Dim Mak Poison Hand Touch of Death

Been looking at some Dim Mak and Kyusho Jitsu videos again.  I know it's not the best thing to depend on, but I can see the validity in some of the moves and points.  No, I'm not about to seek out Dillman or Cameron for their knowledge and I'm not about to brush up on my Montaigue books either.  But it's nice to look into it every now and then to study the weaknesses of the body to enhance my training.  I've been studying some of Pantazi's stuff recently and it's got my interest.  Mainly I seek the practical, head-hunting stuff rather than the body shots.  I'm still a big fan of researching the science of the knock-out.

Between Stomach 4 and 5 (Mental nerve) - on the jaw between chin and jaw hinge (obvious one, seen in boxing and UFC all the time, much like the rest of these).
Gall Bladder 1 -  Behind eye, above cheek bone
Gall Bladder 4 - Top of the temple, behind hairline
Gall Bladder 14 - Just above the eyebrow to the outside
Gall Bladder 12 and 20 - Behind earlobe, 12 on hairline, 20 just behind it
Triple Warmer 17 - Behind and under ear lobe
Triple Warmer 23 - Forward of temple, outer point of eyebrow
Stomach 9 and 10 - 9 side of Adam's apple, 10 about an inch below
Large Intestine 18 - Side of neck, in the middle, just anterior of frontal plane
Small Intestine 16 - Side of neck, in the middle, just posterior of frontal plane
Governor Vessel 15-19 - 15 top of the neck, 16 right above it, two inches above 16 is 17-19 roughly two inch separation between each
Below Conception Vessel 24 - middle point of chin
Bladder 10 - Hairline, back of head, side of spine


Slapping GV 13 and 14, which is the bottom of the neck top of the back, will help revive.

PMABM Newsletter #12

I'm sure you'll appreciate this video.

I'm doing Contact Flow with my instructor Matt Kovsky, co-author of the book Attackproof, which is required reading for Level 3. Contact Flow is the staple exercise in Guided Chaos, which helps you train every aspect of five major principles for effective self-defense: Body Unity, Looseness, Sensitivity, Balance, and Economy of Movement.

Study this video closely (or as closely as you can with this low-resolution garbage). Other than enjoying seeing me get pummeled, what can you learn from it? What do you see me doing wrong? What do you see Matt doing right? I made a ton of mistakes and I've learned a whole lot from watching this video. I've also learned a lot from watching Matt and seeing many of the Guided Chaos principles effortlessly expressed in his movement.

(Due to privacy issues, I had to take down the video, so I have posted an official Guided Chaos video instead to show what Contact Flow is like.)

What You Can Live Through

Mayor Barrett of Milwaukee fought off an attacker and was injured in the process. He was just leaving the Wisconsin State Fair with his family when an elderly woman called out for help from a man harassing her and her grandchild. Mayor Barrett stepped in to calm the man down and just when he took out his cell phone to call 911, the man attacked the mayor with a metal pipe. The mayor fought back by punching the attacker in the face and fracturing his hand in the process. The suspect ran off and the mayor was sent to the hospital, still conscious and conversational.

Now that's the way to defend your city!

Chaos Theory

Oh, my word, the beak and head seem to be the only parts outside of the egg. The rest of the body is still stuck inside. I'm talking about Jeet Kune Do at this point in its development.  The JKD teachers have the right idea, that JKD should be formless and yet assume all forms and that you have to be like water, my friend. But what they do in practice is still reminiscent of something from the 1970s. The JKD student still goes through a core curriculum through Jun Fan JKD, which they tend to be very dogmatic about.  Or a style sampler blend, like Inosanto's JKD Concepts.

JKD is the product of the marriage between Eastern martial tradition and Western practicality. Bruce Lee learned as much as he could from different martial arts. Likewise the modern JKD teacher provides the knowledge of different martial art approaches. The student then takes all these approaches and assimilates whatever works for his or her particular body type and personality. All good and well, but the progress is impaired when the student goes back to the partial, that is, they keep training the separate ideas.  The Jun Fan JKD people practice the core curriculum that Lee developed and then take in other styles to build on top of the core.  Or for the more enlightened, they strip away to the most essential of the core and the most essential of other styles.  And then the Inosanto approach, the core is practiced along with other styles.  For example, the typical training schedule for that kind of JKD school would be: MMA Mondays, Jun Fan JKD Tuesdays, BJJ Wednesdays, Muay Thai Thursdays, FMA Fridays, open-sparring Saturdays. It's almost as if breaking free of them and fusing all of them would be dishonorable to the traditions of the elders.


