Hi Lee Palm/Red Rooster crew(San Diego – California).. Keep my rail spot cool for me – won’t you?
Fishing Report from Nassau Bahamas (8-10-2000)(Thursday)(Air Temperature 92 degrees. Water temp. – mid 80’s degrees). Clear skies, no wind and burning hot sun. Caught two Yellowfins in the 60-pound range that almost sent me to the hospital.
Caught 2 YFY on Thursday – fishing “solo” aboard my WellCraft Scarab that had just been repowered with two 225 Evinrude fichts (cost was $28,000 including the installation).
Both YFT went about 70#s each (83 pounds of filet). Drift fished with fresh/frozen squid to start. Began fishing at 9:30AM and quit at 2PM.
As I arrived at the US Navy’s AUTEC buoy 10 miles offshore (a practice area for the US Navy’s nuclear subs – which show up on the surface now and then)(the AUTEC buoy is in 6,000 feet of water) Capt. Robbie New (from Trinidad) of the “Little Trick” was just starting to fish.
For the first hour all I managed was a 2 pound jack – that I later used for bait.
Robbie was having no luck either, but we saw several 50# YFTs come high out of the water several times, so that kept us anticipating.
At around 11:00 AM my bow rod with 80 pound test line and 80# green Berkley trilene leader, with a small Mustard circle hook on the end (with a 100# test Sampo swivel in between) went off.
I had just seen a big YFT fly through the area minutes before, and I was thinking I had him or his cousin – for sure. The line screamed out, and the fish ran deep. Everything pointed to a YFT, but after about 10 minutes I saw a 25 pound foot shark on my line, hooked right in the mouth with the circle hook.
Leaving the shark on the line in the rodholder, I sat down for a drink of water – out of a gallon plastic jug in my cooler.
Cut him loose, I thought to myself. But, then I remembered how many YFT’s I’d caught using shark as bait, and went to take another look at him. He was a good 4 feet long. Normally too big to bother with, but the fishing was slow, and I decided to take him.
Even though I knew he would thrash about crazy-like when I gaffed him, I decided to go for it, but I missed my 5-foot long fishbox, and watched him go bonkers on my deck, as I hustled to slide him into the Scarab’s 2-1/2 foot deep fishbox.
By 12 noon I switched from “squid” to the fresh jack for bait on all three of my poles. By now, the shark was dead, so I dragged him to the stern and started to filet him – throwing bits and pieces of shark meat overboard – with plenty of blood being washed overboard with my saltwater thru-hull washdown pump.
I filleted one side of the shark, took the skin and cut it into 5 pieces, and through it over the side. All the time – washing the blood and guts overboard. I cut the shark’s giant liver into small pieces, and watched them float on the surface – as I slowly drifted along towards to AUTEC Buoy.
Within 5 minutes of cutting into this shark, the bow line went off – “screaming”. This time I knew it was probably a YFT. The fish had hit the 80# test trilene line on a 5-1/2 foot Palm Beach tuna rod, held in a Perko side mount rodholder.
I immediately scrambled about for my harness and playmate belt. Several times the YFT would stop his run deep, and I’d reel the line in fast to make sure there was no slack in the line, and smiled when I felt his weight again on my pole.
But, it was 95 degrees in the sun, and I was about to expedience something in 8 years of YFT fishing (and over 350 caught and landed), that was going to make this no ordinary day on the water.
After picking up the rod and snapping into the harness, I began the slow process of bringing him to color. I was grateful he had picked the rod with the 80# test line, as the other two reels (Shimano graphite a Penn 30W) had 50# test Trilene (Big Game) line, and fighting a YFT on 50# test line is a completely different ball game.
Fifteen minutes into the struggle, my thumb (on the reel) got an awful cramp, and actually stuck to my palm. I couldn’t understand why this was happening, but kept going – attempting to shake off the cramp.
A few minutes later the cramps spread to my forearm – then up to my biceps. I’m 220 pounds, a former HS All American swimmer, and 4 time NY State gold medallist, so I’d been through tough workouts, but this was something I never dealt with.
Even my legs were cramping up. There was no wind, no cover from my bimini top, and it was 95 degrees in the shade. It all added up to one thing – “Heat Exhaustion”.
