Flowing Water

Atom and Eve

2007-11-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

I must confess, I've neve beeen a huge fan of the Atom, but whoever is writing this comic has dialed it in recently. Giganta has always been a favorite baddie since her appearances in the Suprefriends, but her character was never very developed, and the animators never really took advantage of her potential. Atom 17 is a great, fun comic with a lot more added depth. Whatever you're doing over there DC, keep it up.

Elite Rings

2007-11-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

As a gymnast, rings were always my favorite and best event, but now as a fitness nut they're also the best tool for mxing up workouts. I confess I spent a too many years following a classic bodybuilding regemin and diet with limited results. I still love the weight room and egg whites, but the last 2 years I've really been focusing more on functional fitness, in part because my role as karate instructor requires applying power in more ways than a decent squat. Hence the rings.

The to advantage training with rings is twofold: (1) it forces all the muscle to recruit all the other fibers missed in ordinary weight training because your body needs more to balance a constantly moving load; and (2) it mixes up the workout.

I suppose the third advantage is a weird conversation piece. I met more curious bodybuilders in the gym when I'd bring in chains for powerlifting and the rings are no different. It's a good way to meet large people that can help the next time you need to move a piano.

Check out Elite Rings.

An Oldie but a Goodie

2007-09-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

And you thought the French didn't contribute anything. Here's a fine example of economy of motion. If you're intersted in urban runing, which is more fun than trudging along in some lycra like most of the dolts in my neighborhood, start small. If you miss your grab on a stairwell, you'd better have your tuck and roll down. It's a skill that even saved my can in a 60 mph motorcycle crash over the front tire. It will serve you well, young Jedi.

Not Just Another Hot Girl With a Sword

2007-09-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of interest in llaria Montaganani, who has created a way to use traditional martial arts to build a great physique. Check out Forza for more details.

There has been a movement recently for martial arts schools to incorporate better fitness programs to stay financially viable. For myself and the students where I train, it has always been a big part of what we do, but mostly becaus we're already fitness heads and want to up our martial arts training. Mostly it is too many T-cells and too little sense. I can't tell you how many guys I know, including myself, continue training too hard all the time with or without injury.

Many students don't want to get smacked around (who does really?) and are reluctant to join karate schools thinking it is going to lead to a beatin. Well, the lovely Montaganni has bridged the gap. Her success is well earned. Check it out.

2007-09-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

Read this book.

There is a lot more to this than fighting. Sam is a Harvard man afterall. Great stuff.

Miyagi have hope for you

2007-09-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

Although I can't recommend you train for only 2 months before entering the All Valley tournament to take on the spoiled, bad kids of Cobra Kai and their displaced Sensei who has flashbacks of hot LZs in the 'Nam while training kids to have no mercy, I can highly recommend you re-visit this fine, fine movie.

I hadn't seen this since it was released, but it had a huge impact on me as a tike. Today I watched it and saw it tell a story about what martial arts is really all about: character. There is this likable kid who keeps getting wailed on by the bad guys until this swell guy named Miyagi shows him both to fend off bullies and balance life. This is a great story about grit and integrity, the core of martial arts, and if that doesn't work, wax on the crane kick. "No can defend."

Ouch

2007-09-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

Mixed up the workout last night with 350 yards of lunges. That did not make canyon cariving easy this morning. My dear ol' dad was out lasting me on the peak to peak.

A Nod to Midwest Akita Rescue

2007-08-27T23:23:00.000-07:00

This place is nowhere near me, but as a fan of Akitas, I must recommned this rescue. If you want a dog with more character, and fur, than most any ohter dog get an Akita.

Check them out.

Smoked

2007-08-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Saturday's crossfit was the goods. I managed to finish in under an hour, but I am still sore. Highly recommended. Stick to it and don't cheat with gravitrons, pulldowns or subbing handstand pushups. The more true to the WOD the better.

2007-08-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

Everyone has busy weeks, and I just finished mine. Big projects, crazy federal and constitutional law issues that nobody seems to have an answer to and criminal defense attorneys who lie with a straight face. I'm not sure if it is because criminal defense attorneys love winning so much or if it is because when your client is a scumbag you have nothing else to work with other than some good old fashioned bullshit. I feel like I'm talking about gay people when I walk like this about criminal defense attorneys because one of my closest friends is a criminal defense attorney, and its not like there's anything wrong with that.

Off for a crossfit make-up day. The workout in the next few minutes is the following:
five rounds for time of
50 squats
30 pullups
15 handstand pushups.

May god have mercy on our adrenaline soaked souls.

On Pacifism

2007-08-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

To be a peaceful person and live a peaceful life is a virtue, and to allow violence to you or others by refusing to fight back is violence to humanity. Pacifism allows violence, and by allowing it also endorses it. Pacifists, true pacifists, accept violence out of fear and claim virtue and their excuse. The only thing worse than the violence of evil men is the inaction of good men.

