Paul and Lele

Martial arts is a complicated thing to master particularly if you’re studying a cross training approach. Boxing, kickboxing, clinch, throwing and grappling all have their techniques, nuances that guarantee success and specific problems too. The first step is to want it. To have a dream of how good you can be. Whether you imagine yourself as a mix of Jet Li, Bruce Lee, Ong bak, or whoever, It helps to have an image of what success will look like. The next step is to get started. All success is built upon understanding and mastering good basics. For the senior class on a Saturday we are working on improving our kicking. We’ve all agreed to do just fifty kicks per day. We can do more but we’ve promised to do fifty per day (any kick but only count good ones ) a few hundred per day would be great but start at fifty. Everyone can do fifty. Do ten in the morning and you’ve only got forty left to fit in somewhere in the day. Think Kick. When you make tea. Do hold outs (where you hold your leg out at waist height ) whilst the kettle boils. Do what you can,  then repeat. So far no secrets just doing stuff. One time management book I read put it well. Think of bowling balls in a box. You can only fit so many in but it leaves lots of space. In those spaces fit lots of marbles. Small things that take up no space. Similarly do small amounts of stretching, hold outs and repeat kicks and hey presto you’ll be a better kicker. Does this make you who you want to be? Not totally but it takes you some of the way. Want to be a better kicker? THINK KICK. USE KICKS, HAVE THEM IN YOUR HEAD.

Next be responsible for YOU. Don’t just turn up for class and wait to be told what to do. Be self realising. No one in the class when you turn up?  Get working on your stretching and mobility. Didn’t do enough conditioning in the class? then do it yourself. Take responsibility for you. Don’t loan techniques from the instructor but own them and integrate them into your game. A quick aid memoir of some written notes might help as does visualisation. If you haven’t got  partner then imagine one. Is it easy? of course not. But why be mediocre when you’ve put in so much time. You dont want to be a chump who only does what they’ve been told to do. JKD is about individuality! Being strong and self directed. Get going. start with fifty kicks and your kettle boiling hold outs then add some abdominal exercises or conditioning when adverts come on the Tv. Have a desire  to be World Class! Good luck.  I expect a kick in the head very soon to show me you’ve been practicing.

When teaching drills and sparring techniques I try to convey how to move well and how to excel. Making you a great fighter is hard work for both of us. It’s a long road but well worth travelling. Along the path it helps to have some sort of aim point. What does mastery look like?  Over the months I’ll post up some clips of people i think you should watch and emulate as much as possible. You’re unlikely to achieve their physical level but you need to know what it that level of mastery looks like. Lets start with boxing. This should be a core of your martial arts and JKD personal system. Your first step would be to watch Roberto Duran one of the best boxers of all time.  Here’s a clip of his highlights but the fight with Esteban de jesus is the best apart from the two with Sugar Ray Leonard. Check them out if you have time.  What else is there to  do but copy this master boxer. Not in your personal life but aim at copying his boxing. His skill is phenomenal and his close quarter boxing and evasion is wonderful.http://youtu.be/6zKtj1o41nQ

Next check out Ramon Dekker he’s a wonderful Thai boxer totally fearless and like the Micky Rourke character in ‘ The Wrestler’ he’s not bothered what happens to him. Check out his fights on: http://youtu.be/iPYil5rfO4A His fight with Fenachio is wonderful. Like beauty and the beast with Ramon the beast. Watch how he hunts in all his fights and his body inclination. He’s coming to get you.. I watched the Fenachio fight live in the company of Dan Inosanto and talked to Ramon afterwards. Cut around both eyes he was quite unconcerned and focusing on his next fight a month ahead. He’s got a wonderful front foot jab, teep, and good evasion whilst unloading. Finally on the grappling front there’s few as good as Marcello Garcia a king of the choke. Check him out. http://youtu.be/dlpjKabazSA . Note how all these masters are soft and fluid in their movement yet powerful too. Now you know where the level is you just need to put in the training. See you on the path.

The recent riots have shown that we’re right on track with our current  approach to training. Of course training isn’t only about fighting in the street. However, self protection is vital in troubled times. Self protection then self perfection could be the mantra. Whatever your approach there’s lots to be learnt from training in a multiple opponent and weaponry scenario. Firstly as the Chinese classic the Sun Tsu says ‘ fighting the many is like fighting the few’ . It then goes onto say it is division and counting which doesn’t quite fit on a more personal street level. It is though about positioning and division, blocking their attack with one of their friends whether downed or in some sort of clinch from you. Eight opponents around you with you in the centre is eight opponents. Break out of the circle and you’ve got two lines of four who invariably get in each others way. Also if you clinch one then you can block off one line and use him as a shield or with the correct choke and a wall at your back hold off lots of attackers. So obviously the clinch work we’ve been doing and the way we’ve been working on transitions is ideal training for this scenario.

