Getting started in the Martial Arts

What brings more joy than seeing your child finally start to walk?

The joy of seeing your child walking

As an instructor it would have to be: Seeing a student finally start to GET it.

When you've poured a part of yourself into a student and now you see results. Priceless.

Just like watching your child fail so many times at walking and admiring their will to keep trying,
I've had the pleasure to watch so many students gain better control of their mind and body through FSD Training.

We're very efficient at laying a strong foundation.

Once the foundation is strong you can build pretty much anything on it.

One of the keys to building a strong foundation is "Work Ethic".

In our schools, right away you learn the mindset it requires to succeed in your physical training. The Emotional Intensity you need to bring to it in order to get results.

You have to learn how to train.

Once you' re good at not giving up in your physical training, that skill transfers automatically in your personal, academic and professional training.

I haven't come across many methods for quickly building a rock solid foundation the way we do.

You'll need this tool first.

Master Yourself,

Sibok Martin

P.S. In conversing with present and past students the subject that always comes up is "You gave me such a strong base that I could learn any other art or start any kind of project and I know I possess the right mentality and foundational skills to be successful at them".

Like I mentioned earlier, the first foundational tool can be found here.

The cure for ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)

There is a weapon that might be the cure for people who have short attention spans.

The Bo Staff.

Let me tell you why?

The Bo Staff

If you're not paying attention 100% you're going to hit your shins, your head or your groin pretty quickly and that's not fun.

Pain is a great teacher and since we all want to avoid pain we make sure not to repeat the same mistake twice.

The Bo Staff is different than other weapons because you constantly need to be feeling and focusing on the momentum of the weapon.

Because of its length you're forced to concentrate harder than if you were wielding let's say a stick or a sword.

So why put yourself through that ordeal of hitting yourself?

Because learning to concentrate and block out any distractions is a skill you cannot be without and the Bo Staff is the fastest way to achieving that level of awareness.

Yes it's a beautiful weapon to watch, yes it's fun to fight and spar with it, yes it builds hand eye coordination in a special way, yes it will improve your stick work but nothing compares to being alone outside, Bo in hand and just moving the weapon and letting it go where it wants to go while being totally aware in the present moment.

Can you imagine that for a minute?

How serene, focused and aware you could become just by training the Bo Staff once a week?

If you'll let me, I can show you how to do that, it all starts here.

Master Yourself,

Sibok Martin

Increase Striking Power

If your fist is 1 inch away from your target and you can generate enough power to penetrate through the flesh, muscle tissue and ligaments, imagine how much damage you can create when striking from 3 feet away?

Hitting form 3 inches away

That's exactly what Sijo talked about yesterday at our annual Power Punch Seminar.

Practicing the Inch Punch with specialized equipment

In a sense the Power Punch is a demonstration punch but if you apply the principles to your regular punching and kicking the results will surprise you.

Teaching the fundamentals of the Power Punch

In order to hit very hard you have to use your whole body in "unison" and you have to learn to drop all your weight into your target.

Power Punch DVD set

When you first started training, you might remember how much space you needed to generate power to have an impact on the bag you were hitting. That space gradually diminished to your Straight Lead (24 inches) then your Directing Punch (12 inches) and finally your Power Punch (1-3 inches). Less and less space was used but the amount of power increased.

Since we prefer to attack from close quarters, making sure we hit hard from a short distance is a necessity.

You can learn more about this special ability here.

Master Yourself,

Sibok Martin

Kids Summer Camp 2008

One more successful Summer Camp for Kids.

The best part for me is seeing a child that fears a drill or activity then seeing them succeed and complete it with a new found confidence that they can do anything they set their minds to.

During the camp we have a very strong focus on team building.

Being able to communicate and work together is a crucial skill they all need to learn when they become adults.

They also learn to trust each other and themselves in many trust building exercises.

If your kids ever have a chance to attend one of our camps you'll see that it's not like other summer camps being offered in your area, you won't see us wasting time with arts and crafts (although fun, they can do that at home) or being a glorified baby sitting service and doing other activities that don't really challenge your child to grow on a physical and emotional level while acquiring new skills.

