New Halloween Safety Tips

NEW Halloween Safety Tips
October 27, 2009

Dear Parents, Students & Friends,

Here is a list of some new safety tips for Halloween we are teaching in classes this week.

Some new tips have been added for children as well as for adults please take a moment to read them to enjoy a fun & safe Halloween 2009!

Thank you Chris Holmes-Master Teacher, Epic Martial Arts.

Safety should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind as Halloween approaches, especially parents of young children

Employing safety tips can make a difference. Tips include:

1.Parents should accompany young children.
2.Don’t go inside a stranger’s house, no matter what anyone says.
3.Trick-or-Treaters should always be in groups so they aren’t a tempting target for real life goblins.
4. Make a map of your Trick-or-Treat route and check the route against the sex offender database.
5.Stay in your own neighborhood.
6.Stop only at well lit houses.
7.Carry a flashlight or light stick.
8.Use make up instead of a mask so you can see.
9.Wear light colored clothing or costumes.
10. Always keep a safe distance between you and moving cars.
11. Be respectful of other people and their property.
12. Parents should screen all treats before you eat them.
13. Don’t accept and, especially, don’t eat anything not commercially wrapped.
14. Start early, end early.
15. Use sidewalks or walk facing traffic.
16. Stop, look and listen at corners.
17. Walk, don’t run.
18. Don’t go between parked cars or crisscross back and forth across streets or into traffic.
19. Don’t carry sharp instruments.
20. Never carry a lighted torch or candles.

Before heading out to “trick-or-treat” this Halloween, visit the MS State Sexual Offender and Predator database click on this link to be taken there,http://www.sor.mdps.state.ms.us/sorpublic/hpsor_search.aspx to ensure the residences your children are visiting do not house registered sex offenders.

- When the “trick-or-treaters” begin their neighborhood trek, exercise extra vigilance for those excited, costumed youths whose exuberance may overcome their awareness of vehicles.

- Many adults will don customs and drive to various events; check to be sure your costume doesn’t impede your ability to operate your vehicle in a safe manner.

- If celebrations include alcohol, whether hosting or participating, be responsible, as always, drivers need to remember “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk.”


Happy Halloween,

Chris Holmes-Master Teacher

Epic Martial Arts

313 Richmond St.
McComb MS
(601) 250-0550

www.epicmartialarts.com

Judo vs Brazilian Jiu Jitsu...

So what is the difference between Judo and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu? Like everything else in life it just depends...but as a practitioner of both arts I can give you some generalized differences that I see between the two of them. Feel free to comment, ask questions, etc. I will address these both based on the experiences that I have had in the course of over ten years of constant training in these type arts.

First let me give you some background on my training.. I started training in 1995 at USM with Christian Shoemaker in Tang Soo Do and Tae Kwon Do. It was very informal but I did began to learn kicks and how to work angles. I started training in an official Tang Soo Do Dojang in 1997 approximately 5 or 6 months after I graduated from USM. I trained there under Master John Magee and Mr. Michael Langhart for about 3 years. In 1998 or 1999 I met Master Steve Kincade who was a 5th dan in Hanmudo under Dr. He Young Kimm. I started training with Master Kincade 6 months to a year after I met him. I had already earned my 1st Dan in Tang Soo Do and was working on my 2nd Dan material.

Master Kincade became my primary instructor for a while then from him I was able to start training with Dr. Kimm... Dr. Kimm is a 8th or 9th Dan in Yudo, a 9th Dan in Hapkido, and the founder of Hanmudo. Dr. Kimm taught us many of the basics of Yudo or Judo. In 2004 or 2005 Master Frank Caracci started teaching more grappling sessions at the Hanmudo seminars. I began to pick up what I could from him. In 2006 Master Caracci, Master Mike Reed, and myself traveled to Las Vegas to meet Master Carlos Machado at the Martial Arts Super Show. We began to train with him from that point forward. (Master Machado is the nephew to the founder of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Carlos Gracie). I have been an official Machado representative since February 2007. Sensei Vincent Fernando started teaching me Judo sometime in 2007.

So to reinterate my lineage: I have been taught Judo by Dr. Kimm, Vincent Fernando, and now I am trying to learn from Sensei Robert Harvey. My Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training has been under Master Frank Caracci and now with Master Carlos Machado.

The Judo I was taught from Dr. Kimm was old school judo from the 1940's and 50's. The Judo I was taught from Sensei Vincent was from the 1980's and early 90's. Sensei Harvey explained to me and Sensei Vincent that the Judo we were doing was old Judo, not modern Judo as it has evolved over the last 20 years or so. So we are having to make some minor modifications...

The Brazilian Jiu-jitsu I am learning is modern RCJ Machado Jiu-jitsu as it has evolved over the last 20 or so years from the Machado brothers and their students. The BJJ that I have seen Royce Gracie teaching is older BJJ and is not as evolved as Machado Jiu-jitsu... No offense to Royce as he is responsible for popularizing BJJ here in the USA but I'm calling it as I see it. Some of the guard passes he is teaching are not effective today against experienced grapplers and most of the white to blue belt techniques are much more basic than the Machado requirements.

