Kendall Giles

Time has a way of warping when you are not looking. Blink, and you'll soon realize that years have gone by, as you struggle with work, paying bills, and just making ends meet. But as you get older, you need to be more careful about these large lapses in time. And without proper care, the body will quickly degrade if not kept in shape, as can be seen by America's expanding waistline and the fact that the U.S. Obesity Epidemic Continues to Grow.

We'll see if I caught mine in time, but for now at least I can begin the process of getting back in shape. Towards that goal, we recently completed setting up a home gym.

Why set up your own home gym? Why not just join a local fitness center? Well, for me, my biggest constraint is time, and so having a gym at home really pays for itself when you consider the overhead of travel to and from a fitness center. Also, as I learn more about what is involved in fitness and proper exercises, I have found that most local fitness centers just do not have the right types of equipment there to be worth my time and money. And I really shouldn't have to mention awful music, OPS (Other People's Sweat), and hefty fees commonly found at the local fitness centers.

A good guide on how to set up your own home gym, with pointers to proper equipment and possible vendors, can be found here in the September 1, 2002 issue of the CrossFit Journal. Our current home gym is a first-pass at their prescribed configuration, and includes a multi-station exercise center, plates and dumbbells (and a couple kettlebells), treadmill, striking dummies/bags, pullup station, and some tumbling matts. There are a few pieces of equipment I am lacking, such as a climbing rope, rings, and a rowing machine, but for the most part the current configuration allows for a reasonably effective and useful workout.

Note that the above-linked CrossFit Journal article also contains a list of things you can do to get kicked out of your local gym (I think they were being humorous) - maybe that's a way to get your gym to refund the remaining balance of your gym membership if you want out?

Day 1
Bring your own music - use a boom box - and turn it up to inspiration levels and start working out. ACDC's "Thunderstruck" should do the trick.

As for how to structure your exercise workouts, I can't think of a better program than CrossFit - there you'll find a WoD (workout of the day), videos on how to do each exercise, nutrition information, and lots more. They stress functional fitness, and their workouts will help you get into the best shape of your life.

If you want more of a tactical workout, then you might want to try The Pit Workout and The Pit Workout - CrossPit. I am currently working through The Pit Workout and, well, let me just say it's not yoga down at the Y or tae-bo. Once I get The Pit Workout under my belt, I'll move to CrossPit.

Finally, if you need some motivation to get back in shape, whether you stick with your fitness center or build a home gym, and want examples of how effective the CrossFit program is, you may want to watch this video of one of the CrossFit workouts.

Note that setting up this gym completes one task of my 101 Goals in 1001 Days project.

Richmond regularly tops lists of high-crime cities, and just a few weeks into my new job there, I was "reacquainted" with this unfortunate aspect.

While walking to my car late one night from the office on campus, sick with the flu and carrying a couple bags of books, it seems that I was selected as the target of a gang initiation, whereby the candidate inductee must start a fight with the victim. Luckily I kept my cool during the incident and all ended OK, but it was not a pleasant experience, and it was a good reminder that, when in the real world, all is not milk and honey.

Thinking now of practical self-defense options, here is a movie made in about 2002 by a Western martial arts group who got together at Frogmore Grange, Coventry, England. Participants enjoyed tea and crumpets before the days' activities of walking stick fighting, pugilism, and jiujitsu, followed by a three-course meal in a Victorian dining room:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGiTAtJI_uU

Self-defense laws being what they are, especially on university campuses, certain self-defense options are precluded from consideration. However, the cane or walking stick certainly seems viable. Here is a transcription of a self-defence article from 1901:

"Self-defence with a Walking-stick: The Different Methods of Defending Oneself with a Walking-Stick or Umbrella when Attacked under Unequal Conditions"

Self-defense with a cane is a component of Bartitsu, the martial art made popular in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Other resources for this line of self-defense and training include:

• The Bartitsu Society
• canes at woodenswords
• Defense Dans La Rue
• Bartitsu Wikipedia entry

Be safe, and be prepared!

Technorati Tags: culture, defense, fitness, martial arts, security, virginia

A Pell is essentially a striking dummy that is used for weapons training. Pells have been used for hundreds of years both in Western Arts as well as Eastern Arts. They can be used indoors or outdoors, can be mounted or left free-swinging, and used with a variety of weapons. The purpose is not to swing as hard as you can, but to refine your technique and control - developing a solid foundation of basics is very important if you want to progress in your abilities.

I'll certainly let you know when I get there.

In the meantime, here is a picture of a pell I made:

It is a modification of the Tire Man #1 found in the Pell FAQ. My design is free-swinging, allowing for dynamic training interaction. A variety of weapons can be used by the little guy - he is wielding a basic bamboo shinai in the picture. Also, he has two arms, so he can wield single or double-handed weapons. And, he has two legs, for leg strikes.

For the head, I have used an American football helmet. If you will be doing light strikes with shinai, as with kendo, then you can substitute a kendo men helmet or even a baseball helmet. But if you are practicing other sword/weapon arts and use strikes with more intent, then you may find the football helmet more durable. Of course, feel free to substitute a knight's helm if you have some spares around...(-:

A variety of weapons can be used against him - shinai, fukoro shinai, bokken, waster, steel sword blunt, dagger, bo, quarterstaff, spear, etc. The only caution would be the fact that the rubber in the tire may mark your wooden/bamboo weapons, so take note. You can strike him while he is still or you can swing him for a more dynamic effect.

