Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about martial arts concepts and history.
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
While watching the Facebook Prelims for UFC 161, I observed a trend that happens often in mixed martial arts competition. One of the competitors would get a dominant position but would sacrifice it to chase a submission. He caught the other competitor in close to ten submissions but the other man escaped all ten and one a close split decision.
On April 27, 2013, on what would have been his grandfather and namesake’s 71st birthday, Ken “Trey” Zimmerman III became the first black belt in the Zimmerman Self-Defense System under his father Ken Zimmerman Jr. “Trey” began studying martial arts shortly before his fifth birthday. “Trey” has trained in Taekwondo, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Gojo Shroei Weapons System. His goals
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
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
On November 12, 1993 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado, a fourth degree black belt in the little known art of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (commonly called Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the United States) cut through an eight man style versus style martial arts tournament. Royce Gracie would turn the martial arts world on its head. After his walk through the
While many of the martial arts originated in Korea or Japan, the societies in these countries and the United States are very different. Yet, many American instructors continue to have students line up by rank and sex with men first, boys second, women third and girls last. While this line up would be normal and expected in Korea, it does
Huo Yuanjia was a real life hero, who inspired mythic tales about his life. His life and expoloits have been the basis of films starring Bruce Lee and Jet Li. The real Huo Yuanjia defeated many foreign fighters, when China was being victimized by other countries in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His exploits were a source of pride at a time,
This article is the second of two posts, which detail the conditioning and martial arts workouts I performed from 2006 to 2010. I used this program to earn my second degree black belt in Taekwondo and a third degree brown belt in Judo. Martial Arts Workouts Monday P.M.: Judo Class Wednesday P.M.: Advanced TKD Workout Thursday P.M.: TKD Kid’s and
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, Recumbent Bike Tuesday P.M.: Shoulders, Triceps, Forms Friday A.M.: Back, Abs, Elliptical