For those who don’t know, Lewis is currently battling brain cancer and it has been a long road.  In fact, he just got out of the hospital after being in there for an entire month.  Please continue to pray for his recovery.  He is a legend and we appreciate any support.  Cards and/or donations can be sent to: Joe Lewis, c/o The Nackord Karate System, P. O.  Box 1506, Southeastern , PA  19399.

I was looking through some of my archives and I came across this article written by Joe Lewis. I thought it would be great to share.  He begins talking about general myths in the martial arts, but focuses on the so-called “streetfighter.”  Here it is:

People pursuing martial arts have been for years conditioned to ask all the wrong questions. The classic misleading question, “What combat martial art is the best?” The real question should be, “Why do I need martial arts?” Martial arts is like dieting; it is not, “What do I eat,” but more importantly, “Why do I eat?” When access to facts is withheld and we fail to investigate the unproven claims, myths arise.

Martial arts are flooded with myths. There are students who believe if they can emulate or fight like a snake or praying mantis or even a monkey, this method automatically grants them superiority. This accepted practice is as ill fated as the myth that all members in a martial arts class should execute techniques exactly the same. Short people cannot fight as if they are tall, small people cannot fight like they’re big, and nor can slow people be expected to emulate those who are genetically quick. Also, small people are even taught to practice their drills standing directly in front of opponents who are often much larger. If you’re short or small, you must learn how to fight like a short or small person. In the animal kingdom, snakes don’t fight like birds nor do tigers fight like butterflies. Humans have many technical challenges to overcome without trying to learn to fight like some kind of bird or insect or other animal type. Learning to fight like a human is difficult enough.

Out of this abyss of untested nonsense surfaces another untouchable phenomena called the “streetfighter.” Professional fighters and martial arts instructors are often harassed by this peripheral group who lack the same dedication, the willingness to train in public, or the confidence to compete. These types consistently claim that they are legitimate fighters, even better than those who compete in the ring. Unlike real fighters, they pretend to be immune to judgment. Some of their familiar self-endowments are, “deadliest man alive” or “king of the streetfighters.”

Fighter’s fight and runner’s race. They each love competition. Records of wins and losses are administered and include dates, locations, and opponents. A small handful of the ambitious best become world-class professionals, called fighters. This status is earned, never self-proclaimed.
The only “records” streetfighters have are down at the police department. The seasoned officers with whom I’ve worked describe their many encounters with streetfighters, for the most part, as being nothing more than a joke. These officers report that in the end, all they have is a big mouth.

The word, “streetfighter,” always bothered me. It reminds me of the term, “killer instinct.” There is no such thing as a killer instinct. Journalists conjured up the term to describe the boxer, Jack Dempsey. “Streetfighter” is a word in the dictionary; however, at age 57, I have witnessed many fights, but to date, never a single one has taken place in the street. I think of a so-called “streetfighter” as either being some hoodlum, terrorist, or immature kid often being the one who creates fights. Usually, their “records” consist of beating up some drunks, a few kids, and even probably a couple of poor bums. These types respect violence. When kids are exposed to adults using violence, such as a parent beating a child, they absorb two messages; one, that adults condone violence and second, that adults use violence to solve problems. This is where all world wars begin. If you’re proud to call yourself a streetfighter, I hope, along with all our kids that you never move into our neighborhood.

Two things about the streetfighter amuse me. What purpose is being served with a practice of suspending rational thought in order to self-appoint oneself the title of “streetfighter,” and then with the same zeal, grant the streetfighter higher combat status, claiming ring fighters can’t streetfight? What major flaws does anyone detect rendering pro fighters helpless or at a disadvantage in a street fight when observing sport fighters, the likes of Mike Tyson or Frank Shamrock and others? There are those who claim ring fighting isn’t practical or real. What is unreal or impractical or less deadly about a kick, a knee, or a punch that knocks a ring opponent out and sometimes kills? Also, what about a choke or joint lock, which could also kill or render an opponent instantly helpless?

From physical strength to mental toughness, there is no identifiable attribute of streetfighters unavailable to ring fighters. Sometimes, the technique mechanics are different. For example, if you research boxing’s history, you would note that the bare-knuckle fighters kept their palms facing upward. If they had punched like today’s gloved fighters, who learn to rotate their punches, turning the palms downwards at contact, then they would have destroyed their hands. Also, the intent of a technique can vary. I could strike you and abstain from hurting you, strike as if I’m abusing and spanking you, hurt, punish, torture, slaughter, or even bury you. Each of these elevating intents varies in degrees of effect. Sometimes, of course, your aggressor may show up with a weapon or others to outnumber you, but then these factors do not make streetfighters better. This only creates the old “what if” scenario. What if the ring fighter pulls out his own gun and so on?