We're very serious about offering a unique experience that your kids have never felt before.

If you're tired of having your kids come back from camp disappointed check out our Super Summer Camp next year.

Sibok Martin

The 4 must-haves for developing skill

I haven't posted in a few days, which is unusual for me but was necessary.

We're putting the finishing touches on the training camp. Both our kid's training camp on July 24 th & 25 th and the adult one coming up on Aug. 8, 9, 10.

Okay let's get on to today's subject: Skill

When you translate Kung-Fu, do you know what it stands for?

You guessed it: To learn a special skill.

And with time hopefully you master that skill.

I've identified 4 must-haves for acquiring it.

You must of heard this old saying before: Who is the mother of skill?

Repetition

Who is the father?

Consistency.

Who is the son of skill?

Determination.

Who's the daughter?

Desire.

I believe if you arm yourself with these 4 elements: repetition, consistency, determination and desire, you cannot fail. You have there the recipe for mastering anything you undertake.

Master Yourself,

Sibok Martin

P.S. Before mastering a skill you have to equip yourself with the right knowledge. Here's a must-have book.

It's Louse Time! Removing Messes

2 months ago I told you about our Garage that collapsed under the weight of the snow and how burning it felt good and acted as a powerful metaphor of getting rid of useless baggage.

Something you should also consider in your life. Maybe not burn your garage for no good reason, that's not what I'm saying!

Look at every area of your life, find clutter and clean it. It has a very powerful impact on you mentally and allows you to attract more in your life. A mess or clutter subconsciously stops you from having more because it confirms you have a hard time managing what you already got, why should you have more?

So today I'm going through my closet and giving away clothes that I hardly ever wear to local charities, I'll do the same with my office so I can attract more wealth and business opportunities, few months ago I got rid of a lemon of a car (An Audi, yuk!) , we're cleaning the pagoda for our upcoming training camp, and the list goes on.

Is there anything you can think of right now that needs to be cleaned, thrown away or re-organized?

I'm sure you do.

Attack it. You'll feel like a weight is taken off your shoulders. You'll move ahead with more clarity without feeling like you have one foot on the brakes while the other's on the gas pedal.

Master Yourself (and what you own)

Sibok Martin

P.S. Something else I've been obsessed with is removing all unnecessary exercises and sticking to what works as far as physical conditioning goes. Here's the result of that obsession.

Fitness Standards

I'm getting interesting feedback from my e-mail yesterday asking how you measured up to the Men's Health Standards.

I can't say that I'm really surprised about the stats from our students. Setting high fitness standards is a major priority in our school.

Naturally, our students excelled well past the MH standards.

Here's David and Tyler's Stats report from Laval, Qc and Ottawa, Ont., Fang Shen Do Schools:

The 1-Mile Challenge
MH Fit: >6 minutes
Davidk: 5:18 minutes
Tyler: 4.5 minutes

The Single-leg Squat TestPause 1 second in the down position, then push yourself up.
MH Fit:>5 reps
Davidk: 30 reps each leg
Tyler: 15 reps each leg

The Vertical Jump TestHow to do it: Against a wall, extend your arm and mark your reach
with chalk. Then jump as high as you can and make another mark. The
space between marks is your vertical jump.

MH Fit:>24 inches
Davidk: 23 inches no sprint, with sprint 29 inches
Tyler: didn't bother.

The Chinup Challenge
MH Fit:>9 reps
Davidk: 30 reps
Tyler: 15 reps

The Pushup TestLower yourself until your chest touches the floor.

MH Fit:>49 reps
Davidk: 65 reps non-stop
Tyler: 90 reps

Where do YOU stand compared to these stats?

Anyone with common sense would tell these 2 guys to keep doing what they're doing, it's working.

Master Yourself,

Sibok Martin

P.S. If you were late sending those stats in you can still do so here.