To cool off I tried stepped into a 5-gallon bucket of saltwater, but this didn’t help one iota. My feet were also too big for the bucket.
In addition, I was getting unusually tired – FAST. HEAT EXHAUSTION had set in, and was challenging me like “The old man and the sea”.
It took me 55 minutes to land this 70-pound YFT, but I finally got him in the boat. Boy, was I relieved.
Usually I wash all the blood off my boat immediately upon landing a fish, but this time I went to the stern, turned on the saltwater pump, sat on my cooler, and just let that saltwater run over my head for 5 minutes. I finished off about 3/4 of that gallon jug of water too.
As I slowly headed back in the direction of Capt. Robbie’s “Little Trick”, the cool air hitting my Toronto Raptor NBA Jersey (#14 worn by Vince Carter) made me feel much better, but I still wasn’t 100%.
By the way, you might want to purchase one of these NBA “Jersey’s sometime. You’ll know why the NBA uses them. They are 1000 times cooler than anything cotton or other material. I have a Laker’s #34 too. My favorite.
I waved at Capt. Robbie, as I passed slowly off his stern, and he shouted – “I thought you were fighting 2 YFT, you were gone so long.”
Anyway, I set up again to try for another (YFT).
Now I’m using white shark chunks on all my hooks, and chunking with the fresh shark – as the lines are let out.
About 45 minutes later, the stern line goes off – screaming. This is my Penn 30 International with no leader and 50# Trilene line – no swivel. Christ, I said to myself, why did this fish do this to me?
The hook on this line was only a #4 Mustard live bait hook – that you can buy 50 to a package for under $10 at Wal-Mart or K-Mart.
This was going to be a whole new “ballgame”. I’m going to have to be “gentle” on the drag – or he’ll bite through the trilene, or pull the hook.
As it turned out, I eventually got this YFT to color after over one hour. I experienced the same cramps as before, and at one point – on this fish – I thought about “giving up”.
It wasn’t the fact that I get $6 a pound for the fillet (from my restaurant friends) that kept me at the rail, but the thought of cutting a YFT off was out of the question.
After gaffing this 70# YFT and pulling him over the gunwale, I trolled by Robbie (who stayed until 7PM and caught not a one) and waved – saying I’m going home.
True Story.
THE END
Capt. Solo – aka Tom Azzara
Boat – “the Taxman”
Nassau, Bahamas
British Commonwealth territory
(not part of the “East Coast”)
Tom’s Fishing Gallery.
http://endtaxes.com/images/gallery.html
Take a break, and check out these pictures from the 6th annual Billabong’s fishing tournament held in Nassau, in the sunny, tax free Bahamas.
click onto (or browser it) below….
http://endtaxes.com/images/gallery2.html
From: Lee Palm Long Range Sportfishers
TRIP #14; August 6th to August 11th 5-Day Trip:
The second of the three back-to-back 5-dayers in the Red Rooster III’s summer schedule once again provided outstanding fishing for her passengers. Chuck Melber of Agoura CA led the way with a 84.1 lb. bluefin tuna to take the jackpot, followed by a 79.8 lb. bigeye for Justin Christensen of Newbury Park CA and a 73 lb. bluefin for Joe
Stickles of Orange CA. “It was good consistent action throughout the trip” noted captain Andy Cates. “Some days seemed wilder than others of
course, but looking back on the trip I’d say that there was good consistent fishing the whole way through.”
The trip fished as far down as Guadalupe Island for some excellent grade yellowfin, but the albacore grounds closer to home yeilded limits of the longfins and a good take on the bigger bluefin as well. “We had some really exceptional moments,” noted co-captain Jeff DeBuys, “but none
quite as surprising as the second-place jackpot bigeye landed by Justin . When we got that puppy to color we knew we had found
some quality fishing for our guys. It was definitely a notable fish, and in the end it added nicely to our trophy bluefin count.” This,
combined with the quality-sized albacore had by all, gave the Rooster yet another in her long string of exceptional long range adventures.
FISH COUNT: LIMITS OF ALBACORE, 52 BLUEFIN TUNA, 49 YELLOWFIN TUNA, 45
YELLOWTAIL AND 1 BIGEYE.
Thomas Azzara
New Providence Estate Planners, Ltd.
