Will Martial Arts Help My Child?

Parents often look to martial arts like karate to help their children through difficult challenges or situations. Martial arts instructors, some well-meaning, may encourage parents to enroll their children by overselling or irresponsibly marketing the benefits of their schools. As wonderful as martial arts are, as real as their benefits are, you can quickly find …

Questions and Answers About the Challenges Women Face in the Martial Arts

We’ve heard many questions over the years from women about the challenges they (might) face in karate or martial arts training, and wanted to answer a few of them below. Should you have a question that we failed to address, or feel we could have answered any of them better, please let us know! We’re …

Freaks and Geeks in Martial Arts

Don’t Let Your (Perceived) Limitations Prevent You From Joining Everyone Else Has Started From the Same Point During the course of their martial arts careers, just about every instructor will hear someone express interest in taking their class, but: “I could never do that because: I’m too uncoordinated.” My physical condition is too bad.” I’m …

Cobra Kai and Martial Arts Philosophy

The original Karate Kid movies suffered from many flaws: bad acting, wooden dialogue, and a painful soundtrack. (Does anyone really think that someone who whines as much as Peter Cetera could successfully fight for your honor or be the hero that you’re dreaming of?) Worst of all, from a martial arts standpoint, it seriously propagates …

The Scope and Limits of Self-defense Seminars

Many people turn to martial arts to learn how to defend themselves. Martial arts like aikido, jujitsu, and karate certainly can teach self-defense. Most traditional martial arts that did not originate as battlefield skills (like kendo, the Japanese way of the sword) began as self-defense methods (like karate). Most martial arts, however, have evolved to …

Realistic Expectations for Your Martial Arts Training

We’ve all seen Star Wars. Luke Skywalker, fresh off Tatooine, after just a few minutes of training with Obi-Wan Kenobi, gets into an X-wing fighter for the first time in his life. He turns off the targeting computer, trusts his feelings, and blows up the Death Star. Local comedy author David Wong (also known as …

Tom Heriaud, December 19, 1945 to June 6, 2022

Tom Heriaud, the top-ranked Isshin Shorinji Ryu black belt in the Midwest, died on June 6. The funeral will take place Friday, June 17 at 1 p.m. at Dieterle Memorial Home in Montgomery, Illinois. Visitation will follow until 7 p.m. Mr. Heriaud’s death is an incalculable loss to his family, students, and everyone who knew him.