I had this dream....

Oh my gosh!!!!


All I can say is when I woke up, I was in bed. LOL

Let me explain.

Any of you ever had this dream where you were running..  but somehow, feel your leg is powerless.. and there is this inertia so much so that it was near impossible to run FORWARD?

How frustrating is that!?

I think I remember trying to kick someone, but all I did was.. "flick".  Uh oh. Thats not good. I remember almost peeing in my pants because I could not hurt whatever I was trying to hit. Then I started to run.. but like what I described above..  I couldn't move!?  Grrr  Well.. after a long while of struggling to run forward, I thought I made some progress.... I forgot what I was running from.. lol

Then the scene changed and I had to pee. Somehow, I needed to find a public toilet and I did. I found this really strange public toilet which had waist level toilet doors and peopl passing by could look into the cubicle and see me *doing* the business.  Since I am a very private person..  I tried very hard in my dream to let my bladder go so I can find some relief...  

Cannot.

Cannot means cannot.   No matter how much I coax myself, my bladder refused to give way. So I find myself running around the dream toilet trying to find a cubicle with a decent height door that can "hide" my business.

Then I woke up.

Then I ran for the bathroom.

Ahhh.. release!!!!  Now recalling my dream as I "spilled" my erm.. beans...  I was sooooo glad my bladder held.. otherwise it would be really really difficult to explain why I am still wetting my bed...  haa... haa..  ahem..  but I digress..

Back to the helpless part of my dream.

How many of us must have felt helpless when you see something happen, and we cannot do anything about it? I mean really helpless as in bang your head against the wall until blood flows out kind of helpless...

I had that feeling a couple of times..  that was waaaay back when I was still serving the national service, and I was on a bus service 154... on my way back from camp on a sunny saturday afternoon. The Bukit Timah road was jammed up really bad because of the weekend horse races. (The Turf club had moved to the Turf city back then).   I suddenly had this really bad urge to go toilet. Ok, no, go toilet is not the words to phrase what I needed to do. I needed to shit. To evacuate bad stuff from my body.. which I can feel is pushing their way through my supremely guarded tight butt-hole muscles.. scientifically called the sphincter muscle.


For the next 1 and half hour, I was fighting for dear life.  Dear lord... using your life skills in fending off attackers trying to stick something IN you.. is soooooo much easier then preventing something from 
bursting OUT of you.  What was I supposed to do, punch my intestines and ass to stop the attack?


Yuck.. I can feel the little suckers succeeding in pushing their way past my supremely guarded gates...  I started to pray...   oh lord did I pray..


I did everything and made every promise a man can ever make to his lord. Just so please lord, please don't let my shit come out...  yuck!


Anyway, I don't know how.. I don't know what made me do it..  but.. I made it safely home when maybe 2 secs to spare when all hell broke loose after I sat down.....   *groan*


I probably looked like a tinge of the hulk.. maybe.. eeee


So I guess, this pointless posting today is to show you the power of one's will.  No matter what we try..  as long as we have faith in ourselves and trust our faith...  anything is possible.


Except this one time when I was having lessons during my technical drawing lesson..


~CJ

Flyte Dojo

Est. 2012

Established on 1 March 2012 as part of Shitoryu Karate Association's affiliate branch.

Choice of defense

Let us discuss a scenario.

Out of the infinite possibilities and choices of weapons, approach style, fighting background, mentalities, philosophies, etc, etc.

Your antagoniser approaches...

From our perspective.. all we see is an opponent in an altercation who is facing us with his left foot planted and leaning forward slightly with a light bounce in his movements. Both hands held up to shoulder's level with no cross of the centerline.  This guy knows his basic stuff. OK, here we go. How do we approach this confrontation and come out winning?

Most common reaction (including mine) would be to drop back, favourite stance, guards up, and....

Tae Kwon Do trained martial artists will look for opportunities to counter the attacker with kicks?

Karatekas will attempt to punch and front kick him to a pulp.. maybe even a flashy Kyokushin Jodan Mawashi Geri? Ofc to the familiar tune of ooosh, ooosh, ooosh, ooosh!!!

Judokas might embrace him for that fate changing uchi-mata or seonage throw to the floor.. thus ending the fight?

How about our wonderful friends with MMA training.. Muay Thai and BJJ combo kick punch pre-emptive strike with a male homo snuggling on the ground ending with a armbar, legbar or kimura?

