Can VR Help With Martial Arts?! Creed Boxing: Oculus Quest 2

This man answers a question I have had for ages. He tries a VR game to see if it will help his skills.

He has more positives than negatives.

(I did not consider sweat would be an issue and of course motion sickness can be an issue).

Good stuff.

When to use your Massage Gun - The best time to do it - With the Voxpro ...

This man uses his massage gun very well in his suite of videos. He shows how to hold the gun and how to position yourself for each muscle group clearly.

He has good instruction.

I am glad I got a massage gun. They are many clones of the same gun, I do not think it really matters if you get a cheap one. I looked out for one that said it was quiet, but I bet the 2nd generation guns are all quiet now.

Self-massage tools

 I bought this massage tool. It is excellent. Really glad I got this, as it can be placed in 'that' spot that causes problems. I jab it into the lower trapezius muscles and it feels great. Also jab it into the pectoral muscles and feet too. I feel fizzy after using this, and it is so basic, it is really fascinating. 

Also bought a massage gun, too. Should have got one ages ago, too, with the above 'S' shaped stick as self massage is something that can on only benefit you after training / health generally. I bought a book on self-massage too. The are multiple benefits. This stuff should be taught in schools, far more use than learning how to do a cartwheel in P.E.!

'Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone' (Baz Luhrmann)

This practitioner's  YouTube Channel is very good. He shows strong Qi Gong advice that is tied to theory. He shows where pressure points are in some of his moves.

Here he offers knee advice.

Knees are always a source of pain at some time or other. Something to do with evolution and the modern life, I have been led to believe. The knee is not a well designed joint.

My point is we need to be taught self-healing. That should be in the school syllabus and I feel coaches should be taught this  to move beyond warm up and cool down exercise to push themselves and those they teach to the next level.

Baz Luhrmann's song / poem 'Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen)' is behind the title of this blog entry. I advise you listen to that periodically, as it is so wise!

Cool Wing Chun dummy

This looks good. I used to think the Wooden Dummy was derived from a stool or table turned on its side to face the practitioner. Here he uses a stool as the body. (Wonder what the 'jar' is in the body and how hardy that is)?

How To Use TONFA (Okinawa Kobudo)

This is a good video. Here Sensi Enkamp shows us how to use Tonfa.

I like the way he uses his bent elbow as a break when he back-swings the Tonfa to catch it. i have not seen that taught before.



At the end of the video he shows Tonfa being used against Thai pads. This is original and interesting as it is against resistance and quite dynamic.



Tonfa are underrated.

Sounds in martial arts.

 I found this version of this practitioner doing this kata. This version has no crowd clapping and cheering. This is CHATAN YARA KUSANKU by RIKA USAMI (World Champion).

Listen to the snapping noise the strikes make. These are impressive. Sound is important in martial arts I bet and is underestimated.

We listen for sound when we hit pads in class to check for how clean the strike is. Dull sound vs sharp chopping noise.  (The elbow strike is a good exemplar of this. If you do not hit with the tip of the elbow you get a mashing sound - like a wrestling smash, which is a generalised strike not a sharp incision).



The Wing Chun dummy makes a clacking sound when the arms are struck and I have seen Randy Crawford note that he listens out for a 3-beat sound to ensure if the practitioner doing a certain move is stepping to the side (1 beat) then pressing up (another beat), and then another beat sounds to show they are on the outside gate pressing inwards, now. A 3D sound effect.



Shouts are used in Karate - you hear it here, the Kai, to generate fear in the opponent, (I thought it was to generate energy ?!). Breath out is another cue. Can the coach hear you breath or not? I have seen this, as no breath out for striking means you run out of juice and the body has not enough oxygen.

Coach has encouraged us to make a 'shhh' sound to accompany our strikes and breath. That must be a power thing, too. Athletes do this - see Javelin throwers shout when they release.



Other sounds are 'ouch'/ You need to listen out for your partner say stop / or 'ouch', for obvious reasons. You may not be looking at them but need to hear them.

Jesse Encamp deconstructing his Kata back to Chinese mainland origins

The Oldest KATA in KARATE History (セーサン)



This man loves to teach. This man loves to learn too. He does what I have seen in other martial artists: they like to trace the lineage of their moves. The research is exhilarating. Here Jessie shows the Chinese routes of Japanese arts and shows applications of moves.

The way the video is presented is very good as he contrasts different styles of Karate head-to-head to show similarity. That is a good touch.

Belt + bag = dummy ideas. Not seen a belt used like this before.

This is very cleaver. This sensi uses his belt to modify the bag and allow pulling and twisting type energies to be made. This adds something massively to the bag indeed, and if you are practising solo this would be a good idea to incorporate.



I always like the work of this YouTuber. He really does a lot of thinking behind his videos. He has a suite of videos where he went to China to discover the roots of his Karate system. This was very good.

This is why I love the Internet

This is a great application of the Internet. Jesse Enkamp offers his advice on people's Kata moves via YouTube. 20 years ago this idea would have been unimaginable. Then it was still VHS heavy the basis of learning let alone DVDs coming on the scene. We had 56K modems still in the UK.

Now I see this and hope there is great interactive scope for learning via benevolent people like Jesse.



The advice he gives is good to watch. I like the way he forms his thinking. It is like my teacher. He watches and you can see 'thoughts' going on and then language forming nearly and then a judgement.



