Developed Renzoku Jiu-Jitsu in 1993, Renzoku combines traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu with some of the more effective ground fighting strategies made so popular by the Brazilians

This is a style specifically tailored for cage fighting competition.

Today’s Fun Fact source

I’ve dropped the ball on posting the last couple of weeks. Between my day job, training and commuting, spare time is scarce. You can always get micro-updates from the Twitter feed. I’ll try to pick things up later this week

A blog from a dad about raising kids and the topic is Martial Arts and Autism (and not autism)

Click here

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USBA Pride Blog on, Kids Finding Success Through the Martial Arts

Click here

I’m hoping to encourage their interest in having their children learn martial arts not just as a foundation for self-defense, but also as a way of life.

I’ll start to post my dialogue with others here and will be labeled “[DIALOGUE] Name of Topic.” This way all viewers can read any comments I’ve made else where. I’ll include any forum discussions I involved myself in. Click on the info below to see that dialogue.

Synergy’s Blog on “What is the Best Martial Art?
May 23, 2008

My Response

This is a question I’ve heard since I was a little kid (I’m 26 now). Bottom line is that there is no “best martial art.” I believe people ask this question simply as they are not educated about the arts.
Think of it in the context of cooking. Throughout time as different chefs of specific dishes (i.e. Chinese, French, etc.) traveled the world and shared their recipes, others take this and integrate it into their own style. That’s what “fusion” style restaurants are all about. Go to a place like Hawaii or San Francisco and they are everywhere. They are the MMA of food.
The evolution of food will never stop, same goes for martial arts. In 20 years, we’ll have a new form of MMA. There are those who do this already, take Dave Camarillo for example. He has integrated Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to create “Guerilla Jiu-Jitsu.”

Wow, I haven’t seen any footage from this since the 90’s!! I was actually interested in Netflix’s selection of Kung-Fu flims and turns out, they have a descent selection. I’ll do a full review next week but wanted to share the trailer for one of the classic by the Shaw Brothers line of production. Its a story filled with deception, corrupt head officers and of course the guys who destroy each other with their bare hands. Its the winning recipe for any Kung-Fu cult classic. Here’s the trailer for Invincible Shaolin (aka North vs. South Shaolin). Unfortunately, this movie was actually NOT on Netflix’s selection.

Skills relating to espionage and assassination were highly useful to warring factions in feudal Japan. Because these activities were seen as dishonorable, Japanese warriors hired people who existed below Japan’s social classes to perform these tasks. These persons were literally called “non-humans” [...] At some point the skills of espionage became known collectively as ninjutsu. And the people who specialized in these tasks were called shinobi no mono. Somewhat later they were called ninja.

Today’s martial arts fun fact source

I first wrote about training in other dojos and the reward that they can bring. Today was another night of that. I participated in a practice session for the first time with the CEO and co-founder of the Blind Judo Foundation, Sensei Cahill’s dojo. There are quite a few more black and brown belts than what I generally get to practice with. I have to say its such a huge benefit in terms of measuring personal progress. The different body types, techniques and skill level force you to change your everyday game. I had a kid probably near half my age sweeping me like a pile of leaves. To realize I have such a huge hole in my game will help me progress.

Whether the purpose of your training is a sport like MMA or to study a single art such as Shaolin Kung-Fu, Shōtōkan-ryū, or Muay Thai, you must mix it up. You simply neuter your own game by not doing so. MMA fighters are known to travel to different “camps” (i.e. “Gracie Camp”) to close gaps in their game.

The greatest masters would always travel the world teaching and learning constantly. Just think how a person would excel, traveling the world testing their skill. Everyone has to start somewhere, right? If you’re reading this, you’ll know how to use the phone book. If you want some Web 2.0 tips on how to meet, teach and learn amongst fellow pupils, try the websites I listed below. The two are great tools to get people with the same interest to congregate in a variety of environments. Just to be clear, I am in no way sponsored by any but simply provide information on what I have used and work.

Yahoo’s Upcoming

Meetup

In a future post I will go into detail how using these sites can benefit your martial arts dojo.

