May-June, 2016

Table of Contents

Dojo Events
Belt/Stripe Test
Results
New DVD
Student of the
Month
Articles of Interest
Videos of Interest

Dojo Events
Events in May:
Monday, May 30 Summer Camp begins
Events in June:
Saturday, June 4, 8am Scottsdale City
Championships Tournament
Wednesday, June 15, Beginning Belt Test Interview
Deadline
Thursday-Sunday, June 16-19 Sensei Stolsmarks
Training Camp in Wisconsin
Friday, June 24, 4:30pm Little Warriors Test
Friday, June 24, 5:30pm Beginning Belt Test
Saturday, June 25, 11am-2pm Seminar: Eskrima,
Martial Art of the Philippines
Events in July:
Monday-Sunday, July 4-10 Dojo Closed
Friday, July 15, 5pm Tournament Team Tryouts
Wednesday, July 20 Advanced Belt Test with Sensei
Bethea

Belt/Stripe Test Results

Little Warriors

Intermediate Belts

Adult Beginner and Youth Intermediate Belts

DVD from Sensei Poage and Sensei Noah

Sensei Poage and Sensei Noah taught an online seminar

(webinar) on February 6th, covering applications for every
sequence in Naihanchi Shodan. Click here to watch a
collection of clips from the seminar. We are currently
assembling the footage recorded during this event into a
DVD that will be available for purchase on Amazon.com, as
well as through the dojo. Click here to purchase online, or
look for it to be available for sale at the dojo!

Students of the Month

May

Alexandra A.

June

Michael B.

Articles of Interest
Is Karate a Grappling Art?
by Noah Legel
Click here to view on the web

Lately, my friends over at Karate Culture have been posting videos,

like this one, that connect kata to techniques found in mixed martial
arts, and various grappling artssomething I have also done, although
on a smaller scale. This has brought with it some argument as to the
nature of karate. As with most such arguments, this one is not a
simple matter of one side versus the other, but rather a conflict of
shades of gray. There are those who believe that karate is a striking
art, others who believe it is a grappling art, and others who believe it
is a mixed martial art. Of course, all of these perspectives can be true,
depending on a persons understanding and approach to karate, but
they also vary depending on a persons definition of striking art,
grappling art, and mixed martial art.
The most popular view of the nature of karate is that it is a striking art,
but what does that mean, exactly? Does it mean that an art uses only
strikes, and never grabs? Can an art include grappling methods, and
still be a striking art? Is there a certain ratio of striking methods to
grappling methods that must be maintained? All of these things are
highly subjective. For example, many kickboxing rulesets (like K-1,
seen in the video, above), do not allow any grabbing or grappling. In
fact, many of these rulesets actually evolved from Japanese and
American competition karate rulesets, and many kickboxing
competitions were spearheaded by karateka. On the other hand, Muay
Thai is considered to be a form of kickboxing, and clinchwork is a type
of grappling that is very important to the style. Even in that case,
however, you can watch some Muay Thai fights and see little to no
clinchwork, or almost exclusively clinchwork, depending on who is
fighting. Most people would consider Muay Thai to be a striking art,
but prolific Muay Thai fighter and writer, Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu,
recently pointed out that Muay Thai is both a striking and grappling
art. It should be noted, of course, that Sylvies specialty in Muay Thai
is dominating her opponents with clinchworkthe grappling of Muay
Thai.
When people think of grappling arts, they most often think of
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which spends the majority of its time on the floor.
Clearly, this is distinctly different from the grappling of Muay Thai,
which is purely done from a standing position. Of course, there are
also grappling arts, such as judo, sumo, and wrestling, which spend a
fairly significant portion of their time standing, while also including
groundwork. All of these are considered to be grappling arts, despite
having significantly different approaches to grappling. Additionally,

