Shin Koo Hapkido

New blog about my Jiu-Jitsu Journey

2011-05-13T12:19:00.001-05:00

I've begun posting on a new blog and probably won't post to this one for a while. I'm documenting my thoughts as I progress in Jiu-Jitsu. http://joshjiujitsujournal.blogspot.com/

After a lot of consideration I have decided for personal reasons that a change is in order. I have the desire to be a student again and I feel the best path right now is Jiu-jitsu. I also have the desire to compete eventually.

I'm excited to start something new but also a little sad that Shin Koo Hapkido is going on hiatus.

www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Judo for Jiu-Jitsu Clinic

2010-09-30T09:23:00.000-05:00

This past weekend Craig and I visited Roseberry's dojo for a seminar. It was a good learning experience and a tough 4 hours. I got a couple of ideas from this that I'll be injecting into upcoming classes, so be prepared.

Check out the highlight video below. I only wish we had their mat area!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeG2Q7853-w

www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Message From Harmoni

2010-09-24T18:01:00.001-05:00

Harmoni sent me an update on how she is doing:

Hi! Good to hear from you!

While I have been waiting to start work (my first day is this coming
Monday) I have been busy getting to know DC and making this my new
home. One of the first things I did was join a gym. Moving all my
stuff up to my 3rd floor apartment was a good test of my arm strength
but after that was done my body really started craving a good workout.
I have been so used to doing Hapkido 3-4 times a week, running, and
lifting weights that my body didn't know what to do without it. I
wanted a gym that had a good set of free weights/machines, treadmills,
and an array of classes without the juice bar, tanning beds, and
beauty salon. I chose the Golds Gym on Capital Hill because it had
what I wanted and is 2 blocks from the National Mall so I can go
running outside. I still wanted to maintain my martial arts skills and
I found out that the gym offers a 6am Mixed Martial Arts Bootcamp
class M,W,F so I joined. It's a great workout with a mixture of
wrestling, jiu-jitsu, muay thai, and kickboxing. A lot of the
techniques I already know, but I'm working on my "shooting" wrestling
takedowns and doing a lot of strength and speed drills for punching &
kicking. The biggest difference is that everything is done by
ourselves instead of with a partner. It's also at a much faster pace
with less complicated techniques that require a lot of instruction. My
Hapkido background has been incredibly useful because I am familiar
with both stand up and ground fighting. So far I really enjoy the
class but we'll have to see how it works with my work schedule. I've
also been doing Pilates and cycling classes. I have only been to 2
pilates classes but each time I came in feeling sore and left feeling
stretched out and relaxed. I've also noticed that my posture has
improved because I feel like my ab and back muscles are stronger and
can keep my shoulders back.

I honestly haven't looked at any Hapkido or other Martial Arts schools
and I feel kind of guilty about this. The problem is that I know I
won't be able to find a school that can replace what I had with Mr.
Cather so I'm avoiding the disappointment. I'm sure there are a lot of
great schools here but it won't be the same and so I have it in my
head that it wont be as good. I know I need to get over this so I can
continue on with my training in some form. I'd hate to lose what I've
worked so hard to learn. I also feel like I'm open to trying different
martial arts to see what others have to offer that could compliment
what I already know. I think it may be easier to start over in a
different martial art than to try to re-learn a modified version of
what I already know. The problem is I really like Hapkido! I like
Hapkido because it's versatile and focused on self-defense. I think
that's why I gravitated towards this MMA class. The only thing I don't
like about this class is that it's part of a gym and not a school so I
feel like it's more for exercise than learning martial arts. I know
there are MMA schools in the area but I'm not looking to be trained
for UFC! In sum, I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about my
martial arts training in DC :) I'll keep you posted!

http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Be a blob (and other visualizations)

2010-09-21T01:19:00.000-05:00

Two times during classes this past week I told students to be more like a blob and I didn't mean that the student should be lazy or fat. The concept that I was really trying to convey is that they needed to keep constant pressure, drop their weight, and don't give your opponent the chance to escape. We were working on Armbar #1 and it seems to be common when the technique is not working for the student to lift their weight up into their chest and then try to come down on the opponent.

You can tell that this is happening when the student is up on the balls of their feet looking really top heavy. This is no real fault of the beginner student, it seems like the natural thing to do to put more of your body weight behind the technique. However, this usually results in accomplishing the opposite desired effect, by actually relieving pressure on the jointlock and putting the student off balance.

Think of yourself as being more grounded and sinking into the ground like a blob from the 1950's horror movie. Lower your center, bend your knees, constant steady pressure until your opponent is down.

Another aspect of being a blob is when you have to transition into either another technique or to a hold on the ground. There should be a seamless act that keeps the pressure on them and doesn't give them a chance to get out of your hold. Best example of this is when we have taken them down with the armbar and we need to transition to the shoulder pin. Any opportunities you give your opponent to get up, roll over, or drag you down with them they are going to take. By any means necessary you must keep that pressure as you slide your knee behind their shoulder blade and lock their arm out.

This also is in line with the water principle. How water will find the weaknesses in the hardest of rock, seep into the cracks and crevasses and eventually engulf it. The blob having more substance to it may seem like a more tangible visualization for some people. Another good one that I've heard is thinking about the anaconda snake and how the more you struggle the tighter it gets.

Something I have read and experienced is that really good ground fighters seem to ooze all over their opponents on the mat. That might sound pretty gross but to me it's a good interpretation of what's happening. In many cases it's like you can't breath, they take up the spaces that you open up, they are constantly applying pressure and improving their position until you are enveloped and put into a choke or submission of their choosing.

http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Had a great week in class Aug 24th, 26th, 28th

2010-08-31T18:56:00.000-05:00

Seems like attendance is really picking up. We've had new students Devan, Demon, Mark, and Kieth join our school recently. Also it's been great having some Taekwondo visitors in the Saturday classes. Trying to keep the classes balanced so I don't focus completely on beginner stuff and I also set aside enough time to work with more senior students has been a challange.

To sum up the week we did a lot of learning how to fall and basics like natural stance, palm block, mount escape, etc. We also did some punch avoidance and sparring with the helmets. And an introduction to hip throws.

It's great to have so many people in class, the downside is I don't get to personally work with everyone as much as I'd like to.

http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Aug 21st GroundFighting and Jointlock Class

2010-08-21T16:21:00.000-05:00

Had a great class this morning. It seems like attendance is turning back around.

Participants: Mike, Craig, Harry, Devon, Greg, Keith

Groundfighting: We warmed up with side control reversals and changing partners 30 seconds each. We broke into partners and worked on whatever each group wanted to. We finished with some sparring.

Open Class: Started off with transitions from a straight arm lock moving into several techniques such as Elbow Extention Lock to Pullover Takedown to Twist Throw or going to Step Under Twisting Lock and then doing comealong and armbar from there.

We finished with the wrist grab flow drill. Here is a video that I have done in the past:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XGNM_nmpsw

http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

August 19th 2010

2010-08-19T23:56:00.000-05:00

Had a great class tonight. It was Harmoni's last night and we're sorry to see her go.

Participants: Harmoni, Matt, AJ, Demon

Started off the class with some body conditioning. After stretching we did some defenses from a sitting position.

For the remainder of the class we worked on knife defense with partners. Building from just evading to controlling the weapon to techniques. Then we did defenses against a knife when you are against a wall. Finally we did knife on knife.

To finish up class we did some sparring by numbers. Each of us had a number and when called with another person's number they would spar.

www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Saturday August 4th Ground Fighting and Open Class

2010-08-14T16:03:00.000-05:00

Haven't written on here in a while. The internet has taken a back seat to work and trying to spend time with my family.

Had a great class today. 8 people showing up to ground fighting and jointlocks is monumental for us. Started with some side mount reversals and escapes. We worked a lot of basics and some progressions into other techniques after sweeping from guard. Thanks to all of the Taekwondo people that showed up today. It's good to get some new bodies on the mat.

In Jointlocks pretty much focused on Armbar #2, Vertical wristlock, and wrist throw. Did variations and transitions from a shoulder clothing grab and fighting stance. Hopefully class size continues to grow.

www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Hapkido Boot Camp a Success, a New Blue Belt and New Class Addition

2010-04-15T23:24:00.000-05:00

The Hapkido bootcamp that we ran was a great experience. For 5 days 4-9 of us met early in the morning 5:30 -7:30 Monday through Wednesday for everyone and then 6:00-7:30 Thursday and Friday for Advanced. I was very pleased that all students put forth a great effort at all times.

You can read about what we did each day on our facebook page: Shin Koo On Facebook

We also took some pictures on Wednesday that can be viewed here: Bootcamp Slideshow

In the midst of the Bootcamp's 8 workouts in 6 days we had a tough spur of the moment blue belt testing for Matt which he passed. Congratulations Matt!

Due to the success of the bootcamp and the fact that I've been wanting one more class per week we will be having Monday morning workouts starting this Monday the 19th of April. It will go from 6:00-7:30 AM.

http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Curriculum Video Vertical Wrist Lock

2010-03-29T08:58:00.001-05:00

Vertical Wrist Lock puts twisting pressure on the wrist. It is one of our most painful techniques. Beginners learn this lock from Initiating, Sleeve Grab, Shoulder Grab, and Chest Grab. Transitions to and from this technique coming soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NUeuijU3xE

http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Curriculum Evolution

2010-03-17T01:20:00.002-05:00

For the last several months I have been working on a reorganization of our curriculum. The purpose of the change is mostly about the order in which things were taught rather than adding or subtracting techniques.

One major change is getting away from the emphasis on defending against wrist grabs. In its place starting with what I call "initiating techniques". Basically I'm moving the attacking techniques that were in the original curriculum at Brown belt to white belt. To me these techniques are easier to learn and more practical. To further ingrain these techniques they are also taught using clothing grabs. I've taken 5 jointlocks to teach beginners (Armbar #1, Armbar #2, Vertical Wrist Lock, Wrist Throw, and Pushover take down). For Instance, after a student learns how to initiate armbar #1 then they learn how to use it against various clothing grabs (chest, sleeve, shoulder, etc). Once the student is familiar with the core techniques the next step is to learn transitions between these techniques. This shows the student how to flow from one technique to another.

Another change to the curriculum is how the techniques align with the belts. When I was trying to align the techniques I kept running into the problem of putting too much into some belts and not enough into others. I felt so many things were important for a base. I didn't like the idea that students had to wait until green belt to learn clothing grab defenses which could be up to a year away. The answer that I came up with was to lump the belts together. Beginner (White/Yellow/Orange), Intermediate (Green/Blue), Advanced (Purple, Brown). The techniques for the curriculum are then broken up into these three groups. So a white belt has the potential for knowing just as much as an orange belt. The Orange belt should be more polished and be proficient in everything while the white belt may be just familiar with the concepts. There will not be formal testings from white to yellow or yellow to orange. However, from Orange to Green (beginner to intermediate) there will be a formal testing. The in between belts are up to my discretion based on time and proficiency just from observation in class.

Finally I have incorporated more emphasis on Ground escapes/defense/fighting into the curriculum. This was in the curriculum before but it was limited to one belt rank. I feel that escapes from bad positions like side mount and mount are very important for a beginner to know.
These ideas line up more with the way that I currently teach. I've always found it difficult to stick strictly to a curriculum. This approach allows me more leeway while teaching but also gives the student structure around what is expected of them.

To download curriculum PDFs please visit our curriculum page here: http://shinkoohapkido.com/curriculum.shtml
Here are some example videos.

Josh
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Attempt at a Martial Arts Email Scam

2010-03-02T10:44:00.001-06:00

I recently had a back and forth email exchange with an individual that is definitely a scam. Here is the first email I received. I put his emails in blue and mine in orange.

Hi,

My name is Mr John Trimberger, I want to make inquiry for availability for private lesson of Martial art training for 12 students in the Month of May 2010.

