Is Running the Answer?

Yes I know, that statement is probably being uttered in many self-defense classes all over the world and it's good advice.

When at all possible walking or maybe even running away is the best choice to make when you're faced with an attacker, especially if he has a weapon in hand.

But that's not the point of my e-mail today.

It's also easier to lose weight if you at least run explosive sprints every day instead of "plopping" on the couch or engaging in excessive, lethargic sitting each day.

But that's not my point either.

Some of you are so busy running (metaphorically), running after things you don't need.

While you're running through life, remember to stop and enjoy, appreciate and feel.

Like one of my father's mentors would say: "Life for some is running, running so they can eventually find a bench to sit on and catch their breath, but they never reach the bench, as soon as they get close to it, it disappears and re-appears in the horizon, only to repeat itself".

What does the story mean?

Either what you're setting out to do is an illusion, it's not your true calling. You're doing it for the wrong reasons and following this path leads nowhere.

Or

You fail to acknowledge your successes. When you see the bench (a success or accomplishment) you immediately set another one without celebrating the present one. This path leads to never feeling fulfilled.

Or

You come to realize the bench isn't moving away from you, YOU'RE the one moving away from it (the goal) , self-sabotage is the name of this path.

That's why I urge so many of you to become and stay Martial Artists.

It's a way to stop and recharge your batteries.

It's a way to unplug and release pent up emotions that bring you stress.

It's a way to strengthen the mind-body connection that so many people have lost today.

It's an activity that "gives" rather than "takes".

It teaches you principles you can carry on to any area of your life.

It helps you to see clearly and know yourself.

Don't be fooled, not all martial art schools deal with personal development the way Fang Shen Do does.

If you're not training in one of our schools yet you can get started here.

If you are a member, keep it up, the best is yet to come.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

P.S. I'll have important announcements shortly, a great opportunity you won't want to miss.

Take home this lesson

Close to 600 People converged in Casselman this weekend for our 30 th Anniversary Training Day.














You could really feel the electricity in the air as students from all locations trained and exchanged energy with each other.

Just like a family gathering, it was nice to see familiar faces and get to know other students from our large network of schools.

If you were there you know what I'm talking about. Having the chance to train so many elements of FSD all at one time, Sanshou/Kickboxing/Muay Thai, Weapons, Kettlebells, Energy Drills, Weapons, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Wrestling, gave students a chance to put everything to the test.

I really felt like I was back in France (2008 Convention) where we had to train groups of 25-30 people non stop for 3 days.

At the same time I was very happy for my Mom and Dad, trying to think about how they felt when they saw all those people arriving at the event. What started as just a dream in my dad's imagination, then to one student in a church basement, to one school and what we have today?

Amazing.

What's great about dreams his, you can have more than one!

When dreams and goals start manifesting themselves through vision, taking action and staying determined to see it come true, you build momentum.

When you think of it, when trying to pin point what makes us successful or what did we do to become successful, it boils down to not one big idea or decision but rather, thousands of mini-successes spread over 30 years.

Kinda like you and your fitness goals.

You won't get fit by doing a Station Circuit once a month or every year.

Just like you won't get stronger if you lift a Kettlebell or dumbell once in a blue moon.

It takes repetition.

Consistency and progression over time leads to results.

Making the right choices consistently will guarantee you get what you want and when it comes to fitness and health, you'll be able to look back and look at yourself now with a sense of pride and accomplishment knowing and feeling you did the right thing.

When you look at yourself in the mirror you have live, concrete evidence and proof of the kinds of choices you've made in your life.

Are you happy with the result?

Tack on another 10 years in your mind's eye. What do you look like now? Does the person in the mirror reflect someone who made the right choices when it came down to your strength, health and vitality?

As they say the proof is in the puddin', something we proved this weekend when it comes to our integrity as a top notch martial art school and organization now it's your turn to prove to yourself you can be in the best shape of your life if you just apply the core principles as taught in our Fitness Training System.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

P.S I'll be posting lots of pictures on the blog from this weekend shortly as well as short video clips from the Sanshou matches. Stay tuned.