P.P.S. If you're not a student yet and would like to get the same results pick up one of our strength training kits or to become a student, check for a location near you here.

Can you beat these Men's Health Standards?

Yesterday I talked about something called the FSD Gold Standard.

Coincidentally one of my partners, Sifu Alain sent me "Men's Health" Performance Standards yesterday. As you know, Men's Health is a popular magazine but was surprised when I saw their standards.

Before we go through ours let's go through theirs.

The 1-Mile Run Challenge

MH Fit: <6 minutes

Single Leg Squats
How to do it: They say, stand on a bench. Hold your arms in front of you and flex your left ankle so your toes point up. Keeping your torso as upright as possible, bend your right knee and slowly lower your body until your left heel touches the floor. Pause 1 second, then push yourself up. That's one repetition.

MH Fit: >5 reps

The Vertical Jump Test

How to do it: Against a wall, extend your arm and mark your reach with chalk. Then jump as high as you can and make another mark. The space between marks is your vertical jump.
MH Fit: >24 inches

The Chinup Challenge

MH Fit: >9 reps

The Pushup Test
Lower yourself until your chest touches the floor.

MH Fit: >49 reps

I want to know where YOU stand compared to those numbers for each exercise whether you're a fellow "Fanger" or not. I'm curious to see your stats on some of these. If you're an FSD practitioner, I'm suspecting you'll blow those numbers out of the water.

Let me know, send me your stats here for each exercise. Remember only send me the hard data, no imaginary numbers please!

Aim Higher,

Sifu Martin

Am I regressing? say goodbye to Plateaus

Yesterday I talked about plateaus and keeping track of progression and how it wasn't as important as the FEELING you have when training, there is a reason why I said what I said.

When you start training, counting reps and holds as well as measuring flexibility levels is very motivating and crucial to building the drive to do more.

In the beginning stages you'll make dramatic improvements in strength, endurance and flexibility.

Students sometimes see their numbers double or even triple in the first couple of months.

What I'm getting at is when you gain more experience and you've been training for a while you will reach very high numbers, so much so that when you look at how many reps you could do of certain exercises when you first started will seem like a joke.

If for example you could only do 25 non-stop push-ups when you started and now after having followed the guidelines found in our strength training kits you build that up to 50 then 75, 95, 100, 115 and eventually to 125, making the jump from 25 to 50 is more exciting than the jump from 120 to 125.

Same thing with Squats. If you started at 50 and now you reach the 800 to 1000 rep range you realize there has to be more to your training than just counting and beating rep records.

As I mentioned, those are great motivators at first when you make giant leaps in strength and endurance. Same thing with flexibility, once you reach a level of doing a full split and you become flexible and pliable throughout your body and are able to perform full range of movements with ease, you've reached what we call the gold standard. I'll go more in detail about this in another e-mail.

A Plateau, recognize when you're

 stuck on one

 

  

When reps are the only thing that you focus on and you don't beat your past record during one of your workouts that's when you start doubting yourself and asking some unnecessary questions: What's happening? Am I regressing?, I must of hit a plateau?, etc...

If you simply switch your focus to how good you felt that day in your workout, paid attention to your breath, visualized yourself accomplishing certain goals you've set for yourself professionally and personally during each exercise, worked through the pain and showed yourself it's something you can control, and just had an overall sense of gratitude to be alive and able to do these exercises and movements, that's the important stuff.

Focusing on the above elements will keep you motivated forever and help you avoid the dreaded plateau.

Follow the system that is outlined in our strength training kits. It's been put to the test for the past 35 years and will automatically push you to progress with each workout.

Master Yourself,

Sibok Martin

Beating the Plateau in your training

Over the years, the one question that is commonly asked by students is:

"I feel stuck, how can I make it passed this "plateau"?

Good Question.

Let me tell you, I have never experienced one.

Let me explain why.

Although keeping stats on number of reps, and "time" held in a certain strength position, or running under a set time is important, it will only keep you motivated for so long.

