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The Tattooed Monk (A Chinese Fable)

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In the Northern Sung’s reign, there was a man from Hai Ch’ung by the name of Lu Ta. He was big, with large hands, broad hips, and strong legs. He had a face you wouldn’t normally think of for a Chinese man, with a round face, big nose, and full beard. He had his head shaved and a body covered with tattoos. When he took up a fighting stance, he looks like a giant boulder.

When he was young, Lu Ta trained at the Shaolin temple. He plunged six-foot-long wooden stakes deep into the earth while he was there. He then pulled up those stakes, eighty or more at a time. His master also taught him how to wield the monk’s spade.

Lu Ta left the temple while he was fairly new, but he started getting called as Sagacious Lu or the Tattooed Monk. He went on adventures, and ended up being one of the known outlaws of the area. He also went in and out of several other temples. In one of his terms as a priest, he had to deal with a bandit gang.

The bandits were led by the Old Rat Chang San, and the Green Grass Snake Li Ssu. They spied on Lu Ta while he was practicing with his monk spade, and they decided not to fight him fairly. Instead, they pretended to be injured in front of him as he stood at the edge of the temple outhouse. When he came closer, Chang San grabbed one of Lu Ta’s legs, and Li Ssu grabbed the other. But, it was ineffective. Lu Ta laughed as they struggled to throw him down the toilet. He lifted his right leg, and shook the Old Rat down the latrine. He lifted his right leg, and did the same to the Green Grass Snake.

The next day, the bandits wanted to apologize. They brought several jars of wine and a roasted pig. During the feast, a murder of crows landed in the willow tree that looked over the table where Lu Ta and the bandits were eating. The birds were so noisy that Lu Ta got up and pulled up the tree. To him, it was just like another wooden stake.

The Monkey King (A Chinese Fable)

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The tale of the Monkey King, Sun Hou Tzu, is noted in Wu Cheng An’s Journey To The West (Hsi Yu Chi). This epic narrative notes the roots and adventures of the Monkey King as he protects a monk named Hsuan Tsang on a pilgrimage to India in the 7th century. Here are some stories of the birth of the Monkey king adapted from Arthur Waley’s translation of Journey To The West titled Monkey.

Beyond the seas, in the Eastern continent, in the kingdom of Ao-lai, is the mountain Hua-Kuo Shan (Mountain of Flowers and Fruit)”, and here “there was a rock that since the creation of the world had been worked upon by the pure essences of Heaven and the fine savors of Earth, the vigor of sunshine and the grace of moonlight, till at last it became magically pregnant and one day split open, giving birth to a stone egg, about as big as a playing ball. Fructified by the wind, it developed into a stone monkey, complete with every organ and limb.

The Stone Monkey quickly became the leader of the wild monkeys in the area. He found shelter, food, and water for them and soon became their king. The monkeys had everything and were content, but the Monkey King became troubled by the thought of death. He wanted to discover the secrets of immortality. In his journey for eternal life, he went to Holy Terrace Mountain, where the Immortal P’u Ti Tsu Shih taught him the formula of the 72 Transformations and the art of Cloud Soaring, enabling the Monkey King to travel 216,000 meters in a single jump. 

When the Monkey King returned to his kingdom, a demon named Hun Shih Mo Wang was terrorizing the other monkeys. Monkey confronted the demon. 

The two exchanged punches and kicks, and were evenly matched with one another. The Monkey King punched the demon from in the lower ribs, and sent a flurry of punches on his chest. The demon was staggered. He picked up a sword, and slashed at the Monkey King’s head. Monkey swiftly stepped aside. The demon was becoming more savage, and the Monkey King knew it. Monkey used the method called Body Outside the Body. He pulled out some of his hair, and then threw them in the air. 

“Change!” Monkey yelled.

The hair changed into a crowd of small monkeys. When anyone becomes immortal, they can make any kind of miracle. Monkey King could transform his hair into whatever he wanted them to be.

The little monkeys were so quick that they could not be touched. They surrounded the demon. They kicked him, punched him, pinched his nose, and poked his eyes. While the demon was distracted, the Monkey King snatched the demon’s sword. He ran through the group of monkeys, and slashed down at the demon’s skull and broke it.

The Monkey King realized he needed weapons for his subjects, but he could not find any to his liking. Seeing that he couldn’t find any weapons on land, he  wanted to get a weapon made in the sea. 

The Monkey visited Ao-Kuang, the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea and asked him for weapons. The Dragon King was not one to turn a request down. The Dragon King brought out a huge sword, but Monkey did not want it. The Dragon King brought out a nine pronged fork weighing 3,600 pounds, but Monkey thought it was too light. 

