Commentary

A short time ago I learned of Heather Harris and her delightful song, Shotokant. It’s entertaining and, yet, hits very close to home for me. Likely, for you, too. I received her permission to share it here. Enjoy!   I reached out asked if she had any words we could [Read More]

Just Let the Positivity Happen This semi-regular post will attempt to highlight positivity in the martial arts from around the world. Unfortunately, it is far too easy to find negative stories on the internet. Positive ones, however, are harder to find. Let’s recognize and celebrate those martial artists and schools who [Read More]

Ego is often referred to, colloquially, as one’s opinion or assertion of personality of oneself towards others. That’s not entirely incorrect and there is certainly much more gradiation than that in regards to ego. My undergraduate psychology courses hardly qualify me as an expert to discuss the deeper nuances. As [Read More]

There is No Shortage of Opinions Humans are in no danger of running out of opinions, on anything, anytime soon. I think we can all agree on that point. Even just this site is full of them! These are from people I have an immense amount of professional respect for. [Read More]

From a young age, most people are taught that talking about religion or politics is rude. It is one of the topics not to bring up at the family dinner or with people you have just met. Martial artists, who value respect and integrity more than most, ignore this rule [Read More]

“So… who’s the master at home?” This is a playful question I get asked more frequently than I’d like to admit. A byproduct, I suppose, when you’re married to one of your instructors. What I probably get asked more, though, is the follow-up to the above question: “How do you [Read More]

This is something that’s been brewing in the back of my mind for several months, if not longer. Two posts by friends have brought this back to my mind and I thought I’d discuss some thoughts about martial arts being a business, the reputation it has as a business and [Read More]

Positivity Is What It’s All About! This semi-regular post will attempt to highlight positivity in the martial arts from around the world. Unfortunately, it is far too easy to find negative stories on the internet. Positive ones, however, are harder to find. Let’s recognize and celebrate those martial artists and schools [Read More]

It was Halloween a little while ago here in the US (and other places), and I got stuck on candy duty at my house. I had the opportunity to see all the different costumes in our neighborhood. There were the normal horror movie villains, such as vampires, ghosts, and werewolves, [Read More]

In my previous article, I discussed some statements that we often hear in martial arts marketing. Those statements can often be misleading. Alternatively, they can also limit your growth as a martial artist. As such, they are statements that should ring alarm bells when you are trying to find a [Read More]

No one is allowed to have their own mind in the martial arts.  I was pondering on this thought the other day when I was driving and lamenting about one of the colored belts getting to do some cool stuff for an instructor. I made the idle comment: “They’re probably [Read More]

I love the martial arts. I really do. They are my favorite thing in the world. That being said… A martial arts business, just like any other business, is still a business. As such, they use certain strategies to get people in the door and keep them training. That’s called [Read More]

I recently completed a new course by Dr. Gavriel Shneider, (7th Dan Krav Maga, Ph.D. in Security and Risk Management and director of R2S). The course gives an excellent overview of personal safety and I highly recommend it to anyone who cares about learning a little more about protecting themselves. In one [Read More]

In my last article, I wrote about how, using the strictest definition of the word “martial,” most of what we practice, as martial artists, isn’t really…well…martial. Today, I’m going to expand the definition of martial arts and talk about what is more in-line with the way we use the term [Read More]

Martial art is a large blanket term that captures many different activities. Everything from old people doing Tai Chi (purposely misspelled) in the park to people fighting in the UFC is labeled as martial arts. These are really different pursuits, and I honestly don’t know if they should be all [Read More]

Personal development is what many of us here at Martial Journal believe to be at the core of Martial Arts training. You learn a lot about yourself throughout your personal journey in the Martial Arts and no two stories are the same. Now, I am first to admit, this is [Read More]

A Little Girl Needs a Bodyguard I had a quiet night recently and decided to see what Netflix had to offer in the martial arts action sub-genre. I ended up picking The Bodyguard with Sammo Hung, in part because of the description. The story of a young child who needs saving, [Read More]

  A recurring theme in my articles is the interaction between traditional martial arts, combat sports, and self-defence. Questions I recently discussed here include: Are they interchangeable? (an emphatic ’no’ is my answer) Can and should they overlap and if so to what degree? How does the public perceives this [Read More]

Linking You to Positivity in the Martial Arts This semi-regular post will attempt to highlight positivity in the martial arts from around the world. Unfortunately, it is far too easy to find negative stories on the internet. Positive ones are harder to find. Let’s recognize and celebrate those martial artists and [Read More]

The Hubs and I were making small talk at the local pub with some other regulars a few nights ago, and inevitably, the topic of martial arts (and self-defense) came up. After some of the basic martial arts “small talk” – and the couple assuming that only the Hubs did [Read More]