Judo and Wrestling phenom, Justin Flores, posted a video on his Instagram recently of female UFC fighter Cat Zingano accidentally elbowing her training partner while drilling a technique. Have you ever done that? Or have you been on the receiving end of a stray knee to the groin while your partner is passing guard? Yeah,Continue reading “Crap Happens: Accept It and Keep Going.”
Tag Archives: Martial Arts
How to Be Happy Despite Fate’s Fickle Ways.
I received some pretty rough news. I have a herniated disc and a possible fractured vertebra. The degenerated discs in my lower back are likely due to years of training, competing, and rough-housing with big boys on the mat. The fractured vertebra came from a recent “Hey, y’all, watch this,” moments. I don’t know howContinue reading “How to Be Happy Despite Fate’s Fickle Ways.”
Back To The Primitive: Finding Your Tribe.
How do you think of your teammates? Do you see them as a few welcome acquaintances that you meet with a couple of times per week? Or are they something more, a necessary support group you can’t live without? In many martial arts (and fitness groups as well), we often hear a term, but weContinue reading “Back To The Primitive: Finding Your Tribe.”
Winning: It’s all in his head.
In one of my Judo matches several years ago, I was in an intense struggle for grips, and I was losing the battle. I heard my coach yelling, “You’re not moving him, Josh. He’s moving you.” My coach was right. I was letting my opponent lead the dance. In the famed Japanese swordsman and martialContinue reading “Winning: It’s all in his head.”
Family Traditions: A Recipe for Realization
At a family gathering, a young woman was asked why she cut the ends off the ham she had brought to the meal. “My mom always cut the ends off,” she replied. The young lady asked her mother later why she cut the ends off the ham. “I’m not sure, but my mother used toContinue reading “Family Traditions: A Recipe for Realization”
Readings: Man’s Search For Meaning (Suffering and Success)
In many ways, Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search For Meaning” is a memoir and a treatise on human tenacity. In one way, it tells of Frankl’s hardships in the Nazi imprisonment camps, Auschwitz being the worst. In another manner, the book gives us insight into how we can endure in the hardest of times and theContinue reading “Readings: Man’s Search For Meaning (Suffering and Success)”
Resume and Remain: Fighting Back After the Pandemic
It finally came. The day we had all waited for. The studio has reopened for us to get back on the mat. Now we can all take a deep sigh of relief… cautiously. As we reopen and resume our martial arts training, what does it look like? Is it perfectly identical to the way itContinue reading “Resume and Remain: Fighting Back After the Pandemic”
What Mortal Kombat Taught Me About Knowledge
Philosophy from a video game. “Finish him,” was the famous phrase heard on Mortal Kombat 3 when it came time to obliterate your opponent. You might remember the drunken wobble Raiden does just before Sub-Zero uppercuts him into oblivion. Good times. As a kid, another part of the game always stood out: the opening credits.Continue reading “What Mortal Kombat Taught Me About Knowledge”
Why Me?: Unfairness and Life
“No fair,” cries my son when he thinks his sister got a bigger piece of candy. “No fair,” he cries when I tell him he can’t go outside and play until he cleans his room. I politely remind him that sometimes, life isn’t fair. We see this often with children, but we don’t recognize itContinue reading “Why Me?: Unfairness and Life”
How You Can Learn Empathy from a Book About War
Sun Tzu and Spying on the Enemy In a webinar on Tactical Communication put on by the Verbal Judo Institute, the instructor often cited Sun Tzu’s Art of War. In Verbal Judo, one of the key parts of de-escalation and tactical communication is empathy. Several definitions are floating around, but in essence, empathy is theContinue reading “How You Can Learn Empathy from a Book About War”
Joshua Clements Writes 