I advocate that kindness and integrity, types of pacifism, as the best self-defense. After all, if I show you good character and we become friends then maybe I won't have to defend myself against you. Sometimes this is not possible, despite best efforts, and the recognizable side of martial arts must surface to annihilate an opponent totally. Water can go around something or it can knock it over. It will always opt for the former first and batter down mountains if it must. This is the way of things. This is nature. We are in harmony with nature when we behave like this. To allow someone to do violence to yourself for or your family is wrong.

Pacifism, like violence, is a powerful tool and either can work. But it is unbalanced to live a life of violence without any peace or beauty as it is to leave a leisurely life of a coward who won't fight the evils of this world. Live peacefully and walk tall.

Go to the Source of No Source

2007-08-18T17:50:00.000-07:00

This clip is a pretty good mini-doc on the history of martial arts, and it has some great stuff on Kano, who is among the most important people in taking martial arts from a military art reserved for few and banned to most into a sanctioned sport dedicated to developing integrity. My own roots go back to Hawaii, which has some dark corners, but it allegedly goes back further to India and China around 440 A.D.

Traditions are important because they keep us connected to a source of truth and keep us honest. It is reckless to discard tradition entirely without knowing what is being put aside. Ultimately, tradition must be abandoned, but it should be understood first if the deepest personal development is pursued.

Medicine does not rely on procedures from 100 years ago, which would be stupid, so why should martial arts? Why should anything? Any serious martial artist should always have the humility to seek new ways of doing things and be willing to be beaten in order to learn. That's evolution, and that is our history.

Gym Jones

2007-08-18T04:57:00.000-07:00

The creators of the 300 have a site worth checking out.

There are some interesting ideas defending elitism, that I'm not as thrilled about, but there is one common denominator to all Gym Jones: no legit athlete ever got to where they are without hard, hard work.

It is true that a lot of the mere mortals can get fit, lose weight or fit into some old jeans again relatively easily, but if you plan on be a competitive athlete in today's world of nutritional and physiologic world, you better bring it. High school athletes know more about body mechanics today then some Olympians 75 or 50 years ago. They have access to all kinds of information, good and bad, actually.

The real question in your fitness goals and mine is: what am I doing this for? I have about a zillion reasons, but I also know there is no ESPN interview or contract on the line. Whether I train to injury or just train hard it is going few the same. So why over train? Like a lot of dudes with more testosterone than sense I've overdone it plenty in my day. I've trained with injuries and made them worse for no better reason than not wanting to quit. That's a good reason as far as I'm concerned, but I'm realizing fitness is a lifestyle. The main word in that is life. I want to be functional in old age. Hell I want to enjoy old age and still hike and fight. Lifestyle should emphasize functional fitness. It must also work the whole person. Gym Jones is right that it is about hard work and determination. That should train a person's confidence and perseverance. Fitness like life is the struggle between the stream and the rock. The stream always wins, not by strength but by perseverance.

2007-08-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

Keeping it short tonight. After not much sleeping again and a busy day at work keeping the City safe from scum and villinay, I finally have a moment's peace. It is also going to be short because I was sparring with a friend who is much, much better than I and I took a good whack to the eye tht the newly-acquired lasik ain't so keen about. Learned a lot tonight. And damn't that eye shot isn't going to happen again!

I also gotta get some legit sleep to have my act together for a morning hearing. Hopefully the eye won't be too fussy by then. I can imagine the record now:

The Court: Did you get whacked in the eye?
The ninjattorney: Yeah, fell for the swallow to body and head shot too.
The Court: Counsel, if you want blind fighting get Zatoichi. Attornyes are required to have both eyes open in my court.
The ninjattorney: understood, Judge.

300 in under 32

2007-08-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

The 300 workout is very much recommended. I was shooting for 40 minutes or less and wound up with a little more than 8 minutes to spare, which I'll consider a success for a first time out. I decided that if it took me 40 to 50 minutes to complete I needed a lot of improvement, so all things considered I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I'm not going to pat myself on the back though until I can keep up with some of the fight gone bad times, which is a whole ' nother level.

Like most workouts of this persuasion, it draws some weird looks in a gym full of brushed chrome and bad, modern music. Even so, nobody wonders what the hell you're up to when you look like a shaved gorilla pumped up and ready to pass out. Bring an empty stomach and a stopwatch.

The beauty of exercise is that it follows a nice method: have an idea on how to reach a goal, make a plan for it, test it, try and disprove it, and if it works publish it for other people to challenge. 300 definitely makes the grade. I encourage you to give it a go.

300 Workout

2007-08-15T18:29:00.000-07:00

The movie looked too dumb for me to watch, and I thrive on bad action movies, but the workout regimen is legit. It is very crossfit, and even though Gym Jones has some unnecessary elitism, it is good stuff. I'm off to do this in a few. I'll let you know how it goes. I've been working so much the last few months and tons of martial arts training has taken up all my fitness training time. Such is life huh?

Apparently, this workout was the right of passage for the actors in this movie. I'm leaning more and more toward this type of training due to its functionality and obvious results, but it is sometimes hard to do with a day job that isn't being an actor in a bad movie that requires you to do this stuff. Ya know Hollywood, there are dudes who are up for this. Pay me to train willya?