54 Sandyport Drive
P.O. Box CB 11552
Nassau, Bahamas
Fax/phone: (242) 327-7359
e-mail: taxman@batelnet.bs
http://www.bahamasbahamas.com/
If you ain’t pissing anyone off, you’re not doing anything worth while. Like religion and politics, martial arts are not for a lack of its zealots. Decide right now, you can either A. Continue to “sip the kool-aide” or B. Look to improve. One criticism about our training material is that it is simple and would work against some one who is untrained. What the hell does this mean, exactly? Does this pertain to the woman who takes muay thai or the serial rapist sociopath that has successfully applied his trade a dozen times? Does it apply to the mixed martial artists or a bag man on a pick up? Who do you want to fight for your life against, the martial artist or emotionally disturbed person (EPD) who gargles with pepper spray?
Personally, if I had my choice, I’d take my chances with the guy who thinks he has all the answers and not the guy who has nothing to loose. Is our stuff simple, you bet your ass it’s simple. It has to be. Anything that works is simple and straight forward. (Remember that thing; what’s it called…the WHEEL). Here’s a pop quiz, what’s the most widely used technique with the highest degree of success and knock out rate? (Drum roll please…..) The Over Hand Right! But that’s so simple, everybody knows that. You learn that your first day of boxing. Since it’s so simple and everybody knows it; why does it work? Because some one decided to seize the opportunity to throw it and it hit its mark. That’s the essence of a fight, timing, opportunity and luck. The techniques can’t be complicated. As we mentioned countless times before, anything can be blocked if you know it’s coming. But you will be approached in a way or by a person who is banking on the fact that you won’t do anything. So anything you do has a chance.So you’re trained, great.
God bless you and congratulations. Now I heard Jon Bluming say something that I thought was right on the money. If you don’t know who Jon Bluming is, get your google working. He said that grappling and submissions are treated as “support systems” and he continued to say that you will spend more time training your support systems rather that your primary self defense. That doesn’t mean don’t train in these systems, because you will fall back on these if you, well- miss. Which happens more than you think; but you want a front line of defense.
This is where we come in:
Is it simple: YES.
Basic: YES.
Let me ask you:
Would you rather practice knocking some one out or dragging them to the ground? Would you rather practice for a 5 – 10 second blast or a five minute round?
Do you know when your next competition is? It could be in the parking lot tonight after work. Are you warmed up? Do you have your training equipment on? Is the ref there?
Now make no mistake, I am not advocating NOT practice other endeavors, I think they’re great. Competition and training are excellent character builders and will prove there own worth in the grand scheme of things. But if you’re serious about realistic, explosive self defense, here’s the check list:
1.Arm your self to the teeth. Guns, knives, Sherman tank.
2. Pepper spray, Stun guns
3. Black jacks, sap gloves, spring kosh, asp
4. The environment: bricks, rocks, garbage cans
5. Hands, feet, teeth simple straight forward basic technique. Strikes, gouges.
6. Grappling, submissions.
Bonus: the better shape you’re in, the better all of this stuff works (yes, even shooting). The sharper you are, the better you will operate under
stress.
So will this stuff “work” against someone who is trained- you bet, it has and it does. It’s always good to have a back up plan, but first things first.
Musashi said, it’s regrettable to die with your sword still in its sheath. Personally, I get looks from other martial artists when the catch a glimpse of what I carry. They look at me like “why do you need that stuff”. My reply is, I’d rather have and not need it than need it and not have it. It also gives me a glimpse of how naïve they are. Are you really going to depend on that when some street skel looks to put a hurt on you? If I can, I’ll work my way down from number 1 to number 6. Hey, don’t get me wrong, some days you start at 5.
The 3 to 5 year martial artist.
This is the person I get the greatest reaction from. They are very in to their training, which is great. But they believe they are in to end all, be all system. After they read the page at www.thetruthaboutselfdefense.com they feel compelled to write me and tell me how wrong I am (with out viewing the videos). First off, if you feel the need to write some guy on the internet to really show me something- get a life. The irony is, if they stay with there training, eventually they come back. Why? The men and women who have been in the martial arts for more than a decade realize the value of the material and just want to add it to there bag of tricks. These people have been to the show and realize that in a real fight, its what ever it takes. That doesn’t mean the a fifth degree black belt in tae kwon do is going to hand his dobok up and put on some combat boots (well, not permanently). What it does meant that this person can look into there own training and pull out what’s effective. Two, realize that they don’t have all the answers and they want to just get better. And three, they realize that there is a lot more to martial arts than just fighting. Here’s a secret learning how to fight is the easy part.
