Just in case someone needs a little more info about which martial art I wish to create an empty handed style, it’s gatka/shastar vidiya.
By: Hardas Singh
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Filed under Martial Arts by on Dec 26th, 2009. 8 Comments. 
Some martial art practitioners have been training a lot and they become fast and energetic but their bodies seem to be average with no muscles at all.
By: Ephram Saracen
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Read more on How can training martial art makes a man to build his ripped muscles?…
Filed under Martial Arts by on Dec 23rd, 2009. 5 Comments.
Among all the remarkable action/martial arts movie stars over the last 20 years or so, several of them truly stand out such as Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, probably Jean-Claude Van Damme.
(Maybe you have your own favorites that haven’t been mentioned here. Let me know by sending in your comments.)
There are movie performers most people remember and who are quite frankly household names.
One such martial artist and movie performer I am always impressed with is Li Lianjie.
“Who the heck is that?”, you ask.
I admit I also only knew him by his stage name, Jet Li.
For many years, Jet Li has worked extremely hard to get where he is now in his career.
And obviously his hard work and determination have paid off for him and his family.
Especially if you consider that his mother had to somehow pull him, his bother and two sisters through as a widow in Beijing during the Sixties.
As a teenager, Jet Li rigorously trained in Wushu for several years, winning countless titles and national gold medals.
Jet Li became a member of the high-acclaimed national Wushu team that even performed for then-U.S. President Nixon in the United States.
In those days it was an extraordinary honor and opportunity for Chinese to be able to travel overseas and even more so to perform in front of “the leader of the free world”. Jet Li was still just a teenager at the time!
His abilities and achievements as a Wushu forms practitioner paved the way for Jet Li’s acting in martial arts movies that started in China, then Hong Kong and ultimately the United States. He has become a global superstar throughout the years.
You might have seen him in some of his movies such as:
Shaolin Temple
Once Upon A Time In China
Lethal Weapon 4(This was the first time I had ever seen Jet Li and I was impressed!)
Romeo Must Die
Hero
Cradle 2 The Grave
Fearless
War (with Jason Statham)
The Forbidden Kingdom (with fellow superstar Jackie Chan)
I have learned that Jet Li is a cast member along with Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Staham, Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in “The Expendables” which is scheduled to be released in 2010. More on that at a later date.
But there is also another side to Jet Li such as his charitable activities, notably after his near-death experience in 2004 in the Maldives during a tsunami.
Reportedly, Jet Li’s “The One Foundation” supports international disaster relief efforts with the Red Cross and other efforts, such as recovery in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Jet Li continues to impress on and off the big screen.
If you enjoy watching Jet Li either at age 14 performing Wushu form for his first championship or as the bad guy in Lethal Weapon 4, stop by TheMartialArtsReporter.com
By: The Martial Arts Reporter
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Read more on Jet Li, From Humble Beginnings To Action/Martial Arts Movie Superstar…
Filed under Martial Arts by on Dec 22nd, 2009.
The three most well-known emirates are Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi is the capital and second largest city. It is also the country’s center of political, industrial, and cultural activities.
One of the martial arts activities that has been gaining in international reputation is submission fighting.
Abu Dhabi and martial arts?
Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nayan, who happens to be one the sons of the former President of the UAE, Sheik Zayed, has been the driving force in introducing martial arts to his home country.
While studying in the United States he started to learn more about grappling which led him to training in BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu).
A man with an open mind and an eagerness to learn, Sheik Tanoon also took up Russian Sambo, freestyle wrestling and Muay Thai in which he became an expert in all. A true mixed martial artist!
He sounds like our kind of guy!
After getting back to Abu Dhabi he immediately went about in creating a combat center to provide his people with the opportunity to study and learn more about martial arts. It was named the Abu Dhabi Combat Center or short ADCC.
The man of vision and action that the Sheik is, he introduced a tournament in which the world’s best and most famous grapplers and submission fighters would compete again each other.
This tournament is simply known as the ADCC World Submission Wrestling Tournament. It has become THE submission grappling event in the world and is being copied across the globe.
To give you an idea of the caliber of competitors who have fought at this tournament are for example Renzo Gracie, Royler Gracie, Mark Kerr, Tito Ortiz, Jean Jacques Machado, Rigan Machado, Rolles Gracie, Fabricio Werdum, Josh Barnett, Vitor Belfort, Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, Roger Gracie, Dean Lister, Jake Shields and many more. Impressed? I certinly am.
Abu Dhabi And Martial Arts!
Enjoy the clip at TheMartialArtsReporter.com
By: The Martial Arts Reporter
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Filed under Martial Arts by on Dec 22nd, 2009.
Coming from a Shotokan karate training background I will admit that studying Wing Chun was a real change of pace, if you know what I mean.
But after having read about some other famous practitioners such as Ip Man, Bruce Lee, Ip Chun, Leung Ting, Emin Boztepe, I just had to give it my best shot.
I studied under Sifu Francis Fong, one of the finest kung fu instructors in the U.S.