On a deeper level what happens is that as you concentrate on the other opponent or your position relative to attacking groups you delegate some or all of the work of transitioning and feeling the state of the clinch to your arms and body and surprise surprise it does it really well and gets better the more it does of it. Your head is now doing what it should have been doing all along;  dealing in strategy and the grand scheme of things eg survival.  In my limited experience most people who are clinched in a group attack stay pretty passive. They’ve taken a few licks from you hopefully and now wait for their friends to finish the job or not. This attitude and the violent movement and chaos of a real fight mean that they’re not often set up either physically or mentally to carry the fight to you but they’re opportunistic if the tables turn so you’d better be doing well.

Weaponry is also a great leveller and also a great teacher. Angles and concepts that are hard to understand with empty hands can often become clear when using a weapon. Arrogance about power and your ability to take a good hit ‘just like your dad did’ disappear when the hand is holding a knife or a hammer. Similarly those who are reluctant to move start moving pretty fast when you have a knife in one or both hands. This is how it should be. The warriors of old trained everything so that their were no surprises and ‘everything’ teaches you ‘everything’. In that I mean that each art or part of the art teaches you something that you can bring back to inform the rest of your training. These insights are invaluable. Grappling changes your boxing, boxing changes your grappling, Kicking changes boxing and weapons change everything. As the riots have shown you don’t get to choose the rules or the weapons or the location. You do however have to adapt, and fast.  Above all in this sort of scenario you’ve got to get in the zone. Hear the hum that comes when you’re not concentrating on specifics but have that disembodied state where you can see everything and it’s moving slowly. Knowing that if you concentrate too much you’ll be back in real time and struggling. Training should give you opportunities to experience this feeling without getting broken in half. Double stick training is one of my favourites as you get there most easily as your brain becomes overwhelmed so you have to let go to flow with the pattern. Another is the tag fighting we’ve been doing recently which helps a lot here.

Therefore you need skills and strategies to one; slow things down. Hence the clinch and positioning stuff from earlier. Have done multiple opponent or weaponry work before so you’re better equipped with relevant experience and most importantly be well conditioned because if there’s one big fail point in fighting of any sort it’s lack of conditioning. We’ve been training really hard recently so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Hopefully you wont ever be in a riot or any violence but the lessons you can learn by keeping that as a motivator of your training are immense. Let’s look at some of them:

Cardiovascular conditioning will save your life not only in street fighting but in health. I’m the only man in my street of my age who hasn’t had a triple bypass.

A more strategic view where you don’t get bogged down in detail but see the greater game and look for your opportunities has to be good. The ability to go with the flow is immense. With multiple opponents, as in life, you can’t have a fixed position you can only have the best one at this moment .

Delegation: If you can delegate to your hands and legs in combat then you can delegate to other people in life in general. That’s huge leverage.

See that structure and form are more important than just working hard. If you’re getting hit from all sides then it’s time to break out of the circle and slow things down and line them all up and deal with them at more of your tempo. A good wall at your back helps be it physical or emotional.

Lastly find ways you can enter the void where things go slower and fear is not the driver but your disembodied self looks at things unfolding. That way you act purer with less reservation and quicker more natural timing.

Happy rioting.

I’ve just finished watching the film The Kings Speech, a great film that shows some of the problems and tensions for those with speech impediments. What comes across is that speech problems like many others can be overcome with a bit of determination. As a life long stammerer I can remember as a child hating to go to the fish shop as I had to order Skate for my mother. Lots of S’s in Skate. However, that which does not kill you makes you strong to paraphrase Nietsche and it never stopped me. Likewise it never stopped many others. My friend at college Geoff Gleeson was British Judo coach a true intellectual and a warrior too. It’s a paradox that both of us chose roles where we have to do lots of public speaking. Martial arts was a huge part in both our growth I’m sure and I recommend the training to everyone.

Speech therapy has changed dramatically since the days of King George. Though I’ve not been to a therapist in many years I’d be happy to point anyone afflicted towards the best people. One of the most fun things was taking a group of intense stammerers to a very busy chinese restaurant in China town with the most aggressive and insulting waiters. All of us with the intention of taking our time and keeping eye contact. Huge fun but only in retrospect. I still don’t get to say exactly what comes into my brain, some would say that’s a blessing.

What the film and my own experience shows is that most problems can be overcome and to a certain extent help make you unique. Everybody can be a King to themselves. You’ve got a problem? That’s good!