If numbers are the only thing keeping you motivated well I'm here to tell you: "You need to change your focus"

The way I keep stats is purely for entertainment. To have a log book I can flip through at the end of the year, to see discipline on paper.

I couldn't care less if my numbers are down. I just want to be able to say I did it.

I stuck to my plan of training 2, 3 , 4 times a week (whatever that number might be for you)

When you shift your focus from beating reps to enjoying the FEELING of training that's the day you couldn't care less if you're in a plateau or not.

I enjoy the feeling it gives me, the same feeling it should give you.

You feel cleansed of toxins.

You feel a natural high.

You feel strong and vibrant.

You feel in total control over your mind, body and spirit.

You have a deep sense of accomplishment.

And that's all I need to stay motivated and committed to fitness for life.

Master Yourself,

Sibok Martin

It's Louse Time! Learning from Mistakes

If you're new to my list of focused, motivated, self- starters, Welcome.

(if you're not jump right away to today's lesson below)

Every day I communicate to you the best ways to train and the kind of mindset it takes to get results either in your physical fitness or martial art training.

Friday is always what I call: "Louse Time". Modeled after Bruce Lee's strategy in Enter the Dragon.

You know that part where he's having tea with the government agent but he's disturbed by one of his students and Bruce Lee tells the agent: It's Louse Time! The agent replies with his British accent: "yes of course".

Since I'm 6 years old that scene has always stuck with me and I'll be using that same strategy with YOU every week.

Friday is where I share with you Life Lessons and Direction given to me by my dad (and Sifu) every Friday.

Today's lesson comes from my Grand-Father.

Not so much as in him giving me advice and having a talk together but just by learning from how he lives and the bad habits he lives with allows me to see into the future and gives me a clear view of what I can expect if I live my life like him.

If only people really knew what smoking does to you or what eating a high sugar/carb diet does to your kidneys and other organs, what high blood pressure & lack of exercise might do to your body, I can say by looking at my grand-father, it slowly kills you.

2 days ago I got a call from my parents telling me he was in the hospital after having suffered Kidney failure and will be hooked up to a dialysis machine maybe for the rest of his life.

I think most people from my grand-father's generation are mostly the same and have the same filthy habits. Is it ignorance? Bad models & influences? No education? I guess a combination of all of the above.

I'm just thankful I can learn from his mistakes and not repeat them.

How many people do that?

You know, learn from other people's mistakes, so you can live a longer, healthier, more vibrant life?
I hope YOU do.

All you need to do is go in a hospital to have visual, tangible proof of what people are doing wrong. That should be enough to force you to NOT make the same choices as they have.

Every generation should learn from the other and make wiser choices than the previous one.
Repeating the same mistakes is just plain stupid especially when you have the evidence staring right at you.

MASTER Yourself,

Sibok Martin

P.S. Next time I'll talk about how to stick to your plan no matter what. Considering you have one. Do you have a plan?

2 Martial Art Seminars in July

Just a reminder of our upcoming Power Punch and Bo Staff Training coming up July 27 th after our Black Belt Training and Masters Class at the Pagoda.

We know it's not easy to schedule your time around family, friends and activities, especially on weekends.

This is why we've combined most of our seminars this year to make it easy to attend only ONE special event instead of 3 every month.

The Power Punch experience helps you understand body mechanics you can transfer to any other hand strike or kick. Some of the most important points are the Startle Reaction, Recoil, and the "mental follow through" required to transfer maximum power to your blows.

The devastating Power Punch, made famous by Bruce Lee

Thanks to thick phone books you're able to go through the training without injury, one thing you sense is pressure and penetration of your partner's punch to a degree that is manageable, blows thrown without a book would certainly leave you gasping for air on the ground.

The Bo Staff (5 1/2 to 6 foot long stick) teaches you coordination and to pay attention to momentum. 2 important attributes you need to be a well rounded martial artist.

The Bo Staff

 Improving your Bo guarantees improvement in your stick training. All weapons are linked in such a way that they compliment each other very well.

