Sometimes, for example, we work on balance.  We could stand in one place like some schools may do for an extended period of time which would bore you to tears.  However, instead we went through an old drill, where you hop on one leg, hold onto your other leg in front of you and try to bump your opponents over.  Besides being really a fun exercise, it is exhausting because it works all your core muscles till they burn, while having a fun time doing it. 

So you end up strengthening your muscles and have a blast doing it.  That creates a debate from some school owners.  Some don’t like to have fun.   They find, it seems less disciplined when you are having fun.  I feel, if you can have a workout, learn new things and have a good time doing it, you will be more likely to train and not give up.

I have trained the disciplined way, where if you smiled in class, you were stared down and frowned upon for being too happy.  Sounds kind of weird.  What’s wrong with smiling?  Standing still for ten minutes at a time in one stance.  We switched legs and did ten more minutes.  Then we did front snap kicks for ten minutes.  Switched legs and did the other leg for ten minutes.  That was allright in 70’s and 80’s.  But, now that does not go over quite as well.  People get bored easier and you need to be a little more creative than that.   

Our martial arts Wausau games keep you moving, working on coordination, timing and focus.

We have worked on building the Haunted house for the past 3 weeks and now it’s time to start our ghoulish  party.  We have some pretty creepy people ready to spook you and some creative props to freak you out, made by all of our helpers.  The party is free to anyone that wants to have a good time and behaves well.  We do ask that you bring a dish to pass, so everyone has something to eat during the event.   

We tone it down for the younger kids and try to pick it up for the older kids/adults.  The party starts 7:00 on Saturday October 29th, 2011 and goes till 10:00 pm.  We will have soda, light sticks, contests and candy for participants. 

You must dress up in a costume!  Even parents!  That way we will never know who you are unless you tell us!! 

The party is located at Premier Martial Arts, 920 Grand Ave. Schofield, WI 715-355-4222.  Across the street from Arby’s in Schofield, behind Coldwell Banker Realty. 

See you there.

Our Karate testing is held annually at Mission lake, just because it is an awesome location for picnicking, swimming and doing what we do best, Martial Arts!  Even the Monkey man, Kyle Bartz, tested for his first degree black belt.  Congratulations Kyle!  We will post photos as soon as we get some to work with.

We will be demonstrating a variety of martial arts styles performed by our school.  Some from Taekwondo, Hopkido, Ju Jitsu, Kobudo, Inayan Esckrima as well as other arts. We will show you some Taekwondo  kicking combinations, while you are standing in line.   Also, we will be giving away a gift certificate for $100.00 of free lessons at Premier Martial Arts LLC just before the show starts.

So come watch the action on Saturday, Memorial weekend!

Also don’t forget that children and adults can start to  learn martial arts.  In fact, we start children at 3 1/2 years old.  You are really never too old to begin, so check us out at Cedar Creek  on Saturday.  4th degree black belt, Adam Salazar will be running the demonstration team.  See you there!

Build coordination, timing, speed, confidence, self control, self discipline and self esteem through our structured Antigo Martial Arts programs.  The instructor Adam Salazar has 14 years experience, training in over ten different martial arts, including Tae Kwon-do, Inayan Eskrima, Jiu Jitsu, Sim Mu Do, just to name a few in our mixed martial arts training program, “MMA”.

At Premier Martial Arts, we are interested not only in self defense skills, but also in the complete personal development of each student.  Individual attention is a feature of each and every class, allowing Premier Martial Arts MMA students to progress quickly and easily toward their personal goals.  Our instructors take seriously their responsibility as role models for younger students, teaching them the importance of strong character leadership and good values.

Although our technques are based on centuries old knowledge, our application of that knowledge sets Premier martial Arts apart from the other schools.  We realize each student possesses different physical abilities.  Size and strength varies with each individual, so once you have acquired a strong foundation in the basics, our program will enhance your personal physical capabilities and maximize your self defense skills. You will understand exactly what it takes mentally and physically, to defend yourself or your loved ones using our mixed martial arts program.
Currently we are teaching in Three locations:

Premier Martial Arts Antigo (at the Antigo Athletic Club)

Premier Martial Arts LLC Schofield, 920 Grand Ave. Schofield

At the Woodson YMCA Wausau.

