Various Martial Arts Thoughts...

October 2007 - School's 2nd Anniversary

2008-01-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

2007 U.S. Championships

2008-01-19T16:16:00.000-08:00

Mann's Martial Arts had (1) student compete in the US Championships this year. That tournament is one of the oldest and largest open style Karate tournaments, and is held annually in Dallas, TX. Our student, Fady Khoury, competed in beginner sparring, and it was his first tournament. There were roughly 18 competitors in his 18-34 beginner sparring division. He fought in numerous elmination sparring matches that eventually whittled down the field to him and one other guy, out of 18 total. Fady fought bravely, did very well, and took 2nd place!!!

In my opinion, that is an excellent result for a student that had no previous martial arts experience, and has never attended more than 2 days of class/wk. Especially when there's a good chance other schools might've had their own students competing that were attending class more days/wk.

Fady represented our school well and I'm proud of his effort and result!

How to Repair Sparring Gear

2007-02-24T07:03:00.000-08:00

Want to know a way to repair tears in your sparring gear?

Check out this article: http://www.mannsmartialarts.com/shoegoo.htm

Keywords associated with this article: Sparring Gear Glue, Sparring Gear Adhesive, Sparring Gear Repair, Torn Sparring Gear, Fix Sparring Gear, Fixing Sparring Gear, Shoe Goo

MySpace Page

2006-12-24T23:04:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a MySpace page if anyone wants to check it out. It's at http://www.myspace.com/erikrmann

Well Over 50% Retention !!!

2006-12-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

I just ran some numbers since opening the school 14 months ago. Over 50% of those who have signed-up and paid for classes, are still with our school!

I wish the number was higher, but those are amazing numbers, especially for the intense aerobic workout we provide. I have no doubt that some people likely dropped out because of how aerobic our workout is, and weren't looking for something like that!

I guess we could consider our number even higher, if we factored in that over half of those who dropped out were due to excusable reasons, such as evening work schedules that conflicted with class time, or work/home being relocated to where we were no longer within lets say an acceptable 30 minute or less drive.

Our 50+% retention rate is one that many healthclubs, aerobics schools, and other martial arts schools, would likely kill to have, and something that I think says "we're different and here's a fact that proves so".

The average martial arts school has about a 20% retention rate! Yes, that means within the 1st year of training, 80% of students in most schools drop out. Many school owners drive themselves crazy constantly focused on recruiting to make up for that, constantly wondering why their retention can't be higher. Who knows, maybe one day they'll figure out why! ;-)

Houston School - Highly Recommended

2006-11-20T12:14:00.000-08:00

Recently I visited a school in Houston I heard about and found them to offer an incredible quality program down there. See my write-up about it at http://mannsmartialarts.com/akbbahou.htm

1 Year Anniversary

2006-10-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

We just celebrated our 1 yr anniversary. May not seem like much of a milestone, yet having lived in Dallas nearly all my life, I've seen many a dojo come-and-go, not even making it past the first 6 months! Now with 100-200 schools and clubs in the Dallas area, and 5 other schools within a 3 mile radius of mine, I think we're doing alright! Especially if you consider we went against-the-odds with an adult-only school, and didn't go the kiddie McDojo route.

Many people say that for each adult in a school there are typically 10 kids. If that were the case, and we'd done kids, I guess we'd have almost 150 students. Let the McDojo's who want to babysit them and gouge parents by charging 2-3x what we do, have them. Personally, I'd rather see parents take their kids to a city sponsored Recreation Centers kids karate program, or one at a YMCA. Heck, if I never gain another student, and just keep the ones I've got, I'd be content. Plus, our school is getting a bit full and we're running out of space.

Reminds me how I heard that Bruce Lee initially envisioned having 100's of schools over the U.S. when he started out, but eventually decided he couldn't really teach what he wanted to if he went that route, because what-he-taught and the-way-he-taught-it required individual interaction with each student. I must admit, there are often days when I'm thankful our class isn't much bigger than it is.

In fact, I'm thinking of capping the class size if it gets much bigger, and creating a waiting list should someone be interested in joining our group.

McDojo - better definition

2006-09-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

Looks like an internet site has tried to give us some interesting definitions of a McDojo. Check this out: Urban Dictionary - McDojo

Why not an Investigative TV Crew for the McDojo's?

2006-09-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

Someone emailed me this link about an investigative news report on car repairs done at an auto repair chain called "Jiffy Lube". It talks about how someone takes their car in for a minor thing (oil chg or trans fluid chg), and then Jiffy Lube employees either don't do that work at all, or, recommend lots of other work a car owner authorizes, pays for, and it wasn't even done. I think it says in this video clip 5 out of 9 Jiffy Lubes didn't do the work they were suppose too. Click on this:

http://mfile.akamai.com/12924/wmv/vod.ibsys.com/2006/0503/9152183.200k.asx

Kind of reminds me how for years I've hoped an investigative team would go around to the McDojo's, with hidden cameras, and film the hardcore sales process they use on people interested in martial arts. You know, the places that charge $200-$500 enrollment fees that aren't really paying for anything, plus $150-$200/month classes, with the promise of a black belt in 1-2 yrs. Wouldn't it be nice if an investigative TV crew filmed the sales process at about 5 McDojo's, and the skill of their typical pathetic 1st degree blackbelts, then filmed 5 higher quality martial arts schools that created real 1st degree black belts in twice the time, and charged half the price? Doesn't the public have the right to know the truth?

