Where To Get Your Martial Arts And Self Defense Equipment
When you start training martial arts or Self Defense you will need the adequate martial arts of Self Defense equipment.

Both types of equipment are different and you should know what to look for when shopping for martial arts or self defense equipment.

The most common place to buy martial arts or self defense equipment is in the local dojo. Most dojos, training centers, etc?. have a small store where you can buy or order the martial arts or self defense equipment you need for your practice.

Buying your martial arts or self defense equipment at your local dojo has a lot of advantages. You will get expert advise from your teacher. He knows your needs and what type of martial arts or self defense equipment you are going to need for his classes. He will also be the best person to advise you on the quality of the different brands due to his years of experience with many different suppliers.

The negative part of buying martial arts or self defense equipment at your local dojo is the price. Buying only a minor wholesaler, the discount margins are very small and this will reflect itself in the prices your teacher has to charge for the martial arts and self defense equipment he or she sells.

The second possibility is buy your martial arts and self defense equipment at a local specialized store. The advantage is a lower price than in your local dojo or gym, you can touch, feel and try on the equipment before you buy to see if you like it and if the size fits you. You can get some advise from the salesperson about the different brands of martial arts and self defense equipment they sell.

The downside is the fact that most salespersons in those shops are non practitioners of the martial arts or self defense so they have no practical experience with the equipment they sell. This may lead to mistakes that will cost you money.

The third way to buy your martial arts or self defense equipment is to shop for it online. There are many suppliers to be found online that will ship the goods to your doorstep. To find them just type: martial arts or self defense equipment in google or any other search engine and you will get thousands of listings for this term.

The advantages are obvious : no need to leave your home, low prices and shipping to your doorstep but the inconveniences are also very obvious: You can not feel, try or touch the equipment before finishing the payment and receiving the shipment of your martial arts or self defense equipment. You won?t be able to get advise from a real person, face to face. Some suppliers will be happy to assist you in your selection of martial arts or self defense equipment by email or phone. If you have to return an order for whatever reason you will have to take care of the shipping and packing and refunds can take time to be paid.

So before starting to shop for your martial arts or self defense equipment take a look at the above and consider what is the best way for you. Some people will be limited to one or two possibilities and others can only buy their martial arts or self defense equipment online but wherever you go to buy yours, consider the warranty and the refund policies of all 3, the local dojo, the specialized shop and the online supplier.

This can save you a lot of headaches. Things do break and sometimes it just isn?t manufactured as it should be so warranty and refund policies will help you determine the professionalism of the seller and save you time and headaches.

Peter Vermeeren is a traditional martial arts teacher for over 30 year. His websites can be found here: <a href="http://www.takaharudojo.org" target="_blank">http://www.takaharudojo.org</a> and <a href="http://www.kamikaze-portal.com" target="_blank">http://www.kamikaze-portal.com</a>

Martial Arts and Self-Defense Wisdom: Stretch Before A Fight, Not During A Fight

One of the funniest, yet not-so-bright, things that I have ever heard of someone doing during a fight was actually done by one of my former students. Even though the incident that I am about to relate to you happened several years ago, it still makes me laugh every time I think about it. Even now as I type this article, I have a smile on my face and a chuckle in my belly.

I was first made aware of this particular incident on a Monday night as my intermediate adult class was arriving for their first class after the weekend. Larry (the name has been changed to protect the guilty) along with his friend and fellow classmate Joe, had just arrived at the dojo and went immediately to the change room in order to change and get ready for class. As they walked to the change room, I noticed that Larry seemed to be in an awfully big hurry and was actually looking away from me, while keeping his head down so that I couldn?t see his face. Although I thought this behavior was a bit peculiar, I really didn?t give it much thought at the time.

I spent the next 15 minutes or so with my beginning adult class as I finished teaching them their particular lesson for the day. After dismissing them for the evening, I had one of my senior students begin warming-up the next class. Which just so happened to be the one that Larry and Joe were in. The stretching period lasted about 20 minutes and as soon as it was completed, I took over the class.

Now have you ever been in a situation where you see something and then immediately do a double take because you can?t believe what you have just seen? Well, that very thing happened to me. As I called the class to attention, I looked at Larry and saw what had to be the biggest black eye I had ever seen. Now I must admit that I was rather awe struck at the time and just stared at Larry for several seconds. Finally, it occurred to me what I was seeing so I asked him what had happened. Larry?s only response to my question was to put his head down and look at the ground. While this is going on, I hear a couple of snickers coming from the back row of students. Since I was unable to determine who was laughing, I asked the entire class what was so funny. Joe, who ended up being the one laughing, informed me that I should ask Larry and then started outright laughing.

Well, I must admit that by this time my curiosity was sorely peaked. Therefore, I had one of my senior black belts take over the class while Larry and I went to my office. Once inside the office, Larry told me how he had acquired his black eye. Now I am generally not one to laugh at someone else?s misfortune and pride myself on being a fairly understanding and somewhat compassionate person. This however, was not one of those times. As a matter of fact, I was laughing so hard that I actually had tears running down my cheeks.