Once you master a weapon you feel like one piece of the puzzle has been solved. You'll be surprised how much it helps you do everything else in class with less effort, less stiffness, and less of a learning curve.

Arrive early at 12:30 pm for the Advanced training before the seminars start.

See you then.

Sibok

Martin

P.S I had mentioned I would give you the name of the English magazine featuring an article on Firewalking and using it as a tool to better yourself and your martial art skill, the name of it is Budo World Karate, Jul-Aug. Edition.

2008 World Kobudo Convention DVDs

Just a quick reminder to let you know there are still copies of the European Tour DVD set we shot in France.

There's over 4 hours of footage, all shot in HD. A collector piece for sure, since we don't know if we'll ever film an event like this in that much detail ever again.

Since this is a product for our good friend John Therien and the World Kobudo Federation and the several thousand members it has, a large chunk of the DVDs are going to them.

Since we produced it I will keep a box just for our members who wish to pick up a copy before we run out.

Just the opening teaser is worth the price of the DVDs.

You can get them here.

That's all for now,

Sifu Martin

P.S Tomorrow I'll let you know what's happening on the 27 th of July. Stay tuned.

Home Fitness Program

During the past few weeks I've been bumping into old acquaintances from high school. Some were jocks, captains of hockey teams, girls everyone had their eyes on.

And what have they become?

FAT.

Do you sometimes wonder what your old friends you haven't seen in a while are doing, what they look like as well as what they've accomplished?

In most cases they've most certainly regressed.

I ask myself WHY? Why did they let themselves go. Why didn't they put Health, Fitness and Flexibility as their number 1 priority?

A part of me just wants to grab them by the head and start shaking while I tell them exactly where that road is leading if they keep neglecting themselves.

As we say in French: "C'est la vie".

Most people are complacent and are too comfortable to even listen to some advice about training. Most often than not if I do mention something about the extra poundage, they agree, they know they should do something, they know the consequences, but still they don't do anything?

Let's be different than the norm me and you.

Instead of having people we haven't seen in a while silently wonder : "What the hell happened to him", or "I almost didn't recognize her", maybe even "Did you see that ASS".

Be committed to looking and feeling your best. Follow our Home physical training system that will leave you feeling like you were 18 again.

Get your strength training kit here cause you never know who you're gonna meet on the street.

Master Yourself,

Sibok Martin

P.S. Do not be a shadow of what you were or what you can become.

Firewalk Canada gets European Coverage

You can read an interesting article in Ceinture Noire (the equivalent of Black Belt Magazine in Europe) in the July-August issue.

Ceinture Noire Magazine

Firewalk Article Page 1

Firewalk Article Page 2

There's a 4 page spread about firewalking and how it transfers to your martial art training and personal development.

Why does firewalking have so much appeal?

It seems to take more and more these days to impress someone.

Or I should say, more people are looking for unique, empowering experiences they can recall in moments of doubt, anxiety, and fear.

That is our goal with firewalking, to give every attendee a powerful image of themselves accomplishing and taking action despite obstacles they face.

You learn to trust yourself and after having walked across the fire bed you now have proof, something tangible that leaves a permanent mark on your subconscious.

It's a powerful association you make with success and one you keep tucked away whenever a challenge might arise.

This article is also published in English and German, I'll let you know tomorrow which magazine they're in.

If you need to have a stronger image you can focus on when you need more confidence, join us Aug. 24 th at the Pagoda, the only facility of it's kind in Eastern Canada.

Aim Higher,

Sibok Martin

It's Louse Time! Don't give me Excuses

If you're new to my list of focused, motivated, self- starters, Welcome.

(if you're not jump right away to today's lesson below)

Every day I communicate to you the best ways to train and the kind of mindset it takes to get results either in your physical fitness or martial art training.

Friday is always what I call: "Louse Time". Modeled after Bruce Lee's strategy in Enter the Dragon.

You know that part where he's having tea with the government agent but he's disturbed by one of his students and Bruce Lee tells the agent: It's Louse Time! The agent replies with his british
accent: "yes of course".