Why do I have such an issue with the McDojo owners? Is it the 6-7 figure incomes many of them make by owning 1-8 locations? No, its the massive number of students they make into 1st degrees each yr, in as little as 18 months, while in my opinion risking a students life doing so! Think about this. What if they label and tell the world someone is a black belt in 18 month (btw, normal for them), that blackbelt thinks he can truly handle himself in the street, has a confrontation in it and gets beaten to death? Who is at fault should that type of death occur, because some McDojo owner labeled a guy who could barely stand on one leg without falling down (btw, I've literally seen that), a blackbelt? I say the blood of that blackbelt, and the liability of that situation, rests on the shoulders of the McDojo school owner! Why?

If we randomly pick a percentage, lets say someone gets a blackbelt in 1-2 yrs at a McDojo and can truly only handle themself in 30-50% of street situations. Now lets say a person gets a blackbelt in 3-4 yrs at a higher quality school, but can handle himself in 90-99% of street situations. Now those percentages could be higher or lower in each category, but due to the rationale that a person gains more skill if they spend more time doing something, I believe at any school, with all things being equal, 1-2 yr 1st degree blackbelts won't have the skill of a 3-4 yr 1st degrees from elsewhere. Thus, I believe its fair to assume that some huge disparity in skill will exist when a person compares an equal number of people from 2 fair-and-equal control groups, and one group has 1-2 yrs of skill and the other 3-4 yrs of skill. Simply put, the belt given at the end of either time frame, meaning labeling someone a 1st degree, doesn't mean that people who spend less time and are awarded that belt will have the same level of skill as people who spend twice the amount of time at most other schools, to get their 1st degree. I believe this points a finger at the McDojo owners real agenda, which is to ultimately get rich dangling a shorter timeframe carrot-on-a-stick in front of students, and whats sad is it doesn't seem to matter to McDojo owners if doing so risks a students safety in the street!

Bottomline, when McDojo owners sell-out that way, opting for attracting more students by implying "we'll make you a blackbelt in half the time, but pay us more to do so", I think what they are implying to the public (a 1st degree of ours is as good as a 1st degree from a 3-4 yr school) is not only wrong, but has the potential of risking a students life, with a false sense of confidence and skill in the street! I believe it borderlines on the equivalent of lets say attending a 2 yr junior college, and someone says when you're done, "instead of giving you a 2 yr associates degree, we're going to give you a full 4 yr Bachelors degree."

I believe earning a 1st degree use to mean that someone could likely handle themselves in 90-99% of street situations. I believe the McDojo's want people to think they provide that, but in reality, if the skills of those 1-2 yr 1st degree students were compared with a control group of 3-4 yr 1st degrees from elsewhere, the public would even be able to tell that the McDojo's were "selling them less at 2-3 times the price"!

How do they get away with this? First off, handing out a 1st degree, or any rank, is unregulated. Anyone can say they create a blackbelt in 1 day, 1 month, or 1-2 yrs, and no government agency can claim otherwise or do anything about it. Its all perception along with smoke-and-mirrors! The old standard, and one that many schools still adopt, is 3-4 yrs to blackbelt! So how do these McDojo's get away with what they're doing? No one has stood up to challenge them? Who would and what would be their basis for authority to do so? Secondly, a couple of their parent organizations are very litigous, and the fear of a lawsuit, due to libel or slander, probably scares many people from directly pointing a finger at who they are! I will say this, there is a HUGE chain of them in the Dallas area, with multiple locations, and I once saw in (1) day, them promote 50 students to 1st degree! Did you know that some respectable school owners have such high standards, that they don't promote that many people to blackbelt in their entire lifetime!

I believe the McDojo's know they can't be regulated, can claim whatever they want too, and get away with things due to mostly marketing, appearances, and promising blackbelt instructors "open a school with our name, follow our business formula, and in a couple of years you can be making $20K/month on each school". What they don't say is "oh, and sell your soul and morality to do so".

See, McDojo's will typically have beautiful schools, they often create and spend lots of money on either lavish or very attractive interiors inside their school. Why? I believe this is the first thing the public see, highly influences their perception of a good school (wrong), and makes the public feel when they walk-in "this place is nice inside...okay, I'll trust you based on what I see, and pay you 2-3x more than other schools because of how nice things are inside, combined with your claim that you can make me a 1st degree in half the time of other places".

I think many McDojo owners know the truth about the skill-and-quality of their 1st degrees compared to other schools that take twice as long, but I think money is more important to them than a students safety! To me, I feel its almost immoral to operate that way. How can the McDojo owners sleep well at night, knowing that someone they labeled as a "capable 1st degree", might not make it home that night, compared to another school that does it in twice the time and creates a higher quality 1st degree?

Car repairs and other things people pay for, and don't get, are important topics....but why won't TV investigative crews expose a topic like this, that could truly be risking lives in a different sort of way?

Are McDojo's Contradicting the TKD Tenets ???

2006-08-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

General Choi is credited with founding and organizing TKD, and providing the original direction of what TKD was meant to be. Decades ago he wrote the 15 volume "Taekwondo Encyclopedia", which was very expensive to acquire. It was the earliest and most comprehensive work on TKD. Not only did that Encyclopedia set cover all the forms and techniques, but it went into the character and morality aspects of what TKD should be, and gave a fairly clear direction of what everyone should avoid and not get caught-up-in! I was looking at the website that markets that Encyclopedia set now-on-CD for like $100, and was reading excerpts. The following from it got me to thinking:

General Choi says: "An instructor who teaches and promotes his art for materialistic gains (lacks integrity)." For some reason I don't think General Choi had in mind that we all train in $120-$200/month schools that require a mandatory contract, have 100-300 students per school, the owner has multiple schools doing that, along with a $500K+ house his McDojo's bought and paid for? And you can't tell me that McDojo's that run around saying "we create blackbelts in 18-24 months...come over here you can get it faster", that won't likely attract more students and add to his financial windfall! Look for what Choi says about this under "Integrity" and #6 here: http://www.itf-information.com/information06.htm

