Making It Stick: Video Homework Assignments
One of the more interesting teaching ideas I’ve encountered is video homework assignments for students. Specifically, the idea is to video private lessons and upload them to Google Drive for them to watch and analyze. The inspiration for this idea comes from Maija Soderholm, one…
Private Lessons and Big Data: Turning Sticks into Trendlines!
Before discussing my data experiment, I apologize for the month-long radio silence due to being (a) buried in work and (b) having a family get-together. That said, I’m happy to blog again! After a private lesson with Rosh, the owner of ABS Training Centre, we…
RIP George Foreman
The great heavyweight boxer George Foreman recently passed away at the age of 76. Foreman has long fascinated me, especially since the iconic “Rumble in the Jungle” fight against Muhammad Ali. I was 10 years old at the time. The sports pages of the day…
Cobra Kai Never Dies!
Last night, I binge-watched the last five episodes of “Cobra Kai,” released four days ago (Feb 13th). All I can say is “WOW.” I love how the writers wrapped it up all by the final episode! Semi-Spoiler Alert ahead! Suffice it to say that Cobra…
Video of the Week 26: Double Zero to Abanico Double Action
As many of you know, I ardently advocate solo training, whether the shadowboxing version or hitting a tire. Solo training is an excellent opportunity to work on your martial skills, particularly your weaknesses. I demonstrate one solo training sequence consisting of a double zero followed…
Video of the Week 25: Disarm #1 With Follow-ups
When I teach disarms to beginners, I teach the disarms as a stand-alone technique. I focus on the concepts of leverage and footwork. Once the student understands the proper movement and leverage, I introduce the importance of a follow-up. To many of us, this is…
Musashi and Arnis
Below is a terrific video about Muhammad Ali and the famed swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. The video draws upon Musashi’s famous book, “Book of Five Rings.” For me, it’s interesting to see Musashi’s martial philosophy through the prism of Modern Arnis. One would be wise to…
Video of the Week 24: Abanico Double Action off Block, Check, Counter
One of the mainstay drills of Modern Arnis is the block, check, counter drill. At the drill’s core is learning to respond to the 12 angles of attack. One variation of this drill involves the abanico double action. The basic sequence is as follows: See…
Practicing With My Left Hand
I like to do a fair bit of solo training with both the right and left hands. Unfortunately, my right shoulder’s condition is such that I haven’t done much solo training with that side. In other words, I generally save my right shoulder for the…
Reality vs. Fantasy
Before I offer brief thoughts about the Mike Tyson fight, I want to inform you that I’ve had trouble with my blog/website. It has taken a couple of weeks to fix various issues. The main issue (the Jetpack plugin) has been fixed, and some others…
