Ninjutsu Uncovered

As I sit on the early morning train to London to teach a security team based in Gatwick my mind drifts to the thought of lounge pants. It is my hectic run up to Christmas filled with courses, gradings, privates and group classes not unlike most of my year. This year has been a very hard year both professionally and personally, with my mind and body being pushed to the limit and beyond but it’s nothing like I am used to, but it is surprising what you can get used to! I must stay focused but that is easier said than done when the thought of donning my lounge pants and the only thing I will be hitting will be my lazy boy sofa in the reclined position. Many years ago, I used to go and teach during the Christmas holidays but this resulted in more stress related issues than the rest of the year. I would leave everyone at home enjoying themselves and drive to the gym and wait for my private classes to arrive. Sometimes when people have time off work they will book classes with eve

mean? Fighting, Tradition, Loyalty and Honour. When you think of the martial arts, what are the first words that would describe what they The history and tradition would lead to the honour in the arts.  You would be proud to be a part of a long line of people that forged a path for you in your chosen art, with tales of great warriors, great battles or great sporting fights, give you pride to be doing such an amazing art. You should feel honoured to carry it on with the backing of your martial forefathers.  When you start in the arts you are told about great people that have lived and died for the art, you then have the responsibility to uphold the tradition and honour of the art.  I remember trying not to giggle when I went on my first course for Ninjutsu, Brian McCarthy stood in front of over fifty black clad people, he talked about what ninjas were all about, what they did how they lived and the honour it would have been to fight for your clan, so we should train to our best of

Living where I live I am in the privileged position to be 10 minutes from the sea and 30 minutes from the countryside, I feel like I can escape to either at a moment’s notice. This privilege I don’t take for granted. Sometimes me, Kerry, the girls and little nev the puppy will jump into the car and be on the beach playing in the waves and on the sand within 10 minutes, with flip flops and shorts, the girls jumping in the cold north sea, little nev playing with seaweed and rolling on the cold wet sand with Kerry watching and capturing the moments on her camera, truly enjoying the moments. When we have had enough and after the girls turn blue we walk back to the car in sandy bare feet and wrap  the girls in blankets ( because I always forget the towels) then home for a sink bath for nev and a towel dry ( after a quick shake) then everyone has a warm bath and into our lounge clothes. This is an amazing experience on a hot day (very rare in the north east of England) but even on a bluster

This statement sounds good if you look at it one way (think about it) But once you have removed your head from the gutter I will continue. Suffering from a bad back for many years due to millions of bad falls and kicks and groundwork, getting squashed on a regular basis tends to hurt after awhile, I have come to the decision that I need to stretch more often. I have not taken this decision lightly I have skirted around it and ignored it and even blatantly denied it! I have done all of the ‘special core training’ that people with no bad backs have recommended, not taking out of turn (and I don’t get out very much) BUT SOME OF THESE ROUTINES I COULD NOT EVEN GET INTO THE STARTING POSITION DUE TO MY BACK, LET ALONE DO THE ROUTINE. So I have made the decision to listen to my body and not my mind because your mind messes with you, I will try to explain; You have spent years training hard and mentally and physically conditioned until you become one stubborn bastard, you develop yo

“Grow up!” is a thing you will hear a lot as a child and “act your age” among other classic sayings; But why should I grow up to be Normal! Sometimes you have to think like a child and be childlike in your views rather than the beige type people society wants you to be. When I teach my children’s classes you have to become a child (no great leap!) communicating with them at their level so that they understand you. Make things fun in your teaching and reward them for good behavior but also teach right from wrong. We have rules like an adult class but a treat for the children for example we have foam pirate sword to fight with when they have been good but we also have a sin bin guarded by bob our grappling dummy and I get the children to recite the rules i.e., 2 minutes for roughing it/ being naughty If you are in twice you leave the class for the day If you are sin binned every week for 3 weeks we will no longer let you train at the club. These rules and solve the attitude

No I am not quoting Star Wars but everyone has a dark side to their character and I am no exception. Most people think I am quite a laid back character and that nothing bothers me but sometimes the whole world bothers me and I transform into my Dark self. On the outside looking in I always seem up beat and happy but this is not so, I paint a smile on my face and perform to the crowds like a clown does at the Circus. When I was young I developed a stutter I knew what I wanted to say but had a hard time speaking and the harder I tried the more I would stutter leading to developing a lifelong problem, this had a knock on effect to my reading, every reading test I did at school showed I was below average for my age. The problem was I loved reading but every time I got asked to read in the class my nerves would bring out my stutter leading to terrible reading marks and this cycle remained for many years. I love reading, it is one of my great passions, I love reading about real people and re