judo includes strikes in its curriculum, although they arent included

in competition, except when driven competitors sneak in short strikes
here and there. Sumo is also famous for allowing palm and forearm
strikes, which have been known to knock out rikishi from time to time.
Are these no longer grappling arts, because they include strikes, or
because some of them spend more time standing than on the ground?
These days, when you call something a mixed martial art, people
have a very specific idea of what you are talking about. In their mind,
mixed martial arts is what happens inside a cage for promotions like
the UFC, Invicta, and Bellator. While MMA isnt technically a style, it
has reached a certain level of homogeneity, with the vast majority of
fighters training in the same blend of fighting arts. Primarily, these are
Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. While this does
certainly qualify as mixed martial arts, it is a very specific set, and
unfortunately many people seem to feel that this blend is the only
legitimate type of mixed martial art. When it comes right down to it, a
mixed martial art is any fighting system that is composed of two or
more different fighting styles, and that can cover a very wide
spectrum if you are willing to look beyond competitive MMA.
In truth, very few arts are purely striking or purely grappling, even
when looking at the world of combat sportsmost are actually a
mixture of some percentage of the two. When we look at traditional
martial arts, we see an even greater mixing of approaches. Generally,
if you go far enough back into the history of an art, you can find that it
generally covers striking methods, grappling methods, and weapons
methods, and over time they diverged into separate systems, in
varying degrees. Many traditional Chinese and Indochinese arts still
incorporate all of these methods, so there is no reason that Okinawan
arts should be any different. Karate includes many striking methods,
and sport karate is certainly heavily focused on those methods, but it
also includes methods of standing grappling, including limb controls,
joint locks, throws, and chokes. There may be little to no focus on
grappling on the ground, or engaging in prolonged grappling
exchanges, but that was never the intention of karate. By definition,
the fact that it is composed of a mixture of striking methods, grappling
methods, and weapons methods (when you include kobudo training),
makes it a mixed martial art as much as blending Muay Thai with
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
When people point this out, and say that karate is a mixed martial
artor even suggest that karate includes grappling componentsthere
are generally those who point out that karateka dont know how to
grapple, and that one must learn grappling from a grappling art. This
is certainly true of some karateka, particularly those who study karate
systems which have had the vast majority of grappling methods
removed, but it isnt true for all. Even among karateka who practice

systems that have had these techniques omitted, many do, in fact,
cross-train in grappling arts. Wrestling is a very popular sport in
American schools, and many martial artists have experience with it.
Judo has also been a fairly popular sport, around the world, since its
inclusion in the Olympics. As MMA competitions become more
prevalent, more karateka are finding value in cross-training in
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as well. This is all hardly new, of course, with many
karate masters of old also cross-trained in sumo, judo, and Aikido, as
those arts were introduced from the mainland.
Opponents of karate as a mixed martial art will also often suggest that
karate does not include any native pressure testing methods for its
grappling techniques. While this is often true in many modern dojo,
that hasnt always been the case. We know from the writings of people
like Motobu, Funakoshi, and Nagamine, that Okinawans regularly
participated in competitive submission grappling matches
(tegumi/muto). To this day, Shima (Okinawan sumo) is a very
popular pass-time on the island. Additionally, we know that karate
techniques were pressure tested through kakedameshi, which was
described in the editors notes of Nagamine Shoshins book, Tales of
Okinawas Great Masters, as a very aggressive version of taiji
pushing hands,this video shows a taiji pushing hands competition
where opponents try to knock each other down, use manipulation
techniques, and strike each other, including with kicks, elbows, and
knee strikes. Some simple examples of this can be seen in the kakie
and kakidi drills practiced in many Okinawan dojo.
This is, admittedly, something that a lot of karateka neglect, these
dayslargely due to the importance placed on tournaments, which
utilize kendo-style point systems. That is also why the public
perception of karate is that it is a purely striking art. Personally, I try
to incorporate kakedameshi-style training fairly regularly, and I have
discussed this idea briefly, before (click here to read the article). You
can see in this video, some low-intensity examples I recorded in our
dojo a while back. The connection to taiji pushing hands is relatively
evident, but we also work in strikes and joint locks, along with throws.
This is also not unlike some of the exchanges found in modern MMA
competitions when fighters are engaging at close range, but arent
clinching. This type of training is an excellent forum for pressure
testing your middle- and close-range techniques, including the
grappling methods of karate. If you train and spar with popular
competition karate formats, then karate is certainly a striking art, but if
your training includes methods like this, then the truth of its mixed
approach becomes apparent.