Number of students: 12

Period of training: 1 month

Month Of training: May 2010

Hours per day: 3 hours every day from Monday to Friday

Get back to me with your total cost for the said lesson

Regards,

John

This email kind of got me excited. It would be a pretty cool opportunity to work with 12 brand new students every week day for a month. Just to see how quickly the process would happen and I think I would also improve by working out so much and grow as an instructor. So I sent him an email back and his response below:

I am intrigued by your request but I really don't have the time capabilities to handle something like this. I would consider meeting at 5:30 am each morning and working out for an 1 1/2 hours or so. But with my regular class, my job, and family engagements 3 hours a day is not possible.

If you will consider meeting at the times I've specified above I would charge $300 per person.

Please tell me more about yourself. What are your goals with this month long training course? Are the people in this group athletic and/or do they have martial arts experience? Generally it takes a new student a few classes to get used to the training. Falling, jointlocks, kicking, etc can all be a bit of a shock to the body if they are not used to these things. What happens after the month is over, will there be continued training? What about Hapkido interests you? Are you interested more in self defense?

Let me know if you have any questions of me. You are also welcome to come try out a class to make sure that it is what you are looking for.

Thanks for your consideration
-Josh Cather

And his response...

Hello,

Thanks for your email,
The students would be coming from Liverpool UK
Their age is as follows
15
15
15
15
17
17
17
17
18
18
18
18
They are still new students and have no experience.
I will like you to be training them 2 hours every day from Monday to Friday for period of 4 weeks. So get back to me with the total cost for the entire lesson for the group so that I can conclude with their sponsors before payment is made to you to secure the booking.

Regards,

John

I was a little leery because of his poor English and he didn't answer any of my questions. I thought about this some more and discussed it a little with my wife and some other people. I decided to make a really high offer just because of the strain this would have on me and my family.

Hello John thank you for considering me for this opportunity,

I have been giving this some thought. For this size of class, amount of time, and the strain that it will put on my life I think my first offer will be $5000. We must do this early in the morning at least 5:30 AM. You do realize that I live in Lincoln, NE USA correct? I found out there is a Lincoln UK and I just want to be sure that you don't think my school is there.

Please answer the following questions below so I know what is expected of my class:

1. What are your goals with this month long training course? What should the students take away from my course. I'm thinking we can cover quite a bit and get a good base in Hapkido, but I'm not sure if there are other goals or expectations. They will not be black belts in a month.

2. In today's society there is always concern of training the wrong people. Is there anything that you can tell me to confirm that I will not be training terrorists or anything of that nature?

3. What happens after the month is over, will there be a potential for continued training?

4. How did you find my school? (Website, word of mouth, etc)

5. What do you like about my school?

6. Is the group interested in Martial arts/Hapkido or is this part of a bigger program where they may not be excited about participating?

-Josh Cather

To which he responded, now this is where the sirens and red flags went up.

Hello,

Thanks for your mail. I appreciate your commitment towards the success of this project. I am going to send you the credit card for the sign up proper. In view of this ,we have organize the service of logistic agent who will organize and arrange their travel,accommodation and other associated Logistic needs

Once you are in receipt of the credit card details, you are authorized to charge the total of $9,000.00,You keep $2,000.00 for deposit cost of your services to the group and send the balance of $7,000.00usd to the agent for his own deposit through bank transfer. This measure was taken because the agent has no POS for credit card payment and the fund for the entire arrangement have already been paid and mapped out in the credit card account. The remaining balance of your cost will be completed on our arrival.

Its my wish that this procedure be maintained. If this is well taken I would like to have your confirmation mail before I send over the details to you.Provide me with the following details for proper documentation.
I hope i can trust you on this.

The Full name of the manager
Address/Phone number

1. What are your goals with this month long training course? What should the students take away from my course. I'm thinking we can cover quite a bit and get a good base in Hapkido, but I'm not sure if there are other goals or expectations. They will not be black belts in a month. Getting a good base in Hapkido is sufficient for the students

2. In today's society there is always concern of training the wrong people. Is there anything that you can tell me to confirm that I will not be training terrorists or anything of that nature? LoL They are just New Students and want to have Holiday training

3. What happens after the month is over, will there be a potential for continued training? Yes Basically on Holidays period

4. How did you find my school? (Website, word of mouth, etc) I got it from A friend

5. What do you like about my school? Your school is good and nice

6. Is the group interested in Martial arts/Hapkido or is this part of a bigger program where they may not be excited about participating? they are interested in Martial arts/Hapkido

Cheers

John Trimberger

Ugh, I should have known. Some type of money scam. I'm not totally sure how it works or how they get their money but there is no way that I am going to accept money and then deposit it somewhere else. There is definitely something fishy here. I did some searching on google and found this site that had the exact same emails that I had. http://www.nhbgear.com/forum/index.php?topic=93720.0

I am surprised that he responded to my questions. This did get me thinking however that I should try to do some type of Hapkido Bootcamp. Maybe a week long instead of a month. Get a boost in my students' training.

I contacted Snopes and they sent me this link: http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/cashier.asp. It doesn't mention martial artists specifically but it is the same result.

Joshua Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Linear vs Non-Linear Training

2010-01-31T18:35:00.002-06:00

I know traditionalists (in any subject matter) prefer linear training/teaching, moving from start to finish like a book. I am a person who likes to mix things up a bit. Typically, I use a combination of linear and non-linear, i.e. following teaching methods from start to finish with some time spent on areas of particular interest. This helps keep me motivated, interested, and challenged.

What are some thoughts on the pros and cons of linear/non-linear training?

www.ShinKooHapkido.com

self-defense

2009-11-14T17:04:00.001-06:00

I have been thinking about this question a lot lately and I’d like to hear people’s opinions. It’s not an easy question with an easy answer. I’m coming at this from a women’s self-defense perspective, but I think it can apply to men as well. There’s certainly a lot of pressure for men to defend themselves on a daily basis – the difference is usually the situation.

My question is, “How do we balance the need to have complete confidence in our ability to defend ourselves while still acknowledging the reality that we may not be able to?”

What I mean by having complete confidence in our ability to defend ourselves is that we need to have the mental mindset that we can protect ourselves or someone we love. We need to believe it is possible so that we will actually try. If we don’t believe we are worth defending, that we have the right to defend ourselves, or that we have the ability to defend ourselves, chances are we won’t. I do not mean that we have some false confidence that we think we can defeat anyone put in our path, because honestly we are bombarded with the exact opposite message everyday in the news, on TV, in movies, through true stories told by others or personally experienced, etc. Which leads to my second point – the reality is there are so many situations where women are hurt every day.

How do we avoid a defeatist mentality where we give up before a situation even presents itself?

How do we avoid blaming the victim for not protecting herself, when really, why should she be put in a situation where she has to?

This is something I struggle with as a martial artist because I feel like I have learned valuable self-defense skills that I should be able to apply in a real situation, but what if I don’t or cant? We talk about the unpredictability of self-defense situations and how no technique is perfect. Yet, I feel a sense of expectation, especially as I advance through the ranks, that I should be able to defend myself. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing – like I said we need to have that confidence. But, do we put too much pressure on ourselves and our abilities?

Which leads me back to my original question, “How do we balance the need to have complete confidence in our ability to defend ourselves while still acknowledging the reality that we may not be able to?”

I look forward to your responses,

Harmoni

May 2009 Technique of the Month - Self Defense from Arm Behind Back Up Against a Wall

2009-05-04T11:05:00.004-05:00

Probably the longest title I've had thus far for a video. After our recent self defense class I sent out the questionnaire that you saw in my previous post. I had further discussions with one of the participants and she asked me about a scenario.

"If you are attacked and you have one arm pinned behind your back and you are
pushed up against a car or wall...... what do you do?"

I sent her back an email saying some possiblities and what I thought would be the best possible reactions to the situation. While I was writing the email I kept thinking, I wish I could just show her. Duh, I make videos at least once a month for Hapkido!

We did a little experiement with Harmoni and Lacy. It turned out to be some really good training and hopefully an eye opener. I realize that it is difficult to train with the realizm of a situation and I obviously don't want to hurt my students, but I think this was good training all the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J6rROHpE4M

Joshua Cather

http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Another Successful Women's Self Defense Class

2009-04-14T22:50:00.006-05:00

I'd like to thank all of my fellow martial artists that came out to help with the self defense class Monday (April 14th). Thank you Craig, Harmoni, Hilary, Mike, and Norman for making the class a success.

I sent out a survey to the participants and here are some of the comments that I got back. I randomly alternated the color of the comments so you can tell when it is a different person.

In light of some of the comments below I will be thinking of some changes to the self defense class. One being either another class for defense against weapons or to incorporate weapon defense into the current class. I'm thinking about saving up for a redman suit as well, wouldn't that be cool!

What did you not like about the class?
Burning my elbows

Nothing, I learned even more and it was good to work on the moves I already knew.

Nothing, I thought it was great and informative.

I can't think of anything.

I can't really think of anything.

What did you like?
It was a great class---the most important part of the class, in my opinion, was being able to actually apply the techniques with full force, etc. It's extremely empowering.The class was both fun and more informative/helpful than I expected.

The instructor! Everything was helpful.

The actual practice of the self-defense moves. I think this is invaluable!

I liked kicking and elbowing Bob.I liked that the other students were women

I liked the discussion at the beginning, and how well you and all the helpers put us at ease and made us feel comfortable. And how you encouraged us that is was ok to stand back if we weren't comfortable with something. It was great.

Was the description of the class provided accurate?
Very, and it was helpful to know what to expect.

All other respondents said "Yes"

Did you feel that the instructors were approachable and gave good feedback?
Several "Definitely" and "Yes" responses

Yes, they were very good and I felt that I really learned how to do the movements so they would be effective. They gave great advice and were patient in showing the technique until you got it. definitely, all of them were great.

Was there anything that you would like to see in future classes that we did not cover?
Defending yourself against people with weapons

More techniques of breaking away from holds. I still think I might not be strong or tough enough to break free.

I think I would just like to see follow up classes or maybe have this class done quarterly throughout the year. I would like to take a class with my daughter every year as a refresher.

I'd like to have more safety tips and suggestions.

Maybe what some good options are if an attacker has a weapon?

Would you consider coming back to another class?
Definitely!!!

All Other respondents said "Defininetly" or "Yes"

Are you interested in any other martial arts?
I would definitely enjoy it and may get into it in the future. I would have to give something else up first ;-)

I know I need to find a way to workout, not sure what is best for me at this time.

I am considering taking classes.

??I don't know

Any other comments?
The class was great and I learned a lot. I would be interested in taking more classes. I would like to do more scenarios where I could practice actually using more force (I didn't want to hurt one of your nice instructors).

What you do is extremely important and I'm thankful I made it to your class. Thank you.

I always walk away feeling more confident and stronger. Also that I am not in as bad of shape as I thought.

I really want to thank you for having the class! It was great and I have been telling everyone about it. I am forwarding your email on to others and hope that more of my friends and co-workers will attend. I feel that I learned a lot and it was also a great learning experience for my daughter.

Just Thank you !!!

Great job. I will definitely recommend future classes to my friends.

I have several friends who wish they would have taken it with me, so if you offer it again, please let us know, so I can bring them.

http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Breaking the Power of 10 (Pull Update 3)

2009-04-09T00:13:00.005-05:00

I began to hit a plateau in my pullup count a couple of weeks back. Generally I do sets of pull-ups throughout the day a couple before work a couple when I come home from lunch etc. With these sets I'm not going to exhaustion but rather until I think I may have one more left in me if I push it.

I was looking at my logs and I realized I had written 10 for a majority of my reps. I realized that I was giving the number 10 too much power. It just seems like a nice whole number to finish on, so much more mathematically pleasing to the eye than 9 or 11.