Inosanto teaches that there are common threads of movement in many styles, and he states on his web-page that "movement is universal, no one single style or system has it all." Good, I agree. Then I realized why he teaches styles separately when he continues saying, "students learn what works in a particular situation, against a particular opponent, and when another technique or series of techniques would be more practical and effective." He still focuses on particular techniques? He associates those techniques with particular situations? Wow, I had hoped he would be beyond this by now.


Bruce Lee had the right idea when he sought the "totality" in martial arts, the formless form, the ultimate to simple and functional. He did his best to bring together the principles of different styles and meld them into his own, but he died at the beginning of his journey.  His followers also have the right idea, to meld all the styles into a personal style and make it adaptable. But here's the catch: in the blending, they still conform to their training in separate systems, and even if they don't, they still answer a technique with a corresponding technique.

In a way, I'm glad I didn't fully complete my training in JKD. I had to end my training out of necessity, but by then, I was already questioning what I was learning. Why am I practicing the partial? Why is it that I'm practicing specific techniques?  Can I truly adapt to anything thrown at me?  It's good that JKD is more realistic and practical, but why is there so much emphasis on keeping the different styles separate rather than teaching what all of those styles have in common?  Why not work it all together into a person's particular body type in the very beginning rather than doing the traditional approach of finding the formless in the form?

To be continued...

PMABM Newsletter #11

In my effort to look for something from my work at TV-13 on Youtube, I found this video from TV-13 in Michigan:



Mariah Moore, the Eskrimadora. Also known as the American Valkyrie. One thing's sure, this ain't a fat lady singing. More like a young lady swinging - sticks and blades. She's now my new little hero. I don't know about you, but at that age, if my ribs broke in a sparring contest, I would've questioned why I was practicing martial arts. But she kept on going and even won a championship with broken ribs! If a 15 year old girl from the Midwest can take it, there's no reason why you can't.

After watching her videos, I've been motivated to get off my gluts and work on my skills. I'm also looking forward to teaching and coaching again. Did you get that part of the video, that she trains six days out of the week? I recently told Joe one of my motivational/perspective phrases: I'm not obsessed with martial arts, which is why I only train six days out of the week instead of seven. What I mean by perspective phrase is that I won't make martial arts such an obsession that people are left by the wayside and yet I should make the time to practice daily to seek mastery. Balance is the key to anything you do in life, even if you're only known as a martial arts expert, or whatever expert.

I wish I could train six days out of the week. I train as much as I can, though. To be good at anything, it takes a whole lot of conscious effort, discipline, and many, many trips outside of your comfort zone (and maybe even a depletion of funds). By doing so, you develop a good work ethic, which allows you to be good at what you do, which helps motivate your work habits and the cycle continues. You may get to the point that you even like the struggle, but even if you don't, it's best to make the conscious effort to get out and do something. That's my other motivational phrase I've been using recently: Do something, anything! Developing a good work ethic is what makes champions like Mariah.

This promotional video is a little cheesy, but it gets the point across. Mariah seems to be into the modern demo aspect of FMA as well. Watch some of the moves she makes. She does a different style of FMA, but do you recognize a few things?



Also, watch her training and competition videos when you get the chance.

PMABM Newsletter #10

Check out this video of Balintawak arnis training from the '70s. Any of it look familiar to you?

You can tell the teacher is the pudgy one (much like me) and the student is the one with the semi-afro looking hair. The teacher has better balance and evades when necessary while the student is all over the place. If I take video of you now (after we refresh our memory and review what we've learned so far) and then take video of you a year from now, assuming you train consistently, you will be pleasantly surprised to see the change in how you move and in what you do.

I'm looking forward to it.

And for those who want to see the Balintawak arnis I learned, here it is. This is only one aspect of Balintawak training. It's actually a very self-defense focused martial art, as demonstrated in the old video. The old masters didn't teach any of it as sport. They taught with the idea that someone was trying to kill you with a knife or a machete and you had to deal with it quickly.