Come join us on our quest to be our best!

First, you should learn some basic kickboxing techniques and how to do them with precision.  Practicing  punches with lousy technique requires fixing in the future.   So, why practice a punch where you are swatting, punching with your wrist bent or without putting any weight behind the strike?  That is a good question because these problems will not give you the power,to do any real damage. 

Also, proper footwork and positioning of your body weight have a great impact on your strike.  If you punch an opponent and you are the only one that moves when you hit, you are either hitting a Sumo wrestler or you got a problem.  Stumbling off balance and leaning too much throws off your center of balance which makes your punches weak.  Let’s face it guys, in MMA, if you look weak, you probably are weak. 

That is why you need to practice your form when punching.  Just as a quarterback has to throw a spiral you need to strike in a straight direction when punching straight.   A straight punch actually takes time to learn.  You need to drill the technique, keeping your elbow in, blocking your jaw, rotating your wrist, looking  at your opponent and dropping your weight at the right time to have some basic skills to get it right.

Second, you really need a grappling background to round yourself.  Grappling is not the only answer because many Ju Jitsu guys do not know how to deal with strikers.  But, you should know what to do when you hit the ground.  I have seen many a Jui Jitsu guy not have a clue how to avoid punches.  They only want to learn the ground game and can pay price when someone will not let you go to the ground. 

In our Wausau MMA school, one of my black belts once said “how do you have the patience to teach everyone the same thing over and over again?  It would drive me crazy”.  I told him, you can learn something  from every student from the way they respond to a move, how they do the move and use those differences to make your skills and others better.  Just keep on practicing!

Karate has really taken off in the last few months due to the remake of the movie, the Karate Kid.  Whether it is a Korean, Japanese  or Chinese art, most people do not seem to care, primarily because they do not know the differences yet.

Every Japanese art I ever trained in was very rigid and disciplined.  Most instructors did not want to cater to children because kids usually can not handle the ridgidness of classes.  Now days many instructors have become a little more open too being nicer and attracting children.   That is because they had to or they would be like the “Maytag repair man”,  with no one training in class but themselves!

 Taekwondo has become one of the most popular arts in the country primarily due to  really cool kicks which are appealing to kids and adults.  The classes are disciplined and instructors are more understanding of children’s needs in training.  By that I mean they have developed skill drills which build coordination, timing, speed, focus and keep kids having fun while staying on task.  

I have heard some comments from people that the movie, the Karate Kid should  have been named differently because they did Kung Fu, instead of Karate.  Did it really matter?  To some people it does.   But I say, don’t get too hung up on the small stuff, just enjoy the movie and the ideas behind the movie. 

Some people train for many years in the martial arts.  You could say to them, you aren’t doing this or that art.  You can’t do them all!   I feel like I tried that, but you have to keep your knowledge attainable or you are chasing after too much.  For an instructor, you have too look at what is most important for students to learn and focus on those areas.  I have always felt that self defense is extremely important, sparring helps tune in those skills, forms help work on balance, breathing, focus, timing, grappling helps with the ground defense and other techniques just too name a few keep everyone striving for excellence. 

 Mr Heil and myself sat on the testing board at Mission Lake where some students advanced to higher black belt levels such as Mr. Schuster/3rd degree, Mr. Zinkowich/2nd degree, and Miss. Rogan/1st degree.  These individuals put a ton of effort into their training and they are helping in classes all the time to help you learn your techniques more effectively. 

In our Wausau Karate school, one of our instructors’, Mr. Adam Salazar has been teaching Karate, Korean Karate, Kung Fu forms and extreme martial arts to our students.   He has been with me for about 14 years.  He can see a form, practice it for a few minutes and do it like he had been training with it for years.  He and other students showed off their techniques in our demonstrations and tournnaments throughout the Midwest area for years.   Adam wants to spread some of his experiences and training to students who want to push themselves a little harder than the average person.  He may be opening a branch school in Antigo, early 2011 if everthing works out. 