Eating Tips for Parents

by KidsHealth.org
Click here to view on the web

It's no surprise that parents might need some help understanding

what it means to eat healthy. From the MyPlate food guide to the
latest food fad, it can be awfully confusing.
The good news is that you don't need a degree in nutrition to raise
healthy kids. Following some basic guidelines can help you encourage
your kids to eat right and maintain a healthy weight.
Here are 10 key rules to live by:
1. Parents control the supply lines. You decide which foods to buy and
when to serve them. Though kids will pester their parents for less
nutritious foods, adults should be in charge when deciding which
foods are regularly stocked in the house. Kids won't go hungry.
They'll eat what's available in the cupboard and fridge at home. If
their favorite snack isn't all that nutritious, you can still buy it once in
a while so they don't feel deprived.
2. From the foods you offer, kids get to choose what they will eat or
whether to eat at all. Kids need to have some say in the matter.
Schedule regular meal and snack times. From the selections you offer,
let them choose what to eat and how much of it they want. This may
seem like a little too much freedom. But if you follow step 1, your
kids will be choosing only from the foods you buy and serve.
3. Quit the "clean-plate club." Let kids stop eating when they feel
they've had enough. Lots of parents grew up under the clean-plate
rule, but that approach doesn't help kids listen to their own bodies
when they feel full. When kids notice and respond to feelings of
fullness, they're less likely to overeat.
4. Start them young. Food preferences are developed early in life, so
offer variety. Likes and dislikes begin forming even when kids are
babies. You may need to serve a new food a few different times for a
child to accept it. Don't force a child to eat, but offer a few bites. With
older kids, ask them to try one bite.
5. Rewrite the kids' menu. Who says kids only want to eat hot dogs,
pizza, burgers, and macaroni and cheese? When eating out, let your
kids try new foods and they might surprise you with their
willingness to experiment. You can start by letting them try a little of
whatever you ordered or ordering an appetizer for them to try.
6. Drink calories count. Soda and other sweetened drinks add extra
calories and get in the way of good nutrition. Water and milk are the
best drinks for kids. Juice is fine when it's 100%, but kids don't need
much of it 4 to 6 ounces a day is enough for preschoolers.
7. Put sweets in their place. Occasional sweets are fine, but don't turn
dessert into the main reason for eating dinner. When dessert is the
prize for eating dinner, kids naturally place more value on the
cupcake than the broccoli. Try to stay neutral about foods.
8. Food is not love. Find better ways to say "I love you." When foods
are used to reward kids and show affection, they may start using

food to cope with stress or other emotions. Offer hugs, praise, and
attention instead of food treats.
9. Kids do as you do. Be a role model and eat healthy yourself. When
trying to teach good eating habits, try to set the best example
possible. Choose nutritious snacks, eat at the table, and don't skip
meals.
10. Limit TV and computer time. When you do, you'll avoid mindless
snacking and encourage activity. Research has shown that kids who
cut down on TV-watching also reduced their percentage of body fat.
When TV and computer time are limited, they'll find more active
things to do. And limiting "screen time" means you'll have more time
to be active together.

The Resting Squat How Squatting Makes You More

Human
By Shawn Stevenson
Click here to view on the web

The science is stacking up, and word is out that sitting for prolonged
periods is devastating to our health. Former NASA scientist, Dr. Joan
Vernikos, has compared sitting in a chair for prolonged periods to
being weightless in space. This is due to the fact that the muscles,
bones, joints, and other tissues arent supporting themselves naturally
any longer. I did an entire show dedicated to the newly dubbed
Sitting Disease right here. During the show, we also went in-depth
on the impact that sitting too much has on your blood pressure, blood
sugar, and your ability to burn fat.
Today were going to take things a step further. After understanding
that sitting in chairs too frequently is bad for our health, what do we
do instead? We understand now that our ancestors were much
healthier and robust than we are today, but surely they sat down too?
Its not that sitting is bad. Its more so how were sitting thats really
smacking our health around right now. The human body was never
designed to sit in an awkward 90 degree position with certain muscles
completely shutting off, while others are being dramatically overstressed. Heres a little bit of what I mean:
Limp Biscuits
Sitting triggers your butt muscles to do absolutely nothing. They
completely shut off and get used to not activating normally. This
deranges your ability to walk, run, jump, stand up, sit down, and
pretty much any other activity you can think of. Your glute muscles
become limp and no longer fire properly when they are deconditioned
from sitting too much.

Soft-serve Abs
Your abs will be closer to soft-serve ice cream than a well-defined
washboard if youre sitting too often. Your abdominals actually help
to hold you upright, but when you sit back in a chair they no longer
have to work, and the battle of the bulge can take place. Your abs will
quickly lose their tone and strength if you totally take them out of the
equation by sitting.
Your Hips Do Lie
Unlike Shakira, your hips will be lying to you and everyone else when
you try to exert yourself. Hip mobility and functionality is critical to
all basic human movement patterns. Your hips provide stability and
balance, and lack of mobility here is one of the major causes of serious
injury.
Boney Bones
Its now understood that the largest contributing factor to poor bone
density is lack of activity. Your bones need resistance to drive
nutrients into them to trigger development. Sitting too often will lead
to bonier bones, plus at heightened risk of disease and injury.

