The Nunchucka-pocalypse Is Nigh! Welcome back Martial Journal readers! We have some unsettling news reports coming in from all over New York in the last few weeks. Apparently, in the aftermath of a federal court ruling the ban on nunchucks in New York unconstitutional, nunchuck-fueled carnage has ensued. These reports [Read More]
“Wake early if you want another man’s life or land. No lamb for the lazy wolf. No battle’s won in bed.” – The Havamal Glima: The Warrior Art Of The Vikings Anthropologists, historians and researchers alike cannot deny the warrior prowess of the Vikings who charged head on into [Read More]
Martial artists are notorious for disagreeing about things. But one subject that can keep us up late into the night is debating over a martial arts movie. Whether we argue about fight scenes, realism, impact on our culture, or any other number of details, it’s clear that martial art films [Read More]
Netflix’s Kingdom Brings Swords and Sandals (and Zombies) Into Your Home [Authors Note: This review will be spoiler free!!!] How to watch: Netflix # of episodes: Season 1: 6[Season 2: 8(rumored), greenlit, pre-production] Language: Korean (subtitles available) Director: Seong-hun Kim Writer: Kim Eun Hee Rating: TV-MA Release date: January 25, 2019 (USA) [Read More]
In the interests of full disclosure, I received this book for review purposes The author of this book is also a contributor at Martial Journal Title: From the Desk to the Dojang; A 50-year-old’s Taekwondo Journey Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; Author: David Ianetta Publish Date: 2018 Format: Paperback Pages: 154 [Read More]
Putting A Spotlight On Nunchucks For the month of March, Martial Journal is bringing you something a little different. We are calling it Nunchuck Month! This means you might notice more articles appearing on Martial Journal that are about, or relating to, nunchucks. There will be articles about nunchucks that [Read More]
Nunchucks (properly called nunchaku) are one of, if not the most, iconic martial arts weapon. Just mentioning the word brings up mental images of Bruce Lee or the Ninja Turtle Michaelangelo. Part of the reason it’s so recognizable is that they are so… odd. Physically it is a simple weapon. [Read More]
Breaking Down Cobra Kai, Season 1-With Spoilers! Authors note: I apologize for my delay in getting this one up, but I will be finishing them all before season 2 premieres! It is no secret that I really enjoyed the first season of Cobra Kai. I was thrilled to see that they not only brought [Read More]
My Test It’s my first intermittent promotion test since earning my black belt. I’ve been practicing hard for it for some time. For this test I have to perform Koryo, a poomsae (form) I enjoy doing and have practiced a lot. I know all the moves and I have been [Read More]
Watch Out For These Fairy Tales In the previous two installments of this series, I discussed some phrases, that are often uttered in gyms and dojos around the world, and that one should be wary of. Some of them have to do with the way business is conducted. Others are [Read More]
Kenji I’m going to talk about a little-known manga (Japanese comic book) called Kenji that I discovered a couple of years ago. It quickly became my favourite martial arts manga ever and one of my top 5 shonen (series marketed to a younger male audience). It’s a martial arts adventure [Read More]
As martial artists, each of us will inevitably face an illness, injury, or surgery that will knock us so far down that the evil little voice in our heads will whisper, “This is it. You’ll never train again.” Turn to the internet for solace and you may begin to feel [Read More]
Welcome to another book review! As an initial matter, I wanted to apologize for being away for so long. I was terribly busy at work and didn’t have time to sleep, let alone read. Rest assured, I am back, however, and even had time to read and review a new [Read More]
Knight Fight If you haven’t seen it, History Chanel has a new show called Knight Fight. It’s a competition show where practitioners of medieval weaponry battle, using medieval weapons, against each other wearing period-style armor. Sounds good so far right? It sounds like it would be [Read More]
“As you think, so shall you become.” ~ Bruce Lee Guro Lynn Varghese is a talented instructor in the martial community, a dear friend and influential woman. Currently she inspires women to express themselves, learn self defense and have fun while learning the effective martial arts of the Philippines, Korea, Indonesia, China, [Read More]
The “Pre-Reading” Review Duality can be an amazing thing. Two things that seem completely independent from each other often have complementing features, commonalities even, that help elevate each other to new standards. Brightness and darkness, quiet moments and loud ones, cooked chicken that is both sweet and sour (I may [Read More]
Don’t Be A Crab I recently read an article on Fatherly entitled “Everything You Need to Know About Martial Arts Before Signing Your Kid Up”. I came away in a very conflicted mindset after reading the article. Overall, I think the article itself is actually fairly decent. It relays some [Read More]
The warm up is finished. The instructor tells you to find a partner and get a pair of pads. You put on your gloves, and execute your combination on the pads. ‘You need to pivot more on the ball of the foot, because that’s how you get power. And also, [Read More]
At 11 years old, my son earned the right to wear the most universally-recognised symbol of excellence there is – a Black Belt in martial arts. I consider it one of my greatest achievements as a parent so far. Do I sound smug? Probably. Like I’m living vicariously through my [Read More]
I just got home exhausted from a great Taekwondo class, feeling pretty good about myself. I worked hard and I’m not as sore as I usually am. Not bad for a 53-year-old man! After a quick shower, I settle down in my chair and it’s time to wind down a [Read More]
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