Eye Square Martial Arts

Cultural Preservation… with Bruises.

Tag: Essay

  • The Teacher Student Dynamic

    The Teacher Student Dynamic

    I looked at the situation I’m in currently and realized something:
    I’ve been fortunate enough to have some of the best martial artists in the world pull me aside and say:

    “Hey, let me show you something.”

    And I’ve often wondered—why me?
    I’m nothing special.

    Then it hit me:
    It’s because I try. I show up. I engage.

    👊 Why Teachers Really Invest

    My Kenpo grandmaster drives an hour and a half—just to train us. He only asks for gas money.

    Why?

    Because, as he’s told me, my fellow students and I are eager to learn. We give him our attention and our respect. We take the art seriously, and that matters.

    I make it a point to try. I practice what I’m shown. I ask questions. I help others.
    And that effort resonates with teachers who care.

    💰 Beyond Paying for an Experience

    So why don’t more people get this kind of treatment?

    A big part of it:
    You have to put in work before someone high-level can show you something advanced.
    (For more context, see: There Are No Secrets)

    Another piece:
    You have to go beyond the idea that paying tuition entitles you to instruction.

    A true relationship between teacher and student can’t be bought—it’s built.

    I’m not saying teachers shouldn’t be paid—far from it.
    Great instructors often put in more work and study than it takes to become a doctor. If they can help you grow, they deserve compensation.

    But the best teachers? They want to teach.
    They light up when a student is engaged and clearly chasing more than a belt.

    Unfortunately, most students are just paying for an experience.
    They want to say they train—without ever earning the knowledge.

    🔄 A Relationship of Give and Take

    There’s a complementary dynamic between teacher and student:

    • Without students, teachers have no one to teach.
    • Without teachers, students can’t learn—not really.

    Both roles demand respect.
    Both require effort, patience, and communication.

    🎯 What Makes a Good Student?

    A good student…

    • Meets their obligations—time and tuition
    • Communicates with their teacher
    • Practices outside of class
    • Asks questions
    • Engages with the material, and shares it with others

    Because even the best teacher in the world…
    Can’t make a student good. Only the student can do that.

    🧠 Final Thought

    Show up. Try. Care.
    That’s what teachers are looking for.

    And when they find it—they give you everything they’ve got.

  • What Change Demands

    What Change Demands

    When I started martial arts 20 years ago, I was a lanky, uncoordinated mess—about 6’2″ and 165 pounds soaking wet. I hadn’t played sports beyond the bare minimum in PE, and to top it off, I had borderline-high blood pressure.

    In short: I had nothing going for me.

    So when someone tells me,

    “I’d love to train, but I’m out of shape,”
    it hits a nerve.

    Right. Because I started off in peak condition?

    💥 You Will Be Uncomfortable

    About ten years in, I realized I was drifting into “married blob” territory. My grandma even said,

    “Looks like marriage is being good to you,”
    which is family code for “you’re getting fat.”

    So I joined a gym. I started lifting.

    My then-wife wanted to join me, so we trained together. At least for a while.

    But certain exercises—deadlifts, squats, dips—she found uncomfortable.
    And when she didn’t see results, she was surprised.

    Go figure.

    🧱 Discomfort Is the Cost of Growth

    Martial arts are no different. You will be uncomfortable. You’ll struggle. You’ll fail. You’ll want to quit.

    But here’s the thing:
    If you want something of value, you have to give something up.
    Time. Energy. Sweat. Ego.

    Discomfort is the toll you pay for transformation.

    Whether it’s the weight room or the dojo, it’s not about starting strong—
    It’s about showing up anyway.

  • A Good Martial Art?

    A Good Martial Art?

    Spend five minutes in any martial arts forum, and you’ll find someone arguing over which martial art is best.

    It’s the wrong question—and it misses the point entirely.

    For more context, check out Why Do You Train?

    🤔 What Makes a Martial Art “Good”?