While we're on the money topic, lets move to another part of the Encyclopedia where General Choi touches upon what he expects the "moral culture" to be. Choi has a whole paragraph titled "Greed is Insatiable" that is a very interesting read. Maybe General Choi was right about the things he discusses in that paragraph. There are lots of TKD businessmen running large and multiple schools that charge top dollar, who have become millionaires, and who once they build one big school, can't wait to start the next one and fill it up with students under contract. Smells like McDojo greed to me! Checkout that "Greed" paragraph and what Choi said here: http://www.itf-information.com/information19.htm about half way down the page, under "Part Two" and then item "B"

General Choi also says on the Tenet page under Integrity: "The instructor who camouflages bad technique with luxurious training halls and false flattery to his students (lacks integrity)." Did General Choi possibly have enough foresight to say instructors may lack integrity who focus on creating beautiful expensive schools, with their own prime retail location and wonderful interiors/amenities? Could he have possibly envisioned what countries like ours might do to attract people to TKD, in an effort to commercialize and profit from it?

But let's take the last few words from that sentence of Choi's above. Could an instructor possibly be providing "false flattery" to his students by promoting them to blackbelt too soon? Especially if he knows that students from schools all around him require twice the amount of time he does to create real blackbelts? You can't tell me that instructor doesn't know "the more time you put-in, the better you'll perform"! So how does he keep that a secret? Hmm...lets make sure all of our tournaments are "closed" to those schools that take longer to make someone a quality blackbelt, because we can't have our students figuring that out, and jumping ship on us! Look under "Integrity" on # 3 here: http://www.itf-information.com/information06.htm

What's interesting is that many American TKD schools still have their students begin class by quoting the following 5 TKD Tenets: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, indomitable spirit...implying "live and practice with this in mind". So does that mean students should practice General Choi's version of "integrity" but school owners don't have too? Unless I'm interpreting something wrong, seems to me if a TKD school owner is focused primarily on making a $20K-$30K/month income from his school, or has multiple schools doing that well, that the founder of TKD, General Choi, is implying that owner/instructor may lack integrity!

Seems General Choi has given us a very detailed definition of "integrity" along with other moral qualities anyone who practices or instructs TKD should live by. He even said at the beginning of describing integrity: "One must be able to define right and wrong and have a conscience, if wrong, to feel guilt. " I've never heard of a McDojo or any "large corporate entity whose focus was money", feeling guilty about making too much money, or about putting money first, have you?

At times I wonder if I'm a little too vocal about what I think TKD has become, until I kept thinking about the things General Choi said and stumbled across this: "Confucius declared, It is an act of cowardice to fail to speak out against injustice." General Choi points that out on this page: http://www.itf-information.com/information06.htm under "Indomitable Spirit".

Personally, I think "injustice" is being served up with a smile at many TKD McDojo's all around us!

So who are the McDojo's? I'm sure you've likely heard enough ranting from me, that if I said who I thought they were, you might not believe me. Maybe it would be best if we let others voice their opinion! How could we do that? Hmm...maybe if you went to www.google.com and typed in "taekwondo mcdojo" (no quotes) you might get some ideas ;-)

2006 Dairyland Karate Championships

2006-08-12T18:48:00.000-07:00

Two students from Mann's Martial Arts competed today at the Dairyland Karate Championships held in Lindale, TX. "JD", a white belt, took 3rd place in sparring. Jeff, a high-yellow belt, took 1st in sparring and 1st in forms! Way to go guys!

Disaster Recovery Back-Up of Schools Website

2006-08-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

Reason for creating a sort of "disaster recovery back-up" of the schools webpages, in case something became corrupt, was accidentally written-over, or disappeared.

The main backup site link will be: http://dallasmartialarts.home.att.net

The actual first page with content happens is: http://dallasmartialarts.home.att.net/index2.htm

The http://ntfa-dallas.home.att.net may for now continue being the primary site.

Why should I care what the local McDojo's think?

2006-07-18T08:21:00.000-07:00

An instructor I'm friends with, who does't believe in contracts and other types of ruthless business tactics, called and said "You know some of the school business secrets you've posted on your website aren't going to make you very popular with certain other schools, owners, and instructors, in your area."

My response: "Think about what most of them teach adults, how they teach them, what they really stand for. It doesn't have to be that way, especially if someone informs those adults what to lookout for upfront. Many an adult will only try martial arts once, and if a school teaches them the wrong stuff, they can easily become frustrated and give up on the martial arts forever, tainting their image of the martial arts forever."

95% of the schools I've seen in our area teach adults over 30 yrs old unrealistic techniques that are hard on their bodies: jump kicks, head high kicks, etc. Personally, I think I'm being very conservative and kind when I estimate its 95% of them. I'd almost place a bet on-the-table that the actual number is a point or two higher! Lets be kind and say there's a 1-out-of-20 chance an adult will stumble upon the right kind of school, even though industry statistics say an adult will only check on 3 schools before picking 1. But add to that industry statistics which state that over 98% of students will dropout and never make it to black belt, and the numbers prove that on-a-whole there's an industry problem, when it comes to training adults and getting them to stay, so they achieve their dreams!