Take 10 top professional fighters (“K-1,” “U.F.C.,” “Pride,” etc.) and put them into a street context. Most rational experts would overwhelmingly select the outcome to largely favor the pros. And if you put the streetfighter in a ring sport context, I can’t see anyone having any hope for the streetfighter.

Streetfighting does have its place, but is streetfighting nothing more than a well-timed trick or sucker punch? One of my older brothers had a nasty reputation back in his day. One night he sat down next to a woman sitting alone in some nightclub. Seconds later, her enraged boyfriend appeared at the table standing over my brother, demanding he step outside. My brother stood up with his beer bottle in his hand and said, “Sure, just let me finish my beer.” As he put the bottle to his mouth, he suddenly drops it, simultaneously decking the guy, punching him with the right hand in which he had held the beer. During my younger years, my older brothers taught me a great deal about these types of altercations. This situation with my brother illustrates the oldest tactic known to man, “surprise attack.”

Just because you put the word, “street,” in front of the word, “fighter,” does not make you omnipotent. The word has no magic powers nor does it mean that any untested combatant could automatically last 10 to 12 grueling rounds absorbing dozens of world-class educated punches and kicks or grappling maneuvers. Nor could the streetfighter maintain professional speed, power, and accuracy, which takes years of hard training to develop, working with tough sparring partners aided by profoundly smart trainers. Neither is one granted a winning composure at all times in the face of any struggle, fatigue, stress, or physical pain and be backed up with the fact that you have a long tested career demonstrating during all your fights a marked willingness to always remain engaged while maintaining an inner conviction to never quit. These are a few of the attributes real fighters acquire after years of hard work and consistent dedication. These can only come by working in real scenarios against well-prepared world-class fighters.

In the military, we also emulate the success of armies that win, not those who only talk. My black belt fighters acquire through action the ability to go 8, 10, 12 rounds with a well-prepared world-class fighter and to be able to look him in the eye and let him know five things. One, he can’t handle my speed; two, he can’t handle my power; three, he can’t hurt me; four, that I will never get tired; and five, I will never quit. If you have never endured the experience standing toe to toe with this type of world-class fighter while having him fire educated punches, kicks, elbows, and knees with cold-blooded, world-class accuracy and conviction, then you can’t speak from knowledge or with any confidence, nor have the slightest clue about what you’re talking on the subject of fighting.

Lastly, I can assure you that a much greater number of ring fighters have tested and proven their skills in the “street” than the number of streetfighters who have ever entered the ring. If you took 10 top ring fighters and 10 top streetfighters and let each group test their skills in the other’s forum, who would have the higher winning percentage? A ring fighter’s abilities will always, hands down, work far better for him in the street than a streetfighter’s abilities could ever help him in a ring fight.

Joe Lewis

The only way to become good at anything is practice. The only way to become great at anything is more practice.  The old saying is repetition is the mother of all skill.  In martial arts, your goal may not be a world champion fighter.  Your goal may not be a world known master.  No matter what, your goal should be to become the best you possibly can – to be the best you, you can be.  If you are not practicing, you will be failing at that goal.

Why is it that some of the masters and grandmasters out there, when they were going through the ranks, would do 1000 punches a day, 1000 kicks a day, and 1000 blocks a day, but some students today don’t even do 10 punches a day.  I know some students who don’t do any a day.  Maybe it’s because back in the day they didn’t have x-box’s so instead of getting a thumb workout, they actually worked out to better themselves on all levels? I’m not against children playing video games, but they need to be balanced with physical activity and things that sharpen the mind – like reading.  Personally, I don’t play video games – I practice martial arts, talk with God (pray), play music (acoustic guitar and drums), go for nature walks, shoot (9mm and .45), read, write, do housework, cook, and play with my daughter.  Aside from running my full-time business, all of the above takes up my time. They are more important than video games to me.

We are an unhealthy society.  Childhood obesity is an epidemic we face and many other health problems are on the rise due to bad eating habits, and lack of physical fitness.  In fact, it was told to me recently that a Doctor wrote a note for a child (Dr.’s excuse) allowing her to not participate gym classes because she was too overweight.  That baffles me. It was the mother’s idea.  Exercise isn’t going to hurt her! It’s the big mac’s, french fries, chicken wings, potato chips, cupcakes, and deep fried onion rings she eats per day that’s hurting her – and, of course, the lack of exercise.

