My week in Martial Arts: November 28th to December 2nd

Hi All

In an interview Bruce Lee held on a chat show called the Pierre Burton show in 1971. He was asked if he could repeat one of the lines he used in an episode of a sixties crime drama called Longstreet. In the series Bruce Lee was basically playing himself as a Jeet Kune Do Martial Arts instructor and therefore wrote most his own lines. With much charisma and enthusiasm Bruce Lee reiterated this piece of philosophical wisdom:
“..empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water, Now you put the water into a cup , it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes a bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash! Be water my friend”

The whole interview was shown on Channel Five here in the UK on Sunday and was very entertaining to watch. Bruce Lee was not only a break through Chinese actor, not only one of the most important Martial Artists of last century but an excellent philosopher. The way Bruce Lee effortlessly weaves his philosophy with Martial Arts was and still is massively influential. Just check out his quotes.

The interview kicked off my week in the World of Martial Arts. We went to Karl Tanswell’s class on Monday and the first thing to meet our eyes was a magnificent championship belt laid out on the counter that separates the waiting area from the training area. Karl announced that Rosie Sexton retained her Cage Warriors Fighting Championship Women title. She trains at Karl’s gym and is regarded as one of the best female fighters in the UK and possibly Europe. Lun and I haven't had much chance to talk to her as she trains in the more advanced classes. However it is quite cool training at the same place where Rosie trains and other great fighters under Karl. In fact it’s quite daunting because they are all so good at what they do!

On that day we trained variations on jabbing and crossing. Learning how to slip and dodge effectively. There was a lot to pack into an hour even though it sounds like one or two techniques.

Tuesday I went to Capoeira , another awesome lesson. I was helping Danny Henry with the teaching again. Capoeira really keeps me flexible as there are a lot of stretching exercises involved I am going to help my instructor devise some leaflets to give to beginners. These leaflets will explain Capoeira and will illustrate some basic moves to help the new people.

Wednesday went to Karl’s again and trained more stand up fighting. I still need to work on my sparring, as I seem to leave myself open. I am so used to using an Eskrima gunting, this is where one hand parries an attack and your other hand counters the attack at the same time or just blocking a strike with your own elbow. Bruce Lee however said “empty your cup” as I need to approach each Martial Art as how they are and not mix it up. All in all a great lesson and it was a continuation from the class on Monday.

Friday we attended Warriors Eskrima class. We did plenty of pad work and swapped partners throughout the lesson. I taught Paul who is a level lower than me the knife drill called Palisut and was quite happy that I could teach him. I am going to ask if we can have more than one lesson as I feel we need more than one coming to the grading. On the plus side I have my brother to train with and plenty of DVD source material.

That was my week in Martial Arts, again I apologise for no mini updates. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon!
Thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures!
Kit