Since I'm 6 years old that scene has always stuck with me and I'll be using that same strategy with YOU every week.

Friday is where I share with you Life Lessons and Direction given to me by my dad (and Sifu) every Friday.

Today's lesson: "Don't give me Excuses give me Results"

I like this quote from Sgt O'Neill in Platoon: "Excuses are like assholes, Taylor. Everybody's got one!"

Did you ever catch yourself finding excuses (silently to yourself) or to someone asking you to do something you know needs to be done.

We all have a story we tell ourselves: "I would of done it if I had more time, if I had more experience, if I had more money, if I had..."

If you're after health, strength and success (I'm guessing this is the reason you're reading my blog since these are my main areas of interest) what's stopping you?

Here's another saying I like: "There's no excuses when you are the leader".

Are you the leader of your thoughts and actions?

If you're a leader you'll assume full responsibility for your level of fitness, happiness, wealth, confidence, and what you attract in your life. Good or Bad.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

Cut your learning curve

My youngest daughter Eve just turned 1 year old yesterday.

Parents more than anyone I think, are constantly reminded of how fast time is zooming by us when we see our kids growing up so fast.

My late grand-mother would say: "We raise our kids so we can give them to the world"

I want to arm my kids with the best knowledge, the best guidance, the best training, the best values, and that's why I continue my own development and research to make sure to cut their learning curve compared to mine.

I have my own coaches, mentors and experts that I consult with to make sure I'm on the cutting edge of martial arts, fitness and personal development.

I cannot stress enough the importance of having someone who can hold you accountable every month and offers a unique twist on training and martial arts.

I'd like to arm you with the best knowledge. I'd like to share with you the latest workouts and training routines we are putting to the test every month.

Programs like Destroyer, Ironman, Champion, and Happy Times are very effective ways of supplementing your class training. I feel bad for the people who don't have access to this program or worse yet don't even know that this program exists.

It's called The FSD Inner Circle. Every month I communicate to you off the wall training routines that I experiment with, what works for me in the areas of nutrition, health, supplements as well as new and old (re-discovered) training equipment you can use in your training.

Put me to the test,

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

P.S Try it for one month you have nothing to lose.

Neigong Highlights & Pictures

Last Thursday was our 1st official Neigong seminar at our Ottawa Kung-Fu School.

Ottawa location

Here's me and Raf showing how to make your chi literally explode as we collide full force with each other like a wave smashes against the beach.

Neigong Partner Drills

When you do this exercise you really lose track of time and quickly fall into a state of deep concentration.

Increasing balance and awareness

When the bodies collide full force you feel your energy vibrate through your whole body.

Holding a star posture

What's unique about Wudang Neigong is that it's a form of Internal Work which will greatly enhance your Martial Arts skill while strengthening and increasing your vital energy.


What I like the most about this art is you don't need to breathe a certain way or visualize something specific.

Being still

You don't even need to know how the chi works or how it flows, you just do the exercises as prescribed. If you pay attention and put all your focus on you, you feel it right away.

Balance Drills

If you ever had doubts about yourself, your importance, how special you are, 10 minutes into your Neigong training you realize that you're body is much more than what the average person thinks of it.

You know how they say we only use 10 % of our Brain. This is kinda like the same thing. You realize your body is capable of so much more.

One of the first things you realize is why I didn't find out about this sooner.

If you own a Wudand Neigong DVD set, I hope you put it to good use.

Remember if you're let's say, 30 years old. You can't expect to unblock your meridians in one sitting. It took you 30 years to block them and understand it's a process.


For some the chi will flow through the meridians instantly and for others it might take some more time but we'll all get there in the end.


I'm looking forward to hearing from you and your feedback.

Master Yourself,

Sibok Martin

P.S What still amazes me is how the chinese managed to develop this ability and harness the chi inside their body, no one knows exactly how old this is, some say more than 5000 years old.

Help us keep this art alive and flourishing, order your very own copy today.