Wing Chun, translated into English, means ‘Eternal Spring or Beautiful Springtime’ and refers to the name of Yim Wing Chun, who received Chinese boxing training from a Buddhist nun. At the time the style was nameless.
Yim later married and taught her husband this style of fighting. He then simply went ahead and gave the syle her name, Wing Chun.
There are a number of theories and versions about how this style originated. I like the one I just gave you.
The typical stance is supposed to be like a piece of bamboo, firm but flexible, rooted but yielding.
Wing Chun favors a high, narrow stance with your elbows kept close to your body and your arms are positioned across the vitals of the centerline.
Attack and defense follow along an imaginary horizontal line drawn from the center of your chest to the center your opponent’s chest. The prime striking targets are on or near this line, including eyes, nose, throat, solar plexus and groin.
With the emphasis on the center line, your vertical fist straight punch will be your most common strike.
Your kicks are to be kept below the waist. This is typical of southern Chinese martial arts, in contrast to northern systems which apply many high kicks.
Chained vertical punches are used a lot.
You develop your reflexes by searching unsecured defenses through use of sensitivity.
Training through Chi Sao (’sticking hands”) with a training partner, one practices the trapping of hands. When an opponent is “trapped”, he or she becomes immobile.
Wing Chun also offers forms that are meditative, solitary exercises to develop self-awareness, balance, relaxation and sensitivity. They also help you in the fundamental movement and in generating the correct amount of force.
This style generally consists of three empty hand, one “wooden dummy” and two weapons forms.
There you have it: Wing Chun in a nutshell.
Enjoy this exciting martial art and always protect your centerline!
TheMartialArtsReporter.com
By: The Martial Arts Reporter
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Filed under Martial Arts by on Dec 21st, 2009.
The Benefits of Tai Chi and Internal Martial Arts for Self-defense: Part 1 of 2
Internal Martial arts such as Tai Chi, or Ba Gua can be extremely effective for self defense if trained correctly. There are a few strategic principles in Chinese internal Martial Arts that can provide a tactical advantage in melee combat. I will outline them in the following sections: Body Alignment and Changing, Friction and Sensitivity, Timing, Initiative (these last two I will explain in part two of this article). You will notice there is no magic to any of this – it is all science. For more information on tai chi, self-defence and kung fu please visit Martial Arts London Ontario (MALO).
Body Alignment / Posture and Body Changing
The first thing about internal chinese martial arts like Tai Chi and Ba Gua is that they are based off of the chinese system of medicine. This system has been well aware of things that chiropractors and sports physiotherapists are just starting to learn about the human nervous system and spinal cord, meditative benefits, and muscle/tendon functional excellence. Like gymnasts and dancers, internal arts practitioners do difficult and challenging exercises, drills, and forms in order to literally change their body’s metabolism, balance, structure, tendon strength, speed and flexibility. The more serious one is with their body changing training, the more results they will see. Doing Tai Chi once per week without the requisite secrets is not good enough. At first this training is extremely difficult, just as jogging is extremely difficult for the beginner. But after years of practice, the internal martial artist’s body starts to change, and they start to see the health and martial benefits as they begin to move as a functional unit and cease using “awkward force”. They also get damaged less often in hard martial arts sparring. This body changing also includes tendon conditioning, thus making an internal artist “seem” stronger as they move as a more functional unit. Tendons are as strong as steel. If you can learn to use them, and to strengthen them, then you will move as a more functional and solid (yet fluid) unit.
Friction and Sensitivity
Another key aspect in internal arts like Tai Chi, or Ba Gua (Cheng Sher and Magui), is friction, or what is sometimes called sticky hands. With this body changing, and two person “push”, “search”, or “sticky” hands practice, practitioners become more sensitive to the movements of others, and by using this sensitivity, internal martial artists can use a foe’s force against them by placing them off balance. And by using friction, the practitioner can deliver more kinetic energy per second than a straight punch. All boxers know that more friction means more damage, so too does this apply to throws and arm drags. The more friction when throwing an opponent, the more kinetic energy you deliver into them, the faster they hit the ground. Also, using friction properly
By: martial arts london ON
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Read more on The Benefits of Tai Chi and Internal Martial Arts for Self-defense: Part 1 of 2…
Filed under Martial Arts by on Oct 4th, 2009.
clowns you contribute alot to Y!A MA community but are you sure you practice Tae Kwan Do? you seemed to have spelled it wrong, or is it a typo?
Edit: clowns I am an on and off martial artist some martial arts I have taken a few classes in but can’t say are my arts are Kyokushin karate, Tae kwan do, and Judo. I have trained for 1 and 3/4 year muay thai 1/2 year mma, and 2 months bjj. I also took Krav Maga for 3 months but you can say I don’t have that much experiene compared to others on th MA Y!A board.
Oops meant to say experience*
By: some guy
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Read more on What martial art do you believe works best in real life situations?…
Filed under Martial Arts by on May 30th, 2009. 17 Comments.