I wasn't doing as many pullups as I should have. When I started out on my quest to 20 I could do around 6 to 8. Quickly I was doing 10 consistently and I felt like I had accomplished something. When that wore off I reevaluated why I wasn't progressing anymore.

I decided I wasn't going to stop at 10 and made my new number 12. I was amazed at how much my brain liked to stop at the number 10, but each time I got on the bar I told myself "I'm going to 12!" and I was able to do it. Now I'm thinking of bumping my min rep number up to 15.

I did a max on Chin-ups of 18 on Sunday. I just did 15 wide grip this morning. After 20 my goal is for 50!

What does this mean for my Hapkido students? All too often we do exercises where I stop at a measly 10 on each side. You know it's coming you're not worried about any extra. Well be forewarned the number 10 no longer has power in our Dojang.

-Joshua Cather

http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

April 2009 Technique of the Month - Recovering from a Takedown

2009-04-03T11:23:00.002-05:00

This month we "Tackled" ways to recover from takedowns. Basically getting your legs between you and your attacker and then standing up safely. In addition we show recovering from a shoulder throw and a leg takedown. Then some class time at the end where we kicked the crap out of each other's legs and knees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4wZWUh1Z-Q

http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Interview with Josh Cather

2009-03-27T22:19:00.004-05:00

1. Mr. Cather, you are the owner of Shin Koo Hapkido located in Lincoln, NE. Are you owner and instructor, as well?

I share the school with two Taekwondo instructors that were in the building before me. I was training with them off and on and finally we decided that it would be okay for me to partner with them and teach my own class there. I really do it for the love of the art and teaching.

2. Do you employ any other instructors to assist you?

Not currently. Craig Willeke helps teach ground fighting on Saturday mornings, but he does it for the workout and the camaraderie.

3. Where does Hapkido come from, and why was it developed?

The basic make up of Hapkido comes from two base martial arts of Daito Ryu Aiki Jutsu (Japanese jointlocks and throws) and Taek-Kyun (Korean Kicks and striking). Choi Yong Sul is said to have brought Daito Ryu Aiki Jutsu from Japan and spread this martial art under the name Yoo-Sool (Also Yoo-Kwon-Sool and Yawara)

Ji Han Jae trained under Choi and took Yoo-Sool and mixed it with Taek-Kyun and some weapons techniques and coined the name Hapkido. This can be a controvercial topic as many claim that Choi is the founder of Hapkido. I agree that Choi is a great man but it has been documented that he never changed his martial arts from the original Daito Ryu curriculum while Ji made the martial art more complete. If anything we study Ji’s original brand of Hapkido.

As to “why” I am not sure. Ji was in charge of training the Korean Secret Service at one point. I feel that it just made sense to tie Taek-kyun and Yoo-sool together to make a fairly complete martial art.

4. What does Hapkido's principles and techniques hope to accomplish?

I will cite the meaning of Hapkido “The Way of Coordinated Power.” Our major objective is to unify the mind and the body. The three theories of Flowing like Water, Circular Motion, and Harmony/Nonresistance lay the ground work for how to use the techniques to accomplish this goal.

In a less theoretical sense I find Hapkido to strive to meet the needs of any type of self defense situation. Several of the techniques can be used in a variety of ways from disabling to subduing to escaping the situation. It is a martial art that would be useful for men and women, police officers, military, bouncers, etc.

5. How does Hapkido compare to other martial arts; some pros and cons?

The answer to this question will be biased depending on who you talk to. My goal is to present and teach Hapkido as practical martial art for self defense. I strive for my students to be successful in any situation that they may need to defend themselves. This exposes the student to kicking, striking, grappling, throwing, ground fighting weapons, etc. This can also be a con because learning to defend yourself from all of these different ranges takes longer than just focusing on one like many martial arts do.

6. Why do you believe Hapkido is for you and your students?

My answers to the last 2 questions pretty much sums this up. A big part of me practicing Hapkido to this day is due to an awesome instructor, Mr. Michael Burnett. I believe that any martial art can be effective, but it is the teachers that pass it on that are more important than the system itself. I am thankful that I have a great teacher and I hope to follow in his footsteps.

7. How do you pronounce "student," "school," and, "teacher" in Hapkido's native language?

Student: Hak Seng
School: Kwan
Training Hall: Do Jang
Teacher: Kyo Sa Nim
Master: Sah Bum Nim

8. Does Hapkido require the practice of set movements, or katas?

That depends on your definition of Hyung (Korean for forms Kata is Japanese). You could consider our sets of jointlocks from wrist grabs as set movements. But if you are talking specific forms as in Taekwondo, our schools does not require forms to progress. I have taught some taekwondo forms to some students who were interested and I have tried to convert a couple forms to be more Hapkido like but I have not made a move to teach them along with the Hapkido curriculum. Some Hapkido organizations have them as part of their curriculum, we do not.

9. How is this beneficial?

Some of the major reasons for practicing forms are:

1. Catalog the curriculum so when you practice you cover all techniques

2. Something to perfect when working out alone

3. Requires balance, breath control, sometimes cardio, focus to do a form well

4. Can be good meditation when the moves are held in muscle memory

10. When new students visit your school I am sure they are filled with many questions. What are some common/frequent questions you are asked?

How long does it take to get the first belt or black belt?

What is your martial art background?

How long have you been teaching?

How much do classes cost?

11. Would you say males or females show greater interest in your school?

For a while it seemed like I was getting more females maybe because I was teaching the women’s self defense, now it’s about even.

12. And, what is it that a new student usually wants to learn?

All students are different. Some are interested in pure self defense. Some are interested in the full martial art and the tradition.

13. Would you say self defense, martial arts in general, physical or mental fitness, or something different?

I think self defense and martial arts in general. I don’t think someone would last long just looking for physical fitness.

14. When you accept a new student, what are the goals you would like to see the new student accomplish?

My goal is to be true to myself and the art and pass it to my students the best that I can. I want all of my students to learn an effective way to defend themselves and gain confidence in their ability. I also hope to help the student accomplish their own personal goals.

15. What dynamics do you believe a new student can bring to your school, your students, and you as the instructor?

The more people you work with on the techniques the more likely you will be able to apply them when attacked. Not everyone reacts 100% the same to every technique. The same holds true for attitude and aggression. The more you work with different types of people the better.

As for my teaching, the more times I can relate the same information to different students the better I learn and internalize the information.

16. With this process in reverse, what dynamics do you think the new student can experience?

I want my new students to feel welcome and become a part of the family so to speak. Hopefully this whole new world of knowledge will open up to them.

17. By the way, how long have you been teaching Hapkido?

I was looking at my resume the other day and I have on their since 2001. I started helping my first instructor by teaching a Taekwondo kids’ class. After that I taught out of my garage and in a student’s basement and finally teamed up with some awesome Taekwondo instructors after working out with them for a year or so. We now share the school and it has been going really well.

18. Is it the only martial art that you have received training?

I started in Taekwondo in 1991 then Hapkido in 1993. I received my 2nd Degree in TKD in 1995 and my 3rd degree in Hapkido in 2005. I have been to a couple of Karate schools and some Jui-Jitsu classes just to visit the schools and make friends and contacts with fellow martial artists.

19. What initially drew you to learning Hapkido?

I didn’t feel challenged by the Taekwondo school I was with at the time. I wanted to learn something different. A friend that I worked with was going to check out Mr. Burnett’s class and I went with him. I was hooked from there on out.

20. Do you sometimes find yourself as that young, inexperienced student when you first began learning the martial art of Hapkido?

It’s hard to remember that far back. I struggle with some of my new techniques with weapons and such. Sometimes working with ground fighting or with Mike Catron I work on something I haven’t done before and I feel less coordinated than usual.

When I started teaching in a way I felt like I was starting over again. I had to learn the techniques well enough to teach them. I found it very difficult at first to relate some of the information to my students.

21. Would you say you are still a student?

Definitely! I still feel like I have a lot to learn. Maybe not the same learning as my students but I have epiphanies or learn some things in spurts. Sometimes I come up with a new drill or exercise that brings home a theory or puts a technique into perspective that I didn’t think about before. I watch a lot of videos and read books trying to learn from them.

22. Has your passion as a student for Hapkido changed, and has the direction of your Hapkido ambitions changed, as well? How has this affected you as an instructor?

I feel I’m still trying to figure out what type of teacher I want to be. Sometimes I get crazy ideas in my head that I think will revolutionize Hapkido. Sometimes I want to throw the belt system away. Sometimes I want to teach my students how to write Korean and say all of the techniques in Korean. I try to keep a happy medium of tradition and innovation. I think I am on to something great and will hopefully continue down that path with our Hapkido.

23. How do you see yourself as an instructor, or describe what kind of instructor you believe yourself to be.

I’m the type of person that likes to know the “why” when it comes to a technique or theory. When I teach I think it is important to convey the “why”. I think so often there are instructors that go through the motions and just keep practicing techniques for the sake of tradition. I want to understand the technique and decide if and how much it is worth practicing. Hopefully my students realize that I have a reason for everything that we do and they trust me.

I encourage my students to ask questions about Hapkido and why we do certain techniques or hold certain philosophies. Of course there is a good time and way to ask questions. The middle of class is not always the best time to stop for a discussion and saying something to the affect of “This wouldn’t work” is not very constructive.

I really like to use analogies when I teach to relate the information in a way that the student can understand and apply the information. I have heard other people comment on this as being one of my strengths.

Hopefully my students see me as someone they can trust. Not only to teach them a martial art but also as a friend and someone that they can come to for advice.

24. Now, Hapkido means, "The way of coordinated power," when translated from Hangul (Korean) to English. In your own words, what does Hapkido mean?

For someone that doesn’t know anything about Hapkido the standard answer from me is: Hapkido is a Korean martial art that encompasses a wide range of practical self-defense techniques including punching, striking, kicking, joint locks, ground fighting, weapons techniques, and the mental and health benefits of meditation, acupressure, and the development of ki.

25. More personally, what does Hapkido mean to you?

It’s become more than a martial art that I do as a hobby. I consider it to be a major influence on my life and one of my defining characteristics. For me the martial art goes beyond a set of techniques put together. I consider it my way of life and I feel it has shaped the person that I am today. It has helped me come out on top in my personal life several times over.

26. What do you enjoy most about being an instructor?

I like seeing the growth in my students as they progress. It’s really becoming self evident in Harmoni. When I look back at some of the video tape that I have of her she has progressed leaps and bounds. She is representing Hapkido the way that I think my students should.

27. When you are instructing a particular student on a movement, what are you trying to accomplish?

I display the technique how it should be done at a normal pace and explain some of the best applications and possible targets for the technique. If it is a new movement for them I try to break the technique into bite sized chunks. For instance on a side kick I usually teach the chamber first and do only that for a while then move on to the actual kick when the chamber is where I want it. The first time they learn a technique I try to be careful not to overload with too much information and just get the basic large motor skills across. The details come with practice and further instruction.

28. What are some tips you have found successful and useful?

Realize that every student learns differently and what might make one student go “oh yeah that makes sense” might make another student’s eyes glaze over with confusion.

Students come and go and there is nothing I can do about it. When the first students that I taught quit I was very upset because I felt like I poured all of this knowledge into them and I wasted my time. I came to realize that I did gain knowledge and improved my teaching ability with them. Hopefully they took something away from my class that they can use in their lives.

29. How important is verbal and tactile communication?

I’d say the 80% of what you learn in Hapkido is through tactile communication. Words can only take you so far you have to feel what each technique is like when applied on you and when you apply it on someone else. There are times when my analogies help someone have that ah-ha moment but most things just need to be felt.

30. How do you define success as an instructor?

Many ways.

First and foremost: The satisfaction of my students. I like to hear when they feel they have improved or how Hapkido has made changes in their lives.

Second: Through recognition from my instructor and fellow martial artists. At the last testing all of the judges said that Harmoni and Matt should be promoted unanimously.

