Today I was looking for some good videos on actual street fights and I ran across this video of actor/martial artist Michael Jai White talking about non-telegraphic motion with Kimbo Slice on the set of a movie.
Now I can hear you saying ” Shawn you must be out of your mind??? Michael Jai White and Kimbo Slice???” But Michael Jai White does a fantastic job of explaining and showing non-telegraphic motion to Kimbo.
I can hear all of you Kimbo Slice critics out there muttering under your breath that Kimbo is a bum etc. Before you judge him realize that he was recruited by the University of Miami to play college football. I really believe that if Kimbo had started MMA 10 years ago he and developed a good game he could have been an amazing MMA fighter.
As for Michael Jai White I knew that he had been training Martial Arts for a long time and had train with some very good Instructors but really have not seen or heard him speak on Martial Arts ever. This is one of the better explanations that I have heard and I have much respect for him and his ability now.
Did you know that October is Domestic Violence Awareness month? Also did you know that in2007 in the state of Michiganthere were reported 73,927 domestic violence offenses? That to us at Synergy Martial Arts is a pretty frightening statistic!!!
Please join us in our efforts to defeat Domestic Violence. We have teamed up with the area shelter in Livingston County LACASA (www.lacasa.org) and all proceeds from the workshops will be donated to LACASA.
Kicking Domestic Violences Butt
When: October 16th, 2010
Times: 9-10am, 10-11am, 11-12pm
Where: Synergy Martial Arts, 8540 Hamburg Road Brighton Mi
Cost: $5 for 1 hour class all proceeds will be donated to LACASA
Please join us for this fundraising event it will be a lot of fun, goes to a good cause and who knows it could save the life of you or a loved one.
For more information please contact Shawn Kitzman @ 517-672-2386. Here is a video of some of the material that will be covered at the workshop.
SiJo Bruce Lee said. “It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.” I believe that this statement is true in life and in Martial Arts but it can mean different things to different people.
Often people will refer to this quote to bolster their stance on not adding to Jeet Kune Do and leaving it just like Sijo Bruce left it upon his passing. Or they will use this quote to defend only training one Martial Arts style. Here is my opinion on the quote.
When I began training in Martial Arts in 1992 I was training in a Karate style and after about 9 months of training I looked around the room and realized that while training was a lot of fun we were not doing what I saw in the fights at my high school. I found that to be very odd here we were “learning to defend ourselves” but not learning to defend against the most common attacks in my school. Unfortunately for me I also saw the politics of rank and how higher level belts would use their rank to intimidate lower ranks.
So I left my Karate classes and went searching for other options in 1994 I met a guy who was training Jeet Kune Do and I thought that I had found what I was looking for!!! Three Instructors and training in 10 different Martial Arts styles later I can say that I did and here is what I found to be true.
That regardless of the style everyone is still kicking, punching, throwing, grappling and submitting. They all have just slightly different delivery methods and in order to find the one that fits you best you really need to experience as much of that as you can. I know that sounds like I am talking about adding and not decreasing and hacking off the unessential but I am not.
I am talking about researching what fits you best and then from there using those frames of reference to understand the specific movement then refine the technique. I have learned things while training Silat that have improved my Grappling and things from Kali that have improved my footwork for my striking.
We at Synergy Martial Arts have found that instead of focusing on the technique we look at the training methods that make each art unique and from there implement them into our training. By performing the training methods until you cannot stand it and then repeating them more after that you begin to understand the application of the technique.
In closing we have found that adding more training methods that have similar concepts allows us to hack away the unessential while giving us a variety of ways to train techniques. If we try a training method and we feel that it does not fit we discard it and continue to reach until we find something that fits what we are looking for.
I was doing my usual YouTube search this morning and found this video by Sifu Rick Tucci (www.pama.com) and was really impressed by it. To me a great Instructor shows you drills/training methods that will dramatically improve your training in a short period of time. All to often we get caught up in super fancy techniques that dazzle everyone but we don’t understand how or why to do them.