I’ve been training with the senior instructors quite a bit recently and we’re all enthused about the benefits of training on a physical mental and spiritual level.  We all agree that we want to share this blessing that comes from martial arts at the highest level. As a result classes are  guaranteed to be great as our own enthusiasm for what we’re doing will be apparent. Our aim is to make you into a great martial artist, to empower you and bring out the warrior within.

What’s been apparent in our own training is that it’s not really about martial arts or about fighting. That’s just a vehicle. It’s about YOU: what hinders you and holds you back, your fears and need to control, what you grab onto. Just like fixed ideas, fixed or stiff shapes get broken or are gone around. The secret is to go with the flow but with certain intentions or desired outcomes which you’d like to realise at the outset but that you’re not fixed or dogmatic about the route. You’re adaptable, a great thing in this current world. You have to learn to be in tune yet have a direction. Realising that you can relax, yet still be strong and hard but with your very centre calm,still, and grounded. Once you’ve addressed your fears and needs and have done your training then the rest isn’t up to you. It’s the flow. Good or bad it’s how you react to it. The glass is always full of something’  was a quote I heard from the Alice Walker author of the colour purple. So it’s how you view things. Above all we’re in the process of working on ourselves and the amazing impact that has on our lives. ‘Self protection then self perfection’ . See you at training. There’s work to be done!

I’ve been going to lots of art shows and openings recently with my wife Judy and have been really impressed by the bravery shown by some artists. Of course it’s a mixed bag. Some of it is rubbish but the good stuff is very brave. Brave in the way that they put themselves out there for everyone to see. They don’t hide anything and could be ridiculed. That’s a tough thing to do. This made me think about the different types of bravery. A radio show today on black heavyweight champion boxers talked about the opprobrium dumped on Muhammed Ali when he changed his name from Cassius Clay and wouldn’t accept the draft into the army. There’s a man who was brave both physically but also spiritually, emotionally.

Martial arts should aim at developing all types of bravery but sometimes is used as an armour to hide who you really are. The aim is to make you strong so that you can open yourself and not be in protection mode. Holding your body defensively but free in movement and in spirit. In California they’d call it self realisation. Whatever it’s called it’s about pushing your envelope even if it’s only to know where you’re boundaries are. Renowned Yoga teacher Eric Shiffman talks about doing the corpse pose (savasana) as if you are the corpse of a cow in the desert. The aim is to open yourself and let go of protection, letting the buzzards come and pick at you. The mental quest Shiffman says is to realise you can let go, open yourself until there’s nothing there but gold. Abandoning protection mechanisms lets our body flow, strangely controls fear by embracing it and is often a huge emotional release.

A similar but simpler step is used in JKD and other arts where you have to go with the flow. Not knowing the outcome but trusting or believing that it will all be ok. It’s going with the flow. Being brave but not even seeing it that way just an abandonment of expectation of good or bad but just accepting what is. For my own part I realise I’m quite brave in certain aspects of my life yet not so strong in others. So like most people I have yet more work to do. Art, Yoga, Music, Fighting. Performance and creativity in all of these areas is first about doing your work, your basics but the great people are truly brave. Prepared to look stupid, prepared to lose, going with the flow and being creative. When we look at other people who aren’t fighters we should have the humility to realise that maybe these people aren’t physically brave but they may be braver than us in every other aspect of their life. The physical is one place to start. How great that no matter where you are there’s always more to do/be or let go of. Enjoy the trip and embrace the force.

We’ve just come back from a short break in the lake district which was wonderful. We missed the tourists and had a great time driving on empty roads. The trip reminded me how in the eighties alongside martial arts competition we also used to compete in the Karrimor mountain marathon. At the time this was a sort of pre-requisite for anyone taking black belt. As a group we entered for four years and trained for five but got stopped by injury on the fifth. Being all town boys it was doubly hard for all of us but in truth It was one of the best things I ever did and very challenging for all. Not only physical, the race was also a spiritual, yet painful, journey. Terry Barnet, Gordon McAdam, Alex Turnbull, and John Harvey were just some of the seniors who competed. My constant training partner was Willie Mohan an ex para and police riot training officer who’s still incredibly fit and strong, and also a great raconteur. At this time there were no Mp3 players only walkmans but you only had to ask Willie a question and he’d talk all day. The laughter helped take your mind off the pain. If you’d like to test yourself check out the link http://wapedia.mobi/en/Original_Mountain_Marathon

In the last class this Thursday we just covered sparring. This was done with bag gloves as this most closely represents street fighting and you have to work on being highly skilful, there’s no hiding behind big pillows. The aim of the session was to use the stuff that we’ve been practicing so student made it their own. Lots of times you get people saying “I know that” but in truth they know of it, but can’t do it in action, therefore they don’t know it.