I am in no way making fun of obesity.  It’s a major issue and there are many variables that come into play when it comes to the problem.  Not everybody can help getting to that point.  I’m just talking about those who can – like the contestants on The Biggest Loser.  If children would get more exercise and would eat and drink healthier there would be no childhood obesity. I certainly don’t have a perfect diet, but I do have things I avoid and things I eat/drink more often than other things. I also train everyday in martial arts and I’m not overweight.

The martial arts provide endless benefits.  Aside from the benefits of focus, self-discipline, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-defense, self-control, and respect, you get the benefits of health and fitness through several drills that work agility, flexibility, coordination, balance, muscular endurance, muscle strength, and cardiovascular endurance.  The more you practice, the better you will become, and the healthier you will be.  Most martial arts students want to become a black belt some day.  Don’t you want to be the best black belt you can be?  Remember, once you are a black belt, you need to look and act the part.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen black belts that looked like yellow belts and acted like white belts.  Not at my school.

If you are a martial artist out there who maybe doesn’t practice at home much, I challenge you to change that.  You don’t have to do hours a day.  I always say start by doing 15 minutes a day.  That is better than nothing. Then bring it up to 30 minutes per day.  This would be on days that you don’t have regular class.  Make it a habit to practice so that you improve. Your instructor can tell whether you train at home or not. Trust me.  I know which of my students train at home and which of them who have never trained at home.  It’s easy to spot. And, lastly, make your focus on constant improvement through knowledge and skill – not belts.  My biggest pet peeve is a student who cares only about belts and learning new material. You should be constantly improving on the material you already know, so put more focus on that and less focus on how much more stuff you need to learn for your next belt.

About the Author:

Michael Miller is an international martial arts instructor and self-defense, personal protection, and bully expert who holds a 5^th degree black belt in American Kenpo – a modern reality based street system of combat. He is the co-founder of the “Stomp the Bullying” program, where he takes an active approach to teaching children and parents all about bullying, how not to be a bully, how not to become a target, how to handle bullying situations, and more. The program is becoming world recognized with celebrity endorsements from actors Martin Kove (Sensei John Kreese in the Karate Kid Series) and Sean Kanan (Karate’s bad boy Mike Barnes in the Karate Kid III), as well as receiving a letter from the House of Representatives of the United States commending him for his program and for providing children with martial arts lessons. Miller runs a full-time martial arts school in Bradford, Pa (Miller’s Kenpo Karate Dojo) and teaches American Kenpo (his primary system), boxing, kickboxing, Joe Lewis Fighting Systems, Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu, and Modern Arnis. He is also a writer who has been featured in Inside Kung-fu and Black Belt magazines several times as an authority in his field and is the author of the Legends of Kenpo biography series. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh in writing with a minor in sociology. He can be reached by e-mail at michael.miller@millersdojo.com or by phone at 814-368-3725.

It’s your responsibility as the student to make sure you are fully prepared for each test.  It’s vital that you practice more than you normally do to prepare for an upcoming test. One of the best things you can do to ensure you will be fully ready and will have the confidence to do well is get a private lesson with your instructor.  The best time to get this private lesson is 3-5 days before your test.  The lesson will allow your instructor to go through the material with you to make sure you have everything down, and will allow him/her to give you some pointers to help you do well on the test. The instructor can encourage you and can answer any questions you may have.

When my students get private lessons to prepare for their tests, I use those privates as pre-tests. I have the students go through the material like they are actually testing.  Anything they screw up, or forget, I go over with them for the remainder of the private.  This allows them to become aware of what material they need to focus a little more attention to before the test.  Only around 20 percent of my students get private lessons before a test, and they are always the students who do extremely well on the tests.  The students who struggle on the tests and sometimes fail the tests are those who weren’t prepared – those who never get private lessons and rarely practice at home.

Martial arts training is something you should never take lightly.  You should never coast along giving only a portion of effort.  If you are at a good school, your instructor will not promote you if you are not giving your best effort, improving physically and mentally, and focusing on becoming the best you are capable of.  I have found that many students think that just because they are showing up and giving me a pay check that they are obligated to receive belts.  That isn’t how it works.  Don’t mistake activity for achievement.  Just going through the motions isn’t going to cut it.  If you go to college, which costs much more than karate lessons, do you deserve that diploma just because you are showing up to class and paying? Absolutely not! You have to study, do the work, and get good grades for 4 years (Bachelor’s).

In college, you can’t work hard for one year and then stop studying and doing homework, because you won’t make it; same with martial arts. To get a black belt you have to constantly improve by working hard for at least 4 years.  My personal opinion is that it should take at least 6 years to get a black belt, however.  You can’t work hard for two years and then drop the ball, because you will never become a black belt.  I can’t tell you how many times I had adult students train hard for several years, make it to brown belt, and then drop the ball and never become black belts.  If you make it to brown belt in my school you better make it to black. There is no excuse – unless you moved away.