31. What accomplishments can one or all of your students obtain that would validate everything you do as an instructor, in other words give you that warm, fuzzy feeling inside?

I look forward to having my first black belt student, I think that will be a huge day for me and that student.

Groin Strikes Continued

2009-03-26T16:04:00.004-05:00

One more thought that I didn't cover in my last post is the proper use of force needs to be tailored to fit the situation.

Consider the following situations:

You are in between a home invader and your child's room.
Your brother is drunk and being obnoxious during the family Thanksgiving get together.
A police officer is arresting a passive resistant 60 year old man.
A 100 lb female is fighting to avoid being raped.

Different situations call for different techniques and different use of force. We shouldn't pigeon hole self defense or fighting to one definition/situation/scenario. Where a groin strike is perfectly acceptable in half of those situations the other 2 situations it would be excessive and could cause permanent damage.

Mr. Burnett responded to me and said it was an interesting topic. He said he never focused on it because of the reason I stated at number 5. He also brought up the potential for causing permanent damage to the person you are having a confrontation with.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

What No Groin Strikes?

2009-03-25T01:55:00.000-05:00

While we were conferring after the last testing. Craig brought up that Harmoni or Matt did not mention the groin as a pressure point or a vital area for striking. I gave this some thought and realized that this is primarily my fault. I don't necessarily exclude it from class on purpose but I tried to come up with some reasons as to why I wouldn't teach it often. Here is what I came up with:

1. My attitude that striking the groin is a dirty technique. Part of me has the romantic idea that martial artists should be held to a higher standard in a fight. It is nonsense that was probably ingrained in me from all of the martial arts movies over the years. In reality because it is a dirty technique it should be used.

2. They are not fun to practice. Granted we are not hitting each other but just the fact that someone is aiming there makes you have the cringe reflex.

3. I don't remember practicing them specifically that often with my instructor. There are specific defenses that result in a groin strike (some of the kick defenses come to mind)

4. It is an obvious target. I am an advocator of you'll resort to your training in a real situation. So if we do not practice striking to the groin will it not be available to us during a fight or is it such an obvious target that we would strike it if it presented itself.

5. It should be a target of opportunity and not the only technique in your arsenal. While teaching women's self defense classes I have heard women say "I would just hit him in the balls" While it is a statistically effective technique it is not guaranteed to work. Not to mention that your attacker is aware that it is one of his vulnerable spots and will be keen to guard it.

6. It is not on our pressure point charts. This is probably the number one reason that Matt or Harmoni did not mention it.

I will incorporate groin strikes more into future classes. Now that we have a BOB in the school it should be a little easier to practice full force.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Who are the Students?

2009-03-17T23:37:00.004-05:00

Everybody has a story. So, let's get to know the students of Shin Koo Hapkido. Read and reply to the questions below. Reply to as many or as few as you like.

I tried to leave it as open as possible, so as to not restrict you. Answer in any way you wish. The point is: let us get to know you. Enjoy!

One shot – describe who (insert your name) is.

What is your first name and how long have you been coming to Shin Koo Hapkido?

What are some hobbies you enjoy? What do you do in your spare time?

Who is your best friend, and how did you meet? Do you have more than one BF?

Share a funny memory.

What are you drawn to? What is your passion? What drives you?

What is something strange, quirky, or unknown about you that you would like people to know?

For what are you more commonly recognized?

Describe a day in your life.

Describe a perfect day in your perfect life. Be totally imaginative if you want and ignore the laws of man, physics, or anything else.

What is your current occupation or industry?

How old are you?

Where are you from?

What is it that you want to learn at Shin Koo Hapkido? Would you say self defense, martial arts in general, physical or mental fitness, or something different?

Is this the same as when you first began studying Hapkido or studying martial arts in general?

What are some goals you would like to accomplish via learning Hapkido or attending Shin Koo Hapkido?

What dynamics do you believe you, as a student, can bring to your school, your fellow students, and your instructor?

With this process in reverse, what dynamics do you think you can experience?

Is Hapkido the only martial art that you have received training?

What initially drew you to learning Hapkido?

Do you sometimes find yourself as that young, inexperienced student when you first began learning the martial art of Hapkido?

Would you say you are still a student?

Do ever find yourself in an instructor’s shoes even if it is for a few minutes?

Has your passion as a student for Hapkido changed, and has the direction of your Hapkido ambitions changed, as well?

How has this affected you?

How do you see yourself within context of Hapkido?

Now, Hapkido means, “The way of coordinated power,” when translated from Hangul (Korean) to English. In your own words, what does Hapkido mean?

More personally, what does Hapkido mean to you?

Do you have any closing remarks?

http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Congratulations Harmoni and Matt

2009-03-07T14:18:00.004-06:00

Harmoni and Matt both performed above expectations at the testing that we had today.

After warm-up and stretching I had them focus on striking and kicking with punch defenses and hitting pads. This is probably the biggest area for improvement for both. I need to focus more on the striking and kicking aspects when teaching. Of course everyone starts out a testing with the nerves bothering them a little bit. Things intensified after this piece.

Next I got the judges involved and we did some white and yellow belt jointlocks attacking Harmoni and Matt on differrent sides of the mat. As expected they had no troubles with these techniques and we went through pretty quickly.

Without a break, I had Harmoni take the center of the mat to do kick defenses against each of us in turn. She did well here, I think she forgot a few of the techniques but she persevered and didn't quit.

Then Matt took the center for throws. Matt's throws were the best I've seen him do and I don't think he had any problems. He earned the belt here.

Harmoni took the center again for clothing grabs against each of us which she excels at. No problems here.

Matt took the center for some throw like sparring kind of like Judo from a clinch. We didn't do all out sparring but gave him a hard time and tried to feed him or make him set up the throws. He did very well in this aspect as well.

In between the physical stuff I often had the students teach the judges a technique or explain principles of Hapkido. Their knowledge was spot on and it really showed that they listen to what I teach. I had them both talk about their rank material (Matt: Throws, Harmoni: Weapon Defense) I would like a little more confidence and more volume when they speak, so that is something to work on.

We finished up with some attacker and defender sparring. I saw some weak points in stand up and some things that we need to work on like the clinch and headlock escapes. But all in all a good showing from both. Neither quit as they fought each judge.

I know I don't always do a good job of showing it but I am pleased with the outcome of the testing. I am fortunate and proud to have hard working students like Harmoni and Matt. I would like to point out that all of the judges were unanamous when the decision came to promote or not, there was no question. I trust the opinion of the judges that I ask to help and if any one of them were to disagree with a promotion I would not promote the individual.

Please congratulate them on a great testing when you see them.

I'd also like to thank Mike Catron, Hilary Strom, Craig Willeke, Robert Wurth, and Shawn Labadie for coming in on a Saturday morning to help judge. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share soon from Mr. Wurth.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

March 2009 Technique of the Month - Techniques from an Escort Position

2009-03-07T01:33:00.002-06:00

These are a series of techniques that can flow from an escort position. Based on how they resist we give options. This is a portion of my ACTT (Assailant Control Tactics) program. This is pretty much what I taught at the ROTC seminar.

Escort -> Armbar ->Hammer/Elbow Lock
Escort -> Armbar ->Pushover Takedown
Escort -> Armbar ->Gooseneck
Escort -> Head Twisting Hold (Not taught in video but done in the class portion. Got to come up with a better name)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sdehj50BsM

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

ACTT ROTC Event Feb 2009

2009-02-28T01:12:00.005-06:00

We had a very successful seminar with the Air Force ROTC Thursday (Feb 26th, 2009). We mostly worked on jointlocks from an escort postion in groups of 3. I picked some techniques that would flow nicely together (Arm bar, Elbow/Hammer lock, Push Over take down, and Gooseneck). The group was very tentative and it seemed for the most part that everyone tried. Hopefully there are more of these to come.

To view other pictures click below:
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/ACTTROTC2-09slides.shtml

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Announcement: ACTT on Saturdays

2009-02-24T00:33:00.004-06:00

I have decided to change the name of the Joint Manipulation class on Saturday's to ACTT (Assailant Control Tactics and Techniques). This really won't be a huge change to the class. We will still focus on self defense and jointlocks as we have been. However, I'm working on a curriculum and thinking of a certification type structure to take this idea to the next level.

One idea that I had was to break the classes into groups:
Basic Striking and kicking
Jointlocks 1: Take downs and Pins
Jointlocks 2: Come Alongs and Throws
Jointlocks 3: Defense against common attacks
Ground Fighting 1: Escapes, Reversals from Bad positions
Ground Fighting 2: Submissions from Top
Ground Fighting 3: Submissions from Bottom
Knife and Gun Defense
Club/Stick Defense and Asp/Stick Offense

Each section would have a list of techniques and if someone were to miss one of the classes they could make up the class the next time we had it. Of course some of this should build on one of the previous classes and there may need to be prerequisites, not sure.

Let me know if you are interested in being a part of this creation or if you have any thoughts or ideas.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

February 2009 Technique of the Month - 2 on 1 Hapkido Sparring

2009-02-22T00:51:00.002-06:00

This marks the 24th Hapkido Technique of the month video. I have learned a lot in the past 2 years about teaching and presenting our Hapkido. Thanks for watching!

This is a continuation from our last sparring video. That same night we also did some 2 on 1 sparring with the same attacker defender format. Defending yourself against one person is difficult enough so multiple attackers raises the stakes much higher. The best self defense is to avoid a physical confrontation. However, there is nothing wrong with making yourself as prepared as possible for a situation like this.

Things to keep in mind with multiple attackers:
Movement is key, try to line up your attackers so you can face one at a time.
Stay off the ground and get up as quickly as you can.
Use your environment and any make shift weapons or shields that you can find.
Look for an escape route and pick the best possible time to run.
Either go for the perceived leader of the group or the weakest member of the group first and take them out as quickly as possible.
Be fierce with the objective of disabling your attackers.
Don't give up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9hjL0onxnU

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Hapkido Homework #2

2009-02-05T11:35:00.000-06:00

There are 2 parts to this week's homework.

The first is I would like you to do 10 Danjun breathings per day. For an explanation of Danjun breathing follow this link: http://shinkoohapkido.com/breath.shtml.

The second is to come up with some scenarios for sparring. Basically I want you to give us some realistic situations that you may have been in or heard about. Whether it is something like "You are walking from home and a strange person is following you in their car" or "I'm sitting in a restaurant and a guy confronts me about staring at his girl friend." Go out and be observant and see if you can pick up on possible situations around you as well.

I'm not suggesting that everyone live in a state of paranoia, but I find it thought provoking and fun to imagine wherever I am, "what if I were to be attacked here?" What in this environment can I use as a shield or a weapon, what are my best escape routes, etc. If you were attacked in a Barnes and Nobel would you defend yourself with a book, throw your hot coffee on them, distract them with the cover of the latest Maxim magazine?

Please email me 2 or 3 scenarios some time next week.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Funny Clips

2009-02-04T22:08:00.000-06:00

A couple clips that I thought you guys might enjoy:

Tai Chi Masters!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W1ym3yggR4&feature=email

Self Defense
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2REG3-Wb5gM

Jiu-Jitsu Self Defense Tips
(This one is actually quite good for the time period although the sound effects are funny at times)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmBg9nEnKU0

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Hapkido Homework #1

2009-01-29T10:27:00.005-06:00

I am going to post a weekly homework assignment for my students before Thursday class. This homework will just be something small to focus on outside of class and do with 5 or 10 minutes of your free time each day. It may be a technique or some research or anything else that I come up with. My hopes are that we all get a little better through experiementation and we can discuss our thoughts and findings in the following Tuesday class.

Our first homework assignment will be to get our entire body involved into a punch. How I want you to practice this is to make a fighting or natural stance and make a reverse punch (Punching with the hand opposite of the leg that is forward). I want you to use visualization and imagine that energy is coming up from the ground through your body and out the punch.