PMABM Newsletter #9

Weigh in on this:
Fight Club for Geeks
The video is just below the article.

Some things to think about: Where do you draw the line between realistic training and animalistic brawling? Is there a line? How do you train for reality as safely as possible without taking away the "reality"? And it's good to train with improvised weapons, but is there a line to that as well, as in, when does it get just plain silly? Magazines are understandable, but toilet seats? Baking pans? Keyboards even?

Compare their group to the Dog Brothers. Here's the video from PMABM Newsletter #2. Which group do you prefer? Is one better than the other? What are some aspects that both share? This is a little harder: what are their differences? And is this truly reality training? When two (or more) fighters face each other for planned, ritualistic combat, does it prepare them for the surprise attack, which is what happens in real-life? Is it possible to blend the two in some kind of training exercise? Will self-defense training and sport training always be on two totally different worlds? Can you even consider their training as sport? And as I already stated: is it even self-defense?

Here are more videos from the Silicon Valley fight club.

Define discipline

About a week ago, I heard a complaint made by a student from another school about my martial arts school. He said that our school is not the place to learn discipline and that it's best to go to his school instead. I'm not one to jump at every complaint made about me, especially if it's not legitimate. I'll take it into account, but I don't let those things bother me. But just in case my students need an idea of how to respond to people who make those comments, this entry gives an answer. Apparently, whoever made the complaint wasn't practicing discipline with his words:

My school does not teach traditional martial arts so it will not have the same formalities. Bowing and lining up in rank order is a fine practice. It's a good visual aid to a form of discipline, but it is not the discipline itself. One major philosophy in our school is practicality, so you will not see these forms like you see in traditional schools. Instead, there is more of an emphasis on personal responsibility. The teacher motivates the students to take initiative for their martial arts training and have the students pursue their own personal goals while maintaining the attitude of mutual respect. Both the teacher and the student work together to reach those goals and concurrently learn how to work with others to reach their goals.

Through the martial arts, students learn to abide by a code of conduct based on respect for the teacher, fellow students, and the art form. This is done through consistent direct communication of what is expected of them, which is all good and fine. But from my experience and observation, when the sensei or coach tells students what to do, and they do it, it's only discipline for that particular activity. The student did not necessarily transfer that discipline to other areas of life. The hope of "do what you're told" is that the habit of doing that activity would transfer to other areas, but that isn't always the case. In fact, for the most part, students become dependent on someone to tell them what to do rather than take initiative to do what's needed for them personally.
(There are those who come to resent the more demanding authority, also.)

"Over-reliance on extrinsic motivation leads to learned helplessness and learned dependence. Learned helplessness is a state in which the individual does not believe that she is capable of influencing important outcomes in her life. The more students’ behavior is determined by others’ directions and external inducements, the more the students will lose their sense of self-determination and self-efficacy" (Ylvisikar, Hibbard, and Feeney, Online).

Only few actually learn to internalize those discipline concepts and transfer them to other areas of life. I guide students to what they need to do and from there, they choose to do it. Instead of just telling them what to do, I take the extra step of letting them know how it applies to other life activities and to persistently persuade them to be more intrinsically motivated. They will choose to do what is demanded of them.

A second point to our method of discipline is that our school does not adhere to Confucian-influenced hierarchy. We do teach discipline, just not in the traditional Asian martial arts sense of the word. We respect the instructor because he is willing to give his knowledge and time to train the student and he is the authority in matters of coaching in the martial arts and various parts of life. In Confucian philosophy, the basis for respecting the instructor has more to do with filial piety, or ancestor worship. People are intuitively aware of a spiritual reality and most if not all cultures are naturally inclined to be superstitious. This means that "spirit" to the Confucian is not just the ideals, essence of philosophy, and personality of a dead person, but "spirit" means the soul, the very life-force of the person that continues on after death. Instead of submitting to authority out of simply respecting them because you seek their knowledge and experience, in Confucian-influenced societies, submitting to authority has more to do with respecting those "spirits", thus keeping order in a collective or else incur the wrath of your ancestors and the government. I have endeavored not to include any hint of Eastern spirituality or even hierarchy structure based on Eastern spirituality in my martial arts philosophy.