As a martial arts student, don’t you want to be the best you can be? Work hard and never give up.  This is a life changing experience that produces more benefits than anything else on earth.  Enjoy the journey, because it’s the transformation of a lifetime.  I can’t tell you how many times my training has saved me in self-defense situations, has gotten me jobs, has allowed me to be a great role model in my community, and has allowed me to meet some of the best people I have ever known. The good news is, although I’ve been in the arts for over 20 years, my journey is just beginning.

I challenge you to challenge yourself.  Make sure you are always giving your best effort and not making excuses.  Although this article is about what to do before a belt test, focus your energy on knowledge and skill – not belts.  The belts come with the territory.  Belt chasers never make it very far.  It’s like a dog trying to catch his tail – he just keeps running in circles and never catches it.  The belt won’t save you in combat – your mind and physical skill will.  Focus on gaining as much knowledge and skill as you can, always work hard, never give up, and you will be a great black belt some day.  Private lessons will help you with that process, especially before a test.

About the Author:

Michael Miller is an international martial arts instructor and self-defense, personal protection, and bully expert who holds a 5^th degree black belt in American Kenpo – a modern reality based street system of combat. He is the co-founder of the “Stomp the Bullying” program, where he takes an active approach to teaching children and parents all about bullying, how not to be a bully, how not to become a target, how to handle bullying situations, and more. The program is becoming world recognized with celebrity endorsements from actors Martin Kove (Sensei John Kreese in the Karate Kid Series) and Sean Kanan (Karate’s bad boy Mike Barnes in the Karate Kid III), as well as receiving a letter from the House of Representatives of the United States commending him for his program and for providing children with martial arts lessons. Miller runs a full-time martial arts school in Bradford, Pa (Miller’s Kenpo Karate Dojo) and teaches American Kenpo (his primary system), boxing, kickboxing, Joe Lewis Fighting Systems, Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu, and Modern Arnis. He is also a writer who has been featured in Inside Kung-fu and Black Belt magazines several times as an authority in his field and is the author of the Legends of Kenpo biography series. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh in writing with a minor in sociology. He can be reached by e-mail at michael.miller@millersdojo.com or by phone at 814-368-3725.

When teaching children you have the task of dealing with the children’s parents.  Throughout my several years as an instructor I’ve dealt with every kind of parent you can imagine – those who think I am a babysitter and just drop their kids off every single class; those who think their child should get special treatment; those who have no clue about martial arts, but still feel the need to try to tell me how to do my job; those who complain behind my back because their child hasn’t gotten a stripe in a couple months; those who think their child is ready to test for his next belt when the child is nowhere near ready; those who constantly compare their child to the other kids in the class and feel their child is better and should have a higher belt; those who think just because their child has been a student longer than another child that their child should automatically have a higher belt rank; those who have unrealistic expectations for their child and don’t realize that the reason their child has a low self-esteem and no confidence is because of the way they (the parents) treat them; those who are paranoid and think that we are holding their child back or feel that we should be babying their child; those who think their child is a perfect angel; those who don’t give their child enough credit; and more.

On the flip side, I have also dealt with great parents – those who trust in me and let me do my job; those who genuinely care about their child’s progress; those who want the child to EARN the stripes and belts; those who care more about the benefits their child is receiving rather than the stripes and belts; those who get involved and watch the classes so that they can parallel what I am teaching; those who sign up their child for the special seminars with guest instructors at our school; those who get their child private lessons so the child can excel and reach his/her full potential; those who come to me with questions and concerns rather than talking behind my back; those who keep me informed of what is going on with the child’s life outside of the martial arts studio; and more.

One thing I always try to get across to the parents of my students is that the child’s progress has to do with what we call the “triad to success.”  This is a pyramid, which obviously has three points.  We need all three points to make the triad of success.  Each point represents people:  the top point is the student; the second point represents the parents; the third point is the teachers (instructors).  If the student, parents and instructors are not all on the same page, the child will not reach his/her full potential. I have found many times that either the child or the parents are not fulfilling the role that I need them to fulfill.  The blocks of the pyramid consist of (starting from the top): gratitude, consistency, self-control, individuality, balance, coachability, preparedness, compassion, intentness, attentiveness, participation, commitment, flexibility, enthusiasm and encouragement.