The thing with Kata is you cannot do it perfectly ever I bet. (Am I right here?). I sense that the effort needed to self-monitor and remember the shapes / perform the shapes with the 101 things-to-do is the attraction and forces you to return to this for life. The perpetual high maintenance to get you in the zone and keep you humble is the point I bet.

One Karate Misconception I Discovered In China

This video is very good as this man does what many other martial artists do they search for truth / origins and meanings of what they do now in other places, and in the past.

This karate man goes to China and in this video he has a friend who speaks Chinese who went with him. He ends up seeing the role of language affects thinking and hence translation. Japanese interpretation of the moves are more atomistic as they use alphabet to construct sentences. Chinese use characters which express an idea. That means moves are not modular but can be seen as whole entities with a purpose attached to them.

This means the way he interprets moves are affected by this insight.

Wing Chun 1-Inch and 3-Inch Punch Technique | Core JKD Wing Chun

This is a good video. He goes through the steps that lead to inch-power punching. This teacher is very detailed in his account - as in all his videos.

Along with the dummy, this move has to be the most iconic thing about this art / legacy of how people see Bruce Lee and his use of this move at demos.

6 Sounds of Qi Gong - my new addition

I bought Mantak Chia's book about 2 years ago and did not really get around to studying it. I threatened to for ages but put it off. The reason was, if you do this, you do it properly, sincerely and not flirt with this. I reached that point of acceptance 1 week ago.



I chose this as I knew the sounds were mentioned in Yang Jang Ming's work on the 8 pieces of brocade, and he uses the sounds but does not elaborate on them in the other materials I had. Also I have seen the sounds in use in other Qi Gong forms and when I read about I saw this looked 'do-able'.
I choose this book and I read a www page that had a useful table of different Qi Gong masters use of these sounds. I needed to know if they had consensus or not on the sounds. If they did then that means there is likely to be some 'truth' in this, as others agree, and I would not be wasting my time following just one person's interpretation of this alone. (There were some minor disagreements in what one or two of the sounds should be, but I went with Chia's work as he was reflected in consensus vs others and his book has a CD too, with the sounds in).

It seems the organs in the body can get over heated and this heat needs dissipation. The sounds act like a heat-sync to remove this excess heat when you breath out making the sound. Each organ: lungs, kidneys, liver, kidneys, spleen, (triple heater), have an associated sound that operates on a type of frequency for each.

Starting out : I needed to know the idea behind this, or else this makes the commitment to this weaker. I.e. know the theory underlying this. I may need to revise this 3 times to memorise all nuances. Next make sure to learn the sounds for each organ. Sounds silly, but some are so close you could confuse them. Expect to practice this, however, to chisel out skills doing this. This is like a health kata, so adopt the same mentality.

The use of colours associates with the organs too is reflected in this 6 sounds which is good. This gives me something extra over the 8 pieces of brocade, that I did not completely use.

The book shows a choice of doing the sounds sat down, or stood up - just like Dr. Yang Jing Ming's book. Also the goal seems to be to get the sounds down properly and then be able to make the sounds sub-vocally. (That has a benefit of public practice too, as no one knows what you are up to).

It is early days, so I cannot say if I have benefits yet.

Chi Kung / Qi Gong 4 years on

I am now into my 4th year of doing the 8 pieces of brocade.

Goodnews 1] I am still doing it. Why? I think it does have benefits. I do not feel cold the same way I used to. I can wake up easier with little sleep than before. Leg muscles have grown. (the reason why leg muscles have grown is that I sit deeper in the archer position for move [2]. I paid big attention to posture in that since January and that has had an effect. I can see why you have to wait for the benefits however, they do not come overnight. You grow like a tree, slowly.

Other things I do 'new' is to juggle the moves up every now and then. That can help concentration. I also and less concerned with a mechanical in and our breath to co-ordinate with moves. You do not have to do that anyway, so that is one thing less to force yourself to do. Sometimes it is co-ordinated, sometimes not.
I switch off my shoulder muscles more for the heaven / earth push hands. That move can make the shoulders tense if you do not pay attention. (Tense muscles means inhibited Qi flow).

I am more aware when I most likely to have a good session vs a session that is just exercise for exercise sake. If I wait until I am awake more / have eaten / have done some other physical activity then my mind is more quiet.

2] If you do forms / kata / jurus then doing Qi Gong should not be hard to keep up, really, as it is a health form. You need to watch your health and mind as it helps yourself and others too.

Visualization Training To Remove Fear | Core JKD Meditation Technique

This man has good ideas consistently. Here is one I have not seen before.

The Wing Chun Dummy - Why We Train It

This video shows someone stating that the dummy is best seen as a footwork tool to aid movement primarily. He says hand moves a secondary, I sense.

Analysis: Why Button Mashing Doesn't Work

Maybe some of this works in real life!

Ip Man Wing chun Wooden Dummy Form - Section 4 with Application

I do not have a video of anyone teaching the dummy in a 1-1 class. I have seen it being lectured to a group but here the teacher picks up on learner;s mistakes and these are corrected.

Seem like good instruction. Nuances noted e.g. taget elbow not the lower forearm or upper arm.

Jun Fan / Jeet Kune Do Trapping Skills (In Japenese)

This teacher is not afraid to hit is training partner.

Wing Chun Chi Sao Stick Energy Training—Core JKD Wing Chun Technique