Shotokan Karate
The Week In Review At TheMartialArtsReporter.com
Whenever I put The Week In Review together, I become aware how fast time flies by.
Let’s enjoy the limited time we have here and make a difference in somebody’s life.
Hard to believe, but true: Ultimate Fighting Championship Is Gearing Up for their 111th event!
Did you know that UFC1 took place over 15 years ago? On November 12, 1993 and the overall winner was BJJ legend, Royce Gracie.
Fast-forward to March 2010: UFC 111 Main event GSP Vs. Dan Hardy. This will be the Welterweight title fight between “The Perfect Fighter” from Canada and “The Outlaw” from Great Britain.
Let’s foil attacks on girls and women and teach bad boys a lesson! Urgent appeal to girls and women: Learn Self-Defense!
This is one of my all-time favorites: Check it out now! Reminder: Italian Female Karate Champion Defeats Mugger.
Alright, so you got all the moves, but … Do You Really Have A Combat Mindset and Do You Really Have A Combat Mindset – concluded?
With all the buzz about Academy Awards, aka Oscars, I thought it might be an interesting approach by introducing the “Scottish Warrior Who Won 5 Oscars“.
There you have it again: The Week In Review At TheMartialArtsReporter.com
I would love to hear from you, so don’t be a stranger!
Tune in tomorrow, when I ask the question ” Whatever happened to …..?”
Last Week In Review February 2010 At TheMartialArtsReporter.com
Over the last 5 months since the inception of TheMartialArtsReporter.com my foremost goal has been and will continue to be to provide my readers with the greatest possible diversity of mainly positive martial arts related posts.
Readership has been growing faster than anticipated and I am certainly more than happy about that.
I’ll be honest with you: Make my day simply by visiting this blog whenever you want a quick ‘lift me up’ and tell all your friends about it.
If you have ever sent any comments in the past, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Don’t stop now!
If you haven’t so far, please feel free to share your thoughts on any of the previous 160 posts.
Thank you so much for your continuing support and interest.
This year seems to be moving at lightning speed. Two months have already passed and here’s the last Week In Review February 2010:
Years before Bruce Lee, …Extreme Pushups By Fitness Legend Jack LaLanne
An important topic in anybody’s life, … No Fear Or Know Fear?
Jean-Paul Belmondo … I Really Think He Was “The French Steve McQueen”
Consider Mokuso Or The Power Of Meditation Not Only For Martial Artists
Did The Movie “Enough” With Jennifer Lopez Help Women’s Self-Defense?
High-grade Muay Thai … From The Netherlands, The First Foreigner To Be Named “Muay Thai Fighter Of The Year”
Enjoy And Don’t Be A Stranger!
Mokuso Or The Power Of Meditation Not Only For Martial Artists
The term meditation (in Japanese, Mokuso) refers to a variety of techniques or practices intended to focus or control attention.
Most of them are rooted in Eastern traditions. These techniques have been used by many different cultures and martial arts throughout the world for thousands of years.
I remember that during my years of studying Shotokan karate we always started and ended our training sessions with a short, maybe 1-2 minute each of relaxation or meditation in a kneeling position, also known as ’seiza’.
The important part is to control your breathing like this:
Breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth, exhale from deep within the abdomen.
Relax to let the troubles of the day evaporate, and clear your mind to be ready for the Karate class and to start refreshened.
Mokuso is the time to clear your head and eliminate any anger before entering class. There is no religious meaning attached to Mokuso.
A even more physically active way of meditation would be by performing kata .
Today, many people use meditation even outside of its traditional settings as a form of mind-body medicine.
Many claims have been made about its value in promoting or improving health and wellness.
Just this morning I read that daily meditation exercises have the potential to cut the risk of death from heart attack by 30 (thirty) percent and cancer even by 49 (forty-nine) percent.
There are even claims that one can add up to 12 more years to on’e life. That’s powerful in my book.
There you have it in a nutshell: Mokuso Or The Power Of Meditation Not Only for Martial Artists.
Don’t try this while driving or operating heavy machinery!
Master Terry Lyon of Lyon-Karate.com
Meditation During Yoga Practice
Valentine’s Day And The Week In Review At TheMartialArtsReporter.com
Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all!
I don’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day.
When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.