Personally, there should be times where the parent drops the child off for class.  This gives the child some independence.  It should be at least a 50/50 split, however, where the parents are sitting in during class at least 50 percent of the time.  I’ve had parents wonder why their child isn’t advancing as quickly as they feel he should.  If those parents would sit in class and watch their child from an objective point of view, they would realize that the child is not putting forth the effort needed for advancement.  I am not one of those instructors’ who promotes people just because they are showing up to class and making a monthly payment.  I have standards and my school is not a belt factory like most schools.  I don’t believe in brainwashing students.  I’m real and I’m an honest teacher, and sometimes the truth hurts.  If you are not bending your knees you don’t deserve a blue belt.  If you aren’t keeping your hands up, you are no brown belt. I have seen several black belts in the martial arts world who look worse than some of my yellow belts. I’m not bragging, I am just reminding people that if you want belts in my school you EARN them.

Here is the article written by Rich Hale:

A FEW THINGS WE WISH PARENTS

OF KARATE KIDS WOULD LEARN

Going the potty is every kids way of getting out of something they don’t want to do. It’s your job to see to it they go before class, so we can take this excuse for lazy behavior off the table.

If you would take the time to learn how to tie a belt, you could help teach your child. We can spend a few minutes teaching an interested parent how to tie a belt or we can spend ten minutes a day, every day, trying to teach a class full of five year olds.

Every time you ask us when your child is going to get his next belt, instead of asking how your child is progressing, we wonder where your values are.

Spending all your time on a smart phone may help the time pass, but does little to show support for your child’s education.

Your child may be a junior black belt, but that doesn’t mean he can defend himself against an adult. If you’re not afraid of him neither is your average kidnapper, child molester, or murderer.

When we tell your children they’re doing great or fantastic, don’t let it go to your head. It’s a motivation tool we use to build your child’s self esteem. It doesn’t mean he’s ready for a promotion.

Just because your friends child received a black belt in a year and a half, doesn’t mean he’s a real black belt. Countless schools promote children based on how long the parents are willing to go without a promotion – not the kids.

Punishing your children by taking away karate is like taking away their vitamins because they didn’t finish their dinner.

Personally, I like winning as much as anybody else.  If you are training for competition, the goal is to win.  I just don’t base my sole purpose of life on it.  Honestly, I’ve learned my best lessons in life by failing. The only thing I never lost at was boxing, and that’s because I had only one fight.  I wanted many more, but due to circumstances beyond my control I had to retire after two years of hard core training and only one fight under my belt. Nobody trains to lose, but we must not become possessed with winning.

It’s good to have disappointments in life.  It builds character.  Imagine if you won at everything you did.  Your ego would be bigger than theGrand Canyonand the day someone finally beat you, you would crumble.  You wouldn’t know how to take it.  The best way to understand how to handle disappointments is to have faced some in your life.  Truthfully, everybody has lost at something in life.  In fact, everybody has lost at many things in life.  It’s just that society is so focused on winning that people don’t realize the importance of the lessons learned by losing.

I wrestled for eight years.  I was average at best.  I had two good years out of the eight.  I started in fifth grade and wrestled all the way through school until I graduated.  I even contemplated wrestling in college as a walk on, but decided against it.  My freshman year of high school I did pretty well, because I wrestled on the Junior Varsity team.  I did poorly my sophomore and junior years, but my senior year was great.  I was extremely proud of my performance that year, with a final record of 8-7, which means eight wins and seven losses.  The cool thing was that I beat some really good wrestlers that year.  If you look at my record it’s not impressive at all.  If you look at what I learned from the experience, it’s amazing. 

In fact, my most memorable wrestling tournament in my life was in my 3^rd year. I took fourth place at the tournament.  Not impressive at all, but I fought hard for that trophy.  It’s the only wrestling trophy I still have, by the way.  I shot the rest of them with my Glock 17 .9mm and my Taurus Judge .45 long colt revolver.  It was fun.  I kept my 4^th place trophy because it symbolized the hard work, focus, and discipline I had to get it.  I won my first match that day and I lost my second.  Since it was double elimination, I won my third and fourth, and lost my fifth.  It was a big bracket and I ended up taking fourth place with a 3-2 record on the day. 

I’ve taken first place in a few things in my life including one Karaoke contest, a teen bench press competition, and a couple little league baseball titles.  I was a power lifter for a few years and almost got into bodybuilding contests.  I competed in three power lifting competitions and didn’t place the first time, took two fifth places the second time and took first the third time.  My experiences of being on the top were slim.  I’ve lost much more than I have won.  I competed as an arm wrestler three years in a row.  I took 2^nd and 3^rd places, but never a first.  Of my eight years of wrestling I never won a tournament. I’ve gotten a few 2^nd places, but never 1^st. 

