One thing that I emphasize in my teaching of Eagle Claw Kung Fu is that the essence of it is to CONTROL your opponent through the use of the locks, sweeps, take-downs and other techniques that we specialize in. When people ask if I teach 'philosophy' in my class I tell them that it is but not overtly. Here is one of the main areas where that applies. For those of you who DON'T study Eagle Claw or any martial arts, this philosophy still applies!
When teaching Eagle Claw and how to use it in a fighting situation, I must make sure that the student knows how to maintain a level of calm and relaxation when they are confronted. We in Eagle Claw say that if you must fight 'keep a smile' on your face (this is one of the first things we teach in Tai Chi). Sounds funny but think of the ramifications. If you can smile when someone confronts you, they will be offset or confused by your reaction. You WILL be more relaxed- studies have shown that an 'angry face' makes people's blood pressure rise- See "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell.
Physically, you need to be relaxed to 'catch' someone's hands or arms as we do in Eagle Claw. One way that we bring this about is to spar without gear. When a student puts boxing gloves on, they almost immediately start punching as hard as they can. Our goal is not to punch but to control (this is far more compassionate and SAFE- no broken bones or blood- to both parties) our antagonist and, thus, the situation. How can we control our opponent if we cannot control our own emotions? Ww MUST train enough to know that our technigques can and will work, have the confidence in our ability to use them and then we can stay calm. Take this out of martial arts; If you are a new driver and hit a patch of ice you painc since you haven't experienced this before. If you grew up in Minnesota you calmly turn the wheel in the proper direction and continue. Fighting and confrontational situations are similar. Self defense is also. If you have never been hit, you panic when you do and then all of your training goes out the window. When we train we do our best to go as intensly as possibly without th einjury- It is not easy but that is why training is so focused.
I ask all of my students to put this to the test by competing in full-contact fights against others in tournaments. While not actual fights (there is gear and rulse) it gets one a little taste of what it is like to have someone trying to take off their head.
In closing (I can go on a long time about this topic), if you know how to defend yourself and aren't in a state of false confidence (many schools don't test their students in a valid way) when you are confronted you will be able to remain calmer. You will not lose control of your mind set and this, in turn, will make it much easier to deescalate the situation. You may not even need to use your physical techniques- As Bruce Lee said "the art of fighting without fighting".
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Training On Your Own
This one is something that I address personally everyday. As a martial artist there is nobody in Atlanta who knows anywhere near what I do in Eagle Claw; The drills and partner forms alone are enough. Much of this has to be done by myself imagining a partner. Even training my forms and other exercise is usually done solo. While I COULD do some of my workout with my students, I feel it is my obligation to give them my TEACHING time and not get my thing going. With my weight training and cardio-vascular exercise it is the same- No work-out partner or trainer/instructor standing over me to get me and keep me going. How do I keep myself training and pushing myself to improve?
First I say that it ties in to my long term goal- Make Fitness and exercise a regular part of my life for the rest of my life. Once I established this I now need to live up to it. NOT easy. But, after many years of regular kung fu training and exercise I now have it in my body and mind to train. It is something that I do out of habit. I feel 'off' when I don't. Yes, there are days where I slip and don't train at all but since I have been doing it for so long, I feel a little upset but know that a few skips in the long scheme of things aren't bad and are expected. You can't get so hard on yourself that you beat your head into the ground. Another thing that I do is to sometimes just start. My Oldest training brother, Cecil, told me one day that if I just start and go it will happen. Once I start my mind then challenges itself to keep going. My body will then take over.
How this applies to you is that you should, also, make it something that you just do. Whatever type of exercise, you have to struggle to get the habit part down. The self-discipline is something that, like your muscular strength, is developed and can get stronger. Building your CHI is the fuller aspect to keep in mind. Your CHI will get stronger as you train. When you can get yourself to train regularly and push through those 'bad days' and still not quit on regular training, you will become more focused in EVERY aspect of your life! Your CHI will be felt by others around you (in a good way) and they, too will fell good around you.
First I say that it ties in to my long term goal- Make Fitness and exercise a regular part of my life for the rest of my life. Once I established this I now need to live up to it. NOT easy. But, after many years of regular kung fu training and exercise I now have it in my body and mind to train. It is something that I do out of habit. I feel 'off' when I don't. Yes, there are days where I slip and don't train at all but since I have been doing it for so long, I feel a little upset but know that a few skips in the long scheme of things aren't bad and are expected. You can't get so hard on yourself that you beat your head into the ground. Another thing that I do is to sometimes just start. My Oldest training brother, Cecil, told me one day that if I just start and go it will happen. Once I start my mind then challenges itself to keep going. My body will then take over.
