Friday, February 03, 2006

From 1001 Ways to Motivate Yourself:

Changing your plans mid-way is not a sign of defeat, it's a sign that you have found a better way to go about something based on knowledge you didn't have when you started out.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Where should you look during sparring?

"If you ask 10 karate instructors how and where you should look at your opponent to best see his attacks, you will get at least three different answers," says Loren Christensen, author of Fighter's Fact Book.

"For the past several years, I have suggested to my karate and police students that they focus their gaze at their opponent’s chin and shoulder area. If you draw a line from your opponent’s right shoulder to his left and then a line from both shoulders up to his chin, the lines form a triangle. When you look in the area of the triangle, you can see and perceive everything he is doing. You don’t have to look down at his feet because you know they are directly underneath his shoulders (unless he has a really weird body). When he begins to throw a lead roundhouse kick, his lead shoulder lifts slightly and his rear shoulder dips. When he begins to throw a reverse punch, his rear shoulder rotates forward. You can even perceive his toes wiggling when looking at his triangle."