One thing for me is I have always been humble.  I come from a hard working family with amazing parents.  My parents taught me the true values in life.  When my parents got a divorce when I was seven years old my mom raised my brother, sister and I by working three jobs to support us.  My father was always there to help, however, and was always a great father.  I know what it is like to struggle, and I know that struggling did not stop my mother from setting the example that all mothers should set. 

Martial arts have helped me define who I am. As a martial artist you are on a journey of self-discovery.  It’s a personal journey, and the only person you are in competition with is yourself.  When you train, you train for you.  You aren’t training for the person beside you.  Your journey is yours only and it’s vital that you never lose focus of that.  It doesn’t matter what belt the person beside you is, or that he got promoted to green belt before you, when you started before him.  It doesn’t matter how you rate next to him.  He won’t save you in a tournament or on the street.  Only you can.  So take all your energy to focus on yourself and how you can improve.  It’s about being better today than you were yesterday.  It’s about defining, refining and discovering.  It’s about focus, self-discipline, self-confidence, self-esteem, respect, honor, dignity, integrity, awareness, and positive growth. When all you do is worry about what everyone else is doing in your class and where their journey is going, you are hurting your own journey in many ways.

You should strive for progress everyday and always give 100 percent effort, 100 percent of the time.  Focus on knowledge, skill and honorable character rather than the belts.  The belts come with the territory and they are subjective.  No person is the same, so no black belts are going to be the same.  Yes, there are standards (that vary from school to school), but every individual is different and you do not join martial arts schools to chase or buy belts.  The two belts that are most important are white and black.  By black I mean all black belts (1^st degree – 10^th degree). You should be proud with every promotion you receive, but focus on constant improvement and refining what you already know.  Improving on what you already know is more important than new material. Black belt is the only belt that looks good on a resume, but you have to be able to back it up with the skills and responsibility that come with the territory. If you buy belts or chase belts, you won’t have the skills and knowledge to back up the very belt you have around your waist.   

About the Author:

Michael Miller is a self-defense, personal protection, and anti-bullying expert who holds a 5^th degree black belt in American Kenpo – a modern reality based street system of combat.  He is the co-founder of the “Stomp the Bullying” program, where he takes an active approach to teaching children and parents all about bullying, how not to be a bully, how not to become a target, how to handle bullying situations, and more.  The program is becoming world recognized with celebrity endorsements from actors Martin Kove (Sensei John Kreese in the Karate Kid Series) and Sean Kanan (Karate’s bad boy Mike Barnes in the Karate Kid III). Miller runs a full-time martial arts school in Bradford, Pa (Miller’s Kenpo Karate Dojo) and teaches American Kenpo, boxing, kickboxing, Joe Lewis Fighting Systems, Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu, and Modern Arnis.  He is also a writer who has been featured in Inside Kung-fu and Black Belt magazines several times as an authority in his field and is the author of the Legends of Kenpo biography series.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh in writing with a minor in sociology.  He can be reached by e-mail at michael.miller@millersdojo.com or by phone at 814-368-3725. 

-         You can be anything you want to be – how bad do you want it?

-         Never, EVER, give up. Nothing is ever accomplished by quitting.

-         Give 100 percent effort, 100 percent of the time.

-         Be realistic, but push yourself

-         Strive for progress, not perfection.  You will always fall short of perfection, but you can always make progress each day.

-         Be a better person today than you were yesterday

-         Be kind and humble, but have a warrior mindset

-         You are your toughest opponent

-         Train hard and enjoy the benefits

-         Be a good winner and a good loser – you always learn something

-         Set a good example by being a good role model

-         Make each day your masterpiece

-         Try to resolve conflicts without fighting – fight in the ring

I’m not saying you will never slip up here and there.  We are not perfect and never will be, but if you sincerely try your best to follow these principles they will help you become all you are capable of becoming. 

TCB…

Your mind is a powerful tool and is the most dangerous weapon you possess.  The power of positive thinking produces positive action.  You are what you think.  If you don’t like the way you feel, change the way you think.  Try to become a better and more positive person each day and reap the greatness of a rewarding life. 

I came across “The Four Agreements” which I found interesting and very true.  I don’t know where they came from or who created them, but it wasn’t me.  Try to incorporate these agreements in your life.

 The Four Agreements

Be Impeccable with your Word

Speak with integrity.  Say only what you mean.  Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.  Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Don’t Take Anything Personally

Nothing others do is because of you.  What others say and do is a projection of their own reality.  When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

Don’t Make Assumptions

Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want.  Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama.  With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

Always Do Your Best

Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick.  Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.  