The Dragon mother and her daughter saw this exchange. They saw that the Monkey King is no ordinary warrior.  “Great King,” the Dragon mother said, “We can see that this Monkey Sage is no ordinary warrior. In the treasury, we have magic iron that shaped the bed of the galaxy. It has already been glowing for several days. Is this not a sign to give it to him?”

The Dragon King refused. “This,” he said, “was used by the Great Yu, when he fixed the rivers and seas. When he subdued the great flood. It’s just a piece of iron. What use is this to him?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just give it to him and see if he wants it.”

The Dragon King brought the Monkey King to the Treasury. The Monkey saw the glowing iron, which turned out to be a thick iron pillar. He took one end and then raised it. 

“It’s too long and too thick,” the Monkey complained. The pillar quickly became shorter and thinner. 

“Smaller.” The Monkey King said. The pillar shrunk again. The Monkey was delighted.

Bringing it out from the treasury, he saw the iron pillar in its glory. There were golden clasps at each end of the black iron. On the near end, there was an inscription saying “Golden Clasped Wishing Staff- 13,500 pounds”. 

This was only the beginning of the many adventures of the Monkey King. If you want to learn more about his stories, read Monkey by Arthur Waley.

Dragon Wells (A Chinese Fable)

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A long time ago, a young dragon lived in the river near Hangzhou. He had a good heart, but he was impulsive and naive. He spent his days playing with the fish and the turtles, flying in the clouds or relaxing in the water. He lived a simple and happy life.

Then one day, three boats came down the river. The leading boat had a high imperial official and his soldiers. The other two boats had farmers being tied up like livestock. 

The dragon was enraged. He rose out of the waters and whipped his tail on the leading boat, throwing many of the soldiers overboard. The high official clung to a railing. The dragon pulled the boat under the waves, and he drowned.

The dragon pushed the other boats to safety, and released the farmers. The farmers explained that they were assigned to do a building project in the capital. The dragon became enraged again. After saying his farewells to the farmers, he flew into the sky.

The dragon rode the wind to the capital and created a storm. The dragon crashed into the throne room of the palace, where the emperor was discussing the business project with his architects. 

Everyone ran for their lives, all except for one. This man fired his crossbow at the dragon. The arrow struck the dragon’s right eye.

The dragon roared in pain and flew away. He returned to the river, where he sank to the bottom. None of his friends knew what to do, but a wise turtle told him to go to Hangzhou and see a certain monk to help him. 

The dragon then transformed himself into a stonecutter. He went to the monk’s temple and found who he was looking for. He pretended that he was injured while cutting stone, and showed the monk his injured eye. 

The monk pulled out what had been in his eye, and saw that it was a crossbow arrow. He became angry and asked for the truth. 

The dragon confessed and told him his story. He said he was going to destroy the capital.

The monk became very conflicted. The troubled monk asked the dragon to do some work and earn the medicine. The dragon agreed, and the monk led him to the courtyard.

“Powerful dragon,” said the monk “Make me a well!”

The dragon went to work. He dug deep down the earth, and the water started gushing out to the temple courtyard. The dragon tried to come back up to the surface, but little did he know that the monk placed a talisman that trapped the dragon under the water.

To this day, the dragon is said to be still under the water. The well is now divided into three pools: the Jade Spring, the Pearl Spring, and the Spring of Rain from a Clear Sky. 

The water from the Jade Spring is the clear water released from underground that the water released.

The Pearl Spring has bubbles that come from the surface because of the dragon breathing.

The Spring of Rain From A Clear Sky has mist that comes from when the dragon moves its tail.

The three springs are still in Hangzhou.

How do you make a roundhouse kick even harder?

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To throw a really hard roundhouse kick you need to stay balanced, increase your leg strength, make sure to turn your hips over, use your arms as counterbalances, and pivot on the ball of your foot.

If you were also just sitting on your bed thinking about how to make your roundhouse kick harder, then you and I have got a lot to talk about. Believe it or not it's actually simpler than it seems, so I hope the tips I found make things a little easier.

I did some research on how to make your roundhouse kick harder, and it said you have to work on your balance, increase leg strength, turn your hips over, use your arms as a counterbalance, and pivot correctly on your non kicking leg. On paper, it looks pretty easy, but in real life, we are one missed step away from potential disaster, trust me. I really want you to remember these steps, so here it is one more time to make sure you don't forget.

