NEW: Black Belt Hall of Fame Member Profiles (1968-1990)
January 15 | 2021
The Legendary Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame has never before been documented in a single location. Now, you can learn about all the icons that have achieved one of the greatest honors in all of martial arts.
Black Belt Magazine is proud to announce the NEW Member Profiles feature for the Hall of Fame. At the time of this article, the online records account for every inductee from the inaugural year of 1968 all the way through 1990 (upwards of 200 martial artists). The page will be updated continuously and will include every inductee through 2020 in the near future. For now, you can enjoy images and facts about the legendary members for each induction they received before 1991. Take advantage of this never-before-seen opportunity to learn about many of the martial artists who contributed to the lifestyle, culture, and community that every martial artist experiences today.
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CASETiFY Honors Bruce Lee with Phone Case Collection
January 19 | 2021
Martial arts legend Bruce Lee is one of the most influential cultural figures of the 20th century. To commemorate Lee's 80th birthday, CASETiFY created an exclusive collection that captures the spirit of the action star's signature moves, nuggets of wisdom, and even his iconic tracksuit.
Bruce Lee is one of the martial arts' most iconic legends, and now you can pay respects to him with your phone case! This new collection from CASETiFY, a popular phone case and accessory brand, provides a stylish take on classic Bruce Lee images and graphics.
<p>From the creation of Jeet Kune Do, to superhuman feats on the silver screen, Lee had a substantial impact on both traditional martial arts and the action entertainment industry. His 80th birthday passed on November 27th, giving martial artists and fans around the world an opportunity to reflect on his legacy.</p><p>You can continue to celebrate his incredible life and contributions through CASETiFY's phone cases, AirPods cases, wireless charging pads, souvenir jackets, and other collectible accessories!<br/></p>
<p>CASETiFY was kind enough to gift Black Belt Magazine the Bruce Lee Classic phone case model (above), and our team loved it! The leathery exterior gives the case a high-quality look and feel. There is a cloth-like material on the inside so that the case doesn't damage the surface of your phone. It is easy to take on and off, but maintains a firm protective grip on your phone once it is in. The case rises above the edges of the phone to protect your screen when it falls out of your pocket while practicing kicks too! Overall, this is a top-of-the-line, stylish phone case that we would recommend to any martial artist!</p>
Bruce Lee Classic Phone Case
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://blackbeltmag.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUwMTMxNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjU1NTYyNn0.sro1ic9a6E84dQs4HoOurEl8sJCAoreSu5vprj3kZl8/image.jpg?width=560&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0&height=560" id="52086" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b97e0bb2cfdd3693feab90cc666d5b4d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Bruce Lee Phone Case" data-width="560" data-height="560" />
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UFC pioneer Paul Varelans passed away Saturday in Atlanta, Ga at the age of 51 after battling Covid-19 for more than a month. Varelans had been diagnosed with the virus in December and as his condition worsened he had to be placed on a ventilator in a medically induced coma.
Known as "The Polar Bear" the 6-foot-8-inch 300-pound Varelans debuted back at UFC 6 in 1995. During his career he fought a host of notables including Dan Severn, Mark Kerr and David "Tank" Abbott. Perhaps his most memorable performance came at UFC 7 where he made the finals of an eight-man tournament only to lose to Marco Ruas in a bout that lasted more than 13 straight minutes, one of the longest tournament battles the promotion had ever seen.
Warning: this article is likely to make you equal parts hungry and insanely inspired to train hard. Seriously. Don't blame me if you start doing sit ups with cake in your hands.
Growing up, I loved to be in the kitchen. In fact, I loved cooking almost as much as I loved eating. One of my favorite past times would be to go to the local library and delve deep into the numerous cookbooks they had. My goal wasn't just to idly waste my time however. Eleven-year old me would voraciously read the books in order to learn new cooking techniques and food combinations.
Essentially, I wanted to be able to kick butt in the kitchen like Bobby Flay! One of my favorite cookbooks covered the techniques and recipes as taught by the famed Parisian cooking school Le Cordon Bleu. Bear in mind however, I wasn't born into this world as a French speaking, Savate-kicking Parisian. I was born and raised in the United States and still ate the occasional McDonald's happy meal.
