Wim Demeere's Blog

Martial Arts, Self Defense and a Whole Lot More.

How to use an android tablet computer for martial arts training and teaching

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As I mentioned before, I’m a bit of a nerd and have been using computers and IT products for over thirty years now (Remember the Apple II? I do…) Just recently, I bit the bullet and bought a 7-inch Galaxy Tab2 to replace both my paper planner and all the printed-out client files I always had to drag along. Now I have everything in one place, can keep it synchronized on all my devices and can do a whole lot more too. This gave me the idea to write a post on how to use an Android tablet computer for martial arts training and teaching. As you will see, with a little bit of preparation and creative thinking you can make your life a whole lot easier while you improve both your own  skills and those of your students.

A couple of things before we get started:

  • This guide is not only for practitioners but also for students, teachers and coaches. You can use the information here for your own needs, though you might have to adapt it a little bit so it fits your particular situation.
  • If you do buy a tablet, pick the one that is right for you. I’ll give some recommendations here below but do your own research to make sure you’ll be happy with your purchase. Everybody is different and needs different features, there is no one-size fits all approach.
  • If you buy a tablet without a camera then certain things I write here won’t work for you. Today though, there really is no reason anymore to buy one without a camera, so make sure your tablet has one.
  • To a degree, this information also applies to Android phones. However, the size factor does make a difference: showing something on a 7-inch screen instead of a 4-inch one makes it a lot easier to show things to others. Handwritten notes or drawings are also not very practical on a cellphone. And so on. But feel free to give it a try on your phone and if it works for you, then that’s great.
  • Input takes some getting used to. I use a 7-inch tablet and found that the best way to type is to hold it vertically. Then the on-screen keyboard has the best compromise between lay-out and button size for my fingers. Landscape mode didn’t work for me. For you, it may be different so go out and test a few tablets in stores before buying one. Also, don’t forget that there are multiple input methods: different kinds of on-screen keyboards, with or without predictive text, speech-to-note, etc. If one doesn’t please you, another probably will.
  • Consider using a stylus. Especially if you are training hard, your fine motor control will go down, making it harder to use a touchscreen. In that case, a stylus could be the answer for you, especially when you want to draw on your tablet.

These are some practical considerations to consider before you decide to get a tablet. Of course, the crucial factor will be your budget. How much money you can (or are willing to) spend on non-essential gizmos plays an important role in just how much satisfaction you’ll get out of it. Spend too little and you buy crap that doesn’t work well or breaks down. Spend too much and you’ll piss off your significant other or end up disappointed that there isn’t more whiz)bang to the thing for all that money. My view is that you should spend the most money you can reasonably afford to come as close as possible to your ideal tablet. In my experience, that always leaves me at the very least happy with the amount of money I spent even if the product ends up being less amazing than I thought. But again, to each his own so consider this aspect carefully too.

How to use an android tablet computer for martial arts training and teaching
My Galaxy Tab, showing the video I took in class to show a student he was dropping his covering hand when he punches. The quality is very good but I made this image low-res so it wouldn’t suck up bandwidth.

 

All that out of the way, let’s take a look at how you can use a tablet for your martial arts needs. [Read more…]

Martial arts and Life-coaching

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Yesterday, I put this on my Facebook page:

Somebody just asked me why I don’t offer life-coaching based on what I learned from the martial arts. I replied that if you strip MAs down to their essence, it’s all about injuring, maiming and killing people. Sure, there is more to it but that stuff gets added to it and is not at the center of the arts.
So asking that kind of advice from me is like asking Hannibal Lecter to be your therapist. Sure, he has the required degree but that is not what he is at the core level.
Got a blank stare in response… Maybe I should have just smiled and said “That’s a great idea.”

I received a bunch of comments on this, some of which I agree with where as others not so much, which prompted me to write this post.

 

First, a couple of things to make sure we’re on the same page:

  • With “Life-coaching”, I mean the “Empowerment now!” or “Believe in yourself and become confident!” and “Achieve inner happiness!” style services some people offer. That was what the person who asked me the original question meant, so that’s what I’m responding to. Nothing else. If your definition of life-coaching is different from this, that’s fine. But understand that we’re talking about different things then.
  • I’m sure there are life-coaches out there who do a good job, it’s just that I haven’t met any of them. Doesn’t mean there aren’t any though. It only means I don’t know them. That said, you can imagine my opinion of their services isn’t all that high…
  • I’m not saying the life-coaches I have in mind when I write here are all bad. What I am saying is that I have reservations about the job in and of itself. These two are not the same thing.

Now that we have this out of the way, let’s get started. What’s my beef with using martial arts as life-coaching? Well, like I said, I don’t think it’s the best source of information for that goal. Which isn’t to say there are no valuable lessons to learn from martial arts, lessons that apply to everybody. But those lessons can be learned elsewhere too. Perhaps even better.

The only lessons you can’t really find elsewhere (barring certain exceptions) are those related to fighting. And then we’re back to the killing and maiming part, which is what martial arts amount to at their most basic level.

I’ll get back to all that but first, here are some of the responses I received. First from Craig: [Read more…]

Renzo Gracie, Twitter and self-defense: a case study of what not to do

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Last night, Renzo Gracie was apparently involved in an attempted mugging. In and of itself, that’s not such a big deal; people get mugged all the time. What is special about this case is two things:

  • It’s Renzo Gracie, an MMA legend.
  • He posted live updates on his Twitter account before, during and after the whole thing.