The Ultimate Training Grounds

Some of our top instructors just came back from Kingston where they had the opportunity to train some of the students at St-Lawrence College who are completing a 2 year Police Foundation Course so they can eventually apply to become Police Officers or Correctional Officers.










It's very important to us to get involved in these kinds of training sessions.

Knowing that anyone of these students might be faced in a position to defend their lives one day because of their work, it makes it even more important to teach the essential principles of self-defense and not confuse competition techniques with reality based techniques.











These are the people who will put the techniques to the test in the ultimate training grounds: the streets and the prisons.

What was taught is exactly what our regular civilian students learn in our schools.

-Your body is equipped with many weapons and you need to know how to use all of them.

-He who controls the distance wins the fight.

-Make being in top physical shape a priority since it might be the one thing that helps you survive a real confrontation and will give you great confidence knowing your body won't fail you when the going gets tough.

-Second priority is using what you got and making it work for you by striking all the targets that are illegal in competitions (i.e: eye gouging, groin attacks, direct knee attacks for disclocation, etc...), remember size doesn't matter as long as you're the one giving not receiving.

-Creating a Fearless mindset. It all starts with mastering your body, another reason why your Fitness Program should be intense and physically taxing.

-"He who hesitates his lost". Learn to react like an echo, this is achieved through consistent practice, removing the fear of getting hit and making sure you have a strong offense.

Randy Zabukovec runs the Police Foundation Course and was quite impressed with the schools training and life philosophies.

Randy mentioned how 8 other martial art schools had come in to train his students over the last 2 years and how Fang Shen Do was the most realistic approach he had seen to date. Believing that, from his experience running the program for so long, what we taught the students, was in perfect alignment with what the students need to know to complete their course and be ready to become officers.





Here Sifu Scott demonstrates a basic Wrench or Hammer Lock. A quick way to control an uncooperative assailant.

Finding sensitive pressure points like the Triceps tendon as demonstated here by Sifu Silvain, can help make your opponent comply quickly.

Knowing some basic human anatomy helps use pain as an ally when controlling somebody.

The right advice and the proper guidance makes you understand the concepts very quickly and once the technique is absorbed you never forget it.

Martial Arts is a skill everyone can and should acquire. Even if you're not planning on becoming an officer or prison guard, having a foundation in personal protection and basic body conditioning gives you an edge if ever you're faced with an attacker, forced to protect someone you love and defend against the deadliest of opponents: AGING.

Stay young and vibrant, keep your body in perfect working condition and enjoy the many health benefits of Stretching, Breathing, Meditating, Sensitivity Training, Motor Skill Development, and Resistance Training which all stem from an effective Martial Art Program.

Tomorrow's a big day for the FSD Organization, we're celebrating 30 years in Business and we're inviting you to attend a full days worth of seminars, training sessions, tournaments, Sanshou / Kickboxing matches, and other fun activities for both adults, families and kids.

To register visit this link or to get more information go to this page.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

What do we all want?

My dad always told me: "We don't want things, we want "States".

As in "Emotional States".

Take Cars for example. You might want to buy a Volvo, but in reality what you really want is SECURITY or if it's a BMW you might want a sense of CLASS or SOPHISTICATION.

Buying an expensive love seat isn't what you're after, you want COMFORT, somewhere you can plop to after a full days work and enjoy a riveting book.

I don't think the majority of women love to put on make-up in the morning, they do so to feel BEAUTIFUL and SEXY.

Most students don't go to school just so they can hang a school diploma on their wall once they graduate, they do so to get STATUS and RECOGNITION.

Which brings me to my point today.

What do Martial Artists want?

To argue and fight about which art is best?

To complain about why someone else has more speed, flexibility or power?

Some do.

But most mature martial artists just want more CONFIDENCE and RESPECT.

Show me someone with Confidence and that person has what it takes to accomplish anything their heart desires, to reach the state of their choosing.

To quote Arnold Palmer: "Concentration comes out of a combination of confidence and hunger"

Hunger comes from the desire to want more for yourself and your family, to decide you won't settle for "mediocre" or "like everybody else in my family or neighbourhood", to harvest a "never give up" kind of attitude.

