The weapon called the bo, or bo staff*, has appeared in pop culture for decades, from the ancient Chinese epic Journey to the West and Robin Hood**, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Pacific Rim. It’s still a favorite in martial arts dojos today, and new forms are still being developed for it. The bo has a long and storied history that dates back to some of the earliest days of recorded history.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the art whose name means “contact combat” in Hebrew is consistently ranked as one of the best for self-defense. The Israeli art has practitioners around the world. Even if you’ve never trained in krav directly, if you’ve attended a self-defense class, chances are what you learned borrowed from krav fundamentals.

Have you ever considered participating in martial arts for fitness benefits? Unfortunately, most people haven’t because they wrongly believe that martial arts are only useful for combat and self-defense. It is undeniable that those are valuable tools. Everyone wants to be able to protect themselves or their loved ones in a time of need. However, when people unfamiliar with the arts focus on the fighting, they fail to recognize the attributes that make martial arts great for improving overall physical fitness.

We all have at least one role model martial artist that we’d love to get to train with. For some, this dream training is strictly hypothetical (sorry, Bruce Lee fans), but other people get the chance to train with their icons at seminars, tournaments, or events like the Martial Arts SuperShow.

Recently, I got the chance to train with someone I greatly admire: Mike Seeklander.

You’ve perfected your workout regimen, carefully calculated your nutrition, and finally found the supplements that support your fitness goals. Progress is just around the corner!

Maybe not. Sure, you’ve covered your fitness ABCs, but what about your ZZZs?

As a skinny 14-year-old haole (non-native Hawaiian) kid with long blonde hair, I definitely didn’t look like the typical aspiring boxer from Honolulu, Hawaii. But there I was, being driven to my first (dubiously sanctioned) boxing match.

Are you a fan of kali? This Filipino martial art has gained popularity across the world. It’s one of the best weapon-oriented arts to learn, whether you want to know how to use them effectively in combat or defend against them.

You might be skilled at the martial art itself, but how does your brain do when it comes to training? Here’s a five-question kali quiz to sharpen your mental edge.

In my last blog post, I showed how you how to prevent young children from dropping out of your martial arts school. This post is Part 2 of my three-part Preventing Dropouts before They Happen series. In it, we’ll dive into preventing pre-teen and young teen dropouts.

Many martial arts dojos offer weapon-based training. In sport karate especially, weapons forms is a popular category to enter in tournaments. Competitors are eager to show off their skills, and bright, flashy weapons help capture the audience’s attention.

However, the opposite used to be true! Weapons training was carried out in secrecy, never in the open, and the weapons themselves looked nothing like they do today.

It’s no secret that the martial arts are nothing new. Of course, there are a few like Brazilian jiu-jitsu and krav maga, whose existence is completely confined to the modern age, but the general practice of recording a structured style, and passing the techniques down from masters to novices across generations, goes back centuries – and longer.