Posts Tagged ‘martial arts’

Aikido – The Martial Art

Monday, January 9th, 2012

The subject of oriental Martial Arts is one of the most memorable presents of Asia to the world. Who will not remember that Bruce Lee was first and foremost a martial arts sports person before becoming a motion picture star?

Martial arts pictures are a colossal hit with the ever-rising popularity of Asian cinema like ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ and ‘The House of the Flying Daggers’.

The Chinese are the first nation that come to mind if you think of such sports, but the Japanese are just as sporty with a rich heritage of body contact sports in their past. Contemporary Japan still gives honour to the martial arts by holding tournaments and promoting their martial arts in foreign countries.

Aikido is one of these. It is fascinating to note the fact that the word comes from three Japanese characters from which is derived the one word. Ai is ‘joining’, Ki is ‘spirit’ and Do is ‘way’.

From this we can understand why Aikido lies beyond merely the physical skills of it students, particularly since its first proponent, Ueshiba, focused on the spiritual and philosophical improvement of his pupils.

In Aikido, one is not trained in violence instead, one is trained to be in harmony with the opponent so that you are able to defeat him more easily. This may seem strange but it really works.

When approaching an opponent, the objective of the Aikido practitioner is to become one with the adversary so as to be able to tackle him where he is weakest and in so doing, deflect or immobilize him, but never to kill him.

This is how Aikido becomes an art form. Art is something beautiful to look at and something positive and Aikido is all that. At least one of the contestants involved in the combat is searching for concord and concord can only be attained if there is grace in the proceedings.

The moves may be premeditated, but there is an air of elegance in performing these actions. Not a feminine grace, but a grace that comes from peace. The ‘art of peace’ is what they call it in Aikido.

It is one of the most affirmative influences of Aikido on its students and to everyone else who decides to learn about this Japanese martial art.

Some of the techniques in Aikido include the following:

Ikkyo is the first technique. Using this technique, you direct an opponent by using one hand to hold his elbow and one to hold near the wrist. This action is supposed to permit you to pin your adversary down to the ground.

Nikyo, the second process, is when you accomplish a wrist lock which empowers you to turn the arm of your adversary which will in turn cause nerve pressure.

Sankyo, the third technique, is a process that creates upward-spiraling tension throughout the arm, elbow and shoulder. There are many other moves but the first three are enough to give you a fundamental idea.

When studying Aikido, it is crucial to keep in mind that, along with building physical strength, you will have to improve your mind to be able to overpower your antagonist. Just| like in any other art form, it takes a lot of training and discipline to reach the summit of the art of Aikido.

The vital thing to keep in mind is that anyone who wants to get into the art must have the resolve to give honour to the art by performing it in the best manner that they can.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is now concerned with Mixed Martial Arts For Kids. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Mixed Martial Arts Quotes

Why Would You Want To Learn Mixed Martial Arts?

Monday, December 19th, 2011

The sport of mixed martial arts appears to be taking North and South America, Europe and Japan by storm. It is not a new sport by any means; the modern bout of popularity for mixed martial arts goes back about 20 years.

So, it has been bubbling under for quite a while, but now every city and town appears to be offering training in MMA to one degree or another.

There are gyms specializing in mixed martial arts and other gyms are providing it as one of their repertoire of martial arts and fitness regimes. However, learning MMA is not like studying other fighting skills, because MMA incorporates, or may incorporate, all the other skills. Mixed martial arts is not a solitary fighting skill on its own like say, karate or aikido is.

At the end of the day, this means that a devotee of MMA has to learn say, boxing, wrestling, karate, jiu jitsu and Thai boxing which naturally takes a great amount of dedication on behalf of the acolyte.. So why would you want to learn mixed martial arts?

The reasons why individuals do some things are extremely personal, but two of the most popular reasons cited for wanting to learn MMA are to stay fit and to be able to defend oneself.

