Ultimate Training for the Martial Arts

This is one of the Ultimate Guides that Inside Kung Fu Magazine has been publishing in recent years. There is so much ionfrmation here that it would be difficult to summarize, so I will focus on three articles in different areas that I found most helpful. Before I do that, I want to say that the articles run the full gamut, covering almost every martial art you can think of, from external to internal training, conditioning, diet, health, exercise, technique training, practical applications, strategy, weapons, advanced theory, internal energy, martial arts energetics, and the usual articles on various styles. Often by recognized experts, the level of difficulty varies quite a bit and also in coverage and depth of detail, but that's to be expected in a book like this. Someone with an already extensive background in the martial arts might find the average level of the articles a bit too basic, but overall, there's a lot of good information here. (Besides, someone that expert should probably be writing their own articles and publishing them in this book or similar books). The first is Tim Tackett's "Wing Chun Meets JKD." Having recently attended one of Tim's seminars, and also at age 53 having recently received my instructor certification in Kali/JKD, I read his article first. (I should mention I am a karate and kung fu instructor with some years experience, so that wasn't my first black belt). Since much of my martial arts career has been spent training on my own, I've always liked the idea of a dummy set, although I'm never had a chance to learn it, out of the many forms I've learned. Tim discribes how Bruce developed his own version of the form (he never quite finished the actual form). Later, when Inosanto visited Hong Kong he finally had the opportunity to learn the whole form. Upon returning, he then developed a 125-move JKD form consisting of Bruce Lee's modified Wing Chun set and the boxing phase of JKD. Tim also mentioned that JKD isn't comprised of 26 different arts, as has been claimed. it is mainly based on Wing Chun, western boxing, and western fencing. As always, Bruce was a master of assimilation and simplification, which the ability to strip everything down to the essentials, hence his famous dictum about using what works, disposing of what doesn't, and simplifying what you have learned. The second article I wanted to mention was June Castro's on boxing ringmanship. Miss Castro does an excellent job discussing the different skills and ring strategies, which consist mainly of using the center, using the corners, and using the ropes, and how different fighters may try to take advantage of them, how to defend yourself accordingly, and then use them to your advantage. I am also a fan of Marco Ruas, whom the redoubtable Norm Leff discusses in the third article I wanted to mention. Master Leff discusses in detail Ruas's training and diet regimen and how he trains for a fight. However, at age 53, I would be happy to accomplish 1/5 of w