Italian Motorcycle Character

2007-08-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

I used to think Ducatis were high-maintenance, but it actually was the most reliable bike I've ever owned. Recently I swapped it out for an Aprilia Mille, which is a ton of fun, about as reliable as a Honda, and does not require one to "assume the position" to make the rather longish reach over the gas tank to those things where you put the mitts. Other than being hot enough to make omelets on, it is reasonably comfortable and makes a pretty good commuter. It has gotten me through some weird traffic nicely.

Anyway, this Aprilia has some character the Duc never did. If someone can explain to me what using a turn signal sends off the hazard lights, I'd like to know about it. Fuse? Short? Bulb? One or the other, I'd guess, but before I go rummaging under the hood so to speak any brilliant gear heads with the same tolerance to Italian motorcycle "character" is appreciated. There is about as much technology as a Stealth fighter jet under the seat on this thing. When did such a simple idea get so complicated? I just want to make it go fast and get at least one track day before 07 is out.

Crossfit

2007-08-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

I mentioned this on the old blog that went the way of betamax due to life's circumstances, but I must make another pitch for crossfit. I wasted a lot of time in the gym on a purely bodybuilding regimen completely missing the 4th dimension that is crossfit. I can barely think of a sport it wouldn't enhance. You're table tennis would be off the hook and Ms. Pacman, forget about it. The connection to endurance and anaerobic sports translates well. Martial arts synch well to crossfit. I only have two suggestions with crossfit: give it a shot and scale it to your level. I have a harder time with the latter. The dumb dude in me wants to play keep up with the Navy SEALS when they've been training all day long 7 days a week and I fight scum and villainy with quick tongue in a courtroom and fancy words in a pleading. I can hang with most of what's going on over there, but some of that stuff is just crazy. The best advantage to this type of training is is application to nearly any sport, and it is a killer workout in under 30 minutes unless you are new to "fight gone bad." Ease into that one.

Sleepless

2007-08-13T22:52:00.000-07:00

Man, I cannot sleep. I got up at 4 am on little sleep, worked out and went to work where I poured over Federal cases all day (yeah, they read like stereo instructions. Sorry fellow and former law clerks. It ain't Dickens.) and I still can't sleep. It is finally cooling down now that it is late and I conned the Akita parked on my feet to take it somewhere else. It's an over-active mind problem today, also known as the chattering monkey. If I can just quell that monkey sweet, sweet Zs will come.

Tournament

2007-08-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Long day of participating in a martial arts tournament yesterday. I spent all day long judging sparring and forms, which was great fun. There is nothing quite like putting head gear on an 8 year-old and telling her to whack the other kid. OK. That is an overstatement; it isn't quite like that. Still there is a lot for students of all ages to learn.

In some divisions girls fought boys with some very good fights. The girls take not shit before being socially conditioned to. It is pretty awesome. I hope they keep that attitude as they grow older.

As a fan of both traditional and the more modern mixed martial arts, I enjoy forms competitions, but forms have to be executed properly. The whole point of forms is to work on basics and execute great technique so that when the gauntlet drops a student has practiced a jab or kick a million times flawlessly. People seem to forget that and think forms are a waste of time and useless in a real fight. Like sparring, forms have a direct application to self-defense. They apply to MMA to, but differently. You have to develop a different game for MMA, which as some rules, then you do for self-defense, but either way forms are a good way to hone some fundamental skills without a partner on the mat. Like most things in life, it is all about attitude. Too many martial artists today dismiss traditional training methods and too many dismiss MMA as not martial arts. In my view, both are necessary to self-defence and self-improvement. A person needs to practice skills and also test them in the most realistic circumstances possible. You can read every engineering book in the world, but it is worthless if you can't even change the oil in your car.

Unfortunately, because there were so many divisions of all ages and ranks to judge and monitor, we didn't get to fight. Our Professor set up some team sparring with Second and Third Degrees at the end of the day, which was really awesome to watch. In sparring, people always see the skill: timing, speed, technique, but there is also a ton of respect and spirit being developed. Fighters respect people who step us and make them step up their game, and respect is at the core of martial arts. That's why I think everybody should have some good sparring in their lives, even if it does not involve physical contact. It is healthy and good for people to spar with each other 's ideas and challenge each other's way of life. However, sparring is not fighting. Fighting is about hurting the other person as much as possible as quickly as you can, sparring is about understanding another person and coming to understand yourself. It's all about attitude. So think about that before you go spar your boss.

Reincarnated

2007-08-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

After finally breaking free of some of life's more controlling elements, I actually now have 10 minutes a day to share with you my own views on life, for whatever it is worth.

The purpose this blog is twofold: (1) to share my pursuit of physical well-being and mental growth through life and a sometimes unrealistic fitness lifestyle and (2) connect with some like-minded persons who are trying to achieve the spiritual through the physical, testing their own personal boundaries, love of expressing the human form and hopefully sharing their success.