Carl and I are constantly receiving instruction. We are not “making this stuff up”. We learn this from real people who actually had to do this FOR REAL.
Making stuff up seems to be a trend. Some “expert” invents something and is going to tell you what’s the best and the ultimate because it has an Acronym attached to it with a cute name.
©2005 http://www.thetruthaboutselfdefense.com
Damian Ross is the owner of Zenshin and instructor of Tekkenryu jujutsu and Kodokan Judo. He started competing in the combative sport of wrestling in 1975 at the age of 7 and began his study of Asian martial arts with Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do at the age of 16 in 1984. In 1989, Shinan Cestari gave a seminar at Sensei Ross’s dojo. Sensei Ross has trained under Shinan Cestari’s direction ever since. In addition to Tekkenryu Jujutsu, Judo and Tae Kwon Do, Sensei Ross has also studied Bando. Sensei Ross continues his study of Judo under the direction of 8th degree black belt Yoshisada Yonezuka and Tekkenryu Jujutsu under it’s founder, Carl Cestari.
Below are is a list of some of his title ranks:
Yodan (fourth degree black belt) Tekkenryu Jujutsu under Carl Cestari
Shodan (First degree black belt) Kodokan Judo under Yoshisada Yonezuka
Varsity Wrestling Lehigh University under Thad Turner
2nd Degree Black Belt Tae Kwon Do
http://www.thetruthaboutselfdefense.com
If you have ever had the priviledge of hooking up on a big tarpon then you know the exhilaration and thrill of testing yourself in battle against one of the most sought after gamefish in the world. This distinction is easy to see at first glance as the tarpon starts a series of spectacular acrobatic leaps in the air that will have your heart pounding, your rod bending and your drag screaming. You better hold on!
Since the tarpon’s habitat is so close to the shoreline, fishermen of all types and skill levels can catch them. They can be caught from jetties, passes, docks, bridges, beaches, piers and rivers. Tarpon can be caught while using many types of tackle, rods, baits, lures and rigs either while fishing from a boat, canoe, kayak or walking and wading from the shoreline as the tarpon work up and down the beaches.
Live bait fishermen’s bait of choice is the ‘dollar crab’. A small live blue crab about two inches across its carapace, hooked through one end of it’s shell or underneath through a swimmer leg. Other extremely effective live baits include pinfish, threadfin herrings and pilchards. On days when the tarpon is being finicky in it’s tablefare selection, try these for the best results, and oh, by the way, don’t forget about a live mullet. If you can get them, use them. Flyfishermen are not left out either. The stealth of casting the right fly can sometimes be the trick to hooking up.
But Just What is a Tarpon?
Scientific classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Elopiformes
Family: Megalopidae
Genus: Megalops
This exceptionally fine creature is a prehistoric animal and the only fish with an air bladder. This allows it to absorb oxygen and live in waters with very low oxygen content. You can see them gulp air at the water surface. Tarpon are also called poons,
tarpum, sabalo real, cuffum, silverfish or silver king and belong to the bony fish family Elopidae. The Latin designation is Megalops atlanticus.
While only microscopic at birth, tarpon have been documented at lengths of more than eight feet and weighing 280 pounds. Catches weighing more than 200 pounds, while uncommon, do occur. Many fish caught are well over 100 pounds. Their growth rate is slow, taking 8 to 10 years to reach maturity, and generally those over 100 pounds are female. Tarpon can live 55 to 60 years. They are greenish or bluish on top, and silver on the sides. The large mouth is turned upwards and the lower jaw contains an elongated bony plate. The last ray of the dorsal fin is much longer than the others, reaching nearly to the tail.
They are found primarily in shallow coastal waters and estuaries, but they are also found in open marine waters, around coral reefs, and in some freshwater lakes and rivers. Their normal migratory pattern ranges from Virginia to central Brazil in the western Atlantic, along the coast of Africa in the eastern Atlantic, and all through the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Florida is widely regarded as having many of the best tarpon fishing locations in the world, especially the world-renowned Boca Grande Pass in Southwest Florida.