5 Steps on How to Make Your Roundhouse Kick Harder:

  • Work on your balance
  •  Increase leg strength
  • Turn your hips over
  • Use your arms to counterbalance
  • Pivot correctly on the non kicking leg


I don't know how you got here, but let me tell you how I did. I can see anything on TV and immediately assume I can do it just as well, martial arts included. How hard could it be right? You just stand up, watch the clip a few more times, and do it perfectly with no mistakes. Well, a sore hip, a few bruises, and an aching ego say I may have been wrong and jumped a bit too far ahead. After getting down the form a little, I realized that at this point, I won't be winning a fight anytime soon. With the roundhouse kick I have now, I could kick a pillow and it wouldn't move. I don't know about you, but if you're here, that means you want a powerful roundhouse kick as well. So, to help us both out, I have done the research needed to become the best roundhouse kickers the world has ever seen. Put on some pajamas, grab a drink, and let's get this party started.text here...

Work On Your Balance

I read that and thought, no way, it can't be that easy, but it is! Like, really, think about it, you can't ride a bike that you can't balance on. You'll fall every time. The same concept applies to creating a powerful roundhouse kick. By increasing balance, you'll become more stable and confident in your roundhouse kick. Unfortunately, just wanting it really badly does not actually help you achieve things, it takes a little more effort than that. If you really want to make your roundhouse kick harder, you have to put in the work to do so. With that being said, I found a couple of ways to quickly and properly increase your balance. 

I thought I was being pranked by how easy it is to improve your balance.If you think hardcore exercise for twenty five hours, eight days a week, you are absolutely wrong. The correct answer is actually walking and stretching. Focus on walking from your heel through to your toe and engaging in stretches that promote strength in your legs. By engaging in pretty basic exercise and remembering to stretch at the end, you are increasing your balance and flexibility at the same time. You need to be able to maintain balance on one foot while using your flexibility to lift your kicking leg to the correct height. Focusing on these steps will help to elevate your kick to the next level. I know this seems like you have to wait longer than you hoped for, but you can't make your roundhouse kick harder if you don't work on this step. And hey, just think, in no time your roundhouse kick will be hard enough to break a rock, or maybe something a little less intense.

Increase Leg Strength

Remember how I was just talking about exercises that increase your leg strength for balance? Well, I hope you were paying attention because that's the next tip. Having good leg strength will also help you to increase the power needed to make your roundhouse kick harder. Just seeing these tips made me think to myself, dang, I was doing it all wrong this whole time. Of course you need strong legs to kick harder, uh! How could I have missed that. But I can't dwell on the past, we've got work to do! A few good exercises to start doing regularly are lunges, calf raises, and squats. Easy peasy right? Imagine kicking a tree and it splits in half, that would be awesome! Some people might say, what? You're crazy, that's impossible! I say, not if your legs are as strong as ours. Back me up on this. By adding these simple exercises to your everyday schedule, you will be gradually increasing the strength of your legs. Strong muscles help to increase balance and vice versa. If you need more of a challenge, try adding some weights to your exercises. Don't just jump to the heaviest weights you can find though, pick ones you can manage and gradually increase the weight as you see fit. Just by adding two pieces of advice, we are already much closer to successfully making our roundhouse kick harder. Once balance and strength are taken care of, the only things left to work on are the technicalities. 

Turn Your Hips Properly

I know you're excited to get started, but don't practice just yet. We still have to learn what to do with our hips. After doing a little research, I found that the general consensus is to rotate your hips smoothly with the kick in a fast motion. Let's break it down step by step. Make sure to lift your leg up to be about level with your hip, chamber it next to you. Once you practice the motion of just getting your leg up to the correct height, you can start using your hips as well.  You want to turn your hips over, meaning they should be moving forward with the kick. You can actually injure yourself pretty bad if you don't do this correctly, so make sure to take it slow and really understand how to kick properly.

 Bringing your hips over is one of the most important parts to remember. The hips generate a surprising amount of power to your roundhouse kick, so don't underestimate this step. When you lift your heel off the ground, it will make rotating your hips over much easier, you'll learn more about what to do with your heel in the final step, don't worry, it's coming up. Make sure you stretch well before attempting any of these steps, having tight hips will prevent you from being able to deliver a solid kick, and can also lead to injury. Phew! That felt like a lot, but trust me, it's worth it to get this part right. Don't zone out on me yet, there are only two more steps needed to give you everything you need to make your roundhouse kick harder.

