All Blog Posts (273)

Some years ago I started a tradition of doing 1,000 pushups on January 1st. Martial artists, being who they are, added in 1,000 squats, crunches, punches, kicks and what ever else they could think of.

Injuries, travel and distractions were worked around and the specific exercises were modified as needed.

My simple challenge has morphed into quite an event for schools across the nation. Group messages of encouragement and monitoring are flying through the either on the first day…

"Most people take their greatness, their ideas, to the graveyard with…

Josiah David Kooyman was born 12/11/13 to Master Larry Kooyman (Goju-Shorei Karate Director) and his beautiful wife Sensei Dani Carroll-Kooyman. 21.5 inches and 9lbs 9ozs. He will be testing for Yellow Belt very soon and the 49ers have him on their watch list.

As one of his Grandfathers I am proud beyond description.

Congratulations to the new…

Technique of the week. Goju-Shorei Karate Purple Belt #4. 

This is really fun technique but to get it right takes practice. Watch us break it down and show you some tips to make it work.

A film by Hailey Bartholomew.

Video from KarmaTube

   The recent tragedy at Sparks Middle School could not have been prevented even if all the staff had been armed and uniformed armed guards were posted at every door. It happened in seconds and outside of…

I've had an epiphany, that is, in my own personal viewpoint / practice. This week I've found two words that when linked together, describe something I'd not previously had words for --about expectations and my own goals and our (master teachers of the martial arts) "role" in the world (and if not "the world" --within our…

Left to right: Former student of mine, Mark Shuey Sr.; Mark Shuey Jr. who has a TKD school in Incline Village, NV; and Lonnie Walker, from Las Vegas, who I competed against in the 70s.…

     In my last blog I wrote about taking your opponent's balance and destroying his structural integrity.  I didn't set out specific tactics for accomplishing those tasks, just addressed an overall strategic goal. This week I'll start at the foundation of tactics: Offensive and defensive…

I invite any martial artist, particularly if they are a Goju-Shorei martial artist, to submit a post to the Goju-Shorei blog site (www.gojushorei.ning.com). Here are some guidelines.

Content.

. You must be a member (it’s free) of the Goju-Shorei blog site.

. The post must be about martial arts. I trust there will be a lot of posts about Goju-Shorei martial arts.

. No posts about…

August 25th, Matt McBride tested for his 1st degree Black Belt in Goju-Shorei Karate. The testing took place at Evolution Martial Arts Academy, in Sparks, Nevada. The test was successful for Mister McBride due in no small part to the courage and support of the…

Often in martial arts we talk about maintaining proper balance, keeping a specific posture and developing a kinetic chain to deliver power. I'm going to briefly write about a slightly different angle on balance, posture and power. The subject of this blog is stealing those attributes from your opponent. The Japanese term for this is "Kazushi".



Your opponent's…

I have been a martial artist for a long time.  My years in training as a student as well as an instructor has been filled with countless "ah ha!" moments where lessons were learned too late.  There was a small fortune spent in both time and money on my road to enlightenment.  I've had great teachers called experience.. trial and error.. failure..  and of course stubbornness.  So in this monthly article my goal will be to share some of the lessons learned in starting and running a…

Grand Master Ted Tabura has passed. First met him in the 70's when he did a seminar in Reno, and we later worked together to bring a Handicapable Divison to his tournaments in Laughlin, Nevada.

He was one of those people that always had a smile for you. I saw him angry a couple times and that was a sight to behold - didn't raise his voice, but thunder and…

Friday I sat on a 4 hour Black Belt testing board for Elite Martial Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, and never left my office in Minden, Nevada.

Skype and FaceTime cuts travel time and costs to zero for events like this, and can even be used to teach distance classes.

There are…