Sometimes people say that my techniques are good, smooth and flow (just sometimes ) the response I always say “ I have done this before!” the truth is I do basics in all the arts I teach and train in most days and for many hours. People always want to do the ‘good stuff’ basics are just that basics, but they are missing the point of the whole thing the key to learning the arts are the basics. When you start your path in martial arts, you dream of becoming a ninja master or world champion kickboxer or mma superstar and you hit the ground with a bump when you find that you seem to be doing the same basic moves over and over again and not a glimpse of the amazing moves you have in your head. The basics moves build up like a jigsaw and create a big collection of techniques that make up the art. The odd thing that happens is that as you practise and practise you forget that you struggled with a stance or technique you gradually get better and better at adding the basics together forming a s

I have been told I use strange quotes or sayings to help me illustrate my teachings so I have decided to explain myself. So sit down belt up and let’s take an amazing tour of my mind and the way it works! Over the many years of teaching I always joke around and make the classes light hearted but always get the point of my class over in very strange ways. This strange wording came to light when I was going to grade a group from York where one of my black belts teaches and as Julie started the warm up she shouted “find a plot of land” so they could do shadow work as part of their grading, when I pulled her about stealing my lines she said she uses it all of the time … what a cheek get your own lines. It just shows how much things stick in your head and eventually you use them as an everyday term. So here are a few of my quotes and their descriptions. Tips for Kickboxing Knee point/nee point- taking the Geordie term meaning there is no point in doing something but in this context it mea

In my last blog I talked about the people that drain you of energy and things you can do to avoid them, but you could be the person holding yourself back. You could be part of the one day gang, that sit and tell everyone that will listen their story about when they find the time or the money or when they are fitter etc. They will do X, Y and Z were in actual fact they will do fuck all but moan on and on about it for years to come! They now fall in the gang you would like to avoid …. How do you avoid yourself…..? I am sitting at my desk at the AFC writing from the notes I jot down when they spring to mind and this forms my blog, it is funny how my brain works. I have a rare hour off from training due to a cancellation so instead of messing around on Facebook or YouTube (I know you all do it) I am spending quiet time writing so I can get on with the important things that need to be done. It would be so easy to become distracted and waste the time I have doing things that are unimportant

Have you every left someone after talking to them and feel that they have DRAINED YOU OF ENERGY? They may not be a bad person but the negative energy they could produce bottle and sell could run an evil empire for months. I have come across many such characters in my life and they tire you out with their negativity. I try to be upbeat about life but when life throws things at you like the barrels on Donkey Kong it is sometimes hard to keep your chin up (or down if you are sparring). When I started training in martial arts you would come across these characters lot; I was a young skinny lad so they thought they could take their negativity out on me ( Bully ) and make me listen to their ‘war stories’ during value training time telling me about their failed marriages and their bosses and co-workers that don’t work as hard as them and get promoted, all during the training class with not a hint of me having a go at the technique and when I did start to have a go of the technique I was quic

What do you do on a Friday night? Is it the end of your working week? Do you work Saturdays and Sundays? Nana Nap and out on the town…. Friday night when I was in primary school was great we just had to suffer hymn practice in the afternoon resulting in a very numb bum due to having to sit on the hall floor with a teacher that would waive her baton stick like harry potter waived his wand and we would still sing out of tune or sing inappropriate words and get sent out (but it was more fun that way) , after suffering this ordeal and after you could feel your legs you would make it back to your class room and see a surprise on the board for you...homework to be in by Monday! You would leave with a sprint unlike the tortoise speed of your return on Monday morning with the homework you did just after your tea on Sunday night before you went into the bath keeping the Sunday night bath night tradition alive and well. After getting home and you wolfed down egg, sausage and chips with lashings

Sitting on the seat at the front of my house waiting on stand by for Kerry to drive passed and pick me up with two excited school girls on board molly and Erin to go shopping! Girls don’t need motivation once they hear those words…me on the other hand …. I was sitting with the sun hitting my face for what seems to be the first time this year (it is now February) I am wearing my bobble hat , long sleeved t-shirt and a body warmer and feeling like an alpine ski instructor on the side of the mountain waiting for my ski school to turn up. It seems that the dark days have been here for ever, you get up in the dark, go to work in the dark and come home in the dark and only know if it is raining when people come into the gym wet! When the clocks go back in October you get a little more light to help make the day brighter, apart from babies and young children that have their own body clock and can’t tell the time so just after you have getting them into a sleep pattern so you can get a little

I have a painting of Rocky Marciano vs jersey Joe Walcott that was painted by Billy Murphy who was my dad’s cousin, strangely his dad was a good boxer who went by the name of Billy Farrell. The story goes that my dad was visiting them and commented on the painting as he liked these boxers so Billy gave it to him (1960’s), every time they met up Billy always asked for it back and my dad would not part with it. The painting now hangs at the bottom of my stairs next to a grandfather clock, two symbols of my life one about the past and the other guiding the future. I have seen the painting of those amazing fighters all of my life through each stage of my life and it will possibly remain somewhere in my family for many generations to come. When I was born, in the 70’s (1970’s not the 1870’s for the cheeky ones) as a toddler I would often ask who they were and I first learned their names from my dad who was a very good amateur boxer with a good record and even had the offer to turn pro but