Steve Maxwell is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished strength and conditioning trainers in the world. Best known for his eclectic training approach utilizing fast intense workouts with Kettlebells and Body Weight, he is also an accomplished fighter, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt and former Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion.
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Judo has something for everybody. For kids, it is a natural form of activity, being a disciplined form of playground rough and tumble. For adults, it is a physically demanding sport perfect as a combat form, fitness training, and character-building.
Founded in 1882 in Tokyo, Japan by Jigoro Kano, Judo is often translated as the “Gentle Art.” There is nothing gentle about the sport, implying that force is never resisted but given way to and used upon itself.
Technically, Judo consists of three main branches:
throws
groundwork (strangles, joint-locks, chokes)
striking techniques (kicking and punching)
Starting Judo
In Judo, you have to learn to beat anyone, no matter how big or small. The feel of the throw varies considerably depending on the body size of the opponent. This means you must practice throwing with as many various size of people possible.
The only gear required for Judo is a Gi and and a belt. A Judo-gi is a strong, loosefitting garment that can withstand a lot of pushing and pulling.
When joining a club, you will be first shown how to fall properly, and then gradually introduced to the techniques of randori. Not necessary to be super-fit, the limited amount of relaxed Judo you will do in the beginning will gradually condition you for more intense free-fighting.
Personal hygiene is important in Judo. The gi must be washed and kept white all the time. fingers and toe nails must be kept short to prevent scratches and deep cuts against another person. Feet must be kept clean, and jewelry must be taken off.
Stubbed toes, bruised shins, mat-burns, and raw neck are common complaints among beginners. Carry on training and they will disappear for good.
How to Fall Properly
Let your back take the fall.
Tuck your chin in, keeping your head off the mat, preventing it from whiplashing into the mat.
Beat the mat hard with your free arm the moment your back touches the mat.
A method of practicing the fall is the forward rolling breakfall. This is like the gymnastic forward roll, except that it is done not squarely to the front but diagonally across the back.
How to Grip
Most Judo throws are done by holding the opponent’s jacket. In the standard hold, one hand grips one side of the jacket above the belt and the other hand the other side of the jacket above the belt.
How to Move Around the Mat
The correct Judo stance is upright, with your feet about shoulder width apart from one another. This stance should be maintained as much as possible when moving around the mat. Crouching and spreading the legs reduces mobility. It is better to keep the back straight, head up, and move in a relaxed manner.
Throws
Ippon Seoinage (One-arm Shoulder Throw)
Harai Goshi (Sweeping hip-throw)
Osoto Gari (Large Outer Reaping)
Training
In Judo, one best helps oneself by helping others. Care is taken not to injure the other party and similar care is expected in return.
The Essence of Judo
Kyuzo Mifune and his students demonstrate Judo.
Muay Thai enjoys an increasing popularity as a competitive sport, form of self defense, and fitness exercise. Whether you’re a beginner wanting to get into shape or an advanced student ready to fight and hone your skills, Muay Thai is an efficient striking art that will develop your stamina, power, and techniques.
Rules
Thai boxing is subject to strict rules and regulations. Amateur and professional bouts are classified by weight divisions. Fights are carried out with 8-ounce gloves; heavier divisions use 10-ounce gloves. Athletes must use mouth guards, groin protectors, and sometimes elastic bandages around the foot joints. Amateurs must also use head guard and shin guards.
Required gear: 16-ounce gloves, headguard, shin guard, hand wraps, mouthpiece
Professional fights go through five rounds of 3-minutes each. Between rounds there is a 2-minute break.
The opponent can be hit, kicked, and pushed with any parts of the body except the head. The body weapons utilize by Muay Thai are hands, elbows, knees, and feet. An attack may not be directed toward the genitals, the back of the body, or the eyes. A down opponent cannot be hit.
Holding on to the ropes, or intentionally turning one’s back is not allowed; neither is tossing opponents with Judo techniques. Biting, spitting, and verbal abuse are also not permitted.
Ceremonies
Whai Khru and Ram Muay are dance ceremonies performed by the athletes before the fight. Whai Khru is a form of greeting that lets the fighters express their respect for the ring. It is followed by Ram Muay, which combines different dance styles. Through its performance, the fighters honor their trainer and their gym.