Steps:
1. Push your back heel from the floor knee should be bent. Start your exhale breath
2. Imagine the energy rising up your leg into your hips.
3. Your hips and your torso should be turning into the target at this time
4. Your shoulder turns just a little bit farther when your hips stop
5. Finish with the energy leaving out of your fist. Finish your exhale breath sharply

As you do this be conscious of your balance make sure that you are not leaning forward too much and that your head is always above your danjon (center of gravity). Go slow at first and work on timing and the visualization. You don't have to swing for the fences right away. To protect your joint from damage stop the punch with your muscles instead of letting the joint lock out (this is true for most techniques)

Sometimes different visualizations help different people more. One that I like is to imagine that your body is kind of like a fire hose and water fills the hose from your leg to your fist sending out a stream of water when you complete your punch. You could do the same with imagining electricity. In the end the idea is to unify mind and body and to execute the most relaxed and energy economic technique. Let me know if you come up with a different visualization that works for you.

Do 10 punches at a time on each side when you have free time. Maybe do 20 when you wake up and 20 before bed. Or do a set during commercials if you watch TV. Probably not the best thing to do at work.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

What's this "Ki" stuff?

2009-01-23T01:30:00.001-06:00

Well, I've been procrastinating lately. I've wanted to write a post on Ki but found it to be an overwhelming task that I didn't want to start. What I am going to do is make this an ongoing topic and cover little bits and pieces in chunks.

For this first post I am providing a link to the explanation for Ki on our website: http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/ki.shtml. This was written by my instructor, Michael Burnett, for the Hapkido training manual that he created.

More to come in the near future.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Is what you do traditional? by Brad Nickerson

2009-01-10T00:39:00.002-06:00

Brad and I have been talking over the internet for almost a year. He has a wealthy background of martial art knowledge and I have enjoyed our conversations. He said he was bored and up late the other night and was inspired to write this out mostly in response to one of my previous posts titled Is Our School Traditional. Thanks Brad for taking the time to share your thoughts. I really enjoyed reading this.

Is what you do traditional?

We hear alot of arguments and discussions about "traditional" martial arts, what it means to be traditional, and whether or not this or that art is traditional.

In my opinion the first thing to do is ask ourselves: What is traditional? what makes a martial art traditional? By definition, anything that is traditional is something that is based on "tradition"
so you ask, what is tradition? If you look in a dictionary you will see tradition defined basically as "a long established way of doing something" ...so by definition, we must assume that for a martial art to be traditional, it must have been done the way it is being done currently for a long time prior to today, in other words, the long established way of doing the martial art in question, for our purposes we shall use Hapkido as an example as it applies directly to you.

Some people think the term "traditional" implies "originality" or the original way it was done, or if you like, the "right" way to do it, or the way it's "supposed to be done". Some go so far as to say you can never change anything about the art, nor the way it is practiced, otherwise it is no longer "traditional"...and by definition they would be correct...from a certain point of view that is. Which is why I've often said, nothing is traditional until someone else changes it...or is this the case? We shall see...

Traditionalists are often very serious, and therefore very good martial artists. They feel the need to preserve the "tradition" of their art, which everyone will agree is a very noble thing to do! However, what does it mean to preserve the tradition of a martial art? what IS the tradition of a martial art? and why do so many people feel the need to preserve these traditions?

Unfortunately in my humble opinion, many people think this means doing things exactly the way everyone else does, or at least exactly as their instructor does. I often find myself wanting to ask, where is the "art" in that?

To answer the last question first, I believe it has alot to do with eastern culture. Many asian countries teach their youth to not only respect but to revere their ancestors, and this does not only pertain to their family bloodline, but also carries over to mean anyone who went before them. In the martial arts world, this would include ones teacher, his teachers instructor, and the entire lineage back to the founder. Many of them consider it shameful and disrespectful to alter anything about the art, even though most times, that's exactly what the founder did in his training, but because of the culture they live in, somewhere along the line it became taboo to alter or change anything about a martial art. This can also be seen in many old school Chinese arts, where ones sifu (sensei, sahbumnim, instructor) is often revered, respected, obeyed, and even loved more than ones own parents! sifu is considered your martial "father", your classmates are considered your martial "brothers and sisters"...your sifu's instructor is considered your martial "grandfather"..etc. and they are often expected to be treated as such, or better! In fact many students of martial temples in China do not see their parents or family for many years while they are training!! talk about dedication!..and especially in the shaolin temple, martial arts, specifically shaolin kung fu is seen as a physical way to express their religion (chan or zen buddhism) which has no form, so they take it very seriously.

To move on to the first question: what does it mean to preserve the tradition of a martial art?

..again by definition, it would imply that in order to preserve the tradition of the art, we must do it exactly the way it's been done for a very long time. Many people feel that the more things change, the further away you get from the "real deal" or..the art as it was intended to be practiced by the founder. At this point I would draw your attention to a historical figure in Hapkido's past, a man named Ji Han Jae, I'm sure you've all heard of him! ...he created a martial art that you call Hapkido. to me what that means is, you are a part of, or branch off of his lineage rather than that of Choi Yong Shul who's art is much more closely tied to it's root art of Daito Ryu Aiki-Jujutsu.
Grandmaster Ji (I just found out today) is still very much alive! Now I'd like to pose a question to you: Do you honestly think that GM Ji still does Hapkido the exact same way he did when he first started? when he first got his black belt? when he first started teaching? ...which raises another question: at what point in time are we to look for this "tradition"? ...but to answer all of the other questions...of course not!!! I'm 100% positive his Hapkido has been growing, refining, and improving throughout his entire career ...but wait, would that mean that Grandmaster Ji himself no longer does "traditional" Hapkido? ..of course not!!! in fact it could be said that what GM Ji does is the very definition of traditional Hapkido yes?...which leads to our next question.

What IS the tradition they speak of?

To get down to answering this question, I'd first like to say that this, like any other subject, is open to interpretation and thus the answers will vary upon who's answering the question. Everyone has their opinion, and their reasons, and what I offer here is my opinion, and I hope, some questions that may lead you to being able to decide for yourself.

So exactly what is the tradition they speak of? Is it the "original" way to do the art? In my opinion it is not, because, how many of us were actually there to know how it was truly done way back when? at what point in time does it become "tradition"?
I'd venture to guess that even GM Ji has forgotten more about Hapkido than many will ever know, so that in its self says that noone, not even GM Ji does "original" Hapkido so, I think we can scratch "originality" off of the list of defining what makes a martial art traditional.

If the GM himself doesn't do original Hapkido, but does infact do traditional Hapkido..then what is it that makes what he does traditional? is it the terminology? is it how it's taught? is it the techniques themselves?

I'd say no, maybe a little, and no. Terminology is a big issue with some, not so much with me. Do you want to know why Korean's speak Korean?...because they are Korean. Why do Japanese people speak Japanese? ...because they are Japanese. So, in my opinion you can scratch terminology off the list as well. Of course that doesn't mean that terminology has no purpose! quite the contrary. What if a master from korea who speaks spotty english came to your dojang to teach a seminar? What if you went overseas to Korea to study Hapkido? ...in these types of situations, knowing some basic terminology as it applies to your art can be quite helpful! and I do think that some terminology is good because you could say that Hapkido is "culturally patterned" aiki-jujutsu. Another way of saying it would be "Hapkido is Korean Aiki-jujutsu" much the same way you could say that "Taekwondo is Korean Karate" even though that is oversimplifying things...they are culturally patterned, and that is what makes these arts uniquely Korean. So I do think it's good, and maybe even in its self a "tradition" to keep the Korean identity within Hapkido, however I do not think that is what makes Hapkido a traditional martial art.

how about teaching method? ...this is one category I used to get very stumped on, sometimes I'd think one way, sometimes I'd think another.
Some believe teaching method has alot to do with what makes an art traditional. In fact some say it's the very thing that makes the art traditional.
No two people do ANYTHING exactly the same and that includes teaching a martial art. Something as simple as tying your shoes has many variations..yet they all accomplish the same goal yes? Do you stop to think about whether or not you're tying your shoes in a "traditional" manner? Or do you just tie your shoes and go? Epiphany!? (I'll leave you to ponder that one a bit..go ahead, take a few minutes)
....ready? ok here we go..I do believe that there is a basic outline provided within each respective martial art as to how it's traditionally taught, a guideline if you will, but a guideline that allows for individuality as well, or if you prefer..the way it's been taught for a very long time (the very definition of traditional) However I don't think it's concrete enough to be the most defining characteristic.
Let me explain...say Mr. Cather changed the curriculum drastically, changed everything around in different order, yet retained all the same information or maybe added a few things or subracted a few things...would what he's teaching stop being Hapkido? ..no of course not. Would it still be traditional Hapkido?...that's a matter for debate. To put it another way, if he did those things, he'd still be teaching Hapkido, but some might say he was no longer teaching "traditional" hapkido. On the other hand, if he taught different material, but taught it in a "Hapkido way"....would it be Hapkido?
Then again, do you believe GM Ji teaches Hapkido in exactly the same manner as he did when he opened his first dojang? I doubt it. So I think we can check "teaching method" off the list here, and I also think you should ask yourself if it's even worth your time to stop and ask whether or not the Hapkido you're doing is traditional. Does it even matter? I think that following the traditional teaching patter simply means that it its "traditionally taught Hapkido"

What about the techniques themselves? To me this is a simple no because there are no techniques that any martial art has that others do not, or if you like, there is nothing in Hapkido's technical syllabus that is not in another martial art. Jujutsu for example has many of the same techniques as Hapkido because the two have a common heritage. What you may call a hand throw, another art calls kote-gaeshi, omote gyaku, or japanese hand. yet they all describe the same technique. Then what is it exactly that makes a martial art traditional?

I'd like all of you to ask yourselves.. Did the hapkido masters of old really worry about whether or not what they were doing was traditional? I for one seriously doubt it, otherwise you would all be doing Daito Ryu Aiki-Jujutsu right now rather than Hapkido!!

Now I'd like you all to ask yourselves: Assuming GM Ji as a great examples of what traditional is...

Is it not traditional to always be on the lookout for new improved techniques and methods of teaching and training as he was? that goes against what some would call "traditional"
Is it not traditional to make sure that what you're doing works for you, in your life, under your unique circumstances?
Is it not the results that matter most? (remember the shoe tying reference?)
Is this not what Grandmaster Ji intended for us all along?
Is that not what he was thinking when he added various things from other sources to his martial art?
Was he not trying to constantly improve not only his own personal skills, but the greatness of the art he called Hapkido? Would he not expect the same from all of us?

I also want to ask..

Would he want us to blindly follow "tradition" for no other reason than doing so?
Would he want us all to do things exactly the same way?
Would he want us all to be carbon copies of himself?
Would he want us all to stagnate and stop learning new things?
of course not, and in fact I remember once Mr Cather saying to me that GM Ji was big on "making Hapkido your own"..and if you look at it from that perspective it brings up the same question.....what is traditional?

At this point I'd like to bring to your attention another definition of traditional from the dictionary, and that is "something that is handed down from generation to generation" ...any bells going off in your head?

I submit that the handing down of knowledge is what is "traditional" about martial arts in general, and Hapkido in particular. It is the handing down of the underlying concepts and principles(yu, won, and hwa for example) that make your art what it is, and explains why it works the way it does.
It is using all of these things to make you (yes you) UNDERSTAND "the way of coordinated power"

That is the tradition we need to be worrying about, and In my opinion, a tradition that Mr Cather carries on very well. It matters not what techniques you use. It matters not how you convey the information to a student. It matters not what language you use. What matters is that you are in fact expanding on, and passing on that knowledge to the next generation, who will then pass it on to the next, and the next, and so on. As long as this tradition is upheld, Hapkido will live and thrive forever! and I'll tell you, Hapkido is nothing without those who practice and teach it, therefore it's up to you. So again I ask...