This training method I believe is as useful for front leg round kicks as Sensei Erik Paulson’s calf-burner is for the rear-leg round kick. Sifu Rick does a great job of explaining the hows and whys of this training method. I believe that if you spent 5 minutes on this drill everytime you trained it would really improve your ability to throw your front leg round kick for power.
I was on Guro Dan Inosanto’s website (www.inosanto.com) and saw this video where B.J. Penn’s wrestling coach Kenny Johnson interviews Guro Dan. If you are on the internet and do a little research on Guro Dan you will find a couple of different camps about Guro Dan.
One comment that I saw recently was that Guro Dan was living on what he did with Bruce Lee and has not really evolved much since. So for those of you who don’t know much about Guro Dan outside of his training with Sijo Bruce Lee he is pretty up to date and ahead of the curve even into his 70’s. When I was out to the Inosanto Academy Instructors Camp this spring Guro Dan talked alot about Kenny Johnson and his training methods.
I think that this video clip is really cool because it shows how much that Kenny Johnson respects Guro Dan.
If you have read anything on our site you know that we are truely Erik Paulson dorks… CSW Instructor Chris Malgeri (www.maunlimited.com) is hosting the Seminar @ his school Martial Arts Unlimited in Clawson Michigan on September 18 & 19 2010.
I have attended 3 of Sensei Erik Seminars and I always walk away inspired to train harder. In fact after the 2007 seminar after I was giving the rigid rod of reality that my clinch game was not what I thought it was and I vowed to change it. I am really excited to attend this Seminar.
Here are a couple of clips to get y o u all fired up. If you have any questions please contact Chris Malgeri www.maunlimited.com here is his number to the school as well 248 435 4030.
Here is part 2 of From Ip Man to Bruce Lee-Tracing the Legacy. On this video my Instructor Sifu Dan Inosanto further discusses how Ip Man and Wing Chun influenced Sijo Bruce Lee and the formation of Jeet Kune Do. Sifu Dan continues to show Wing Chun Dummy and Jeet Kune Do Dummy forms. He also shows how Sijo Bruce used focus mitts to work on blending boxing, kickboxing and wing chun.
Many people don’t realize that Sijo Bruce and Sifu Dan were among the very first Martial Artists to incorporate focus mitts into Martial Arts training. While today it seems that training with mitts is a no brainer it was not in the 1960’s as a matter of fact they were ridiculed by many in the Martial Arts world.
At the end of the video Sifu Dan comments that without Ip Man there would not be a Bruce Lee and without them we would not have reached the levels that we are now. I believe that this is a true and important statement. Sijo Bruce revolutionized Martial Arts many of the advancements that he made in the 1960’s are just now being accepted by the mainstream Martial Arts public.
I hope that you have enjoyed these two videos I feel that they are both very important to have a better understanding of both Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do.
In this post my Instructor Sifu Dan Inosanto discusses how Ip Man and Wing Chun influenced Sijo Bruce Lee and his formation of Jeet Kune Do. Also on this video Sifu Dan discusses the Jeet Kune Do Wooden Dummy sets and the application of them. This video clip I feel is very important as a historical perspective of Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do.
Todays post is a review of Guro Kent Nelson’s (www.tkentnelson.com) Armas Kali Single Stick Phase 1 DVD. Kent began training with us @ Synergy Martial Arts in June 2007. In that time I have watched Kent and his Armas Kali program grow by leaps and bounds. Kent’s teaching methods are very well thought out and easy to follow. His passion and excitement for Filipino Martial Arts have led him to train with Instructors Guro Dave Hatch (www.attributivemartialarts.com) and Guro Dan Inosanto (www.inosanto.com).
Both students and instructors can and will benefit from the Armas Kali material. I highly recommend this video and the series I have taken material from it and implemented them into my own teaching methods.
It has been a while since I have posted. July was a really busy month for me but I am back and have an awesome 4 part Ajarn Greg Nelson (http://www.mmaacombatzone.com) interview that Dick Harrell (http://www.dick-harrell.com) did in July 2010. For those of you who have not visited our site before Ajarn Greg Nelson has had a huge impact on us here at Synergy Martial Arts. So enough of my rambling here is the first part of the interview.
Posted by synergymartialarts 
Synergy Martial Art's Weblog 