Anyway …
Let’s get back to what really makes the world turn and that would be martial arts, right?! Just kidding around here.
Check out The Week In Review that took us from Russia (with love) to Japan to Brooklyn, New York to Hong Kong to Houston, Texas.
Russian Systema Or Just When You Think You’ve Seen It All
Masahiko Kimura, The Best Judoka Ever?
Martial Artist Wesley Snipes Co-Starring In “Brooklyn’s Finest”
Teenager Tried To Kick Bruce Lee In The Face
Linda Denley, Karate Superwoman From Houston, Texas
Have a great Valentine’s Day wherever you are!
I will talk to you tomorrow.
Martial Artist Wesley Snipes Co-Starring In “Brooklyn’s Finest”
Thought you might appreciate to know that we will be able to see fellow martial artist Wesley Snipes in a new movie to be released early March 2010.
The title is “Brooklyn’s Finest” and besides Wesley Snipes, stars Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke.
And here’s the storyline:
Burned out veteran Eddie Dugan is just one week away from his pension and a fishing cabin in Connecticut.
Narcotics officer Sal Procida has discovered there’s no line he won’t cross to provide a better life for his long-suffering wife and seven children.
And Clarence “Tango” Butler has been undercover so long his loyalties have started to shift from his fellow police officers to his prison buddy Caz, one of Brooklyn’s most infamous drug dealers, played by Wesley Snipes.
With personal and work pressures bearing down on them, each man faces daily tests of judgment and honor in one of the world’s most difficult jobs. When NYPD’s Operation Clean Up targets the notoriously drug-ridden BK housing project, all three officers find themselves swept away by the violence and corruption of Brooklyn’s gritty 65th Precinct and its most treacherous criminals.
During seven fateful days, Eddie, Sal and Tango find themselves hurtling inextricably toward the same fatal crime scene and a shattering collision with destiny. ~ Baseline StudioSystems
The stunts should be pretty impressive, considering that John Cenatiempo was the stunt coordinator. He has done a lot of great work in movies and TV shows such as Body of Lies, Life on Mars, The Wrestler, I Am Legend – just to name a very few.
But back to Wesley Snipes, whom we could consider a mixed martial artist, because he trains or has trained extensively in Shotokan karate, Capoeira and in a number of other disciplines including various styles of kung fu and Jiu Jitsu.
It’s been some time that he was able to put his acting and martial arts skills on display. The wait is over!
I am looking forward to seeing Wesley Snipes in Brooklyn’s Finest. This should be a good one.
Emil Farkas, “Sensei To The Stars” And A Lot More
Having taught, among others: Herb Alpert, Fred Williamson, Dennis Hopper, Lalo Schifrin, Sherry Caffaro, Mike Connors, Peggy Lipton, Raymond St. Jacques, Irene Tsu, Peter Fonda, Linda Blair, Al Ruddy, Lou Adler, Paul Williams, Ted Mann, James Cann, Phil Spector, Barry Gordy, Jeff Barry and Lorenzo Lamas, our featured martial artist has been dubbed “Sensei To The Stars”.
Research shows that Emil Farkas is more than that. A lot more.
Hungarian-born American martial arts instructor, author and fight coordinator Emil Farkas started his martial arts career while still a youngster, and before age 20 he had earned his black belt in both Judo and Karate.
Both his parents were Holocaust survivors, and young Emil was born in the Hungarian town of Munkacz right after World War II, and grew up in an Orthodox home.
When he was 7, young Emil started getting into fights with some of his Hungarian classmates and he decidedto study judo at the local sports club.
In 1956, after Soviet tanks crushed a short-lived uprising, the family fled and ended up in Toronto.
Farkas quickly learned that anti-Semitism had preceded him across the ocean and so he was driven to put all his energy into his judo classes and trained almost every night.
Several years later, the first karate instructors arrived from Japan and Okinawa and Emil Farkas was immediately taken by the athletic kick ing and punching techniques. He became so proficient that he earned his first black belt in judo at 17, and in karate at 18.
In the mid-1960s, the Farkas family moved to Los Angeles and 19-year-old Emil looked for a job to support himself while attending college. He became a bodyguard to music industry mogul, Phil Spector.
