Ninjutsu Uncovered

Hi and welcome to this month’s ramblings. The world of grappling is vast and very different in approach and application; it is said to be the first combat sport and still remains today, for the vast amount of the world, the No.1 pastime in the martial arts. Tribes of warriors would meet on the battlefield and to find out who was the most skilled, fighting over a village or honour or as a rite of passage to manhood. As the years moved on, styles developed and progressed and certain rules of engagement evolved so as not to injure your opponent. With this, the arts and styles changed to make things more socially acceptable and in this sometimes lay the problem. Catch wrestling was developed as a release from the pressures of life at the pit face of the mining industry. The men involved were a hardy breed due to their job so they had a natural strength developed through their harsh working conditions. The art of catch–me–if–you-can was developed around strong fighters with strong throws on...

I am normally a happy go lucky person with a positive view on life, happy in the knowledge that what I do makes a difference in people’s lives but at the minute people are p***ing me off! At the AFC we are in the centre of Newcastle and pay a lot for the Gym but our lease comes under review in 2013 (not long now) but due to the massive redevelopment of parts of the city (any spare bit of grass!) student accommodation has been built or old buildings have been turned into student lets, here lies my problem. We have heard on the grapevine that we might have to leave our building due to redevelopment or in the estate agents subtle (sly) way hugely jump up the rent to make us leave, either way we are up that well known creek without a paddle. So as a precaution Kerry, my wife (bless her she is always on the end of my estate agent hating rants. Sorry Kerry and I love you xx ) and I have been looking for anything in the Newcastle area suitable to be turned into the new home of the AFC. We hav...

The year started off the same as any other year, apart from the large amounts of snow we endured during the latter end of 2010; everyone is paying back Christmas but have an eye on training hard and finding what they could fit into their budget. The scrap pack fight team came into the year a little on the chubby side (lol) and it took the best part of January and February to get them into fighting shape! When you have some time off at Christmas you should ease into the year carefully so you do not over train or injure yourself just because you or your partner are over keen to get back into full on sparring! Work on techniques and progressive drills, then, when your fitness, timing and technique is better, then you can spar (unlike the unscheduled bouts you may have see or been involved in at the bigg market over the season of ‘good will’). Our first major event of the year was Sean Bollinger from 10 th planet Riverside (lets go) seminar in the gym.  Sean and his assistant, Jeremy,...

Mal Trotter, Alex Garcia, John Atkin Friday the 28 th of October: Started in the Atkin household much like any other day, getting Molly and Erin, the little sleepy heads out of bed while my lovely wife and partner worked like a finely tune machine making breakfasts and packed lunches in the Atkin Diner Experience . She then made the beds and got the kids in the car like an expert bodyguard team. After the formal de-bus at school with waves and kisses all-round, Kerry and I got home, made our own breakfast and sat down to watch the Ultimate Fighter from the previous evening. Later, Kerry popped to the shops with her Mum and I drove to work, singing along to Rock Star on my CD. I parked up at Manors Car park (as it is so expensive to park in Newcastle, I park there and walk into the City Centre) and as I walked over the central motorway I got a phone call: a man said he had a lad in his taxi who is ‘into this MMA stuff’ but as I was talking the phone went dead, I tried to ring back but...

This is a hot topic for debate; people are up in arms at the sight of two young boys, free grappling in a cage at a show! Why is it that the press jumps on the band wagon to stir up trouble again for the people that enjoy doing, watching and teaching MMA? Why don’t they stick to phone tapping and building people up just to cut them down when they fall from grace (I love the press can you not tell). Watching the two lads grappling you could see the time and effort and great amount of skill in their movements; what does that suggest to you? To me it shows they have trained and learnt the movements, displaying great discipline and dedication, and can show them to other people without hurting each other; how is that a bad thing from the youth of today! Back in the early 80’s when I started to train I would set up my bag outside, between the house and the shed so that is swung freely but if the bag swung at the same time as my roundhouse came in, if I was not careful, I would kick the edge ...

You see this plastered over every glossy magazine and the internet (not those sites!) Everyone is obsessed with being fit and staying in shape or looking good, but what if you have been training in the Martial Arts for the past 20-30 years taking the knocks and bruises, bumps and breaks that usually go with hard Martial arts training? When you are younger you pride yourself on the state of your legs from shin kicks, dropping your pants at every opportunity to show people your jet black inner thigh war wound and swelling with pride (no pun intended) at the shiner you received from sparring. But this and the many more badges of honour you accumulate over the years take their toll on your body. I am in my 40’s now but in my head I am between 4 and 24. Depending on the situation, I can be childish or just plain stupid when it comes to looking after my body! A few years ago I badly injured my back and have had problems with it ever since. As I have stated sometimes my head writes cheques my...

When you are younger you are more willing to try new things , one week it is skateboarding the next it is football and the list goes on but it’s a brave kid that does not follow the crowd into the next ‘new thing’. Since I was young (yes I was) I have always followed my own path, in training and in life. I was proud of the lime green socks I wore for high school or that I was friends with everyone not just the popular kids. I recently went to my years 25 th Re-Union; there was  great cross section of people there but it still ended up like being the next day at school; the cool kids talked to the cool kids and the fringe elements talked to the fringe elements. In my eyes nothing much had changed apart from the vast majority seemed that they were in their lives but not living them. The shock on some of their faces when I told them I run a Martial Arts Gym and shocker of all shockers still trained! (I think they watch too many movies of the Sensei shouting commands and strutting aro...