George Adams' Blog

Breaking the Magician's Code

February 4th, 2012

When a Jiu Jitsu technique is first shown it might appear incredible or even magic, going by the astonished looks on people’s faces, not to mention the heavy sighs in the room; but when explained how it is done we realise it is not so magic after all, just like the magician who reveals his secrets on that great show on Foxtel, after performing an incredible magic act; it's no so magic after all but very clever how it is done.

There's also magic in the martial arts.  People see something and wonder how ‘how it is done’ and ‘how can one learn this’.  You only have to look around the room and see the looks on people's faces.  In magic, there are three types of people.  First, there are those who just look, second, those who want to see how it is done and three, those who want do learn how to do it.  You can say the same thing for Jiu Jitsu. 

This 'magic' is often seen or experienced at seminars and I am not talking about John Will pulling a rabbit out of a hat or Richard Norton levitating with amrbars (ha, ha), but the amazing skills on display and the chance of ordinarly people (ie students) to learn the tricks of the trade.
GA

Get Smart

December 10th, 2011

Everybody should get smart about their training.  The thing about Xmas is the period leading up to it that gives rise to some people to cut down on their martial arts lessons and training when they should be topping up as much as they can before the doors close on you for a couple of weeks. 

As history has a habit of repeating itself, people worry about what they eat between December and January when it should be the other way round.  It is those two months when people go on a food binge and that's where the problems start.  We can't avoid that but we can do something between January and December, especially, the period leading up to it by working out to counter the influx of calories. You should be training twice as hard and get to every lesson before the doors do a Maxwell Smart on your nose (reference to the famous Get Smart door scene).

Train, train, train, that’s the best advice from Santa.
GA

Kickboxing (boxer learning to kick?)

December 4th, 2011

Kickboxing has come a long way since it first came on the ‘market’.  I was one of the curious ones who went out to investigate, in the mid '80's, and found it was not something that was readily going to convince me to give away what I was already doing (karate).  What I saw was an amateurish boxer doing a crash course in kicking.  Unfortunately, kickboxing, back then was very primitive, and there was no leading authority to persuade us this futuristic concept especially, in an era, the norm was just to concentrate on the one thing.

Once upon a time if girls were allowed to take up Kickboxing, a typical male chauvinistic response was ‘you’ve got to be joking’, if anybody wanted to do it for fitness, the reply was ‘don’t waste our time’, those who wanted do it for the art and pleasure were laughed at ‘if you’re not going in the ring, then take up crocheting’.  If the attitudes didn’t change there would be less people in the industry and kickboxing would not have progressed to where it is today.  There was also somewhat noteable resistance from boxers and their fans to allow Kickboxing a chance in the arena but Thai Boxing, which was very popular in Thailand and truly developed, kind of pushed Kickboxing in the western world.

The more people in the martial art the further it will progress.  Some schools are too busy recruiting or even trying to create Gladiators at the expense of other students when they should be given just as much attention because, without them, the martial art or school would not exist.
GA

More than just a Party

November 27th, 2011

Another year is almost over and we had just celebrated the 2011 BKJ Martial Arts Xmas and Presentation last Friday night.  What was different about this one was not all students were from Budoshinkai Karate; we also had our kickboxers, students from BJJ, and persons from the fitness classes (all under the BKJ Martial Arts banner) - all in all, 130 people in attendance.

Special guests included Professor Rob Naumoski (Roots BJJ), Shihan Rob Janceski of Ryu Bujitsu Kai, Sensei Mark Szalajko (of Narellan BKJ and Bujutsu Martial Arts) and Sensei Roland Winter (and his black belts) of Zen Do Kai Karate. 

It was a beautiful evening with everybody together at a great venue for a 3 course meal.  There were no complaints, only compliments (too many emails and sms’s to reply to), so thanks to everybody if I missed out anyone.  The speeches summed up what we were all about and saw selected students being presented with one of the extraordinary awards, however, those who did not receive one of these were given a special award instead because they, too deserved, recognition on the evening.  There’s nothing better than a student walking up in front of guests, friends, instructors and families and accepting an award in this environment; it's also about the experience.  The atmosphere was spellbinding.

