“Burpees - I understand that these are favored among convicts in the California penal system due to the fact that one can get a total body workout with a minimum of space. Currently I don’t do them, but these were my favorite exercise about 3 to 4 years ago. Start in a standing position with feet close together. Now, squat down and put the plams of your hands outside and slightly forward of your feet. With your weight supported by your hands, thrust your feet backward so that you are in the traditional ‘up position’ for a standard pushup. Do a pushup and return to the up position. Immediately after the pushup, pull your feet up to your hands in one movement, and stand back up to the original position. This is one ‘rep’. These will flat wear you out in short order, and are a good overall body conditioner.”

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“Many years ago I had the good fortune to meet and train under Professor Bata Milosevic of the Belgrade University, a researcher of medieval Balkan fighting methods and the founder of ‘Svebor’ - an attempt to collate these fighting methods into a modern system.”

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“In the martial arts, a ‘joint lock’ is a technique that targets a joint in an opponent’s body, holding it near or outside its normal range of motion. The purpose of a joint lock is not to inflict harm, but to issue a credible threat of harm. The recipient of a joint lock is expected to submit: to move, or to stop moving, as directed by the applicant.”
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The interview linked here is a rare conversation with Koichi Tohei Sensei, 10th dan, conducted during the summer of 1965 in Los Angeles during his USA tour. At that time, the publisher of Black Belt magazine was its founder, Mito Uyehara, a practitioner at the Los Angeles Aikikai.

“I definitely keep my one point at all times. If you do it only in the dojo, you cannot develop your ki because the training you receive in the dojo is too short. Only an hour or two a day is not enough. You must do it until it becomes a part of you and you do it naturally - unconsciously like breathing. Too many beginners do not really understand and keep concentrating on the one point (a point 2 inches below your navel) almost in a physical manner. They look at their expanded bellies and think they are doing it right. They do not understand they must concentrate, not intensively, but calmly.”

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Click here to view information on new DVD featuring Koichi Tohei, 10th dan.

“I’ve always been very physically active. In grade school it was kickball, tag and later, the middle school’s softball team (I played first base). As a freshman in high school, a few months after watching my uncle in the NYC marathon, I decided to give the track team a try. I ran and jumped my way right into an athletic scholarship, seeing the US and earning a B.A. without any school loans hanging over my head in the process.”

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“This was quite a few years ago already. And while the student in question did not use that exact phrase, I don’t think he’d disagree. But let me give the background. As you’ll know if you have read other parts of this blog, I do have a strong sense of a philosophy underlying traditional training, and I try to teach in accordance with it. I am also respectful of the style/organization of which I’m a member, and I ask my students to meet that organization’s requirements in terms of learning a code of ethics and certain other tenets.”

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“I think I’m going to add another dimension to the subjects about which I ruminate on this blog. In short, ‘minimalism’.

Allow me to explain. What, you may wonder, does ‘minimalism’ have to do with budo, which is, after all, the focus of this blog? Maybe nothing. But then, maybe it does, if even in a broad, general sense.”

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“To be honest it only seems like yesterday that I turned Thirty and had all the energy and fitness I could ask for, now nearly 20 years on and approaching 50 things are somewhat different these days. Training is defiantly harder going and my flexibility is somewhat reduced and try as I might I just cant do the things I used to be able to do.”

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“Here is something I say with confidence – martial arts can be unnerving! It’s not all butt kicking and black belts, after all. While I’m no master, I HAVE experienced (and seen others experience) a few common concerns that seem to crop up during martial arts training. Have a read through these top 10 stressors, and hopefully, I can help you shrug a little weight off your shoulders.”

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“For stand up fighting (punching, kicking, clinch work and stand up grappling) as you progress with your martial arts and spar for a few years, not only will you improve(hopefully) but your sparring partners will also improve. This is great, however, it will become much harder to be successful during sparring. There may be times when you spar without striking your opponent at all.”

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“The greatest of all the truly wonderful gifts that life gives us is freedom in each new moment. Unfortunately most people never recognize they have this gift. Instead they are too focused on something else – mesmerized by habit, occupied by responsibility or driven by their emotions or wants.”

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“I am back home from celebrating my teacher’s (Imaizumi Shizuo Shihan) 50th year in Aikido. A number of years ago, Imaizumi Sensei and I were walking back to my house from a hike and in our discussion, he told me that his ‘shrine’ to Aikido were his students. That statement stayed with me and led me to come up with a gift from all of Shin-Budo Kai to present to Sensei at his celebration banquet. I solicited from former and current students stories, vignettes, etc. as to what impact Imaizumi Sensei had on their lives. Steve Self, from Durango Shin-budo Kai took those submissions, along with photos of Sensei and turned them into a beautiful book that we presented to Sensei at the celebration banquet (9/19/09). Those reflections re-affirmed my belief that Aikido can be a powerful tool for positive, personal transformation.”

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