Subscribe to Feed
TMNT is back! The Karate Turtles Movie in 2014
Posted by: John W. Zimmer
This is an exciting time for me although some might not understand my attachment to ninja karate turtles that came from nuclear slime in the sewers. When my boys were young they had the Nintendo Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle video game, We (yes I said we) watch the cartoons, watched the movie and I even took my boys to the San Diego Sports Arena to see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live! I found out that the Turtles could also play guitar.
You see I taught both of my boys some karate as they were growing up so having the Turtles as role models seemed to fit. And that Master Splinter always had sage wisdom. Here is on of the trailers of the new movie.
embedded by Embedded Video
(3) Comments
Women in Movie Fight Scenes; Can they be Realistic?
Posted by: John W. Zimmer
Fight scenes in movies generally are not realistic, I mean my wife hates watching moves with me as I get mad. I tell her anyone who gets hit with a solid punch first should lose the fight but so often the fight goes on for another five minutes. But this post is not about the normal movie fight but having women in the fight sequence.
As a martial artist I really do not like fighting depicted in a cartoon light. If a movie is going to show a fight scene – it should be close to what would work in real life one would think, unless it is one of those cheesey fighting Masters in the clouds or a fantasy kind of movie.
So I’ll start with a movie fight sequence I like. Then I’ll discuss what some of the problems with the movies and depicting women in fight scenes. Notice that while you may say this sequence is not likely to happen – if it did – it could really work. I’m willing to suspend disbelief to this point in a movie. 
embedded by Embedded Video
YouTube Direkt
Sparring Hip Kick and Other Low Kicks
Posted by: John W. Zimmer
When I was fighting lots of tournaments, fighting on the door, and sparring in the school – fighting was fighting was fighting. I did not vary very much from the way I trained and fought. Sure in a real fight I would end up knocking out my opponent instead of holding back a bit in sparring or racking up points in a tournament but I fought the same.
One of my favorite kicks in all venues was the hip and thigh kicks from my side fighting stance. Ok I am dating myself as everyone knows that side stances don’t work right? I mean MMA, boxing, Muay Thai all use forward fighting stances in their sport.
Well let me just say that forward stances can only work in today’s world where groin kicks are not legal and most schools have stopped teaching groin kicks for sport. People have gotten out of practice using groin kicks so forward stances that would not work against any competent karate fighter – flourish (front stances) in today’s sport fighting disciplines.
In this post I will talk about the wonderful low kicks that work in any situation and why you should use them in your fighting, sparring, and tournaments.
Review; Self Defence Tips Everyone Should Know by Neil Martin
Posted by: John W. Zimmer
As readers of this blog know self defense issues are near and dear to my heart. Often times I read other websites recounting rules of self defense strategies and I wonder – what? I mean often times there are no hard and fast rules. I see non-fighters talk about yelling fire, or kids grabbing a leg and hanging on and I wonder – have they ever tried this stuff?
Well I was offered a look at Mr. Martin’s book, “Self Defence Tips Everyone should Know” and not only enjoyed the read – found it refreshing to have it written by a fellow fighter with similar experience working the door! So what I am saying is if you like the way he gets his point across – you don’t have to worry about the content being sound. In this post I will highlight some of the issues and solutions Neal Martin provides in his self defence book.
Are Martial Arts Weapons worth Learning?
Posted by: John W. Zimmer
When you walk into a karate school, one of the first things you notice are weapons on the walls. There are also trophies and pictures but the weapons are what I noticed right away. After watching karate movies and seeing how deadly weapons could be I wanted to learn how to use them!
But after a quick reality check I realized that most of these old weapons that would still work on an unarmed opponent – would have little effect against even a taser. Nowadays the personal self defense standard weapon is a gun. But after some more thought on this – I live in California where the gun laws are pretty strict – only the cops and crooks have guns outside homes.
In this post I will try to address the question if martial arts weapons are worth anything today or if you are just wasting your time that might be better spent learning how to use a taser, mace or a gun to augment your hand to hand self-defense.