THE JUMPING-OFF POINT

 by Phillip Starr

Back when I was a young karateka (karate student), the last three kyu grades (kyu is a grade below black belt) of brown belt, sankyu, nikyu, and especially ikkyu, were known in Japanese karate as “the jumping-off point.” That is, most brown belts would give up for one reason or another and never make it to shodan (first grade of black belt). I think many of them figured they knew their stuff well enough by that time and there was no need to continue with the rugged, disciplined training.

Times have changed. It seems that nowadays, shodan has become the new “jumping-off” point. Many students throw in the towel after reaching this grade, the coveted “black belt.” In the West it is held in much higher esteem than in the East, however. We tend to regard a “black belt” as an expert (which, as Walt Whitman so aptly described the term, is “anyone who can spit over a boxcar.”). In the East, it is regarded as an important step in one's progress, but little more. It means that you have learned the basics and can perform them with a reasonable measure of skill. Nothing more than that. It's akin to graduating from high school. You have developed some basic skills but you're a far cry from going into a professional field.

At the stage of shodan, you're now ready to learn the REAL thing. You have enough of an understanding about your chosen art that you can begin to wrap your head around more advanced concepts AND your body has been trained and disciplined so that you can perform and implement them. Prior to this, it would have been like trying to explain trigonometry to a sixth grade student and asking him to solve a series of rather complex problems.

For every ten shodans, only two or three will go on to the next grade (and the percentages get smaller as you continue to move forward). I want to encourage you to keep moving forward along the martial path. NEVER give up! Stay the course and don't jump off!

IT'S A LONG STRETCH...

 by Phillip Starr

How frequently do you engage in flexibility exercises? Most of us don't really like to do them; they're uncomfortable and boring. We'd rather get into the “meat” of our training – the various punches and kicks and practice routines with a partner. And that's perfectly normal. It's the same wherever you go – whether it's in the US, England, Japan, China, or Korea. Most martial arts enthusiasts really dislike doing stretching routines but most of us understand that they're really an essential part of training; they warm up and prepare the muscles for vigorous exercise (and help prevent strained or torn muscles), they foster good circulation, which helps remove toxins and helps keep the muscles soft and pliable, and they provide other health benefits as well. The Chinese say that “long muscles mean long life” and to some degree, they're right.

I'm convinced that one of the main things that contributes to “old age” is lack of flexibility. Most senior citizens stop doing any kind of flexibility routines and their aging muscles get tight and seem to “shorten.” This can result in poor(er) circulation and contributes to balance problems and a host of other health problems. If you're fairly young, make stretching exercises a part of your daily workout. If you don't, you'll pay for it when you get older! It's more difficult to increase flexibility when you're older (and the muscles have stiffened) that when you're young. But (for you oldsters out there) it CAN be done; you just have to go slowly and don't “over-do and risk tearing a muscle. If you keep flexible from your younger years, remember that it's much easier to stay flexible than it is to get flexible.

Working to increase your strength is good (especially when you're young) but flexibility is, in my opinion, more important overall. And when you stretch, remember that your muscles are akin to rubber bands, Don't “bounce”; the rubber band will simply return to its usual length and lengthening it will take a very long time. Plus, you're running the risk of tearing it. Instead, stretch and hold the position for several seconds (a nice 8-count is good) and do it several times. If you do this with a rubber band, it will slowly (and more safely) lengthen with minimal risk of tearing.

And take your time! It's good to set a goal, but make it realistic. It's actually best to set a short-term goal that is quite reasonable and then when you achieve it, set a new one...and keep doing this until you reach your long-term goal. And never compare your progress or lack of it) to others; you are unique and you must move at your own pace.

When you practice a certain stretching routine, it should be MILDLY uncomfortable, but never very painful. And if, during your exercise, you feel a burning sensation, stop immediately! That means that the muscle(s) involved in that exercise has been over-stressed and they're about to tear...

Heavy stretching is comparable to weightlifting; you should do it only every other day. Lighter stretching can be done on a daily basis. But don't practice stretching in a hit-or-miss manner. It has to be practiced regularly. If you do it only now and then, you're guaranteed an injury.