If Hunger and Confidence are the keys to Concentration and you know staying focused isn't always easy, acquire both now so you can finally follow through on the goals you've set for yourself.

Martial Arts taught with these qualities in mind is a winning recipe and we have 35 years of proof to back it up, anyone of the products found on this page will improve your confidence and instill in you a never give up attitude we all could use more of.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

P.S. This quote resumes today's post well: "I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time" ~ Anna Freud (1895 - 1982)

Fang Shen Do is used as a catalyst to awaken what's already there. Choose your catalyst here.

Add 30 minutes to your day

Time.

We all have time right?

How are YOU using yours?

The quality of your life is in direct proportion to how you use your time.

The Choices you make.

And what you CHOOSE to focus on.

You and I are like managers, we have 24 hours in a day to work with and our success depends on how well those hours and minutes are spent.

How many minutes and hours a day do you think you waste doing something that either, doesn't get you closer to your goals or sucks the life out of you, leeching precious energy that could be used more productively to improve yourself on a personal level.

Let's look at areas where we can cut, add, or restructure your time in such a way to give you more time to focus on one area you should diligently concentrate on:

Personal Development.

Let's take your morning for example. Could you wake up 30 minutes earlier than you are right now to focus on personal development.

Could you end your workday 30 minutes later to focus on personal development?

What about going to bed 30 minutes later while you work on your personal development.?

Could you use half of your lunch break to focus on personal development?

What skills could you acquire if you put this strategy into play. An extra 2 hours a day to invest in yourself. 60 hours a month. 720 hours a year.

What if half of those hours were commited to physical fitness, what kind of body would you have at the end of the year.

And what if the other half was spent listening or reading empowering books on a subject of interest that would make you better at your job, inspire you to start your own business or learn a new skill or language?

Add 30.

It's the best thing you can do for yourself.

When you think of it, these minutes will get spent anyways, why not be master of your destiny?

Just like how we breathe one breath at a time, in our Station Training, we take it one 1 minute at at time. It's one of the most efficient ways to train, you won't see the time go by and before you know you'll have put in a great workout.

See what I mean here.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

P.S. Getting fit doesn't have to take lots of time, you just need to know key strategies and follow a proven system.

Disguise Exercise

Do you realize some people actually view exercise as work and therefore decide not to engage in it?

Many of you might have associated massive amounts of pain with exercising because you felt so much of it the day after your first training, making you question why you decided to get in shape and follow a fitness program in the first place.

I normally categorize someone's fitness level with "Days of Recovery" you require to get rid of all soreness.

It's worth mentioning on a side note that once you have more experience and "time in" training you look for that soreness the day after to judge how hard you pushed yourself.

If you feel nothing you're either in tremendous physical shape or you failed to give your maximum output.

More on that later.

From a beginner's standpoint I follow these basic rules:

If you need one day of recovery you're in decent shape.

If you take 2 to 3 days to recover and can hardly walk up stairs or sit on the toilet bowl or get out of bed, you really need to stick to your plan and exercise regularly.

If you take 4 days or more to recover you seriously need to look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself: "no matter how great the soreness you might feel now from exercising, it will pale in comparison to the kind of pain and health issues that await you in the future.

Heart Attacks, High Blood Pressure, Gallstone operations, Lack of Energy, Circulation problems, Diabetes and Obesity are far more painful than the muscle soreness you experience after your first few workouts.

Being a martial art teacher for the past 20 years you have no choice but to evolve and be constantly improving how you communicate with your students to get the best results.

And sometimes it also means helping students by disguising repetition, creating a variety of drills which uses the same technique but presented 10 different ways, this is also very effective when working with kids which as you know, have an even shorter attention span than adults.

In general we get bored easily and exercising for some might be tedious and boring but it doesn't have to be that way.

Today I thought I'd give you ways to "Disguise Exercise".

One way to disguise exercise is to blend it into your day.