Fishing for the tarpon can at times be an excercise of patience and discipline. You may be surrounded by large schools of rolling tarpon containing hundreds of fish and they will not hit anything you throw at them. Other times, it is a feeding frenzy. So, go fishing for tarpon every chance you get, that next world record catch may be waiting just for you.
Greg Smith is a life-long fisherman and publisher of fishing information websites. Visit http://www.tarpon-fishing-i.com/ for more resources, tips, tricks and techniques.
The overhead cast is the most basic fly cast. Learn to execute it well and you will be able to easily adapt the skill to the side cast and backhand casting.
Good casting starts with learning to grip a fly rod correctly and adopting the right stance to maintain comfort and balance.
Gripping the Fly Rod
The normal grip is with the thumb on top and slightly to the left of center (assuming a right-handed grip) so that the ‘V’ between the thumb and the index finger is in line with the top of the rod. Your grip should feel comfortable and firm – but not tight. Your rod and reel only weigh a few ounces, so it won’t require a death grip to contol it.
If you prefer, placing the thumb directly on top of the rod is acceptable, and you might find this useful if extra force is needed on the forward cast. Another variation is sometimes used for accuracy when casting short distances, or just as a “change up” to relieve fatigue during a long day of fishing. Instead of placing the thumb on top of the rod, try shifting the index finger around so that it lies along the top of the rod instead.
Fly Casting Stance
The correct stance is important to maintain comfort and balance. It’s very easy to lose your balance when trying to get the most distance out of your cast, or to lose your footing on the loose, water polished rocks in the bed of a stream.
The proper fly casting stance is to lead with the foot on the same side as your casting arm (i.e. right foot forward for a right-handed caster). Your feet should be set approximately at shoulder width for balance and stability. This will allow you to easily transfer
body weight from one foot to the other during the cast.
Casting
Start the cast with the fly rod extended horizontally in front of you with your forearm and the rod in a straight line, and the line straight. Accelerate smoothly in an upward direction making sure that the rod tip stops just short of vertical (the “12 o’clock” postion) so that the line will project backwards above the horizontal plane. In other words, the line will still be rising as it continues backward. If you go beyond vertical before stopping the back cast, the line will go downwards! A precise stop causes the rod energy is to be transferred to the line, and catapults it through the air.
Once you have stopped the back cast, pause so that the line reaches full extension above and behind you. Once you begin the forward cast, accelerate the the rod forward smoothly and stop the forward movement when the rod is at approximately the “10 o’clock” position. The line will project forward and straighten as it falls towards the water. Follow through with the rod to ensure that it lands taut, straight and softly.
Note that the vertical plane has been used for this discussion. That’s why this method is called the overhead cast. The line flies overhead and over the rod tip. The same can be done in any plane to make straight line casts. Once you have mastered the overhead cast, you can apply the same techniques using the horizontal plane to keep the line low and avoid obstacles; or cross your body on the back cast, bringing the right hand toward the left shoulder in an off-vertical plane for a backhand cast.
More Fly Fishing Tips, Techniques, and Resources available from My Secret Stream.
The topic of how effective traditional martial arts in today’s world as a way of protecting oneself is still a very sensitive issue to a lot of martial artists. What is even more sensitive is the issue of how realistic and street effective is the newer styles that have come out since UFC/PRIDE have come into the picture. I work as a bouncer and bodyguard I know what fighting is about. I have nothing against the martial arts I love the values and discipline it has taught me. I am also a Registered Black Belt and have studied styles such as Pankration. I just know that the techniques I have learned in the dojo should stay in the dojo, that also goes with styles such as the “modern day or reality based styles” if I want to defend myself. I also teach tactical self defense and have many students with standing and grappling skills trained under reality based systems learn the hard way that what they learn is sport no different than what is learned in a traditional dojo. If a rule or law is applied to a system than it is a sport and not street effect, there are no rules in the streets your mind should not have to sensor or think can I do this to beat this person? If there is no biting, eye gouging, kicks or groin pulls than it is to civilized and is a sport because there are those rules for the opponents safety so no one gets seriously hurt or killed. Does that
sound like a street fight?
