggle and goal as warriors – to reach our highest human potential. You see the funny thing about excellence is that you can never achieve it, one and done. You must constantly strive to be in a state of excellence every day pushing higher and higher.

The man or woman of areté is a person of the highest effectiveness; they use all their faculties: strength, bravery, wit, and deceptiveness, to achieve real results.

In that spirit, here is the Strength Training Workout I just completed:

1A) Kettlebell Swings 4 x 25
1B) Barbell Back Squats 4 x 10, 6, 4, 2

2A) Pull-ups 4 x SM
2B) Kettlbell Military Press 4 x 6/6
2C) Split Stance DB Rows 4 x 6/6

3) Heavy Partial Squats 4 x 2

4A) DB Hammer Curls 3 x 6-8
4B) Lying KB Triceps Extensions 3 x 12
4C) Warrior Sit-ups 3 x 20

Phew…

Pursue excellence!

I am opening up a few spots in my Warrior Online Coaching Program. If you are someone who is interested in pursuing excellence in your life, you can apply HERE directly.

Don’t just think about how you can become excellent “some day”… Learn how to begin creating habits that will make you excellent NOW!