A Great New Martial Arts Book!

Hello,

Today I wanted to pass along the arrival of a great new book called,

"Fighting Secrets of Martial Arts Masters"

edited by Charles Prosper

I was contacted some time ago by Charles asking me if I would be willing to contribute to the book. After explaining the concept of his book, I agreed to be part of this wonderful venture ….. you’ll find me there in chapters 20 and 24.

The book came out in January of this year (2009) and immediately sold out at Amazon.com!

Click here to find out more about this awesome book!

This quote from Charles Proper "No matter what martial art you specialize in or what style you ascribe to, I promise that you will learn things here that your sensei or you sifu will never choose to tell you."

Below is the Introductory to the book, edited by Charles Prosper:

What would it feel like if you had access to the 15 top street survival specialists, martial artists and combat trainers of the world, at your fingertips, to teach you the most coveted and devasting fighting secrets ever disclosed?

Well, in the book that is now in your hands, you will unlock the secrets to never fear any man ever again. Fifteen of the world’s best have each contributed their knowledge to collectively write 30 power-packed chapters of an instant martial arts classic Fighting Secrets of Martial Arts Masters.

I know that the secrets and techniques that you will discover in this book work as I have been personally trained by several of the authors in this book. No matter what martial art you specialize in or what style you ascribe to, I promise that you will learn things here that your Sensei or your Sifu will never choose to tell you. Why? Because some of them are so very deadly!

Kung Fu Newsletter is now a "Paid Member's" Site!

Hello,

Tony Mendoza here and I wanted to let everyone know that due to the feedback I have gotten from you, my subscribers, I have decided to convert my Newsletter, “Kung Fu Training Tips and Clips”, into a paid member site!This is exciting news for a couple of reasons!

1. Because the newsletter format was progressive, the “monthly subscribers” were previously unable to view the earlier issues and therefore had incomplete information in learning Kung Fu.

2. Some subscribers were confused by the layout of the newsletter and had a hard time finding what was offered currently and previously, making it hard to understand the instruction given in a progressive way.

3. Now, instead of a newsletter that comes out twice per month, I will be adding instruction and insight every week to the site there-by keeping you updated more often as you progress from beginner to expert in knowledge and experience.

We will still give you plenty of information on techniques, concepts and fundamentals with text, pictures and video instruction to help you quickly increase your martial art skills.

Click here to find out more and get a FREE 1 day pass to the site!

That's all for now .... until next time ...... happy training!

Kung Fu Training Tips Newsletter

Hi Everyone,
Many of you that have purchased my products in the past have been asking me for more and more information on how to improve your martial art skills. I want you to know that your feedback is very important to me. So with this in mind, I am pleased to announce the creation of my new newsletter: the Kung Fu Training Tips & Clips Newsletter.
It is packed with information, tips, and video clips on all the fundamental aspects of martial arts and comes out twice per month starting with the February 1st, 2008 issue.
I have decided to give you the first issue free so that you can see exactly what 's in it!
Click here to find out more!

Kung Fu Training Secrets on MySpace!

Hello,

Today I would like to invite you to a place I have created on-line for all my students. I started this site so that my students can see the latest lesson I taught them in class. I hope you enjoy seeing the lessons! Go to http://www.myspace.com/kungfutrainingsecrets

Happy training!

Tony

In Kung Fu San Soo, Don’t Become a Specialist

Hello and welcome to my Blog – Diary of a Kung Fu San Soo Black Belt. Today, I would like to talk about a tendency we have as people and how it relates to martial arts. In my training over the years, I have found the best tools for my bodies’ natural movements and worked hard on them for use to defend myself .

In Kung Fu San Soo, we learn thousands of techniques and lessons over time (high black belt level) that can be blended instantly into an attack (preferably) or a defense. As I have trained over time I have gravitated toward the lessons and techniques that have felt most comfortable for my own natural abilities. This is human nature, taking the path to least resistance ………. THIS IS BECOMING A SPECIALIST!

Once I actually, fully, incorporated that thought into my reality I began to go back into those “other” lessons and techniques that I had a hard time with and take a good look at them. I started to work on them, and take them apart, and adapt them into my current fighting personality. It was an awesome revelation and brought my motivation to learn and teach San Soo to an even higher level. I started to do this with my students as well and immediately noticed better skills and more self-confidence from them.

