Subscribe to Feed
Wonder Woman and Amazing Women!
9 Jul 2008
I grew up during the Captain America matinees and was amazed to see how each week – Captain America would save the world for freedom! I liked comic books and wondered how some people got lucky with super-powers. I watched Under Dog, Super Man, Batman and occasionally saw Bat Girl and Cat Woman. So I was exposed to some strong woman super-heroes and villains but Wonder Woman for me demonstrated that a woman super-hero did not have to ride the capes of her male counter-parts! Yes when Wonder Woman first aired, I saw women in an entirely new light!
I wondered if women could really win in a fight against a man. It was kind of interesting, back in the day, seeing Wonder Woman fighting men and still keeping a beautiful figure! Society was a male dominated at the time and they (men in general) did not want to see muscle women (my guess – too threatening). I figured that a super-hero-woman could take a guy but in real life – guys were stronger and better fighters (this is before I was enlightened with karate). Lynda Carter played Wonder Woman fantastically! She was a tall woman that made it believable (from my young mind influenced by Batman and Robin fights) that a woman could beat a man! Well now I would like to explore how far women have come in this endeavor to (at least in self-defense) even up the battle of the sexes and tell some true life stories of a couple of truly courageous woman fighters I have known.
Dick Willett’s AKKA 40th Anniversary; Joe Lewis/Dean Lister Seminar Review
1 Jul 2008
[Forward: My good friend, David Hays is contributing this article. David is a 4th degree Kenpo black belt from Dick Willett. Dave has been a fierce tournament competitor, studio owner and now he mentors the upcoming generations of karate students. The photo credits go to Barbara Steinberg. Welcome David! John W. Zimmer]
On June 14th, 2008 Dick Willett’s senior Black Belts hosted a seminar in San Diego Ca. with the legendary Joe Lewis and world champion grappler Dean Lister.
Joe Lewis was the best of the best in the golden age of Sport Karate. During the early years of martial arts in America, he stood out as the best in the sport. There was no one more feared and/or respected than the legendary Joe Lewis.
Sticks and Stones Will Break Your Bones – Still Valid Today!
30 Jun 2008
When I was knee high to a grasshopper, I remember my mom telling me that, “sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you!” That was in an attempt to lessen the impact of the mean kids on my block that used to make fun of me (for what I don’t remember). The idea that was, and is, still valid today, is that sticks and stones are readily available weapons! Bruce Lee once said in one of his movies (paraphrasing), anything can be used as a weapon. The sticks and stones you find on the ground are legal weapons if the intent is to use them for self defense when you need them. Did you catch that nuance?
My mom made a sheath for a club I had whittled when I was about 12 years old. I used to travel through the woods (imagining I was an explorer) with the club strapped to my belt and almost had to defend a couple of damsels in distress. I happened on a bunch of guys surrounding a couple of girls I knew from school. I said hi and the girls who looked really worried, saw me and were elated! One of the girls said I was her brother and I played along. The guys looked at me and my club and soon took off. That was my first experience of my Teddy Roosevelt defense, you know… talk softly and carry a big stick! Here is a 1912 story of a girl fighting off muggers with a night stick and saving her fiance here!
Lets examine legal fighting methods with sticks and stones. We will also look at some good usages and why you might want to use weapons. I have always been fond of stick fighting. Here is a video of some Portuguese stick fighting called Jogo Do Pau.
Women Attacked by Dog! How They Escaped!
20 Jun 2008
People have become more civilized in the last thousand years but we really should learn some lessons from the past. The reason I say this is people should still be at the top of the food chain! We (speaking for all humanity here) are smarter than any animal but in today’s society – using our native smarts have not been cultivated in cities.
I reviewed this video about two women that were attacked by a Pitt Bull dog and were taking on lots of bites. I would first like to say that an animal owner should not own a dog he or she cannot control and I would also like to point out that these women were scared and they probably had never had to fight for their lives. Review this video and then I will talk about strategy.
EuroSport Kick Boxing – Lots of Action!
16 Jun 2008
As you probably know by know from reading this blog, I enjoy a good contest. I stumbled upon some kick boxing from Eurosport Fight Club on Youtube.com that featured a match from Eurosport’s Netherlands vs Thailand Kickboxing Series. I’m not sure exactly when this fight took place but it was uploaded to Youtube.com on January 31, 2008.
The series seems to be a national team competition featuring some really great fighters. For the Netherlands, Jimmy Eimmers is fighting and Hansuk is representing Thailand. Take a look at this video below.
Hula Girls, Lima Lama and Kenpo?
10 Jun 2008
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).
Faber Beats Pulver by Decision! CBS MMA Overhyped
2 Jun 2008
Wow… what a fight! I just saw five rounds of exciting action and found out that Urijah Faber can strike! In this first defense of Urijah’s belt that went the five rounds, he had a worthy opponent. Jens Pulver was able to escape the ground and pound game by sitting up early in the match. Faber was able to cancel out Pulver’s striking with fast lunge/counter punches and hooks. I’ve never seen Faber strike so much and found he could hang with Pulver. Jens was in trouble in the second round but came out of it and took the fight back to Faber, who in turn had to go to the ground to recover.
The last three rounds were marked by some ground work but mainly striking where Pulver was attempting to pick some shots and then was beat to the punch most of the time. You could tell these fighters really respected each other’s fight skills after the bout.
Upcoming Fights! Faber vs. Pulver and Others!
31 May 2008
This is a quick post to let everyone know that depends on free TV… tonight (Saturday, May 31, 2008) on CBS (according the TVGuide.com):
Scheduled: Kimbo Slice takes on James “Colossus” Thompson in a heavyweight bout in Newark, N.J. Also: Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith in a middleweight fight; and Gina Carano vs. Kaitlin Young in women’s action.
This should be exciting action and (I think) the network TV’s first major foray into the exciting MMA world of fighting! It is kind of interesting to me that it has taken this long to get real fighting to the networks when so much of their (the networks) investment has been in the ancient sport fighting of my grandfather’s era (do you want to know how I really feel?) 