Martial Art Talks

Long absence

2010-07-22T00:22:00.001-07:00

Hi I'm sorry for the long absence.

Been Very Buzy Teaching Lately

2010-04-01T23:42:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys..
Sorry for the absence... I've been very busy teaching my students and looking for more. It's very difficult to get people interested in learning self defence nowadays. My new brown and green belters (young students).

My ITF Master

2009-07-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

Master Mintarja Seongkono taught me ITF, a Tae Kwon Do style, from 1987 to 1988 in Canada while I was studying there. Previous to learning Tae Kwon Do, Master learnt Thai Boxing. Naturally he combined these two styles. Although he was teaching ITF, it was very different form the ITF style I saw in Sabah, Malaysia. His was more speedier and powerful. He combined boxing style and tae kwon do kicks. Very-very fast indeed. I remember sparring against him. It was difficult to block his kicks and punches. He was 31 and a fourth dan ITF master. If he is still alive he would be 52 years old now. I wonder whether he is still practising tae kwon do. He used to be the North America Tae Kwon Do Champion in the 90s. Before that he was the Indonesian champ.

Traditional punches against modern (boxing punches)

2009-01-27T18:39:00.000-08:00

Hi .... sorry for the long absence .... been very busy with life. Anyway this is the topic I've been thinking about. The difference between these two punches. Well... my poersonal view and analysis ... based on my experience in fighting and sparring .... I've never used the tradistional punches in any of my fights or sparring sessions .... you know the one which you walk towards your opponent and do the staright traditional punch. It's good to help you build your stamina .... when your're standing stationary and throw out many punches .... and it's also good to help you with the strength of your stand and focus. However, for my fights and sparring sessions I used the boxing punches (a lot of jab, back fist, combination of staright jab, hook punch, elbow). They are fast and difficult to block or evade. I'll talk about how to execute the boxing stlye punches later. These punches I learned from Master Mintarja Seongkono when I was in Canada in 1997-1998. THANK YOU MASTER.

Power packed straight traditional punch

2008-06-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

In order for you to develop power in your straight punch you need to practise everyday .... 10 reps for each x 3 sets. For example, do single punch alternatively ... one punch one count ... up to 10. Then repeat another 2 sets. Remember to inhale before punching and exhale when punching... relax your whole body. Tense up a little bit upon impact (split second). For double punch... right and left are counted as 1.... do 10 reps for 3 sets. Do not use a lot of energy .... remember the law of physics f = ma. The 'a' is accelaration = speed.

Traditional straight punch

2008-05-20T05:15:00.001-07:00

I've done thousands of the traditional straight punch since I started learning it about 34 years ago from different stand up styles and different gurus, instructors and masters. I can only remember two of them teaching me the punch with a proper breathing technique - Master Mintarja Seongkono who taught me Tae Kwon Do (ITF) when I was in Canada, and Master Mal Tae Kim who I am still training with until now. Breathing is very important because if you don't have the 'air' in your lungs all your punches are useless. When I first started to do multiple straight punches, I used to hold my breath and realease it during the last on. What happened normally was that I would be out of breath. My face would turn blue ..so to speak. Everything changed when I trainned under these two masters. What they asked me to do is to take a deep breath before you execute the multiple punches and exhale a bit with each execution of the punch. So it is like one punch is accompanied by a little exhaling of breath. So if you do five punches ... you are going to exhale five times through the mouth. I found it helped me with breathing and power. I could easily do fifty punches without feeling dizzy. Try the technique yourself. .... But one more thing ...when you execute the punch please ensure your whole body is 100% relax. Do not thghten you fist and forearm.

Sorry for the long absence

2008-04-08T02:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks for the long absence ....... I'll post new interesting articles later..

Check my tang soo do web

2008-03-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

Please check my tang soo do at tangsoodosabah.com

Tang Soo Do traditional straight punch

2008-03-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

Hi.... watch how I do the tang soo do traditional straight punch

Power Punch

2008-03-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

Power of punch comes from mass of your fist and the accleration of your fist moving from the starting point to the target. According to the second law of motion (Isaac Newton) .The force of a moving body on impact is the product of mass times accelartion (M= m x a). What this means is that the bigger the mass the more damage it causes to a target. However, it depends on how much you accelerate your fist. The bigger the mass and the higher the acceleration, therefore, the bigger the damage. The is one more factor which influence the force ... how much you are relaxed when you are performing the punch. A bigger person does not necessarily able to accelerate his fist because of his muscle tension. Only by training the punch at a relax state will you obtain the acceleration which will produce a destructive force.

Try....try....

Vertical punch

2008-03-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

So what is the difference between a vertical punch and a traditional punch? I've already explained in brief what a traditional punch is (plus the pictures). The vertical punch is employed by many martial arts. For example wing chun or ving chun, Ishhin ryu karate, xhi xhi chuan kung fu ..... The difference is in the execution .... You don't turn your first along its path .... You don straighten your whole hand ..... you bend you elbow even at the point of impact ...You ended up hittting a target with the first two knuckles.... very less energy is used..... you don't pull your other hand back to your rib .... I'll show you a picture later .... Now when I'm sparring I normally would combine this with western boxing styles .....

