That loud, sharp shout that you hear when watching martial arts movies is not just for show. Sure, it adds to the atmosphere of any movie as Jet Li flies through the air fist first or Tony Jaa dishes out another knee to the kidneys, but this shout or scream ‘kiai’ is more than theatrics,…
A young man from Coventry, UK, was jailed after he launched a completely unprovoked attack on a man walking in the street, hitting him with a martial arts rice-flail, also known as a nunchaku. The man, 22-year-old Macaulay Jackson, was chucked in a cell for a total of 12 months after pleading guilty to charges…
There are so many great martial arts out there, all teaching their own interpretation of self-defense through moves, stances, punches and grapples. In the real world, the fights get a little more serious, and unpredictable, so we thought that we’d bring you the seven most vulnerable spots on the body that you can aim for…
Imagine yourself in the ring, faced off with your MMA opponent who suddenly takes a spin in the blink of an eye, leaving you not time to react before a foot or shin is colliding with your abdomen. A heel digs into your kidneys and bone on bone contact causes a snap. Before you know…
The samurai of Japan have fascinated the world with tales of their valor, honor, and skill in combat. Many aspects of modern culture, from Japanese cinema to Western media, all have received inspiration from these warriors in one way or another. While the samurai are long gone, their legacy lives on, and their legendary moral…
Karate dates back hundreds of years, but is still going strong, and for good reason. First beginning on the trading island of Okinawa, the word Karate was used to describe a weaponless self-defense style that at the time was very important to know – thanks to all the pirates, thieves, and dodgy locals. The name…
We get these comments a lot, asking why martial arts (be it judo, taekwondo, boxing or even MMA) don’t teach the ‘art of running away’. They claim that in the real world, most of the time the best way to win a fight is to run away, because on the street fights can be violent…
Nobody said that the martial arts was gonna be easy, or fair, or even possible to succeed in. How many practitioners do you know? How many black belts are among them? Heck, how many black belts do THEY know? It’s a long, grueling training process and not everyone can make it through. The road to…
Many of us are inspired by fantastic movies and great martial artists on screen. Here are 10 of the best kung fu movies of all time: Fist of Fury (1972) In one of the decade’s most masterful martial arts films, Bruce Lee as Chen Zhen challenges a Japanese kung fu school to redeem the…
For those who don’t know him, Grandmaster Hee il Cho is one of the worlds greatest taekwondo masters. Spending a lifetime fighting taekwondo, this grandmaster influenced martial arts bodies worldwide through his traditional practices and innovative techniques and is now regarded as one of the founding masters of modern-day taekwondo. Starting martial arts at a…