Now before I get into the actual events behind Larry?s black eye, you may want to stop reading this for a moment and go get a box of tissue paper. Because if you have any sense of humor at all, you are going to be laughing pretty hard in the next few moments as you continue to read this story.

Okay, now that you are back with the tissues, let?s get started.

Apparently the whole incident started the previous Saturday evening when Joe and Larry went to a local watering hole to have a few drinks with their wives. The evening started smoothly with no problems, that is until the local tough guys showed up with more liquor in their bodies, than brains in their head. As it turned out, the same could and would also be said of Larry.

The basic premise of the fight was that supposedly one of the local tough guys had made some kind of inappropriate comment towards Larry?s wife. Larry responded verbally and the tough guy challenged Larry to a fight. Larry agreed and he and Joe went outside with the loud mouth instigator and a couple of his friends.

Once out in the parking lot, Larry and his antagonist started to square off when Larry held up his hands and told the guy to wait a minute that he had to stretch first. When speaking with Joe later that night, he told me that he just stood there dumbfounded as Larry proceeded to sit down in the parking lot and stretch his legs. Now according to Joe, everyone stood there for almost a minute in shear disbelief that this was actually happening. Of course the first person to snap out of it was Larry?s opponent. Joe said that it seemed like he was watching it in slow motion when the guy take a couple of steps towards Larry as he drew back his right leg and proceeded to kick Larry right in the face with what would best be described as a punters kick.

Fortunately for Larry, he seen the kick at the last moment and was able to turn his head enough that the kick didn?t land flush against his face and ended up glancing off of his cheek bone after initially making impact. Larry then proceeded to get up off of the ground and put a major hurting on his opponent. Even though his face and eye hurt considerably, Larry told me that his self-esteem was hurt far worse for pulling such a foolish stunt. I told Larry that although it was a foolish thing to do, at least he had not gotten seriously hurt and that hopefully he learned a valuable lesson from this incident.

After several minutes of me trying to regain my composure, Larry and I began to pick apart the entire incident to try and discern all the various mistakes that were made and how he could avoid them in the future. The following mistakes are those that Larry and I both felt were made before and during this particular altercation.

1. Going to that particular bar, which was known as a roughneck bar, and where there was always trouble of some sort happening.

2. Drinking excessively in the first place. Whether in that bar or any other.

3. Allowing a verbal altercation to elevate into an actual fight.

4. Telling his opponent to hold on a minute, and then actually sitting down on the ground and stretching his legs.

When I asked Larry what had possessed him to sit down and stretch his legs, he told me that he wanted to be warmed-up and stretched out before getting into the actual fight. I informed Larry that the ?actual fight? started long before he went outside and that he was never going to get into a real fight when he was at his best. It always seems that every fight happens when you are either drinking (the vast majority of the time), tired, or distracted by something or someone else. Therefore, he needed to learn how best to avoid a possible confrontation, and when not able to avoid it, how to best use the actual situation and his surroundings to his advantage, not his opponents. And finally, never stop what you are doing in order to, nor expect your opponent to give you the opportunity to, sit down and stretch.

Develop your Kiai - To Win More Battles
KIAI

Hector, one of the heroes of the Trojan war, had such a fearsome war-cry it would drive whole armies back, Medieval Irish warriors were known to instill fear in even the toughest most disciplined English troops. The druids used a low-droning sound to un-nerve the Roman legions in the battle field, and G.I.’s returning from the pacific after world war 2 tell of a paralyzing Batlle-cry that the Japanese used during bayonet charges.

Oriental B.S.? Martial-arts fantasy or just proper psychology and physics applied at the right moment?
In one form or another, The Kiai or spirit shout has been touted to be an effective psychological weapon in the battle field or in one-on-one combat. Whether you are a believer in this or not, the Kiai, when executed properly is supposed to achieve the following:

1. Rally the troops. The Kiai is supposed to instill courage and ferocity in a full-frontal assault.Projected into an opponent, the kiai can paralyze the mind momentarily

2. a sudden un expected shriek causes the mind to look for the origins of the sound- thereby distracting him/her for a moment thus creating an opening

3. the Kiai is a spontaneous expression of individual courage and ferocity, in essence the kiai should ( or is supposed to ) psych you up.

4. Conversely - when the opponent is expecting a Kiai and it is not delivered - the effect is the same - the mind is expecting the battle-cry and is occupied with the expectation - thus distracting the opponent again.

As an ancient flowery Japanese text commands your kiai should fill your lungs and explode from your hara , it should reverberate like a thousand samurai storming into battle

Franz von Muhlfeld

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A Martial Artist’s View of Jet Li’s Latest & Last Martial Arts Film: “Fearless”

There must have been only a dozen people attending the Florida showing of Jet Li?s latest and reportedly last martial arts film, ?Fearless.?

But numbers lie, because you can?t judge how ?boffo? this film is from its box office numbers.

This is gem, I?m sure you?ll agree, when you see it.