How this applies to you is that you should, also, make it something that you just do. Whatever type of exercise, you have to struggle to get the habit part down. The self-discipline is something that, like your muscular strength, is developed and can get stronger. Building your CHI is the fuller aspect to keep in mind. Your CHI will get stronger as you train. When you can get yourself to train regularly and push through those 'bad days' and still not quit on regular training, you will become more focused in EVERY aspect of your life! Your CHI will be felt by others around you (in a good way) and they, too will fell good around you.
Friday, July 17, 2009
"Thick NOT Fat" is BS
This latest study says it all:
ATLANTA - Nearly 36 percent of black Americans are obese — much more than other major racial or ethnic groups — and that gap exists in most states, a new federal study finds.
About 29 percent of Hispanics and 24 percent of whites are obese, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Racial differences in obesity rates have been reported before, and health officials were not surprised to see larger proportions of blacks tipping the scales.
But the new CDC report is the first to look at the gap on a state-by-state level, finding blacks had much higher obesity rates in 17 states and had rates about as high or higher than other groups in another two dozen more states.
Health officials believe there are several reasons for the differences. People with lower incomes often have less access to medical care, exercise facilities and more expensive, healthier food. In many places, minorities are disproportionately poor.
But attitudes about weight also are believed to be a factor, said Dr. Liping Pan, a CDC epidemiologist.
“Black and Hispanics are more accepting of high weight,” she said, adding that heavy people who are satisfied with their size are not likely to diet or exercise.
Obesity is based on the body mass index, a calculation using height and weight. A 5-foot, 9-inch adult who weighs 203 pounds would have a BMI of 30, which is considered the threshold for obesity.
The data comes from national telephone surveys of hundreds of thousands of Americans in the years 2006 through 2008.
Please note the comment by Dr. Pan (I repeat it because of it's power)- "Black and Hispanics are more accepting of high weight"..... By saying you are "Thick, not fat" this is what you are doing. My being Hispanic makes it OBLIGATORY that I bring this up in my blog about fitness and health!!!
We as ALL people, but ESPECIALLY Black and Hispanics, MUST do something to STOP accepting that being overweight is good. YES, you should love yourself EVEN IF you are overweight. That IS NOT saying that you should love yourself BEING over weight!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Keep It Simple
In your training and desire to 'overcome the boredom' you will probably look into many new, different and 'exciting' training methods. You will look at new ways to use your techniques. With Kung Fu many always look for fancy applications because they think 'it's cool'. My answer to this is to "Keep It Simple"! When you start to get fancy before you have the most basic techniques you will get sloppy and make all of your technique suffer.
In a more clear way: You are doing squats to improve your legs strength. You get bored. You see someone doing a 'fancy' version of a squat (jump squats, clean and press, etc). You decide to try one. Since you are new to lifting you haven't developed the necessary skills, strength (core, legs) and coordination to do the exercise. You seriously injure yourself.
With Kung Fu this can happen also. There have been many times when I have had to hold a student from doing 'tornado' kicks (360 rotation) because they aren't ready for any number of reasons. Or you see a student trying to apply a sparring technique that is beyond their skill level. They get hit very cleanly because they can't perform a basic block yet!
In conclusion, when you are training, whether it be in Kung Fu or just regular fitness, stay with our general princicple of not being in a hurry to get there and do the technique or exercise level that you are truly ready for. Keep it simple until you can handle it. If you aren't sure how to judge, find someone qualified who can!
In a more clear way: You are doing squats to improve your legs strength. You get bored. You see someone doing a 'fancy' version of a squat (jump squats, clean and press, etc). You decide to try one. Since you are new to lifting you haven't developed the necessary skills, strength (core, legs) and coordination to do the exercise. You seriously injure yourself.
With Kung Fu this can happen also. There have been many times when I have had to hold a student from doing 'tornado' kicks (360 rotation) because they aren't ready for any number of reasons. Or you see a student trying to apply a sparring technique that is beyond their skill level. They get hit very cleanly because they can't perform a basic block yet!