Exercise along side the most common daily chores. Wake up in the morning and instead of walking to the bathroom get down on hands and feet and crawl there without allowing any other body part to touch the floor. Hold a wall sit while brushing your teeth. With the help of the kitchen counter, hold your leg up off to the side and hold for as long as possible while your eggs boil. If you sit in front of a desk all day, squeeze your butt and flex your calves while you work.

Take small steps this way and give your body a chance to adapt while you implement healthy habits such as daily exercise.

Think of yourself as a fighter. You always want to be ready, use every moment of the day to strenghten yourself.

When you think of it we're all fighters. We're all fighting to make a living, to leave our mark, to make a difference, to achieve some level of success and happiness, to defend against cravings which slowly weaken us, to make the right choices.

Speaking of choices, I gave just a few examples of what you can do throughout the day to squeeze in exercise. Our Basic Strength Training System offers 50 different bodyweight exercises which can be performed anytime of the day.

Remember, one of the things your body craves the most is Oxygen. As you implement little exercises here and there throughout the day and make demands on your body it will come to crave them, one exercise at first might become 3 or 5, maybe even 10. This in turn might lead you to train in the morning when you wake up because you feel so good after you've exercised.

Try it and let me know how it goes.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

P.S. Exercising is the fastest way to optimize your body's chemistry and improve productivity throughout the day. Learn how to do that here.

I hope you take the time

"To go to that place where time stops, where the chatter inside my mind fades to a pleasant "hum", seeking no need to revisit choices from the past and worrying about the future, these ZEN moments are what I live for."

That's an entry taken 5 years ago from my personal journal, I just happened to be reviewing it today.

It's interesting to re-read some stuff you might of wrote years ago and see what was on your mind back then and also see what you were going through and compare it with today.

Sometimes there are NO differences.

I feel exactly the same when I wrote that 5 years ago as I do today.

Do you also share this habit of recording your life experiences and feelings in a journal?

I hope you take the time.

You know the saying: "If your life is worth living it's worth recording"

There are plenty of moments in your life where this happens, these "ZEN moments" where you are totally happy, blissed out and content.

Quickly, what comes to mind is:

The birth of a child.

Alone time with the person you love.

Completing an important project.

Playing with your kids if you have some.

Reaching the top of a mountain while hiking.

Watching the sun set.

Building or buying a dream house and painting and decorating it until the wee hours in the morning.

But, nowhere do these Zen moments happen more frequently than in my FSD training.

The tools I've been given (which are the same tools you're also acquiring in your FSD training, if you're a member), allow me to connect immediately to that place.

Whether you're working with a partner or you're by yourself, practicing martial arts really does give you a secret weapon in your life.

Take something basic like Stretching.

It feels good to know you have total control over your body. To make it do what you want it to do. With the warm weather arriving shortly you can sit outside on your deck, take in some much needed vitamin D from the sun and stretch, strengthen and engage in a form of meditation in movement, just you and your body.

I'm talking much more than reaching down and touching your toes. To really know how to maintain, align, heal, and increase flexibility throughout your body should be something that, at a strict minimum, everyone should know how to do.

Here's one way you can experience ZEN moments using Stretching, I've been using this very same system since I'm 6 years old to get them. See what I mean here.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

Important lifestyle changes and choices

I came across a memo being passed around in different levels of government recently and I thought I'd share it with you today.

It's a report from John Hopkins Hospital, a leader in cancer treatment and prevention.

It goes on to explain updates, new studies and alternative treatments to the dreaded chemotherapy, as well as important knowledge we should all be aware of.

Cancer touches us all in some way, either personally, through family or friends.


And will continue on that trend if we don't make some important lifestyle changes and choices.

Because in the end, who has your best health at heart?

You do.

My January post on keeping the body alkaline and our work with KO Recovery Drink falls right in line with the report.

What they found is staggering:

Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

When a person has cancer it indicates multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

When a person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

Radiation and Chemotherapy destroys cancer cells but also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with foods it needs to multiply.

Cancer cells feed on:

Sugar.

By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. The same is true about all sugar substitutes like nutra sweet, equal, spoonful, etc. They're either made with aspartame, sucralose, or high fructose corn syrup to name a few which are all harmful.