The best answer, of course, was made by one of my students:
"You've never practiced with us, so how would you know?"

PMABM Newsletter #8

Next up in our study of different styles - Tai Chi Chuan. In Chinese, Tai Chi Chuan means "supreme ultimate fist." The progenitors of the style were Taoists who used the idea of opposing forces working in harmony as the philosophical basis for their art. As Taoists, they incorporated the idea of chi, an indefinable energy flow of the universe. The reason they believe it was the supreme is because the movements were the manifestation of yin and yang and the practice was a representation of the universe's workings.

I don't subscribe to the idea of chi and, no, you're not at one with the universe when you practice tai chi chuan. But there is good use of physics and strategy in this approach to martial arts. In our practice of contact flow, I emphasize yielding and rooting. Those ideas come directly from tai chi chuan. In being sensitive to incoming energy in the form of a strike, you give way, yield, and use that energy to counterattack. In the book, Tao te Ching, one phrase sums this up: "The soft and pliable will defeat the hard and strong." Only by consistent practice can you truly come to understand how to be more sensitive, and know when to yield and when to strike.

Watch for what I'm talking about in these vids:

This guy does a different style of tai chi chuan, but the underlying theory is the same. Also, interesting contrast between the solo form and the partner sets:


A few more applications to traditional tai chi chuan moves:


I like the two on one set in this:

Successful Project

The Project Success program ended for the year and I had to submit a summary of my part in it. This is also used to request for additional funds so I can provide my services next year.

"The martial arts program I offered to Project Success had a two-fold purpose: to teach students how to effectively defend themselves and to teach students how to think progressively. They were taught many things that I would teach in my school and, even more so, much of what I taught them was geared for their age group.

"For the first purpose, I did not teach a traditional approach to martial arts by having them memorize technique sequences. Instead, I focused on natural reactive movement that is instinctive and intuitive, enabling them to learn faster. But there is more to self-defense than just fighting back - it is having an awareness of the surrounding environment. To introduce the children to this idea, the first few lessons included a reaction drill to be aware of the slightest touch on their shoulder and to react to it as quickly as possible. I also had them do a real-world evasion exercise, by running from "danger" and to go to a "safe spot" across the gym. I even included an imaginary street for them to look both ways so they can get into the habit of being watchful. I also suggested an out of class exercise to notice what was going on around them and not to allow their minds to wander. At the same time, the children learned how to strike with greater power by utilizing full body momentum.

"To fulfill the second purpose, we recited the progressive affirmation after each class so that the students would learn to think positively and successfully. When I went over the rules for the class in the beginning of the program, thinking positively was an important rule, second only to mutual respect. I gave a practical example: they should not say the word "can't" especially when it comes to learning martial arts. I always emphasized that they can learn, change, and grow, in martial arts and in any other endeavor they choose to do. These are the same phrases I memorized and recited at the end of each class when I trained in karate several years ago:
I will develop myself in a positive manner and avoid anything that would reduce my mental growth or my physical health.
I will develop discipline in order to bring out the best in myself and others.
I will use what I learn constructively and defensively, to help myself and my fellow man, and never to be abusive or offensive.
There were a few sessions where the children and I had a short discussion on the meaning of these phrases as well.

"Over the course of the five months, I taught the children many other aspects of martial arts. There were a few more real-world exercises, like quickly verifying a "friend" from a "foe," getting away from grabs and holds, and even doing a flash card drill with license plate numbers. They learned many strikes as well, using all the available ridges of the body, like edge of the palm, elbows, knees, and kicks.

"We trained as much as we could during that one day out of the week and compressed as much information as possible in those sessions. The students were progressing along and were learning quite well. From what I hear, they enjoyed the program so much that those who will be in the elementary school next year would like to continue training."

PMABM Newsletter #7

For this newsletter, we'll look at a video of another style I learned. Yes, it is none other than the very first style I formally learned - Matsubayashi Shorin-Ryu Okinawan Karate. Here's a memorized kumite (sparring) exercise:



Even though I don't teach forms and the only memorized movement sequences I teach are in the earlier levels of training, I don't discount them. We can still learn something from them. They were a valuable training aid to martial artists of old and they were an aid to me in the beginning of my development. I concluded that kata or forms were only one of many ways to transmit martial arts principles and teaching methods expeditiously and concretely.