<p>My kitchen and palate wasn't the same as a high-class person cooking in France and so, adjustments would have to eventually be made. Even though I was too young to properly flambé, I could study what these cooking masters did and recreate their recipes with what I had on hand. </p><p>After enough imitation and innovation of a single recipe, I could then cook dishes better than ever before. In fact, I could create my own recipes, now intelligently utilizing the culinary concepts I had become immersed in. </p><p>Most skill development follows this same mold. In fact, the Japanese martial arts even have names for each of these phases: Shu, Ha, and Ri. </p><p>Your understanding of this concept can be what makes or breaks your training. Martial artists, especially those of us studying traditional martial arts, often become chained to the idea that the first step, perfect copying, is the final goal. </p>
Step 1: Shu
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://blackbeltmag.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ5NzIxOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzUyMDI0Mn0.v8M5BujYXBar5phT8tHTTFcPKw0Xd-EpNSGHdbIQ7ic/image.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0&height=700" id="93954" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6477da9466facbbd73baa7a9e8b6a58f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Miyagi and Daniel San" data-width="1245" data-height="700" /> <p>The first step is already laid out for you. In Japanese, "Shu" can mean "obey" or "protect" and insinuates that you copy exactly what the teacher presents you. </p><p>A degree of memorization is a must in the beginning if you desire a meaningful understanding of, well, anything really. Your goal is to start by delving deep into your pursuit, memorizing it to the absolute details so you may later regurgitate it with your own flavor. </p><p>In the beginning Shu phase, it is all too easy to stay in this phase and just rest on your laurels. Simply copying an action (or encouraging others to perfectly copy it) is much easier than having to apply thought and experimentation. </p><p>Never forget: repetition is the mother of all skills, however eventually you need to move out of her basement.</p>Step 2: Ha
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://blackbeltmag.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ5NzIyNS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzM0NDE5Nn0.3dv19unizxhM8DUrje-U4smZtckkiH36-x8tD-Y2rZY/image.png?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C38%2C0%2C38&height=700" id="08cfd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dfd2c5739b98ce0426d9a54080a326ba" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1245" data-height="700" /> <p>"Ha", Japanese for " detach" or "break away", is the phase where you play—y'know, that thing most people don't let themselves do after they supposedly outgrow their Saturday morning cartoons. </p><p>Experiment and allow yourself to make a mistake. Your training doesn't have to be perfect, it has to be productive. Poke and prod your understanding of that which you are attempting to master. </p><p>We have to pressure test that which we have in our training arsenal, not in doubt of what the masters before us said but rather in trust of what they taught us. </p><p>Let's clarify something: "pressure test" can mean many things. The contextual lens of a combat sport is vastly different from that of an art predominately concerned with performance or the health of its practitioners. </p><p>This is about questioning in a healthy manner, having conversations with people who hold different opinions, testing movements in new environments (maybe even, heaven forbid, training karate with shoes on!). </p><p>Pressure test the philosophy you believe, the defensive body mechanics you rehearse (such as safety rolls and break falls), and truly anything you have faith in. Whether you fight in an octagon or simply to live a healthier life, you have beliefs. Your responsibility towards those beliefs is to see how well they hold up to the eventualities of your life. </p><p>A pattern such as a kata, poomsae, or taolu is simply meant to give physical form to formless ideas, such as self defense tactics or body/mind development methods. Once you have this pattern memorized, it is up to you to crack this physical code and unlock the conceptual treasure hidden inside.</p>Step 3: Ri
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://blackbeltmag.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ5NzIyOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTkxMDQ2MH0.IOpAy125Kq0yNdhZmk0dKA-XJr4dfKwcx5bfS6havBU/image.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C190%2C0%2C190&height=700" id="75f4b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="999b9140eeb1a87c6d2d7f369bf8a5a0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Khabib Nurmagomedov" data-width="1245" data-height="700" /> <p>Ri, Japanese for "leave" or "transcend", is the stage where you no longer need to think before moving in a way congruent with your training. You have consciously made your understanding into an unconscious part of who you are. </p><p>Is this pattern really just teaching you self defense tactics against another straight punch or is it actually teaching you evasive body movement? </p><p>How about recovery from a compromised position in relation to an aggressor? </p><p>Once you learn the outer appearance of the pattern, dissecting it via deep thought and experimentation allows you to access the much more universal idea hidden under the surface. A technique can only be applied in a few situations, a concept or movement is much more ubiquitous. </p><p>Pretty sweet, huh? </p><p>Tradition shouldn't be considered the peer pressure of the previously living. Our goal isn't to move exactly like the masters of old. Our goal should be about striving towards what they sought in their training; perfection of the self and your personal way of moving. The masters of the past are just notable markers guiding us on that lovely path.</p>Rinse and Repeat