Nearly 10 yrs ago I started a website called "Martial Arts Video Reviews", which sent a wake-up call to many a video instructor. It was needed and long overdue. There were thousands of martial arts instructional videos on the market, several in well-known magazines implied "buy my video and you'll learn to beat any blackbelt overnight". Due to "Kung Fu" on tv, ninja movies, and saturday afternoon chop-socky movies we've all seen, some people could easily end up wondering if certain aspects of the martial arts might be magical, mystical, or shrowded in secrecy. If there was any possibility of truth to that, why couldn't someone have discovered a better secret, one that could instantly teach anyone how to beat the super blackbelts many of us had seen on TV and dreamed of becoming? I personally believe that certain video instructors preyed upon that curiousity with the way they wrote their ads, appealing to it as strongly as possible. Combine certain promises in those ads to our own human instinct of wanting things the fast-and-easy-way, and anyone that wanted to learn how to defend themself was not only a gullible victim, but a walking dollar sign to those who understood that angle.

In my assessment many video instructors really played that up, and rumors existed within the industry that some became multi-millionaires by misleading and unleashing their implications on the masses. Numerous would sell single videos costing up to $100, with insiders stating certain individuals were selling hundreds/thousands of them a month. They pulled this off by making unbelievable promises, yet hiding behind the industry standard "no refund" policy when a consumer was unhappy. Often this left many a consumer with no buyer remorse recourse if they felt misled or lied too. The magazines weren't doing anything about it, often almost blessing it due to $10,000/page ad revenues, yet the whole situation warranted that consumers be better informed! Once I started sharing on my website what I thought about certain videos, via my reviews, it made quite a few questionable video instructors upset. Lawsuit threats were often sent via email, emails saying "watch your back I'm going to find you one day", even death threats. Well guess what? I'm alive and well!

Does anyone think I really cared what a few dozen questionable video instructors thought of me, or if they were upset, compared to God-only-knows how many consumers they'd likely taken advantage of? What came about from my reviews was a public resource where video consumers could get an opinion from the other-side-of-the-fence. Even more interesting was noticing that the website traffic at times reached 10,000 visitors a month!

Was I crazy to provoke a few video shysters into hating me? Well, throughout those 10 years 1000's of video consumers sent me emails, letting me know they either had lots of the videos I said were garbage, and yet about 99% seemed to agree with my assessments/reviews. These emails basically said the same sort of thing over-and-over again, something to the effect of: "I wish I'd read your review before buying, it would've saved me money, now I'm stuck with this no-refund-garbage. Next time I'm going to read your webpage before buying anything".

Along the way I of course reviewed dozens-and-dozens of videos by instructors that truly did create quality product, and I gave them the great reviews I felt they deserved. This created an after-effect that I hadn't anticipated. Lots of video instructors that I did a glowing review for would get it touch with me, thanking me for the review, and with many we've stayed in-touch over the years sharing tons of ideas and information with one another. This was one of the most incredible benefits from doing the reviews that I hadn't anticipated, never imagining I would be able to classify many high quality video instructors all over the world as friends. That was truly surprising because many dojo instructors I've been around I felt had skewed my perception due to either being a bit on the egotistical side, snobbish, only out for money, or not really wanting a personal connection with their students.

Looking on the opposite end of the spectrum, many video instructors who created a poor quality product ended up practically hating me, and let me know it, over poor reviews they got. Did I learn to live with that? Sure, as it seemed such was the cost of undertaking what I was doing, compared to the larger audience receiving the most benefit by those reviews, the video consumers.

Initially I did the reviews for martial arts consumers, and to get-back at those I'd felt ripped me off too with their no-refund-policies. It just felt like a war that needed to be waged, went too many years unfought, and that someone needed too but no one was willing too. Fast forward numerous years and it almost seems like here we go again, same thing but a different audience. Now its prospective students vs school owners, and revealing hidden agendas/truths, so that doesn't get in the way of adults achieving their dreams, or giving up on them.

Will several articles on my schools website likely anger some local school owners? Sure they will, but think of the type of schools it will anger, and why it will! I've revealed their games and inadequacies to their audience. Why shouldn't those that play games, and/or train adults unrealisticly, have that revealed? Doesn't doing so benefit a much larger audience? Can I live with that and do I think its proper to do so? Does anyone who knows what I've done for the past 10 yrs (the video reviews) really need to ask? ;-)

July 2006 Class Picture

2006-07-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

Some folks weren't there for the pic, but most will know that trying to get everyone to be there for that is near impossible.

JD gets his share of trophies

2006-07-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

Mann's Martial Arts white belt student James Dudley ("JD") competed in his very first tournament this weekend, a local AOK/TKO tournament called the "Octagon Open", held on a local college campus. He took 1st in forms, performing one he just got done learning (Dan-Gun), and he took 2nd in sparring. Way to go "JD"!

Dale Lusby 6-0 after U.S. Championship

2006-06-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

Dale Lusby's tournament record is now 6-0, having won 1st Place in "Beginning Men's" Sparring at the 38th annual U.S. Championships in Dallas, TX on 6-17-06. Here you see him with with yet another 6ft trophy.

This most recent event Dale participated in, the 2006 U.S. Championships, have been held yearly in Dallas for close to 40 yrs. It was originally Allen Steen's tournament before he retired and handed over the reins to one of his blackbelts, Bob Beasley. It is held in Dallas each year and is well-known for being one of the oldest Karate tournaments in the U.S. Many of the greatest tournament fighters of the 60's and 70's have fought at this tournament, such as: Allen Steen, Pat Burleson, Skipper Mullins, Roy Kurban, Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis, Mike Stone, Jim Harrison, Chuck Norris and others.

Although Dale's 1st Place tournament sparring record stands at 6-0, this of course doesn't take into account the number of fighters he faced at each tournament (minimum of 2-3 at each times the number of events he's entered), or the total number of participants in his division each time(somewhere between 3-8 each time).

For instance, in Dale's division at the U.S. Championship there were a total of 8 fighters. Which in essence means that out of all 8 fighters he could've potentially faced, Dale ended up getting 1st Place, having to only participate in 3 fights via an elimination process.