How you train is how you will react in a high adrenaline stressed level. There is no time to switch gears from sport to tactical if you are training and your coach or sensei says can’t hit there or no contact to the face or eyes your mind will remember that and store it for future reference. Training should be based not only on physical techniques but your environment as well.
Can you kick your attacker in the small space your in? Can you balance yourself while performing a technique on the icy sidewalk? If you grapple with him what if he has friends coming around, what do you do then? Street fighting or tactical self-defense should be in a simplest form of fighting, you don’t have time to play a chess game, like you would see in a UFC match. Time is not on your side in a street confrontation nor are rules or morals. Bring kicked with a boot has a total different effect than being kicked by a bare foot, it will give you time to follow through or get away.
What we can learn from the UFC or mixed martial arts events when it comes to reality fighting is if it has rules of what not to do in the ring do it in the streets it’s got to hurt.
Norm Bettencourt is the founder of TACT Self Defense which specializes in crime prevention, self defense education & combat tactics for the mind, body & spirit. For more information go to http://www.tactselfdefense.com
At some point, almost all of us struggle with efforts to improve our golf game. Many will try videos, books, hours with a teaching pro, the newest club, and swing after swing to no avail. While there’s some improvement, it’s just not what you’d anticipated. What could be the problem?
The golf swing involves many components that must be executed with precision timing and skill. Properly fitted clubs are an important part of this total solution. It’s easy to understand the movements you need to be making with the help of a professional golf instructor, videos, and even books. Then why can’t you implement what you know?
One aspect that is beginning to receive lots of attention is the body itself. Professionals and amateurs alike are spending more of their time with flexibility and strength training to improve their game. Your body’s level of fitness can have major a impact on the quality of your golf swing, and thus your scores. By having your body in optimal physical condition, your golf game will improve and the chance
of injury or strain is greatly reduced.
Flexibility is highly important for achieving a good golf swing. If areas of your body are tight or restricted, your body will attempt to compensate in some manner and the resulting swing is usually unpredictable. By spending time regularly on stretches, your flexibility will improve.
Strengthening your muscles especially in the area of your core will give you an edge on improving your golf score. The core muscles (abs, back and glutes) are the focal point of creating movement and power. If this area is weak, the golf swing will suffer.
So instead of buying the newest club, or the latest golf aid, why not invest in the core mechanics needed for a good swing…your body. This investment of time and energy will reward you with the longevity you seek on the course.
Susan Hill is a nationally recognized fitness trainer, CHEK golf biomechanic and sports nutrition specialist. Her work has been featured on ESPN, Resort Living, and Self magazine. For more information on golf specific nutrition, exercises or stretches, visit http://www.fitnessforgolf.com.
MI Fitness Tips – diet plan, exercises, weight loss and gain muscles latest information.
Living in the Pacific Northwest is a challenge for any body: the poor excuse for weather west of the Cascades is one of the worst on earth for human health. Luckily our Ch’uan Fa Club meets in central Oregon several times a week, rarely missing an opportunity to train outdoors .
I’m not speaking here of a prepared arena of asphalt or even grass. I mean we use/find/even search out poor footing surfaces, including ice, deep snow, pebbles, desert sand, and forest floor.
Admittedly, it’s a challenge to get new students to be involved with a teacher who trains his school outside regularly in the woods and desert, and even on mountain tops. (I never have more than 10 guys—seldom any women—who are tough enough to dare to be different.)
But it’s my experience that once the cultivated, civilized martial artist gets exposed long enough to the exhilarating benefits of fresh air, wildlife and trees, his deeper roots take hold. Most of my students now find it difficult—even unpleasant—to go back to the enclosed, stuffy conditions of “normal” training halls. It’s not that tough to understand why, as most of us came from peasant stock a very few generations ago, putting our reliance on modern life-style within the realm of the absurdly tenuous—not to mention degenerative.
It may not be chic or socially advantageous to admit your recent connections to Earth rhythms, but it could save your life. For a man to deny his biological heritage is a fatal error. Never mind that the industrialized world is going to hell in a mechanized hand-basket (and taking the rest of the earth’s humans with them): you can marshal your piercing powers of striking to the heart of the matter by coming to terms with your natural place in this biosphere.