The key to stretching is relaxation. You must learn to RELAX the muscles that you're stretching as well as the rest of your body. Tensed muscles don't stretch easily or comfortably and learning to truly relax may take some time. When you stretch a given muscle, exhale and let all tension/stress leave your body along with your breath. Relax! And your gains will slowly increase. I strongly recommend making flexibility exercises a regular part of your daily workout. Set aside as little as 15 minutes for this. You'll be thankful that you did.

DECORATIONS

 by Phillip Starr

Decades ago there was a considerable difference between the practice uniforms (particularly those used in karate and taekwondo) and many of those worn today. Back in the day, a karate or taekwondo uniform (they were virtually identical) bore no emblems or anyone's name; a school/style insignia might be worn on the left breast, but that was it.

Nowadays, I see martial artists wearing uniforms that bear a striking resemblance to a map of downtown Los Angeles... There are numerous colorful patches and so forth, They seem to have mistaken a martial arts uniform for a set of military dress uniforms, complete with service and campaign ribbons and the rest of it. The practice uniform was intended for just one thing; practice! It wasn't ever meant to be used as a display of one's achievements or anything else.

Sometimes, uniforms bear the name of the wearer's school on the back (kind of like a cheap imitation of a sandwich board used for advertising)...or the wearer's name or even his “title.” I've seen more than one with the word, “Grandmaster” emblazoned on the back (maybe it's there so the fellow doesn't forget what he's supposed to be or what he thinks he is). And I guess those that bear the wearer's name are there so he/she doesn't forget who he/she is!

Hash stripes can sometimes be seen on the sleeves of some uniforms. I guess they're there to indicate years in training, much like a military uniform's hash marks denote years of service.

The same holds true for belts...many of them bear the wearer's name and/or the name of the school that issued it. In the past, most belts were just that...belts, without any markings to indicate what degree of black belt the wearer had earned, or anything else. Some few organizations would award belts with Japanese characters on them, indicating the grade (of black belt).

As for me, I prefer the old, simple Japanese style of wearing a plain uniform and belt without any decorations. I remember that we used to favor our uniforms that had become a bit frayed. Many washings had made them very soft and comfortable and the fraying (which was never allowed to become very severe) was an indication of how much we had trained in that uniform. The focus was on training rather than ranks, titles, advertising, or tournament victories.

The same held true of our black belts which, if worn through rigorous training for a long period of time, began to fray and slowly turn back to white (beneath the outer covering of a black belt is a white cotton belt). The more they began to slowly turn white, the more they were to be valued.

The first time I saw a young lady of about 16 wearing what appeared to be such a belt, I was stunned. I turned to my friend, Andy Ching, and asked him about it. He worked for one of the nation's largest martial arts equipment and uniform suppliers. “They're made that way”, he said. “They fray in a very short time so they look really old and worn.” I figured that wearing such a belt was a very cheap way to increase one's status. I still do.

The Chinese “practice uniform” is much simpler. To this day, there is no standard kung-fu uniform but many practitioners wear what the Chinese call “Tang clothes”...a reference to the Tang Dynasty. This is what I wear nowadays. I still favor the old ways... There's more to it than simple cosmetics.

DAILY HABITS

 by Phillip Starr

Almost all of us have several “daily habits” to which we adhere; upon waking up, we brush our teeth, wash our faces, some of us shave...and so on. We don't (usually) have to be reminded about doing them; they've become part and parcel of our daily routine. They're important to us and we repeat them day after day.

It's said that if you want something to become a habit, you should do it regularly for 100 days, I guess I'd have to agree. So, if your training or your skill in your chosen martial art is truly important to you, don't you think it'd be a good idea to practice a bit every day? Your practice time will likely be different from mine and how much time you have available for practice may vary but the important thing is that you MAKE the time and do it! And if you do it daily for 100 days, it'll become a habit.