Sugar really does drive the world, if you can just control this one poison, you can avoid many health problems down the road. Do you think the world is ready to cut it from their diets?

Just take a look at the popular donut shops in the morning and see what's the verdict. Disgusting.

Next food to avoid:

Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with almonds for example, you're getting your dose of calcium and of protein while starving cancer cells. Milk does a body good? Bull. Here we go again with external authorities trying to tell us what's good for us.

Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, seeds, nuts and good wholesome fruits help put the body in an alkaline environment. Drinking alkaline water also helps balance your bodies ph levels and as you know, is found in KO Recovery Drink, a product we're proud of being the canadian distributors for.

Cancer cells cannot live in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily and deep breathing helps get more oxygen to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means of destroying cancer cells.

It's always better to prevent than to cure that's for sure, this is only a small reprint of John Hopkins' report but you get the picture.

Exercise, Common sense when eating, deep breathing, drinking alkaline inducing water or food.

Cutting out acid builders like sugar, certain foods, and smoking, clearly give you protection against the big "C".

KO Recovery Drink has been engineered to do just that, to go to the root of the problem, to go in cancer's natural habitat and wreck havoc through alkalinity.

KO is sold in all of our schools, if you want to stop by one of them to pick a case up for yourself, find one close to you and a contact number here, or you can order on-line by visiting this link.

Protect and Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

Only YOU can answer this one.

What kind of shadow would appear if light could cast your true self on the wall?

Would you see a shadow of a 10 foot giant towering from your relatively small frame revealing your level of tenacity and determination showing everyone around you that, like Mark Twain once said:

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."

Would it reveal the true silhouette you wish you had, one of strength, health, and confidence?

or worse...

Would the shadow cast from a seemingly youthful man or woman that seems "together" physically and emotionally reveal them living on their knees when they should be experiencing life to the very fullest with no self-imposed limitations?

Maybe the shadow is unwavering, unflexible, unable to adapt, stuck in the past?

Someone else might see 2 shadows, the old you and the new you but fear is standing in your way, stopping you from implementing the necessary steps and habits to make the change "stick".

One's shadow might be drifting all over the place, jumping from one idea to the next, unable to see it through, to finish what you start.

What if there's no shadow?

Maybe you stand for nothing, maybe you haven't found your true self, maybe you're not contributing enough, maybe the vision you have for yourself isn't clear enough.

If you had to take one good hard look at your shadow, what would it reveal?

Only YOU can answer that one.

One thing I can do, is help you shape it though. I can cast some light on you (via these blog posts) but YOU have to stand up to see what shadow is cast by the light.

Start developing yourself from the inside out, start martial arts, or learn something new, find something of interest in our product section.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

A good kick in the pants

Sometimes all we need is a good kick in the pants. If you're reading this off of my blog on the Fang Shen Do website, like the saying goes: "A picture is worth a thousand words"

Nothing is ever easy.

EVER.

No matter who you are.

If you're very lucky you have someone close to you who doesn't hold back and shakes your tree so to speak when you need it or the ideal situation is that YOU are able to kick your own butt to get yourself to take action.

I suspect there might be a pre-conceived idea that it's easier for me to get myself to train, read, learn, improve, and stay motivated.

If you think that, you're wrong.

I just learned and apply one thing: "In order to defeat procrastination you need to get in the habit of taking immediate action"

Don't wait. Don't think. Don't question.

Whatever it is you're after: fitness, martial art skill, confidence, success, peace, flexibility, or respect, you need to attack your goals.

Attack?

Yeah, ATTACK.

If you think of it in that term you'll be less willing to give up on your goals.

If you LAND your strikes, i.e: take action, follow through, act in spite of fear, take a chance, or stay consistent you're going to win.

If you TAKE a hit, i.e: procrastinate, quit, complain, lose focus, or miss the big picture all together you're gonna lose.

How ironic is it that the greatest opponent you'll ever face is YOURSELF.

The only difference is some fights last 5 to 12 rounds, this one will last you a life time.

Equip yourself with the right knowledge, the right training, the right information so you're ready for your fight.