8 fighters showed up and each was randomly paired against another. The 4 winners out of that were then paired up. Then the final 2 winners faced each other. Dale went through all 3 of those levels and ended up being the final winner!

I'd estimate that out of Dale's 6 tournaments he's actually faced about 13 fighters, out of a total fighter pool in all these events of about 25 fighters, and out of all of them he remains undefeated!

How to Choose?

2006-06-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

I've created an article for adults seeking martial arts training, and the sort of things they might want to take into account, before picking a school/instructor/style. I'm of the belief that many adults never make it to blackbelt, and quit martial arts forever, because they made the wrong choices, and didn't know the right questions and things to take into consideration before starting somewhere. So this article is meant to touch upon things like: How do you choose a martial arts school? How do you choose a martial arts instructor? How do you choose a martial arts style?

I've started what I guess you can call a work-in-progress of this, regarding my thoughts, and you can view it here: http://ntfa-dallas.home.att.net/choose.htm

It will likely be edited and added too as time goes by, and more thoughts pop into my mind. Soon, I may add a simple checklist, that a prospective student can take with them, when they go and talk to a school.

Dale Lusby 5-0

2006-05-13T15:42:00.000-07:00

Mann's Martial Arts student Dale Lusby won 1st Place in sparring today at the Texas Cottonbelt, a big tournament in the Dallas area. Here he is proudly displaying his 6 foot trophy.

Dale Lusby wins his 4th in a row!

2006-05-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Dale Lusby, still a yellow belt, enters and wins another tournament! This time the NTFA Nationals, an open tournament near Little Rock, AR. That's now (4) 1st place sparring wins in a row for Dale since starting his tournament career in January. He won the TKO State tournament in January here in the Dallas area, NTFA Regional in Shreveport, LA. in February, BigD in March here in Dallas, trained hard in April for the upcoming tournament season, then did the NTFA Nationals this past weekend in Little Rock. His next goal, making this coming weekend at the Texas Cottonbelt here in the Dallas area his 5th win!

United Fighting Systems - Jujitsu Promotions Part 4

2006-04-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a sample of what the rank certificates look like from United Fighting Systems, a martial arts association I created 10 yrs ago, that now has hundreds of black belt members from all over the world.

United Fighting Systems - Jujitsu Promotions Part 3

2006-04-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

The Spring 2006 graduates after receiving their rank promotions from Master Becerra, holding the "United Fighting Systems" rank certificates he issued them.

United Fighting Systems - Jujitsu Promotions Part 1

2006-04-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

For the past 12 yrs I've helped Master Becerra from time-to-time with his Saturday Jujitsu class that he teaches at Richland Junior College in Dallas, TX. It's a college credit P.E. class that combines street effective grappling with striking. At the end of each semester students are given a written and physical test, which also provides them the opportunity to receive their first rank promotion. Here's a pic taken today of the instructors involved in that test and promotion. You'll see Master Becerra, several instructors who came to participate from his Judo school, and myself.

Dale Lusby wins again, and again, and again !

2006-03-27T21:25:00.000-08:00

Saturday March 25, 2006, Mann's Martial Arts student Dale Lusby entered the BigD tournament in Dallas and won 1st Place in "Beginning Mens Sparring 18-34 y.o." Dale entered and won his 1st tournament in January (TKO State Finals), his 2nd in February (NTFA-Shreveport), and his 3rd was this one in March (BigD). That's (3) back-to-back 1st Place wins for Dale over the past 3 months! Will his success continue? Could we be witnessing the birth of a new Texas martial arts legend? ;-)

Youngest and Oldest student take 1st Place

2006-02-27T08:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend (2) students from Mann's Martial Arts went to Shreveport, LA. and participated in an NTFA tournament at LSU. Dale, our youngest student (26 y.o.) and Jeff our oldest student (49 y.o.) both won 1st Place in sparring, and both are yellow belts! Jeff was even asked to fight a 48 y.o. male brown belt, did, and won! Neither Dale nor Jeff had any martial arts training prior to 4 months ago. As you could imagine I'm proud of them both.

Bill Wallace and Pat Burleson

2006-01-29T04:06:00.000-08:00

After the Bill Wallace seminar a few of us were invited to dinner. While at dinner, Ft. Worth TKD/Karate legend Grandmaster Pat Burleson stopped by, and several of us got to meet and talk with him.

Students and me at Bill Wallace seminar

2006-01-29T04:03:00.000-08:00

Dale with his Title Belt

2006-01-25T07:42:00.000-08:00

Dale Lusby - 2005 TKO State Champ

2006-01-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

Mann's Martial Arts student "Dale Lusby", still a white belt, with no previous martial arts experience, and who only spent 3 months of training at our school, enters as a "wildcard" contestant and wins the year-end 2005 Texas Karate Organization State Championship title for "Beginning Men" in sparring. This was Dale's 1st tournament !!!

In an exhibition match afterwards, Dale unintentionally Knocks Out a yellow belt opponent with his front leg roundhouse kick!

You can see a couple of other pics of Dale in-action...and about 5 feet off the ground over at http://ntfa-dallas.home.att.net/dale.htm

Testing Pics

2006-01-20T10:11:00.000-08:00

There were many pictures taken during January 18th's testing, the schools first testing. For now, we'll just show the group one taken after the test, with the Testing Judges (Grandmaster Keith Yates, Mr. Clayton Watkins, myself) and the Testing Students.

