Let me introduce you.....

Martial News logo, click for link.

I have been a blogger for an on-line martial arts newspaper for the last two and a half years. The newspaper is called Martial News and is written and published from the North East of England. Martial News is unique in that it remains wholly a newspaper rather than a magazine. It publishes local, national and international news stories as well as feature articles and of course, the blogs.

About three months ago the Editor asked me if I would become the Blog-Editor-in-Chief for Martial News, an opportunity I jumped at! I have been busy these last few weeks setting up new blog platforms for all our blogs (10 in total) and transferring archive material to them. I am just about there with sorting everything out and thought I would introduce you to our blogs and bloggers (okay, so it's a shameless plug!)


Aikido Extras. This blog is written by Sensei Peter Seth, a 3rd dan Aikido expert who runs the Zanshin Aikido club at Sunderland University. Peter is also the founder and organiser of the Great Northern International Festival of Martial Arts, an annual event that I have attended for the last 3 years and is great fun and raises money for Cancer Research UK. Peter writes some fascinating articles about the journey we all make within ourselves as we endeavour to get to grips with what it is to become a true martial artist. Peter is always a great source of inspiration to me.

Below the Belt. This blog is written by Martial News Editor Phil Doherty. Phil is a founding member of DFM Martial Arts which teaches a type of street combat called Directional Fighting Method as well as DFM Reivers MMA and DFM kickboxing. He is also a Senior Conflict Resolution Trainer. Phil is an experienced journalist by profession and set up Martial News two years ago to plug a gap in the market and to raise money for charity. He uses his blog, partly as an editorial column, partly to promote local martial arts events but also to air his own views and knowledge about martial arts.

Black Belt Adventure. Okay, so this is written by yours truly! You may recognise some of my posts as I often post the same material on both blogs! However I do occasionally write something original for this blog so can you risk not looking?

Core Reality. Author, Paul Green our newest and, currently, our only non British blogger. An American, Paul is the founder of Stonewall Tactical Defense Systems. Having achieved black belts in several traditional arts, including receiving his 6th dan in jujitsu recently; he has served as the technical director of the American Budo Society and served as the special projects director for the international combatives and self defense association (ICSDA). He writes on a range of tactical subjects.

Kobudo Korner. Written by Sensei David Macintyre, a 5th dan in both Shukokai karate and kobudo. He runs his own karate and kobudo club.  David writes on a variety of  karate and kobudo related topics, often based on his own experiences.

Martin Clarke on Sambo. Martin has an impressive sports record: he has won over 300 medals in Judo, Sambo, Olympic and Power weightlifting, Jiu-jitsu and amateur wrestling! He has represented Great Britain at judo, jiu-jitsu and sambo wrestling and was a member of the Olympic Judo squad from 1978 to 1980. With such an impressive record he is a man who very much likes to speak his mind in his blog posts and doesn't hold back any punches!

Ninjutsu Uncovered. Blog author, John Atkin, is a top ninjutsu, jujitsu, MMA and kickboxing instructor  and boxing coach.  He owns and runs the Advanced Fighting Centre in Newcastle in the north of England.  John is also a man who has earned the right to have strong opinions, often writing about his own experiences of martial arts and his views on the state of martial arts today.

Reality Bites. This blog is written by John Barrass with occasional contributions from his assistant instructor Matt Chadwick. John is the founder and senior instructor of the Evasive Self-Defence Combat System (ESDCS). He is a 4th dan in jujitsu and holds other dan grades in Wado Ryu karate, Aikido and Kenjutsu.
John writes about modern day combat arts but always with an eye on the importance of the traditional arts that underpin them.

Reality Check. Author, Chris Turnbull, is a modern day combat specialist. He has trained in boxing, kickboxing and MMA. His expertise is in Street Combat, with knowledge honed from more than 15 years working on the doors in clubs, pubs and events. He writes on a variety of topics related to effective street combat for the real world.

Street Edge. Stuart Rider, the blog author, runs his own self-defence and protection martial art called Rider Martial Arts which is a combination of the many systems he has learned over the years. He writes on the principles and strategies of his art.