Or maybe put your guards up, mirror his stance and close the distance for a good old boxing match and out slug each other to a Koniakku ?

Oh.. and stop all the bad habits of cosmetic moves. Brushing your nose with your thumb ala Bruce Lee, spreading your hands apart and goading your opponent with your hands ala Wong Fei Hung, hopping and bouncing around ala Jean Claude Van Damme WILL get you in trouble eventually.  I have personally seen people who are involved in street fights swaying their body ala street fighter... probably they think being proficient at computer and arcade games qualify them to be street fighters...  

O - Only in their minds, fantasies come true.... these people have no idea whatsoever what is kumite.

M - Mentally insane to think they know how hard bones are until they make contact with someone else's.

G - Good luck with new sensations called, lactic acid build up, excrutiating pain, exhaustion and reality check.

I would suggest the following chain of thoughts/actions.. (which for common sense sake have to take place in your head rather quickly)

C - Check him out physically quickly. Learn to be able to assess a fighter's strength (hence potential source of attack) with a quick glance at his physique.

H - Hands MUST be relaxed and at the ready...at all times.

I - Intuitively load up your favourite combo. Counter or pre-emptive strike at the earliest opportunity.

C - CHEAT. Combat is based on deception.

K - Kick. Remember you have legs as well. That makes you more dangerous because you have 5 weapons of choice.

E - Expectations. Expect the unexpected from your opponent. Stay alert and focus on him at all times. That girl walking past with the ultra super mini-skirt can wait.  Expect pain. Expect your opponent to be highly skilled.

N - NEVER EVER UNDERESTIMATE your opponent.

O - Outwit your opponent. Letting him underestimate your fighting capabilities.

U - Unbalancing your opponent is key to winning. Be it psychological or physical. Keep doing it.

T - Turning your back on your opponent is never a good idea. DON'T!

My first inclination to deal with this scenario is to drop into a stance which allows me to execute side-steps.. or if space constraint, close the distance between us fast. Guard at this point would be redundant because if we are planning to counter the attack based on positioning, any guard positioning would be more of a cosmetic move and in actual fights, that can literally kill you.

I would much prefer pre-emptive strike sen sen no sen, if possible at all, but in this case, since I already am in the frame of mind for tai-tsabaki, it would be sensible for go no sen. It might be a case of ura shuto or kote barai, followed by combinations of ura uchi and furi zuki. Depending on the followup, the opponent's defense and/or subsequent manouvres, distance 1 and 2 dictates a takedown is necessary, here is where diligent seonage and uchi mata practices pay off. Alternatively, ashi barai works at this distance if proper kakete waza is employed or if we are close enough for a kage zuki take-down combo.

Unlike most point scoring matches where a referee is there to see fair play, street fights usually require you to kick the living daylights out of your opponents to end fights, so do it fast, hard and in the most economical sense possible.

Someone once taught me, in mahjong, if you setup your tiles and see you might have an opportunity to complete and win within 5 rounds, go for it. If not, play for a draw by controlling your other players' cards. Worst case scenario, make sure you are the one who is paying the least in a losing round.

输少当赢 - If you suffer less loss then your opponent, you win.

That's the case in a fight, any fight. Nobody walks away smelling like a rose. Everybody involve loses.  We won because we survived, and your opponent is lying on the ground. If you are going to be the one lying on the ground, make sure your opponent(s) have broken limbs, or have deconstructed facial landscapes, better still, when confronted by a group, make sure you take out the strongest one/ weakest one (everyone have different strategies) so that you won't be lonely lying alone in a pool of blood. *GRIN*  Nah, it would be easier for police to trace your attackers if they have one or more bodies of your assailants to work with, then they can catch the other shit-heads.

So I advocate don't fight. If you must, make sure you win. If you cannot win, cause as much destruction as you can.