In conclusion, when you are training, whether it be in Kung Fu or just regular fitness, stay with our general princicple of not being in a hurry to get there and do the technique or exercise level that you are truly ready for. Keep it simple until you can handle it. If you aren't sure how to judge, find someone qualified who can!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Overcoming the 'Boredom' of Training
Attaining Kung Fu is just that- The attainment of a high level of skill through hard work over time. This is not easy and never expected to be. It DOES get boring. Thousands of repetitions of the same technique is just not something many people want to do. But you must remember your objective- To attain Kung Fu! Tiger Woods must have hit MILLION of balls from the tee to get such a great tee shot. Roger Federer must have done the same with his serve. Yo-Yo Ma must have done his scales, too. The basic rule is 10,ooo hours of practice! (See Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" for more on this) How do you get through this? You must have the self-discipline. If you don't, start light with doing 100 reps per day and build from there. Nobody said it had to happen over night. We are not putting a time frame on it! Just keep another KEY concept in mind; The practice must be conscientious and exacting! If you practice imperfectly, your results will be, also. It takes, roughly 300 repetions to make a movement more 'automatic' or 'sub-conscious' so that you don't have to think about it. If you do it incorrectly, however, it takes roughly 5,000 times to correct it.
So, when you are training, be aware that this is part of the development of your self-discipline. When you are 'bored', just tell yourself "one more set" and then do it again. When exhausted and your form slips stop and come back the next day. Like a muscle, your mind needs to develop it's own strength and focus, over time. Don't pressure yourself too fast and don't get upset when you can't focus. It is all part of your development. You will get 'stronger' and develop your chi to be able to last longer.
So, when you are training, be aware that this is part of the development of your self-discipline. When you are 'bored', just tell yourself "one more set" and then do it again. When exhausted and your form slips stop and come back the next day. Like a muscle, your mind needs to develop it's own strength and focus, over time. Don't pressure yourself too fast and don't get upset when you can't focus. It is all part of your development. You will get 'stronger' and develop your chi to be able to last longer.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Making The Committment, Long Term Goals
When beginning your journey to attain kung fu (kung means energy, fu means time. When together they mean 'a high level of skill attained through hard work over time'. This can apply to anything and not just Chinese martial arts) you must keep in mind what that means. You should set your mind into thinking that this will be an ongoing journey and not one that will end when at a fixed time or day. Can you ever really attain perfection? When is your skill at it's highest? You will constantly be reaching higher. Keep this in mind when you start your journey, whether it be in Chinese martial arts (the real term for them is Wu Shu but this takes another explanation for later) or tennis or football or just simple exercise. When setting your goal, make it one that will constanyl evolve as you grow and your skills grow and improve. My goal is "Make exercise a regular part of my life for the rest of my life."
Whatever you come up with to make your long term goal, do it with 'Kung Fu" in mind.
Whatever you come up with to make your long term goal, do it with 'Kung Fu" in mind.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Kung Fu For Fitness
This is my true favorite thing. As someone who has been a competitive athlete in many sports- football, track, soccer, basketball- and has been a personal fitness trainer for 20 years, I will say that NO work-out has been as fulfilling and complete as Kung Fu. Doing Kung Fu (the true meaning is 'high level of skill attained through hard work over time') has gotten me into the best all-around physical shape of my life. I can still run 4 miles in a hlaf hour, I can do a full split, I am able to do (last time I tested) 82 push-ups in one minute. Yet, most of my training has come from doig Kung Fu. How is this? There is a training principle called 'specificity of training'. This means that you get strong in the way that you train. If you bike a lot, you will get improve at that but not, necessarily at running. Swimming will not help your running. Bench pressing 350 pounds will not help you sprint. Nor will it make you punch harder. Kung Fu and all of it's different motions has so many that I could take almost any sport and show a kung fu method/technique that would simulate an aspect of that sport and could be used to improve it. You will develop am awareness of your body that only dancers and gymnasts have. Balance, coordination, flexability, endurance, explosive power, core strength and so many other physical areas will improve. Concentration, memory and your ability to relax under stress will all improve. Add to this that you will learn to defend yourself in physical and mental confrontations.
Look for a good kung fu school and give it a try. You just may find something different that has enough variety to keep you interested but enough stability to allow for you to see your progress.
Look for a good kung fu school and give it a try. You just may find something different that has enough variety to keep you interested but enough stability to allow for you to see your progress.
What REALLY is Exercise?
Just one the phone with someone who was talking about how her family is so out of shape and all. She then proceeded to tell me the same stuff that many are now saying- If only they would just walk down the block and do SOMETHING, they would not be in such bad shape. Well my take on this is that is a cop-out for not WANTING to do the work and put the actual effort into exercise! There are STANDARDS that are out there as to what 'exercise' is if you only look. I'll give the basic ones now:
Cardivascular Exercise you need to maintain a heart rate of at least 60-90% of your maximum for at least 20 minutes (American Council on Exercise)
Strength- Strength is the maximum amount of weight you can lift once- The basic rule is that you need to lift so much weight that you cannot do more than 8-12 repetitions with good form.
Muscular Endurance- How many times you can lift a certain amount of weight.
If you keep to these basics you will start to be able to develop your program to suit your needs.
