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!

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:

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

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.

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.

Happy Training!

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

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: 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!