Formosa Neijia

The following is a great post by Roy Harris, a 4th degree BJJ black belt, on how he makes his wrist locks work. How he does it and where he gets that material will definitely be of interest to readers. All emphasis is mine.
Timing and sensitivity are not developed from practicing BJJ. Rather, they are [...]

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This is Mark Hatmaker’s latest video and it looks like a good one. Grappling dummies are getting cheaper and more common so a video on how to use it make a lot of sense. I loved his Floor Bar workout video because he showed a whole lot of basic wrestling skills (I reviewed it here). [...]

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Love this article by a martial artist/kinesiology professor on what it would physically take to become Batman. He notes that it’s possible, but not likely for long. The professor says that around the age of 55, Bats would have to hang it up because he’d be unable to keep up with the younger criminals. I [...]

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We talk a lot about this, but we rarely see it applied to throwing. Here’s a great example from judo — yoko guruma. The opponent comes in for the hip throw (and almost all styles have one or two of those) and then you borrow that force and throw the opponent down. It’s a nice [...]

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This is one of the joint locks allowed in judo. Unlike taijiquan, etc. judo limits itself to elbow locks because the elbow is quite strong compared to other joints like the wrist. Kano figured that the elbows could take more damage I guess so he allowed these moves.
The lock above is wakigatame and it shouldn’t [...]

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There’s a big split in every martial art between those who believe in some picture perfect technique that fell straight out of heaven and those who know that applying your art is more difficult than it looks. As you can tell, I’m definitely in the latter camp.
If people would even bother getting out [...]

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As I continue to train for the taiji comp, things are becoming clearer for me.
The process of making the form closer to the ideal in terms of performance stresses the body and builds the post-heaven power. It’s like building a vase or other vessel to hold water. I’m strengthening the vessel to hold and contain [...]

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This is how you do it. He even tells you how to get a free resistance band. I’m finding that this type of training is crucial for your throwing. You just can’t get enough reps with a partner. And you get strength training to boot. Another thing to add to this setup is a kickpad [...]

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In randori on Wednesday, I got a black belt that gave me no quarter whatsoever. His grip fighting was intense, and once he had that grip there was nothing I could do. His grip felt like it was part of my uniform. I couldn’t budge him. And his arm was like iron. Nothing I tried [...]

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In approaching this topic, let me first say that I’ve read a ton of nonsense on discussion boards, usually by aikidokas or taiji guys, about how judo is crude or some such nonsense. Let me dispel that right away. Judo is a sophisticated martial art. It has it’s own subtleties. Jigoro Kano was a genius [...]

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