A few ideas garnered from karate: karate chops ARE effective; kicks should be kept low; don't roundhouse kick; torque when you strike; stepping should be natural; breathe out when you strike; belt rank is not applicable in kumite; make the strike go from point A to point B as efficiently as possible; train the ridges of your body to hit well; train the rest of your body to take hits well.

And here is the founder of the Matsubayashi style, Shoshin Nagamine, in his late 80s doing the first black belt kata or form exercise:



Talking about old guys who can still move, here's a bonus video of Johnny LaCoste in the late 1970s. Johnny was one of the many grandmasters of Filipino Martial Arts. Here he is in a rare video with Dan Inosanto when Dan was just starting to incorporate Filipino Martial Arts in his Jeet Kune Do. I would love to be in my late 80s and still be able to move like these guys did. Watch from 2:50 to about 5:40. And if you want to see a crazy kali solo drill, it's starts at 6:36.

PMABM Newsletter #6

To continue our discussion on different martial arts I've experienced, here is a nice demonstration of silat, one of many Southeast Asian martial arts. This first video is a demonstration of both Filipino kali and silat, influenced by Dan Inosanto. He teaches the blended Maphilindo style of silat, but it's not too different from the purely Indonesian style I learned. You don't have to understand the commentators to appreciate this demonstration. If you understand Italian, then great!



This second video is more of what I trained in called pencak silat mande muda. This is part of a seminar taught by Pendekar Suwanda (pendekar means instructor). It was incredibly fun to learn since I was able to tie up my partner into a pretzel in myriad ways. This style helped catapult me to a greater understanding of contact flow and combative movement. No, it doesn't have any superficial connection to contact flow, but we'll go over some of the moves in class to help you see the shared principles.



And one more video: once again, look for the similarities in combative movement. Can you see hubud movement in there? Are you able to pick out what's effective and what's just dance-like? Do you think this can work in high speed? Do you think this can work with a sociopath coming after you?

PMABM Newsletter #5

I want you to be familiar with the martial arts that have influenced my development. You're learning many of the principles from these arts, so it only makes sense to have a more in-depth knowledge of them.

Here is an Inside Martial Arts video on the Burmese martial art of Thaing, Kasheen style. I trained in a more common version of Burmese martial art called Bando, although Bando and Kasheen Thaing are both the same thing, just from different parts of Myanmar. When you watch the video, compare the similarities of combative movement in Thaing to what I teach you. Think about the underlying principles. Also, watch out for what the speaker says about the sport aspect of training, why he feels it's necessary. But, as I've said many times, even though combat sports is part of your training, it has its limitations. If the sports aspect is your only focus, it may hinder you from developing good self-defense skills, which is why contact flow and other types of non-sport self-defense training is important.



And this second video is quite interesting. Amusing actually! It's a self-defense film from the UK in the 1930s. Even then, watch out for principles of combative movement and compare it with what I teach you. Is it good self-defense? Is it bad? What techniques are usable? What goes a little too far? What is just stupid?



Remember, BASD is closed this coming Monday, so no Project Success DSD martial arts.

PMABM Newsletter #4

Hello! Welcome to the new year, another year to be a better martial artist.

For this month, I decided to use two videos representing the two major components of what I teach: self-defense and sport.

Self-defense:
The Dog Brothers have exceptional promotional videos for their product line. This is the promotional for their self-defense video The Interface Between Gun, Knife, and Empty-hand, which shows you how to deal with the knife and the gun. There are several ideas presented that I'd like for you to keep in mind, and I will ask you about them in class. Even though I teach you mainly from John Perkins's approach to the knife and the gun, it's good to be open to other people's views as well. As it says in the beginning of the video, "Research your own experience," and to continue that statement, "Absorb what is useful. Reject what is useless. Add what is specifically your own."

Sport:
The History channel show, Human Weapon, has segments where computer generated figures are used to demonstrate various martial arts techniques. The two I've included use the same principles - the juji-gatame, also known as the armbar. We have to get you guys back on the mat to practice this basic technique while in full sparring mode. Not only that but we also have to continue practicing how to get out of the armbar as well.

