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Your questions answered! (podcast)

Welcome to the latest iainabernethy.com podcast! It’s been sometime since we last turned the podcast over to the listeners, so I’ve put that right this month. I asked for questions via the website, facebook and twitter and we did our best to cover as many of them as we could.

Topics covered include: realism in training, kicking in self-defence, scenario training, training with joint injuries, the evolution of kata, the physiological and psychological effects of conflict, the specifics of female self-defence, home training, using weights to increase punching power, time management for training, and loads more! It’s around one hour twenty minutes long so make yourself comfortable when you sit down to listen to it!

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The Masters Speak! (podcast)

Welcome to the October 2012 iainabernethy.com podcast! This podcast is titled “The Masters Speak!” and it covers twenty-five or so of some of my favourite quotes from the works of the past masters. In the podcast we include the words of masters such as Itosu, Funakoshi, Otsuka, Mabuni, Motobu, Kyan, etc. What I hope these quotations show is that much of what is regarded as “traditional” today is not that traditional!

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Context! Context! Context! (podcast)

Welcome to the latest iainabernethy.com podcast! This month we cover the very important topic of “context”. The failure to understand the huge impact of context is one of the biggest problems in modern martial arts / self-defence. This failure has people training in incorrect, inefficient and sometimes downright dangerous ways. It can also stop us from enjoying all the fun and benefits our training can bring us.

In the podcast I define what I mean by “context”, explain how important it is to define the “win”, look at how context and the “win” determine what pool of techniques we should draw from, how the very effective tactics in one context can be disastrous in another, etc. I also look at some of the common misunderstandings relating to context.

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The 20 Precepts of Gichin Funakoshi (podcast)

Welcome to the latest iainabernethy.com podcast! It’s been a little while since the last one due to the many demands upon my time, so I hope you feel this one is worth the wait!

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Verbal De-Escalation (podcast)

In this month’s podcast we will be looking at verbal de-escalation. What I mean by that is what we can do to calm people down, avoid unnecessary physical conflict, and “talk our way out”.

It’s not enough to simply give the topic lip service, as many do, with throw away lines such as “talk your way out if you can”. That’s like saying “punch hard” and expecting students to be able to punch well despite never having being taught punching or having practised it. There is huge skill set associated with talking your way out of situations that should not be ignored.

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Funakoshis 6 Rules (podcast)

Welcome to the latest iainabernethy.com podcast! In this podcast I give my thoughts on Gichin Funakoshi’s “Six Rules” (of which there are five!). These rules form part of Funakoshi’s book ‘Karate-Do: My Way of Life’ and about which he states, “The strict observance of these rules is absolutely essential for anyone who desires to understand the nature of karate.” This podcast is obviously not attempting to be a definitive explanation or exploration of these rules, but merely my own take on them.

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Discipline and Defiance / Practical Karate (podcast)

The podcast is back! Please accept my apologies for the delay between podcasts. Hopefully you will find it worth the wait! Seeing as you have been so patient, this podcast covers two topics in a kind of “double feature”!

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Multiple Enemies (podcast)

Welcome to August’s podcast! In this podcast we discuss the issue of multiple enemies. Despite the fact that multiple enemies are a likely occurrence in self-protection situations, I think it would be fair to say that the majority of groups ignore this likelihood and concentrate solely on one-on-one methodologies and tactics. Unfortunately, one-on-one methodologies and tactics can work brilliantly when things are one-on-one, but can be totally inappropriate and fail dramatically when the numbers increase. The need for solid technique at all ranges remains constant, what changes is what techniques we choose to use and how we choose to use them.

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A Plethora of Martial Musings (podcast)

Welcome to the July 11 podcast! This month has me musing over a wide range of martial topics raised by listeners. We look at methods of breathing; the value of cross-training; using empty-hand kata for weapons; bunkai deniers; training for the non-physical aspects of confrontation; the order in which we should learn kata; the “two-hand” rule of bunkai; weapon defence in kata; Motobu’s place in karate history; karate styles; striking vs. grappling; home training for kyu grades; and my own personal kata practise. A pretty wide ranging podcast I’m sure you’ll agree!

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Visualisation Training (Podcast)

In this month’s podcast I want to discuss my personal take on visualisation training. Visualisation training is where we mentally rehearse a given task or scenario in order to help us prepare for that task or scenario.

I’ve made use of visualisation over the years and I’ve found it to be very useful. It can be a great supplement to physical training and can help develop skill, improve performance, boost confidence and help give you a positive self-image. It can help you rehearse so you are well prepared for any task you are undertaking. It also has uses in our everyday lives outside of the martial arts too.

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