In this movie, Li?s character is descended from a father who could have been the martial arts champ of his province, if he hadn?t shown mercy and followed through with a punch he had already expertly launched at his adversary?s heart.

Li swore that he would redeem the family honor and win the title that eluded Papa.

As he journeys toward greatness, Li learns many things about love, life, revenge, and honor, and we see him mature as a martial artist and as a hero.

This movie is masterful at examining the role of restraint in a warrior?s life; a theme I have written quite a lot about, lately. Let me say, by the time the end of the movie is achieved, a great harmony between a battler?s motivations is consummated, almost improbably, but witnessing this outcome is very moving.

I suppose I knew that this was Li?s last contribution to martial arts films, and touched by this cinematic farewell as well as by the tightly woven story, I found myself immobilized as the credits ran.

Though you?ll see some good action and intense swordplay and wire-assisted leaps, this offering is more about internal strength than anything else.

You might see it and conclude as I did, that Li is the real deal, and most important, he leaves his fans and sometimes overly enthusiastic brawlers with more to ponder than their speed or athleticism.

He shows that the martial arts are a noble and humane endeavor, and their true aim is the perfection of character.

Walking the Path
Life is in the living - swimming is in the water - karate is in the empty hand. Karate is not in the clenched fist, but in the open mind and tempered spirit. This is the true path of budo.

Karate Kids- Children in the Martial Arts
“Will the martial arts make my child aggressive or dangerous?” I’d like to respond with a simple and resounding “NO” but that might be an untruth. The negative consequences of misplaced values and poor martial arts teaching appear very quickly and can have an overwhelming affect on your child.

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Samy Schiavo to Rematch Jean Silva for the Cage Rage Title
The most recent fight added to the Cage Rage 9 card on November 27th is a rematch that has the MMA community talking. Samy Schiavo will get a shot at the Cage Rage title.

Tedoradze vs. Blackledge Re-Arranged For Cagewarriors Strike Force 3 On October 1st.
The huge heavyweight Ultimate Fighting/Mixed Martial Arts encounter between the Wolfslair Academy’s Tom Blackledge and the former CWFC Heavyweight Champion Tengiz Tedoradze has been brought forward by 2 weeks to Cagewarriors Strike Force 3.

Martial Arts and The Zone

On the occasions you delivered the perfect strike; blocked without the need to think or performed a near flawless kata, did it feel difficult? Or did you get the sense it happened by itself? If you have experienced such moments you were in The Zone. The Zone is a place where athletes describe this sort of experience. Studies suggest its a state of ‘effortless merging of action and awareness’. So what stops us from getting there? Factors such as stress or attempts to try harder can interfere. Often our efforts to train harder result in unnecessary muscular responses that prevent us reaching the effortless state of The Zone.

It is my belief that our natural state is to be in The Zone. Diligent practice of the martial arts can help us to experience this shift of consciousness. The Zone is an altered state where things can happen with little or no perceived effort. In these moments our response appears to precede conscious thought and is executed near to perfection; right timing, right effort and entirely appropriate to the situation.

I am sure we have all experienced moments like this. For example, in one competition I scored ippon with a jodan mawashi geri to the side of my opponents exposed face. Afterwards my opponent congratulated me on my technique commenting he didn’t see it coming, to which I could honestly reply, “Neither did I”. I was only aware of the execution of the technique once my leg has started its recoil. Where had it come from? At some level my senses had registered the target, selected the most appropriate technique, fired it off, made the lightest of contact and started the recovery before I had become aware of it! This was probably my ‘finest hour’. But how can we be capable of such remarkable feats one moment and be totally incompetent the next - I lost the next round and was appallingly slow.

Whilst the patterns (techniques) residing at a subconscious level can be called upon with incredible speed and effectiveness, I believe this can only happen if we are in a balanced state. Another word for this is poise, this is not to be confused with posture. Poise is a state of totally appropriate activity, both at a muscular and ‘mental’ level. When we are in this state there is ‘optimum integration of the postural reflexes, consciousness and appropriate use of learnt patterns’. That is, we can get out of the way and let the processes just happen. Nerves, tension and stress will interfere with this process if we allow ourselves to react negatively to these situations such as stiffening the neck, an action that will impede the balance reflexes. Likewise, over-confidence has a similar affect of preventing the unity of self and action as, in my view, it will reduce our level of alertness and state of readiness. The ego really should be left at the door of the dojo!

So perhaps to heighten our chances of getting into The Zone we need to focus on ‘being in the moment’. Only by being consciously aware of the moment or ‘the here and now’ can we ensure inappropriate muscular activity is not present in our actions. This takes time and involves going back to some very basic movements (pre-martial art techniques) such as everyday simple activities and Zazen to experience a stillness and awareness that will help in more demanding activities.

About the Author

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique and has studied performance enhancement in sport for the last 10 years. In 2001 he published a book called ‘The Performance Paradox: Challenging the conventional methods of sports training and exercise’ and is currently working on a new project about The Zone. More information about his unique approach to training can be found at http://www.fitness-programs-for-life.com/martial_arts_training.html

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