Don’t get me wrong, because when you are first starting out in martial arts, you need to know the basic fundamentals and principles of the art you are training in before you should try this and that takes time! As you develop a “Comfortable Style” over time you will come to know when to begin to step out of your comfort zone and bring in new things. It will re-awaken your world ……………

Happy Training!

Tony

The Importance of Hitting Your Targets

Hello, today I would like to spend some time talking about striking at your opponents most vulnerable targets. There are two schools of thought on this when it comes to martial arts.

Some arts teach you how to strike hard and fast for as long as you can. Their theory here is that you will overwhelm and eventually defeat your opponent through the shear power and volume of your striking.

Other arts believe that accurately hitting your opponent in vulnerable areas is the key to defeating him or her. In Kung Fu San Soo we are taught to strike with balance, leverage and power to vital areas of the body. We do this by working slowly and with accuracy when striking the vital targets of our training partners body. Over a period of time (years) it becomes second nature to position ourselves to effectively strike these targets.

We are also taught to strike our opponents so that we “set up” the body for the next strike, or combination of strikes to vital targets. This is were your leverage and power come in because if you hit a certain target you will know how and where your opponents body will move and can be ready to provide maximum power to your next strike to another vital organ or target.

A martial artist can be big, strong and powerful but if he is hitting you in places that do minimum damage then you still have a chance to subdue and neutralize his attack.

Some of the vulnerable areas of the body to hit are:

Front of The Body Knee Groin Bladder Liver Spleen Solar Plexus Sternum Heart Throat Jaw Hinge Nose Eyes Temple

Back of the Body Back of Knee Kidneys Center of Spine Trapezius Collar Bone Base of the Neck Base of the Skull

By knowing what areas of the body are most vulnerable to attack and striking at these targets in a systematic way you can eliminate any threat to yourself or your loved ones in an altercation. So, know your targets and practice hitting them often because the importance of correctly hitting your targets could one day save your life!

Until next time ……

Happy Training!

Tony

Acquiring and Creating Awareness

Hello,

Today's article is about how to aqcuire and create awareness. The subject of awareness is very in-depth. Awareness is based upon your perceptions as well as your reality. In your everyday life just how much are you aware of? The human mind is an interesting creation in that the more we see something in our lives, on an everyday basis, the less we actually hold it in our awareness.

How many times have you driven down the street to work and passed the same houses or buildings on that journey. If I were to ask you to stop and think about those landmarks could you describe them in detail? Most people could not!

Creating awareness, like martial arts, takes constant practice and training to improve. In Kung Fu San Soo we are taught to practice using our awareness in everyday things as well as are actual "in studio" training. For example, some of the ways we hone our awareness are to sit in certain places when in restuarants, or to be constantly aware of your surroundings in parking lots, retail stores, movie theaters, etc.

Some of our students even have games we play that creates awareness in our everyday lives. One example of this is when I am in a local store and happen to see one of my fellow students in the same store. If he hasn't seen me I will try to get as close to him as possible before he is aware that I am there! This has made for some very "eye opening" moments as far as creating awareness and can be a great training tool.

The more aware I am in life the more confident I become in my ablity to perceive through my reality. Awareness is something that can be aqcuired though expanding your attention span. For example, walk into your office or work and sit down like you normally do. Now write down everything you are aware of without looking. When you are done take a look around you and write down everything you see. The two lists will be completely different!

One thing you will begin to realize is that the world around you will become a bigger, and more alive place to live because you will be aware of much more than you ever were before!

Happy Training!

Tony

How Long Should a Fight Last

Hello,

Today I would like to talk about how long a fight should last. A lot of people ask me this very question and I say "make that fight as short as possible!" In the movies, and in sport fighting such as boxing or tournament fighting we see these fights go for a long time; sometimes up to an hour of fighting to determine who the winner of the contest is. When we watch fighting in martial art movies we are looking at unreal fighting sequences. Not only because of the duration of the fight scenes but because of all the strikes and kicks that are delivered during the fight.