Many people offer up the excuse of “I don't have time” without considering that unless they deliberately MAKE time, they'll never have it. Anyway, I can't imagine anyone not having 15-30 minutes of free time in a day; if that's truly the case, they need to adopt a different lifestyle! Daily practice of your martial art is, I believe, an essential part of maintaining (or even improving) your health – especially as you get older.

That's why so many millions of Chinese go to local parks early every morning and practice taijiquan; it's a form of preventative medicine! But you needn't travel to the nearest park...just find your own practice area in or near your home. And develop the habit!

CORRECT QIGONG

 by Phillip Starr

There's a LOT of qigong programs offered nowadays. If you look around a little, it's not too difficult to find one. But many qigong students and instructors alike have flawed forms of qigong. In China, qigong is thought to be very mysterious and difficult to learn, and to gain any skill with it require lots of practice for a LONG time. And this approach is, I believe, flawed.

If a student is told that something is going to be difficult and will require a long time to acquire skill, that's what he/she will believe, and it will be so. Certainly, there are some (qigong) skills that do require a great deal of practice but this isn't at all true for the acquisition of some basic skills. I can teach a student to acquire a number of basic skills in less than five minutes! For real. The secret lies in HOW IT IS PRESENTED by the teacher! I had a lot of fun in China when some of my students heard that I practice qigong; I told them that the aforementioned approach to it (mysterious and very difficult) was all wrong ...unless a teacher simply wanted to retain students for obvious reasons. Their eyes widened when a laowai (foreigner) told them this. And then I would teach them some basic qigong. Virtually 100% of them succeeded.

As for WHAT many qigong instructors teach, and it is often flawed. Simply standing in certain postures or making some special movements doesn't beget skill in qigong at all. One must practice certain form(s) of breathing that assist in “massaging” certain internal tissues and even some viscera. Learning how to control and manipulate certain muscles (some of them are not obvious at all) is crucial to advanced practice of qigong.

One of the very first principles that I teach my qigong students is that yi (your mind, idea, intention, will, imagination...) controls the movement of qi. Where your yi goes, your qi goes. That is the CENTRAL PRINCIPLE of all qigong as well as all of the neijia (“internal schools” of gong-fu, which are taijiquan, xingyiquan, and baguazhang). Without a firm understanding and application of that principle, all the qigong in the world is of no use. So, certain mental exercises (visualization/s) are essential, particularly when first learning a given form of qigong.

But simply standing/sitting in a static posture or waving the arms and hands around means nothing. It's just a shell of what is to be done. Even in China most people who practice qigong for health have no understanding of how to breathe or direct the yi. But they seemed to be happy with what they were doing (although it was empty), so I left them alone. They wouldn't have listened to a foreigner who wanted to correct them, anyway...

There are no “magical” forms of qigong that bequeath superhuman powers to their practitioners. Some teachers hold certain forms of qigong as special “secrets” so that “bad people” don't learn them. All that sort of thing is just so much silliness. Qigong requires dedicated, regular practice just as do martial arts. However, some advanced forms of qigong aren't presented to novices because they very well might damage their health by trying to engage in them before they're ready.

BREATHING AND BALANCE

 by Phillip Starr

There is a very real and close relationship between breath and balance; loss of one usually results in loss of the other. So, let's first examine just what we mean by “balance.”

Balance refers to two forms of stability, physical and mental. Physical balance is pretty easy to understand. The body should maintain stability at all times, when standing still and when moving. As martial arts enthusiasts, we practice a variety of exercises that are intended to improve our physical balance and quite a number of the techniques and postures that we employ require a pretty fine sense of physical stability.

The other form of balance (which we usually don't consider) is mental balance. Just as the body must be stabilized at all times, so the mind must also be steady. Conditions such as extreme fear (which seems to paralyze us), panic, and hysteria are obvious states of mind that involve loss of mental balance. However, the same thing holds true (although to a much lesser degree) for extreme anger, worry, and even joy. Carried to an excess, they can de-stabilize the mind.

If one has learned the correct form of breathing, which is known as “reverse breathing”, instability (whether it's physical or mental) becomes very unlikely. Reverse breathing (discussed in detail in my books MARTIAL MECHANICS and DEVELOPING JIN) fosters a strong “root” so that physical balance is greatly enhanced and it also stabilizes the mind.

