The name ‘Aikido’ is produced by the grouping of three characters in the Japanese language. ‘Ai’, which signifies ‘joining’; ‘ki’, which means ‘spirit’ and ‘do’, which which means ‘way’. These three words in fact actualy do encapsulate the essence of Aikido as a type of martial art: ‘the joining of the spirit to find the way’. It was only in the period from 1930’s to the 1940’s that the name Aikido was formally accepted as the name of this martial art type.
Let me pose question. Why can a young child run under a table and not have to grunt and groan? There is a reason for his agility, you know, and this reason infects the martial arts…and all of life.
How many years does it take to become a Martial Arts Master? What a fascinating question. There is an easy answer to this, and it will apply to any art you study, be it taekwondo, aikido, pa kua chang, or whatever.
I was talking with one of my students the other day, and we were discussing condensing body calisthenics into maybe a half dozen simple motions. Think about it, five martial arts exercises that help you be stronger, faster and more powerful. All you need to do is these five exercises!
Archery is about hitting a target with an arrow shot from a bow. The bow can either be an straight bow or a crossbow, although most people think of upright bows when they hear the word ‘archery’. Within the sport or hobby of target archery, there are two kinds: target archery and field archery. The champion is the archer with the highest combined score of his arrows that struck the target.
Archery is as old as the hills. The oldest bows to have been found date back to about 2000 BC and bows are almost definitely older than that. Archery is so old that no-one knows where or when the bow and arrow was invented. It has always been used in hunting and warfare. Buddhist monks in the Far East have used archery in their martial arts routines for centuries as well.
There are quite a few arm moves in wrestling, the most well-known of which are the arm drags, arm swings, arm breakers and over-the-shoulder arm drags. Another one in wrestling is the arm manoeuvre known as the arm-bar take down. The arm bar works by forcing the opponent’s arm downwards.
If you are American and you are keen on archery, you will almost certainly have heard of Three Rivers Archery products. In Europe and the remainder of the world, you probably have not heard of them. Three Rivers Archery products are some of the finest in the world. In their own words, they specialize in longbows and recurve bows.
I saw the Night of the Living Dead way back in the sixtes (I wasstarting Kenpo Karate back then) when it first came out. It was lots of fun, but an attack by zombies can never happen, right? Well, fast forward some four decades, and the answer might surprise you.
You will discover that you have a huge array of options when you make the decision to become more physically fit. The most difficult issue often turns out to be discovering the perfect method to be motivated until the benefits become plain. Alas, it is not uncommon to find someone who starts a new fitness routine and then gives up on it before too long since he or she didn’t take time to select an activity he or she could continue long term. Maybe you have not thought about martial arts as a form of exercise you would like to pursue, but it is a very popular and readily available one. Continue reading to find out some of the benefits you will experience when you practice various forms of martial arts.
