Dave McNeill's Blog (221)

At least twice a month I have lunch with my instructor of almost 45 years, GM Archie.

I cherish these moments as we talk about martial arts, our private lives, martial arts, funny memories, martial arts.

I hope all martial artists are able to establish and maintain a close relationship with their instructors. Time passes quickly so if you haven't contacted your sensei for awhile, do so now. Tick, tick, tick.

I've written previously on the overall strategic goal of breaking down an opponents structural integrity, and of the specific tactics of blending, entering and avoidance footwork to keep your power and integrity intact while weakening and misaligning him. Let's add some more specific tactics to your arsenal. 

As you come into contact distance, whether…

A couple of points:

If one is to have a commercial martial arts school then a large student population is needed to keep the doors open. Basic economics. 

I question the purpose of teaching the use of weapons that the student could never have with them in public (big surprise). 

This article is from the excellent web site, …

Time to think about how you are going to welcome in the New Year. If you've done 1,000 pushups before, pick another method/exercise to embrace the coming year.

I've done pushups, crunches and squats so this time I plan on swinging kettle bells - from 106 pounds to 35 pounds - 1,000 times.

Some people may think doing anything a thousand times is…

                                                              CATCH

Sometimes we see someone who is far above the norm in athletic or martial arts endeavor, someone who is more fit, maybe, than most, or more successful, or maybe more kick-ass in whatever he or she attempts. It's always easy for the rest of us to rationalize what elevated that…

6,000 hours is the amount of time my student John has spent flying planes of different types, from props (1 and 2 engine) to jets. He has spent 200 hours in the Grumman Mallard pictured above.

Saturday all that cockpit time paid off. 

We were going to fly to Death Valley to spend the weekend and John wanted to take his beloved Mallard. It was…

Goju-Shorei attracts people of great talent in many different areas. I recently posted a video of Dani Carroll and now here is Skip Ewing. Both people wrote the songs (plus hundreds more) that are featured in these…

This little girl sets a high standard for child and adult alike.

This episode of Nashville Unleashed features Dani Carroll Kooyman at the 20 minute mark and a bit at the end. Dani (the wife of Goju-Shorei Karate Director Master Larry Kooyman) is a Black Belt in TKD and Goju-Shorei Weapons System as well as the Ultimate Black Belt Test.

Her martial and musical skills are at the elite…

I sat on a 2 day test board last weekend at Evolution Marital Arts Academy in Sparks, Nevada, and was impressed by the depth of

the curriculum the students had to know, and the intensity with which they performed. I did not see one hesitation or one misstep. Very impressive.

But I have certainly seen the exact opposite. Which brings up the following:

If…

Don't forget to do the self-directed add…

During cane class Tuesday I taped marbles to the bottoms of the feet of 4 people, and I taped three of their fingers down. Now they were roughly at the mobility level of Nicky (fourth from left) who has Cerebral Palsy. An hour of walking on marbles, swinging a cane and defending themselves gave a nano second experience of what Nicky goes through daily.

Nicky…

Saturday, at open mat for BJJ, we were visited by a two stripe blue belt that had some serious skills, which he displayed on most everyone. Finally our instructor, a brown belt, rolled with the visitor and the skill level differences were telling. The visitor was tapped out in about 15 seconds the first time, 30 seconds the second time and about a minute the…

What is your favorite escape from a headlock?

Video it and post it here, or write a description of the escape and post it here.

No judgements, just sharing.

This is what I think I look like when using kettlebells.

And this is what I really look like when using kettlebells.

The same is true for the martial arts. Many students (and I count myself as a student…

Kumu (teacher) Narte is one of those people that I deeply love, respect and trust. We met years ago in 

connection with the martial arts and now Kumu spends the majority of this time healing people rather than breaking them. His martial skills were at the highest level, but his healing skills are off the charts.

In 2004 he worked on me before I left to…

Hickory cane and the tools used to make it.…

Signed, hand crafted, walnut cane I call the Wasp has sharp 'stingers' everywhere except the gripping areas which are somewhat softened.…