However, what do most people do if they are suddenly frightened? They gasp for air, right? If a mouse runs across your wife's foot (or your husband's sandwich), she'll likely place one hand on her chest and inhale up high in her chest. That causes an instantaneous “loss of breath (control)” and the end result is mental instability, which immediately leads to a weakness in physical balance. Her knes may become weak and her legs “feel like rubber.” This is loss of mental balance causing loss of physical balance. The two are interrelated. An unexpected thing such as a sudden, unexpected loud noise or anything that may be perceived as danger can cause this to occur. We've all heard the expression “paralyzed with fear”, which is an extreme example of this principle.

And when someone slips (on ice, for stance) and loses his physical balance, he becomes very fearful... and the same high, shallow breath often occurs. This is a loss of physical balance causing a loss of mental balance.

But note that there is a common denominator in both cases (loss of physical balance causing loss of mental balance, and sudden loss of mental stability causing a loss of physical balance)...and that is the BREATH. In both kinds of situations, the breathing is high and shallow, usually coming in gasps.

However, in both types of situations, if the breath is dropped to the lower abdomen and a strong “reverse breath” is performed, loss of balance needn't happen. Reverse breathing enhances physical and mental stability...when you begin to lose your physical balance or if mental balance is starting to slip, execute a strong reverse breath and you'll maintain your overall stability!

Many years ago, a study was made regarding hysteria and it was found that in most cases, the brain releases a certain chemical that actually fosters hysteria. However, it was also found that deep, abdominal breathing prevents this from occurring! It is largely impossible to become hysterical if one is breathing deeply from the abdomen (as it is done in reverse breathing).

So there's more to breathing than just making your techniques more powerful. And the masters of the past knew it. That's another reason why they focused so hard on proper breathing (and taught their students to do the same). But breathing isn't particularly exciting to practice (as are kicks and punches) and consequently, many (breathing) exercises were tossed by the wayside and forgotten. Some schools openly taught breathing as a method of enhancing balance (such as those that emphasize certain kata such as Sanchin), while others taught (physical) balancing exercises (because great physical balance cannot be maintained unless one's breathing is correct) as a way of teaching proper breathing to their (unknowing) students. The schools of Shorin-ryu were known for this. A number of schools did both (breathing exercises and balance routines).

Use this information to augment and upgrade your daily practice. You'll find it more than a little useful.

BEING “DOJO FIT”

 by Phillip Starr

One of my close friends who teaches traditional Okinawan karate occasionally makes reference to studnts being “dojo fit.” I completely agree with him. Students sometimes take it upon themselves to improve their martial arts technique by engaging in a variety of exercises such as lifting heavy weights, running long distances, and so forth. My friend tells them that although they (and many athletes) may do such exercises regularly, that won't necessarily help to improve their karate. “You have to be 'dojo fit'”, he tells them.

Many years ago, a famous coach and fitness instructor for Olympic athletes as well as NASA astronauts, L. Morehouse, wrote a book entitled “Maximum Performance” explaining this phenomenon. It's long out of print but used copies are still available on Amazon.com. He explained why professional athletes engage only in exercises that will enhance their performance. Doing other exercise routines could eventually have a negative affect on their skills.

At the time this book was penned (1977), martial arts had not yet heavily impacted America, although they were becoming more and more common. The closest sport to martial arts that he investigated was boxing. His findings were very revealing! Since I studied his book, I've followed it very closely and I've found that his recommendations work extremely well!

All in all, it's a question of developing the proper muscle “tone.” If your exercise routines “tone” or “tune” the muscles to do things that are unrelated to your particular discipline, you're actually exercising to minimize your skill. At best, they simply won't impact your martial arts performance at all. My gong-fu teacher had an understanding of this. One of my classmates was very fond of playing football but my teacher cautioned him about engaging in a number of the exercises that had been recommended for athletes wishing to excel in the sport.