In 1970, Farkas’ career really started to take off. That’s when he founded his own school, the Beverly Hills Karate Academy, which he still runs today. The timing was also good to attract Jewish parents and their kids, especially after the Israeli military victory in 1967.
Working for Phil Spector helped Farkas meet actors and screenwriters in Hollywood. As martial arts movies started to become popular, Farkas was in constant demand as a stunt and fight coordinator, training stunt doubles, and working with cinematographers on “choreographed action” or fight scenes, in Easy Rider, Killer Elite, Mannix, Spiderman, The Hulk, Mission Impossible and The Fall Guy, just to mention a few.
Sensei Farkas used the long waiting time on the movie sets to write books on the martial arts. He has co-authored numerous books, including the authoritative “The Original Martial Arts Encyclopedia: Tradition, History, Pioneers.”
As a martial arts instructor, Farkas now focuses mainly on “street-effective self defense” through Shotoka, a branch of karate that Farkas developed.
Today he is one of America’s most respected martial arts instructors and is without a doubt internationally recognized as a leading authority on the martial arts.
Currently, Sensei Farkas holds a 7th degree Black Belt in Karate, 4th degree Black Belt in Judo and a 4th degree Black Belt in Ju-Jitsu.
Not surprisingly, he is also an accomplished expert in realistic street combat, having worked as a bodyguard for many years.
In 2000, Farkas and Benny “The Jet” Urquidez founded the Los Angeles Film Fighting Institute, which was one of the first schools of its kind in the United States to teach martial artists the intricacies of stunt work.
In 1995, Farkas founded his own federation, The United International Martial Arts Federation, whose goal is to promote traditional martial arts worldwide.
Emil Farkas has shared his vast martial expertise as a Hand-to-Hand combat instructor to the Canadian Army as well as Women’s self-defense instructor at UCLA.
He has been on the cover of all major martial arts magazines including Black Belt Magazine, Karate Illustrated, World Karate, Inside Kung Fu, Combat, Fighters, Official Karate, Combat Karate and Budo.
In 2000, Farkas was inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
Hats off to Sensei Emil Farkas! ”You have come a long way since your childhood days in the Hungarian town of Munkacz.”
The Week In Review At TheMartialArtsReporter.com
The Week In Review At TheMartialArtsReporter.com
“Time keeps on moving into the future.”
But that shouldn’t stop us from having a look at this past Week In Review. Enjoy!
This has to be my personal favorite technique ever. Don’t miss “Back To Basics: Karate Middle Punch (Chudan Zuki)“
“Chewing on” an injury myself, I thought you might benefit from “Should Injured Martial Artists Still Work Out?”
At times underrated and underestimated “Judo: No Kicking And Punching, But It Can Still Hurt Like Hell!“
Do you know who ‘The Greatest Sports Figure Of The State of Iowa’ Is? Dan Gable, Olympic Wrestling Icon From The U.S. American Heartland
Yeah, it’s that time of the year again: “Jack Bauer/Kiefer Sutherland Of “24″ And The Art Of Fighting“
Congratulations To Fellow Martial Artist, Robert Downey Jr.! Wing Chun Practitioner Wins A Golden Globe Award for Sherlock Holmes!
Take it from the Little Dragon, Bruce Lee And The Power Of Goal Setting
Enjoy your Sunday!
I’ll be back here tomorrow. You, too?
Back To Basics: Karate Middle Punch (Chudan Zuki)
Hey y’all!
Hope you had a great week and you enjoyed some of my posts.
As you might know, my martials arts journey started in the late 70s by taking Shotokan karate lessons.
I am seriously considering returning to my roots and “rekindling” my love for my first martial art style. It’s just a matter of getting all my ducks in a row and juggling a very packed schedule and, as we all know, prioritizing. You guys will be the first to know when it happens.
I just remembered that song with Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, “My First Love”. Sorry, I’m dating myself again.
Even if it doesn’t happen in the next couple of weeks, I honestly believe that striving to perfect the basic techniques is a absolute Must not only in Shotokan karate and other martial arts, but in just about every skill and activity. And I thank UrbanSamurai for re-visiting this extremely pivotal issue.
Let me ask you a question:
Do you think professional golf players ever stop practicing their swing?! Nope.
Well, I personally always enjoyed seriously working on my basic karate techniques and one of my absolute favorites had/has to be the middle punch or chudan zuki performed as a reverse punch.