If you want to challenge yourself, now is the time to get it done!  We are setting up our tournament competition team/demonstration team to prepare for upcomming events. So talk to Mr. Salazar or Mr. Malone to get involved. 

Friday evening classes, during the speciality class are the best times to work on your tricks, flips and creative techniques.

Ju Jitsu or Jui Jitsu is taught as a grappling art, where you are wrestling on the ground using leverage techniques to cause your opponent to submit.  With Karate, you employ mostly strikes and kicks.  With Karate, grappling is not allowed.   I have trained in many Karate schools where grappling is frowned upon.  However, I believe you should have a ground game under your belt, when you train. 

So, why are these styles getting muddled up so much and how do you figure out what you want to do?  The styles are getting mixed because everybody in our culture wants to know everything.  We want the best of both worlds, Karate and Jui Jitsu.  Hence, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) comes to the rescue.

Now, what is this MMA deal?  Is it where you have to get in a cage and kick the crud out of another opponent.  Not really and maybe.  Mixed Martial Arts are where you combine one or more martial arts together and train to become more well rounded.  The evolution of the term MMA and television have recently coined the term MMA, to mean “cage fighting”.  They are guys that like to put their skills to the test in a steel cage doing mixed Martial Arts techniques. 

You don’t have to be in a cage to learn Mixed Martial Arts.   Bruce Lee was one of the first people to teach us that and the evolution since that time has been unique.  Some people would compare it to the gladiators in Rome but with rules.  Others feel that practitioners lack the discipline and moral character to be called martial artists.  They feel they are only fighters and lack self control. 

I really don’t feel they are undisciplined in their training.  In fact, they are highly disciplined in practice and conditioning.    I usually see a lack of self control displayed, demonstrating  poor sportsmanship, cocky attitudes instead of humility and the list goes on.  Therefore, they seem to be good fighters but lack the morals behind good Martial Arts training (courtesy, integrity, self control, self control, modesty).  That is not all MMA guys, just many of them.

Premier Martial Arts 920 Grand Ave. Schofield, held our 20Th annual haunted house, Halloween party on Saturday October 29Th from 7pm-10pm.  Family and friends came for a scary night of fun.   First we spooked everyone in the haunted house and then we danced the night  away.   We had a farmers scarecrow, a well, with a crazy looking girl, a very gruesome meal, a bloody shower scene and some creepy looking eyes glaring at you, creepy crawly guys  and girls and a  little exorcism going on.  A whole bunch of scary stuff!

We had drinks,  costume contest, music, candy, dance contests, some glow sticks and lots of scarry fun!!   If you missed it, you will have to wait until next year for our next party.  Lot’s and lots of work but tons of fun.

  If you have any questions about the haunted house or are interested in karate lessons, please check out our school and give us a call at 715-355-4222.

Our Wausau Jui Jitsu blend has a mix of everything.  Some from Pankration, Japanese  and Brazilian Jui Jitsu styles.  My training in the grappling arts started off with wrestling in high school and then Judo in 1982, at the YMCA in Stevens Point, WI. This went through my college days learning.  Later I found Royce Gracie and trained with him in the early 1990’s at various seminars and my path has really branched from there.

I started a different style which incorporated a different concept from strictly grappling. This style, called Pankration, has rules similar to what you would find in the Ultimate Fighting Championships but the rules do not allow striking to the head much. Most other rules apply to both methods. You will find training in Pankration methods will really enhance your cardio, build the foundation for a better ground game and give you some practical defenses, for tough situations.

The main advantage training with Pankration is the combination of striking and punching. In most grappling arts you are not striking and from lack of practice leave yourself unprepared for strikers. You only do, what you are trained to do. How can you expect to be prepared if you don’t practice what needs to be done? For example, when a hunter is planning to go out on opening day, what do most hunters do to prepare? They sight in their gun to be sure they know the gun is shooting right. Who wants to shoot around your deer? In fighting, who wants to leave holes in your offense or defense? That is why you need to learn striking and grappling combined.