I hope you enjoy reading our blogs and will consider adding some of them to your blog lists.

Martial News is planning to expand into the United States next year. This will be called Martial News USA and will focus on the clubs on the eastern seaboard from New England down to Florida.

Phil Doherty said: "Once the beach head is established we will be rolling it out through the States until we have different editions across the country."

I'll keep you posted on developments!

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New look, same name.....

I hope you like the new look blog. I decided it was a good time for a new fresh look. However, I've decided not to change the title. Somehow " my journey to black belt" still seems appropriate. I've only just reached the borders of black belt territory and will now spend the rest of my life travelling into its deeper terrain, exploring all it has to offer. So there's no need to change, its just business as usual......

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Are we suffering from comment fatigue?

Is it just me or is there a bit of comment fatigue going on at the moment? I have noticed that several of the blogs that I read, as well as my own, are receiving fewer and fewer comments.

I am guilty of a bit of comment fatigue myself. I read all the blogs in my blog roll every time they post but I've noticed that I'm not getting around to leaving as many comments as I used to. A slap on the wrist for me!

The hit rate on my posts has climbed steadily over the last few months yet I receive fewer comments. Of course I may not be writing about things that you want to comment on - or even read!

However, I know that comments are important feedback for bloggers and we look forward to reading them. It's the interactive nature of blogs that sets them aside from static websites. Comments often challenge our preconceptions, gives us ideas for new posts, give us feedback on what kind of posts people like to read and just generally motivate us to continue blogging. Comments are the only way we know that people are reading our blogs.

If you are a lurker (read blogs but never comment) then why not come out and leave a comment on your favourite blogs - just so we know you exist!

I really appreciate the blogs I read and know how much time and effort they take to maintain. Therefore next week, to show my appreciation, I am going to comment on every post that I read - so if you are on my blog roll and you post next week, I will leave you a comment.

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Martial Artist's Block vs Writer's Block

This post is for Dan Prager (Martial Arts and Modern Life) who challenged me to write it back in November following a comment I made on his post: “You don’t have to be great all the time”.

Writer’s Block

I’m pretty sure we are all familiar with the concept of ‘writer’s block’. You may have experienced it yourself when writing for your blog. You sit down at the computer and can’t think of anything to write about, or you have a basic idea but not enough information to structure it properly. Maybe you’ve started a post but don’t know how to finish it – you’re not sure where it’s going or what it is you really want to say about the topic. So you make excuses not to write – other jobs suddenly seem more important and must be attended to first, you need more coffee to concentrate, you’ll come back to it later, you’ll just surf around other blogs first – oops! Now you’ve run out of time to write. We’ve all been there!

Martial Artist’s Block

What is martial artist’s block? Is it similar? Well I think I may have just made the phrase up but it makes some sense: you don’t feel like you are making any progress in your training, your motivation to train is diminishing – it’s become ‘samey’ and boring, you’ve lost sight of your training aims, you feel ‘burned out’ or worse – you’re thinking of quitting. So you make excuses not to train – other jobs suddenly seem more important and must be attended to first, you’ve had a hard day at work and feel too tired, you have a snivel and decide you’d better not go, it’s school holidays and your normal routine has gone to pot etc. etc.

It’s the same process isn’t it? Perhaps the solutions are the same or similar.

The need for structure
We all need a structure (framework, schedule or routine) through which we can organise our lives. We are more efficient, purposeful and productive when we have pre-planned what we wish to achieve each day. Often our routine is dictated by outside events – office hours, extra work commitments, school hours, children’s out of school clubs etc – these activities are ‘fixed’ for us. We often have to fit our own leisure activities or hobbies within this framework and this takes discipline.

If we don’t consider our martial arts training or our writing to be as important (or nearly as important) as our ‘fixed’ activities then we are not going to be committed to them and these things will always slip first. You might be thinking that it is rightly so that ‘hobbies’ should slip first but if you don’t assign some importance to them they will slip all the time or never really get off the ground! If you really want to commit to your martial arts and/or writing then you must turn them into ‘fixed’ activities and give them a solid place in your schedule.

