Weekly Training Insights

Great week of training even though we were one day short. As always, lots of lessons learned and many observations. First of all, shut up and train! Sometimes we let our mouths move more than our bodies. Maybe we haven't seen each other in a while or we're trying to figure out what we're doing incorrectly. Whatever it is, it's important not to get too caught up with chit chatting. Martial arts can only be learned through movement and experience, not talking or theory.

It's also important to keep in mind that most, if not all, of the techniques we're learning can be performed with or without a weapon. A technique is not just a technique. It's about the function of the technique, the principles behind it, and the key movements involved. Our understanding of martial arts can be greatly deepened if we explore armed and unarmed variations of each technique - with obvious and not so obvious weapons. Anything can be a weapon - a water bottle, a lighter, a magazine, whatever.

While we're exploring armed variations, we should also not place too much emphasis on the weapon. Many people will not be able to perform the same technique with a weapon in the hand - many will even forget what the original technique was. A weapon is just an extension of the body. Cliche, but true. In fact, you don't even need to use the weapon.

So there we have it. An easy way to get three variations on any given technique: without a weapon, with a weapon, and with a weapon in hand but not using it.

Keep training and we'll be back next week with some more training insights!

- D