Keep on training but always get rid of the holes in your fighting game by working on Judo, Jui Jitsu or wrestling to enhance your ground game. Also, train your stand up to work on striking combinations or you will be fair game when you actually get into a fight.

Is Verbal Judo the best self defense method to deal with attackers?
 

Many parents feel that they would rather have their children handle situations by talking and reasoning instead of fighting their way out of problems.

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Over 700,000 law enforcement officers have gone through the verbal Judo course to teach them skills to block aggressive behaviors, deflect them and make the flow of communication happen again in situations where it would have gotten out of control without these techniques

Our school began the verbal Judo course a few months ago at our Wausau and Schofield Premier Martial Arts locations. We really started practicing how to deal with bullies and teach non violent resolutions to problem’s children were experiencing at schools. There were many variations which came up in classes. We worked through a bunch of them and really had the kids getting comfortable, with what to say when they were bullied. Now instead of kids just winging it, “verbally”, they have an arsonal of stratigies to back up their physical training.

This way they can resolve aggresive situations with words rather than with violence and know who to talk to in case they have bullly problems. For more information on the Verbal Judo program, contact Premier Martial Arts in Wausau or Schofield by calling 715-355-4222.   To get hands on experience with these techniques go to http://www.managebullying.com/premiermartialarts  and learnVerbal Judo,  in the comfort of your own home.

After pizza, cake and opening of presents, we will play some dodge-ball games to have a blast.

The birthday child gets to cut the cake with a real sword (With instructors help)

Our parties include:
Pizza
Soda or Juice
Plates
Napkins
Plastic utinsils
Balloons

Minimum of five children, only $8.00 per child, cake is not included. Maximum of 40 per party. Party length is two hours. Usual day for party is on Saturdays from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.

If you would like more information please call, 715-355-4222.

The Karate Kid, released in the 1980’s, stirred excitement in the martial arts industry that has never been surpassed.  The directors created a twist in the plot from the origional to have Jaden Smith learn Kung Fu, instead of karate as in the first movie. They saught training with Mike chat, (one of the Blue Power Rangers) with his XMA (Xtreme Martial Arts) training system, to bring Jaden up to speed fast in his martial arts training and then learn Kung Fu instead of Karate, to create a twist from the origional plot with a Kung Fu environment.  Whether you are a martial artist or not, you can already feel the conflicts building.  When boy starts hitting it off with bad boy’s girlfriend, trouble’s brewing.  

A bullied boy learns to stand up for himself with the help of a mentor.  Dre (Smith) is saved from a beating from a group of Kung Fu, hot headed  bullies by Mr. Han (Chan).  Han teaches Dre, the art of Wushu Kung Fu.

Then it will be a retelling of the story but it will be new to the younger generation that has not seen the old movie.

The martial arts community is hoping for a similar wave of children to begin martial arts, as had happend when the first karate kid movie came out and changed the entire martial arts industry. Only time will tell. Check us out at the Marcus Cinema for the Karate Kid Wausau demonstration, Sunday, June 13th at 11:45am-12:15pm. See you there!

What exactly is Taekwondo? The Korean art is known as the art of hand and foot fighting and a way of life. I was taught that half of your training was to develop physical skills and the other was to develop a strong moral values, especially discipline.

Children develop better listening skills, more self control/strategies to deal with difficult children, get more exercise and gain more confidence than other children with proper training in the martial arts.   Children are easily influenced by television with all the violent shows available to them as well as role models with poor character traits, it’s no wonder a parent would have concerns.

In our Wausau Taekwondo training, (call 715-355-4222 for more information) a student learns how to show self discipline by practicing certain behavior traits.  They lose belt ranking if they break any major rules, like hurting someone else, when their life is not in danger.  If you pick a fight you, start, or cause a fight, you are not demonstrating black belt excellence.  Therefore, you do not deserve to wear any rank higher than a white belt (beginner belt).  Just this one method of dealing with poor behavior prevents and teaches students consequences for poor behavior, and that it is not acceptable to behave that way.

