I have never understood the half-hearted approach to things. Anything. I will try my best, even if it’s not as perfect or as well executed as the next person, I will still try my best. What I don’t understand is how easily people step away when things become difficult, or how many settle for doing…
Tag: Humility
What Does ‘Style’ Really Tell You?
Whenever people ask me about karate or inquire about joining our dojo, a question that occasionally comes up is, “What style of karate do you practice?” But what does that really tell anyone? Does a style actually give insight into a practitioner’s skill or an instructor’s understanding of karate? There are those who place a…
When Rank Loses Its Meaning
In the world of martial arts, grades are often viewed as a reflection of a practitioner’s journey – a blend of technical ability, deeper understanding, and personal character. Yet, from time to time, we come across individuals whose grade far outweighs their actual ability, knowledge, or behavior. And when that happens, it’s hard not to…
Standards Don’t Judge You – They Reveal You
Every dojo has its own rhythm, its own expectations, its own way of doing things. Mine is simple: if you train here, you show up. Not perfectly, not endlessly, not more than your life allows – just consistently. Recently someone suggested that expecting this might be a “privileged stance that lacks empathy”, or that speaking…
Showing Up: When You Can’t Train
Anyone teaching martial arts knows the student who talks about wanting to train but somehow can’t manage to show up on time, or may not show up at all. And when they don’t, there’s always a reason. There usually is. But it tells you something. It shows you where training really sits on their list…
One Day With a Great Teacher?
Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher. It sounds right. It feels right, and most people accept it without question. But taken as it stands, it isn’t quite true. There’s no doubt that teachers can change the direction of someone’s training. Most of us can think of…
What Survives at 95?
I watched a 95-year-old Okinawan Uechi-ryu master recently performing Sanseiryu, Shintoku Takara, and it stayed with me longer than I expected. Not because of anything dramatic, but because of how little seemed to be happening on the surface. There was no urgency, no obvious effort, and none of the exaggerated movement that people often associate with…
When You Step Outside
I was asked recently what actually happens when someone steps away from an organization, goes on their own path. You’re part of something for years. You put time into it, help where you can, stand alongside people, and for the most part you don’t question any of it because it feels normal. It feels like…
Self-defense – what are we really training for?
Self-defense – the ability to protect yourself when it matters. We train for it for years, and for some of us, decades. But for what? One moment? Maybe a moment that never even comes. Does that make it any less important, or does it mean we should just treat training as something for fitness and…
The Dangerous Myth of “Nothing Happened to Me”
I recently pointed out the inherent dangers of falling or fighting on hard surfaces like concrete, and, as expected, the responses came in. People sharing their experiences – “I fell off my bike and did a perfect roll”, “I’ve fought on pavement and I’m fine”, “I used to train on concrete all the time.” The underlying sentiment…
Hitting Concrete Isn’t the Same as Tatami
How many times, as a karate-ka, are we told, “Take it to the ground”? “You have to fight on the ground”? Quite a lot, if the comments I receive are anything to go by. Have you ever fallen on concrete – the sidewalk, the pavement? It hurts, right? A senior instructor from my dojo fell…
No Style Is the Best – Context Is
Whenever I write about real-world self-defense, the comments seem to explode into “my style is the best”. I’m not convinced a lot of these people actually train themselves – maybe keyboard warriors, maybe just inexperienced – these comments often seem to revolve around one style in particular: Kyokushin. Now, before anyone accuses me of bashing…