The dragon of weakness

Martial Arts.

Martial arts, strength and recovery: the body as the first system. I started at six, was teaching by sixteen, and still train most days. These pieces are what thirty years on the mat actually teach, including the parts about rest.

Taekwondo · Mo Gwai Kune · Muay Thai · Shaolin · Chen tai chi · Yang tai chi·

On the mat

Thirty-odd years of it.

Black belt in Taekwondo, brown in Mo Gwai Kune, a stint with the Shaolin monks, Muay Thai gyms in Thailand. These days it’s Chen and Yang style tai chi, and the gym three times a week.

Greg kicking in a courtyard at the Shaolin Temple

Shaolin Temple, 2018

Greg in a horse stance at the Huo Yuanjia memorial park in Tianjin

Huo Yuanjia memorial park, Tianjin, 2017

Greg climbing a stone path through the woods above the Shaolin Temple

The climb above Shaolin, 2018

The tiled roof of a Shaolin Temple hall

Shaolin Temple, 2018

New and recent

Lately.

Garmin watch infront of a database
Get Your Garmin Data Off Their Servers

Get Your Garmin Data Off Their Servers

For about three weeks in August I was exhausted, and I could not work out why. There was plenty to blame. Work was heavy, I had come back from a…
Why I Still Grind Ink
A Chinese Ink Stick
Why I Still Grind Ink

Why I Still Grind Ink

What I Do on Active Rest Days for Optimum Recovery
Active Rest Day Title
What I Do on Active Rest Days for Optimum Recovery

What I Do on Active Rest Days for Optimum Recovery

The Best Martial Arts for MMA According to UFC Champions
Man training martial arts
The Best Martial Arts for MMA According to UFC Champions

The Best Martial Arts for MMA According to UFC Champions

The most-read guides

Where most readers start.

Greg throwing a Taekwondo kick in his garage

Technique

Every Taekwondo kick

Each kick, with its Korean name.

Greg throwing a high kick in his garage

Choosing an art

Which martial art should I learn?

My advice after thirty-plus years on the mat.

From the archive

The shelves.

The practical end: which art, which stance, and how to rest properly afterwards.

Choosing an art

Which art to learn
→
Best for self-defence
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Worst for self-defence
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Wing Chun, tested
→
Best for MMA
→

More on the arts →

Technique

Every Taekwondo kick
→
Fighting stances
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Kung fu stances
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Taekwondo belts
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How to fight
→

More on fitness →

Rest and recovery

Sleep, by the numbers
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Active rest days
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Active rest ideas
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Waking up early
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An evening routine
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More on sleep →

Around the mat

Why I still grind ink
→
Kung fu films
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The best kung fu shoes
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More martial arts →

The other dragons

Pick another.

Inaction

Productivity

I’ve run the same system for twenty years, long enough to watch every trend arrive twice.

Forgetting

PKM

Notes are cheap. Knowing what you think is not.

Emptiness

Living

Weeks that are full but don’t add up, and the life around the work.