Your child may have a more difficult time working on self control, but that does not mean they should not get involved.  That is how you fix your child. Don’t hide them hoping the problem will go away.  If they get in trouble in Taekwondo training, they may have to go on a time out, or do some extra pushups but they have to start learning today.  If you wait till they are teenagers and try to change their behaviors after years of problems, they will have developed patterns that will be difficult to break.

I have trained thousands of students during my life and one thing I have learned is, you have to pick a training partner that may annoy you during training.  Now, don’t expect them to be a great partner.  They will be the best and worst partner you can learn from.  Difficult people teach you what you really need to know about aggressive behavior whether it’s verbal or physical.

People bugging you with name calling or pushing you around are always very common situations, especially at school.  But, how can you practice techniques, defending against bullies verbally or physically?   You have to take a class, or train at a  martial arts school that deals with these situations.  You also must pick what I would call the ultimate martial arts partner.   

We tend to pick training partners with people we feel comfortable hanging around.  However, there is no challenge in that scenario.   I suggest picking a person that has a challenging behavior issue, like someone with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to test yourself to to the fullest level.  If they don’t bother you by doing something totally unpredictable in the first few minutes you meet them or say something that gets on your nerves, I would be surprised. 

I recommend this strategy at my Wausau martial arts school.  This person would be your ultimate training partner.  A person that is highly unpredictable, usually aggressive, will do things without much thought and challenge your self control.  The perfect partner!   They will test your mental limits by doing sporadic unanticipated things.

ADHD people are also perfect partners because they exhibit uncomfortable behavior.  They may blurt out something verbally that offends you, talk out of turn and not even bat an eyelash doing it.  You will gain so much valuable knowledge from their lack of restraint and the abrupt moves done without provocation.  And more than likely, in a real life situation, the person that you find yourself having to stand up to one day won’t be a well behaved friend or neighbor, it’s going to be someone with a lower level of restraint. Your skill level will be enhanced due to your increased awareness or you will get totally overwhelmed by your partner.  Both are perfect consequences whether good or bad. 

You see your weaknesses if you were not prepared by abrupt attacks.  If you did not respond properly, your partner will usually tell you what you did wrong.  From my experience, they always seem to like to tell you when you were overwhelmed and your feelings are a little hurt but make sure you don’t take their help in a negative way.  They may have tackled you, mauled you, or whatever they tend to do.  That was your best lesson of the day.  Actual real life encounters by an aggressive unpredictable person, in a controlled setting. Law enforcement individuals don’t show up to a call, expecting every person to be cooperative. Yet with practice, handling tough situations becomes less intimidating.

Sure it is uncomfortable to be bothered, but where else will you have a safe, perfect training ground like in a martial arts school.  A black belt is there to ensure your safety when things get too tough and you can learn from actual experience. 

Need a partner, pick the tough ones, not the easiest so you can learn more and get the most of your training. 

Have you ever trained with an ADHD student?  Whether good or bad, tell me your story!

Premier Martial Arts is performing a demonstration at Cedar Creek Cinema on Sunday, June 13th at  the Marcus Cedar Creek Cinema  at 11:45am to 12:15 in the lobby and a short secession in the theater at 12:20 pm before the movie begins.  Let’s see you become the next Wausau karate kid!

Make it happen!  Call today!      355-4222

When practicing a self defense move, a technique should work almost every single time they are used.  Nothing works 100 percent but some self defense moves work  better than others.

What makes a move work consistently and another not?  Sometimes you have not practiced the technique well enough, or the move is not practical.

If you have a very large opponent on top of you and they have you by a hundred pounds, things could get a little tough for you.  I have heard people argue, that with their style,  you can defeat a larger opponent if you learn the moves correctly.  But, they will complain that a fighter they trained did not win because their opponent was 10 pounds heaver than they were.  I always wonder what happened to the comment  “it doesn’t matter how big they are “.    That changes when the reality comes into play.

