Posts about 19th Century bare knuckle prize fighting, gloved professional boxing contests from 1890 to 1940 as well as martial arts history and concepts with a particular emphasis on mixed styles bouts.
After averaging 9 fights a year over the past 7 years, World Middleweight Boxing Champion Stanley “The Michigan Assassin” Ketchel was exhausted. Ketchel took a vacation on the Missouri ranch of his friend Colonel R. P. Dickerson in an attempt to regain his strength and enthusiasm for fighting. Ketchel never returned from vacation as he was shot and killed at […]
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While doing research, I found this picture of the Manassa Mauler training for his July 4th, 1919 title fight with Jess Willard, the World Heavyweight Boxing Champions. Willard had knocked out the great Jack Johnson in 1915 to become champion. Willard was a giant of a man at 6’06” and 235 pounds. He posed a threat to anyone based on size alone. However, […]
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A couple of years ago, I decided to stay at the rank of brown belt in Judo for a while. As a black belt in Taekwondo, I always assume that you keep going until you reach black belt in the art you are practicing. However, I began to change my mind about continuously trying to obtain a black belt […]
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In the distant past, one of the new holders of a teacher’s certificate in a traditional martial art brought a wheel barrow with round wheels for approval to the head of the style and his top two instructors. Previously, the wheel barrow had square tires and was referred to as a square barrow. The student waited with expectation as the […]
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Theodore Roosevelt served as the twenty-sixth President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. TR is famous for the “Strenuous Life”. He practiced boxing and wrestling through his twenties and thirties. What is not as widely known is that he practiced Judo around 1904, when he was in his mid-40s. Roosevelt would eventually earn a brown belt in Judo. Yoshiaki […]
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This article details the conditioning and martial arts workouts that I performed from 2006 to 2008. I used this program to earn my second degree black belt in Taekwondo and a third degree brown belt in Judo. Generally, I performed the martial arts workouts in the evening and the conditioning workouts in the morning. Martial Arts Workouts Monday P.M.: Judo […]
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This training program is what I used from 2006 to 2008, while I was training in both Taekwondo and Judo. In general, I performed conditioning workouts in the morning and martial arts workouts in the evening. Conditioning Schedule Monday A.M.: Chest, Biceps, Elliptical Trainer Tuesday A.M.: Thighs, Calves, Recombinant Bike Tuesday P.M.: Shoulders, Triceps, Forms Friday A.M.: Back, Abs, Elliptical […]
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One of the things that always impressed me about the Gracies is how they were able to turn out generation after generation of top-notch instructors. After reading a number of articles about their original belt system, etc., I started to adapt some of their methods with our own students. Once the student reaches Green Belt, we allow them to start […]
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Huo Yuanjia was a real-life hero, who inspired mythic tales about his life. His life and exploits have been the basis of films starring Bruce Lee and Jet Li. The real Huo Yuanjia defeated foreign fighters when other countries were exploiting China in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His exploits were a source of pride at a time when […]
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The idea for this post began germinating in my brain a couple of weeks ago, when I was in the store to spend my birthday money and found an article about self-defense positions. Taekwondo is my base style although we add lots of Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and cane techniques into our system. I expected to see some realistic self-defense but found an article about […]
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