Our entertainment was full of surprises with my son, Jonathan, taking the stage with his sister, Marcia, and keeping everyone attentive and amused (I just don’t know how they just come up with these things).

At one stage when we had a large number of students standing up front (see pic), I took a few steps back to have a look and told the crowd I just wanted to see what it looked like with so many students standing together.  My final comment, on the night, was telling students to train till the very end of the year because that’s what we martial artists do.
GA

BJJ for Black Belts

November 22nd, 2011

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), to a number of other martial artists, may be controversial because of the nature and complexity of the art.  Nevertheless, if Kickboxing rose to the occasion despite the failed attempts by the traditional and classical martial arts to obstruct its propagation, then it seemed likely that BJJ and MMA would also take their rightful place in the martial arts industry.  Today, armbars and chokes appear to be on everybody’s mind.  You only have to look at the demonstration events at open martial arts tournaments, everybody's doing them although feeble attempts. Kickboxing and BJJ are only a small part of the martial arts world but it is worthy to note these particular arts had to fight for their claim to fame in an already established industry. 

The popularity of MMA has prompted many people to take up BJJ, or even Kickboxing, which may has caused concern for many Instructors of other martial arts to re-evaluate the future of their school.  The difficulty for many Black Belts is making the decision to cross over that line.  BJJ requires many hours of hard work and a black belt is not given out lightly and only some will ever get one.  In terms of skill and the hours spent, a blue belt in BJJ is equivalent to a brown belt in karate; a purple belt is equivalent to a black belt in karate (now that’s tough).  In most BJJ schools you have to fight for your belt, usually in competition. This does not undermine other martial arts, far from it. This is just the way it is with BJJ. 

With over 5.5 years of intensive training I may have become a honey pot to Black Belts who are shy to approach a BJJ school fearing what awaits them after they sign on the doted line.  I can tell you it’s like a lamb to the slaughter because the black belt you have been wearing for many years, all of a sudden, can be your biggest nightmare in not being able to live up to your reputation in that environment.  As a Black Belt in Karate I make Black Belts, who want to learn BJJ, feel at ease because I do have a better understanding of them than most BJJ Instructors.

The first thing Black Belts ask on their first lesson is if it OK to wear their black belt.  I remember asking John Will the same thing, which he replied, ‘you can wear whatever you like, I don’t give a shit’ (well said).  On the next seminar, I wore a white belt because I realised I was only going to learn starting from the bottom; if it was good enough for Chuck Norris, Richard Norton, John Will to wear white belt, then it is good enough for me.  When those Black Belts come back after their first lesson wearing a white belt, I congratulate them, ‘you are ready to learn; now we can begin’.  It's about climbing the mountain not being put on the mountain.
GA

Sensei Benny 'the Jet' & Kyoshi Norton

November 19th, 2011

Looks like I have been slowing down between blogs lately.  I am not too sure whether the full time centre is taking up much of my energy or Facebook absorbing a lot of my ideas.  How does John Will do it?  He has them coming out on a conveyer belt (to quote, ‘what else am I going to do?).

What a grand time we had with Sensei Benny Urquidez putting a seminar on a recent Sunday (13/11/11) with Richard Norton as surprise guest.  To have two martial arts legends in the same room is a historical event.  Those who were not able to make it will just have to live with it because it is not an easy task to bring the two together.

Apart from the fabulous martial arts content, the incredible talks by Sensei Benny, to the 40 people who attended, were truly inspirational.  He just about sums it up when he talks about dedication, striving for technical excellence, sharing of knowledge and wisdom, respect for everyone and chasing a long life dream in the martial arts.

Richard stunned me by giving me his original purple belt in BJJ.  (this was given to him by the Machado brothers).  Sensei Benny spoke about, for an Instructor dsto give this to someone, is honourable and very special, ‘the value of that belt is one man’s sweat and history’.   Unfortunately, a little tight for me because I would’ve liked to wear it at seminars but it’s not so much the belt that was important it was the thought behind it and what Kyoshi Richard Norton and Sensei Benny had to say in front of everyone. 

Sensei Benny is still going and is still very popular with 18 seminars in 5 states in Australia.  Sorry, to those who missed out this superb day.  It was really brilliant seeing Richard Norton (a student under Sensei Benny of over 30 years).
GA