Ninjutsu Uncovered

Hanging by your fingernails My body is trying to shut down but I still have a few weeks until Christmas. I long to lie on my lazy boy sofa and be just that a lazy boy but it is not that time yet I still have much to do… Sometimes you wish your time away, thinking of lazy do nothing days and holidays and dreaming of a day where you don’t remember what day it is or for that matter what time it is…. No matter what you do to fend off those day dreaming feelings you have a lot to do before then. What I have noticed is that no matter what you tell yourself when you know you have some downtime coming your body starts to ignore your brain and thinks it can start to wind down, then your brain joins in by not wanting to do the things you are supposed to do until you can rest, both physically and mentally. Like I always say that your mental state is 9/10 and your physical is 1/10. This ratio seems wrong but time and time again I have been proved right (the major of rightsville) when your head i

Boot camp is a term used by the U.S Military to turn civilians into military personnel. Recently it became popular to live out a fantasy in the comfort of your nearby park or car park thinking you are G.I Jane or a member of the S.E.A.L’s and heading up this is your very own Master chief , the boot camp guru. You can often see this creature with a large SUV with the whole car covered or vinyl wrapped with all the info and hype to make you sign your life away for an “Intensive 8 week course” for just the price of a small mortgage. You excitedly turn up at 6.30 am (Because the Army gets up at 6am) In a local park with the mixed bag of early risers, fitness chic divas, and all the gear no idea headband wearing I.T consultants. Then in skids the Bootcamp Guru wearing combats and vest thinking he is just about to go off with Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge, He has different tops for different days but all of them are in slim fit size so his tanned, tattooed Greek god appearance is in ful

THE HIDDEN ART OF THE NINJA I live the life of a full time ninja, I spend my days training with weapons and learn how to kill people and teach others to do the same This was pointed out to me one morning when I was taking my oldest daughter Molly to school due to the ‘Heavy Rain’ that would ruin this morning’s hair creation. I was asking her what classes she would be doing and she said “Maths, English, History and then later P.E” then she asked what classes I had so I said “Grappling, Sword work, Ninjutsu, Kickboxing, Self-defence training (switched on self-defence of course) then a group class of Ninjutsu!” “Wow” she said “you’re a full time Ninja...” I have always tried to show Ninjutsu in a positive light and tried to show the good bits of the art and not get dragged into the watered down deluded art that seems to be around the world spread by the Master teachers of Master teachers and bulls**t artists that are living in a bubble thinkin

Learn to kick ass girls This is a subject close to my heart as I have a lovely wife and two amazing daughters, a half a dozen nieces and a gaggle of women in my life. Growing up in the 70’s we used to all play outside until we got the final call to come in (normally sounding like a death threat) so we would promise to get back to the game of hide and seek or British bulldog the following evening. Days were spent playing outside running in for money for the ice-cream man and chasing him down with just enough for a 99 and a snowball. We all played ‘around the doors’ not too far from home because you never know when the full football team would need half time’ dilutee’ pop in an old plastic bottle dragged to the pitch from the Mam café situated at my house (“ I am not feeding the street” was I term I heard quite often but she did ) The kids those days were more switched on to danger because they lived it every day , we walked to primary school or got the

People talk about the past and how it was much better, they hate their job, and they feed this negative cycle. They create their life so they can change it how about live in the now not the past. I try to enjoy the time I have with friends and family to do things that make me happy and try not to mind what people think. I should not worry if we can afford something or if we can what will people think. I would say I am past caring what people think of me and my life but I still have a little way to go, I am learning to care about the people that matter in my life and not the people that try to tear into my life. I wish them well in their lives, but I don’t want negative people in my life stealing energy you can put to positive things! You can’t stop the tidal wave that is your future it is going to hit you anyway and you can’t change or re-live your past but you can enjoy the present for what it is! You will never get the time back like an amazing night out, we had one such time in Hul