Saying of masters

2008-02-22T04:49:00.000-08:00

These are what some masters say about martial arts training (taken from Black Belt, February 2008).

Study the most likely attacks.

It does little good to learn defensive techniques to counter moves that your opponent may never launch. Know how a street criminal attacks, how a mentally ill person attacks, how a terrorist attacks and so on. Seek that information from people who've been there.

By: Sgt Jim Wagner, reality-based self-fefense instructor

Explore your mind

Be clear on what you want out of the martial arts. Some people want to be a kicker, while others couldn't care less about kicking. Some want to do forms but don't care about fighting . Some prefer to concentrate on weapons. You have to understand yourself because to be successful, you have to develop the right mind-set. When I was competing, my mind-set was, if you were going to carry me out of the ring. I'd sayto my opponent,"You're fighting a losing battle already-you can't beat my mind."

By: Bill Wallace, full contact champion

traditional straight punch

2008-02-11T22:49:00.000-08:00

When you perform the traditional straight punch you have to ensure the following:
1. Do not bend your body forward. Your body should be straight.
2. Look straight ahead.
3. Do not lock your elbow because this would cause elbow injury.
4. The out and in going fists must rotate along a straight line on their travelling paths. It's like a bullet travelling inside the muzzle of a M16 rifle.
5. Do not tighten your body and fists ...stay relax

Who would use the traditional straight punch in fighting ... I wouldn't .... In the fights that I was involved never once had I use this punch .... However, I think there are other benefits .... which I'll talk about later.

2008-02-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

Traditional punch demonstrated by me...

Start from the Chon Bi stance .... relax and look straight ahead. Your body should be loose ... save your energy .. do not tighten your fists ...

Bring your left foot closer to your right foot (inhale at the same time). Once the feet are together slightly bend both knees. Pulled your left hand along your rib cage (see photo). Your right hand is placed in front of your body.

Push back your left foot to the original position (left). At the same time punch with your left hand. Your right hand should be pulled along your right rib cage. (exhale). You have to slightly lower your body.

Traditional straight punch

2008-02-01T22:54:00.000-08:00

My students sometimes ask me the benefit and usefulness of the traditional straight punch ... I tried looking for the information on this technique but couldn't get any. Well, now lets look at the body posture when one performs this technique. The legs are parted to allow the body to be lowered. This causes the thighs to be almost in a horizontal line. You have to remain in this position throughout when you perform the punch. A begginer would feel pain along his hamstring and thigh areas. This means that the muscles in this region are being used and because of that they will be strengthened. Of course for advance martial artists they don't feel the pain anymore unless they lower their body more.

What other benefits????

In Tang Soo Do when you perform this punch you need to inhale before executing and exhale after. One punch one breath... exhale once. But for more than one punches then you would have to inhale once and exhale every time you punch. Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. In a way you are helping your body to get more cleaner oxygen by inhaling deeply before punching and you are also helping your body to get rid of the carbon dioxide from the body by exhaling.

Other benefits?

The shoulder muscles would be developed and strengthened. This is because everytime you perform the punch the shoulder muscles would be involved.....

My Grandmaster Mal Tae Kim

2008-01-31T19:29:00.000-08:00

Tang Soo Do Sabah

2008-01-31T19:11:00.000-08:00

Hi again ....

I'm teaching Tang Soo Do in Sabah at Gaya Teacher Training Institute, Kota Kinabalu. There are around 20 students learning from me. The headquarters is at Beverly Hill Plaza area in Kota Kinabalu. Grandmaster Kim teaches there on monday, wednesday and friday from 6 to 8 pm. Check the association's web at Tangsoodosabah.com

Why do you do traditional punch (the straight punch as seen practised by karate, tae kwon do, tang soo do)? When you are in real street fights, you do not use straight punch, do you? So why waste your time and energy? And imagine ... you have performed it for 17 -30 years. What do you get? real ability to fight? Powerful punches? Focussed mind? Ever watched MMA? Do the fighters do straight punch? None!!!! I've performed it many years ..... I've been in the martial art world since I was 8 years old ..... I've learnt silat (many styles), tae kwon do (WTF and ITF ..... plus the original one, Tang Soo Do, Yoshinkan aikido, Kung Fu, Yang Tai Chi, boxing .....).

Check Tangsoodosabah.com to see how the straight punch is performed. Almost all the different styles' straight punch is performed like the one demonstrated by me in the web.

Hi. Welcome to my blog

2008-01-31T06:14:00.000-08:00

I'll be talking about different martial arts in my blog ...... May be things to do with techniques, training methods, old and new tactics to defend yourself. By the way, I'm a fifth dan Black Belt holder in Tang Soo Do. My master is Grandmaster Mal Tea Kim who came to Sabah Malaysia 25 years ago. Although I'm teaching Tang Soo Do and have been training in this art for 17 years I also do cross training because I think no one art is a complete art because each one of the art has been created by human beings. Human beings do not know all and their art is only limited to the exposure that they have encountered in their surroundings. .... As Bruce Lee used to say that one martial art only a partial truth.... One master might say his art is great but another master might see weakness there and here. I'll write more ... probably I'll show some pictures ..
Bye