To overcome ‘block’ we must therefore train and write regularly otherwise we will lose the habit. It is easy to make martial arts a fixed part of our schedule because the class times are fixed – you just have to commit to going along every week. Writing is more difficult and requires a lot of discipline to ‘impose’ it into our routines. Committing to writing a blog post twice a week (or more if possible), on set days, and sticking to it may go a long way to ensuring your blog is constantly updated with new and fresh ideas.

Being Creative
Okay, so you’ve committed to training and writing regularly to overcome ‘block’ but the training is boring and you’re still lacking ideas to write about. How do you inject some life or creativity back into these activities again?

Suitable space: Make sure you are training or writing in a suitable space. When you are not suffering from ‘block’ and are enthused and motivated by your training/writing then where you do it will not matter. You will be happy to train in a field or a cowshed or scribble your ideas on scraps of paper on your knee whilst huddled in the corner of the room with the TV blasting out. But if you have ‘block’ the environment assumes much greater importance if you are to get off your backside and train/write.

If your training has become stale and the place you train is cramped/cold/damp/poor mats/no mats/unfriendly/unsupportive then maybe you need to consider a fresh start in a new dojo. Likewise, you may re-establish a commitment to write if you have a nice place to do it. You might not have a spare room to use as an office/study but a desk in a corner of the bedroom/dining room/space under the stairs and a promise from family not to distract you during your ‘writing time’ may be sufficient to help you get your head in the right place to write.

Look for inspiration: Inspiration can come in many guises. Books and online resources can provide new ideas or knowledge which spark off your curiosity and make you want to learn more or write about something you didn’t know anything about before ( this happens to me all the time!) You may pick up some new training tips or exercises to try that spark off your enthusiasm again. Learning about the history or culture of your martial art may inject it with new meaning for you.

Join a like minded community: Writers often join Writer’s circles or Writer’s clubs to meet with like minded people and share writing ideas or give feedback on each other’s work. I belong to one of these and this gives me the opportunity to write about things other than martial arts – I write poems and sometimes short stories. In martial arts your club may provide this sense of community and support but what about training and writing outside of your scheduled club times? Some people can train alone with no problem – this is easier if you do karate rather than jujitsu or other art that requires a partner. But if you find it difficult to motivate yourself to self to train alone then why not ask a training partner to meet with you at your house/their house/somewhere else to go over some stuff you want to practice, or meet regularly with some martial arts friends in a social situation in order to chat about your training or martial arts generally – just talking to others can motivate you to want to train. Let’s face it – this martial arts blogging community we are all part of fulfils this need pretty well for both training and writing.

Try something new: You’ve grown bored writing about your training schedules, giving training tips or trying to think up new ways of saying the same thing. Your writing style has become static, ‘samey’ or stale. Challenge yourself to write in a different style or genre: if you normally write about your training why not try writing something inspirational instead? If you write inspirational stuff then why not write something cultural or historical? Write about a martial art you've never done before - people who practice that art may find they have a new perspective on it after reading the 'outsider's view'. Or if you are really adventurous why not try writing a martial arts poem – it could be deep and meaningful or just a comic rhyme. Or write a short story on a martial arts theme? Go on – you know you want to; we all have a novel inside us somewhere. Your readers will always appreciate something fresh and different from you occasionally.

The same applies to martial arts – if you’re bored with training and feel like you’re making no progress try a new martial art. You don’t have to give up your ‘main’ art to do this. In fact adding a second martial art can often enhance your enjoyment and understanding of your main one. If you do a striking art why not learn a bit of grappling in a jujitsu club. If you mainly grapple go learn how to strike properly. Why not add a bit of weapons training to your repertoire. You will learn new ways of moving your body and strengthening your muscles; learn a different perspective on the martial arts; broaden your circle of martial arts friends and have a more creative approach to your own training.

