International Shorin-Ryu Karate Kobudo Federation
 International Shorinji Ryu Jujitsu Federation
180 Yellow Jacket Drive Reliance, TN 37369 USA Tel. (423) 338-4972, Fax. (423) 338-5651
email alexyama@ mindspring.com

White Crane Snow Tiger News January 2007

www.yamazato-videos.com www.worldbudokan.com

Action Martial Arts- Hall of Fame

News Notes & Yamazato New Releases

Well the holidays are over and everyone is about recovered I presume. Everyone should be ready for the New Year with lots of goals ahead of them. Mine are to train more and watch the diet. At sixty (60) years old the metabolism is not cranking fast enough no matter how hard I work out. Its not about the intensity of the workout [takes longer to recover] anymore but the frequency of training and dietary management. For you old timers the idea is to keep your metabolic rate up. You can do this by increasing the number of workouts per week and even decreasing the duration if you have to. Cardio versus resistance? What we do is cardio so you should supplement your training in basics, forms and sparring with a resistance workout. All you need are some dumbbells. At least once a week I have my class work on hojo undo. These are supplemental exercises to karate training. But they can be applied to any martial art or exercise program. Basically, what we are doing is using weights and other equipment to train at various stations on a circuit. You perform an exercise on each station from one to three minutes and then change to the next station. The dumbbells can be used for performing curls, military presses and punches, etc. You can also integrate the heavy bag and makiwara into this regime. Ive recently added an Iron Palm station as well. Further you can work on destabilizing your base while lifting weights. This is a favorite of mine. You can destabilize your base simply by lifting one foot in the air while weight training. There are also qi gong exercises that do the same thing. I use a small trampoline to stand on and lift one leg so that Im in a crane stance and then do a combination of curls and military presses as one exercise. What this does is to create neurological stress by decreasing your balance and makes you use stabilizer muscles that you dont ordinarily use when performing the same exercise. This is nothing new and has been around for hundreds of years. The next level up is to hold your leg in front of you as if you are doing a front kick and then perform the exercises. Or get in a crane stance and balance [while on the trampoline] a teacup and saucer on your knee while lifting. Hope you have plenty of extra cups. Try it! I think youll find this challenging and refreshing. If you can vary your workout it keeps you going. The idea is to keep you from getting bored and keep you involved.

Finally, if you are really advanced and think you are in good shape you can combine cardio and resistance together. This is called extreme muscular endurance and will turn you into a monster [presuming this is your goal] on the dojo floor. The program is called 100 Reps! The idea is to do one hundred repetitions with either five or ten pound dumbbells. There are fourteen exercises in the program, which take over an hour to complete. When you are done youve completed Fourteen Hundred Repetitions that have your heart pounding and your muscles pumped. It takes about a week to recover. If you have further interest in any of this Yamazato has several DVDs that can instruct you on exactly how to do what Ive described above and more! The DVD title The Karate Dojo Vol I has the hojo undo on it and 100 Reps has the fourteen exercises for extreme muscular endurance. www.yamazato-videos.com Started doing some full contact sparing in December. Ill talk to you more about that in the next newsletter if I dont have a heart attack first!

Action Martial Arts Hall of Fame and Trade Show

Alan Goldbergs Action Martial Arts Hall of Fame and Trade Show was held on January 4th & 5th in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This is always a great event and this year was no different. It was well attended and many of our friends stopped by our booth to say hello. Judith Maich from Black Belt Magazinewas there along with newcomer Laura. Both Alan Goldberg and Peter Ticali handled the pressure of organizing and running the event rather well. Dana Abbot of Samurai Sports was there and will be releasing some new sword DVDs through Yamazato Productions. Look for those soon. Eric Lee was there along with Bill Wallace and Cynthia Rothrock and of course Karen Shepard. Michele Mouse Krasnoo said hello. By way of contrast, I got to speak with Dan Servern. He is certainly a mountain of a man and, No! He doesnt hate Ken Shamrock. My friends from Tiger Claw were there and I ordered a new gi from Jennifer Oh. She promised I would really like it so well see. Got to hang with some of the old timers such as Gary Alexander, Vince Marchetti and Joe Hess. My Korean brother Yong Sung Lee from the Washington, D.C. area was there and we got to spend some time together. He is a great kicker as you might imagine and is a Hapkido master as well. Rob Colasanti from NAPMA was there and was his usual smiling self. Professor Thomas Keen was there. He has recently completed two new DVDs, Iron Palm In 100 Days and Chinese Iron Palm 13 Stages of Training. These are both excellent productions and contain some very interesting material. Finally, Grand Master John Pelligrini was on hand demonstrated his skill in Combat Hapkido. Shorin Ryu Karate Master Frank D. Williams presented himself front and center. Frank spent twenty-six years in the Marine Corps and is now retired. He will be hosting an event in September of this year in Charlotte, N.C. Got to send some time with my karate brother Sensei Bob Herten of Patterson, New Jersey. Bob will be hosting an event in April. Finally, Michael J. White was in attendance promoting his new movie Undisputed II. Michael is a pleasant fellow and is a real martial artist and not just a movie star.

