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 t...

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 blu...

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...