What's Your Excuse?: 7 People Who Will Inspire You to Overcome It

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Enter the Dojo: An Introduction to Ameri-Do-Te

I recently happened upon a commercial video for a dojo down in New Mexico, teaching the style of Ameri-Do-Te. Here is that video:

If you haven't guessed already, this is spoof. Actually, it's a trailer for a spoof video series, a mockumentary if you will, about Master Ken and what he teaches in his "perfect" martial art, Ameri-Do-Te, a made-up style that takes self-defense/combat concepts to ridiculous extremes. Watch episodes 1 and 2 below to see what I mean:

I quite enjoyed the humour of these videos being an instructor of a self-defense oriented martial arts style. I've even had a few requests for "groin grab sparring" from students in jest. That being said, I noticed in the YouTube comments that a number of people thought this was a real martial arts school, criticizing its operations. What a sad state of affairs that there are enough McDojos out there that people could think that this spoof is for real! Ah, well. It is what it is. You just have to find the humour in these things. I hope you find these videos as entertaining as I did! If you want to watch another full-feature martial arts mockumentary, check out The Foot Fist Way.

The Purpose of Meditation in the Martial Arts

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New Self-Defense Fitness Classes

At our Vancouver area martial arts school, we pride ourselves in offering a full schedule of adult Can-ryu Jiu-jitsu classes, which offer students a wide range of self-defense skills, including striking, throwing/takedowns, breakfalls, joint locks, sparring, ground techniques and more. Our standard classes start by introducing the most practical, easy-to-learn defensive skills with strong emphasis on gross motor skills while also providing foundations for higher level learning that is developed as a student progresses.

Having taught these types of classes for 5 years now, and we do our best to make these classes accessible to anyone and have people of all ages (even a 65-year-old!), fitness, levels and physical abilities. That being said, some people have different comfort levels in terms of what we do, or are not necessarily looking to learn a comprehensive martial art, but still want a place where they can develop and maintain their defensive skills as well as their fitness levels. It is for this reason that we developed our new Self-Defense Fitness classes.

Using the simplest, most effective self-defense techniques in Can-ryu Jiu-jitsu, we've created a program that improves students' cardio, strength, coordination, balance, flexibility, etc, AND teaches students how to apply them for personal protection should the need arise. Unlike our regular Jiu-jitsu classes, these one-hour classes leave out higher impact activities such as breakfalls, throws, joint locks and sparring making it accessible to everyone. It's designed to be a solution for people looking for a lower-impact martial arts fitness option. It also can appeal to people who don't like the idea of being thrown or having their joints locked up, whether they're getting over an injury or just a little intimidated at the prospect.

I never really liked the idea of cardio kickboxing or boxercise classes, finding that these types of classes were more about getting fit with only a minor association with the martial arts, and little to no application as to how to use the martial techniques taught. That's why I wanted to make this class different. Around 1/2-2/3 of the class would be spent on fitness and circuit training with practical striking drills with the remaining time spent on the practical applications of the techniques. This class will not require uniforms and will have no belt system. The only equipment required would be a groin protector.

I am hoping that this class will help broaden our reach by offering a more simplified training option that addresses different people's needs. It would also serve as an ongoing training option for women who do our 2-hour women's self defense class. Additionally, I hope it will also serve to attract curiosity in our regular Jiu-jitsu classes from people who develop a desire to progress further. At the same time, it would also serve our regular Jiu-jitsu students should they want a different format class to help improve fitness levels or give them a training option while recovering from injury.

What do you think?

Need for Speed: 3 Principles that Shouldn't Be Sacrificed to Go Faster

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6 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Martial Arts Conferences

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Pressure Point of the Day: Lateral Femoral

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