Also got to do a demo and seminar on White Crane Karate, pressure point applications and bo kata and applications. Sensei Bob Weiser who is a 5th Dan with the ISKKF came all the way up from Florida to help with the demo and Robert Debyl, 3rd Dan came from Maryland to assist as well. To my surprise the seminar was packed. Guess they liked the demo. The Hakutsuru So and Niseishi kata were taught at this seminar. Niseishi is relatively simple but contains enough information to make the applications interesting and enjoyable. It has some applications that are readily applicable to sparring like blocking, evasion and a reverse punch counterattack. Who says kata cant help you with sparring? Dont want to mention any names, Bill [Wallace]. Everyone who attended received an attractive certificate.

I reported to you last time that we recently finished shooting White Crane Speed & Evasion Volume 5. This one has the final kata of the system on it namely, Niseishi and Unsu. It will be released this week. Many of you have purchased Volumes One through Four and I thank you for your interest and support of my research in this area. We certainly have received good feedback on all of these. For more on this see Mastering White Crane Karate at www.yamazato-videos.com If any of you would like a kata syllabus chart that lists all eleven kata on it and the rank requirements of the system, please call me. It is very attractive and easily fits into a poster frame. Makes an excellent wall hanging in your dojo. Only $19.95 plus $6.00 S&H Patches are $6.00 ea.

Okinawa Hakutsuru Kenpo Chart New! Patch

Also, new on the DVD scene are two titles on Iron Palm. Chinese Iron Palm 13 Stages of Training and Iron Palm in 100 Days. These DVDs feature Professor Thomas Keen and completely cover the subject of Iron Palm Training. We also have the Classic BOOK available Iron Palm in 100 Days by Lee Ying-arng. $19.95.

We recently received a new shipment of swords in from Asia. They are called The Lightening Cloud Katana. One style is the Master Sword and the other is the Warrior Spirit! These are real swords and are sharp (shinken). The Master Sword sells for $600.00.We have it on sale for $500.00. It is very attractive and is a high quality blade. It is manufactured using the Damascus style of folding the blade many times. The Warrior Spirit sells for $200 and is on sale at an introductory price of $150.00. It is a 440 stainless steel blade. I looked at both of these when they came in and I prefer the Warrior Spirit. I like the balance of this blade in particular. It is a good value for the money. [I grabbed one for myself and have used it to cut bamboo already.] If you are looking for a higher quality blade go with the Master Sword. Both are good swords and can be used for kata as well as cutting.

Top: Lightening Cloud Master Sword

Bottom: Lightening Cloud Warrior Spirit

News Notes

New Titles from Yamazato Productions:

$29.95 each FREE SHIPPING! Call 1-888-299-YAMA (9262) or www.yamazato-videos.com

The Book!

Photo Gallery:

George Alexander (L), Joe Hess and Gary Alexander The girls from Black Belt: Laura (L) and Judith.

Eric Lee (L), Gary Wasniewski & George George & Dan The Beast Severn

Alan Goldberg with merely a wave of the hand runs the trade show and banquet.

George & Brother Lee Grand Master Yong Sung Lee.

Two Recon Marines Life Takers and Heart Breakers George & Reno

Professor Branff (L) expounds on the esoteric principles

of the universe while a spellbound George & Susan Alexander look on!

All the best to you in your martial arts endeavors. Time is your most important asset but it means nothing without good health. Stay strong! Stay healthy! Finally, anyone interested in membership in the Okinawa Hakutsuru Kenpo Association/Shorin Ryu Karate/Jujitsu/Sword or any of our other marital disciplines check out the new website and contact me. www.worldbudokan.com. Weve added quite a few articles that Im sure youll find interesting.

Sincerely,

George W. Alexander, 10th Dan President

Okinawa Hakutsuru Kenpo Association

International Shorin Ryu Karate Kobudo Federation

Shorinji Ryu Jujitsu Federation

World Budokan Kendo Federation
Yamazato International
180 Yellow Jacket Drive
Reliance, TN USA 37369
Tel. 423-338-4972
Toll Free 1-888-299-YAMA (9262)
Fax 423-338-5651
 www.yamazato-videos.com

www.worldbudokan.com

alexyama@mindspring.com