Don't deceive yourself and think that parking your car at the far end of the parking lot is a work-out. Or that walking in the park while on your cell phone or being on some cardiovascular equipment and reading will be intense enough. It MAY be but you should make sure that you have figured out what your target rates are.
More later.....
Cardivascular Exercise you need to maintain a heart rate of at least 60-90% of your maximum for at least 20 minutes (American Council on Exercise)
Strength- Strength is the maximum amount of weight you can lift once- The basic rule is that you need to lift so much weight that you cannot do more than 8-12 repetitions with good form.
Muscular Endurance- How many times you can lift a certain amount of weight.
If you keep to these basics you will start to be able to develop your program to suit your needs.
Don't deceive yourself and think that parking your car at the far end of the parking lot is a work-out. Or that walking in the park while on your cell phone or being on some cardiovascular equipment and reading will be intense enough. It MAY be but you should make sure that you have figured out what your target rates are.
More later.....
Welcome to The Tao Of Exercise
Hello, since this is my first time doing this I will begin by letting you know some of my background, what my goals are and a little of my philosophy.
My name is Joel Rodriguez. I am 50 years old from NYC. Now residing in Atlanta for 14 years. I am a Master and full-time instructor of Eagle Claw Kung Fu and Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan. I have been teaching Kung Fu for 20+ years. I also have been a certified personal trainer for 20 years. Prior to kung fu I was a competitive athlete (through High School) in track, football, soccer and basketball. I have always been athletic. My personal desire and motivations for my level of health and fitness are that both my Grandfather and Mother passed from diabetes. Along with that a very close friend who was an exceptional athlete gainde a lot of weight and in his early 40's had a heart attack and needed quadruple bipass! I am not going to alow either to happen to me. It is also my goal to do what I can to help others not have these happen to them.
My philosophy regarding fitness and training are very simple. To borrow the phrase JUST DO IT! Having been a martial artist for so long, my Eastern philosophy comes through here. I believe that your goal in training shouldn't be to lose weight or get stronger or any of these other 'simple' goals. My attitude is that your goal should be to make fitness and exercise a regular part of your life for the rest of your life! Just think of how deep and powerful and challenging that goal is. Your short term goal is quite simply to make each work out the best that you can do for that work out. You can use how fast you go or how much weight you lift as benchmarks but don't get so caught up in numbers. You ill have good days and bad days but if you give it your best you will always be glad that you worked out.
Most of what and how I gear myself is towards my Kung Fu (Eagle Claw Kung Fu and Wu Tai Chi Chuan) and my fitness training is geared towards 'sport specific training'. This means that when you shoul dlook at my blogs as how you can apply them to your lifestyle and workouts.
With that in mind, I hope that you enjoy and learn from what I put on here. My ideas are going to be, sometimes, controversial but I always want you to think and judge for yourself. Blind faith is not a good thing!
My name is Joel Rodriguez. I am 50 years old from NYC. Now residing in Atlanta for 14 years. I am a Master and full-time instructor of Eagle Claw Kung Fu and Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan. I have been teaching Kung Fu for 20+ years. I also have been a certified personal trainer for 20 years. Prior to kung fu I was a competitive athlete (through High School) in track, football, soccer and basketball. I have always been athletic. My personal desire and motivations for my level of health and fitness are that both my Grandfather and Mother passed from diabetes. Along with that a very close friend who was an exceptional athlete gainde a lot of weight and in his early 40's had a heart attack and needed quadruple bipass! I am not going to alow either to happen to me. It is also my goal to do what I can to help others not have these happen to them.
My philosophy regarding fitness and training are very simple. To borrow the phrase JUST DO IT! Having been a martial artist for so long, my Eastern philosophy comes through here. I believe that your goal in training shouldn't be to lose weight or get stronger or any of these other 'simple' goals. My attitude is that your goal should be to make fitness and exercise a regular part of your life for the rest of your life! Just think of how deep and powerful and challenging that goal is. Your short term goal is quite simply to make each work out the best that you can do for that work out. You can use how fast you go or how much weight you lift as benchmarks but don't get so caught up in numbers. You ill have good days and bad days but if you give it your best you will always be glad that you worked out.
Most of what and how I gear myself is towards my Kung Fu (Eagle Claw Kung Fu and Wu Tai Chi Chuan) and my fitness training is geared towards 'sport specific training'. This means that when you shoul dlook at my blogs as how you can apply them to your lifestyle and workouts.
With that in mind, I hope that you enjoy and learn from what I put on here. My ideas are going to be, sometimes, controversial but I always want you to think and judge for yourself. Blind faith is not a good thing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)