Juji-gatame:

Armbar:

PMABM Newsletter #3

This month we'll comment on two videos: one from the Guided Chaos youtube channel and the other a surveillance video capturing a real life self-defense altercation.

The Guided Chaos video shows that it is best not to play around with locks or holds especially against an assailant with serious deadly intent.



This second video shows a robbery attempt. The entire event took less than ten minutes, but for the store employees, it must have seemed like an eternity. Fortunately for the employees, the perpetrator was only armed with a knife. Anyone can play the Monday morning quarterback with videos like these, so I'm not going to say too much. I can't criticize the manager for being the hero. As I mentioned in class, what are you willing to do and what are you prepared to deal with before the spit hits the fan? Will you let a perp go and allow law-enforcement to handle everything or will you do what this manager did? Either way would be all right, although the manager risked his own safety by holding on to the perp. Good for him that the perp didn't have a second knife or even a gun. Using the ideas from the first video, you'll see that it was quite a challenge to try and control the perp. (And for you MMA nuts, what technique did the manager use to control the would-be robber? Hint at 3:33)

PMABM Newsletter #2

I've decided to do a monthly newsletter instead of a bi-weekly one, since there isn't a big readership for it right now, and I have way too much to do.

This month's video is from the Dog Brothers. This is their promo video for their semi-annual Gathering of the Pack tournaments, which is beyond UFC and something more akin to what we like to do. They take the cake in how advanced they are in their approach to martial arts and they do a wonderful job at promoting this event. Make sure you comment on this and if you haven't commented on the previous video that you do so as well.

PMABM Newsletter #1

This is the first video newsletter for our advanced class! For the next few weeks, we'll be analyzing Kurae no ken's kurae fighting style video. There's a lot in this and I would love to hear your input. To make this worthwhile for all of us, I prefer that with each video I add, we should make a comment, a critique or a question, and a case-study practice exercise. To give you guys an example of what I'm talking about:

Comment:
This is one of the best martial art school promotional videos I've seen so far.

Critique:
The knife disarms are too impractical and downright dangerous to pull off in real life. Fun to watch, though, and it's still good to learn things like that. (Or if you have a question about it - Would knife disarms like that actually work in real life?)

Case-study:
We should practice the Indonesian/Filipino silat principle of driving into the opponent.

I can easily go on with each point and you can too if you want. This is the least we should do so we can get into the habit of doing something about what we see and not just let it entertain us. Everything we do should have a point so we can get more from our practice.

Under-fire controversy

At the HUB a few weeks ago, I had a talk with Dave, the new volunteer worker. He found out I taught martial arts and we started to talk about the UFC. He asked me, "What do you think about the UFC and how do you reconcile that to your Christian walk?"
"Great question!" I said to him and proceeded to meander my way through this quagmire of a topic. I thought I had a prepared answer, but I was only prepared for the "How do you reconcile martial arts with Christianity?" question, which I've answered dozens of times before. This was a little bit of a twist. How does a Christian reconcile his walk with the Lord to this brutal looking sport?

For those who know me, I'm very much into watching and following MMA tournaments because of my martial arts background. I don't have cable so I do more following-up than watching. The UFC and MMA is as controversial in the Christian world as any popular secular entertainment.

Here are some of the more popular contentions to MMA and my response:

It's a gladiatorial spectacle.
The sad truth in life is that the only way to grab people's attention is through sex and violence. Splash the front page of the newspaper with a bloody story or strip a model of her modesty, and you've got people lined up to dole out their hard-earned dollars. Pay-per-view does a great job of marketing an honorable sport as a gladiatorial blood-fest, when really it is not a blood-fest at all. There are many rules in a highly controlled environment and several contingencies on hand to keep the fighters from severely injuring each other. In the level of violence, MMA is not too different from a boxing match, except this time the fighters have more options. Boxing, in both amateur and professional, has an incredibly high rate of deaths per million fighters, most in training.^[1] MMA has had only three deaths since 1981.^[2] And it's obvious why that is - in boxing, the target half of the time is the head. Also, boxing gloves, while they provide protection for the hands, actually dish out more damage to the target. So instead of a fist and 4 oz. (weight of a typical MMA glove) hitting you, there's a fist and 16 oz. with a greater surface area hitting you. And because of the rules imposed on the fighters, MMA is definitely not going back to ancient Rome like some fear. MMA of today is actually quite tame compared to the brutal matches of the 19th century and is even more tame compared to other forms of violent entertainment since Rome's decline. The way MMA is marketed as a bloodsport is misleading.