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://blackbeltmag.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ5NzIzMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjk0MTUxMX0.pl_tEoDfe3aIkwnJMeeFJBJIJP5u7rLkYc1lSuLKAUA/image.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C222%2C0%2C222&height=700" id="5d218" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="277b6fbc1f80f5f6bae7720bcbdd8942" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Souffl\u00e9" data-width="1245" data-height="700" /> <p>Your training as passed down to you is a system. Remember the system so you can pass it along in its essential form, enabling future generations to grow without deviating unnecessarily, however don't forget to help yourself as well. It is your job to untether from your training appropriately and accept yourself, crafting a personal style. </p><p>While Shu, Ha, and Ri are Japanese words, the ideas aren't exclusive to the Orient. American jazz pioneer and legend Clark Terry boiled the art of jazz and improvisation into three words: imitation, assimilation, innovation. Sound familiar? </p><p>Here's the best part: this isn't a straight path towards mastery, it's more like a spiral staircase. As we are always learning, we are always assimilating and innovating. As we study and grow, we can view our previous knowledge with new wisdom. </p><p>It's about personal evolution, not stylistic revolution. </p><p>To this day, my time spent geeking out over cookbooks has served me well. I may not have a classical French kitchen and I don't remember every recipe exactly, but I can still make a damn good soufflé. </p><p>Isn't that what everybody dreams of?</p>Related Articles Around the Web
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Dr. Craig's Martial Arts Movie Lounge
When I was 16, taking 30 pills/day and in the hospital every three months, my doctor said I'd be dead in five years from cystic fibrosis (CF), a deadly disease that robbed me of my breath and ability to digest food. Moments away from death by suicide, I saw Bruce Lee's Big Boss (1971) and during his first fight when Lee venomously decked a thug with two lightening kicks, I howled like a banshee. In that moment, I went from being depressed and waiting to die, to wanting to live and learn what Lee was doing. I vowed that if I survived, I'd pay homage to Lee like no other.
<p>Through martial arts, I knew that I had one chance to survive, an ancient Chinese healing skill never taught to outsiders, <em>chi gong</em>. In 1979, against doctors' advice, couldn't speak Chinese, and with no job, money or place to stay, I moved to the chaotic, under strict martial law and distrusting-America Taiwan, where mixed-race love was vilified with forbidden fruit furor. At Chiang Kai-Shek Airport, the military charged me with weapon smuggling (wooden sticks), drug trafficking (CF pills) and threatened me with the death penalty. </p><p>Weeks later, I met Silvia, a devout Catholic and volunteer at a leper colony; it was love at first sight and three months later we were secretly engaged. Tearfully aware my death anon, she committed sociocultural suicide by pledging her love saying, "Little time with you, better no time with you."</p><p>As a token white dude on Kung Fu TV Soaps, butt-kicking fodder for the Chinese stars, I met an ascetic chi master who during the monsoons subjected me to a perilous, 30-day test of perseverance, endurance and worthiness on Monsoon Mountain. Coughing up blood, clinging to life and heartbroken by the loss of my soul mate, I faced ceaseless biblical rain, entities, an earthquake and a mudslide ate me for lunch. Five months later I was off all medication.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img alt="Kung Fu TV" class="rm-shortcode" data-height="700" data-rm-shortcode-id="a9e0ea35e670bdfbaf3866cf8adec1f7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-runner-src="https://blackbeltmag.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQzNDY3Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNTYzNjk5MX0.AhG24mQtWQmBL1XsJb_ov5bJ4ECrSb4ieTxrlnnTWq0/image.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C92%2C0%2C92&height=700" data-width="1245" id="a304f" type="lazy-image"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Courtesy of Craig Reid</small></p>
<p>A year later, my final test occurred amid a violent typhoon where after being chased by cat-sized rats through waist-deep sewage flood waters, I practiced chi at a construction site rife with body-damaging flying debris. The sounds of spear-like bamboo poles whistling toward me with impaling force was a harrowing experience.<br/></p><p>Days later, a serious lung infection gave me a 105<sup>o</sup> F body temperature. Years prior would require upping antibiotics, a long hospital stay, intense therapy and months to fully recover. I completely recovered in three days without medication. </p><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
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</script><p>To prove chi helped me overcome CF, in 1986, with both lungs 30% deteriorated, I walked 3000 miles (marathon/day for 115 days) across America to Seattle, WA, to pay my respects to Lee's grave. President Ronald Reagan awarded me with a letter of bravery. I've been off all medication for 41 years, married 40 years and since 1987, Silvia and I have used chi healing to help others, including working with seven Olympic teams.</p><p>You're only limited by what you think you can't do.</p>
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