Board Breaking Night - Part 4

2005-12-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

Same night, knifehand (open hand karate chop) board break

Board Breaking Night - Part 3

2005-12-09T12:48:00.000-08:00

Another kick (180 degree back-leg turning side kick) I hadn't tried to break boards with in over 10 yrs. Maybe old age hasn't set-in yet ;-)

Board Breaking Night - Part 2

2005-12-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

Pre-Break kicking-height check

Board Breaking Night - Part 1

2005-12-09T09:17:00.000-08:00

We had a great time at our school this past Wednesday, as we had a Board Breaking Night (BYOB...lol). Yes, that's me. I can't get off the ground as high as I use too, but not bad for a 43 yr old with bad knees and a bad back, and who hadn't done a board break in over 10 yrs...lol. More links and pics of this event will be coming soon!

You need exposure to all 4 Ranges

2005-11-15T08:15:00.000-08:00

95% of traditional Karate schools teach students (2) fighting ranges: long range (kicks) and medium range (punches), and that's it. Practically none teach trapping/close range, and you typically have to go to a grappling school to learn the ground. Personally, I think a student needs to learn how to work in-and-out of all (4) ranges, so they can adequately defend themself. If you look around a city like Dallas, you'll notice the majority of schools teach 1-2 ranges, and few teach 3, and practically none teach all 4. What I can't figure out is why so many students settle for a 1-2 range school, thus limiting their options in a street confrontation!

Latest...

2005-11-15T05:34:00.000-08:00

I helped Master Becerra out by teaching his college class this past Saturday. That's always fun to do. Afterwards I took one of my students to the Mason tournament in Addison and had fun doing that. While there I had the opportunity to talk with a few people I hadn't seen in a few years. This week "DC" emailed a couple of reviews I posted. And that's about it for now.

This weekend...

2005-11-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

This weekend I'll be filling in for Master Becerra, teaching his Jujitsu class at Richland Junior College.

Teaching Kids vs Adults - Part 1

2005-11-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

I feel its near impossible to find a school in the Dallas area that teaches real adult self defense and has a separate martial arts program for kids. Actually, I don't know of any in Dallas that do an excellent job of offering both. What most schools call "Adult Self Defense" is actually them mislabeling some type of kid-style sport/tournament karate, and trying to pass-that-off to adults as "adult self defense". Most of the time I think adults sign-up for the "adult self defense", but soon figure out what they are really being taught, which leads to why 90% of adults quit a karate program within 6 months of starting one. My opinion, it doesn't have to be that way!

My approach is different. I like focusing on teaching only adults, and how they can end a fight quickly, especially if they are dealing with a younger, stronger, faster opponent. Most adults have busy lives and they don't want to spend years training like a professional boxer/fighter does. Its not necessary for an adult to spend that much time developing a professional fighters type "skill set", to adequately deal with ending aggression quickly.

So what is it I teach adults? They are immediately immersed and taught what most Karate schools won't! The short term goal is to make them Street Lethal! To sum it up, we focus on CQC techniques, trapping, and nearly every dirty fighting trick/secret known. This includes every illegal Karate tournament technique you could imagine, and every illegal UFC/NHB type technique. Simply, anything that will end a confrontation quickly so it doesn't become "a fight"! Think of it as an immediate unilateral termination of aggression where there are NO rules of engagement! Alot of this is stuff you don't want kids knowing or doing to one another, should they have a school yard brawl. Last thing you want is 10 yr old Billy breaking a knee, elbow, or ankle of Bobby's, because Bobby called him a name.

Bottomline, if you find a school that has "all ages" type classes (teaching both kids and adults), they have to water-down what they are teaching due to the kids (non lethal techniques), or they have to pace how they teach a mixed class so the kids can keep up. Eventually this often ends up boring many of the adults, who will often quit. I have seen this too many times to even count.

My opinion, for an adult to find training that teaches them how to seriously disable street thugs, and offers the sport/tournament stuff for kids, they will likely need to consider separate schools for each. Out of hundreds of schools locally, I don't know of any in our area I would recommend that do both well!

Again, my focus is to only teach adults, because I feel that's the market that's most neglected, and where traditional martial arts has sadly failed the public most often! There are a hundred kids schools, yet I don't know of even one street-effective-adult-only school here in a city of 1.2 million (Dallas)!

In my opinion, adults don't have to train like a professional fighter to become street effective. Yet there are tons of local schools that either try to make adults into full contact fighters, or they are mislabeling the kid-style sport karate they teach, and trying to pawn-that-off as adult self defense! On a personal note, I feels that's a complete abomination!

There is a simple mix of techniques I feel adults can quickly become skilled at, that most schools don't teach them. That is part of what I teach, my immediate short term goal with my students, and the difference in my school vs. 99% of the other schools in the Dallas area. I guess you could say that's why I decided to call my school "A Better Way of Self Defense".

Test your Reflexes, have fun, and win something free

2005-11-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

Last night I got an email about an online flash based type Breakout game, that if you play and get to Level 4, you win a free Sharpie. Its fairly easy to get to Level 4, so here's the link if you want to try it.

Great turnout in Little Rock

2005-11-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

The NTFA tournament in Little Rock had a great turnout. Tons of spectators, students and instructors showed up from many different states. It was a great opportunity to make many new friends.

Arkansas this weekend...

2005-11-04T16:44:00.000-08:00

I'm in Arkansas this weekend at the NTFA Regionals. Will be back on Monday.

2 New Reviews Added Today

2005-11-01T18:33:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Rick for helping us add 2 new reviews today. Go here, scroll towards the bottom of the page and you'll see them.

AttackProof video reviewed

2005-10-30T17:32:00.000-08:00

I was able to watch and grade 2 videos this weekend. Here's the review on the original AttackProof video by John Perkins.

