I have always felt there are three kinds of ‘martial artists

1.Those who practice it

2.Those who use it to feed their neurosis

3.Those who live it through positive action

Those who practice it do so out of curiosity. Maybe they are looking for a way to drop some weight, get in shape or even manage their stress. It’s more like a hobby to them, they come to lesson and then they don’t. They are often hard to motivate and to get them to see the bigger picture of what martial arts can truly offer them. Some of them do cross over to the bigger picture of martial arts in time if exposed to a martial arts life approach, but more often than not go on to dabble in other sports or extramural activities.

Rodney King is a martial arts trainer and life coach, also known as (with cult status too as far as I can tell) the founder of the Crazy Monkey Defense System.

I got to know Rodney when he asked me to do a bit of coaching with him about the contents of his blog.

If a tree falls down in the forest and nobody hears it did it make a noise?

This question has long held philosophical debate and central to the argument of consciousness. The question is really asking, that if you where not present at the falling of the tree, would it still make a sound?

What does this have to do with martial arts?

I am using this question analogous to another similar phenomena I often see in the world of combative sports.

One of the things I often hear from those wanting to compete in mixed martial arts, boxing, submission wrestling or kickboxing events is “I want to see how I do against people from all over the world”, “other gyms”, “I want to see my skill for myself” or “I want to test myself”.

By Rodney King & Dr. Randy Borum

The martial arts are always evolving. Every day new practitioners are joining the ranks. Industry research shows that martial arts participation has been increasing for the past twenty years, with more than 6 million practitioners in the U.S. alone. We seem to be doing fine, but perhaps we could plan to do even better…for our students.

Play is vital to my enjoyment of martial arts.

You might find this is a puzzling, challenging, or controversial statement.

Iknow that many of my clients and MMA athletes on seminars often ask me if I set specific goals or have a game plan for training. When my reply is mainly “no, I just like to play” it is often hard for them to understand that response.

So many people that I have come into contact with in martial arts spend so much time trying to get things right. They try to break all the techniques and strategies down to their smallest components in the hope that they will find the answers they are looking for. They put so much pressure on themselves to get it right they stop enjoying themselves.

What a 'Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu' year for Rodney. First been awarded a BJJ Black Belt, from Chris Haueter in early 2007 and then to be awarded a 2nd BJJ Black Belt by one of the worlds leading BJJ coaches Rigan Machado... in November 2007.

As Rodney noted, " I feel like I have come full circle". Rodney first meet Rigan Machado back in 1998 when he brought him to South Africa to conduct a BJJ seminar. It was at that seminar that Rigan awarded Rodney his Blue Belt. Ten years later and Rodney has now been awarded his Black Belt from the coach that inspired him to continue his journey in BJJ.