Is what you do traditional?

Rolling with Bulls

2009-01-08T17:35:00.003-06:00

Okay class next time we do break falling and rolls I'm bringing the Bull to class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JljFme34R58

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

January 2009 Technique of the Month - Hapkido Sparring

2009-01-06T16:17:00.002-06:00

Here is a video of some sparring we did last month or so. We practice several different types of sparring the attacker/defender is probably my favorite. We give each person a role of either the attacker or defender. Playing out these roles can give a little more realism to the situation and help prepare the student for self defense. You can take this sparring a step further and setup more realistic senerios and act out a scene which is only limited by your imagination and/or acting skills.

Granted some mistakes were made in the video, but it is all a part of the learning process. Better to make mistakes in the Dojang than in a real situation. I think this can be a real eye opener for the students and also give them confidence in their techniques or lets them know which techniques they need to work on.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Good books for Hapkidoists and Martial artists

2009-01-04T15:14:00.005-06:00

I'd like to share some of the book titles that I have in my collection that have helped me on my martial art journey. By no means am I advertising for any publishers or book companies so I will not provide links of where you can purchase them.

Title: Hapkido: Traditions, Philosophy, Technique
Author: Marc Tedeschi
Brief explanation: In my point of view, no serious Hapkidoist should be without this book. There is so much information here that it teeters on going overboard and in some cases does. There are some techniques in here that we do not practice in our school and some philosophies that we do not adhere to, however I find Tedeschi to do a good job in stating that some schools do this and some schools follow this way, or this is a more modern example and this is more traditional. It can be a little bit pricey for a book, but well worth it if you are serious about Hapkido.

Title: Hapkido II
Author: Dr. He-Young Kimm
Brief explanation: This book can also be a little bit pricey and hard to find. I recommend this book is because Mr. Burnett modeled our curriculum around it's structure. Not all of the techniques are the same or in the same order, but the idea of the curriculum is there. Like the book by Tedeschi it has many pictures and technique explanations. The joint lock pictures and explanations do provide a little more detail than in Tedeschi's book. There is also history and philosophy sections just like Tedeschi's book.

Dr. Kimm has also written several other rather large books, one of which is called the Hapkido Bible. I do not own this one but I have seen it and would recommend it as well. Dr. Kimm worked with Grandmaster Ji to create this book.

Title: Living the Martial Way : A Manual for the Way a Modern Warrior Should Think
Author: Forrest E. Morgan
Brief explanation: This book I will recommend to any martial artist. I have read this book probably 4 or 5 times and whenever I start I cannot put it down. In fact I may pick it up again this week. When I read it, I am always inspired to train harder. This book analyses the warrior spirit and characteristics a modern day martial artist must possess. It covers philosophy, ethics, honor, tactics, training methods and more. The book is well laid out and each chapter has a nice overview of the key points of that chapter. I am making this book required reading for anyone wishing to become a black belt as my instructor did.

Title: Zen in the Martial Arts
Author: Joe Hyams
Brief explanation: This book was also required reading in Mr. Burnetts class. This is a fairly short book and a very good read. Mr. Hyams interviewed several martial art masters including Bruce Lee, Bong Soo Han, and Ed Parker sharing the insights from these meetings. It is a great base for Zen practices within the martial arts. This book is also required reading for my class.

Title: The Underground Guide To Warrior Fitness: High Performance Bodyweight Training
Author: Ross Enamait
Brief explanation: This book is great for learning body weight exercises and motivation. Enamait is a boxer and a trainer who takes a no nonsense approach to training and it is really quite inspiring. I'm not sure if this book is available anymore but if you can find a copy I'd suggest checking it out.

Title: Mastering the Rubber Guard: Jiu-jitsu for Mixed Martial Arts Competition
Author: Eddie Bravo, Erich Krauss, Glen Cordoza
Brief explanation: I find this to be more than a book on Jiu-Jitsu techniques and actually a model for how to set up a good curriculum. I still have to give it some thought, but I think that I may use the way he has defined his Jiu-Jitsu system and apply it to our Hapkido curriculum. The book basically takes a ground fighting position and shows a step by step approach to submit or transition into the next position. Then you move on to the next position section and it all becomes a big spiderweb of submissions and transitions that can easily be linked together. Regardless if I end up changing the curriculum or not we have been studying this book for ground fighting on Saturday mornings.

I do have other books in my collection, but I feel that these are the most important ones to me. I'm always up for checking out new books and information, so please post a comment of any martial art books you have found to be inspirational.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Slow Down and Chew your Food

2009-01-04T14:55:00.004-06:00

A couple of months ago I was talking to Mr. Burnett and we got on the subject of nutrition and eating. We were talking about how in the Marines they made us eat very fast or else we didn't get to eat. I was saying how that mentality had never left me and I still scarf down my food very quickly. He said that this can trick my body into not knowing when it has had enough to eat.

He gave me a couple of tips to help break this habit:
1. Stop shoveling one bite after another. Don't have another another bite waiting on your fork as soon as you swallow the first one. Put your fork or spoon down in between each bite.

2. Chewing very well will help with digestion and getting the nutrients out of the food. I know there was a specific count that I was told as a child but I forgot what it was, maybe 21 or something.

3. Healthy snacking between meals can suppress eating so much. Sometimes an apple or a glass of water half an hour before a meal will help satisfy hunger faster.

4. The forth thing that I took away from this is portion control. I have been taking less food with my first serving. I also have it programmed in my head that my plate must be clean before I am done. Something that goes back to childhood. So, if I take less I will be less likely to eat as much. Also I have noticed that I am ordering less from fast food places when we go. I used to have it in my head that eating was some kind of a competition. The more I ate the more proud of myself I was, stomach cramps and all. I mean what the heck, I work out right.

Ever since that conversation I have been working on changing my habits. It hasn't been easy and I still find myself racing to get my food done or to get more. I actually notice that my excitement level raises when I'm eating, which is very strange to me.

One thing that has helped me change this habit is eating with my kids. My oldest is just now learning how to use a fork and helping him can distract me from shoveling everything into my mouth.

Needless to say I am not a nutritionist or a doctor. I'm sure there is a lot of good advice out there. Please leave a comment on the blog if you have any other good ideas.

Josh Cather
www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Class January 3rd

2008-12-31T15:08:00.001-06:00

We will be having class on January 3rd. Hope to see you there.

Josh Cather
www.ShinKooHapkido.com

2008 Shin Koo Year in Review

2008-12-31T14:29:00.006-06:00

We had a really good 2008 and I'm looking forward to 2009. Thanks to all of the current and past students that have trained with us. I really have been enjoying classes and look forward to each and every one.

Harmoni is ever closer to becoming my first black belt. She is currently High Purple with Brown and then black belt recommended remaining. Matt has also progressed to Orange belt, my third student to do so, thus far. They will both be testing for their next rank in January. Lacy should also be ready to test in the upcoming months. We also had Elizabeth and Chad who successfully tested for yellow belts.

I continued to make technique of the month videos and post them on Youtube and our site. www.shinkoohapkido.com/videos.aspx. I have seen a lot of positive feedback from people all over the world. I have really enjoyed making these videos and I think it has helped me grow as a teacher and a public speaker.

We had some success with a women's self defense class at the end of last year and through the beginning of 2008. It was a great experience for me and hopefully for many of the participants. I think we did a good job of raising awareness and helping women empower themselves. I think a lot of the women had a good time as well. We also raised $150 for Voices of Hope. I have been in discussions with a representative from Goodwill to train some of their staff. I'm planning on starting up a self defense class again after I work out some changes and new ideas. Here is a video of one of our classes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQGSm-Tk8ds

Harmoni did a great job competing in Taekwondo at the Cornhusker State games. I believe she took 2nd in Sparring and 3rd in Forms. I was very impressed with her performance, especially because we rarely practice Taekwondo type sparring and I just taught her the form specifically for the tournament.

Craig and I continue to improve our ground fighting skills. We visited the Jiu Jitsu class at Roseberry's school here and town and had a great class http://www.thejiujitsufighter.com/. I have trained with them a couple times since and we have established a good relationship. We have been looking into the 10th planet Jiu Jitsu system as well and getting some good ideas.

For 2009, I hope to build our student base a little bit more. My goal is to have 10 students on a regular basis. We'll hopefully have some school T-Shirts soon. As always I will be researching and looking into different ways to train and help teach my students. I'm still working hard to make the curriculum as complete as possible. My main focus for my growth will be on Weapons techniques (Cane, Rope, Long Staff) and the things I need to progress in Hapkido. I will also be looking more into understanding Ki and teaching about it more often.

Thanks for a great year! See you in 2009.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Holiday Schedule

2008-12-22T16:48:00.003-06:00

Our school will be closed from December 24th to January 2nd. If anyone wants to do ground fighting or Jointlocks on December 26th let me know. Let me know if you are coming to the class on the 23rd because I know a lot of you are not. Sorry about the image apparently Santa is only a green belt.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Improving your techniques/sparring

2008-12-19T23:34:00.009-06:00

This was originally supposed to be about kicking, but I realized that so much of what I was writing pertained to all techniques in general.

1. Proper technique: What else can I say, if you don't learn any technique correctly you won't be able to get the most out of it. When I know a technique is correct it just feels right my whole body works together and there is no pain or discomfort.

2. Repetition: Techniques should be practiced enough times that they can be done without having to think about the individual movements while executing. My favorite analogy is the way we tie our shoes. At first as a child learning this skill can be difficult. You have to crisscross make the loop and bring the string around and pull a loop through. There may even have been a song that you memorized as a child. Now after doing it for several years you automatically tie it when you put your shoe on, you may not even think tie my shoe. Even trying to come up with the directions above I had to do it once to figure out what all was going on there. This is how I want you to know your techniques.

3. Relaxation: It is a common mistake while trying to kick hard and fast to flex your leg muscles during the kick. Of course there is some flexing going on but what needs to happen as much as possible is relaxation and then tighten. I constantly repeat to my students relax...relax...tighten at the impact. The more relaxed your body is the faster it can move and react. If you are flexed and tight you have to untighten before you can move. I have heard people refer to this as release kicking.

4. Flexibility: The more flexible you are the easier it is going to be to relax and be fluid during your techniques. You will also have more control over your targeting.

5. Use your whole body: When we do any technique we want to get as much of our body involved as possible. Take for instance a roundhouse kick; I have seen many martial artists just use the power of their knee to do this kick. What is ideal in my point of view is to move the swing the thigh as well and a corkscrew turn with the upper body making the technique more like a ball and chain.

6. Utilize the ground: This may be a new concept for some, but pushing off of the floor with your kicking foot can add power and speed to your kick. Try it next time you practice kicks. It's not applicable to all kicks but several. During punches and other hand techniques we want to use the ground as well. Try to visualize the power coming up from your foot, up your leg, through your hips, out your arm into your technique.

7. Don't telegraph your technique: Telegraphing is basically giving hints to your opponent or attacker of your intentions. While sparring someone more experienced, you may find that they are always a step ahead of you and able to block everything that you have. They have learned to notice the little hints peoples' bodies give away for a given technique. Eliminating as many tells as you can will help you immensely. Try kicking in front of a mirror, some times people make a small motion with their hands or arms or pivot one of their feet before launching an attack. One of the worst is when people trying to set up a spin kick and turn their back slightly to an opponent, martial artists can see that one coming a mile off. Try to force yourself to be able to do any technique from the fighting stance that you think you will use in a confrontation. There are 2 basic stances that we use a Non-aggressive stance to try to calm down the situation but still be prepared and a fighting stance when the crap has hit the fan.