It is a common musing among older teachers to speak of the great “immortals” of bygone eras in martial arts. We’ve all heard the stories and wished we could approach the skill levels of the great ones. I think we’re sliding over important points that get buried in the telling. The First Principle to successful training is to “Eat Bitter Every Day.” If you don’t know what that means, you may be incorrigibly industrialized and your male principle de-germinated by urban life-style. You well know that the dominating principle of modern life is to promote comfort
and convenience. You tell me how such an attitude can possibly create excellence of skills and evolution of spirit.
Why have the bulk of the great men retreated to natural environment and even harsh circumstance, with only the basics of survival to sustain them, while they cultivated excellence? The answer to this question brings us to the integration of the First Principle with the Second: “Nature shows the Way.” Correct me if I am misguided, but I can’t seem to recall advice from any culture in synch with its environment that directs us to “come downtown” for wisdom and health.
When a human extricates himself from the rhythms of the Earth he becomes a foreigner in his own house. The strident make-up of the modern life-style has left most of us without the means of carrying forward the natural abilities and skills we inherited as a creature of natural rhythms.
The Ch’uan Fa Kempo school recently met with me for a training session that lasted 3 ½ hours. That wasn’t too radical in itself (we’ve met over 2 ½ days before, isolated in the woods), but toss in the heavy snowstorm that swirled around us, and you get the idea. Actually, maybe you don’t: we’ve found that it’s difficult to impart to observers the changes in self-regard, the increase in focus and intent, and more importantly, the appreciation of just being outside.
View this article in its entirety:http://kempochuanfa.com
Sifu Orem holds the following ranks:
-Certified Instructor, Guang Ping Yang T’ai-Chi Assn.;
-Black Sash/Instructor, from Gung-Fu Wu-Shu Institute;
-6th Degree Black Sash in Chinese Boxing, from the International Chinese Boxing Federation;
-8th Degree Black Belt in Zen Kempo-jitsu, from the World Nibuikai Budo Federation.
He was also voted into the World Martial Arts Masters Society (head-quartered in Germany), as the ranking member of the Society.
Sifu Orem is the author of several manuals focused on the practicum and methodology of effective training, including the acclaimed SENG PING TAO: PATH OF THE WARRIOR MONK and ESOTERIC MARTIAL ARTS OF ZEN: TRAINING METHODS FROM THE PATRIARCH. He has also created and produced 50 training videos with such diverse topics as Kempo Ki/Chi Development, Northern Shaolin for the Mature Athlete, T’ai-chi and Pregnancy, a children’s Kung Fu series, plus many northern and southern Shaolin hand and weapon forms. He was a featured writer with the on-line martial arts magazine DRAGON’S LIST (dragonslist.com).
Every amateur golfer is constantly looking for golf secrets to dramatically improve their game. Yet they are not very easy to come by. The competitiveness of the game will not allow the professionals to easily share all their valuable secrets.
Since the golf game is all about making the correct golf swing, a golf secret related to the swing would be considered pretty valuable. This article carries two valuable secrets related to the golf swing.
Firstly, the following simple realization can go a long way in improving your golf game. It is the simple fact that a golf drive is a very unnatural movement for the body. Because of this, the body naturally resists every effort we try to make towards perfecting our golf swing. Realizing this and taking steps to condition the body so that swinging a golf club becomes as natural a movement for the body as possible, is a golf secret that will improve any game in leaps and bounds.
Conditioning of the body will involve exercises designed to strengthen your key ‘golf muscles’.
The second golf secret I will share in this article has to do with stretch exercises.
For a better golf game, stretching before the game should be part of your warm-up. Carefully warming up before the stretch
exercises so that your core body temperature is raised will help you avoid injury which is common with people who are careless about warming up or totally ignore itv altogether.
Warming up does not have to be an elaborate thing. You can for example walk very fast from your car to the practice range.
The shoulder joint is the first you should stretch with movements like arm circles and arm crosses. The hamstrings and lower back are also very important areas of the body for a golfer. You should slowly ease into toe touches starting off with slightly bent knees and slowly straightening them.
Another important golf secret you should note is that stretching exercises should be repeated again after the golf session ends. Spending a few minutes stretching your muscles which you will have just put through a lot of stress will be a great help. This will prevent a lot of soreness and tightness of muscles.
These are valuable golf secrets that will transform your game.