Our Mission:

The Objective

To teach students how to think and become self – correcting through learning concepts, principles, and theories that are practical in thought and action with realistic modern training modalities to better their lives on all levels, while creating a Kenpo mindset allowing logical and practical thinking through personal interpretation, analyzing, dissecting, and creating to become the best they are capable of becoming at their personal style of Kenpo by always remaining a student who is humble, loyal, respectful, disciplined, motivated, and leads by example through appropriate behaviors and character.

The Purpose

To improve the lives of every student who walks through the studio door by teaching proper values as well as high impact drills to help build better balance, coordination, agility, flexibility, stamina, strength, cardiovascular health, and muscular endurance to create a much happier and healthier student who is motivated to set goals, and stay on course to achieving those goals while being focused and disciplined, creating self-confidence and a healthy self-esteem. Also, to teach students to learn to be optimistic and take personal responsibility for their own lives while learning a modern practical system of self-defense and personal protection based on logic and reason, not tradition, while molding their own personal style of Kenpo tailored to them, eventually becoming fully qualified black belts who are role models for our community.

The Plan

To teach quality classes that focus on improving every student each class, as well as to get on a personal level with each student so that the student can be properly taught according to his or her ability, desires, needs, thoughts, personality and body type to produce a student who has reached his or her full potential and looks forward to a continued journey of success. 

If you fail to recognize the signs of abuse, you could be put in danger.  The longer you are with an abusive partner, the more difficult it will become and the more damage that could be caused to you emotionally and physically.  I found a really good, accurate checklist to help you recognize if you may be in an abusive relationship.  I am a fan of Dr. Phil and he has a lot of great things on his Web site (www.drphil.com). I took the following from his site:

Are You in an Abusive Relationship?

Sometimes when you’re in an intense or passionate relationship, it’s hard to recognize when lines are being crossed. You can get comfortable with dysfunction and not realize when you are being abused, especially if your partner hasn’t yet become physically violent. The National Domestic Violence Hotline has a quiz for indentifying abuse.

Go through the following checklist to find out whether your relationship is unhealthy and could be dangerous:

Does your partner:

Isolate you from friends, family members or supporters?

Embarrass you with put-downs?

 
Look or act in ways that scare you?

 
Control what you do or who you see or talk to? 
 
Manipulate you with control of money?

 
Dominate all decisions?

 
Criticize your parenting and threaten to take away or hurt your children?

 
Prevent you from working or attending school?

 
Deny or downplay abuse or try to blame you for “provoking” it?

 
Destroy your property?

 
Intimidate you with guns, knives or other weapons?

 
Shove you, slap you, choke you or hit you?
Force you to drop charges?

 
Threaten to commit suicide?

 
Threaten to kill you?

 
If you answered yes to even one of these warning signs, you may be in an abusive relationship. For support and more information please call The National Domestic Violence Hotline at (800) 799-SAFE (7233) or at TTY (800) 787-3224.

[end of Dr. Phil]

Hopefully you are not dealing with a partner who displays any of these behaviors. Be assertive and stand up for yourself. Do not allow anybody to control, manipulate, or abuse you in any way.  Study these signs so that you don’t get hooked up with someone who acts the way mentioned above. 

If you need help with confidence or self-esteem, look into a martial arts program, where you will reap many more benefits along the way.  If you are not interested in martial arts, you need to get some form of help or something to help you create a more positive self-image.

I’ve been inducted into the U.S.A. Martial Arts Hall of Fame every year since 2006. I speak from actual experience about these scams and I will share everything with all of you. I originally got a phone message on my answering machine at my martial arts school one day in 2006 saying I’ve been nominated for this award.  I never returned the call. Up until that point I hadn’t heard of that particular hall of fame. I had heard of many of the other fake halls of fames, but not this particular one.  Being a writer, I research everything. You can do a Google search by typing in martial arts hall of fame scams and you can find all the info you need.

I ended up getting a packet in the mail stating that I had been nominated by some martial arts instructor I had never heard of.  The best part was, however, that I was nominated as the Korean Master of the Year.  First, I’m not Korean; second, I don’t teach a Korean system; and third, I am not a master – in fact I will never ever refer to myself as a master, and I never want to be called that. I am a student, a teacher, a mentor, and a coach – but never will I be a master. There is only one master in my life and that’s my lord and savior. Aside from this ridiculous title they had nominated me for, there were several other things that stood out about this hall of fame.  Reading through the packet, they give you a nomination form to nominate six people to be inducted.  It could be anybody.  If you filled out the form and mailed it, they would then induct the people I mentioned as well. Aside from that, they mentioned that if I didn’t like the reason I was nominated (Korean Master of the Year), I could change it to something I would prefer.  They even gave well over 150 categories to choose from: Fighter of the Year, Kung-Fu Master of the Year, Kenpo Instructor of the Year, Self-Defense Instructor of the Year, to name a few. I couldn’t believe anybody could be fooled by this.  All the signs of non-legit were shining on every page of the 8 page packet.

