Martial Arts News 10.31.2009

• This past Friday marks the 35th anniversary of the infamous Rumble in the Jungle!

Yes, it was 35 years ago that an aging Muhammad Ali challenged the lean, nasty and undefeated world champion George Foreman to a showdown in the central African country then known as Zaire (now Congo).

• MMA fighter gives up the cage for…porn?

The fighter formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver, who has since legally changed his name to ‘War Machine’ has left MMA for..uh…adult entertainment.

• Photos leak out of the new Karate Kid.

Online commenters were outraged by the images: Andrew Mack of the genre film fansite Twitch even linked to the shots with the headline “Hey Look! It’s Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith Trouncing on My Childhood!”

• 17-year-old achieves Shodan.

A NELSON Mandela Bay pupil has made a name for himself in the karate community by winning gold medals at all the Eastern Cape tournaments he has participated in, and yesterday also obtained his Shodan, or black belt.

• Here’s some quick tips about choosing a martial art.

Use the information above to help narrow the list down several different arts and then choose a school you feel will be a good fit. Be sure to visit a class for each of these.

• Firefighter dies from a kick to his head.

Daniel Edmonds, 26, was taking part in his first full-contact match in a tournament at a nightclub when he was seriously injured.

• Black belt tourist gives robbers a little surprise.

“The victim there managed to punch one of the offenders three times in the face with a karate chop,” he said.

• Forgotten Kung Fu comes back in style. You can read more about Yongchun at this link.

Yongchun boxing, once a popular form of kungfu in the southern China during the Qing dynasty, is gradually coming back in vogue in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

From the blogs:

- The Way of Least Resistance has been on a roll this week! Mr. D has had two excellent and thought provoking posts. The first is a very nice piece on the role of traditional stances. The second takes ITF-style Taekwondo to task for the “sine wave” theory.

So what has prompted this “sine wave” trend in ITF taekwondo? I think it comes right back to “faux boxing”.

Much to the admonishment of my instructors I was never a “bouncer”. Granted, we did not practice ITF-style however, we did practice one part WTF and one part traditional (i.e. similar to Shotokan). During my second run in Taekwondo I was in my late 30s and trying to keep up with students that were 15 years younger. To put it simply: Faux bouncing just expended an awful lot of energy that ol’ Bob did not have to spend! Up until the mid-belt ranges my strategy worked. Relying on my previous run in Taekwondo, a little slipping and evasion from boxing, and Taekwondo fundamentals I was usually able to beat people 15 years younger than me. That all changed after mid-belt. What happened is their technical skills caught up with their strength, speed, and stamina. This meant that I usually lost and on one occasion I had my ass handed to me on a platter!

- Can’t afford a kettlebell? Try a sandbag!

I have been working with the sandbag for a few weeks and can feel a difference.

- Here we have another homemade Mook Jong.

Call it a Mook Jong, Muk Jong, Muk Yan Jong, or just a wooden dummy, it’s an essential training tool of various martial arts, especially Wing Chun. I don’t study Wing Chun, but I do study a relative art, Jeet Kune Do. Furthermore, with my Filipino Martial Arts study, such a tool is handy.

- Zimmer has a nice post that covers all types of contact.

The point I am trying to make is you do not have any obligation to spar with anyone that does not go by the rules.

- Martial Development shows us how to defend against wild animals.

If you’re being chased by an angry bull, and then you notice you’re also being chased by a swarm of bees, it doesn’t really change things.

The videos:

In honor of their 35th anniversary lets salute two of the greatest boxers ever to lace up the gloves!

I’m not sure what to make of this one? However I do like that 1970s-style mustache!

My new favorite word is ball flurries.

Neither of these are worth Sidebar Video of the Week so my present selection shall remain.

-BCP

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Happy Halloween & All That!

The Pattersons will be celebrating Halloween by eating a special Halloween feast, washing it down with some Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale, and handing out treats to the little beggars. In honor of this most sacred night I present to you some Halloween advice from Blame Society Productions.

Be safe!

-BCP

Mokuso Saves a Life

Last night I was channel surfing and happened upon Animal Planet’s show, I’m Alive. I normally would not watch “when animals attack”-type shows but I happened upon this episode just as the narrator said “Karate instructor”. Naturally this made me pause. Last night’s episode featured a Shotokan Karate instructor that was bitten by a rattlesnake while golfing.

A lifeguard is attacked by a great whtie shark in South Africa, and karate instructor Bruce Kanegai faces a frightening race against time after being bitten by a rattlesnake.

It appears that Mr. Kanegai first appeared on another show that I refuse to watch: Survivor. Anyhow, Kanegai’s claim to fame appears to be the fact that he survived a rattlesnake bite. Once he was bitten on the calf the venom started to act quickly. So his buddies decided to load him in the golf cart and get him back to the clubhouse. While they drove another of his pals called EMS on his cellphone. The type of rattler that bit him had neurotoxic venom:

Neurotoxins cause neurological symptoms, paralysis and could result in death due to respiratory paralysis.

Mr. Kanegai must have been highly allergic or was just hit with a goodly dose of the venom. Either way his muscles started to spasm uncontrollably, his left leg started to swell, and he could feel the reaction moving up the left side of his body. The golf cart was moving dreadfully slow–especially going up the hills. Kanegai worried that if the venom got to his heart and lungs he was done. So what did he do? He turned to his Karate training! Kanegai informed his buddies that he was going to attempt Mokuso in hopes of slowing his heart rate down.

At the beginning and end of most traditional Karate classes the instructor and students all practice Mokuso which is a form of kneeling meditation. This is done to clear the mind of the day’s troubles in preparation  for the Karate class . You may have had a bad day at work or an argument with someone — Mokuso is the time to clear that from your head so you can focus on Karate.

Well with over 20 years of practicing Shotokan Karate Mr. Kanegai had plenty of practice with Mokuso. He was able to calm himself, slow his heart rate, and make it back to the clubhouse where the EMTs awaited. Eventually he made it to the hospital and was given many doses of anti-venom serum.

My initial instructor in Tae Kwon Do during my second TKD run used to have us practice kneeling meditation before practice started. So I am familiar with the technique. We also practice a form of standing meditation in Kung Fu and occasionally in Qin Na. Both forms of meditation have the same intent: To calm the mind and relax the body in preparation for the practice of martial arts.

One tends to think that practicing a martial art may save your life if you are ever attacked by humans. Who knew that practicing something traditional could also save your life in ways that you may have not ever realized?

-BCP