MMA requires a high level of fitness and endurance, but it also increases one’s self-confidence and powers of concentration. This latter benefit seems to help children (and adults) with ADD and ADHD, but all children benefit from elevated confidence, fitness and the capacity to protect themselves from bullies.

All recognized, formal fighting skills have weaknesses when it comes to a real street fight. In a street fight, normally the bigger guy wins. Training can reverse this, giving the smaller person with superior skills the edge.

However, say you learn boxing to defend yourself and you are picked on from behind one night; you are knocked to the ground and a large man gets on top of you. Your boxing skills are not much use now, are they?

Or say that you studied wrestling, but the other guy is very fast and he keeps darting in and hitting you, wearing you down and you simply cannot get a grip of him. Or say he has a knife?

Aikido is fantastic for disarming opponents and karate and Thai boxing give you a better reach by teaching you to fight with your legs. In this fashion, mixed martial arts provides a more rounded method of self-defence and attack.

Part of the skill in learning mixed martial arts is selecting which martial arts to learn. Tae kwon do is a very athletic style involving high kicks and jumps. A heavy person would not take to tae kwon do readily, but may prefer Brazilian jiu jitsu. Fortunately, your instructor will know which combinations of sports will be best suited to your personality and your body type.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with Mixed Martial Arts Training Gyms. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Mixed Martial Arts Quotes

Martial Arts For Children

Monday, December 19th, 2011

All individuals should know how to protect themselves. They always used to, especially before the introduction of the police force. Before there was a police force, there was turmoil and it was every man for himself. Men protected themselves and their family from all kinds of thieves, muggers and rapists for millenia usually with a sword or a cane.

There is far less violence on the streets now than there was 200 years ago, but there is still too much and so lots of individuals still feel the requirement to be able to protect themselves. Many people turn to martial arts and the best time to take up martial arts is whilst you are young.

And this is happening as well. Many parents are afraid for three reasons: 1] that their kids will undergo bullying at school 2] that they will get harassed on the streets by predators or 3] that they will become obese. Martial arts are the best solution to all these worries. Practicing martial arts can burn 300-450 calories per hour.

But the advantages of studying martial arts do not finish there. Martial arts has a normalizing impact on individuals. It raises the self-confidence of the introverted and timid, but it also teaches bullies that there is always someone better too. It teaches self-disciple, self-defence and self-confidence. It makes the weak robust and the fat thin. It is a life coach.

If your child wants to study a martial art or indeed mixed martial arts, the first thing to do is choose which style is the one for the child. You can begin doing this by looking at videos on the various styles. Not films with stories where everything is choreographed, but documentary films.

The foremost ones to look at are: boxing, wrestling, karate, muay Thai, tae kwon do, jiu jitsu and judo. There are others, but it is best to find a general type first, because some require more speed, energy, nimbleness or strength than others. Some mental and physical attributes are more suitable to one discipline than another.

Once you have a style in mind, you can start looking for a gym or dojo that instructs it. Check out the safety record and the facilities of any that you fancy and talk to the trainers. It is also important that your child will get able to go to the groups, so you will want a dojo that is open after school hours and most of the weekend. Most of them are, but it is worth asking.

It is useful if the dojo will give private instruction to students who either fall behind or who are better than their colleagues. Once into the sport, you child might choose that he or she would rather have done another one, check to see if that is possible without losing what you have already paid in advance fees.

Every child ought to be encouraged, but not forced, to at least attempt a martial art, because it will give them a helpful interest for life that will make their hearts, minds and bodies robust for life.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is now concerned with the academy of mixed martial arts. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Mixed Martial Arts Quotes

Making Archery Equipment

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Archery has been practiced for a long time. Bows have been found from at least 2,500 years before Christ, so 4,500 years ago. It is also likely that archery goes back several thousand years before that, but because most bows were made solely of wood, they have not lasted.

In the early days, bows were utilized for hunting and keeping raiders away. Nowadays, there are still some cultures that rely on hunting with bows and arrows to put meat on the table and there are also people who decide to do it that way for sport.