Avoid pitfalls
If you’ve overcome your ‘block’ then you need to avoid becoming blocked again. Train hard/write lots but don’t overdo it. Remember you are in it for the long haul. Don’t train so fast and furiously that you burn out quickly or get injured. Don’t write so much that your head is spinning. Progress and experience, by their very nature, take time to achieve – take the time!

Expect it not to be easy all the time – that way you won’t be disappointed when you hit a rough patch.

Don’t work beyond your ability – it will discourage you when you fail. Just take it a step at a time.

And finally, as Dan Prager’s post title said: “You don’t have to be great all the time”

So keep on training and keep on writing!

How did I do Dan?

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Dropping the 'Kick Ass'!

I hope you like the changes to my blog! Apart from a few aesthetic changes, the main change you will have noticed is the change to my blog title.

I feel I should offer an explanation for this change. In fact there are several reasons. First, I thought the previous title was a bit long - it was almost two titles in one! Secondly, I got the feeling that some people didn't like the 'kick ass' part of the title judging by the variations of my blog title in their blog lists. I've been listed as anything from 'kick ... SueC -Journey to Black Belt' to just 'SueC'! I think some of you just found my title to long and others just didn't like the 'A..' word.

However, my primary reason for dropping the 'Kick Ass SueC' is the fact that my blog frequently appears in the results for searches on pornography, particularly when the words 'black ass porn' are used in a search engine. I DON'T LIKE THIS. I don't want my blog to be associated with porn and I'm sure the people stumbling across my blog in this way are bitterly disappointed when they realise I am a clean living girl writing innocently about martial arts!

You might be wondering how I know my blog frequently turns up on searches for porn. Well, there is a stats program embedded in my blog provided by 'StatCounter.com' which not only monitors the traffic to my blog but is able to tell me what words people are searching on to find my blog. You can download this stats program for free if you want to monitor the traffic visiting your blog.

Things that haven't changed are my URL which remains as kickasssuec.blogspot.com and my username which remains as SueC so you shouldn't have any difficulty navigating to my blog.

I hope you approve of this name change (or at least don't disapprove) and understand my reasons for making it. I have now called it 'My journey to black belt' rather than just 'Journey to black belt' to reflect the personal nature of a martial arts journey. We are all on unique paths. My blog description invites you to 'walk with me and talk with me as I follow the budo path'. I value very much the 'conversations' we all have through our posts and comments to each other and hope that you will continue to share my journey with me.




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My 100th post - a review

This is my 100th post! I'm amazed I have found 100 different things to write about but then that's the thing about martial arts - it has unlimited potential to provide us with interesting things to research, analyse, discuss and share with each other.

I have decided to use this post to review both my blogging and martial arts experience since I started this blog back in February 09. My initial reason for starting a blog was that I wanted an outlet for my creative writing efforts - poems and stories that I have written over the years but never attempted to publish. However, I was worried that I wouldn't have enough material to keep a blog running for very long so I decided to test out the waters with a martial arts blog.

I love writing this blog! I had no idea what kind of things I would end up writing about but books, your blogs, training experiences and talking to other martial artists provides constant sources of inspiration, ideas and questions to answer through blogging. I now consider this blog to be part of my martial arts training. It is the place where I think about my training, analyse what I am learning and look outside of my own small martial arts world to put things into a bigger, broader context. One thing you start to realise is that there are more similarities than differences between different martial arts and people often just take different paths to achieve common goals.

I decided quite early on that this blog would be more than just a training log. Documenting your training schedule is fine but I think people's training schedules don't differ too much from each other so I think there is limited mileage in blogging about it over a period of time. How your training

affects/enhances/damages/changes you is much more interesting than a list of what you actually did. It reveals more about your art and more about you as a person/martial artist. I also like to explore broader themes such as cultural and historical influences in martial arts. Here is a brief review of the subjects I have posted on in the last 10 months:

Japanese culture: I have looked at several different Japanese Ways, including Chado (tea ceremony); Shado (calligraphy); Kodo (Way of fragrance) and Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging). What I learnt from this is that in Japan budo is just another Way of life - no more or less important than the others. Each Way offers a path of focused and progressive training in the respective art and is about self-improvement and seeking perfection. In Japan you would be no more revered as a master of martial arts than you would as a master of flower arranging or calligraphy. I think this puts things into perspective!