In the picture he is outside, but he can be moved indoors and mounted on a heavy punching bag stand or mounted on a more static base (and not left swinging). You may also want to add another rope to your swinging pell because sometimes he can turn in circles, making it hard to interface with.

Finally, here are some pell links that may be of interest:

• Big Blue
  
• Bob
  
• Pell FAQ
  
• The Ubiquitous Pell
  
• Hanging Cross Pell E.g.
  
• Bayonet Pell E.g.
  

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Technorati Tags: defense, fitness, martial arts

The Secret History of the Sword: Adventures in Ancient Martial Arts, by J. Christopher Amberger

An amazing treasure-house of anecdotes, accountings, and historical musings on sword play across the generations and cultures. Its loose presentation style lends it to reading in frenetic bursts. I really enjoyed his commentary and analysis of fencing training and combat arts. One criticism is that he's not very strong on pre-Renaissance swordsmanship or history. But his pre-Renaissance discussion is just at the beginning of the book and that can be quickly skimmed -- the rest of the book is great.

Technorati Tags: book, culture, fitness, martial arts, review

This is a tanjo.

Technorati Tags: culture, defense, martial arts

There are not a lot of options for classical fencing in Virginia. However, I am just finishing up a beginner's class at Salle Green, in Richmond, and it has been a good class. While I would prefer longer sessions, the one-hour class, once a week, for eight weeks in the beginner's course is probably just right for those new to fencing and martial arts.

If you are at all interested in fencing (classical or sport), or western martial arts, or just want something to do that is a little more sophisticated than basketball or listening to your iPod, then you should come out to Salle Green.

Technorati Tags: fitness, martial arts, virginia

Today was a perfect day for the 93rd annual National Cherry Blossom Festival in our nation's Capital. Our group, the Capital Area Budokai, put on a martial arts demonstration in downtown Washington D.C. for the festival. The skies were blue, the blossoms were at their peak, our stage had a great view of the Capitol, and lots of people came out to see us.

Here are a few photos from the demo. Note that though my wife took lots of great pictures, by the time we went on, the sun had moved us into shadows. Thus, I had to wrangle with the brightness and contrast in the pictures to make them even partially visible.

The intro however was in bright sunlight. Here you can get a feel for the crowds, the stage, and the stage floor - it was a squishy gym mat that soaked up the sun's rays. Also, note that this image shows things as they should be: the jo player standing over the defeated swordsman:

For the tanjo set, here I am doing Kote Migi:

followed by Sutemi. Note that I got a good strong block on my opponent's strike, though I really should have caught both elbows:

For the jo set, here is the group at the beginning of Tachi Otoshi. Note how small the stage is: I had to pull a lot of my suigetsu strikes to prevent my opponent from sailing off the stage:

In the first part of Tachi Otoshi, I strike at my opponent's head: luckily (for him) he was able to block my strike:

He tried to counter by striking my neck, but the photo shows me just before my kuritsuke catches his tsuka for a block:

All in all it was a fun demonstration and a lot of people got to see some traditional Japanese martial arts. Maybe next year, if the stage is a little higher (so more people can see) and a little larger (so we can move around without worrying about falling off), it will be even better.

Technorati Tags: culture, fitness, martial arts, virginia

Recently on the popular blog BoingBoing, there were several entries making reference to two articles posted on EJMAS about a series of self-defence techniques with a walking stick originally printed in Pearson's Magazine in 1901.

While I suppose any relatively positive appearance in popular media about (Western) martial arts is a good thing, I still couldn't help but cringe when Cory Doctorow mentioned that these techniques allowed you to "kick someone's ass" with an umbrella.

Although, when they start teaching samurai-aerobics (e.g. in New York you can take "FORZA!", which is described in their literature as: "Italian for 'strength and power.' Also known as Samurai sword training, the one-hour class is a super-charged workout that blends elements of two Japanese Sword Fighting techniques--Kendo and Aikijujitsu. Intermediate-advanced levels.") fashioned after The Last Samurai and Kill Bill, I suppose arming yourself with an umbrella is at least a credible option.

Technorati Tags: fitness, martial arts

Lately, with work, school, research, travel, and family obligations, I have not had as much time as I would like for MA training. However, I did jump through quite a few hoops in order to be able to attend a two-day seminar on Italian Dueling Sabre this past weekend in Annapolis, MD. The seminar was taught by Maestro Sean Hayes, master of arms at the Northwest Academy of Arms, and was sponsored by MASHS

Dueling sabre was from a time where swordsmen developed exquisite technique as well as the highest levels of health and conditioning in order to not only excel at their sword art, but also to survive its direct application in the form of duels.

The seminar was excellent and Maestro Hayes is a superb instructor. He took a well-attended but diverse audience, all new to the dueling aspects of sabre, from initial positions to the Countertime Theory, a great example of time and action in the later 19th century Italian schools.

Dueling sabre, as taught by Maestro Hayes is a living tradition of a historical martial art, and I look forward to exploring its subtleties and power in the future.

Technorati Tags: defense, fitness, martial arts

I have bad form, but here I am doing the Muso Shinden Ryu jodo kata Tachi Otoshi; Steve is doing sword.

If your browser doesn't have the right plugin, you can download the movie.

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