About The Author: Mike Pedersen is one of the top golf fitness experts in the country, author of the Ultimate Golf Fitness Guide, and founder of several cutting-edge online golf fitness sites. Check out his new golf training site at Perform Better Golf.
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The next few days in Ohio are supposed to be in the 50′s, so, guess what I plan on doing if the lakes thaw out? Yep, go fishing for bass.
As you know the bass are not going to spend a lot of energy going after your bait, so offer them something a little larger than usual. A 10″ worm comes to mind, a pig and jig or something to that effect.
Where you might have this in the water for 30 seconds in the summer, now it might take 4 or 5 minutes. Work it slow…….very slow.
Does this work? Well, one day it was so cold outside I never even got out of the truck, my fishing partner wanted to fish this new lake even though the wind
was blowing about 20 miles an hour.
Can you imagine my surprise when he came back about 10 minutes later with a bass over 5 pounds? He was working a grape colored worm very, very slow.
I have fished in the winter ever since that day.
Charles E. White has fished for almost 50 years for bass from California to Florida. In his lifetime, it is estimated that he has caught over 6,000 bass. His biggest bass is a 12 pound 14 ounce that hangs on his wall in his office.
Charles has fished with people who have never fished for bass before and taught them how to become successful anglers and also has fished with the Pros in Florida.
His new website about fishing for bass is at http://www.bassfishingweekly.com.
If you are looking to compete in submission grappling then one of the main factors to consider and improve is fitness. This, in and of itself, is a vast subject.
Now, when I first began to compete, my supplementary training was primarily weight training and long slow distance running. In terms of strength development I scoffed at anything else other than weight training.
However when sparring with friends and training partners, while initially strong, I soon found myself running out of steam. Eventually, I had to admit, my physical training (while providing aesthetic benefits) was not functional for the goals I had.
When I fought in competition in the earlier days I relied too much on strength and this led to technically superior fighters often using this against me. Essentially, due to my supplementary training, I was gifting fighter’s victory over me!
I began to look into other training and fitness methods from old time fighters and wrestlers, along with more contemporary training protocols.
The result?
Out went the longer slow distance style training along with the weight training the way I had been doing it and in came bodyweight exercises along with deep breathing exercises. As I began to train using my own bodyweight more, and using it as a unit and not isolating little muscles here and there, I noticed my strength endurance go up noticeably!
This is vital when training to compete in a competition format. I also developed a better awareness of my breathing that allowed me to loose tension when I gained a decent controlling position against my opponent. Instead of wasting energy in these positions I conserved it while letting my opponent use his energy trying to escape.
I found that working my body in this more holistic fashion allowed me to condense my workouts into quick, brutal, sessions that closer reflected the chaos of a real time fight than did my previous
training methods.
When I first began I could barely do fifty body weight squats in a row, but that repetitive use of strength is often what is required in a tournament format. I worked my way up to doing, at one time, five hundred in a row in about fifteen to sixteen minutes (I don’t suggest you do this or that it is necessary, it is just I am an extremist!).
Combining squats, push-ups of different varieties, bridge work, hill sprints (a favourite of collegiate wrestlers in America) and many other exercises done in sequence with little rest in-between all served to really improve my competitive fitness.
Also, due to the nature of the training, using as it does the whole body with a keen focus on the breath, I found that my RHR (resting heart rate) dropped down to the low forties! (A normal adults should be around sixty to eighty).
OK, what lesson can be learnt from my experiences?
Well, first of all, I have to say that such training won’t make you technically better. However, it will often allow you to push your opponent beyond his physical thresholds while you remain within yours.
First, train your Ju Jutsu.
Secondly, add in relevant physical fitness and health training.
Allow this training to reflect the full-bodied activity that fighting actually is.
Don’t make the same mistakes I did!
NOTE: This article is not meant to be a knock on weight training. I teach weight lifting as part of my job. It certainly does have benefits and has helped many people. However, never ignore the power and functional strength you can create using your bodyweight from all angles and positions. The crossover to competing is substantial!
Tim Webb is a fitness instructor, Ju Jutsu instructor, and competitor. His site http://www.JuJutsu-Training.com offers inspiration through articles and product recommendations that can boost your mental focus and physical fitness for martial arts!
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