This conditions us to see fighting as this continuous, back and forth exchange of strikes until one person surrenders. When I learned Kung Fu San Soo I quickly discovered that what I had seen in the past was basically theatrical in nature. In a real street fight there are no rules and your adversary is trying to hurt you quickly.

So, how long should a fight really last? Well, if you have serious intent and you know that your opponent is trying to hurt you quickly a real fight should last no longer than 2-5 seconds. To do this you will need to learn to strike the most vulnerable targets on the body as well as learn to strike with maximum power and you'll need to learn how to position yourself to move at the most beneficial angles to close the distance with your adversary quickly.

It took me about 3-5 years of training in Kung Fu San Soo to become confident in what I've stated above. At this point (14 plus years of training) it has become second nature to do these things and it is amazing to know when to move and where to move to give myself the best chance of ending a fight quickly.

Until next time, happy training!

Tony

Power of Breathing

The power of breathing has been emphasized by many arts for many centuries. The energy that comes from proper breathing is truly remarkable. Proper breathing can be used in so many ways for so many things.

It can be used for meditation in Yoga, or to restore health and bring mental and physical well being in Tai Chi. These forms of breathing develop that mysterious energy we have within ourselves known as Chi. Breathing can also me used to develop maximum striking power and to create a cushion to absorb a strike. This is the subject of my post today!

On the everyday level we can breath in three basic ways.


1. Clavicular breathing is the most shallow and worst possible type. The shoulders and collarbone are raised while the abdomen is contracted during inhalation. Maximum effort is made, but a minimum amount of air is obtained.

2. Thoracic breathing is done with the rib muscles expanding the rib cage, and is the second type of incomplete breathing.

3. Deep abdominal breathing is the best, for it brings air to the lowest and largest part of the lungs. Breathing is slow and deep, and proper use is made of the diaphragm.

The third example of the above breathing methods is the type that is used in the most profound ways. This type of breathing is truly magical. When I started Kung Fu San Soo my instructor emphasized loud explosive breathing in our hand forms, strikes and kicks. At first, I had some resistance to this loud and noisy use of the breath.

After 14 plus years of doing this I can totally agree with the benefits of training this way. As an example, try this:

Stand in front of a heavy bag HOLD YOUR BREATH and strike the bag as hard as you can. Then, strike the bag and exhale your breath at the impact of the strike. Can you feel the difference in the power that you are generating. There should be a profound difference between the power of the two strikes.

Explosively exhaling your breath upon impact of the strike can dramatically increase the power of that strike!

Another benefit to this type of breathing is to be able to absorb the energy of your opponents strike. As an example try this:

Stand facing your opponent and HOLD YOUR BREATH while tightening up your body and have him strike you in the abdominals. Feel the impact of his strike. Now, let him strike you there again but this time explosively exhale your breath on impact. Did you notice how much easier it was to take the strike when doing this?

This knowledge about how to breath has saved me many times when training in Kung Fu San Soo and helped reduce the injuries I have sustained over the years!

Next time you train remember the Power of Breathing!

The Benefits of Hand Forms

Hand Forms are our most ancient training tool and were the most important part of martial art training in old China. They would prepare you for learning the techniques and help with everything from stances to physical training. They are the most important tool to developing solid stances and foot work along with proper strikes, kicks, breathing, and balance and there is nothing that teaches movement patterns in the same way. Form practice is and has always been the quickest way to advance in Kung Fu, in every way. It has also been the most neglected.

When the art we now call "San Soo" was brought over from China by Grandmaster Jimmy H. Woo, it underwent some changes to make it easier to learn for Westerners. Traditionally, San Soo forms were longer than the 26 move hand forms we do today. Grandmaster chose to break the original hand forms into smaller pieces to suit the Western audience. He also showed a way to combine our short hand forms together to recreate the original long hand form style of practice.

It is not known if combining hand forms together in this manner recreates the original long hand forms, but it was, and still is today, the way taught by Jimmy H. Woo to practice doing long hand forms. It is believed that the original long hand forms consisting of 102 total moves: 100 fighting movements and two salutes.

