Long absence

Hi I'm sorry for the long absence.

Been Very Buzy Teaching Lately

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

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)

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

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

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

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