8. Choose the right technique for the situation. A lot of things come into play here: distance to the target, environment, or the severity of the situation. The closer you are to your opponent the more difficult it will be to kick high. If you were in a crowded bar with a lot of tables and chairs around a spin crescent is probably not the best tool for the job. Some techniques can be lethal or cause permanent damage to a person, it is in your best interest to use techniques that are appropriate for the situation.

9. Choose a good target: This comes with experience and is interlinked with choosing the right technique. There are several places on the body that are considered weaker or vital areas that should be exploited while defending ones self.

10. Don't waste energy: It always makes me laugh when I am sparring with someone and they throw a kick that is easily three feet from hitting me. There is no reason to throw a technique unless it is going to score or you are using it as a fake. Don't waist your energy.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Pull Update

2008-12-17T02:44:00.002-06:00

Thought I would give an update to how my pull-ups are going. Yesterday I did a max set on inward grip or some people call them chin ups. And I did 15! Well, because I have a door pull-up bar I don't think I go down all the way or keep proper form. Regardless I have made improvements.

My routine has been to do as many sets of pull-ups I can during a day. Usually before I go to work I do 2 or 3 sets, then when I come home for lunch and then another couple of sets before bed. I start with wide grip and do 1 less then I think is my max, its gone from 4 to 9 since I started. My next set is using the handles that stick out from the bar so my hands face each other. This set seems like the easiest for me I can usually do 10 now after a brief rest from my first set. Then the last set is the inward grip and I can also do 10 lately. Then as the day goes on I do less and less. I average about 60 to 70 pull-ups a day total.

I try to stop myself from going to failure because I don't like being so sore that I can't function or do pull-ups the next day. The first 2 days were the toughest, I was trying to do 50 a day and it was killing me, so I backed off and went to the set program above. I had to take a couple of days off because of a pulled muscle around the 3rd week.

I'm happy with my improvements and I'm going to keep going for my goal.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

December Technique of the Month - Roundhouse Kick defense

2008-12-07T03:39:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite techniques that really displays the smoothness and circular motion of Hapkido. This technique utilizes a cover block and trap to go with the momentum of the kick and takedown the opponent. The hand on the opponents back helps let your training partner down softer.

Josh Cather
www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Is Our School Traditional?

2008-12-06T02:32:00.000-06:00

I read an article in Blackbelt magazine a few months back, where the author put martial arts into 3 different categories: Traditional, Reality Based, and Sport. This got me thinking about how I would categorize our style of Hapkido.

I say "our style of Hapkido" because from meeting students, watching videos, and reading message boards Hapkido does not seem to be practiced the same from school to school. Some emphasize more on different facets of Hapkido or have different training philosophies. Which can make it difficult at times to discuss Hapkido with other practitioners or describe what a new student will experience when s/he goes to visit a new school.

Right off the bat I can rule out sport. Martial arts that are considered sports are Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kick boxing, etc. We do not train with competition in mind. However, I do enjoy watching MMA and try to learn what I can. I also enjoy sparring and try to make our sparring as realistic and safe as possible.

Reality Based martial arts strive to be the most effective in self defense within today's society. Generally these martial arts are associated with military groups and law enforcement. They focus on simple, easy to learn, often brutal techniques. Even employing guns and other modern weapon defenses and attacks. Some examples are Krav Maga and SPEAR.

Traditional is a little harder for me to define. There are a plethora of subgroups that this can be divided into. I think most people think of traditional martial arts as being Asian in origin, wear the uniforms and belts, and quite often offers the art as a way of life or moral code. From there experiences vary. These arts include many different styles of Karate, Kung-fu, Taekwondo, etc. Usually practitioners of these arts wish to preserve their art practicing it as the founder had taught it.

Granted most of these are generalized short definitions and probably don't do the arts mentioned above justice. I'd like to think we are somewhere in between reality based and traditional. After all our school's name is Shin Koo which means "blend of old and new"

We do wear the white pajamas and have a belt structure, I think of Hapkido as a way of life and hopefully my students see it that way as well. We strive for sharp disciplined minds and bodies through breathing exercises, meditation, conditioning, and repetition of techniques.

At the same time I'm always looking for new or different ways to improve our training. We do defenses against common weapons of today like gun, knife, or club. We also practice realistic weapon offense like rope, knife, cane, short and long staff. We practice against realistic attacks and scenarios in sparring.

In the end my goal is to teach and pass on Hapkido the best that I can. I want to carry on the teachings of my instructor and the instructors before him. I believe that Hapkido should be ever evolving to suit the needs of its practitioners to defend themselves effectively.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Always Cheat and Always Win

2008-11-24T00:24:00.004-06:00

A phrase that I remember my instructor saying was that there were 2 rules to fighting: Always Cheat and Always Win. Of course this was a little tongue in cheek as their are no rules to fighting and it is obvious that one would always strive to win. Still the profoundness of the quote always struck a chord with me.

To me "Always Cheat" means that if there is anything that will give you an advantage in a self defense situation, use it. Whether it is throwing a coat at your attackers head and then sucker punching him, hitting him with a drawer full of silverware, or grabbing their groin to escape a bear hug; you should do what is necessary for you to be able to return home safely that night. Obviously, situation should dictate your response and you should become familiar with the self defense laws in your area. You should not eye gouge a girl scout and hip throw her off your porch because she kicked you in the shin for not buying some cookies. On the other side of the coin, if someone comes at you with a knife it is in your best interest to run or get a better weapon and not face them empty handed. Realize that unless you are in the ring with a referee that your attackers' intention is not a fair fight but to get what he wants as quickly as possible without regard for your well-being. We need to get rid of the romanticized idea that a martial artist needs to use tactics that are considered "fair" this is not a duel or a movie.

"Always Win" is about attitude and the seriousness that you project. I constantly stress in class to project a serious attitude when running through drills because the habits that you create in training will be what come out in a real situation. Many times a person in a situation has lost the fight long before the physical confrontation started because of a lack of confidence. They mentally defeat themselves by thinking things like "This guys is going to kick my ass" or "I have no chance of surviving this." There is no room for thoughts like this, get rid of them right now. You must tell yourself that you will do what is necessary to survive and you will prevail in this confrontation.

Winning is somewhat subjective when it comes to a self defense situation. It doesn't necessarily mean that you will take on 4 attackers and all 4 will end up bloodied up in a pile at the other end of the alley. Just simply surviving and getting away is considered a win in my opinion. Having the guts to swallow your pride and avoid a physical confrontation all together is even better.

There is a lot more to a self defense encounter than just techniques. Hopefully I have given you something to consider. I would stress for you to think about your mindset and how it would affect you in a real situation. Focus on improving your attitude projection during sparring and self defense drills.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Why don't we see Hapkidoist in the UFC?

2008-11-21T00:16:00.007-06:00

Occasionally I have read or been asked why we don't see Hapkido practitioners in the UFC. It's a fair question. I consider Hapkido to be a complete martial art which contains striking, kicking, throws, take-downs, jointlocks, and ground fighting. All things necessary to compete in MMA, so why no Hapkidoists in the UFC?

I have heard several Hapkidoists that say we practice techniques that are too lethal and not for competition. I can buy part of this. Sure we practice small joint manipulation, strikes to the back of the neck, eye gouges, or striking people in the groin all of which are prohibited in the UFC. I can agree that if these techniques are not practiced they will not be readily available to you in a self defense situation. Consider this though, what if my brother in law gets drunk and he gets a little out of hand? I practice a wide range of techniques to have the ability to match the technique with the situation. I wouldn't eye gouge and groin strike my wife's brother when I could just as easily avoid his attacks or subdue him in a way that neither of us would be injured. I used to work at the county jail and it was frowned upon to strike and preferred that we control without hurting someone, except in extreme situations. My philosophy is to use the force necessary to stop the confrontation or get away, situation dictates. This is why I don't completely buy this argument.

Another argument that non-Hapkidoists give, is that Hapkido doesn't work against a resisting opponent. They support this claim by attending classes or watching videos where students are doing jointlocks and other techniques on a fully compliant opponent that is doing a wrist grab or a martial art punch a foot from the defenders head. They execute a beautiful technique and easily dispatch their opponent and make him tap in pain. There are a few things that I can point out here. Usually these videos are of demonstrations with a master and students from their school, the demo is staged and both participants know what is going to happen and due to bad acting or choreography it looks fake because it is. The explanation for the visit to a class and all you do is wrist grab defenses against someone that lets you is part of the learning process. You must learn the technique properly and how to take the technique without getting injured before it can be done with more resistance and in sparring. Of course I can't speak for every school some schools don't spar, some don't use any resistance, some schools like ours do. Just tonight we put on masks with face shields and were practicing avoiding and blocking punches to the head. Each of us got hit several times, it was still safe and it was some valuable training. I believe we train as safe and practical as we can for realistic self defense situations.

A good reason that I don't think we see Hapkido in the UFC is because Hapkido is not an established competitive sport. Take Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Thai boxing, Wrestling, Judo, Boxing, Sambo, etc. All have a long history of competition and fighters with records. Many fighters have already proven their skill in another arena and it makes sense to take that skill to MMA and improve your game by learning a little bit about the other skill sets. I have heard of Hapkido tournaments and pro Hapkido so maybe in the future a fighter will cross over to MMA.

Another reason that I think we don't see Hapkido in the UFC is because of the personalities of people that are drawn to a martial art like Hapkido. I really didn't get into Hapkido to compete. I got into Hapkido because I like Asian martial arts, I enjoy everything about them to the point that you might consider me a romantic with a hero complex. I am interested in self defense and being able to defend my family. I also like the health benefits, learning about Asian culture, breathing exercises, accupressure, ki, etc. I see Hapkido as a way of life that I will practice as long as I can.

Don't get me wrong, many of the positive things that I stated about Hapkido can be attained through MMA. I'm not knocking it and I love watching all the UFC that I can on Spike. Not to mention I have taken further interest in improving my ground fighting and I am always looking for different exercises and ideas to add to my class.

In the end I can only speak for myself. Maybe if I were younger and did not have a family I would consider going into MMA. But, for where I am at in my life now I feel Hapkido suits my path the best. So you won't see me in the Octagon any time soon.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Workout Journal

2008-11-17T00:14:00.005-06:00

I recently purchased a door hanging pullup bar for my home workouts. I've felt that pullups are one of the exercises that I've been lacking in my workouts. I was disappointed to find out that my max pullups had gone down from 15 in the Marine Corps to 5. Might be the extra weight that I've put on in married life. My goal is to surpass my Marine max of 15 and reach 20 pullups. I've already gained 2! I researched some different pullup workouts from the Internet and I'm on my way.

On to the reason for this post. To keep track of my progress I started keeping a log of all of the pullup sets. Then I got the crazy idea to keep track of all of my workouts and classes, something I should have been doing for a long time. I'm going to start keeping track of what we do in class and who attends and anything noteworthy from class.

This reminded me that Mr. Burnett (my instructor) had us bring notebooks to class. We would be expected to right down things that we learned in each class. I pulled out my notebook today and looked through it. I was happy to read some of the insights I gathered at the time and was very pleased that I had kept this information.

I want all of my students to start keeping track of class and anything Hapkido related. With the limited time we have together for class and the amount of information a Hapkidoin needs to know it will be most beneficial in your Hapkido growth.

I'm thinking about making a website to keep track of this stuff, just in the idea phase now. Let me know if you guys would find this useful.

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/

Favorited Youtube vides

2008-11-11T15:47:00.004-06:00

Here are some of my favorited Youtube videos. Some are specific to Hapkido and some are for other martial arts.

The man himself
Korea Hapkido, Doju-nim Ji Han Jae 1961

There's some good weapon stuff in this one.
Amazing Hapkido II

Korea's traditional martial arts: Taek-Kyun

I like the way this guy flows
Small Circle Jujitsu Lockflow

Josh Cather
www.ShinKooHapkido.com

November Technique of the Month - Side Fall

2008-11-08T15:12:00.003-06:00

Falling safely is one of the first most important lessons for the Hapkido practitioner. The better that we can control our falling the more that we can train or the better we can recover to continue defending ourselves.