Recently, with the help of my teacher, Master Robert Phillips, I have developed a comprehensive and easy to learn method of teaching hand forms to those of you that are not enrolled in a Kung Fu school. I have put the training methods into two different eBooks. The standard eBook is set up move by move with easy to understand descriptions and images to help you learn quickly. The deluxe eBook contains everything that the standard version has plus video clips of each move to make learning even easier. We currently offer one hand form in these formats and will be adding more soon.

For more information on these eBooks, click here go to The Phillips School of Kung Fu San Soo Website.

Doing your hand forms regularly can develop both your inner and outer strengths and can be very meditative as well as providing the physical challenge to those who want complete balance, strength and power.

When To Use Your Stances

There is a lot of information out there in the Martial Arts community about fighting stances. Each discipline has their own stance to fight from.

In Kung Fu San Soo we do not begin an attack out of a stance. Most of us are taught to stand in a relaxed, non-aggressive looking position that we can immediately move from into an attack.

This is important for a couple of reasons.

• When we move to strike it comes from a position of surprise since we are not telegraphing our intention to attack. This keeps the opponent off balance and unexpecting.

• Also, since we aren’t in a rigid, set stance we have more options in which to meet the incoming opponent because we can move with his movement rather than be crossed up because our stance is set.

Once your attack has been initiated is where the actual Kung Fu San Soo stances have a serious impact. Most of the time we move in at 45 degree angles to the opponent which means that if, for example, you are stepping outside your opponent and striking at the same time you will be by him and behind him before he can counter.

In the mean time you have used your block to attack his striking arm, hopefully breaking or damaging it so that he can’t use it again as a weapon. From there (behind him) you can quickly pivot into another stance (which, if done correctly will generate maximum striking power) to finish the fight.

Here are some tips in using your stances:

• Use stances only as a means to generate power and to close the gap with your opponent.

• Use your stances to drive through your opponent and take his balance.

• Use your stances to pivot your hips from one strike to another to generate maximum power.

• Make sure you are planted as you punch or are driving your balance toward your opponent as you strike.

Stances, when used correctly and at the appropriate time, along with striking the proper targets, will enable you to quickly eliminate any threat to you or your loved ones.

Happy Training!
Tony

My Favorite Thing About Kung Fu San Soo

My most favorite thing about Kung Fu San Soo is the infinite variety of attacks one can use to subdue the opponent. As you progress in this art, and learn to master more and more of its’ fighting techniques, you have more and more weapons to choose from and use during a fight.

Just like an artist that paints, as you learn more and more of this art, you are only limited by your own creativity as to how to best create your fighting reality. One of the most powerful aspects of Kung Fu San Soo is the ability to change direction and adjust your choices at any given moment to what is actually happening during an altercation.

If, for example, you move in to block an opponents attack and your block changes his direction to something you didn’t expect, you can continue to flow into another fighting technique without a second thought. The way Kung Fu San Soo is taught creates the ability to flow from one technique to another with minimal transition time.

I think the key element here is that we are learning different TECHNIQUES in our lessons rather than specific fighting routines. When I first started in San Soo I learned just a few techniques, and practiced them over and over until they worked well for me. Sometime into my fourth year of this art (brown belt level) I started to become more adept at “freestyle” fighting. It just kind of happened for me back then and that is when the full impact of Kung Fu San Soo training hit me.

I was moving and flowing from one technique to another instantly without even thinking and regardless of where my opponent was positioned, I had something learned from my endless arsenal of San Soo techniques to flow into and finish the attack.

My instructor had told us from the beginning that Kung Fu San Soo was like learning the letters in the alphabet in our early stages of training and like learning to read and write this alphabet as we moved up in experience. He said when we reached the Black Belt level we start to fully articulate the language of San Soo we have learned into our own creative and personal fighting style.

This is why, during our presentations to the public, our fighting techniques can look completely different from one San Soo fighter to the next. I often here the comment that is looks like we have so many different styles in our presentations but in reality it is each learned San Soo fighter using his/her techniques in an ever creative and personal way

I look forward to learning and perfecting more and more Kung Fu San Soo fighting techniques and incorporating them effortlessly into the San Soo fighting reality I create for myself.

Advanced Balance Training Tools

Hello, today I would like to talk to you about one of my favorite tools for enhancing my balance for Martial Arts. It’s called the Bosu Ball. I have been using one in my training now for a long time and I credit my “drastically improved” over-all balance to using this wonderful tool.