He told him that such training would eventually have a negative impact on his gong-fu and he related it to tuning a musical instrument. One stringed instrument wouldn't necessarily be tuned in exactly the same way as another. My guzheng (Chinese zither) is tuned in the key of D, whereas a guitar is tuned differently. If you tried to tune them to the same key, one of them would sound terrible.

I strongly recommend getting a copy of Maximum Performance and studying it very thoroughly so that you can apply it to your own training and the training of your students.

AN OLD ARGUMENT

 by Phillip Starr

We've all heard the arguments about which method is better for fighting - Mixed Martial Arts or Traditional Martial Arts? I'm going to make a whole new slew of friends by laying out the facts...

I'm old enough to remember when American karate practitioners first went up against semi-pro boxers to settle the same silly argument. Generally, the karateists did not fare well. Why? Because they were foolish enough to engage in a bout using boxing rules! This eliminated most of their weapons, effectively blunted their hands (because they were wearing gloves), and forced them to fight under a strict set of rules. The boxers patted themselves on the backs and believed they had proved their point. But all they'd proved was that only boxers should compete under boxing rules and one cannot win a chess game playing by the same rules used in checkers...

When I am asked about differences between MMA and traditional martial arts, I often pose this question... What is the object of an MMA match? When you enter that ring, what is your objective? Think about it.

Most people will answer, “To knock out my opponent.” And they're wrong. No... the objective is to WIN, and you don't have to knock anyone out to do that. MMA is, first and foremost, a sport. There are rules. There is a referee. Both contestants go home at the end of the bout. In a real fight between traditional martial arts practitioners, none of these things are true.

Some will argue, That's not correct! Traditional martial arts people have tournaments and tournaments are a game. But I'm talking about actual combat. MMA is not geared towards combat because it was conceived as, and is practiced as, a sport. Traditional martial arts were never sport-based. I have a dear friend who's a well-known and high ranking practitioner and instructor of a form of Okinawan karate. Some years ago, he was visited by two MMA practitioners who wanted to test their skills against traditional karate. My friend agreed to let them do so and they quickly changed into their training clothes. They were surprised when he told them that they could not wear any protective gear whatsoever (including gloves). After all, traditional karate doesn't make use of such devices. They complied and stepped onto the floor.

The first one was rendered unconscious within the opening seconds of the bout. My friend then offered to get on his hands and knees and allow the second participant to begin from the standard wrestling position. His opponent was only too happy to do so... until he was knocked out. Later, he asked my friend how he managed to fight from the position. The karate teacher said that he simply did his kata from a supine position! He then told both fighters that if they ever wanted to learn traditional karate, they should come to his class. Of course, he never saw them again.

There's a world of difference between martial sport and martial art. They are not the same animal by a very long shot. It's foolish to try to compare the two. Apples and bicycles. The traditional martial arts were intended for real combat and the objective, more often than not, was/is to end the conflict by taking your opponent's life. There are no rules, no rings, no referees, no pads, and no trophies. So the argument about which fighting method is superior is like comparing apples to bicycles.

That said, I admit that many martial arts schools gear themselves towards sport. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's what they do. But it isn't the same as training for the real thing. People who practice competitive target shooting wouldn't last ten seconds in a real firefight. Competitive archers wouldn't have fared too well on the battlefields of times past, either.

The well-worn statement that says all fights go to the ground is, in my opinion, more than a little inaccurate. With a background as a drug enforcement officer, sheriff s deputy, and a guard in a state penitentiary, I've probably been involved in more than my share of scuffles. By and large, most fights did NOT go to the ground until one of the participants was knocked down and injured. Moreover, most fights are not one-on-one affairs and it simply wouldn't be wise to start rolling around on the ground with an opponent whose buddies are watching from the wings. And on the street there's no such thing as a submission hold.

Consider this: Pretty much ALL fights begin from a standing position...

The argument about MMA being different from other martial arts because they mix striking and grappling arts must have been created by someone who had no real knowledge about martial arts. Virtually ALL traditional martial arts combine grappling and striking. They usually emphasize one over the other, but they still utilize both combative elements.