So what are the differences between Judo and BJJ? Well the intent and purpose is different for starters... In Judo you want to finish the guy as soon as possible. In BJJ it is expected that you are fighting a larger, stronger, and younger opponent, so you want to wear them down on the ground until they become tired and give up an arm, neck, leg, or whatever... You allow them to exhaust themselves on the mat trying to escape your guard, mount, side control, or whatever position you have. Judo has evolved quite a bit in the last 30-40 years and BJJ has advanced mat work and grappling tremendously in the last 80 or so years.

Judo is all about speed, power, and execution. BJJ is all about control, setups, angles, and execution. There are more similarities then there are differences but I think that most BJJ schools will have far superior mat work and most Judo schools will have far superior throws... I think all BJJ schools should incorperate Judo to improve their takedowns and I think all Judo schools should incorperate BJJ to improve their mat work.

Here at Epic we are working on bringing you the whole enchilada... Superior throws combined with superior mat work, supplemented by excellent striking. All this is topped off by project based leadership training, Verbal Judo, Diabetes education, and top notch instruction.

Peace

Chris Holmes-Master Teacher

Our videos...

Hey guys,

Why am I posting all the videos and not just the good ones? Well I think it is important for you, the student to actually see what you need work on... This is often much more effective than just having me yell at you... It also shows visitors to our blog that we are human, we make mistakes, we have work to do...Stances and kicks anyone??? Look at yourself and your classmates fix what needs to be fixed...

Peace

Chris Holmes-Master Teacher

New Videos...

Here are some new videos from class last week:

Being a great student/person.

How can you become a great student or even a great person? Well it's not going to be easy, like anything worthwhile it will take work and practice. Here are some suggestions that can guide you:

1. Train 3-5 days a week, no excuses... Train smart when you are injured.

2. Eat for health, control your diet. Don't let food dominate your life.

3. Read good books that challenge and inspire you. Most of you guys should be reading the Art of Learning...

4. Mental and Spiritual Training... I'm not here to tell you who or what to worship. I have taught Christians(from Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalians, Pentecostals, Charismatics, to Catholics) Buddhists, Hindus, Mormons, Agnostics, Atheists, and even a Muslim. The one group that was extremely bitter and disillusioned were the Atheists. They were so anti-christian that they refused to attend tournaments and graduations held in Church gymnasiums... Most atheists I have come into contact with were the same exact way, very bitter, very angry, and militantly anti -christian, oddly enough they did not seem to have the same anger towards non christian religions... If I am currently teaching any happy Atheists then please let me know and I will stand corrected...I also encourage you to examine other religions once you are mature in your own faith...This will allow you to have a better understanding of other people's view points. But if you start picking and choosing before you understand your own faith then it tends to lead to confusion! This is true of your martial arts training as well... If you pick and choose without knowing the background, fundamentals and philosophy of your martial art then you can become confused... A quick example... I teach you guys BJJ and some Judo but they operate under two different dynamics, the goal in Judo is to finish as soon as possible. Thus the points are given for awesome throws... In BJJ the goal is beat your opponent with as little effort and injury to yourself as possible, this is why BJJ players take the match to the ground so they can wear their opponents out and then finish with a submission... Both have tremendous value but the focus is on different aspects. I am well versed enough in both arts to teach you without confusing you about the different philosophies...

5. Live your next belt test now.... Whether you are testing for gold belt or 3rd degree black belt train, live, and work like you are giving your best test every day. If you are truly living then you can experience more in a day or a month than some people experience in years or even their whole life....

6. Develop training partners that can push you to the next level... Don't seek out people that are worse than you, seek out people that are better than you...Take your performance up to their level.

7. Learn how to manage your time... Get a day planner, learn to use it, if you are still a kid then this will be worth more than you can ever imagine when you are grown.

8. Keep a training journal or log... You can do this in your day planner, in a note book, or on our website. This allows you to track your progress...

9. If you need help... ASK!!! I can't help you if you don't ask....

10. Find a great instructor.... Hey you guys have this covered you're reading this aren't you! But if you ever move away then you need to find a different great instructor....

Epic's Belt Promotion Ceremony

We just had a small belt promotion ceremony. Most of our students did not have enough classes to test so there were only a few promoted. The ones that were promoted did an excellent job and here are some of the highlights:







Mikhail has a respectable vertical and yes he's jumping over my back not off of it....


















Josh is about to slam Mikhail with Osotogari.
















Tom kills his board with a palm strike...

















Caleb Calhoun swept Henry...Now if I could just get these guys to mop the mats...












Hayes is sweeping Noah...















Caleb and Henry are doing joint locks...

















Mary is the picture of concentration as she is caught in motion doing her hyung/kata.















Kristina destroys her board with a spinning back kick...
















Micah proves that he can deify gravity with his flying side kick...

Hayes executes a picture perfect side kick to break his board.

Noah is demonstrating punch defense on Matthew to the left and then is doing a scissor take down on David below.

Matthew shows great form during his break...

Mr. Josh is doing a fine job holding the boards as well...

Remmington, Vik, and others are doing their form/kata but they are captured in motion so you can't see their awesome stances.

This was a good test but in December it will be bigger, better, and more challenging so get busy on your stuff guys! Thanks to Mr. Josh for allowing his fingers to get smashed and to Ms. Christine for helping you guys get so awesome...

Peace

Chris Holmes-Master Teacher