When I was young (I was lol) I would worry a lot and work myself up until I made myself ill , sometimes sitting alone with my thoughts created mountains out of mole hills and dragons out of lizards. I was very insecure about myself and how I looked. As a teenager I developed a hairy chest and was (and still am) very conscious about taking my top off (only seen while gardening and on the beach) but due to a re-occurring sweat rash I have to shave my chest and apply cream to clear the rash up! (Problem solved for the next couple of weeks) these are some of the insecurities I have carried through my life but I worry less about them than I did when I was younger. I was a very skinny kid being born in the 70’s when your mam made the tea you either ate it or you starved. I tried everything to put weight on ranging from sending off for the secrets of muscle (So no-one would kick sand in my face). I would drink gallons of milk and even into my early 20’s while working for weider the body build

I remember going to see a spiritualist medium many years ago and while talking to her she explained that the caste on my wrist was the spirits trying to slow me down and as I sit nursing a damaged big toe and joint with a foot likes shreks I believe she maybe on to something. All of my life I seem to do things until I hurt myself (including some relationships lol) when I was born I was 6 weeks premature and had to be fed every 2 hours (some things never change) and all the way through my childhood I have always pushed to see if I could do things ranging from my pack runs every Sunday morning were I would load up my pack and webbing slide into it and set off on a 3 mile run always running never stopping. One day my mam got talking to a lady and she was telling her of this young lad of about 12 that used to run passed her house sweating but you could set your watch by his timing every Sunday, the lady seemed more surprised when my mam said it was her son!( the crazy kid) I remember the A

Growing up I always loved westerns and from a very early age I had western guns and rifles, I would sit watching Gun fight at the OK Corral with my guns in pieces cleaning and polishing them like therapy and lovingly put them back together with the skill of a gunsmith (I was 7). As I write this down I have just realized that this has shaped my life more than a grown man should admit! Having loved cowboys all my life (not in a Brokeback mountain way) I realised that it was how they lived there lives and conducted themselves just like the samurai of Japan , sometimes lawless , sometimes honourable but using right and wrong and making a judgement. Gunslingers, as the term suggests they used a duel type confrontation to decide the outcome of a disagreement not unlike Miyamoto Musashi, Sometimes they were sought out to see if they were as good as people said they were leading to legend like statues. If you forgive the pun was a d

Social media websites such as Facebook and twitter has had an amazing effect on our lives and how we see things and hear about things in our daily life. Things around the globe are instantly put up so the rate of information we get is like instant coffee; instant. Weather it is good or bad news you find out about it as quickly as the story develops, a shooting, a plane crash or birth. In the older days when I was young you had to be glued to the television at certain times of the day waiting for the 1 o’clock news or news at 10 if you missed it you had to wait for the next newscast. Today they tell you anything as quickly as typing (not my typing because I only use two fingers) some of the things reported are so far from the truth but we are helpless to stop saying what they want when they want, it is the rise of the keyboard warrior! These keyboard trolls (good name) try to make people listen to their half-truths, no truths or completely made up stories normally to hurt the person it

THE STARS ALIGN Wednesday 16th January 2008. 9.15pm I was just leaving the gym after another day of classes and was heading to the old George, the AFC's resident pub when I had a double take on a group of people out side the kebab shop. When you see someone that you know but don't know your brain goes haywire, which was what happened because the group was BJ Penn and his training team!! I said hello and asked if I could have a photo with him! BJ being BJ said no problem, Simon took the photo with his phone and after I thanked him BJ was just about to walk away when he asked if we had just finished training because he was looking for a guy called John! You could have knocked me down with a white belt, BJ Penn was looking for me. BJ explained he was staying at an apartment block close to the gym away from the Marriott where the rest of the fighters are staying so that he can come and go as he pleases, and someone told him to come and see me for

things I did not do After every year comes to an end you spend your time sitting and reflecting on what goals you had set and the things you were going to do and whether or not you did them. When you are younger the 6 weeks holiday was a lifetime of endless days and Christmas was a mix of fun excitement and family time as you get older it is true what people say the years get faster and faster , sometimes as if it was a roundabout I would like to get off. Goal setting is a good way to start a year but as you look back at your piece of paper of the previous year's goals, sometimes the feeling of disappointment flows over you, You did not lose the weight you wanted, your body had went downhill (even with your oil of O'lay night cream) its feeling like you could not stop the tide. Sometimes in life, life gets in the way of living the many things that made you do things you did not want to do and stop you from doin