The equipment involved in archery is essentially a bow and an arrow, but it goes deeper than that. If you genuinely want to get involved in archery, you may want to think about making your own bow, your own arrows and your own practice targets.

There are excellent kits for making your own bows, but there are too many varieties of bows for us to go into all of them in this article. However, be assured that if you do want to construct your own bow, you will find a description of the materials and the techniques on the Internet.

You can also make your own arrows and that is an easier subject to cover. If you begin with the shaft, it can be crafted of wood, aluminium alloy or carbon fibre, all of which can be bought from many places. Then, at the sharp end, you can choose your tip or point.

The arrow head should match the job that the arrow is intended for. If it is intended to kill, then a broadhead, if it is meant to make a hole in a piece of paper, then a simple brass tip.

The flights can be bought separately as well. You can feathers or plastic and with a little experience, you can use feathers that you have found yourself. Goose feathers were historically the ones most well-liked.

Lastly there is the nock, which is the part of the arrow that connects with the string. The nock can be as simple as a ‘v’ or a ‘u’ cut in the arrow, or it can be a plastic or metal item that is slotted over the end of the arrow.

The bow string is too hard to make oneself, unless you really want to go into that technology. The bow string is more easily bought.

Archery targets, the round ones, you connect with target archery are a different kettle of fish, because you certainly can assemble them yourself. You first have to get hold of a pile of straw and then take handfuls of it. Truss these handfuls of straw into ‘ropes’ and make a circle like a Catherine Wheel out of them.

Sew these together until they form the size target you require. Put this on a stand or nail it to a tree and then fasten the traditional archery target to the face of it.

You can paint the conventional concentric circles on cloth, canvas or paper. It does not have to cost a lot to take part in archery. Remember that 5,000 or 500 years ago, people had very little, yet they still enjoyed their sport or hobby of archery.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on various topics, but is presently concerned with archery bows for sale. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Archery As A Hobby

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

We are all being advised to get out more often, so many individuals are looking for a reason for doing so. You could undertake a spectator sport like football, but that is not really going to do your body much good, you ought to be looking for a participation sport.

If you are younger, then play soccer by all means, but if you are getting on a little, you will most likely be looking for a sport that is not quite so taxing. Men like to take aim and shoot things even if not kill them. Golf is an option, but I want to suggest that you give archery a try.

Archery has the edge over shooting a gun because it takes some physical strength. It is not just a question of pulling, sorry, squeezing a trigger. If you take up archery, you will probably want to develop some more upper-body strength, especially if the most strenuous work you have done for the last twenty years is pick up a pen.

Archery is an rounded sport in many ways, depending on how much you get into it. Most novices will start out by going to an archery club and joining in for the day. People will lend them a bow and show them the safety aspects and the correct way to hold a bow and shoot an arrow. This should give you a good notion of which sort of bow you would like.

After a week or two, you may purchase your own bow and you may move from indoor target archery to outdoor target archery or even field archery, which is virtual hunting. From there, you will almost certainly meet people who take archery a step further. You will meet competition archers, bow hunters and people who assemble their own equipment.

You may find one of these aspects of archery fascinating. You may take up bow hunting or even bow fishing. This will take you off at a tangent, because you will have to learn about the animals that you stalk. You will have to learn where they live and what their habits are. This involves research.

Or you can take up the archery counterpart to clay pigeon shooting, which is known as field archery. In field archery, the archers walk around a course and model animals or standard targets will become visible at diverse distances. This is enjoyable.

You will also meet people who like to make their own arrows and even their own bows. This is another interesting feature of archery. You can purchase the different components that go to make up an arrow and you can buy a kit to assemble a bow or you can start from scratch with an axe, a knife and a lathe. Again you will need to do a lot of research, in order to get your archery equipment just the way you want it.

