Posts Tagged ‘martial arts’

Friday night, I was officially awarded the rank of Ikkyu, or first-degree brown belt, in Shuri-ryu karate at the Academy of Okinawan Karate.
The black stripe down the center of the belt signifies the next step is Shodan, or black belt. This means I’m done testing for rank for a while, and it’s up to me [...]

I delayed Photo Friday this week so I could take some pictures at the anniversary banquet for Shihan Joseph Walker on Saturday night. The banquet celebrated his 50th year practicing the martial arts, and several of his students from the Academy of Okinawan Karate, including many of the 40 black belts he promoted during the [...]

Was there any doubt that writing would be a huge focus this year? Didn’t think so.
I solidified a relationship with a new publisher in ‘08, and our goal is to do a mix of comics and prose work. It’s still too early to announce specific projects, but I’ve written most of the script for the [...]

I stumbled across the following clip from Foot Fist Way and felt compelled to share:

If you want to make sure your martial arts school is worth a crap, just compare the instructor to Fred Simmons, the hapless protagonist of Foot Fist Way. If you walk into a class and see the above, chances are you’re [...]

I had a good time at Wizard World, but man did I miss karate class.
I walked into the dojo for the first time in a week tonight, and I hadn’t done so much as a punching exercise or push-up in the meantime. A week may not sound long, but I felt out of touch. I [...]

I made green belt tonight! The official title is gokyu, which roughly translates to fifth-level student. Purple and three levels of brown belts are still ahead.
I’m eager to learn my next kata, Naihanchi sho:

It looks like a fun kata to learn and perform, but it also lets me geek out about karate history and my [...]

In Shuri-ryu’s version of the Wansu kata, there are three points where the karateka delivers a backfist punch to the opponent’s groin. Specifically, the sequence is a block, a punch, a simultaneous block and punch, followed by said backfist. I like to break down my kata and apply a memory aid to make it easier [...]