CJ

Work outs 2012

These are the stuff I get down and dirty when I am at my morning trainings: (Evenings' to be updated soon)

Mandatory:
40mins + slow jog/run (depends on my mood *grin)
Distance = (anywhere from 4.8km - 6.5km)
2 x 100 abdominal crunches
2 x 50 side abdominal crunches
2 x 50 russian rowboats
2 x 50 pelvic thrusts (oh yeah, these are added into my routine for vanity sake. They help shape my buttocks)
5 x 20 sec front planks
3 x 20 sec side planks x both sides
3 x 20 bicep dips
If A: 3 x 100 sec shikodachi, 3 x 100 mae-geri, 3 x 100 soto-geri (L&R)
If B: 5 x 100 zuki (Chudan, Jodan)
If C: 5 x 100 blocks (All 5 basics of defence)

Alternate A:
5 x rounds of circuit training
- speed bag + pushups
- rowboat situps + back arches
- side hurdles + skipping rope
- shadow boxing drills

Alternate B:
3 x 2:30 bag work - 1:30 rest intervals
500 rope skips
Sprint drills
Leg swings (kungfu style)

Alternate C:
Flexibility stretches
Dropfall drills
Handstands

Gym routine: (1:15 rests in-between reps, 3:00 rests in-between sets)

Mandatory:
120 x leg raises
3 x 10 bicep curls to exhaustion
50+ abdominal stop crunch to exhaustion

Alternate day 1:
Jevarok's Complex
Reverse back curls
Atlas lifts
Lat pulls (Front/Back)
Forearm press downs
Reverse Forearm pull downs

Alternate day 2:
Bench presses
Dumbell curls
Arnold's press
Pectoral fly
Plate press
Plate rotations

Alternate day 3:
Leg press
Reverse leg curls
10kg plate inclined situps
Deadlift


It might sound like a lot.. but it takes only about 3 hours to complete the entire routine.  Its worth it! :)

CJ

New Year...New Post

Today will be the 4th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year and the first post after about 3 months...

A lot is happening this year in terms of karate training for me. First of all, the hobby class for the combat karate in RTC will be commencing soon! Wow! I am really excited about that because it is something which will see me passing on my knowledge of karate and sharing knowledge with enthuiasts on my own for the first time! Then in a few months.. April to be exact will be SKA's effort at organising the international tournament headed by Mr Wong.  Boy! I bet that will be a busy period of me. And of course there will be the 13th (unlucky maybe?) APSKF Championship at the end of this year!  Oh that will be when I will be taking my 4th Dan grading, if there is a grading to be held.

Being 40 don't seem to be affecting me much although I like to play out the fact I am an old man..  but something about my steps seem lighter...  maybe its the fact that a new year beckons and there is still so much to do.. to plan..  there is really no time to think about being old, wakakaka...

Just the other day I was commenting to Pam that I was still aiming to outdo, outlast and outfight my student who are in their 20s...  lol..  then I paused to think...  has it been almost 24 years already since I started my path of training karate? May 3 1988 was the day I started.  Then I remembered..  no.

Cary Chan was an old schoolmate of mine who reminded me that while we were still in school.. I would draw a circle of chalk in the middle of the school courtyard and ask all my NPCC squadmates to come at me with sticks, chairs, and everything they can think of and attack me in the circle.  I would just stand there and fend them off all at once.  LOL.  Back then, 1984-1987.. I was quite poor then, I often would have little money for extras..  so I offered anyone who wanted to take a shot at hitting my stomach for free drinks, hee.. there were always takers and I got a lot of free drink mind you!

Anyway, I guess you can say I began my martial arts training even earlier then SKA. I remembered when I was in primary school, I was often bullied by kids much bigger sized than me. I was really round back then. By round I meant fat..but never jolly because of the constant taunting and jeering from people around me... even teachers.  They were horrible back then.  Even the nicest teachers were capable of moments of cruelty towards kids... and most of us would not say a single word to our parents for fear of getting double punishment. I know what my father would have said..  must be you right? Otherwise why would you be punished? Blaaaa Blaa..

There was this show back when I was in primary 5... some show about Judo. It created quite a following for Judo then and alot of my friends would be challenging each other to throw each other on their backs. I was of course on the wrong end of the challenges, often having people picking on me to practise.  Heh heh heh, I was stubborn as hell, I simply refuse to fall.. because I don't like to lose, I don't want to lose.  But.. eventually, I will always be the one to fall because they are simply BIG kids!  There was once, during recess I vividly remember, this boy called Lyndon Chow. He challenged me to a judo match in the music room one day when the teacher was late to class, and of course gamely I took him on. And gamely I was knocked to the ground but this time, he had other things on his mind...  he wanted me to say uncle. (Saying uncle is like crawling between someone's legs..like a dog. LIKE A DOG?! NEVER) And so I refused and was continually pinned to the ground. I tell you..  I can still remember the sounds of the cheering class..  his weight on my body as I struggled to get to my feet..  I was struggling for what seem like an eternity on the floor.. wriggling painfully against the mosiac tiled flooring of the music room.  Of course eventually the teacher came in and order was restored... but not before I was sitting quietly at the back of the class, hot and flustered with my uniform all torn and blacken.