First, we covered just sparring the jab with the emphasis on being non telegraphic. If you do this with the arm moving first then the body it’s very hard for your opponent to see. We added doubles with penetration and footwork, then added the cross. What I got everyone to do with the cross was to think of only having five so you don’t waste them. All the fighters were advised not to chase after fleeing targets but to wait and use the punch either in attack or in defence when you were sure to score. . Setting this cross up with a non telegraphic jab or double jab makes it much easier. As you can see, it’s a linear approach. If you don’t get the first bit right you’ve got more work later. So application of the basics and true understanding of them is the place to start, and to come back to, over and over.

We then added front kick and fighters used the front of the box for punching then retreated to the back of their stance/ box to stop kick. Adjustments were made with the drag step we’d covered in the first class of the night. Keeping him at the ideal distance for you to hit is a crucial part of the art. Everyone was fighting really well by now.

We then added the simple trapping that we covered on Tuesday. Why learn it if you’re not going to use it? As in the jab it’s a case of the hand going first if Pak sau is your trap. This worked really well for lots of people and killed the non telegraphic jab that the opponent was using. A couple of people did classic lop sau grabs and landed wonderful cross punches. The theme of the night though was ‘ Using It.’ Whatever you learn it has to go into the mix. I only cover things that you can work in sparring. If you understand this approach each tool or technique can offset or counter another attack so you need to have some technique depth. But in essence it’s a simple game. All in all this was one of the best sparring sessions in ages. Generally in the classes we’re doing a technique, then putting it into some game or flow so it’s less defined and you learn how to see it in flow, then we’re sparring it. This has been very successful. Once you’ve got something to work like this it’s yours. Do it successfully a few times over a number of weeks and it starts to go into your fight DNA. Bruce, as always, said it first. “To know and not to apply is not to know. “ Congratulations to all who trained as it was a great night, those who went to the pub on what was a lovely evening missed a special session.

I’ve just looked at a martial arts forum for probably only the second or third time in my life. A person was asking about the club and various people responded. This of course then got involved in sort of claim and counter claim. Generally the news was very good. Like all clubs we’ve had our ups and downs. Back in the eighties we were very focused on functionality and did lots of sparring. Then by the late nineties when we moved to different premises business took over as our costs were high and though still one of the leading clubs I think for a time we lost that zeal.

Now that eighties zeal is definitely back. It’s like the old days again, everything tested and slimmed down for action. The aim of our training is for you to understand both the technique and the concept plus the soft skills like timing and distance. It’s about less is more. Then once you’ve got the core stuff down and can use it the other stuff just slides in easily. Of course you have to train that stuff hard too so we squeeze as much into a session as we can. Instructor Neil Mcleod one of the Academy’s seniors often says. ‘ self protection then self perfection’ so that’s the path.

People often ask if I teach the complete Inosanto-lacoste system and I”d have to say not exactly. I’ve studied that system for thirty years and love it but what i teach is my own blend based around what I’ve learnt in forty plus years of training plus what works and also what I like doing. Being crippled for all of the nineties forged me and what i do. When you’re like that there’s no way you can do everything. You start to analyse and look at how to simplify and make functional. You look at ways to leverage your body to the maximum. As a result what I teach is a unique blend. With new titanium hips I’m a lover of movement and evasion but the close quarter stuff I learnt in that fifteen years is hard wired. I Love to pass this on to others. Whilst I didn’t like the constant pain I learnt lots about both myself and about technique and position. When you’ve got less you use it more wisely. At the moment I teach a blend based around Filipino martial arts but it’s got hints of Karate (the discipline, work ethic and perfectionism ) its got the flow and realness of Filipino styles, some of the structure of Lee’s Jun fan gung fu, the grit, grind and subtlety of boxing and Thai boxing. In many ways it’s true JKD,  the original MMA. Not sport based but where sport, reality and art meet.

Is it the best? As my friend Andy Norman of KFM would say ‘it is what it is’. It’s been my pleasure over the years to have played a formative part in the development of many of the leading instructors in the U.K and  throughout Europe. Did I teach them everything? Of course not. Hopefully what I did teach them is how to think and look and to train hard and cleverly. This is what I continue to try to do now. I try to keep the bar high so that people excel. Our grading system is organised so by the time you’re black belt you have an INTEGRATED knowledge of all areas. I often get called the grandfather of JKD or Kali but these terms were originated by others. Basically I just did my work. The Tao Te ching the chinese classic says’ to do your work and make no ado.’  So that’s what we’re trying to do . Our work should be our greatest promotional tool.

My thanks to my good friends David O, Carl and Gordon and Winston who share the load with me and to all our old friends out there flying the flag even though not currently training. In particular Pat O’Malley who unlike me seems to relish forums.