Use Your Arms To Counterbalance

Hey! Stay with me here, we're almost at the end, there are only two more tips on how to make your roundhouse kick harder. Now take a look at your arms, those bad boys aren't just for show, they've got a very important purpose. There is a lot of momentum involved in a roundhouse kick, so you want to use every part of your body to stay on your feet. Let's say you're using your left leg to kick, all your weight is now resting on your right leg, which is why balance is so important. Use your left arm to follow the direction of your kick, this will help you to aim properly while using your upper body to generate more power. Slightly lift your right elbow behind you so that it counterbalances against the momentum of the left leg, but keep your fist close to your face for protection. If you quickly turn your whole body in one direction without using your arms, the weight distribution will be off, and you won't have any counterbalances to keep you upright, ultimately resulting in you ending up on the ground.

The positioning of your arms is very important. Imagine going to give the hardest roundhouse kick of your life and your foot goes out from underneath you, yikes. All your generated power is gone and you're now laying on the floor with a clear view of the sky. Not great. Put everything you learned together and slowly practice getting the technique right. One arm follows the kicking leg while the opposite goes out slightly behind you to act as a counterbalance. I have also seen some people say that you should have the arm on the kicking side go down for balance as well. There will always be slight variations to how people do things, so figure out what works best for you and what will help your balance the most. If your body feels stable, you will be confident in your kick, which will then help you put more power into the delivery.

Pivot Correctly On The Non Kicking Leg

Hooray! We made it to the fifth and final piece of advice on how to make your roundhouse kick harder. This is the moment where it all finally comes together, everything we learned has lead to this. This is the final step before the roundhouse kick is complete. The final bit of advice I found is to make sure you are pivoting your foot in the correct direction when trying to kick. It might seem like a minor detail, but it's not, everything else goes to waste if this step is ignored. When preparing your kick, make sure you lift your heel and pivot. Your heel will pivot toward the direction of the object you're trying to kick, but make sure you stay on the balls of your feet.

If you put weight on your heels, your balance will start to lean backwards, which is a big no no. You can't generate any power if you feel like you're falling every time you kick. By using the ball of your foot, you can move easier and quicker, thus creating a harder, more powerful kick. Practice standing on the ball of your foot with one leg, pivot back and forth until you feel comfortable doing it. And that's it, that's the final step to making your roundhouse kick harder, I can't believe it's actually over!

In Conclusion

Practice makes perfect and perfect takes time. Executing a strong and powerful roundhouse kick definitely needs a lot of work and practice. Does that mean to give up, absolutely not! Some parts may be harder to get used to then others, no biggie. Take a deep breath, don't worry, and use a little time everyday to practice. Before you know it, your roundhouse kick will definitely be a lot more powerful and stronger. Regardless, I hope you learned something here that will make things at least a little easier for you in the long run. Have fun with the process and start practicing on your technique, with a little patience and dedication, those trees won't stand a chance.

How do you breathe in the martial arts?

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Breathing Techniques For Fighters

Today we are going to cover the topic of how to breathe properly for Martial Arts. We all know how to breathe, right? We even do it without thinking. And that is the core of the problem. We don't even know that we are doing it wrong! In this article, we will explain in detail how proper breathing is essential when it comes to Martial Arts.

In Martial Arts, there is a very specific way how to breathe to generate more power. That way of breathing is helping us to recover throughout the round as well. Even and controlled breathing will result in more power and endurance. It will also result in more confidence and calmness.

Try to imagine that you are in a fight. You are still not engaged, just moving around the ring with your opponent. Your breathing rhythm is steady, everything is normal. But when you engage with your opponent everything changes. You aren't concentrating on your breathing anymore. That is the problem. You start to lose control of your body, just because you lost control of your breath.

The Biggest Problem Is Holding Your Breath

It is kind of tough to regulate your breathing in a fight because you are in the middle of an attack. For example, you are in the fight, you throw three punches and you have to roll under your opponent's counter. You won't be breathing between the punches. Yet, you can't catch your breath while rolling underneath. Right?

The thing is - you inhale when you have the time for it. And often you don't feel like you have time for anything, at least not for breathing. But the thing is if you hold your breath while throwing punches - you will exhaust yourself real fast. Holding your breath through the punches will reduce their power. 

The point is to exhale on strikes. In Martial Arts, you need to exhale with every one of the punches you make. That will help you to produce more power no matter how many punches we are talking about. It could be two or it could be ten, you need to exhale every single time. Doing so will also improve your cardiovascular system and its endurance. Simply put - you will have more strength and your breath will last longer.