Stamina Training
As a physically demanding sport, cardiovascular conditioning are required to practice Muay Thai. The technique drills are enough to develop stamina, but pro fighters also train with running, swimming, bicycling, and other forms of exercises.
Power Training
Muay Thai requires conditioned trunk-muscles that are capable of withstanding many hits. Push ups, sit-ups and pull-ups are necessary to strengthen the stomach and the lower back muscles. Strong neck muscles are required to lower the impact of hits to the head.
Nutrition
For better energy, fitness, concentration, and recuperation, proper diet and food selection is a must. Eat complex carbohydrates, and avoid simple carbs found in sweets and soft drinks.
Basic Techniques
Punches
The punch techniques in Muay Thai were originally quite simple being crosses and a long (or lazy) circular strike made with a straight (but not locked) arm and landing with the heel of the palm. Cross-fertilization with Western boxing and western martial arts mean the full range of western boxing punches are now used (jab, straight right/cross, hook, uppercut, shovel and corkscrew punches plus overhand or bolo punches).
Jab
Cross
Hook
Uppercut
Spinning backfist
Superman punch
Kicks
The Muay Thai angle kick has been widely adopted by fighters from other martial arts. The angle kick uses a rotational movement of the entire body. The angle kick is superficially similar to a karate roundhouse kick, but omits the rotation of the lower leg from the knee used in other striking martial arts like Karate or Taekwondo. The angle kick draws it’s power entirely from the rotational movement of the body. Many Muay Thai fighters use a counter rotation of the arms to intensify the power of this kick.
Leg Kick
Body Kick
Inside Leg
Front Kick
Knees
The straight knee (also known as a front knee) is a typical knee strike, and involves thrusting the front of the knee into the head or body of an opponent. A flying knee (known as hanuman thayarn in Muay Thai, and sometimes called a jumping knee) is a knee strike very similar to a front knee, except that it is performed in stand-up fighting by jumping, and often by rushing towards the opponent.
Stright Knee
Flying Knee
Elbows
The elbow can be used in seven ways: horizontal, diagonal-upwards, diagonal-downwards, uppercut, downward, backward-spinning and flying. From the side it can be used as either a finishing move or as a way to cut the opponent’s eyebrow so that blood might block his vision. The blood also raises the opponent’s awareness of being hurt which could affect his performance. This is the most common way of using the elbow. The diagonal elbows are faster than the other forms, but are less powerful. The uppercut and flying elbows are the most powerful, but are slower and easier to avoid or block. The downward elbow is usually used as a finishing move.
The Beginning
2 Years ago, I was a fat-ass and un-athletic. Mountain Dew, Doritos, and coding were the way of life. Even though I enjoyed my career in programming, something was missing in the world I inhabited. Tired of feeling tired all the time, I decided to learn martial arts. Why not? I loved kung-fu movies. Plus, as a kid, I always wanted to be a ninja assassin.
I decided to follow my bliss; here was the result:
Back to When the Quest Began
So I took the plunge… I started training in the oldest form of martial arts in China - Shuai Jiao:
I struggled from the start. I found it difficult to learn the basic techniques. Frustrated, all I learned was how out-of-shape I was.
Prepare for the Journey
Had I known what I know now, I would have worked on my cardio and endurance first. A strong cardiovascular and legs would have allowed me to pick up the techniques quicker.
Step 1: Cardio
Work on your cardio right away. Start running. Run for 5 minutes. Then advance to 10, then 20, and so on. Do 30 second sprints between your runs.
Start hiking. It will develop your legs and thighs. (Strong legs and thighs are needed to generate strong punches, kicks, and takedowns.) I do a casual hike on the mountain, and whenever I encounter an uphill, I run it as fast as I can.
Note: Avoid running on pavement. It will mess up your knees. Run on the track or on ground. If you must run on the road, at least get a good running shoes.
Step 2: Strength
Do push ups and sit-ups. Start with 10 a day, then 20, and so on. Push-ups develop strong arms and shoulders that will be used for punching, grabbing, and lifting. Sit-ups develop a strong core/stomach. All energy comes from the core.
Footwork and balance are also important. Take a salsa or tap dancing class if you can:
Choosing Your Weapon
To become a well-rounded martial artist, here are the areas I constantly work on:
Cardio and conditioning
Striking
Takedowns
Wrestling and submissions
Being a good striker is not enough, when a wrestler can take you to the ground and pound your face with punches. Mastering all four is our main objective.