MMA engenders violent and unruly behavior.
Nearly all MMA fighters respect each other or at least each other's skill. Only a few fighters bad-mouth their opponents. Compare this to the accepted fake wrestling shows like WWE and such where bad attitude is the norm. Now THAT engenders violent and unruly behavior. Or certain types of music, movies, and TV shows can influence people to violent behavior, but that is another controversial topic that I won't get into now. MMA is a sport and the players are trained fighters who normally don't commit assault in their daily lives. MMA is actually one of the few sports where its players don't commit assault against any other person outside of the arena. MMA does not engender violent and unruly behavior.

How can you call something a sport when you win by assaulting your opponent?
First of all, many sports are violent. Some may say that football and MMA are different in that football's main avenue to gain points is by scoring touchdowns or kicking field goals, while MMA points are gained by nothing other than brutal striking or submission. Just because the avenues to gain points are different, the simple fact remains - both sports are violent. Football even more so. Points are awarded in touchdowns and field goals but to prevent those things from happening against you, it is necessary in football to violently restrain your opponent. Football's protective gear doesn't always prevent injury, either. Most MMA injuries are minor. Refs know when to stop fights and even then, ringside doctors are used as a second measure to stop fights. Fighters too know when to stop because they know it will affect their careers. They'll live to fight another day. Any permanent injury will only keep them from playing their sport. Sports, as defined by wikipedia and most dictionaries, are activities governed by a set of rules and engaged competitively, where the physical capabilities, mental acuity, or equipment quality of the competitor are the sole or primary determiner of the outcome (winning or losing)." I think MMA fits that definition very well. And the players are sportsmen who, ideally, play fairly and accept the win or the loss.

How can this be edifying?
This is one of those guilt-trip, oh-so holy comments. Most games, from board games to organized sports will have a winner or a loser. The loser is not always edified. Games can be a platform for the winner to encourage the loser to keep playing and learn to win. Pridefulness comes through in many ways, whether in playing a game or merely talking to another person. It is not the game, then, but the players. It is the attitude of the players that make it edifying or not. If we're talking about games that do not necessarily edify, a good example is Monopoly. It is an innocent game, but the way it is played is definitely not edifying. The goal in Monopoly is to take as much as possible from other players, short of stealing it. If the players have good attitudes, then Monopoly is a nice little game to play with family and friends. But, going into the way it is played, Monopoly is a good way to practice materialism, selfishness, and self-glorification. Not very edifying, is it? So how can a person be edified with MMA? Just like with any sport or game, as a spectator, it is entertainment, it is neutral. I don't expect to be edified when I'm watching a golf tournament anymore than I expect to be edified when I watch a chess match. As a Christian MMA player, or any sportsman, the issue isn't primarily edification but in glorification. It is not who wins or loses or even the type of game, but who is glorified. There are a few Christians I know of in MMA who give glory to God whether they win or lose. The same goes with other sports with Christian players - do they give glory to God for whatever endeavor they are in or not? This is true for every Christian, not just those in the spotlight. Then, when God is glorified, that is when Christians are edified. And, not to get too theologically deep here, I'll simply say that if a fellow Christian is weak and may stumble because of MMA, then I will not watch it in front of him or mention it around him.

How do you reconcile the violence of MMA with Paul's statement to live peaceably with all men?
Living peaceably with all men means to live a life without causing strife and unnecessary conflict. MMA is a sport where the fighters respect each other. Most of them come from a martial arts background where part of training is to have a healthy respect for another individual. A person can easily create conflict apart from MMA. I and my brothers and sisters in Christ who watch MMA (mostly my brothers) do our best to live peaceably with all men.

And talking about men, the reason why MMA is the most popular sport among men between 18-34 years old^[3] is because this type of sport goes to the heart of a man's nature. Men have a battle to fight, as Jonathan Eldredge states in his book Wild At Heart. Men are wired to fight and to compete, there's no doubt about that. And since men are visual creatures, we don't mind watching fights either. Women won't necessarily understand this. Some do and that's great, but for the most part, this is alien to them. As Dr. Eggerich says, this trait in men isn't wrong, it's just different. I hope that Dave's wife and my wife will at least accept this difference.

