Commentary

The Black Belt. Everybody in the world knows it means… or thinks they know what it means! They think a Black Belt means you’re tough—maybe even a killer. It means you’re skilled—maybe even a master. It means you’re wise—maybe even a white-bearded wizard who wields the power to turn villains [Read More]

The open letter I’d love to write, but would never send…   Dear Parent/Spectator, I spend a lot of my time looking at my feet. Part of it is as I am getting older I am working ever harder at making sure I can still see them as I stand [Read More]

The Reality Of Perception I consider myself a fan of British comedy. I adore Monty Python, and I’m also a big fan of Eddie Izzard. Find his HBO Special “Dressed to Kill” sometime; he has a way of talking about language that is quite similar to George Carlin. The example [Read More]

First Things First (WARNING: This article may contain mild spoilers for both seasons of Iron Fist, Luke Cage season two, and The Defenders.) I recently had the pleasure of recording two podcast episodes about Iron Fist. The first one I recorded on Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio with the host, Jeremy [Read More]

What Is The True Price Of Fanaticism? The following is an excerpt from my book, “The True Believers” which was recently re-released in a 2nd edition. It’s a story about the darker side of martial arts communities, and how great things became corrupted by codependency, fanaticism, and yes, money. Some [Read More]

This write-up is the second in the series offering survey-driven data to interested martial artists. Our last report was on enrollment, and you read the write-up right here on Martial Journal. Well, here. If you haven’t followed the previous articles, here’s the short version. We construct surveys for martial artists [Read More]

A common prejudice among educated humans in both academia AND the martial arts is a bias against people who are self-taught. The nerdy word for these self-taught people is “autodidacts.” While I agree with the opinion that, especially in highly technical areas of expertise, formal training is nearly always the [Read More]

Traditional Martial Arts – Filling in the Gaps I was listening to a martial arts podcast last week while I was on the treadmill and I heard a line that really struck a chord in me. The line was essentially a statement by a traditional martial artist that said he [Read More]

Appetite For Destruction (Of Boards) My boards are stacked. Spacers set tightly at the edge. I raise my hand to strike the stack. *thud* The dull, dead sound of a hand hitting the boards and not going through. The force runs through my hand and wrist, up my arm. Why [Read More]

How The Martial Arts Helped Me Beat Cancer Odds can truly be overcome due to the physical, mental and spiritual training of the Martial Arts, as well as the camaraderie of your dojo brothers and sisters. Most importantly, you may find a relationship with your instructor that is far greater [Read More]

A Tough Week For Civility Last week, I watched the horrible state of American politics unfold over a five day period. A crazy person sent bombs to political figures and government officials all over the country. Luckily, no one was hurt. Then, Saturday morning, a gunman entered a synagogue near [Read More]

This past weekend UFC229 created headlines everywhere. The build up to the fight was huge and the rivalry between Connor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov was highly publicized. It was so heated that it ended up with McGregor throwing a trolley through a bus window and injuring people in the process; [Read More]

Thousands of parents enroll their children into martial arts programs across the country every year. Maybe it’s your unruly 4-year-old who needs to learn self-discipline before kindergarten, a high schooler who should learn self-defense before going off to college, or any age in between. No matter why, you are helping [Read More]

Are Forms Still Relevant? Forms. Let’s face it, they have gotten a bad name. Whether you call them forms, kata, shapes, or one of the many names given to them, it’s true. Most modern martial arts and self-defense systems not only question them but completely put them down and often [Read More]

Age Happens I literally caught myself mid screenshot. Click. Please tell me I didn’t just do that. *peer in horror through my fingers at the phone screen. “AGE IS JUST A NUMBER” I just took a screenshot of that quote. *gulp. Don’t know about you, but I’m thinking this is [Read More]

The Long, Winding, And Unexpected Road to Black Belt At one point or another in our studies, we’ve come across one version or another of this question: “How long does it take for a normal person to get their black belt?” Well, normal people don’t get a black belt. We [Read More]

The ancient Samurai believed a strict code of conduct. These principles and ideals are collectively known as Bushido. Among these values are honesty and integrity, honour, loyalty and responsibility. The ancient Samurai believed that speaking and doing are essentially the same. Someone who is honest and has integrity does not [Read More]

In the year 2018 we are, unfortunately, becoming more and more ideologically polarized. The vast majority of people have figuratively, if not literally, joined one of two tribes, much to the detriment of our society. Unless you are a hermit living in a cave somewhere, part of your daily life [Read More]

Iko Uwais and Mile 22 I just got out of the theater where I saw Mile 22, a film starring Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, Ronda Rousey, John Malkovich, Iko Uwais, and directed by Peter Berg. I myself was drawn to this movie because of Iko Uwais, an actor and martial [Read More]