This will lead you down yet another tangent to archery, but it will improve your understanding of archery, increase your pleasure in the sport and, as they say, add another string to your bow.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on various topics, but is currently involved with longbows for sale. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Tips For Bow Fishing

Monday, April 25th, 2011

Archery fishing is also known as bow fishing and it is as ancient as the bow and arrow themselves. We in the West are inclined to think that only poorer tribesmen in Third World countries go bow fishing, but that is not quite true.

These days the hunting of mammals is stringently controlled and so some people who like to hunt with a bow will switch to bow fishing if the animals that they like to pursue, say deer, are out of season. Some other people, who would not hunt a deer or bear are quite happy to kill fish in this fashion.

Bow fishing is a skillful sport, but the equipment need not necessarily be hi-tech. The fact is that you can use whatever bow you have or you can just make one. It does not have to be strong, because the quarry is seldom more than ten feet away. You categorically do not need a 100 lbf longbow to kill a trout.

Having said that, any bow used for fishing will need to be adapted slightly – you will need to attach a reel to it, but it does not have to be anything fancy. There are three principal types of reel for use in bow fishing: hand-wrap, spincast and retriever and the line is usually braided nylon of approximately eighty pounds although you might require six hundred pound breaking strain line for alligators or sharks.

It is worth checking out the regulations with regard to bow fishing in your country or state, because sometimes bow fishermen have to be licensed and sometimes getting that license involves having been on a safety course.

Some regions will even have by-laws regarding the kind of equipment you can use in bow fishing and of course, some fish have seasonal restrictions.

Bow fishing is a hybrid of fishing and hunting, so you could have to acquire some new skills like tying knots for instance. You will have to be able to tie the line to the reel and the arrow and those knots will have to be able to put up with the tremendous acceleration that an arrow leaving a bow goes through without failing.

The bow may not be different much from a standard bow, but the arrows certainly do. Arrows for bow fishing are usually a lot heavier that air-flight arrows. They also have barbed tips to stop the fish escaping or just slipping off when you reel it in. The arrows do not have fletching either because flights are apt to deflect the true course of the arrow in water – the reverse of in the air.

There are three main techniques used in bow fishing: 1] you can put down ground bait and lie in wait. – an over hanging tree or high boulder is good for this; 2] you can float down stream in a boat while sitting or standing in the bow; 3] you can walk into the river like a salmon fisherman.

Compensating for the refraction of the water is the most difficult ability to learn and that means knowing the water well as well.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several subjects, but is presently concerned with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Targets In Field And Target Archery

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Archery can be classed as a sport or a hobby and it has its own category at the Olympic Games. Archers either hunt wild game animals or aim at targets or both. If you aim at targets in a competition, it is the aggregate score of all your arrows that is used to work out your position in that competition. The nearer the centre of the target that the arrow strikes, the higher the tally.

Target archery can also be sub-divided into two classes: field archery and target archery. In target archery, the archer stands in a fixed spot. If there are a number of archers, they can stand in a row and all aim together on command from the person in charge of enforcing the rules and safety. Any kind of bow can normally be used in target archery, although only compound bows may be employed in the Olympic Games.

In field archery, the targets are of diverse sizes and are placed at different distances. The archer moves around the course, so there is no one fixed shooting spot. The targets may be the well-known round targets with concentric circles or they may be life-size models of wild animals like bears, deer and rabbits.

The bows used in field archery are more often than not traditional type bows: longbows, flat bows and recurves, although archers are allowed to use any bow that they like. When hunting live animals, compound bows are normally used because they are smaller, so more manoeuvrable, yet they are still extremely powerful.

Archery targets are conventionally made from straw bundled and tied together to make ropes. These ropes of straw are then wrapped around themselves like a Catherine Wheel and stitched together. The cloth or paper target is pinned to the front of it.

The other name for these targets is ‘butts’ and many old towns and villages in Britain still have a recreational area known as ‘The Butts’. Nowadays they play football or cricket on it, but Henry VIII decreed that all males must practice his archery skills every Sunday at the butts using a longbow, so that there would be a lavish supply of archers for his army.