Josh Cather
www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Jace David Cather

2008-11-08T15:07:00.003-06:00

My son was born on the 4th of November at 3:46 in the morning. He weighed 9 lbs 11 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long (big baby). We are back home from the hospital now and mom and Jace are doing fine. Hapkido training for Jace is soon to follow.

You can see pictures of my two sons here: www.shinkoohapkido.com/JaydenJace

Josh Cather
www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Baby Coming

2008-11-03T14:13:00.002-06:00

Our baby may be on his way. Harmoni will be conducting class until I return. Please treat her with the same respect as you have shown me. I'll be giving her some ideas on how to torture you all.

Wish us luck!

Josh Cather
www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Starting and Finishing Strong: A Few Tips to get the most out of your Martial Arts Class

2008-10-30T11:03:00.006-05:00

Do: Eat something before class. You need to have the energy to sustain you through class without thinking about a growling stomach. Eating something before class will also help sustain your metabolism through out your workout, beyond the initial energy it provides. Eat a light snack that won't weight you down but will provide the energy you need, focus on carbohydrates for that initial boost, and protein to sustain your energy and support muscle building. My typical pre-class snack is a about 1/4 a cup of almonds, and a slice of bread or a few crackers about an hour before class. That being said..

Do Not: Eat something heavy or a full meal. Eating something heavy or having a full meal before class is going to weight you down and make you sluggish, not to mention the very real possibility of becoming nauseous with all that food sloshing around as you kick, punch, and fall.

Do: Psyche yourself up before class. If your excited for class and ready to go from the very start your class and workout will go much better. Do some breathing exercises on the way, or a few quick push ups and jumping jacks to get the blood flowing even before your class warm-up. If you start high energy, chances are you will be able to finish high energy.

Do Not: Dread the warm-up exercises, or view them as a chore before "the Real" class starts. The warm-up is for your benefit, it gets your body warm, lubricates joints, and helps transition you into an active mindset. A proper warm-up helps prevent injuries and is one of the major ways you can improve your performance in class.

Do: Always do your best. Even if your tired, even if you can't provide speed and strength anymore, instead focus on technique. Sometimes you just can't get any more out of your limbs, you've worked them hard, and thats ok, they will be stronger for the next time; but right now you have 15 more kicks to do, now is not the time to fade. Instead of throwing terrible, slow, weak kicks, make them well formed, focus on how you can make them better, how better you can position your feet, your hips, your arms, improve your technique. This way the next time your not only stronger and faster, but more skilled.

Do Not: Make excuses. This is one that I am guilty of far to often. The second you say "My kicks aren't going to be very good because my legs are tired." is the second you have given yourself a reason not to kick well. If you throw a kick, punch, or a joint lock thinking "I might not do this well." for whatever reason, your setting yourself up for failure. Do not make excuses, always try your best, and you will be better and stronger for it.

Do: Always get up quickly after being taken to the mat. Once a technique is finished make sure you get up as quickly and as gracefully as possible. Use the skills you have learned from falling to find the best way to get up, and always face your opponent.

Do Not: Stay down or turn your back after your taken to the mat. If you form the habit of staying down or turning your back as you get up, your going to do it if you get into a real situation. There is a reason our techniques focus on taking people to the ground, or getting around to their back side.

Matthew Nottage-Tacey
Student of Josh Cather
http://www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Defining Hapkido

2008-10-25T02:25:00.001-05:00

During my years of studying martial arts, many people have asked me what is Hapkido? Of course the general answer given is that Hapkido is a Korean martial art that encompasses a wide range of self-defense techniques including punching, striking, kicking, joint locks, ground fighting, weapons techniques, and the mental and health benefits of meditation, acupressure, and the development of ki. But is that all there is to Hapkido?

On the surface Hapkido has a fairly complete repertoire of self defense techniques. They contain the answers to almost every situation imaginable. The Hapkidoist learns how to defend from grappling, striking, and weapon attacks from many different ranges, in many different ways. In addition the majority of the individual techniques can be reused to defend against a multitude of different attacks. For instance an arm bar is taught as a defense from a wrist grab, clothing grab, two handed grab, punch, knife stab, counter to other joint locks, as an attacking technique, using a short stick, and even as a one handed defense technique. With a wide range of techniques and so much versatility within each, the Hapkido practitioner is only limited by his or her imagination.

A defining characteristic of Hapkido is its three theories, Yoo (flowing as in water), Won (circular theory), and Hwa (harmony or nonresistance). These theories are the nuts and bolts that fasten and connect the techniques together.
The premise of flowing like water is widely used throughout the martial arts. When water flows down a hill and comes across a rock or obstruction it flows around it. If the water is blocked by the rock it will immerse it and find every crack and crevice. This visualization describes the ability to be soft and meld with the opponents attacks, and find and exploit the opponent’s weaknesses.

Circular motions are used with blocks and grabs to draw an attacker’s force into a circle putting them off balance. Circular stepping allows attacks to be evaded more efficiently to set up for a counter attack. Many joint manipulations require circular twisting of the joints or a whipping motion to get the attacker in a compromising position. Circles are also used to generate power through the turning of the hips in strikes and kicks. Spinning in conjunction with techniques stresses economy of motion, by continuing on a circular path the techniques can be strung together to flow more efficiently.

Harmony or nonresistance is the most broadly defined theory. The Hapkidoist strives to avoid meeting an opponent’s attack with force. If the opponent pulls then we push, if they push then we pull, if they attack with a straight attack we defend with a circle. But, Harmony is not only limited to defending against an opponent, the Hapkido practitioner must maintain harmony with the environment, and most of all between their mind and body. Countless repetitions of the physical techniques create a connection between the muscles used to perform the techniques and the mind; this is referred to as muscle memory. When the practitioner no longer has to think “to do a side kick I must lift my leg into a sideways chamber position while kicking out I must roll my hips over and pivot my base foot driving my heel into my target, then I must rechamber my leg to the original position and set my foot down.” Instead the practitioner thinks side kick and everything falls into place and it just happens. The Hapkidoist strives to have their body and mind work together as one.

Hapkido can also be defined through the three parts of its name, “The Way of Coordinated Power.”

The word Hap means coordination or harmony. The Hapkido practitioner strives to attain harmony whether it is with themselves, others, or with the environment. Choosing the proper techniques combined with correct movement utilizing timing and speed requires much proficiency in coordination.

Ki is not as easily defined, or perhaps it has many definitions. It is often associated with power, influence, as well as breathing. The most common definition is that ki is the internal energy that flows throughout our bodies through pathways called meridians. Pressure points are spots on these meridians close to the surface that can be utilized to cause pain through striking or pressing, or to heal through the use of acupressure or acupuncture. Ki can be used in conjunction with attitude in order to influence an attacker and most of all ourselves. Whether a Hapkidoist is in pain or tired they have the ability to employ a strong attitude to suppress displaying the discomfort on their face. Moreover Ki manifests itself physically in the form of adrenalin, the body’s super hormone.

‘Do’ can be translated as “a path to follow,” or “a way of living.” This word is used in conjunction with many other martial arts’ names such as Tae Kwon Do, Tang Soo Do, and Judo to name a few. This one word conveys that Hapkido is much more than sets of techniques to defend one’s self, but rather it is a path to an exceptional life.

Combining Hap, ki, and do give us “The Way of Coordinated Power.” This name obviously does not describe the technical aspects of the Hapkido curriculum. It makes no implication that the martial art encompasses kicking, punching, or joint locks. Instead, The Way of Coordinated Power defines the essence of what Hapkido really is. Through the mastery of the techniques utilizing the theories and philosophies of Hapkido it is the goal to become Hapkido. Inadvertently this makes Hapkido different for each practitioner, and impossible to completely define.

Learning the techniques, utilizing the theories, practicing hard, and striving to be a better person is the path to coordinated power. This path has no clear beginning, and no ending. It is not drawn out on a map with clear directions. It is your own personal path that defines who you are. Hapkido is a way of life.

Josh Cather
www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Life's Anecdotes

2008-10-24T22:40:00.004-05:00

This post is from the section "Life's Anecdotes" in the Hapkido training manual that Sa Joo Nim Michael Burnett (my instructor) wrote.

I think my favorite is 25, followed closely by 18.

1. If you get up one more time than you fall, you will make it through.
2. No one fails who does his best.
3. Judge the day not by the harvest, but by the seeds you plant.
4. Knowledge is power.
5. Some succeed because they are destined to, but most because they are determined to!
6. Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off of your goal.
7. One person with courage makes a majority.
8. Courtesy costs nothing yet it buys things that are priceless.
9. Always look for the good in people.
10. As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
11. Make the mistakes of yesterday, the lessons of today.
12. If you use your time to improve yourself, you will not have time to criticize others.
13. Some pursue happiness, others create it.
14. The most important person to be honest with is yourself.
15. Do what is right rather than what is popular.
16. For every minute you are angry, you loose sixty seconds of happiness.
17. The thing to try when all else fails, is again.
18. If the going gets easier, then you are not climbing.
19. True wisdom lies in gathering precious moments out of each day.
20. Your preparation of today determines your achievement of tomorrow.
21. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.
22. Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up.
23. Every problem is an opportunity.
24. Well begun is half done.
25. If you think that you can or that you can't, your probably right.
26. Temper gets people into trouble, but pride keeps them there.
27. If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.
28. The courage to speak must be matched by the wisdom to listen.
29. Success is a ladder that can't be climbed with your hands in your pockets.
30. Nobody can make you feel inferior without your own consent.

Josh Cather
http://www.ShinKooHapkido.com

2008-10-18T03:26:00.003-05:00

October 2008 Technique of the Month: Basic Knife Defense

Josh Cather
www.ShinKooHapkido.com

Empty Your Cup

2008-10-12T15:04:00.008-05:00

Welcome to the first post of the Shin Koo Hapkido blog. Please feel free to comment.

While watching the movie "The Forbidden Kingdom", I was reminded of an old proverb that my instructor was fond of. Jackie Chan and his student were discussing Kung-fu and the student kept commenting on all of the techniques that he knew of and wanted to learn. While he was going on and on Jackie was pooring him a beverage and he kept pouring until the cup was overfilling. When the student complained about the overfilling Jackie made the comment that if the cup was full there was no room for more. (I'm not sure of the exact quote but that is the gist)

I have had martial artists from other martial arts schools visit or become students of my class. This is a great opportunity to add some different experience and points of view to my class. I really enjoy sharing techniques with people from different backgrounds. However, on occasion it feels as if some of these students aren't there to learn from me but actually there to show what they already know. Now, I'll be the first to tell you that I believe there can be several "right" ways to do a technique. Different martial arts and teachers have different ways of teaching things. When I am teaching all I ask is that you empty your cup and try it my way. I know there are other ways to do things and I may do things more than one way myself. Class will be much more productive for everyone if we can stay on task and work on the things that I have planned for the night.

I am not discouraging questions about why we do things. I think I have a pretty good grasp on the techniques and know the reasons why we do things the way that we do. I am more than happy to discuss the reasons, but realize that we only have so much time together to train and we don't want to waste other students' time. After class or over email is sometimes the best time for these conversations.

This topic is not limited to students that come from other schools. "Emptying Your Cup" should be a practice that everyone does regularly. Just when I think I have mastered a technique I discover a new facet or something to make it better. The way I do an armbar today is not the way that I did it three years ago. I have analyzed the technique through practicing and teaching and made minor modifications to suit me better. If I told myself that I know everything there is to know about an armbar there would be no room for me to improve.

Whether it is visiting another school, watching a youtube video, or working out with my students, I always leave room for improvement. "Empty Your Cup"

Josh Cather
http://www.shinkoohapkido.com/