Eject Your Disc

People who sit more often are at greater risk of herniating their
lumbar spinal discs. Sitting in chairs is synonymous with having
shortened hip flexors. A large muscle called the psoas is a major hip
flexor muscle that runs through the abdominal cavity. When the psoas
is short (or tightened) from sitting too much, it pulls the upper lumbar
spine forward which puts you out of alignment. Your upper body
now rests on your ischial tuberosity (sitting bones) instead of being
distributed along the arch of the spine. This is a leading cause of back
pain and overall loss of function.

These are just some of the physical problems that occur from sitting
too much. This is why I now believe that: Being able to sit
comfortably in a resting squat position is tied to being human. Your
genes literally expect this of you. Being able to get down into the squat
position is an important part of you being alive.
What is a resting squat and why is it important?
Conventional sitting puts your weight onto another object by placing
your butt on it and turning many critical muscles off. A resting squat
is a posture where you squat down fully, lowering your hips towards

the ground and your weight is equally distributed and controlled by

your body.
For countless ages throughout time, human beings have been able to
crouch all the way down into a resting squat for relaxing, working,
cooking, communing, and even for using the bathroom. I shared all of
the critical information about the dangers of pooping on todays
conventional toilets right here.
Youll be shocked to hear the links to things like diverticulousis, heart
failure, and even colon cancer. This is partially because sitting on a
toilet, and not squatting all the way down like we are designed to do,
pinches off the end of the colon so your bowels are literally tied up
and unable to fully release. This is must know information, and the
solution to this is far easier and hygienic than you may think.
I cant stress enough how important being able to sit all the way down
into a squat is to your health. As a strength coach Ive seen this skill
transfer over into so many other facets of peoples lives. If you cant
get down into the full resting position of a flat-footed squat, its time
that you start working on it. If you dont, you are dramatically limiting
your mobility and ability to function at a high level.
I was pleasantly surprised to find this excellent video from Daniel
Vitalis on the flat-footed squat while doing some research:
In it youll learn:
The strange angle that humans have began sitting in.
Why many modern people have their heels come up when they try
to squat.
How to position your feet to make the resting squat easier.
What hacks you can use to help work your way into a better resting
squat.
A daily resting squat routine you can use to keep your body healthy
and supple.
Why modern-day toilets derange our ability to defecate properly.
Some of the ways that you can actually utilize the resting squat in
your day-to-day life.

For now, with your complete knowledge of the sitting squat being
linked to your health and vitality, here are 3 tips to be able to do it,
and do it well.
Tip #1 Use a stable object to balance yourself. Most people in our
modern society cant get into this position due to lack of hip mobility,
a tight posterior chain, and tight ankles, in particular. Using an object

to balance yourself while hanging out in this position is a great

transitionary tool.
I have an 80-year old client who was one of the most muscularly tight
and inflexible people I have ever seen. He could barely lower his hips
to his knees in the beginning, but by having him face a pole and hold
it as he lowered his hips into the squat, its enabled him to fully lower
himself down.
Tip #2 Do mobility exercises for the most common tight muscles.
The hip flexors, iliotibial band (IT band for short), and ankles (all the
stuff around your achilles) usually require some special attention.
Heres a great video instruction on how to hit most of this. Hold each
stretch for at least 30 seconds.
Tip #3 Do it daily. Make it a daily habit to squat down and hang out
in this position. I usually do this before, during, and/or after my
workouts. Ill also do this after Ive been sitting for a while, in
conjunction with a stretching routine. You can simply squat down and
set a timer for one minute (as Daniel recommends in the video above),
hang out there and do a task of some sort, or just take that time to do a
little mindfulness meditation and relax. Either way, its going to be a
big supporter of your health and you becoming the greatest version of
yourself.

The One Secret All Karate Masters Have In Common

By Jesse Enkamp
Click here to view on the web

Wow!
I just came home from teaching 157 passionate Karate Nerds in
Canada.

Teaching biomechanics for Karate

During this trip, I attended a local tournament in Quebec.

One dude asked me a cool question:

Jesse-san, you meet so many great Karate masters, champions and experts
during your travels around the world. Tell me what is the one thing they
have in common? What makes them great?
Holy cow
What a brilliant question!
Nobody had asked me this before. In fact, I had never asked it to
myself!
I was equally shocked and impressed.
(The art of asking good questions is something I pride myself on.)
It took a minute to digest the question, but my answer was clear. And
I think its so important that I decided to share it here.
The one secret all Karate masters have in common is this:
They never stop learning.
They are lifelong students.