Step 3: Pick Your Primary Skill
You have the choice where your path begins. Do you favor punching and kicking? Or do prefer takedowns and throwing people to the ground? Or do you like working on your back, maneuvering to catch your opponent’s limb and break it? Whichever it is, you have to start somewhere.
Assemble the Team
The key to learning martial arts is finding a good school to train at. A good school not only has good teachers, but also good students and good program.
When I first started, I was intimidated to step into the class. What if I look foolish? What if they beat me up? What if? Of course it was silly to worry. In a good school, the black belt students are very helpful, especially when they saw I was giving them all my heart. They said, “It’s alright. We were once like you when we started.”
Taking Down the Ringwraiths
Frodo’s first challenge, along with Sam, Merry, and Pippin, was escaping the Ringwraiths. For me, my first challenge was learning Takedowns.
Step 4: Learn How to Takedown
For takedowns, you can either choose wrestling, judo, shuai jiao kung-fu, sambo. It doesn’t matter which one you pick. You are after the skillset.
I took Judo because there were not enough students in my Shuai Jiao class:
The Recovery at Rivendell
Learning mixed martial arts comes with pain, bruises, sprain, skin-burns, stubbed toes. I have to eat properly. No more junk food. I have to sleep 8 hours to rest. I have first aid kit, ointments, bandages ready all the time. Since I don’t have the care and protection of the half-elven Lord Elrond, I need to have health insurance in case accident happens.
Striking the Mines of Moria
After Rivendell, Frodo and the fellowship ended up in Moria and were attacked by orcs. For me, it was not Moria but Muay Thai - the art of the eight limbs. In its original form, Muay Thai consisted of an arsenal of nine weapons - the head, fists, elbows, knees and feet - known collectively as na-wa arwud. Although in modern Muay Thai, both amateur and professional, headbutting an opponent is no longer allowed. Muay Thai is unique in the way it uses all parts of the body, including the elbows and knees, for both training and competitions.
Step 5: Learn How to Strike
For striking, you can choose shotokan / kyokushin karate, taekwondo, shaolin long fist, muay thai, savate, silat, san shou, and so many more. You have lots of options.
Beaten by Balrog
Frodo’s fellowship was dealt a heavy blow when Gandalf fell into the abyss fighting the ancient demon creature Balrog. In martial arts, it is the same. Just like Frodo dealt with the loss, we too have to accept the blows. I had to learn it is okay to get hit. Once I accepted that, I learned how to relax. When relaxed, I learned not to get hurt. The body hurts more when it is tensed.
Submitting Sauron
Step 6: Learn How to Fight on the Ground
For submissions, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ) is the way to go.
Just like Mount Doom, BJJ’s learning curve is very steep. The key is learning how to relax. But how do you relax when an opponent is crushing you and trying to break your arm? For me it was tough… all I can do is practice-practice-practice.
Slaying the Dragon
Moyers: When I take that journey and go down there and slay those dragons, do I have to go alone?
Campbell: If you have someone who can help you, that’s fine, too. But, ultimately, the last deed has to be done by oneself. Psychologically, the dragon is one’s own binding of oneself to one’s ego. We’re captured in our own dragon cage. The problem of the psychiatrist is to disintegrate that dragon, break him up, so that you may expand to a larger field of relationships. The ultimate dragon is within you, it is your ego clamping you down.
The biggest lesson I learned from studying martial arts is that I still have a lot to learn. Martial arts was not about hurting other people. It is about improving myself and defeating the demons that keep me from learning and advancing. There were times when I thought I could beat everybody up. And then a 110 pound girl would school me at sparring. I was humbled, and I would train hard again to improve myself.
Step 7: Have Fun and Make Friends
When sparring, only hit as hard as your opponent wants to be. Try to match their intensity.
For me, it was important to accept that some people are better than me, and some are not. What’s more important is that we help each other out to slay the dragon.
The Journey Home - Lead us not into temptation. I’m too busy. There’s not enough time. I’m not feeling good. I’d rather watch TV. I have deadline tomorrow. I am good in coming up with excuses. So it is a constant struggle to train martial arts. It is easy to get frustrated and quit martial arts. It takes dedication. I remind myself not to stray from the path, not to lose my bliss, not to lose myself.
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