Entry #1

Yesterday in class we went over the history of the Shaolin monks and how recluse they are. They didn’t start out as a place for martial arts but they used martial arts as a way to further discipline themselves.

Entry #2

When we did the falling exercises I found out that it takes skill to fall. You can’t just fall down and hope for the best, you have to know how to protect the body as well.

Entry #3

Today in class we learned more about the ancient weapons of the samurai and how the evolution of weapons changed the samurai styles. The emergence of the machine gun ultimately brought an end to the samurai. We were also introduced and trained in judo today which involves using the momentum, leverage, and the body weight of the opponent.

Entry #4

Today in class we were watching The Smashing Machine, an MMA documentary on Mark Kerr and Mark Coleman. It showed Kerr, who was a great fighter but he lost a fight to a Russian fighter and started using painkillers and steroids. He eventually went to rehab for his addiction.

Entry #5

Today in class we went over more martial arts in amine and went outside to work on blocking.

Entry #6

Today in class we watched a presentation of a former History of Martial Arts class, then we watched a movie a called Karate Girl. The true nature of karate is for protection. However, it was used for killing and the evil organization was selling their fighters to commit murder around the world. 

Entry #7

In class, we watched Iron Monkey with Donnie Yen, who was a tiger style fighter trying to rescue his son that was being falsely accused of something by the corrupt governor. They also got it very banging.