I suggest you start here.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

Missing piece of the Fitness Puzzle

Warm weather this weekend gave us a small preview of what's to come.

The spring brings a breath of fresh air, but more important than spring is that actual BREATH of fresh air!

In martial art training your breath really IS your power.

Everything you do in MA relates to your breath.

If you're breathing correctly it can help you stretch your body further during certain exercises.

Holding your breath can help stiffen your body to squeeze out a few extra seconds when holding a strength position.

Exhaling your breath when attempting any dynamic movement like punching, kicking, sprawling, tackling will add great power to your movement.

Concentrating on the vibration of your breath at the end of a class or a workout will get you in a very calm state in no time flat.

Visualizing your breath in movement and feeling it reach every cell of the body, in turn helping activate your lymph system, helping your body eliminate toxins, is very therapeutic.

Understanding breathing patterns will help you increase mental focus and alertness.

Recent studies show that engaging in proper forced breathing alone can help you lose weight.
And the list goes on.

Breathing is so easy and simple, you're doing it right now automatically without thinking about it but just letting your subconscious take care of the breathing for you isn't enough to yield the kind of results you're looking for.

Learning to force the breath in specific ways is an important key to getting faster results in your martial art training, any other physical activity or to simply increase your overall health.

The quickest way to learn how to use breathing is to first start by incorporating it with your stretching routines. Once that is in place everything else will be that much easier to acquire.

I can show you exactly what I mean here.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

P.S. I'll be letting you know shortly how you can get involved in our 30 year anniversary celebrations. It all starts March 28 th.

It's Louse Time! Are you Dead or Alive?

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

(if you're not new 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 is: Are you Dead or Alive?

I try to be smooother in my approach in my other e-mails during the week but on Friday I feel like I can cut right to the chase. After all, it is Louse Time.

If you remember my original posts about the meaning of "louse time" it means to deliberately insult somebody's behavior and attitude.

Insult is a strong word, I would say the purpose of Louse Time is to shake your beliefs, get you to take action, break a bad habit, bring awareness to a disempowering behavior, or to force you to take massive action.

So I ask you the question again: Are you Dead or Alive?

As you might of noticed there are many dead people walking around among us.

Here's how I've been taught to categorize if someone is Dead:

-Someone who purposely stays in a dead end job, complacently stuck in a routine rut and doesn't create values.
-Someone who doesn't realize there is more to us than the physical chores of: eating, drinking, going to the bathroom, and sleeping.
-Someone who does not DO what they love, what they were born to do.
-Someone who doesn't read and continually educate himself/herself.
-Someone who allows external authorities to control their life, failing to make their own decisions.
-Someone who accepts mediocrity.
-Someone who fails to ask the question: "There has to be a better way" and misses the importance of making self-improvement a top priority.
-Someone who's too afraid of stepping out of their comfort zone.
-Someone who's given up on their childhood dream.

It all boils down to what kind of existence do you want?

Are you just going through the motions?

Are you continually postponing some of your dreams?

Be careful not to wait too long, waking up one day and saying: "I should of done this" and "I wish I could go back and do things differently".

No one should have to live with regret.

Choose to be Alive, take a chance and follow your heart.

Aim Higher,

Sifu Martin

P.S Without a doubt martial arts training can stir things up for you, get an edge, learn how to become a martial artist, here's a great book to get you started:

10 Secrets

48 hour extension

I've been getting alot of questions coming in asking if it was too late to order a DVD copy of the Shaolin Seminar we did a few weeks ago.


It's rare to have access to something like this and I understand it's easy to get side tracked. You maybe had the best of intentions to actually get it and then life happens and you forgot all about it.


I'll make the DVDs available for the next 48 hours. If you really want a copy for your private video library and you want to own a little piece of Shaolin Memorabilia, now would be a good time to order them.


Shaolin DVD


Master Yourself,


Sifu Martin

P.S. Tune in tomorrow for my weekly: "Louse Time", where I share with you life lessons and advice given to me by my Sifu and mentor.

The Body serves the Mind

A picture of Raf, my Neigong instructor, at a recent seminar held at our private training pagoda.