    There are martial arts from all corners of the globe—many with lineages that stretch back centuries or more. These arts didn’t stick around by accident.

    They’ve endured because they work.
    They work in the context of conflict, and more importantly, they work for the human body.

    🧍‍♂️ A Common Platform

    People often claim, “That move looks just like the one from Art X—it must have come from there.” Never mind that these arts may have developed continents apart.

    More likely?
    Similar movements evolve from the same foundation: the human body.

    Two arms, two legs, a head, a torso. That’s the platform.

    And with it comes some hard truths:

    • Cut off blood to the brain? You lose consciousness.
    • Restrict air? The body fails.
    • Push a joint past its range? It breaks.

    It’s not about style—it’s about structure.

    ⚙️ Good Body Mechanics

    A good martial art teaches you to move efficiently:

    • Without hurting yourself
    • While making it easier to hurt your opponent (if necessary)

    It respects the mechanics of your own body, and shows you how to exploit the weaknesses in someone else’s.

    It should also scale with you—whether you’re 18 or 80. If it breaks down when your joints do, that’s a problem.

    🧩 The Big Picture

    A good martial art should:

    • ✅ Support your personal training goals
    • ✅ Minimize risk to yourself while maximizing effectiveness
    • ✅ Adapt with you over time

    Outside of those factors, the question stops being “Which martial art is good?”
    And becomes “How well can I use what I’m learning?”

    Even the most “effective” art in the world is useless if you can’t apply it.

    At the end of the day, it’s not just about the art—it’s about the artist.

    So maybe the better question isn’t “Which martial art is best?”
    But rather:
    “Which one is best for you—and are you willing to do the work?”

  • There are No Secrets

    There are No Secrets

    💭 Killing the Myth

    There’s a persistent idea in martial arts that there are secrets—hidden techniques, esoteric knowledge, or mystical wisdom reserved only for the chosen few.

    Maybe there still are. I don’t know everything.
    But here’s what I do know:

    Unless we’re talking about supernatural nonsense (most of which is B.S. anyway), there are no secrets. There is only physical ability and hard-earned skill.

    🧵 Demonstration ≠ Disclosure

    Years ago, my Kung Fu instructor demonstrated the entire Wing Chun system to a guy who just walked in off the street. A total stranger.

    He showed:

    • The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd empty-hand forms
    • The wooden dummy form
    • The double knife form
    • The pole form

    I don’t think he went over stick hands, but that’s application anyway.

    “But isn’t that giving away secrets?”
    Not really.

    If the guy was a beginner, he wouldn’t know what he was seeing.
    If he was experienced, he’d either recognize it—or he’d see something new and get curious. Either way, nothing was “lost.”

    🕵️ Why Were There Ever Secrets?

    In martial cultures, the stakes were higher.
    A challenge wasn’t a sparring match—it was possibly life or death. Having techniques no one expected made sense. That surprise might be the only thing that saved your life.

    Makes sense… in that world.

    🚌 The “Bus Test”

    Here’s the real danger of secrecy:

    If the head of your martial arts system got hit by a bus, how much knowledge would die with them?

    Before World War II, Okinawan Karate masters often kept secrets locked inside their schools. Then war came—and many of them died.

    So did their knowledge.

    Afterward, the surviving masters realized:
    If you don’t share what you know, it can disappear forever.
    And so they began to teach more openly. The “Bus Test” was finally passed.

    🧠 Advanced Doesn’t Mean Secret

    The truth is, most “advanced” techniques can’t be applied without years of timing, pressure training, and precision.

    A Jujutsu master could break down every piece of a move and walk you through it. You could understand it intellectually. But you still wouldn’t be able to pull it off without:

    • Repetition
    • Patience
    • Application
    • And a lot of practice

    🥋 The Master Ken Conclusion

    So let me channel my inner Master Ken for a second:

    “Secrets in the martial arts are BULLSH*T!”

    Train hard. Share knowledge. Leave a legacy. That’s how martial arts survive.