In competition archery, every archer shoots at his or her own target, but every archer is expected to have uniquely coloured flights, so that if there is a problem an archer and the arrow can be identified. This is useful for retrieving arrows that have missed the target altogether.

There are usually six arrows shot by each competitor in a series and if they are to be shot from different distances, it is normal to shoot from the furthest distance first. Men usually shoot from 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres, while ladies usually shoot from 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres.

Archery as a sport appears to be growing in popularity, especially as there is a tendency in some countries, like the UK, to make it more arduous to obtain a gun license. They say that fashion goes around and comes back again, well British men are back at the butts practicing their archery skills again in greater numbers than there have been since possibly the sixteenth century.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on several subjects, but is currently concerned with archery bows for sale. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Three Rivers Archery

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

If you are American and you like archery, you will almost certainly have heard of Three Rivers Archery products. In Europe and the remainder of the world, you probably have not heard of them. Three Rivers Archery products are some of the finest in the world. In their own words, they specialize in longbows and recurve bows.

Three Rivers Archery also supplies arrows and other archery paraphernalia such as the materials to construct or refurbish your own arrows. These materials include carbon fibre, wooden and aluminium arrow shafts, arrow heads, feathers and nocks. They also provide quivers, arrow rests, bow strings and everything else to do with archery.

The cost of these superb quality products is reasonable and professional archers, hunters, hobbyists and sports people all use Three Rivers Archery goods. There are models of archery equipment to suit every purpose and every pocket.

The equipment sold by Three Rivers Archery is of Olympic standard. That is to say that their recurve bows meet the requirements set by the Olympic committee. Their traditional selfbows are authentic replicas of original longbows.

The arrows are made of modern resources as well as timber. The modern composite arrows are often better because modern carbon fibre and aluminium alloys are better for producing arrow shafts than wood. That is hard to confess for a traditionalist, but modern carbon fibre and aluminium alloy arrows do not splinter like a wooden arrow might if shot from a heavy-duty longbow.

The steel arrow tips that Three Rivers Archery sells are far better than the old brass arrow tips as well. The old brass arrow points would often buckle or dent, whereas these new steel points are practically unbreakable. They sell whistling steel points too, although I am not sure why anyone would ask for a whistling arrow point. What is the point?

If you are not certain where you can get hold of Three Rivers Archery products, go online. They have an outstanding web site which is massive although still easy to navigate. If you are interested in archery, then I am sure that you could easily spend an hour or more just browsing the web site.

Their web site is very well laid out with distinct sections for every aspect of archery including ready-made items such as bows, arrows, paraphernalia and apparel; there are additional web pages on targets, quivers, accessories, books, DVD’s and adolescent archery. There are further web pages on medieval archery, hunting and bow making. There are even special offers only available to their web site visitors.

If that is not impressive, then there is a forum, an email service and an off-line catalogue. Three Rivers Archery will of course deliver your order to your door. You can order by post, by telephone or over the Internet.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on various subjects, but is currently involved with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Archery Bows: Some Basic Iformation

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Archery played a large part in human daily life for thousands of years from prehistoric times until about 1750, when the gun began to replace it for hunting and warfare very rapidly. Societies all over Europe, north Africa, like Egypt, Persia (Iran), India, China and Japan celebrate their most skillful archers. I am sure that other countries do as well.

Wales had Twm Sion Catty; England had Robin Hood and Switzerland had William Tell. Greek and Trojan archers are told of by name in Homer’s ‘Iliad’. Archers all over the world were thought of as popular heroes like footballers are these days.

It seems that bows were first invented in various parts of the world practically at the same time in the late Paleolithic Age or the early Mesolithic Age. It is remarkable that different kinds of bows were developed by the different societies around the world and each sort of bow was invented to suit the style of warfare that that society conducted and to the environment in which they hunted.

There are too many types of bow to explain them all here, but some of the most common archery bows are: the longbow, flatbow, shortbow, recurve bow, compound bow and crossbow.