The old masters believed that: "External Martial Art Training without the Internal Development was a waste of time".

Interesting point.

Even believing if you had great physical skill you would quickly hit a plateau in your development, even hitting a point of stagnation.

The wise practitioner who would merge both, external and internal training would benefit from unlimited progression and a constant expansion of skill.

I'm all for that.

I'm one to believe you should put all the chances on your side to win.

Winning for you might be to get in the best possible shape.

Winning could also possibly mean you feel totally confident you could defend yourself when you walk down the street at night.

Winning for someone who's never finished what they started might mean finally following through on the goals they've set for themselves.

For others Winning might mean to be proficient in their martial art expression.

"Martial Art Expression" you might ask?

Yes.

Whenever you practice martial arts you reveal a part of yourself to yourself or to your partner.

You reveal bits and pieces of your character.

If you pay attention close enough you can actually learn from every training session.

That's what I like about my Neigong Training.

When you listen, you hear some of your internal dialogue, sometimes you're distracted by something that's bothering you which makes you lose your count, or you get to see how you react to a little bit of uncomfortable muscle pain.

That's where you see who's in charge?

Your body or your mind?

I like to believe the mind controls the body. The mind will tell the body what to do and the body will be a good servant and follow the orders.

But for many that is not how it works, it's the complete opposite. Once the body shows the slightest sign of weakness or soreness the mind gives in and offers a... Break.

Remember: "The body serves the mind" and not the other way around.

Well, at least that's how it's supposed to be.

This is one of the biggest benefits I've gained from the Neigong Training.

I'm able to hold and squeeze my body through difficult postures and positions, as well as repeat any number of reps I ask of it in various exercises without giving in to my "lazy" body.

If you wish to feel what I feel when sharing the above experiences with you, and if you want to master your body and mind, I seriously think you should join me in my Neigong Training.

If you're just starting out here's where you can take the perfect first step:

Begin Neigong Training

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

If they can't have it, then neither can you?

Every one of us is reaching for success in at least one area of our life.

Right?

And if you're like me and my family you're aiming for excellence in all areas of your life.

How do you feel when you see someone close to you make the climb up the ladder of success?

Happiness or Envy?

This reminds me of the Crab bucket story. You know this story?

If you don't, listen up. If you do, best to hear it again to make sure it sinks in.

A son and father are walking down the beach when the son sees a fisherman close to the boardwalk selling some of the day's catch.

The son sees a crab bucket next to the man and it doesn't have a lid on it. The son turns to his dad and asks why the crabs were not able to escape.

The father said, "If there was only one crab in the bucket it would certainly escape. However, when there is more than one crab in the bucket, if one tries to crawl out, the other crabs would grab hold and pull it back down so that it would share the same fate as the rest of them."

"You must ignore the crabs if you want to be a success in life."

This is true with people. If you attempt to better yourself, other people might attempt to drag you back down to share their fate.

Do you know crab people? Have you attempted to better yourself only to have family and friends to discourage you?

Surprisingly, in our line of work, even some competing martial art school owners engage in this kind of crab behavior. You would think that this thinking would be non existent in the martial art industry.

We are supposed to work together in a common goal of helping people reach their goals through the wonders of martial art training. Still, some would prefer to try to tarnish our image or attempt to destroy what we've spent the past 30 years building just because they might be less successful than we are or because we don't hold the same credentials as they do, maybe even just because we practice a different style all together.

The crab schools can stay together in the bucket. We made it out of there a long time ago.

You might share the same experience in your life. Some people around you might have the mentality that: "If they can't have it, then neither can you"

You can be slim, toned, strong, confident and happy.

You can be the most successful person in your field.

You can be in a relationship, madly in love and enjoying every minute of it.

You can have the nicest house on the block.

Aim for excellence in all areas of your life and watch out for the crab syndrome, it's contagious.

If you're on my list I'm gathering you're an independent self-starter, motivated and ready to jump out of the bucket?

Let me warn you, you must be physically fit to do so. Those crabs are clingy little suckers.

Let me suggest you start with our Basic Fitness System to get you started on your ascension.

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin