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Editor's Note: This interview originally appeared in our September 2012 issue. To read the rest of the magazine, be sure to subscribe to Black Belt+ and gain access to our entire digital archive! Martial arts training can lead to a variety of injuries to the cervical spine, including bone fracture and dislocation, ligament injury with instability, disk herniation, spinal-cord injury, pinched nerve, and strains. Three of the most common injuries seen in the dojo are as follows. Cervical Strain Also known as whiplash, this is an injury to the soft tissues (muscles and ligaments) around the neck. Damage can involve a disk or the joint capsule between two disks. The result is usually pain followed by spasms that discourage even the slightest turn of the head. Although a strain can stop you from training, it doesn’t involve damage to the stability of the spine or spinal cord, so full recovery can be expected. The timing of that recovery can vary from as little as six weeks to as much as six months. For some, a strain can result in chronic pain. Generally, rest, medication, and rehabilitation are successful in treating this problem. Transient Quadriparesis In this condition, sometimes called spinal-cord concussion, the cervical spinal cord becomes contused and the person loses sensation in the arms and legs. Meanwhile, movement, or motor function, may be unaffected. Symptoms usually resolve within 24 hours, but sometimes it takes longer. It’s not clear whether long-term consequences follow this type of injury. In the dojo, this injury can result from a strike to the face or chin that causes the neck to snap backward. Another mechanism is axial neck compression, which can happen during a fall or tackle in which the person lands on top of the head. When transient quadriparesis happens, one experiences a variety of symptoms affecting two to four limbs. A common complaint is a burning sensation in the hands, as well as numbness or tingling. Motor symptoms (i.e., problems moving the arms and legs) can vary from none to mild to complete quadriplegia. Recognizing the severity of one’s inability to move is important because the greater the motor loss, the less likely the injury is transient. Medical evaluation is warranted to assess the severity of the injury. This usually involves a detailed clinical evaluation with advanced imaging such as a CT scan or MRI. Treatment includes rest and monitoring with sequential clinical examinations. Stinger Also known as a burner, this condition is an injury to the peripheral nerves. Usually, it follows a stretch or compressive injury to the nerve root or brachial plexus, which is a group of nerves under the collarbone. Training note: Neck and shoulder strength is important in preventing this. The classic symptom is the sudden onset of a piercing, burning pain in one arm. It can last from several seconds to several minutes. The sensory disturbance usually resolves quickly, while the weakness sometimes is more persistent. With a stinger, it’s uncommon for both arms to be affected; if that happens, spinal-cord injury should be suspected. With the first occurrence of a stinger, the symptoms resolve rather quickly. When there is a recurrence, each subsequent event can result in more distinct neurologic consequences, including persistent motor weakness. If this kind of injury is sustained, it’s essential to consult a doctor. If symptoms worsen over a few days or weakness persists for more than 10 to 14 days, additional testing and specialty consultation will be required. Treatment involves a detailed medical assessment, rest, and monitoring. A CT scan or MRI imaging may be helpful, particularly in patients with persistent symptoms. Injuries to the Cervical Spine Injuries to the cervical spine can be complex. Sometimes mild injuries become chronic problems, and underlying anatomical differences can put people at risk for spinal-cord damage. Being aware of this can help you train more safely.

In a landmark moment for martial arts history, California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation officially designating May 17 as Bruce Lee Day throughout the state of California. The new law makes Bruce Lee the first Chinese American in California history to receive an official statewide commemorative day, recognizing his extraordinary contributions to martial arts, film, philosophy, and cultural representation. Introduced by Assemblymember Matt Haney of San Francisco, the legislation honors Lee's enduring impact on generations of martial artists, athletes, and filmmakers. May 17 was specifically selected because it marks the day in 1959 when an 18-year-old Bruce Lee returned to San Francisco from Hong Kong, beginning the journey that would eventually change martial arts forever. The first official Bruce Lee Day will be observed on May 17, 2027. For Black Belt Magazine, the recognition carries a particularly deep significance. Long before Hollywood fully understood Bruce Lee's importance, Black Belt helped tell his story. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Black Belt founder Mitoshi Uyehara and the magazine's editorial leadership recognized that Bruce Lee represented far more than a martial arts instructor or actor. Through interviews, technical articles, and coverage of his revolutionary ideas, Black Belt became one of the earliest mainstream martial arts publications to document Lee's philosophy, training methods, and vision for martial arts. The relationship between Bruce Lee and Black Belt extended beyond journalism. The magazine served as one of the few platforms where Lee could discuss Jeet Kune Do, challenge traditional thinking, and present martial arts as a vehicle for personal growth and self-expression. Black Belt editorial team helped promote many of Lee's teachings during a period when much of the martial arts establishment was resistant to his unconventional ideas. Those articles and photographs now stand as invaluable historical records of Bruce Lee during his most influential years. Bruce Lee appeared numerous times in the pages of Black Belt, sharing insights on training, combat philosophy, and the concept of "using no way as way," ideas that continue to inspire martial artists around the world. Today, more than fifty years after his passing, Lee's influence remains visible in virtually every martial arts discipline. From mixed martial arts and combat sports to action cinema and personal development, his teachings continue to resonate across generations. Shannon Lee, daughter of Bruce Lee and CEO of the Bruce Lee Foundation, called the recognition a testament to her father's enduring legacy and his ability to bridge cultures and inspire people around the world. For Black Belt Magazine, the establishment of Bruce Lee Day represents more than a state proclamation. It is recognition of a man who forever changed martial arts and whose ideas continue to shape practitioners around the globe. As martial artists everywhere prepare to celebrate the first official Bruce Lee Day in 2027, the words Bruce Lee once shared in the pages of Black Belt remain as relevant as ever: "Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own." Few individuals have left a greater mark on martial arts history. And few honors are more fitting than a day dedicated to the man who taught the world to be like water.

Editor's Note: This interview originally appeared in our September 2012 issue. To read the rest of the magazine, be sure to subscribe to Black Belt+ and gain access to our entire digital archive! Kathy "The Punisher" Long has a list of accomplishments that's staggering. A mixed martial artist well before the term was coined, she's trained in aikido, kung fu san soo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, kali and muay Thai. She owns a pro kickboxing record of 18-1 and has been inducted into multiple martial arts halls of fame, including Black Belt's (1991 Woman of the Year). She's appeared on more than 30 magazine covers, as well as in numerous movies, including Batman Returns, in which she served as Michelle Pfeiffer's stunt double. Not one to rest on her laurels, Long competed in her first pro MMA bout at age 45—and won. She currently teaches muay Thai at the Tapout Los Angeles Training Center and makes the rounds on the seminar circuit. And in between commitments, she's preparing for another MMA match. Despite Being One of the Toughest... Despite being one of the toughest people on the planet, Long is soft-spoken and thoughtful—which makes her observations on the evolution of MMA all the more interesting. "Although few American martial artists knew what to expect at the first UFC, the Gracies certainly did," she said. "They were well aware that American martial artists would be completely sucker-punched by their grappling expertise, and the exposure they got from the early UFCs certainly improved their bottom line. That is not to say they did anything wrong or didn't deserve success, but the UFC is much different now that the playing field has been leveled. "While MMA fighters have a wider variety of skills today, one important factor remains unchanged since humans started fighting for sport, and that is conditioning. How many techniques a person can execute isn't nearly as important as how long they can continue to throw them. When everything else is more or less equal, conditioning is what will win the fight." Martial Artists Who Compete in Kickboxing and MMA... Martial artists who compete in MMA now face much more pressure than did the full-contact fighters of the past, she said. "Back in the day, we were all free agents. We could fight wherever and whenever we wanted," Long said. "Today, you have to get the attention of the UFC, and if you do manage to stand out and get a shot, the pressure is incredible. "Have you talked honestly to a UFC fighter? They're scared of losing their spot on the UFC roster, and it only takes one or two losses in most cases to get sent back to slugging it out on the small-show circuit. There's a lot of pressure on these guys in an already tough sport." Nevertheless, she thinks the rise of MMA in the United States is a good thing. "I'm excited by the potential the UFC has brought to the fighting sports," she said. How Does Long... How does Long, at 48, manage to stay in shape to compete in a sport dominated by 20-somethings? "I've heard from a lot of people that as you age, it takes your body longer to recover, energy is supposed to be harder to come by and people just expect you to be less somehow," she said. "I don't know how I am supposed to feel at my age, but I feel just fine. When you push yourself as hard as you can, it all feels about the same." One thing she does pay more attention to is diet. "I take more time to eat correctly," she said. "In the past, I was so busy I just didn't eat much or very often. I always ate well—maybe a chicken breast and some brown rice—but I ate only once or twice a day. Now I'm trying to eat six times a day, though not all those are conventional meals. I make protein shakes between meals, and they each count as a meal. I usually spend one day a week prepping meals for the rest of the week—without that kind of attention, I wouldn't be able to eat right during the week." Diet is essential because, as they say, we are what we eat, Long insisted. "So many people are uninformed about the state of food today. I now hold meetings with students and parents before and after class to help them with nutritional information. If they want to know why their child is dragging to class instead of coming with energy, I tell them what they need to know—for example, forget the fast food, which isn't really food. Eating it affects you way more than most people realize." The boost that good nutrition gives the physique she's honed during decades of martial arts training is why Long is planning to step into the cage again—even though she has nothing left to prove. For her, life is all about keeping her options open. Why has she chosen the fight option? "Because I can," she said.

Editor's Note: This interview originally appeared in our September 2012 issue. To read the rest of the magazine, be sure to subscribe to Black Belt+ and gain access to our entire digital archive! As martial artists in the 21st century, we're blessed with a wealth of information about nutrition. Nevertheless, many of us exhibit unhealthy eating behaviors that can have a severe impact on our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Those behaviors can range from a relatively harmless habit of experimenting with various diets and nutritional programs to adopting a mindset that causes us to eat in a way that impairs our psychological, social and bodily functioning. The following extreme behaviors fall into the second category. Nutrition Trap #1: Binge Eating Binge eating is probably the most common unhealthy behavior. I'm not talking about occasionally cheating on your nutritional program because you crave something; rather, I'm referring to the consumption of large amounts of certain foods to satisfy an underlying emotional need. If you binge while you're on a poorly designed or sensationalized diet that deprives your body of the calories and nutrients it needs, it just makes matters worse. Such behavior frequently involves spending lots of time planning what you'll be eating and even hoarding foods beforehand. Nutrition Trap #2: Unhealthy Dieting Unhealthy dieting and its extreme, starvation, can occur when you attempt to respond to the inordinate amount of guilt you feel after a binge. In severe instances, you can develop anorexia nervosa or bulimia. With anorexia, you develop a fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, repeatedly attempt to lose weight and have a distorted image of your body. With bulimia, you lead a life that's dominated by uncontrollable episodes of bingeing and purging—often to the point of social and emotional impairment. Both can kill. Nutrition Trap #3: Hyper-Responsive Eating Hyper-responsive eating is triggered by an environmental or physical cue such as a food advertisement, a tempting smell, a sensation of immediate hunger or an insulin rush. You have difficulty controlling your urge to eat and seldom differentiate between the foods you consume. You cannot turn down food and often eat until it's gone, regardless of whether you feel full. It indicates the presence of problems with impulse management, self-esteem and other areas of emotional functioning. Nutrition Trap #4: Emotional Eating Emotional eating is even worse than hyper-responsive eating. When you fall victim to this disorder, you eat for purely psychological reasons such as boredom, depression, anxiety, happiness or loneliness. You rely on food as a source of mental or emotional satisfaction, often with disastrous physical results, and you substitute food for other pleasures, activities or rewards. Nutrition Trap #5: Consciously Restrained Eating Consciously restrained eating is marked by your use of sheer willpower to control your urge to overeat, binge or eat emotionally or hyper-responsively. You must expend great mental effort to avoid the negative behavior, and that drains you and damages your quality of life. Many people who were formerly overweight or obese become consciously restrained eaters. However, their misery only deepens when they eventually lose their mental battle and overeat again and again—and follow up with purging and starvation in response to the guilt they feel. Unhealthy eating behaviors are damaging to anyone who practices them, but martial artists need to be particularly concerned because the effect on our ability to perform can be huge. It will prevent us from enjoying optimized strength, conditioning, reaction time, recovery ability and mental clarity. The emotional and spiritual impact can be equally devastating. Living with these unresolved issues can darken our spirit and create an insurmountable barrier to achieving our best. Remember that the ultimate goal of martial arts training is not only for us to equip ourselves with combative skills but also to facilitate inner development and happiness.

Editor's Note: This interview originally appeared in our September 2012 issue. To read the rest of the magazine, be sure to subscribe to Black Belt+ and gain access to our entire digital archive! In discussions of kata, people tend to make assumptions. Everyone is assumed to have a working knowledge of what a kata is and what role it's supposed to play in karate training. With that understood and accepted, the discussion turns to the value of kata. Unfortunately, over the years I've noticed that many of those interested in karate and in the budo in general don't have a solid understanding of what kata actually is or for what it's really intended. Therefore, their opinions about its worth are often stalled or go off in directions that lead nowhere productive. There Are, in Fact... There are, in fact, a number of misconceptions about kata. Among the more obvious are the following: A kata tells a story. No, it doesn't. Combat—even a simple confrontation—is enormously chaotic and unpredictable. No "story" could be implemented that could be even remotely applicable to the spontaneity of a fight. A kata allows us to practice the more deadly techniques of karate. No, not if you're just going through the motions. A finger stab done 10,000 times against an imaginary opponent's eye doesn't teach you any more about the effectiveness of that technique than doing it once. All the kata repetitions in the world won't change that. A kata is just a combination of techniques, randomly assembled. Feel free to create your own; it'll be just as valuable. Understanding the true role of kata in karate-do depends to a considerable extent on a familiarity with the three pillars that support it. Grasp these concepts and you'll find it easier to see the place of kata in your training and to make informed judgments about its practice. Kata Pillar #1: Structural Integrity It's easy to look at a kata from outside and conclude it's an arbitrary arrangement of techniques. Indeed, some contests featuring kata have compulsory rules of the sort one finds in gymnastics meets, where contestants must include a requisite number of kicks or perform for a minimum time. Those who manufacture their own kata approach the task with these standards in mind. This isn't kata; it's dance. A kata has structural integrity. The movements may be fast and light, or slow and heavy, but they make sense. They're applicable. Standing on one leg and unleashing flippy kicks at head height while rotating in a circle might look impressive, but there's no solidity, no proper application of power. Videotape a kata and pause it at any place in the execution, and you'll see that the karateka is balanced, his body integrated, all parts coordinated. You won't find him tumbling or upside down. That's because the kata has kotai, or structural integrity. Kata Pillar #2: Coherence Shin, or "mind," is a familiar term to martial artists. In this context, it refers to the coherence of the kata. If you think of kotai as the bones of the kata, shin is the collection of muscles that allow it to articulate. Those muscles have to work in concert. Ever see a kata in which the performer does a split or some other spectacular motion? Remember what happened next? Probably not. The movements of most contrived kata tend to be very fast and spastic. But in almost every case, if you could watch the kata in slow motion, you'd see that the move following one of those dramatic actions is weak, largely meaningless in a combative sense. The performer has to stand up or reorient himself. The kata stops, in effect. Then it restarts. It's disjointed. There's no smooth articulation. In a real kata, there's a flow. The components work together. Kata Pillar #3: Intent A real kata—one generated over a long period and by those who knew what they were doing and practiced by someone who's been correctly taught it—has intent behind it. There's a unifying set of principles. In some, these principles will be rapid movement, either in and out or laterally. In others, it will be a strong sense of predation—the karateka doing it looks like a tiger stalking prey. In poorly constructed kata, the performer looks like a little kid in a big toy store, his attention in a dervish-like spin. In a good kata, there's the sense that the practitioner is controlling time and space, setting the pace. This is an expression of the focus, the intent of the kata. Structural Integrity. Coherence. Intent. These three pillars support a kata. Does their presence indicate that kata is useful in karate training? No. There are arguments to be made, but when we're doing that—when we're arguing about kata—let's be sure we have an understanding of just what a kata is.

Editor's Note: This interview originally appeared in our September 2012 issue. To read the rest of the magazine, be sure to subscribe to Black Belt+ and gain access to our entire digital archive! No Matter Your Rank, You Should Train With White Belts in the Dojo As an intermediate or advanced practitioner, you probably find yourself gravitating toward people of similar rank whenever your instructor tells you to find a partner in class. Although working with someone of equal or higher rank is beneficial, so is working with someone of lower rank, especially a white belt. Before I explain, I feel compelled to mention that there’s one crucial thing you must do prior to pairing off with a white belt: Check your ego. Letting your ego take control of a partner exercise with a white belt isn’t beneficial for you or him. Practice humility. Remember that you stand to gain as much as the white belt does. TIME TRAVEL There are two primary ways you’ll benefit from regularly partnering with beginners. First, white belts are average people with little or no martial arts training. And that’s perfect because as such they represent an ordinary person on the street who’s responding to a technique or a situation. Their movements and reactions are more natural. In contrast, after you’ve spent 10 or 20 years in the martial arts, you no longer see things or behave like an average Joe. Instead, you size up every possible attacker and situation as a martial artist is supposed to. You can never go back to looking at things from the perspective of the uninitiated—which is why you need to interact with white belts. The experience provides you with the opportunity to go back in time and see things through the eyes you used to have—in other words, through the eyes of an untrained person. Example: If you try to execute a throw on a black-belt partner, he’s likely to put a specific foot forward to make the throw easier. He’s also likely to stand straight up, relax, provide minimal resistance and fall perfectly in just the right spot. This isn’t intentional; it’s the subconscious product of years of training in a controlled environment. Now try the same throw on a white belt. You’ll get a very different reaction, especially if he’s unaware of what’s coming. Bear in mind that it’s your responsibility to ensure the safety of said white belt when you’re throwing him because only you know how to give and receive the technique properly. Use this kind of session as an opportunity to determine exactly how untrained people react. As noted above, your white-belt partner is likely to stand naturally without a specific leg forward, to tense up whenever he feels off-balance or uncomfortable, and to strive to regain his balance (possibly by grabbing hold of you) rather than go with the flow of the throw. Furthermore, he probably won’t land exactly the way you intended. Obviously, that part about not landing right means there are some throws—and other techniques—you should never practice on a beginner. MARTIAL ARTS TEACHING MOMENT The second benefit of training with white belts is the opportunity to teach a technique to people who have no idea how to move. Their lack of knowledge of the martial arts means you have to be very precise while keeping your explanations easy to understand. It’s not enough to simply show them the technique; you also have to explain what you’re doing and how your body is moving during the execution of that technique. Example: When you’re teaching white belts how to throw a punch, they’re likely to look only at your upper body or arm. It’s your job to explain the connection between your hips and the rest of your body. You also must point out how your weight shifts from one foot to the other and how your legs bend and extend, as well as how you breathe, clench your fist, rotate your hand, move your hips and so on. Obviously, it’s easy to demonstrate a punch but more difficult to explain everything that goes into it. It goes without saying that you can explain all these intricacies only if you fully understand them yourself. Nevertheless, explaining them to a white belt forces you to re-examine your own punching technique to ensure you’re connecting all the dots. Every once in a while, you might even experience a moment of personal enlightenment with respect to your own execution of the move. Working with white belts is one of the most rewarding parts of the martial arts experience. Physically, teaching them can result in improvements to your own skills. Mentally, it can develop your humility. Sure, you can learn a lot from working out with your seniors, but you often can learn just as much from helping your juniors rise through the ranks.

Editor's Note: This interview originally appeared in our September 2012 issue. To read the rest of the magazine, be sure to subscribe to Black Belt+ and gain access to our entire digital archive! At the 2006 Black Belt Hall of Fame Banquet and Reunion, the editors of this magazine gave a Lifetime Achievement Award to Soon Ho Lee, the man who led the American Taekwondo Association from 2000, the year his brother Haeng Ung Lee passed away, until 2011, when he handed control of the organization to In Ho Lee. The ATA was, and still is, probably the largest martial arts organization in the world, with 300,000 members training under 7,000 certified instructors at more than 1,000 schools in the United States alone, plus more in other countries. To find out why it’s been so successful and to learn where it’s going as it celebrates its 50th anniversary, we linked up with G.K. Lee, eighth-degree black belt and one of the chief masters of the Little Rock, Arkansas–based organization. —Editor Taekwondo Talk Q: Briefly, how did the American Taekwondo Association get started? A: My brother Haeng Ung Lee came here in 1962; that’s why we’re celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2012. He started a small organization that pulled many martial artists together. Several years later, in 1969, he created the American Taekwondo Association in Omaha, Nebraska, and we’ve been moving forward ever since. Q: The ATA is often said to be the largest martial arts organization in the world. Why do you think it’s so successful? A: We teach life skills in addition to martial arts—especially for children. We teach them the right things to do, such as having good manners and respecting others. That’s why a lot of parents and community leaders support us. Q: On the competition floor today, I noticed a lot of older martial artists. In many organizations, young students quit training before they become adults, but not here. Why do so many people stay with the ATA into their 50s and 60s? A: It’s because we have different stages for the different levels of development of our students. For younger people, we focus on the physical skills of songahm taekwondo, weapons training and MMA. For people who are a little older, we focus on leadership, as well as health and education. For seniors, we teach things like ki gong breathing exercises and tai chi–style weapons. Our yang-style tai chi has become very popular with our members; it’s one of the reasons people continue their training. Q: When you say “weapons training,” are you talking about doing forms with traditional weapons or sparring with padded sticks—like I saw today in your tournament? A: We call the padded-weapons sparring “combat weapons.” You cannot fight with them because they’re designed for safety. We use them so students can learn important skills. For example, one method we use is old-style escrima. In addition to teaching stick fighting, we find that it really helps strengthen the wrists. The best part is, the escrima skills translate to self-defense—if a person is in the kitchen when a home invasion happens, they can pick up a knife and fight off the attackers. For our traditional weapons training, we focus on the kum, or straight double-edged sword, and the do, which is a curved single-edged sword. The skills come from the Korean art of kumdo. Q: The ATA seems very open to adding skills and techniques from outside sources, but that’s not true with most organizations. Why are you different? A: We want what is best for our students. Back in the time of Bruce Lee, most martial arts schools didn’t teach weapons. Empty-hand fighting was enough—until the late 1970s, when everybody wanted to learn weapons. In the 1980s and ’90s, everybody copied taekwondo—kung fu people, karate people, kickboxers and so on. They just added skills they thought were valuable. There are no more secrets in martial arts, so there’s no more reason to be separate from other styles. Q: The ATA also emphasizes self-defense. Can you explain your implementation of that part of the program? A: In 1993 in Canyon Country, California, one of our instructors, Veronica Estrada, was killed. We felt so guilty because she was a second-degree black belt and should have been able to defend herself. One of my seniors and I went to Rickson Gracie and asked, “Can you teach us how to escape from a choke?” That’s why we now have the Protech Training Systems, which includes defense against grappling and ground fighting, spontaneous knife attacks and baseball-bat attacks—everything. The defensive skills come from the Korean arts, the Filipino arts and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Q: For the ATA to have a curriculum composed of traditional taekwondo, as well as Brazilian grappling and Filipino weapons, its leadership must have an open mind. Is that true? A: Yes. The thing to remember is that taekwondo is a martial art. In the olden days, all martial systems had something to do with weapons. The techniques used to be more brutal—breaking arms, using stomp kicks, etc.—because people needed to know that. Then they became arts: taekwondo, hapkido and so on. Q: Is it accurate to say that in the past there was a comprehensive set of fighting skills for waging war and that pieces of that skill set became separate “do” arts—for example, in Korea, sword skills became kumdo, kicking and punching became taekwondo, and grappling became yudo? A: That’s true. Q: And the ATA is trying to reintegrate those skills for the well-being of the student? A: Yes. Q: How does MMA fit into the picture? A: The first stage of martial arts was 50 years ago, when men like Mas Oyama were fighting bulls to get attention—we don’t want to go back to that. We want practitioners of traditional martial arts to get together and cooperate for everyone’s benefit. For example, we would like to organize an annual hanmadang, or martial arts festival. We would invite all traditional people to one place. We hope to start work on this soon in our second 50 years. It will enable us to help smaller organizations and arts that have no place for their students to go. It will help promote traditional values. MMA gives its people a place to go where they can have a career but lacks the traditional values. We want to keep those values while giving people different things within martial arts they can do. That’s why we try to have parts of the ATA that appeal to different groups of people—like IMS (Integrated Martial Systems), which includes grappling, and Combat Weapons Systems, which features padded-weapons sparring. And we have ATA XMA with Mike Chaturantabut. This way, we can maintain traditional martial arts values in all these areas while MMA continues to grow—without selling our souls. We’d rather sell integrity. We’ve already begun to reach out to Chinese masters. We believe this can be a bonding experience. Q: The ATA is established in the United States and South America, and you’re talking about expanding into China and Europe. Is your plan to be in every country that values tradition so people there can have access to a martial arts organization that will preserve the arts? A: Yes. We’re already talking about organizing a world tournament. We have 1,000-plus schools here, and in South America we have more than 300. Why not get all of them together? It’s a win-win situation for the world. Coming to America Born in South Korea, G.K. Lee immigrated to the United States in 1984. “At that time, I was a fifth-degree black belt in the World Taekwondo Federation, and in tang soo do I had a fourth-degree black belt,” he said. “I also have a background in hapkido, kuk sool and kung fu.” With that résumé, it’s no wonder the American Taekwondo Association leadership is so open to blending arts. “I had to have a mixed set of skills because I used to teach on a U.S. Army base, and you cannot teach only one thing there,” explained Lee, who now holds an eighth degree in taekwondo. Since coming to America, he’s continued his cross-training in, among other things, Japanese swordsmanship with an instructor who’s directly under Yoshindo Yoshihara, an Intangible Cultural Asset designated by the Japanese government. “I’ve been lucky to meet so many great masters, and they help me continue to improve my skills,” Lee said. “For example, my sword master is the No. 1 sword maker in the world. I train with him whenever I can, most recently this year in San Francisco.”

In case you missed the first half of this article, which appeared in our September 2012 issue, our goal in preparing it was to shine a spotlight on the 10 toughest female fighters who’ve visited the Black Belt offices, whether for an interview, a photo shoot or a plain, old-fashioned throwdown. Note: You can view the first half of this article here! These ladies compose a category of warrior we’ve dubbed “women who scare us.” Although we didn’t do battle with all of them, one editor grappled with the person who made No. 1 on this list, and he’ll readily attest that these are women who can handily kick male butt. (“Isn’t it reassuring to learn that the promises of the martial arts—you know, all those claims about being the great equalizer—are legit?” he says about the incident.) Female Fighter #5: Melissa Soalt BACKGROUND This renowned self-defense instructor, who goes by the moniker “Dr. Ruthless,” has been interviewed numerous times on network television. A member of the Black Belt Hall of Fame, she stars in the Paladin Press video series Fierce and Female. QUALIFICATIONS Soalt is one of the few female martial arts instructors who, in the words of several experts, can execute techniques like a man. To top that off, her involvement with the Model Mugging program, in which she got used to unleashing full-power techniques on a male opponent wearing protective armor, taught her not to hold back—a problem that plagues many women who’ve been schooled by society to be nice. Soalt is on the small side, yet she still manages to amaze the masses. We can only imagine how fierce and female she’d be if she were 5 feet 10 and weighed 140 pounds. COMMENTS “Melissa is a legitimate combative talent,” says Black Belt columnist Kelly McCann. “She’s explosive, fit and fast. Yeah, she’s diminutive, but how’d you like to get shot with a bullet her size? Although her curriculum may be primarily oriented toward women, her combative concepts and efficient techniques translate directly for use by men, as well. Give her a shot if you haven’t already. Duck if she shoots back.” Reality-based fighting instructor Lito Angeles agrees: “Out of all the people on this list, she’s the one who understands street self-defense the best. She delves into the pre-fight rituals—all the stuff that leads up to the situation. She uses only full-power blows and never trains to pull her punches. She has very good mechanics. She’s a smaller person, but she hits hard.” Female Fighter #4: Kayla Harrison BACKGROUND This judoka is a student of Black Belt Hall of Fame member Jimmy Pedro. In 2008 she won the Junior World Championships. In 2010, at age 20, she scored a gold in the World Championships. As this issue goes to press, she’s in London to represent the United States in the Olympic Games. QUALIFICATIONS Having endured the pressure of international competition so many times—leading up to the 2010 World Championships, she fought in more than 80 matches against top-notch judoka in Brazil, El Salvador, Poland, Germany, Hungary and Japan—would give her a definite advantage against an attacker. “And don’t forget the fact that she’s an Olympian,” Angeles says. “Having overcome the number of skilled women she had to in order to get on the Olympic team means her skills are excellent.” Would her age—she’s only 22—be a pro or con? “It’s a pro,” Angeles says. “She’s at her physical peak. Her muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints are all at their optimal level. Her reflexes, too.” COMMENTS “The same strong suits that AnnMaria De Mars would enjoy, Kayla Harrison would have—the throwing skills she gets from judo and the fact that she’s accustomed to physical contact,” Angeles says. “The fact that she’s an elite competitor means that anybody she might have to deal with on the street would be less skilled. If she were to transition to MMA, she would be even more phenomenal.” Female Fighter #3: Kathy Long BACKGROUND She’s a five-time world kickboxing champion and a Black Belt Hall of Fame member. In addition to her pedigree in striking, she’s trained in aikido, kung fu san soo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In 2009 she won her first MMA bout and has plans to compete more in the sport. QUALIFICATIONS Her varied martial arts training means she’s skilled at kicking, punching, throwing, falling, joint locks and what might be called dirty fighting. “Kathy also has written a self-defense book that’s supposed to be pretty good, so she gets it—she understands the pre-fight components of self-defense,” Angeles says. COMMENTS “Kathy used to spar with guys a lot, which acclimated her to what it’s like to fight a bigger, stronger male opponent,” Angeles says. “It’s a different feel, one that many women never experience.” Although she’s a striker at heart, her recent conversion to MMA would give her a skill set to fall back on in case punches or kicks didn’t work as planned. “I don’t think the new MMA knowledge would conflict with her base, which is striking,” Angeles says. “Her predisposition will always be stand-up, which is not to say she can’t get competent on the ground. Whenever a stand-up fighter learns to do takedown defense, reversals and escapes, it means she can stand up and strike with greater impunity.” Female Fighter #2: Felice Herrig BACKGROUND This professional fighter was raised on kickboxing, muay Thai and finally MMA. As this issue goes to press, the International Kickboxing Federation lists her as the No. 2 contender in the pro women’s bantamweight division under muay Thai rules, and the Unified Women’s Mixed Martial Arts Rankings has her at No. 10 in the strawweight division. She’s currently signed with Xtreme Fighting Championships. QUALIFICATIONS Reread the fight facts listed above, then consider: Herrig is 27 years old, a young and hungry striking powerhouse who not only can grapple but also can put it together in the MMA arena. “For a woman to be successful in the ring now, with the level of competition being so much higher, it means more than it did 20 or 30 years ago,” Angeles says. “Felice would wipe the floor with most of the women who were world champions in the past. She’s so much more well-rounded.” COMMENTS Angeles believes Herrig’s musculature would be a huge advantage in a fight with a man. “Of course, skill set is No. 1, but all the other factors—stamina, strength and so on—simply empower that,” he says. Her status as an active fighter, as opposed to a retired champ, would confer a huge advantage, Angeles says. “When it comes to the physical skills you need to excel in a combat sport, ring rust definitely matters, and that wouldn’t be an issue in this case.” >> Female Fighter #1: Ronda Rousey BACKGROUND A judoka since the age of 10, she’s medaled in international competition numerous times. In 2008 Rousey bagged a bronze in Beijing, becoming the first American woman to win any Olympic medal in judo. For that victory, she was inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame. In 2010 she dipped her toe in MMA and continued her winning ways. Her record now stands at 5-0. QUALIFICATIONS To complement the world-class judo skills she acquired from the likes of Jimmy Pedro, Rousey is being schooled in grappling and MMA by Gokor Chivichyan and Gene LeBell. “She’s a girl, but she has guy skills,” Chivichyan says. “I think she could fight men at her weight and win with no problem. Her submissions, ground fighting and takedowns are all excellent.” “Her boxing has recently come around—she busted a pro boxer’s jaw in a fight,” LeBell says. “Ronda has heavy hands. I’d rate her skills as nearly a 10 in everything.” Also of note is that Rousey is the daughter of Dr. AnnMaria De Mars, the martial artist who occupies the No. 7 spot on this list. Coincidence? I think not! COMMENTS “Ronda was a guest on The Ultimate Fighter Season 15—Dominick Cruz brought her in to put on a clinic,” Angeles says. “She injured his knee with a throw—that’s why he’s out. She then demonstrated on all the guys on his team, and during the post-throw interviews, they all said she’s a badass. She pinned them down after the throws, and they said she was crushing them. They were all believers. You could tell they underestimated her.” Starting with a judo base, acquiring experience in the Olympics and then moving into MMA and boxing is a wonderful progression, Angeles adds. “Some people have criticized her for not having good stand-up, but I think it’s just that she hasn’t had to use it yet because her judo skills are so good—she’s defeated all her opponents by armbar. “Ronda is the most vicious fighter on this list. She has no problem breaking arms—there’s a lot to be said for any martial artist who can do that intentionally. She’s hard-core.”