Sources:

1. Svinth, Joseph R. (2007). Death under the spotlight: The Manuel Velasquez boxing fatality collection. Journal of Combative Sport. http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_a_0700.htm

2. Svinth, Joseph R. (2007). Boxing Injury Bibliography. Journal of Combative Sport. http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_0901.htm

3. Mohapatra, P. (2007, January 22). One-on-one with UFC President Dana White. Baltimore Sun. Retrieved January 28, 2007, from http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-whiteqa122,0,6561424.story?coll=bal-sports-headlines

IMHO forums stink!

Web forums are the bane of my existence. Political forums were my first foray into this weird and ridiculous virtual world. Yes, politics is weird already and the opinions thrown back and forth might as well be wet cow manure. I've only attempted a few times to get into discussions, especially when Bush was elected the second time. Wasn't worth it. Way too much crap tossed about that the truth was muddled. And Christian/religious debate forums can be just as much a nuisance. Oh my word, I've never seen so many people try their best to outsmart each other, it wasn't even funny. And if they weren't trying to outsmart each other, they were trying to outmature or outwisdom each other!

Forums are like that anyway, people laying out their writing "savvy" to be heard. I admit, I always did my best to sound knowledgeable whenever I was pulled into a commenting tete-a-tete. Thing is, whenever the person I was debating with started to give worthless opinions based on anecdotal evidence just to prove his point, I would stop talking to him. I don't want to deal with simple-minded and unsubstantial arguments. But even with the correct arguments, if I followed through with the conversation to the bitter end, what good would that have done? A man convinced against his will...

Yes, I'm sure there are people who excel at this forum thing - strong, brilliant Christians who do their best to represent Christ well, who have their heads on straight. They do exist; I'm still following the writings of a few of them. There were some great points made on the political forums and I've read incredible discussions on theology in the Christian debate sites where I'm always learning new things.

But what really captures my capra aegagrus are martial arts forums. A few of them in particular.

I trained in Jeet Kune Do Concepts for some time and it helped me to be a more open-minded martial artist. I also came from a traditional karate background so I understand the "my style is superior" mindset as well. Once I understood the martial arts, that it's the scientific analysis and practice of self-defense with the progressive development of an individual, I became even more appreciative of the different martial arts of the world. I even thought I could learn a few things from some martial arts forums and talk to like-minded people. Some martial arts forums are decent. Then there are a few that allow for the most obnoxious people to puff out their chests. Those are intolerable. Three sites are black-listed, and I won't honor them by even mentioning their names. They have some childish punks running their comments off. Yes, they may sound intelligent, but in the end, they don't have the openness and courtesy for me to afford them any respect. In fact, because of their lack of credibility, I have no use for their opinion.

In my martial arts development, I'm at the point where the principles of Guided Chaos/Ki Chuan Do is my source of greatest learning. I don't see any other approach to self-defense teaching and practice that is going the direction I'm going - in GC/KCD I found something like the unified field theory of martial arts. There are others I learn from, like TFT and Fast Defense, but Guided Chaos is my bread and butter. There are those in the self-defense community who bad-mouth GC/KCD. Apparently, they've never practiced it and I don't think they ever took the time to even try to understand it. Then I realized, in the self-defense community, there are those who have the "my style is superior" mindset like in the traditional martial arts community. I've learned to leave those people alone. I've also learned to leave those forums alone. If they choose to be close-minded, then I can't do anything about it. I on the other hand will continue to train and keep my eyes peeled so I can learn different approaches. Doing so will only help to develop me beyond the narrow confines of elitist and isolationist thinking.

Fightin' Amish

In Strasburg, PA, a couple of days ago, two men stopped an Amish buggy with a man and two women inside. The idiots demanded that the Amish hand over their buggy (as a trophy, I guess. "Oh, yeah , we'll tow the buggy back to our hide-out"). One of the muggers threatened them with a knife. The Amish wouldn't comply and one of the women kicked the mugger's hand that held the knife. The Amish got out of there with their buggy and the would-be robbers got in their SUV and fled the scene!

Whether or not the account is true, it's still hilarious to think about the new art of Amish-fu.