Kung Fu
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.
Jack Bauer/Kiefer Sutherland Of “24″ And The Art Of Fighting
Alright then, I have officially watched the first 4 episodes of this season’s “24″ with federal agent Jack Bauer, convincingly played by Kiefer Sutherland.
And yes, I am hooked again.
I actually don’t watch much TV anymore. Honestly, it can’t be more than 4 hours a ….. week.
Now that would be a good book title, “The 4 Hour Watch Week”. And ever since I reduced it to the current consumption level, I am getting a lot more done.
But there is definitely one TV show I really do enjoy and that is “24″ which is known to be one of the shows for adrenaline junkies (and I am not normally to be considered as such!).
Besides all the twists and turns in a “24″ script including very special effects, I of course enjoy the fight scenes with Kiefer Sutherland. I mean Jack Bauer.
I have been trying to find out what fighting style he uses to get the job done and so far I haven’t found out what it is.
To me it looks like elements of Wing Chun, JKD, Kali, Krav Maga.
Is there anybody out there reading this post who can tell me what fighting style Jack Bauer uses to make the world a safer place?
Congratulations To Fellow Martial Artist, Robert Downey Jr.!
Fellow Martial Artist, Robert Downey Jr. won a Golden Globe Award 2010 for the best comic actor for Sherlock Holmes!
The actor credits the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun kung fu, which he started to train about seven years ago, for giving him the strength to overcome his addictions.
Hey, Robert, Wing Chun looks good on you.
Congratulations from TheMartialArtsReporter.com!
Wing Chun: Chi Sao, Also Known As Sticky Hands
As most of you know, before developing Jeet Kune Do (Way of the intercepting fist) Bruce Lee started his martial arts training in Hong Kong under the highly acclaimed kung fu instructor, Ip Man, in the style of Wing Chun, as described in “Introducing Wing Chun“.
One exercise that you practice to improve your sensitivity, reflexes and the way you absorb and send back offensive energy is known as Chi Sao or sticky hands.
When I was training in Wing Chun years ago, Chi Sao was referred to as ‘thinking without thinking’.
Perfecting Chi Sao will help you become a well-rounded fighter.
I will also tell you from my personal experience that for a beginner and even at an intermediate level it can be one of the most frustrating martial arts training experiences. When you think you got, you don’t!
Chi Sao does not replace sparring and fighting. It simply complements these disciplines and what I have noticed is that the best Wing Chun practitioners are all really good at Chi Sao.
There is a saying in Wing Chun, “Stay with what comes, follow as it retreats, thrust forward as the hand is freed.”
Hope you enjoy every second of the video. The lines are open for your comments 24/7.
Bruce Lee One-On-One With Kareem Abdul Jabbar
If you’re into any style of martial art that involves high kicks every now and then such as taekwondo, karate, kung fu, muay thai, savate, kick-boxing and others, you have probably encountered the challenge of executing the perfect high kick.
Let’s say you’re 5′10″ and you nail a kick at your opponent’s temple who happens to be 6′1″.
Who wouldn’t consider that to be quite a feat?!
Bruce Lee was able to take similar challenges to unchartered heights.
According to a number of reports, Bruce Lee was 5 feet 7 1/2 inches tall.
So, normally in our equation it would be pretty good to execute a high roundhouse kick or similar to the head of an opponent who was around 6 feet tall, right?
That wasn’t good enough for Bruce Lee. He picked an opponent for his movie “Game of Death”, who was 18 1/2 inches taller.
His opponent’s name was Kareem Abdul Jabbar who at the time was a NBA star still playing for the Milwaukee Bucks and measured 7 feet 2 inches in height.
As we know a picture can say more than a thousand words.
So let’s just enjoy 5 minutes of a martial arts movie classic with Bruce Lee vs. Kareem Abdul Jabbar in “Game of Death”.
Thanksgiving Week In Review At TheMartialArtsReporter.com
I Hope You Enjoy Thanksgiving Week In Review At TheMartialArtsReporter.com And A Quote I Really Like!
Sifu Eddie Camden, The Instructor Recommended By Martial Arts Legends
Martial Artists And The Day After Thanksgiving, Aka Black Friday
Happy Thanksgiving 2009 From TheMartialArtsReporter.com
Peaceful Warrior Wisdom For Martial Artists (And Others, Too)
Urijah Faber, The California Kid Of World Extreme Cagefighting
Jet Li, From Humble Beginnings To Action/Martial Arts Movie Superstar
This week’s quote for readers of TheMartialArtsReporter.com:
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but the number of moments that take our breath away. ” Unkown
Jet Li, From Humble Beginnings To Action/Martial Arts Movie Superstar
Are your ready for some action?
Among all the remarkable action/martial arts movie stars over the last 20 years or so, several of them truly stand out such as Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, probably Jean-Claude Van Damme.
(Maybe you have your own favorites that haven’t been mentioned here. Let me know by sending in your comments.)
There are movie performers most people remember and who are quite frankly household names.
One such martial artist and movie performer I am always impressed with is Li Lianjie.
“Who the heck is that?”, you ask.
I admit I also only knew him by his stage name, Jet Li.
For many years, Jet Li has worked extremely hard to get where he is now in his career.
And obviously his hard work and determination have paid off for him and his family.
Especially if you consider that his mother had to somehow pull him, his bother and two sisters through as a widow in Beijing during the Sixties.
As a teenager, Jet Li rigorously trained in Wushu for several years, winning countless titles and national gold medals.
Jet Li became a member of the high-acclaimed national Wushu team that even performed for then-U.S. President Nixon in the United States.
In those days it was an extraordinary honor and opportunity for Chinese to be able to travel overseas and even more so to perform in front of “the leader of the free world”. Jet Li was still just a teenager at the time!
His abilities and achievements as a Wushu forms practitioner paved the way for Jet Li’s acting in martial arts movies that started in China, then Hong Kong and ultimately the United States. He has become a global superstar throughout the years.
You might have seen him in some of his movies such as:
Shaolin Temple
Once Upon A Time In China
Lethal Weapon 4 (This was the first time I had ever seen Jet Li and I was impressed!)
Romeo Must Die
Hero
Cradle 2 The Grave
Fearless
War (with Jason Statham)
The Forbidden Kingdom (with fellow superstar Jackie Chan)
I have learned that Jet Li is a cast member along with Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Staham, Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in “The Expendables” which is scheduled to be released in 2010. More on that at a later date.
But there is also another side to Jet Li such as his charitable activities, notably after his near-death experience in 2004 in the Maldives during a tsunami.
Reportedly, Jet Li’s “The One Foundation” supports international disaster relief efforts with the Red Cross and other efforts, such as recovery in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Jet Li continues to impress on and off the big screen.
Here he is at age 14 performing Wushu form for his first championship:
And who doesn’t remember Jet Li as the bad guy in Lethal Weapon 4?
Cynthia Rothrock, “The Queen Of Martial Arts Films”
In a recent post just several days ago I referred to Gina Carano as “The Face Of Women’s MMA”.
Today I would like to introduce Cynthia Rockroth, “The Queen Of Martial Arts Films”.
She was once quoted, “throughout my life, I’ve been opening the door for other women to get involved with martial arts films. I was the first woman to be on the cover of a karate magazine and the first woman to win a men’s championship.”
Quite an accomplishment!
I myself became aware of Cynthia Rothrock while flipping through a martial arts publication, I guess it was Black Belt Magazine, probably in the very early 80s when she was on the West coast demo team.
Between 1981 and 1985 Cynthia Rothrock was a five-time (and undefeated) World Karate Champion in forms and weapons.
Remarkably, these categories were open to both male and females at the time.
She currently holds an astonishing five Black belts in numerous Far Eastern martial art styles such as Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do and Wu Shu.
She most probably was the first Caucasian actress that ever had a lead role in a Chinese film as a heroine.
Rothrock became one of the few Caucasian performers to achieve big-time stardom in the local Hong Kong film industry having starred with Michelle Yeoh, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, even before achieving success in the U.S.
Reportedly, she set a record of becoming the very first non-Chinese westerner to carry an action movie single-handedly in Hong Kong. Cynthia departed from Hong Kong as one of the most celebrated action stars in Hong Kong’s movie history!
She has starred in countless movies here in the U.S. since returning from Hong Kong in the late 80s.
Probably best known for starring in “China O’Brien” and “Guardian Angel”, Cynthis Rothrock has added the fact that she is an inductee to the Black Belt Hall of Fame and Inside Kung-Fu Hall of Fame to her long list of outstanding accomplishments.
Even after all her major achievements off and on the Big Screen, Cynthia has also become certified as an instructor of Fighting Chance Combat Systems, a reality based, self defense system against armed assaults.
Cynthia Rothrock – Queen Of Martial Arts Films
Introducing Wing Chun
In my bio you will notice that I consider myself fortunate to have also studied the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun Kung Fu (or in Cantonese also known as Gung Fu).
I studied under Sifu Francis Fong, one of the finest Wing Chun instructors in the U.S.
Coming from a Shotokan karate training background I will admit that studying Wing Chun was a real change of pace, if you know what I mean.
But after having read about some other famous Wing Chun practitioners such as Ip Man, Bruce Lee, Ip Chun, Leung Ting, Emin Boztepe, I just had to give it my best shot.
Wing Chun, translated into English, means ‘Eternal Spring or Beautiful Springtime’ and refers to the name of Yim Wing Chun, who received Chinese boxing training from a Buddhist nun.
At the time the style was nameless.
Yim later married and taught her husband this style of fighting. He then simply went ahead and gave the syle her name, Wing Chun.
There are a number of theories and versions about how Wing Chun originated. I like the one I just gave you.
The typical Wing Chun stance is supposed to be like a piece of bamboo, firm but flexible, rooted but yielding.
Wing Chun favors a high, narrow stance with your elbows kept close to your body and your arms are positioned across the vitals of the centerline.
Attack and defense follow along an imaginary horizontal line drawn from the center of your chest to the center your opponent’s chest. The prime striking targets are on or near this line, including eyes, nose, throat, solar plexus and groin.
With the emphasis on the center line, your vertical fist straight punch will be your most common strike.
Your kicks are to be kept below the waist. This is typical of southern Chinese martial arts, in contrast to northern systems which apply many high kicks.
Chained vertical punches are used a lot in Wing Chun.
You develop your reflexes by searching unsecured defenses through use of sensitivity.
Training through Chi Sao (’sticking hands”) with a training partner, one practices the trapping of hands. When an opponent is “trapped”, he or she becomes immobile.
Wing Chun also offers forms that are meditative, solitary exercises to develop self-awareness, balance, relaxation and sensitivity. They also help you in the fundamental movement and in generating the correct amount of force.
Wing Chun generally consists of three empty hand, one “wooden dummy” and two weapons forms.
There you have it: Wing Chun in a nutshell.
Enjoy the clip and always protect your centerline!
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