Bar Fight Self Defense video reviewed

2005-10-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

I watched and posted a new video review this morning. It's on "Bar Fight Self Defense". Here's the review

Beginners should take a breather between kicks

2005-10-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

Many years ago I saw an instructor have beginners (even day 1 beginners) do repetition-after-repetition of each kick and punch as fast as he could count them out. Meaning, as fast as you can count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10...was how fast he expected beginners to do each of their kicks. Beginners got frustrated they couldn't keep up, and the pace he demanded from them was unrealistic and exhausting. I think many of them thought from Day 1, "There's no way I'll ever be able to do this stuff", thus one of many reasons I suspect he had about an 80%-90% beginner dropout rate!

There are certain kicks for beginners, like the roundhouse or sidekick, that for some, doing even 1-2 of them might require a real 5-10 second break in-between so they can catch their breath.

I'm convinced that if you take most beginners and do like that instructor did, somewhere between 5-20 kicks, nearly all beginners will be exhausted. Then every kick and punch after that has little-to-no quality (form, control, speed, power) behind them. And if you aren't practicing with quality in mind, what's the point? But if you give a beginner a few seconds, lets say 5-10, between each kick, then he has a chance to catch-his-breath and composure a little better. I'm convinced going that route will help him be able to do more reps with full speed power, versus premature exhaustion.

There's a time and place for doing "burnout" type training, meaning doing your punches/kicks as fast as you can without a pause between kicks, but it shouldn't be the ONLY way you practice your kicks.

Still not convinced? See how many sidekicks you can do as fast as you can with full speed/power before you start tiring. And make sure that as fast as you set your foot to the floor, you are simultaneously picking it back up to do the next one, thus not allowing even a half second break inbetween each kick. Once you hit exhaustion, rest a few minutes and then see how many more you can do on your other leg, if you take like a 5-10 second break between each kick.

With regard to ones training, sometimes being able to do more quality reps during your practice session can benefit you more than doing fewer AS FAST AS YOU CAN reps!

So which do you think is better, doing 10 kicks as fast as you can, and each one after that being sloppy, or taking a 5-10 second pause between each kick and seeing if you can't do 20-30 kicks instead?

Here are some Quotes I like:

Remember, practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. - Vince Lombardi

Doing 10 properly executed kicks is infinitely more valuable than doing 100 poorly executed kicks. - Brian Baker

Remember to Breathe

2005-10-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest mistakes beginning students make, with regard to their own progress, is proper breathing when striking. Due to the extreme amount of speed and power one typically focuses on achieving when doing kicks or punches, properly inhaling and exhaling I feel is critical to ones development.

Exhale when you strike and inhale on your recoil!

Throughout my years of teaching and training I have seen countless instances in which a beginning student could only do lets say 3-5 reps of a certain kick, and then they were exhausted. Often I found they were not breathing properly when doing each kick, more specifically holding-their-breath when kicking, which leads to premature exhaustion. Then with proper breathing, I've seen them be able to do at least 1-3 more kicks.

Now that might not sound like that many more kicks to those who have trained for years, but if a beginner can only do 3-5 otherwise, doing 1-3 more is a significant amount more. And for every additional strike a person is able to do with good technique (alignnment, speed/power), I believe that helps expedite their development.

I recommend that beginning students either exhale loudly when doing strikes, so they hear and know they exhaled, or kiap on every strike. That way they don't forget too and so they develop exhaling as a good habit.

Consciously focusing on doing this will go a long way to minimizing exhaustion, increasing endurance, thus allowing the student to do more reps, which of course helps expedite ones development.

McDojo's

2005-10-25T16:29:00.000-07:00

I keep adding a little bit here-and-there to the "Beware of McDojo's" article. Alot of the article has to do with contracts Karate schools try to make students sign. I found a nice little .gif image I like and I'm associating with the article. I think the face on the pen and on the paper say it all! Here's the link to the article one more time: http://ntfa-dallas.home.att.net/class.htm

Beware of McDojo's

2005-10-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

The McDojo article I mentioned is nearly done. I may edit or add a few more things, but for the most part its in its final stage. I have a feeling certain local school owners who use the sorts of tactics I mention won't like me giving out some of their business secrets. Oh well, those who know my reviews, know that I don't really care what those "in authority" think. Haven't the reviews been about exposing those whose intent was to take advantage of students? I've always felt that with regard to martial arts training, more people need to openly expose those whose intent is improper. In this instance, those who open a school with the main intent of making-themselves-rich, versus doing what's best for their students. Bottomline, martial arts and self defense training, whether in person or by video, should be primarily about benefiting students, not the business owners. Here's a peek at what I've been working on:

http://ntfa-dallas.home.att.net/mcdojo.htm

Link Test 2

2005-10-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

Link Test 1

2005-10-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

Article, Review and Fixing Links

2005-10-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

As many of you probably know I love to stir things up. Just look at my Reviews website and you'll know what I mean. I should have a controversial article posted either here or on one of my websites this weekend about the McDojo's in the Dallas area and how their business practices take advantage of students. Also, I watched a video last night and made notes, hoping to crank out the official review of it this weekend. It'll be on a Marine Hand-to-Hand combat video about their L.I.N.E self defense system. And last, I've gone through and fixed about 125 reviews, removing what appears to be the now defunct "Martial Arts Hyper Banner" links that were showing up blank, and of course replacing them with my latest favorite "Mann's Martial Arts". Those changes were done on all links at: http://home.att.net/~erik.mann/reviewsa.htm and the first 25 on: http://home.att.net/~erik.mann/reviewsb.htm

