Which of these comics is most relevant to your practice of martial arts?
Skeleton Clown
Italian Spiderman and Friends
How to Win at Kickboxing (The Wrong Way)
By Tim Ferriss, no-holds-barred cage fighter, kick-boxer-pusher, and the author of the bestselling book The 4-Hour Workweek…
In 1999, sometime after quitting my second unfulfilling job and eating peanut-butter sandwiches for comfort, I won the gold medal at the Chinese Kickboxing National Championships.
It wasn’t because I was good at punching and kicking. God forbid.
Combat Judo in the Cobra-Kai
From the 2008 reptile documentary Life in Cold Blood:
Cobras grapple not only with their prey, but with one another, in dispute over mates and territory. This is one of the most formidable: the King Cobra, highly venomous, and about four meters (fourteen feet) long. Disputes between rival male King Cobras are potentially very dangerous indeed, for this species specializes in eating other kinds of snakes. So they observe strict rules in their fights, which prohibit the use of their lethal bite.
Slowed down, it’s a performance full of grace, as each contestant strives not to kill his opponent, but simply to slam him to the ground.
Three Questions About Submission Grappling
- If you knew someone was trying to kill you in a fight, at what point would you give in, and allow them to succeed?
- If you wanted a competitor to submit to your authority, would killing them instead demonstrate a failure or a success?
- Do you believe that submission grappling and self-defense are basically the same thing?
SlowFlo: The Christian Alternative to Tai Chi?
Are you feeling run down? Suffering from tired blood? Do encounters with foreign cultures leave you confused and angry?
If so, then we have a solution for you. It’s called SlowFlo, the Christian alternative to Tai Chi.
Inspired by Chuck Norris, the art of SlowFlo reforms the inscrutable pagan art of Tai Chi Chuan into a safe and guilt-free form of Christian exercise.
Why Are White Belt Fighters So Dangerous?
Many experienced martial artists believe that, of all the different categories of training partners, absolute beginners are the most dangerous. To outsiders, this sounds like a paradox. Shouldn’t those with the least martial arts training be the least dangerous?
It is not truly a paradox, only a misconception. And not all white belts are dangerous, obviously. But those that are, if only on the mat, are so for the following reasons.
Their goal is always to win. They don’t yet understand the difference between trying to win, and trying to cultivate the skills that one uses to win. Real fights are chaotic affairs, and chaos is not a proper breeding ground for skill development; thus, training in respectable martial arts consists of a series of games, first introducing support structures (e.g. rules and conventions), then dismantling them one step at a time.
The need for, or value in this approach is not obvious–and it is not always explained at the outset. So some white belts never appreciate the context of their practice. Others consider themselves above the “organized despair” of the “traditional mess,” and when a rule stands between them and a sparring victory, they break it without hesitation. The conventions and rules of training, they reason, are “unrealistic in a real fight.”
Busty Heart Splits Planks With Cans, Smashes Fruits With Melons
Some Martial Development readers have alleged that I am overly critical of breaking practices in the martial arts, in favor of punching bags. Maybe I went a little too far. For some, hitting bags is no fun. If I’ve implied that tameshiwari advocates are all boobs, then I must now apologize. Perhaps breaking is about more than vanity, showmanship and deceit.
When properly executed, breaking can build power, control, and self-confidence. After diligent practice, you may even bust an entire rack of melons, or a nicely stacked set of boards.
In the following videos, model and stripper Busty Heart shows her breaking talent.
Steven Seagal: The CIA’s Final Option
Steven Seagal has long inspired controversy among his fans and foes alike.
Miracle Yogi Prahlad Jani Gives Up Facebook, Food
From the UK Telegraph, April 2010
Prahlad Jani is being held in isolation in a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gurjarat, where he is being closely monitored by leading Indian scientists, who believe he may have a genuine quality which could help save lives.
It is alleged that Prahlad Jani does not use, and has never used Facebook or Twitter. Also, that he has eaten nothing over the past sixty years.
Prahlad has now spent six days without status updates, food or water under strict observation, and doctors say his body has not yet shown any adverse effects from this electronic quarantine. He also does not appear to suffer from hunger or dehydration.
Mr. Jani, who claims to have left home aged seven and lived as a wandering sadhu or holy man, is regarded as a “breatharian” who can live on a “spiritual life-force” alone. He believes he is sustained by a goddess who pours an “elixir” through a hole in his palate, and who keeps him informed on all the latest news and entertainment trends.