Using Karate tricks, which are the same as Hapkido tricks or gung fu techniques, it is pretty easy to break bricks. I’m not going to say that your grandmother could do it, or a child, but you could. Heck, a little work and practice, the smarts to figure out the sacred words I am about to impart, and you could be smashing the holy heck out of sun dried rectangular blocks.

Strength? Do you really need it for MMA? You bet you do. Just look at the fighters today in the UFC.

I had been studying the martial arts for over twenty years when this incident happened. I had studied Parker’s Chinese Kenpo and Kwon Bop Korean Karate, Wing Chun and Aikido, and lots of other combat disciplines. I was working in a door factory at the time, and some of the fellows I worked with knew that I was a martial arts fanatic.

This Korean Karate technique is one of the simplest and most deadly techniques in the classical martial arts. As simple as it is, it requires perfect and exact timing, and a number of little elements I’m about to tell you about. Understanding these little points, and practicing a bit, and you are going to have one of the most powerful tools in your martial arts arsenal.

Power, in the Martial Arts, especially martial arts like Karate or Kung Fu is often measured by how hard you can hit. Thus, people hit the bag and the Makiwara, and they do push ups to strengthen their arms, and…and they are doing it all wrong. You see, there is one critical factor that they are missing, and so all their push ups and punches are having less effect than they would wish.

I want to be as fast as Jet Li, as acrobatic as Jackie Chan, and as humble as myself. Now, I’ve seen all the ads, I know all I have to do is engage in a bone breaking sweat for a few years, and I will achieve my peak potential. Either that or join the Green Berets.

When it comes to actual street fights, you’ll in fact never know if you can or can not control the situation. You simply can’t predict if you will possibly be attacked while standing or when laying on the ground. All the impulsiveness associated with daily life only makes martial arts useful and on hand while dealing with unavoidable fights. When the majority of martial abilities tend to be centered on the standing aspects of fighting, studying some ground fighting tactics can show you exactly the kind of moves and maneuvers which will catch your opponent off guard.

The sport of Jiu Jitsu is both physically and mentally challenging. Indeed, BJJ is often referred to as a physical chess! What is wonderful about this sport is that even if you are physically the best player out there, you can still be beaten by your opponent if he is stronger mentally.

Whether you study Tae Kwon Do, Kenpo, or that rare Wudan Art from Faroutistan, speed is vitally important to the martial arts. If you are going to get anywhere in freestyle, you must be faster than your foe. Even in the doing of your patterns, speed gives a certain instruction that is necessary to the successful martial artist.

Using speed bags in MMA is controversial. There are some that say they have no use in traditional boxing and certainly not in MMA. Still others say they are quite useful.