Next time you go to the gym, pay attention to other people while they work out. You will hear them hissing and making noises while punching or doing the heavy lifting. That "Shh" sound you hear is them exhaling. In Martial Arts we also use that sound, so we can hear ourselves as we exhale to make sure we do it right. If you don't like that particular noise, make some other, but the point is that you can hear yourself and make exhaling every time a habit.

As we mentioned already, it doesn't matter how many punches you throw. You just need to exhale every time you do it. Don't worry that much about inhaling, your body will inhale naturally. On the other hand, it won't exhale naturally. You have to train it to do so. The key is to be persistent and practice your breathing all the time. You can do that at the gym, at Martial Arts classes or even when you are at home.

The thing is that people are concerned that they will run out of breath when it comes to a sparring match. But that is one reason more why you should practice your breathing when training or when in a fight. Proper breathing will relax your muscles and get them more oxygen. If you don't breathe properly the level of carbon dioxide in your muscles will become high. Your energy will go low because of too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen.

To test this theory, go for a swim. Try to keep your head underwater as long as you can without breathing. After at least 20-30 seconds you will start to panic and your brain will send you signals that it needs oxygen. The same thing is happening in Martial Arts when you hold your breath for too long.

Find a way to relax your breathing.

The more you practice your breathing the more you will be aware of it and its benefits. Get into patterns and rhythm and you will see that your body will be grateful for that. Your moves will be lighter and you will have more energy, strength, and power. Get used to exhale and inhale with every defense and offense move. Try to catch your breath when you escape an opponent's punch. Try to breathe in while you are waiting for your opponents' move. Just find your rhythm and flow and - breathe as naturally as you can. The most important thing is that your breathing needs to be even and relaxed. There is no point in being stuck in the middle and holding your breath. You can't just inhale or exhale, you need to find a balance.

There is a situation that happens very often especially when you are a beginner - you are not able to realize your opponents' every move. You are about to hit him and to exhale while throwing a punch - but at that moment he might move. He is about to attack and you and you were about to exhale but you hold your breath, waiting for him to attack. That is a common mistake. You need to know to let it go. Learn to let your breath keep going even if the situation unpredictably changes.

To be clear, inhalation is not the main problem here. Holding your breath instead of exhaling is much worse. If you forget to exhale, your body won't be able to inhale and that is how you run out of breath. You need to keep breathing while both attacking and defending yourself. Your opponent is thought to read your every move. He will know that you want to attack even before you do so. That is the opportunity for him to attack you before you get a chance to attack him. That is exactly what brings you to the situation where you hold your breath longer.

Stopping your breathing is equal to stopping your rhythm. Without regular breathing and rhythm, your defense will be weak and you won't be able to attack. Find a way to let that breath go and find your rhythm again. Keep in mind the importance of exhaling and inhaling all the time.

To improve your breathing imagine all the possible scenarios while practicing. Imagine that your opponent is getting away or him attacking you when you are about to attack him. Learning how to continuously breathe under all circumstances is essential. The most common situation where you forget to exhale is when you are about to attack and that attack doesn't happen. Learn how to let it go, re-catch it, restart and adapt to a new situation. 

Try not to be so busy thinking about your offense all the time. Yes, your offense is very important and you should keep it in mind, but you must not forget how to breathe. Do not be bothered, especially if you are a beginner, that your opponent knows your every move. Sometimes you won't be aware of what is happening but that is perfectly normal. Don't be too hard on yourself.

It is hard to control the situation but it is not impossible. It comes with persistence, training, and practice. Don't spend too much time worrying about that stuff. It is natural that in the beginning, you will struggle with all these things. We all were, but that doesn't mean that there is room for frustration. Don't waste all your hard work. Just learn that breathing and rhythm are the most important things. Everything else, like speed, power and endurance will come in time. 

Differences between Martial Arts and regular training

In Martial Arts, it is not like walking or going for a run. There are a lot of differences and disruptions that you need to deal with. You have to maintain your flow. Pay more attention to details, try to breathe evenly. Find time to reset and exhale every time you notice that you are holding your breath for too long. That will help you to build up your confidence, strength, power.

Consciously thinking about slowing your breathing is a way to go. Your brain and your body need that oxygen. You should never forget that. There is no point in just exhaling and inhaling in Martial Arts. Everything has to be measured and regulated. Slow down your breathing, inhale and exhale completely. Find what is best for your body. It is crucial to control your body and your mind. Controlling your breath will control your panic and anxiety and you will be thinking more clearly.

Conclusion

To summarize everything, breathing is the core of Martial Arts. Without proper breathing, everything else is wasted. To maintain regular breath flow you will need a lot of practice. But remember - once you get a habit out of it - the sky is the limit!

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