The martial art of Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) is based on the ‘13 Postures’. Despite what many believe, these ‘postures’ are not 13 prototype fighting techniques – the term refers to 8 methods of expressing power (Jin) and 5 footwork methods and strategies. In this article, I will be looking into the 5 footwork methods, and how their strategy is to be applied against an opponent.
Two weeks or so ago, I was invited to the Tracy Brothers' Gathering of Eagles in Las Vegas, NV. Some of the people there I hadn't seen in almost 35 years. Most everyone there was good natured, friendly to other styles, and open to all ideas. The convention lasted 4 days.
This is THE definitive martial arts subject. Bigger than ‘Can Taebo be used for self defence?’, more controversial than ‘Did Bruce Lee wear boxers or Y-fronts?’ – this article looks at the subject that gets keyboard warriors (and even some pretty experienced folk) everywhere jumping up and down, beating their fists into walls and challenging each other to fight for the honour of the Shaolin Temple. WHAT IS CHI?
This article looks into the unfortunate death of Brandon Lee - not only a legend in his own right, but also the son of the most famous martial artist of all time, Bruce Lee.
Most martial arts styles require some level of flexibility and therefore improving flexibility for martial arts will help you grow to new heights in your practice while still remaining safe from injury. While some people seem to have a natural ability to be flexible most of us need to work at improving our level of flexibility for martial arts. This article gives you a basic introduction of the types of information and training which professional martial artists carry out.
A healthy man is thought to have a BMI (Body mass index) of 18. The BMI of a professional sumo wrestler is rarely found to be below 45. The sumo wrestlers diet and lifestyle is the key to this exceptionally large weight and despite the general opinion of most people, this is acheived through very rigorous eating and sleeping strategies rather than a mass endulgence in foods with high fat content.
Warming up serves a number of purposes, I’m going to look more closely at two of them, and more specifically, the science behind the warm up. I split my classes warm up into two parts, each one specifically designed to target one of the purposes for the warm up.
A Karate legend and Shotokan master, Gichin Funakoshi (船越 義珍 Funakoshi Gichin) was born Noverber 10th 1868, Shuri Okinawa, an island close to Japan. He passed away April 26th 1957 in Tokyo.