History: I have researched and written about the history of the style of karate that I do, which is Shukokai and I have traced its lineage and the main senseis responsible for its evolution and development. This has helped me to see how my art fits into the broader context of martial arts. I have also started to write about the history of the katas that are practiced in shukokai karate. This has proved to be a very difficult process and has involved piecing together snippets of information found from a wide variety of sources. It has also surprised me that there are so many variations of some katas, so ensuring that I have put the correct history with the appropriate version of the kata for me has also been problematic.

Budo culture: I have been quite intrigued by some of the 'traditions' that are observed in traditional dojos, some of which we just take for granted and don't really question why we do it! This is why I started my little series on Why do we......... So far I have looked at sitting in seiza, practising barefoot and the wearing of gis. I also wrote an article about the power of the kiai. These little articles have covered the history and purpose of the tradition. I appreciate these traditions much more for learning about their purpose. I have a couple more ideas for my Why do we...... series for next year so you will have to wait for them!

Training aspects: I find it difficult to write too much about specific martial art techniques and self-defence strategies. This is because I am still a student in the kyu grades and so don't have the knowledge or experience to tell others how to do it - that would be patronising in the extreme and I have no desire to take that approach. Instead, I have tried to discuss technical aspects of martial arts from a learners point of view, sharing with you my observations, personal difficulties, research and personal opinions. I have been particularly interested in problems that women face in martial arts training and have written several posts on the subject. These views have come about as a result of reflecting on my own training and observing the training efforts of other women in my dojo or on courses I have attended. Of course my views may change as my training progresses or as a result of comments you make to me so my views only represent me as I am now.

I haven't actually written much about my own personal progress in karate or kobudo since I started blogging, so here's an update: In karate I have graded twice since I started blogging, moving from 4th kyu (purple belt) to 2nd Kyu (brown belt with 2 white tabs). All being well I expect to grade for 1st Kyu (brown belt with 3 white tabs) around June/July next year and for black belt about 9 months after that. I have also seen my club transfer from one organisation (SKU) to another (SSK). This has meant we have all had to get to grips with a much more comprehensive syllabus. I have also attended a few courses and participated in both kata and kumite competitions. I took up kobudo with a jutitsu/kobudo club about 6 months ago and have just graded in level 1 tonfa. I intend to study the bo as my second level 1 weapon after Christmas and also continue my study of the bokken. It has been quite a busy year!

However, none of this tells you what I am good or bad at so here are my personal reflections of my karate ability. My upper body techniques are better than my lower body techniques - I punch better than I kick! For a woman my punching and blocking is quite hard though I still sometimes punch the pad with the wrong knuckles suggesting that my wrist is not always straight. My stances are generally accurate and strong as are most of my movements, however, I don't yet have the speed needed to execute moves powerfully. Kicks are my weakest thing; my mae geri doesn't snap back enough; my mawashi geri is okay against the pad but useless in sparring; my yoko geri is laboured and has the wrong foot position and my urisho geri would only be useful if I was aiming for your knee - I cannot get height on it at all! As for anything spinning? That brings me to my other weakness - balance. If I turn too quickly I lose balance and I'm not too hot at standing on one leg either. However, I'm good at break falling and can do many self-defence techniques quite strongly. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. I think identifying and acknowledging them is a step towards making progress.

Well I hope you have enjoyed this review of my blogging and martial arts experiences over the last 10 months. Of course there would be little point in writing a public blog if no-one was interested in reading it so I would like to thank all my readers for their comments. Receiving comments is one of the best parts of blogging for me - I love the interaction with other people and welcome all styles of comments, whether you are agreeing with my post or not! I will always endeavour to reflect on your comment and reply to it so please keep them coming.

In the new year I am hoping to give my blog a face lift, possibly even a slight name change, not sure yet. Well, whatever happens I'm looking forward to writing my next 100 blog posts!

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