How does a smaller opponent do a move, that will work consistently on a larger or smaller opponent?  Use a move that does not require strength and capitalize on your opponents weaknesses.

No matter what style you train in, your opponent still has to see and breathe.  Hit them in the eyes, throat or groin.  Poke in the eyes, strike them in the throat or groin.  Those always work in self defense situations.

So keep to the basics and do what works.  Easy techniques do not require much strength.  Even a child can poke you in the eyes.    It still hurts.

Self defense does not have to be difficult, it only needs to get done when needed.   Keep it simple sweet!

You wouldn’t pick on this guy would you?  Most people wouldn’t yet, some will.  Because they are a little different, those with low self-esteem will sometimes target non threatening people because they think it makes them look “cool.”

How would you deal with verbal and physical abuse?  Should you learn martial arts so bullies will regret picking  you as their next target?  And should you  show them with force why they shouldn’t have messed with you?  Or should you go to extreme measures and show the whole world that you were abused by killing others or killing yourself?

Sounds like some wacky questions but kids go through this type of thinking all the time.  They play out the problems in their minds, trying to resolve situations,  and come up with their own solutions.   What type of strategies should children use to protect themselves from bullies?

Self Defense should start before you decide to take your life.   When you are bullied to the point where you don’t want to live,  or to the extent that you  go on a shooting rampage at a school,  something should have been done to see the warning signs a little sooner.  Prevention goes a long way.

A recent story where Phoebe Prince, hanged herself because she was verbally abused, shocked America and created concern about the role and responsibilities of schools handling bullying. (Recent studies have shown that one common factor in school shootings, was a lack of response on the schools part).   It would seem someone has to die to get attention with this problem.  That should never happen!  So, what methods do schools use to stop bullying and teach some sort of self defense?

Schools hand out fliers and teach children strategies to deal with bullies at school.  But, the situation is far more  complex than that.  Children have newer methods of bulling to deal with like cyber-bullying where children exclude, insult, embarrass  others with text messages and email.

One other new distinction  in the bully world, is the cool kids are doing a  lot of  the bullying.  An article was written in Tues, April 13th issue of USA Today.   The article described bullies as difficult to spot because they are ”attractive, athletic and academically accomplished”.   According to the article, “a bully of generations past would have been a swaggering schoolyard lout, low on self- esteem , quick to lash out”, and ”easy to identify”.

They went on to say,” it looks like we have been looking for the wrong suspects”.

The shove people around methods, we often stereotype bullies with, is not seen as much in schools.  Verbal attacks are the hardest to see,  and keep track of,  because it is all  word of mouth.  How does a school keep track of that?  Some schools feel it is not their responsibility  to watch every word kids say, who can do that?  right?

If a teacher is responsible,by law,  to report any type of sexual molestation they hear about to social services,  why would bullying be much different?  Children are killing themselves because of this, and it is a serious problem.  Children really do not know how to deal with the situations, and they should be taught some sort of self defense.

I talk to students about how to deal with bullying.  I really stand firm on letting the schools handle the problem if they are doing what they are supposed to do.  And what exactly is that?

The school systems have guidance counselors available to help students deal with problems like bullying. They will take the children causing the problem into counseling and talk to their parents  about what their children are doing to resolve the problem.

However, most students try to handle the problem on their own.  That is where the problem begins.  Most children do not have great conflict resolution skills and end up lashing out, getting themselves in trouble instead, or they retreat, in shame becoming more  introverted and as a result, they are  picked on more often yet.  The method of untrained self defense gets them in more trouble than  anticipated.  The situation gets more and more out of their control, becoming overwhelming.

This is what I recommend to quickly deal with bullying.

Let the school know about the problem immediately.  Tell your teacher.  If the teacher does not handle the problem, tell the principal. Most principals handle the situations  immediately.  Tell your guidance counselor as well.   That is what they are trained to deal with,  and they should step in to handle bullying situations.   They should be all over the kids causing problems or they will become aware of what is happening to help you in the future.