Patience, Grasshopper!
While working on a technique sequence designed to fortify their fundamentals, students may occasionally ask to do material that is beyond their skill level. I’ll often answer them in two ways. Either I will demur and tell them that their fundamentals aren’t where they need…
“Lads, you’re not to miss practice unless you died or your parents died.”
I chuckle every time I see this quote by Notre Dame coaching legend Frank Leahy. He was the head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 1941 to 1943 and from 1946 to 1953. He missed the 1944 and 1945 seasons due to serving…
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…
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…
A Great Opportunity
A “Great Opportunity” is how I view my current right shoulder situation. To begin with, my right shoulder issues have gotten worse since October. There have been peaks and valleys with the pain in the front of the shoulder. Some days have been better than…
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…
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…
Push-Up Challenge Debrief
I announced my goals for my 60th birthday a year ago. The motto for the past year was “160 and 60 by 60.” I wanted to get my weight down to 160 lbs and perform 60 push-ups by my 60th birthday. I managed to get…
Video of the Week 18: Sinawali Squat
The Sinawali Squat is a great exercise for conditioning the legs. Why not condition the legs while doing any sinawali exercise? It doesn’t matter if it’s single, double, redonda or reverse. The impetus for this comes from a conversation that I had with Rosh, the…
Navigating Between Too Much Or Just Enough
Some of you know I am a huge football fan in addition to martial arts. After all, it’s hard to avoid watching football in Ohio. I have clear memories of watching the 1970 Cotton Bowl game between Notre Dame and Texas with my father. I…