Do you remember your first tournament? The nervous preparation. The excitement of stepping in front of the judges. The rush of emotions—satisfaction or frustration—after finally finishing your division. The 58th Battle of Atlanta just concluded and, even after nearly six decades of high-energy competition, the weekend was as electric as ever. For many of the people in the room, they were experiencing the wide-eyed joy of what competition looks like at the highest level. And for a handful of those at the top, they were experiencing the excitement of taking home the prestigious awards reserved for the very best. But before the first competitors stepped onto the tournament floor, many spent Thursday sharpening their skills with a pair of special training camps. Thursday Camps - Competitive Edge & Action! Stunts The weekend began with opportunities for martial artists to learn from some of the best in their respective fields. The Competitive Edge Camp brought together elite sport karate champions and coaches Jackson Rudolph, Reid Presley, Cole Presley, and Jake Presley. Designed to help competitors elevate their forms and weapons performances, the camp focused on everything from fundamentals and advanced combinations to creativity, execution, and competitive mindset. Long before they were headlining major events and collecting world titles, Rudolph and the Presley brothers were young competitors chasing the same goals as many of the athletes in attendance. Through drills, coaching, and personal insight, they shared the lessons, habits, and experiences that helped them rise from aspiring competitors to some of the most recognizable names in sport karate. Photo credit: @martial.smart (Instagram) For those interested in the entertainment side of martial arts, Action! Stunts offered a three-hour crash course in the fundamentals of stunt performance. Sport karate champions and stunt superstars Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz and Justin Ortiz. Photo credit: @martial.smart (Instagram) Led by Justin Ortiz and Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz, with support from members of Atlanta's stunt community, participants received hands-on instruction in fight choreography, breakfalls, camera awareness, partner safety, wire work, and the professionalism required to work in the film and television industry. For many martial artists, competition is the destination. For Justin Ortiz and Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz, it was the beginning. After reaching the highest levels of sport karate, they successfully transitioned their talents into stunt work, demonstrating how the skills developed on the tournament floor can create opportunities far beyond competition. Friday Fight Night The action officially fired up on Friday evening as Fight Night brought top competitors together under the lights. The crowd was treated to fast-paced matchups and fights with the kind of intensity that has made the Battle of Atlanta one of the most respected events in martial arts. From seasoned veterans to rising stars looking to make their mark, competitors left everything on the floor as the weekend's biggest battles began to take shape. Saturday Sport Karate BattleZone Championships After an opening performance showcasing top champions in a stage fight dressed as Marvel and DC heroes and villains, the show began. With world champion Reid Presley serving as host, Saturday night's BattleZone blazed through fights, forms, and team demonstrations. Combining elite athleticism with crowd-pleasing entertainment, the event showcased many of the tournament's standout competitors as they battled for titles, recognition, and a place among the weekend's champions. Growing stars like Michael Molina and established champions like Esteban Trembley kept spectators engaged throughout the evening and brought the 58th Battle of Atlanta to an exciting conclusion. For nearly 60 years, the Battle of Atlanta has served as a proving ground for champions and a source of inspiration for generations of martial artists. Judging by the talent on display this year, its legacy is only continuing to grow.

Dojo Success: Part-Time Commitment, Full-Time Results In an industry that often promotes the concept of bigger programs and better schools, the small training center can be overlooked as a successful business model. Granted, it’s easier to be impressed with state-of-the-art facilities and million-dollar operations, but those programs require an investment that reaches far beyond the dollar: They require lots of time. As the owner of a small martial arts center that can accommodate only 120 students, I’m often asked why I don’t expand my program. My answer is PTC-FTR, which stands for “part-time commitment, full-time results.” Here’s what that means for me: I work 12 hours a week. My center is open Monday through Thursday only. I have every weekend off. I take 10 days off every eight weeks. When I tell people that, they assume part-time hours must equate to part-time income. That’s when I smile and let them know it’s not that I can’t grow my business; it’s that I don’t need to. Running a small, efficient center presents an opportunity for me to find the perfect balance between my personal and professional lives, and it can do the same for you.

OK, here’s the hypothetical: You’re having a conversation with a couple of combat-sports buddies when one of them says: “Man, I put in some monster fight training last night. Three rounds on the banana bag, three rounds on the floor bag, 50 push-presses at 135 pounds—and then I rolled for 30 minutes straight.” Buddy No. 1 is pretty impressive. I mean, if we assume those rounds were five minutes each, he already did a half-hour of work before the push-presses, and then he still has it in him to roll for another 30 minutes. Let’s see how Buddy No. 2 stacks up. “You got me beat,” No. 2 says. “My training clocked in at 28 minutes and 13 seconds.” That’s it? Buddy No. 2 needs to step it up. Buddy No. 1 isn’t even through with his bag work, and Buddy No. 2 is packing it in. Get your game face on, No. 2!

Perhaps because it’s relatively easy to learn and use, the guillotine choke is an extremely common submission. Look around—you’ll see it in danzan-ryu and numerous Japanese forms of jujitsu. You’ll find it in submission grappling and judo. You’ll witness it in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the mixed martial arts. You might even encounter it on the street. Versatility is the second reason the guillotine is so widespread. You can apply it from a multitude of positions, including while standing, while on your knees and while holding your opponent in the closed guard. Often, it’s the instinctive reaction to a sloppy wrestling takedown. Now that you know why it’s so ubiquitous, it’s time to learn how to defend against it—and defeat the person who tried to catch you with it. Subject-Matter Expert “Isn’t the best defense always a good attack?” asked the Roman poet Ovid.