The longbow and the flatbow are similar in size, both can be six feet or more in length, but the cross section of the longbow is ‘D’ shaped, whereas that of a flatbow is rectangular. A flatbow is usually wider than a longbow. Both can shoot heavy 36 inch arrows long distances with great force – enough to penetrate the armour of the Middle Ages from 250-300 yards.

The shortbow is shorter, as you might conclude from its name. It is a short range bow, utilized for hunting small animals in areas where a large bow would be too cumbersome such as in woods or forests.

The compound bow is also a shorter bow, but it is extremely powerful because the limbs are not very supple. In order to flex the limbs, use is made of a system of pulleys or cams.

This gives the compound bow sufficient power (more than 50 pound draw weight) to enable it to be used to hunt larger game such as deer or bear. The compound bow is a new style, which was only invented in 1966.

Recurve bows have tips that ‘point the wrong way’ when the bow is unstrung. This gives the recurve more power inch for inch than the long or flatbow, enabling it to be used as an effective weapon for warfare or hunting from horseback.

Crossbows are specialized bows, which can be pre-loaded similar to a gun and shot later. In general, it takes less skill and physical strength to soot a crossbow.

The arrows are very important too. Arrows can be interchangeable between the bows to a limited extent, but the length should suit the draw of the bow. Crossbow bolts are normally very short.

There are two kinds or shooting: instinctive and sight shooting. Sight shooting means using sights of some kind to aim, either by looking down the arrow or using optical fibre sights. Instinctive shooting is more demanding because it is intuitive. It cannot be learned, you have either got it or you ain’t.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several topics, but is presently concerned with compound hunting bows. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Archery Targets For Indoors And Out

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Archery is about hitting a target with an arrow shot from a bow. The bow can either be an straight bow or a crossbow, although most people think of upright bows when they hear the word ‘archery’. Within the sport or hobby of target archery, there are two kinds: target archery and field archery. The champion is the archer with the highest combined score of his arrows that struck the target.

Target archery necessitates shooting arrows, usually six, from a variety of distances usually 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres. The archers stand in a line before their targets starting at 90 metres and shoot an arrow on the order of whoever is in charge.

Then they all move forward to the 70 metre mark and shoot again on the order and so on. After the six arrows have been shot, the archers proceed to their targets and add up their scores.

Field archery necessitates walking around a course where targets are set at a variety of distances. The targets can be the traditional round ones or they may be replicas of wild animals like rabbits, elk or bears.

Traditional targets are made from straw. Handfuls of straw are bound with string and made into a kind of rope. This rope is then wound around and around itself until a target of the correct size has been crafted. The rope is held in situ either by pinning it or tying it. A canvas or paper target is then pinned to the face of it.

Target archery can be practiced outdoors or indoors and the target sizes are different to match the various distances. An outdoor archery target can be either 122 centimetres or 80 centimetres in diameter. The middle of this target is 24.4 centimetres in diameter and there are four concentric circles around this. The indoor target is 80 centimetres in diameter. The centre of this size target is 16 centimetres and also has four concentric rings around it.

Each ring is about eight centimetres wide on the smaller target. The targets are coloured gold in the centre, then red, blue, black and white. At the middle of the gold is what many archers call the ‘pinhole’.

It is a small cross of about two millimetres in width. The target should then be placed on an easel or stand with a tilt of about 15 degrees. The pinhole should be 130 centimetres off the ground (plus or minus five centimetres).

If there is more than one archer, the pinholes should all be at the same height off the ground and the targets should be clearly numbered. The shooting line should be plainly marked and an archer’s shooting spot should be marked too. Five yards behind the archer, there should be another line, behind which non-competitors may stand.

The danger zone between the archers and the targets should be cordonned off to stop spectators wandering into the line of fire. Knowing that the spectators are kept well back helps the archers to focus on their archery.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several topics, but is currently involved with longbows for sale. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.