The Bosu Ball work directly on the Stabilizer Muscles and can help strengthen and coordinate the entire musculature including the muscles of your body that you don't see. Everyone has heard the expression that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The human body is no different. Muscular imbalance or inadequacy of even the smallest muscle can cause the entire system to fail. This is why I think the Bosu Ball is so important to Martial Artists.

For you San Soo Fighters out there I have uploaded a couple of video clips to show you how the Bosu Ball works when doing some of our simple warm-up exercises.

To see the video clips go to:

http://balance.kungfutrainingsecrets.com/down-bosu.html

and

http://balance.kungfutrainingsecrets.com/up-bosu.html

You can see that the body wants to sway and move when doing these warm-ups on the ball. The goal of course is to be able to do the warm-ups with power while minimizing your body sway. In the future, I will be creating a downloadable eBook called “Extreme Balance Training” using the Bosu Ball to help Martial Artists improve their balance.

Get a Bosu Ball, give it a try and give feedback on your experience with it at: tony@kungfutrainingsecrets.com

Enjoy!

Tony

Getting or staying in shape?

This question was asked at the Kung Fu San Soo Community Network

Tony and everyone,
We are on the mat from 1 1/2 to 2 hours in our San Soo workouts. What keeps you from getting winded during the workouts? Do some of you jog, lift weights do calisthenics? We don't do hard core stretching and calisthenics like they do in most Tae Kwan Do schools. So what are your thoughts?

My answer was:



That's a good question and right up my alley because I specialize in fitness for martial artists. In order to be able to sustain yourself for 2 hours you'll need to be doing a couple of things for yourself.

1. Make sure you have enough fuel in your body to start off with. What I mean is that the food you eat before your training must last for the duration of your mat time. As an example, when I train on Saturday mornings I have a breakfast of Oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts and a scoop of protein powder thrown in and 1 cup of coffee to sustain the energy of the food. I also plan my meal to be about 1.5 to 2 hours before my workout. This meal gives me the energy to last out there.

2. It would benefit you to get into a training program that consists of 30-40 minutes of weight work. The weight work should be done with good form and have minimal rest between sets (30 seconds or less) You should be working in the 15-20 repetition range for lower body and 12-15 repetition range for upper body.

3. Along with the weight training you should include 45-60 minutes of cardio training on your equipment of choice, i.e., treadmill, rowing machine, bicycle, elliptical, etc. When you do your cardio work you want to incorporate interval training into the workout. An example of interval training on a treadmill would be: fast walking for 5 minutes then running for 2 minutes, back and forth until you have reached the desired workout time.

These techniques will allow you to build up maximum stamina for a 1-2 hour range.

If you want to try a mind blowing workout that can Triple Your Fighting Stamina for the 3-5 minute range (I choose this range because that is usually the time we have to show our techniques in a promotion) go to:

http://www.kungfutrainingsecrets.com to see an eBook I created exactly for this purpose. With these techniques you will also become a bigger, stronger fighter in a short period of time.

Good Luck!

Tony

The NEW Kung Fu San Soo Community Network!

Hello,

Thank you for visiting Diary of a San Soo Black Belt. I'm here to tell you about a new Blog Site I have created to enhance the gathering of all those people that enjoy the art of Kung Fu San Soo. You can visit it at:

http://www.kungfu-sansoo-network.com

My hope is that this site will become a full blown Kung Fu San Soo community where we can share our experiences and comments about this awesome fighting art!

Become a Bigger, Stronger Fighter!

Would you like to be able to fight for 3-5 minutes without becoming winded? And would you like to become a BIGGER AND STRONGER Fighter? I have a secret, little known, exercise combination for you that will help you DO JUST THAT!

I have just completed a new eBook that can help you to Triple Your Fighting Stamina and Ad Tons of Muscle to your body.

Click Here to check it out!

Until then,

Happy & Safe Training!

Tony

Improving Your Balance

Along with leg strength and power comes balance. In the previous posts you have learned how important lower body strength is for creating “Rock Solid” stances and “Generating Maximum Striking Power” In this post I’d like to talk about improving overall lower body balance. Without proper balance we lose power in our strikes as well as reduce our ability to have strong solid stances. When we can control our balance throughout our movements we will be in a position to dominate our opponent.