After all that, I finally got to the real reason why this hall of fame was nominating everybody and their brother – MONEY.  I got to the part where it says, our award banquet will be held on this day at this time and this place. It’s an all weekend event and these celebrities will be there.  Come receive your award in front of Bill “Superfoot” Wallace and Cynthia Rothrock. Get your picture with these legends.  The fee for the banquet is $259, and the fee for any guests is only $99. If you can’t make the banquet, send us $129 and we will send you your trophy. First off, for people who get star struck it’s a good way to fool them into going. I don’t – I’ve talked to and met so many of them. In the martial arts world I’ve trained with many of them.  For instance, I have trained with Bill “Superfoot” Wallace many times and have had him at my school for an entire weekend.  I’ve got several pictures of him and me training together, sparring, and just hanging out.  I don’t need to be fooled into paying for my hall of fame induction just to shake hands with him, get a picture with him, and then pretend we are best friends.  There is a reason why celebrities are there – they are PAID for the appearance.

The reality is, if you have to pay for being inducted into a hall of fame it is a scam. There are a few legit halls of fames such as black belt magazine’s hall of fame. That is real. That’s a hall of fame that you only get inducted in if you are extremely well known in the martial arts industry – such as Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, Don Wilson, and UFC fighters like Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell and so on.  The reality is, you don’t pay to be in that hall of fame – it is real. 

Anybody can create a so called organization, and come up with a hall of fame. And as long as people are paying money the organization heads will be laughing to the bank.  Just because a hall of fame has been around since 1974, it doesn’t make it legit. It just means they have been fooling people for several years.  Well, they haven’t fooled me. It’s funny that I have been nominated every year since 2006 in the U.S.A. Hall of Fame like I will just buy into one of these years. Not going to happen.

I don’t understand how anybody can be fooled into thinking they were actually nominated into a legit hall of fame when thousands of other people are all ready in that same hall of fame. The purpose of a hall of fame is to induct people who were the best and were/are legends in that arena. Look at the UFC. They have only a handful of people who are UFC hall of famers, thus far. Not every UFC fighter – or every UFC champion -will be inducted. That’s a real hall of fame.

Go to just about any martial arts Web site and you will find the instructors boasting about being in five different halls of fames.  That doesn’t mean squat.  All you have to do is research each hall of fame they claim to be in and you will find the same answers I have found. If you are looking into a martial arts school don’t be fooled by those who brag about their hall of fame inductions.  I’m not saying that they are poor instructors; some are, but not all of them. They may be good instructors, but were fooled into the hall of fame scam. The instructor you want to look for is one who keeps the conversations about you, not him or her.  If she brags about her hall of fames and all the trophies she’s won, chances are she can’t help you reach your goals because she’s too stuck on herself.  If an instructor brags about his world champion status and puts down other instructors, you can pretty much bet that he can’t help you. 

Base an instructor on what he can do for you, not on what he’s accomplished. Even if the instructor is really legit and she accomplished real accomplishments, it doesn’t mean she can teach you how to accomplish what you need to accomplish. It takes a special teacher to get you to reach your full potential, and any instructor sporting an ego and the “all eyes on me” mentality can not help you. In fact, those types of instructors will only brainwash you and possibly get you hurt or killed someday. Also, if an instructor doesn’t allow you to watch a class first, or participate in a class before you make a decision, that school isn’t for you. If you do watch a class, pay particular attention to how the instructor teaches and how the black belts are. You will easily spot the schools that we call “belt factories” where people are promoted extremely fast and get black belts in 2-3 years just because they are writing a pay check.  Being a black belt with only two or three years in an art will only give you a false mindset.

If an instructor was inducted into a legit hall of fame, that is awesome; a big accomplishment.  The thing is, he won’t brag about it.  Good instructors care more about the growth of their students than they do about their own past achievements.

About the Author:

Michael Miller is a real world self-defense and personal protection expert who holds a 4th degree black belt in American Kenpo (a modern reality based system of self-defense based on logic and reason), and also teaches boxing, kickboxing, Joe Lewis Fighting Systems, Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu, and Modern Arnis. He’s also a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and boxing trainer/coach. He operates his full-time school, Miller’s Kenpo Karate Dojo, in Bradford, Pa. He is also a writer who has been featured in Inside Kung-fu and Black Belt magazines several times as an authority in his field and is the author of the Legends of Kenpo biography series.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh in writing with a minor in sociology.  He can be reached by e-mail at michael.miller@millersdojo.com or by phone at 814-368-3725.