Basically Speaking


For those of you who do know me...I am short bald guy who also happens to help people learn Kyusho around the globe through seminars and through my online education program hosted by the Kyusho Institute (The PinPoint™ Method),

I started this journey when I was 12 years old.  I began wrestling at Woodrow Wilson Jr. High School in Edison, NJ against the wishes of my parents.  They thought it would be a passing phase...well...I still have not gotten out of this phase that has lasted 36 years so far.

I was always interested in self defense because I was a smaller guy who had a big mouth at times.  

My first experience with sparring was of the verbal kind and I have been honing this craft for many years.  I still have a lot of work to do...but don't we all?

One thing my coaches drilled through me was to be good at the basics first because advanced techniques all have their roots in a strong basic foundation.  Without a strong foundation...there is no stability whatsoever...right?

The men's basketball team at UCLA won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years.  These men were some of the best high school players in the country.  This is not what made these UCLA teams unbeatable.  It was their coach's philosophy of honing and practicing the basic skills.  This coach was John Wooden.  Many of his players went on to the NBA and are now enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.  To a man, the love that they have for Coach Wooden is still apparent because they know that without his relentless pursuit of perfection of the basics...they might not have even gotten to pro basketball and success afterwards.

Although the legendary Vince Lombardi enjoyed tremendous success as the head coach for the Green Bay Packers, few know how his success began.  Many know of his professional coaching success...but where did this start?  It started with his coaches at Fordham University in New York City.  He was one of the legendary blocks of granite from the Fordham Football team.  He loved football, but was too small for the professional ranks.

He decided to become a coach.  As he was teaching high school at St Cecilia in New Jersey, they needed a basketball coach.  He knew nothing of basketball.  He studied the basics, stressed this over and over to his players and they won the only boys State Championship Title in school history under his leadership.

As you can see, these legendary coaches produced legendary players, who produced legendary results.  

Mastery of the basics are why this happened.

In the martial arts world, when one receives their black belt (1st degree), many think that they have arrived.  In reality...this can't be further from the truth.

When some receives their master rank (usually around 4th or 5th degree black belt depending on the system), the same attitude creeps in.  

At Grandmaster level (7th or 8th degree black belt)...again..."I don't need no stinkin' practice...that is only for students."  Ok...so I paraphrased a bit...but I think you get the idea.

At each milestone...we think we have arrived and all the secrets will someone just appear within, quite possibly through osmosis.  Yeah...ok!

The truth is...the real secret to mastery, IMO is to train the basics constantly, re-examine them, train some more so that you can create a solid foundation where everything else is supported from.  

There are real secrets in the martial arts. One of them is that nothing will come to you if you stand still waiting for it.  

If you add advanced material to poor basics...you will not have much.  Remember...if you put lipstick on a pig...it is still a pig!!

Until next time KO your obstacles by keeping it simple, keeping it safe, and train with PinPoint™ accuracy.

Mark

Mark Kline is a short, bald, professional martial artist from NJ.  He is the architect of the PinPoint™ Method of Pressure Point Education for Martial Arts which is hosted by the Kyusho Institute.  He has thousands students and followers around the globe training in his unique method of learning through a combination of live seminars and online education.  You can can find more information about this unparalleled Kyusho Educational program here - http://www.KyushoInstitute.com and he can be reached directly by email - mark.kline@kyushoinstitute.com


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Choices

Image
We make choices each and every day in every thing we do. Think about it for a second... Just the fact that you may or may not have stopped to thin about it...was a choice. You also made a choice to read this blog now, push it off until later, or scroll right on by and not read it at all.  All of these are choices. Choices are basically questions we ask ourselves.  For example..."What should I have for breakfast?  Should I cook something or just pick something up on the way to work?"   Every second of every day we make choices for everything...even whether or not we finish reading this blog.  Hell!  Just me making the decision to write on this topic...was a choice. So lets look at how choices affect our decision making with regards to self defense situations.   The first choice happens before the altercation even starts...I mean waaaay before and this is with regards to training.   Giving someone too many options can ultimately cause t
Read more

Is Knowledge Power?

Image
In most cases, Knowledge is Power. When it comes to the martial arts...if you are teaching...then yes...Knowledge is Power or else no one would seek you out...BUT...Knowledge of what? If all one can do is dazzle someone with their BS, well...then the students, and the instructor for that matter...would have a false sense of security should they ever have to test their skills in a real confrontation. This is a case where Knowledge is being used to impress people...not to impress upon them the need to get on the mat and train. The key...IMO...is to train to reaction and response...and when I say this, I mean to do all of the above while understanding the nature of the threat level of the attack as well. There are times to just extricate yourself from the situation and there are times when the only way out to incapacitate the attacker, quickly. I have said this before...theory has its place. The important next part is to train the principles so that you so not ha
Read more

Rocks in your feed bag?

Image
Growing up my parents had a friend from Ohio that they had met in Barbados.  He would keep all of us entertained all day as we hung out at the pool with him and his wife and then the whole family would go to room 105 for drinks and canned cheese and crackers. Uncle Wil would tell us story after story about him growing up and the trouble he got in growing up during the depression.  He kept us in stitches and to this day, when someone in the family starts part of one of his sayings...someone else is sure to finish it. "What's the matter Wilbur (Uncle Wil)? Got rocks in your feedbag?" I guess this was the depression era equivalent of asking someone if they have just have too much clutter in their attic So what does this have to do with Kyusho and martial arts training in general? There are many different ways to train martial arts...as you already know.  When I first started on this journey, and I have spoken about this in the past...there were many in ou
Read more