In the course of our Martial Art training workouts we sometimes lose our balance. And, as you probably already know from experience this generally put us “out of position” to deliver maximum power in our strikes. In fact, as a martial artist, your opponent is doing everything he can to take your balance! Early on in my training I was interested in how easy it was to take some ones balance in training. I enjoyed pulling my training partner off his balance or putting him in a position where he couldn’t deliver his strike effectively. I became driven to discover how this worked. I discovered that depending on how we are built, i.e., our height and our weight distribution determine where our center of balance is located.

I have learned that the lower my center of balance is, the harder it is for my opponent to take it from me. The best way to lower your center of balance in general is to make your lower body heavier than your upper body. Now with most people that is normally the case. We tend to carry more of our weight below the torso but you can improve upon this by building more muscle in your lower body. As your lower body mass increases, your center of gravity becomes lower.

Another way to lower your center of gravity is to work in lower stances to improve your balance. If your Art works out of “horse stances” try and spread your legs out even farther and deeper into your stances and try and stay there for up to a minute in each stance. This will not only increase your leg strength over time it will also accustom you to having balance in these positions and to lower your center of gravity.

I have another exercise that I do regularly that can help you to increase your balance and lower your center of gravity. Give it a try!

Follow the link below to see a 4.81 megabyte instructional video that will show this simple exercise technique.

http://www.goldenwolfe.com/kungfu/secrets/video/example7.html

Good Luck!

Tony

Generating Maximum Striking Power

The simple truth involved in improving MAXIMUM STRIKING power comes from your lower body strength, NOT your upper body strength. Yes, the key to creating maximum striking power comes from your leg strength, balance AND your ability to Pivot Your Hips to deliver devastating striking power!

The stronger your legs and the quicker your pivot speed, THE MORE STRIKING POWER YOU WILL HAVE! This is not only true for martial artists it is true for any athlete.

For example, a baseball players’ hitting power comes from not only his lower body strength but also from how fast he can pivot his body from the hips. The same holds true for a tennis player. When they drive their bodies towards the ball (in their particular sport) it is the lower body + timing that creates the power to the ball. If their balance is not exactly correct, i.e., if they are leaning forward or leaning back, they will not be in a position to deliver maximum power.

I have created a little exercise that can help you to be able to transfer maximum power through to your strikes. It is simple and easy to do and as you start to develop your rhythm and balance your striking power will improve dramatically. Give it a try!

Follow the link below to see a 4.64 megabyte instructional video that will show this simple exercise technique.

http://www.goldenwolfe.com/kungfu/secrets/video/example4.html

Enjoy!

Tony

Creating "Rock Solid" Stances

Have you found it hard to get the leg strength and balance you need to create "Rock Solid" Stances in your Art?

Your stances are, by far, the base of power in any technique in martial arts. Strong stances ensure good balance and power. They allow you to shift your body into a strike to drive-through your opponent.

Conversely, a weak stance will cause a loss of power and decreased balance. The success or failure of any technique is based upon proper positioning of the feet as well as leg strength.

In a fight no one wants to lose his balance. Fighting becomes difficult because the brain puts higher priority on regaining your balance. So, when you try to "strike through "an opponent, resistance will be great, unless you have cause enough pain or damage to make self-preservation the top priority in your opponents brain.

I use a very simple, yet very effective, exercise that can be used anywhere to dramatically increase leg strength, balance and power. Follow the link below to see a 7.9 megabyte instructional video that will show this simple exercise technique.

http://www.goldenwolfe.com/kungfu/secrets/video/example1.html

Start out with 1 set of 10 repetitions for each leg daily and gradually increase this to 4 to 6 sets of 20 to 30 repetitions for each leg. Doing 4 to 6 sets should not take more than 15 minutes of your time each day and the improvement in your leg strength, balance and power will be dramatic!

Enjoy!

Tony

Welcome to Diary of a San Soo Black Belt

This Blog will be used to share my thoughts, ideas, and insights as a Kung Fu San Soo Black Belt and Certified Fitness Trainer. I hope the experiences posted here will help others develop their skills in whatever art they enjoy!