I don’t intend to brag, but my reverse punch executed to the solar plexus was effective enough in several fights to actually knock out my opponents. In several cases, this was the first and only technique executed!
The first time it happened in kumite competition, I must admit, I was totally shocked, but in a very good way. This basic technique, that is most probably the most applied technique in karate competition, really works! Besides being effective, it also extremely efficient.
To make my point a bit more illustrative, I would like to share a video clip featuring Bart Scovill, who has been an active karateka for over 30 years.
I really think he does a pretty thorough job in explaining the intricacies of …. yes, I admit it: My favorite basic karate technique, chudan zuki.
In my humble opinion, mastering the basics will give you a very strong foundation in your martial arts and even non-martial arts training.
Dan Gable, Olympic Wrestling Icon From The U.S. American Heartland
Unanimously, “The Greatest Sports Figure In The History Of The State Of Iowa”, Dan Gable has set the bar in high school, collegiate and Olympic freestyle wrestling soooo high, I wonder if anybody can come even close to matching or surpassing his accomplishments ever.
The reason I need to elaborate on wrestling today (again) is because it cannot be over-emphasized that the vast majority of physical encounters end up on the ground/floor and that’s where your grappling, wrestling, submission skills will be put to the test.
It was also the reason why yours truly as a tradtional Shotokan karateka saw the necessity and took he initiative to at least experiment in Judo years ago.
And honestly, every serious martial artist and every person serious about self-defense should have a very close look at their grappling skills.
Before I really get off track today, let’s get back to Iowa’s favorite amateur wrestling star, Dan Gable, who should serve as inspiration and motivation to you.
His achievements on the wrestling mat are legendary.
As a high school student Dan Gable was undefeated state champ during his sophomore through senior years. But wait, there’s more, a lot more!
While attending Iowa State University, Gable wrestled for three years and won 2 NCAA titles!
His only loss during his collegiate wrestling career was in his final match which brought his overall mark to an mind-boggling record of 181 victories and only 1 loss.
Dan Gable went on to wrestle internationally between 1971 and 1973 where he set his record at 29 wins and only 1 loss. Overall, his national and international freestyle wrestling record was 97-5.
One of his many highlights was the win of an Olympic Gold Medal as a Lightweight during the 1972 Munich Games where he did not give up a single point in all of his matches.
Following his extraordinary amateur wrestling career at the age of 28, Dan Gable became the wrestling coach at the University of Iowa in 1976.
In the nine years, from 1978 to 1986, under Gable’s leadership the Hawkeyes won the NCAA title each year, a record nine in succession.
He continued to coach the team until a sabbaticall after the 1997 season.
Gable’s coaching record in dual meets was 355-21-5 and that includes 15 NCAA titles and 21 straight Big Ten titles. Amazing!
He has also been called upon to coach the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team in 1980, 1984 and in 2000 in Sydney, Australia.
Dan Gable stays involved at the University of Iowa and not surprisingly he has also become a highly sought after motivational speaker.
In Waterloo, Iowa, they now even have a Dan Gable Museum that I am definitely going to check out when I head out there.
Now, let’s hit the mat!
The Week In Review At TheMartialArtsReporter.com
Thanks again for stopping by and sharing your keen interest in martial arts and related topics.
Another week has flown by and it’s time for The Week In Review.
Enjoy!
Learn The Muay Thai Clinch From Walter “Sleeper” Michalowksi Also Known As Neck Wrestling Demonstrated By A True Professional
FREE: 5 Unique Pushups To Elevate Your Training Program Just About Anywhere, Anytime And Without Any Equipment
“Karate, The Art Of Empty Hand Fighting” By Hidetaka Nishiyama The Best-Selling Karate Book Turns 50 This Year!
Another Glimpse Of Astonishing Filipino Martial Arts This FMA Master Uses Not A Stick, Not A Knife, But A Horse Whip!!
Wing Chun: Chi Sao, Also Known As Sticky Hands A highly important exercise for anybody serious about Wing Chun Kung Fu.
The Talented Mr. BJ Penn, aka ‘The Prodigy’ Learn More About The UFC-Lightweight Champion From Hilo, Hawaii And Most Probably One Of The Best Fighters Of All Time.
Enjoy your Sunday!
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