This mentality is what has brought them mastery. Not as a direct goal,
but as a byproduct of constantly seeking deeper and richer
knowledge.
The greatest Karate masters are hungry learners!
They are constantly seeking knowledge.
Its a growth mindset.
Obviously, this is not exclusive for Karate. The mindset of mastery is
the same for everything; whether youre playing the piano, kicking a
football or painting a picture.
This legendary samurai said it best:
When you see the Way broadly, you see it in everything.
Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645)
Get it?

Thats why, when someone calls these people masters, they smile on
the outside but shudder on the inside.
Because they know its a lie
To others they might be experts, but to themselves, they are still
beginners.
They know theres so much left to learn!
The greatest Karate masters and experts dont pretend to have all the
answers. To them, theres no such thing.
This is what keeps them so humble.
Its like I said in this video:
The day you stop learning is the day you stop living.
As a consequence, the greatest masters know that life is too short to
not live to its fullest. You need to seize every moment to embrace the
curiosities of the world with open arms, constantly ready to reevaluate
your understanding of Karate and life.
(Read that again.)
Theres no end to learning.
The journey is the destination.
Once you grasp this concept, Karate becomes more than just kicking
and punching.
It becomes an artform.
A Way of Life.

The History of Shushi no Kun

By Andreas Quast
Click here to view on the web
Anyone who ever started Okinawa kobud will inevitably get to know
Shshi no Kon . Often the first kata taught in bjutsu, it is found
in many kobud styles. Shshi means Mr. Sh, and kon refers
to techniques of fencing with the long staff. Accordingly,
the designation Shshi no Kon means the techniques of staff fencing of
Mr. Sh.

Well, Sh is not a Japanese or Okinawan name, but a Chinese name,

which is actually pronounced Zhu. Sh is simply the Japanese
reading of the character.
Hokama (2001: 24) noted on Mr. Sh:
Around the year 1831 the Bjutsu-master Sh from Shanghai lived at
the rear of the Sgenji in Naha Asato. Shji no Kon was passed down
by him in Okinawa.
That is, Shshi no Kon describes the cudgel fencing methods of a
certain Mr. Sh, a native of Shanghai, who settled in Okinawa and
whose stick fencing methods were passed on in Okinawa. Thats all
we can tell about Mr. Sh.
However, we can get ourselves an impression of what Okinawa
looked like at the time and in the area Mr. Sh lived there. To this end,
I here present to you an illustration of the Sgenji in full bloom, as it
once looked. The illustration is from the Nant Kiji Gaihen of 1886. We
see a beautiful, park-like terrain with the temple building, situated at
the river Asato-gawa over which the stone bridge Sgenji-bashi leads,
as well as a few people on foot and on water. Just for the fun of it:
there are various people who use poles either for carrying stuff, as
a punt pole to propel their boats, or to fish.

19th century illustration of the Sogen-ji area in Tomari.

Still today Asato-gawa flows therealong, parallel to the monorail
overhead railway. However, the Asato-gawa now is a few meters
further away from the Sgen-ji as could be assumed from the scale of
the old illustration. Most probably it had been redirected in an
artificial riverbed.

At the time of the Ryky Kingdom, the Sgenji served as a national

mausoleum. In its main hall commemorative plaques for each of the
past kings were placed. Based on one of these stone tablets
archaeologists dated the construction of the temple to the reign of
King Sh Shin (1477-1562).

Mr. Sh, is that you?

The stone gate was the first gate of the temple and is the only part of
the original building that has survived. The main hall and all other
temple buildings were completely destroyed during the Battle of
Okinawa in 1945.
But, besides the above Mr. Sh, Shshi might also have been
meant to refer to a whole family named Sh. In fact, the Sh-clan
was an official household from Kumemura, with its own genealogy. It
is one of the so-called 36 families and this should be an interesting
topic for future studies. As there are no informations readily available,
data need be generated first about the clan, the households that

belonged to it, the typical duties of the family members and other
informations.

Videos of Interest
Waza Wednesday 5/11/16 by Sensei Poage and Sensei
Noah

15 Minute Warrior Workout with Sensei Iain Abernethy

Handgun Retention and Self Defense Drills for Firearms

Carriers by Sensei Poage

Heavy Bag Drill by Lombard MMA

Light Kakedameshi from 5/14/16 Sparring Class

Secrets of Okinawan Karate and Kobudo by Patrick

McCarthy