As far as I can tell from Renzo’s account, here’s what happened:

  • He was in New York, walking to his car at night, when two guys follow him.
  • He spots them following him and confronts them.
  • He knocks one of those guys down with two punches and the other one runs. Renzo chases him for half a block.
  • Then Renzo goes back to the first guy and hits him a few more times.
  • Renzo gets his car and decides to go looking for the runner.
  • He spots him, drives a bit further to park his car and then ambushes the runner by jumping on his back and choking him out.
  • Then he punches the unconscious guy in the eyes to make sure he has two black eyes.
  • He repeats the process two more times: he chokes him out and punches him, speaking to the guy in between chokes to scare him.
  • He takes off and goes home.

I’ll get to the finer points of how stupid Renzo acted in a bit but first, here’s the whole twitter feed he posted about the mugging: [Read more…]

The cure for arrogance in the martial arts

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If there’s one thing you can find plenty of in the martial arts, it’s arrogance. I should know, because I used to have my fair share of it when I was younger (some would say I still do, but I digress…) but have had to eat humble pie a wee bit too often since those days. So I no longer cling to that inflated sense of ego I once had. Does that make me humble? Perhaps it does, though I think it’s for others to decide if me becoming less arrogant automatically means I become more humble. The way I see it, I simply became more realistic about my skills and knowledge. As in, back then I overrated myself and underrated others. Today, I think my view of myself and others is more accurate.

Loren W. Christensen and Wim Demeere
My favorite picture of Loren and me, taking a break from shooting pictures for Timing in the Fighting Arts

The main reason I changed my mind is that I got in touch with teachers, martial artists and warriors who were vastly superior in their field than I was in mine. I already mentioned a couple of them in the past but for those who missed that, here they are:

Bob Orlando When I first got Bob’s books and videos, I was impressed by both his martial ability and his teaching style. His techniques were not only crisp and clean, he explained them and made everything clear in a way other teachers seem unable to copy. I invited him twice to Belgium for a seminar and discovered that he’s an awesome guy in person as well. I learned a lot about humility and perseverance from him.

Dan Docherty  I met Dan at a seminar shortly after starting to learn tai chi with my main teacher, Patrick Couder. The most impressive thing about him was how he moved just right every single time he did a technique. His body mechanics, footwork, timing, angles, everything was just as it should be with nothing lacking nor any unneeded parts added. But over the years, I discovered just how unique his blend of skill, knowledge and experience truly is: [Read more…]

Asian Martial Arts and Western Training Methods: are they mutually exclusive?

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A while ago, I was on a forum where the conversation turned to the differences between the training methods of Asian martial arts and the Western methods based on sports science. It got me thinking about some of the conflicts there seem to be between both, which triggered me to write this post. It’s going to be a long one and it’ll take me some time to put all the elements on the table so please bear with me.

 

The conversation covered a number of topics but one of the key points somebody mentioned was how they did three-hour training sessions to prepare for a Sanshou competition, mixing conditioning, sparring, tai chi chuan and sanshou all together. Here’s my reply:

This is very similar to the way my first kung fu teacher would hold his classes and how I trained for over ten years. Loads of conditioning first and by the time you were wiped out, class began. It’s one of the first things I stopped doing when I started teaching. It tends to yield results but more despite the protocol than thanks to it. If you train longer than 60-90min. you’re working mainly on endurance. But not the kind of conditioning you need for a Sanshou bout, which is 1-3 rounds of 3 min. So you’re activating the wrong energy systems and when you are using the right ones, your body is too tired (low GH and testosterone levels, muscle glycogen depleted) to get the most out of that training because of both the volume and intensity of the workload.

I made lots of mistakes when I competed and had to learn the hard way. My conditioning was one of those issues. The main thing I had to learn is that fatigue is not a good measuring stick for the effectiveness of a training schedule.

I would recommend The Science of Martial Arts Training by Charles Staley for an introduction to Western training methodology. If you’re up for it, Tudor Bompa‘s work ( Staley uses it as a starting point) is dry but worth its weight in gold. IIRC, Periodization is in its fifth edition now and still considered a classic work by most top-trainers.

The main thing I disagree with in your schedule (besides the length; I just don’t see a place for it in any part of a typical macrocycle for sanshou) is the mixing of loads, skill sets and biomotor abilities. There are far more effective ways to train. I’m not saying your way doesn’t work. I’m saying there are better ways.

Please don’t consider this a personal attack because it isn’t. I’m not saying anything another Western trainer wouldn’t say. It’s sports science, not my opinion. Though I’m convinced that if it’s good enough for world-class athletes of all other sports, it’ll also do for Chinese martial arts.

 

I used to do those grueling workouts that lasted for hours and left me exhausted at the end. Simply because that was the way my first teacher taught us and it had become my baseline for training sessions; if I wasn’t dead-tired afterwards, I figured I hadn’t trained hard enough. Only many years later, after I had stopped competing and studied sports science more in depth, did I learn how wrong this was. I then understood why I had lost certain fights, because my conditioning had been dead wrong: I was training the wrong way and for a different kind of competition.

I remember well the first time I implemented periodization correctly: [Read more…]

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