Archive for the 'karate' Category

Aloha! One of my first karate exposures was from Hal Edwards Lima Lama and the NAS Miramar base in San Diego. When I was a teenager we (fellow military brats) would go to the base karate program and learn Lima Lama. Hal was a black belt from Saul Esquivel. I met Saul Esquivel at the base karate club once and later met the founder of Lima Lama, Tino Tuiolosega at a seminar in Escondido, CA as I recall.

One of the things I heard about Lima Lama was it was composed of old island martial arts that the head hunters used to practice (Lua) and many of the moves were part of the traditional island dances called hula. Hal was big on pointing out the benefits of using short circular wrist moves to block and fingers or back knuckles as a quick counter. I looked for some hula on youtube.com but found modern dances for the tourists but here is one hula that seemed to be telling a story (I am not an expert in hula).

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For many of you that have taken karate lessons and learned how to do all of the basics, you may still be wondering; Will it really work? And, How can I make karate work for me? I have read a wikipedia article (one should not rely on wikipedia as authoritative as it can be edited by anyone) on Model Mugging where a gentleman decided to focus on self-defense instead of traditional karate because it did not work for many women (in his judgement).

Karate lessons will give you all of the tools you need to fight back but it will not fight back for you… meaning you will have to get over the feeling of, “Is this really happening to me” and come up with a quick plan. Part of a karate education is supposed to be exposure to fighting and getting some self-confidence to find some moves that work for YOU! If you are just focused on getting the pretty belt or the recognition that comes with a black-belt… you are probably wasting your money.

I will try to relate some of the moves that give me confidence in almost any situation…. moves that I cannot use in sport karate or full-contact karate for the most part. I will try and relate what it is like to be in a real fight for your life as I have been in plenty (all fights after high-school are really (and should be) fights of last resort), and I will try and put it all together for you. And yes – I think anyone can be trained to fight in a self-defense situation. My most favorite move is the counter-punch or lunge punch. Here is a quick video demonstrating this very simplisticly (there is a lot more to it if you want to be successful).

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When I was starting out in karate I was told about the Tracy’s system (most styles are similar), basics, 240 self-defense techniques, 17 katas, and kumite (sparring/fighting). My first thought I asked my instructor was why I could not just learn how to fight. Why did I need to memorize so many techniques to attain each belt rank? My instructor (Dick Willett) told my that forms and techniques helped us learn how to learn the martial art. I thought about that and it made some sense… If I had just wanted to learn how to fight, I would have taken wrestling or boxing.

Lets explore the components that make up a martial art and then look at katas in more depth. First look at this video of two karate/kung fu champions doing a funny skit. George Chung was one of the top kata competitors in my day (late 70’s/early 80’s). Cynthia Rothrock was from the same era, also winning lots of kata championships.

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Picture from here.

 It is with great pleasure I would like to notify the readers of this website that Joe Lewis (former point and  world heavy-weight full contact karate champion) and Dean Lister (U.S. National Sambo champion,  a U.S.  Machado National Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and  National Gracie Jiu Jitsu Champoin) are giving a seminar on June 14, 2008 at Rancho Bernardo (just north of San Diego, CA). Joe Lewis is also planning a seminar on June 12, 2008 at Chandler, AZ (near Phoenix, AZ).

Picture from here.  

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Anyone who has known me for a long time, has heard me poke fun at flying kicks. I had to learn how to do various flying kicks to get my first degree black belt but I have seldom had use one in a fight. I had lots of opportunity to fight for the couple of years I was a bouncer at a bar.

Ok… I can think of one time when a flying kick worked, I was chasing a couple of guys down the street that had thrown something into the bar… startled I ran out and saw two guys running away. I was young and gave chase. They were just trying to get away in a car they had just opened and I jumped the last few feet to smash the car door (with a flying front stomp kick) into the driver. That caught his attention and he had to explain himself. 

Mostly though, I have ridiculed flying kicks because one cannot change direction in the air (a real disadvantage in a fight). Here is the highest flying side kick I could find on the web executed by a William Fincher.

Picture from: http://www.kimsookarate.com/gallery-present/paraKick.htm

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My first experience with a regular karate school was with Tracy’s Karate Studios - San Diego in 1976. I had studied some Okinawan Karate as well as Lima Lama from the base karate club. I knew the basics but did not know how to put kicks and punches together to mount a successful attack. Still, I thought I knew everything but was determined to know more. I saw the Tracy’s Karate commercials that aired during the Kung Fu series playing on TV at the time and decided to give Tracy’s a try.

I called up Tracy’s and spoke to Dick Willett about my interests and he told me to come on down to take the first five lessons – to see if I liked it before I signed up! I went for the initial lessons and quickly was impressed by teaching methods. As I said. I already knew how to kick and punch but I had a problem connecting with my opponents. Dick told me about critical distance and initial movement he had learned from his tournament days and his associations with Joe Louis (the undisputed heavy weight full contact karate champion of the late 60’s through early 70’s) and I was properly impressed! Here is a picture of Dick Willett as I remember him after I started taking lessons.

Picture from http://members.tripod.com/hungahungas/akksandiego.htm. Pictured are Todd McElhinney, Irvin Hoffman, Joe Lewis, Dick Willett, David Hays, & Frank Mafnas (left to right).

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I may as well be talking about the fountain of youth! The death touch? What (you may be thinking) is that? If you are a fan of the Kill Bill movies – you have seen the death touch in action… a supposed touch in a certain area or sequence of touches or even by the right person in the right state of mind. What is it and why would you want to do that is what I will try to address in this posting. I found a few videos (yes isn’t the internet and YouTube great) about the Dim Mak (one the of styles that purports to have this ability) death touch. I selected one that Fox News reviewed Ripley’s Believe it or Not claims to have the death touch!  

When I was a kid I used to see Elvis in movies doing karate! Not only was he (Elvis) the king of music but he was also the king of karate! Then I got older and started learning the martial arts. I heard rumors that Elvis could not fight his way out of a paper bag and that all of his belts were honorary. Although I am a 5th degree black belt in Kenpo Karate – I did not take the time to learn the real history!