Wado-ryu is one of four traditional Japanese karate styles (as opposed to Okinawan karate styles; the other major Japanese styles are Shōtōkan-ryū, Shitō-ryū and Gōjū-ryū)

Below is a great post by Synergy Martial Arts that addresses this very question. For those of us who may not participate in competitions and prefer to pursue a different path, this becomes a serious question. The initial work flow of questions to ask would look something like this:

a) Why do I want to participate in an art?
b) Sport (competition), self-defense, martial art or balance of everything?
c) Choice in question b) will determine how I choose my dojo/instructor

Remember, you are making a huge investment of your life so do not proceed lightly. Take advantage of the free trial class so you see first hand how the instructors interact with the community. If the instructor happens to be out that day or is traveling, wait for them to come back before you sign up. A student-instructor may not always be a great representative during their absence.

Head instructor at Synergy Martial Arts, Mr. Shawn Kitzman provides some insight on their blog.

Continues Below

Self-Defense and Martial Arts: What’s the Difference?

At Synergy Martial Arts we are often asked the above question. Our response is simple. We are not trying to create champion tournament competitors or preserve an art or a Lineage; we are giving you the tools you need to protect yourself, and your loved ones, in case you are attacked.

Can you learn self-defense from a martial arts program? Sure, but it will take you many years to put together the skills that you need to defend yourself. Martial arts programs are designed to teach you stylistic versions of combat; when someone studies them, he or she spends a lot of time on refinement and self-perfection—the sense of reality, and the threat of injury, is lost.

Can you learn self-defense from mixed martial arts (MMA) or another martial sport? Again, the answer is very similar to the one above. Yes, you can. The problem lies again in the training method of the sport. Many people look at MMA and think that it looks very brutal; in reality, there are many rules in place to keep the participants safe. Participants cannot strike the eyes, groin, throat, base of the head, spine, and many other places that any self-defense program worth its salt should teach.

So in our opinion, when you evaluate a self-defense program, you should hold certain principles to be mandatory:

· The program must be comprised of methods that can be applied by a majority of the population, i.e. a kick to the groin is painful to most people, male or female, and the groin is located anatomically in the same place for everyone: Between the legs.

· Escaping should be the most emphasized component of the program. The last thing that anyone wants to do is to engage an attacker. If you have a choice, you must get out of the situation in the quickest, safest manner possible.

· The instructor must not have you performing one, lone technique to try to end an attack. You need to be able to hit an attacker many times, in rapid succession, in order to stun him so that you can escape.

· Weapon training must be taught but taught in a very pragmatic manner. You need to understand that, if the attacker has a bat or a knife, you are going to get cut or hit. Once you understand this, you are working to reduce your chances of injury: learning to cover a knife attack with your forearms, instead of your wrists, reduces your chances of getting cut across parts of your anatomy that will bleed profusely.

· The instructor must teach you the tools that will do the most amount of damage, in the shortest amount of time, so that you will be able to escape in the quickest manner possible. These tools are elbows, knees, head-butts, finger-jabs to soft areas, and palm-strikes. These tools take a very short amount of time to learn and require very little time to practice so that they stay familiar.

We are teaching you to be able to preserve your own life if you are attacked. In this month’s Men’s Health, they ranked the most dangerous places for men to live: unfortunately, Detroit was high on the list. If this is true for men, you can bet that it is true for women as well. Even though we live in a suburb of Detroit, and violent crime is a low incident in our area, many of the people in Livingston County commute to Detroit and the areas surrounding it.

Bruce Lee was quoted as saying, when someone asked him why he practiced Martial Arts:

BL: Do you have car insurance?

Q: Yes.

BL: Why?

Q : In case someone hits me?

BL: That is one of the reasons I practice martial arts. In case some hits me.

Also if you are looking for a Martial Arts or Self Defense Instructor please read the previous blog. How to choose a Martial Arts Instructor

Click here to see the post on their site.

The two oldest styles of Ninjutsu that are still practiced today are Iga Ryu and Koga Ryu. Ninja are skilled in a variety of martial arts including Judo, Jujutsu and swordsmanship.

Today’s fun fact source, click here