Guess my training goes back much further than I cared to remember :)  So Lyndon Chow, where are you now? Care for a rematch? :)

The determined one

I miss you my friend

I stumbled across this youtube video today.

順子-星星(I'm not a star)


For a short while I sat there in the approaching evening light caught in a seemingly endless loop of memories of me and my friend Alan.

He was a firecracker of a friend if I ever knew one. He was a hokkien foul language spewing skinny tattooed gangster with a taste for fast cars and quick women. He is absolutely the last person in the world I would ever associate myself with as a good friend. I find in him everything I am not and everything I do not wish to be.

However, I spent almost 8 years of my life including him in almost every aspect of my life. My wedding, the birth of my daughters, setting up a company together, he was there helping out at my grandparent's funerals, (LOL) he advised me when I was buying all my cars (much to Pam's displeasure).

Pam didn't like him very much, well, I don't blame her for that.. nor those around me who questions my wisdom is associating myself with a person "like" Alan.  He wasn't exactly a "nice" guy.

But he was a friend. Most importantly, he was my friend. Ever since I was young, I am not exactly sociable in the friendship department. So I only have a limited number of friends I can call close friends.. people whom willingly associate themselves with me despite my quirks.. I think I can limit those numbers with my fingers and toes combined.

Unfortunately over the years, some went our separate ways, some passed away... some disappeared.  As I listen to these songs, I want to remember my friend Alan the way we used to... laughed and grumbled and aspired.

Whereever you are now my friend... don't drive too fast.


順子- 寫一首歌




CJ

Modern Warfare and an open mind

Karate has outlived it's usefulness as a form of modern self-defense. Don't mind me saying that. I love my karate. I will never give it up. I am passionate and obsessed with it until the day I die!

But I say this even as I prepare to celebrate my 23.5 years of karate training. I used to think being a pure stylist but incorporating the gist and best of other arts into my karate, I can somehow work miracles and transform this karate system into something which works for me. Maybe it might, I am not sure.. but one thing I am sure of is that once I opened my mind to the possibilities of training in other forms of martial arts WITHOUT PREJUDICE, I find that I am able to incorporate the best techniques, what works for me, arming myself with weapons of choice for combat.. then using it when opportunities presents themselves.  Once the main stay of traditional self-defense syllabus, I find practical combat techniques in other styles of martial arts.

As an education, I believe every person serious in learning martial arts should take up a form of orthodorx style. Sorry by this I mean karate, tae kwon do, judo, silat, muay thai, etc etc. As long as the martial art style has a structured syllabus of training and progression, I believe any dilligent student will get a grounding in basic style of combat arts in due time.

I reckon learning martial arts akin to formal education. Kindergarten, primary school, secondary, tertiary, university and Phd.  I suppose you can say these are similar to our belt system.. similar but not restricted to one style of combat arts.

MMA or mixed martial arts, Krav Maga, Systema, etc will be around the level of tertiary or university, you simply need to have a base in some form of martial arts to be able to utilise the techniques which are taught in those sessions. Strikes such as kicks and punches, grappling to submission. If we have not learnt how to strike properly or conditioned or bodies to receive them, or not learnt to breakfall, break grips, grapple, or even get into the half guard position when you are being pinned..  how are you going to be an efficient mma fighter?

Hence my view that a person moving on to mma, krav maga, systema, or any of the practical combat system out there, ought to have enough mastery over his base art that will serve as a fundamental platform where he can analyse and digest his training.

I have no problem where someone picks up muay thai and bjj during his training sessions of mma, but I think the class will be a confusing, boring and indeed a dangerous one for these kind of practioners. It is dangerous for their partners as well. Imagine someone like that doing an armbar on you.. yicks.

My irritation pet peeves for martial arts are pretty numerous.. I enjoy having discussions with people regarding martial arts.. but I simply don't enjoy having arguments with people with obviously less training and even less understanding of certain techniques but they insist that they are executing it in the right situation and right time..  oh well.  For times like these..I simply nod my head, smile and walk away..  nothing lost in not continuing that conversation, nothing to be gained either.  Humility is simply lost on them.

So anyways, given anytime and place, anyone trying a sports kumite move would probably be on the wrong end of a take down from me. Its not the art.. its the person. My 2 cents.

~CJ~