Concepts can enhance your training and results

2005-10-20T05:09:00.000-07:00

Due to my website Martial Arts Video Reviews, I get dozens of emails a day asking me a variety of questions related to martial arts training. It often seems that students are looking for answers to many different types of concerns. Even if a person doesn't have an interest in martial arts training videos, I believe there's valuable training information and insight in those reviews. Specifically, videos often offer techniques and/or concepts, to enhance ones training. Sometimes I agree with them, more often I don't. However, the justification for my opinion is often substantiated with reasons why I feel that way. That often takes me rather deep into generalizing about important training concepts or techniques. I truly feel by reading some of the rather long reviews, the ones with long and detailed "Written Summary's" at the end, you may benefit from that information, with regard to it helping you with your training. Again, I feel it doesn't really matter whether or not you ever plan to buy these sort of videos to benefit from these reviews, there's a wealth of information and knowledge shared in them. Just follow the links on the right side of my page to find The Reviews. Next, I have a "Quotes" page I periodically enhance, where others have eloquently stated something so profound, that I feel its an important idea to keep in mind with regard to ones own training. If you haven't ever looked at the quotes page, I'd encourage you too. Its at: http://home.att.net/~erik.mann/quotes.htm

November 4-6 in Little Rock

2005-10-20T04:50:00.000-07:00

We will be unavailable November 4-6th due to an out-of-town NTFA business owners meeting and NTFA tournament we plan on attending in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Overseas Contributor

2005-10-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

I just want to thank the individual who sent 40 videos for us to review. They arrived safely yesterday, in great condition, and they'll definitely help keep us busy.

Century's Gear

2005-10-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

For many years now I've been a fan of Century when it comes to most of my martial arts supplies and gear. Now, after a recent order, I may have to change that on a couple of their items. First, groin protectors, more specifically "jocks" that allow for a "cup" insert. I have a Century jock from a few years ago, and on that one the pouch has buttons that snap, and tightly hold the cup in the pouch. A newer version I just got a month ago has no buttons for the pouch, and once the cup is inserted, it just kind of hangs and dangles about. I've noticed while wearing this newer version that the cup now has more a tendency to flop-around while you're doing kicks or moving. Not only is this uncomfortable and somewhat of a distraction, but I'm concerned about the level of protection I'm getting, should I take a few shots down there! I wish they still made the older version with the button snaps, as this provided a very secure fit and minimal flopping around, compared to this newer version. Last, with that same jock strap I ordered new head gear, Century "Classic" to be exact. I ordered a "large" because that was the size of my previous Century head gear which was starting to become worn. Well, the Century large they sent fits more like a medium and is very tight and uncomfortable. Did Century change their sizing? I'm not very happy about this past order and if you're ordering jocks or head gear from Century, you might want to keep an eye on these sort of issues.

TRS Material

2005-10-18T05:26:00.000-07:00

One of the companies I'm constantly getting emails about from fans of the video review site is TRS. Often I'm asked "Have you seen ___ video?" or "How would you compare ABC's video to XYZ's video?" My personal opinion of TRS is this. The concept of what they are trying to deliver is great, but the content becomes repetitive. Meaning, I think once you own over 5-10 of their products, the techniques and concepts start repeating themself. Specifically, lets take hand-to-hand techniques. I've found numerous of their titles teach the use of knees, elbows, headbutts, kicks to the legs/knees, groin shots, biting. Simply put, "Military type combatives"! Stuff anyone who enlists in the military is taught, because these are typically techniques someone can learn quickly, and don't take years to become effective at. In my opinion, the folks at TRS take each-and-every title and advertise it so aggressively, that consumers are told "Hey, forget all other titles, this is the one you need", and they do that to all their titles. I own probably 60 different TRS vhs or dvds, and I often feel some of the content in various titles begin to look like one another. Now if Bob Pierce (President of TRS) has something truly new, I invite him to send it to us for review. But after the last few TRS reviews, which didn't give overwhelming praise, I won't be holding my breath waiting on packages from Bob ;-)

Richardson opens tonight....

2005-10-18T04:49:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to remind everyone that the Richardson location opens and starts tonight. There's been a slight change in the time, and instead of 7:15PM it will start at 7:30. For a map of the location and how to get there, go to: http://ntfa-dallas.home.att.net/class.htm We're also offering everyone their first week free at that location too, just to give everyone a chance to see if they like it.

Thought of the Day - October 17, 2005

2005-10-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

How you train is how it will come out. - David James

Free Self-Defense Seminar in Dallas

2005-10-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

I'm working out the details of putting together a FREE self defense seminar. It would likely be for adults only. Here's a rough draft of the announcement: http://ntfa-dallas.home.att.net/sdfree.htm If interested let me know.

Classes Tonight...

2005-10-17T04:53:00.000-07:00

Classes tonight in Dallas from 6-7PM at Plano Rd & NW Hwy. We still have the "Try your first week for FREE" offer going on. Come check us out. For more info go to: http://ntfa-dallas.home.att.net/class.htm

2005-10-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

I've been having a great time teaching my grandson (Alex) some Karate. He's 6 years old and been kicking a couple of weeks now. He comes over on the weekends and that's usually the only time I get to work with him. He's taken to it like a duck-to-water and is already showing great promise. I've already got him holding his hands in the proper position when he does his kicks, and he can do head-high roundhouses, sidekicks and front kicks. There may be a Mann dynasty after all! ;-)

Site Map

2005-10-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

http://home.att.net/~erik.mann/sitemap.htm
http://ntfa-dallas.home.att.net/sitemap.htm

Links

2005-10-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

Links Related to this Blog:

United Fighting Systems = http://home.att.net/~erik.mann/index.htm
Martial Arts Video Reviews = http://home.att.net/~erik.mann/mavr.htm
Mann's Martial Arts = http://ntfa-dallas.home.att.net/index2.htm