From Barny's Desk

Choose your thoughts wisely.

You can choose to think in ways that will support you instead of ways that don't. When you are training, think about the right way to do the self-defense technique or the particular strike that you are working on, not about the mistake that you might have made. Think positive, and in your mindknow that you can do it. With practice you will make it happen. If you dwell on what you might have done wrong, you will have a tendency to make the same mistake again. This can relate to your every day life as well: if you make a mistake, acknowledge it, think about the correct solution, and fix it. Remember, everyone makes mistakes - it is the way you handle it in your mind that makes the biggest difference.

Barny

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Announcements and Events

Burpees Fundraiser
Saturday May 5th. 1:00-1:30 pm

How many burpees can you do in 30 minutes? How many burpees can you do to help some great kids have a good summer? Saturday, May 5th we will hold a contest and fundraiser to help raise money for Home Away From Homelessness. Home Away provides a physical, emotional and spiritual break from the demands of life on the street for children. They provide meals, tutoring, and help the kids to develop creative and critical thinking skills. This summer, Home Away is taking the kids on a 1 week rafting trip, so we are trying to raise $3000 to help pay for it.

Sponsors are suggested to donate $0.25 per burpee. If you do 300 burpees in 30 minutes, that works out to a donation of about $75. Sponsors can also simply donate any total amount they wish. KMSF will donate $50 per entry as well.

Rules: No real rules, besides keeping a fair count. You can stop and go as you wish within the 30 min. time limit. Whoever does the most burpees will win a Krav Maga outfit (t-shirt, nylon pants and sweater). Click here to get a copy of the Pledge Sheet!

So what the heck is a burpee? Click the image to see a short video of students doing them in a recent conditioning class. Burpees are one of the most grueling conditioning exercises ever visited upon us by the gods of fitness. A couple minutes of these bad boys and you'll wish you were in a street fight instead. One full burpee requires a push-up, a squat, a leap, and back down for another push-up. Your sponsors should know how you will suffer for the cause, and give you more money! Good luck!

Seminar Series: Meet Licensed Chinese medicine and acupuncturist Dr. Kun Xiang
Saturday May 12, 2007, 1:30-2:30 PM

Dr. Xiang earned his medical doctoral degree at Shanghai Medical University in China in 1982, learning a combination of ancient Chinese healing arts and modern medicine. He is also the official acupuncturist of the Smuin Ballet Company and treats many members of the San Francisco Ballet Company.

Dr. Xiang will speak about the benefits of Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and will also preview some of the latest testing techniques to find out about the health of your skin and to determine the level of antioxidants in your blood. Sign up to receive discounts on these tests as well as for treament in his local clinic, located nearby at Van Ness and Jackson. For more information, go to KunXiang.com

May 19 & 20
Elite Summer Training Camp

It's time for this year's Annual Elite Summer Training Camp! Taking place over two days, training will include:

Intro to Knife Defenses Intro to Gun Defenses Defense against Stick Attacks Headlock, Bearhug and Hair Grab Defenses Kicks, Punches, Knees, Elbow Attacks All Choke Defenses and Combative Combinations Intensive Drills to Enhance Realistic Training Open to all levels, with the option of doing only one day or the whole weekend. Both Days: $129 1 day only Sat or Sun: $75 Interview: Matt Fisher Matt Fisher is a new instructor to KMSF, but has been a student at our school for four years. A tech writer by trade and a music journalist in his spare time, Matt can be found teaching Krav Maga level 1 every Saturday morning. KMSF: Tell me how long you've been a krav maga student? Matt Fisher: I've been a student coming up on four years now. It feels longer for some reason, I sort of lose track of time. I think I started in July of 2002 or 2003. KMSF: And you recently made the transition from being a student to a teacher. Can you talk about that? MF: It was something I thought a lot about. I reached a point in my study - not to say that I didn't have further to go - but I wanted a way to root myself in this and stay involved seriously. I thought teaching would really help take my skills to the next level. You can do that as a student, but as a teacher you're seeing another dimension of it. I think you get to understand "why" a little bit better; what's behind the principles is reinforced more than when you're a student. You focus on what you're doing. Rather than just trying to get it right in front of a teacher for an hour, you're going home and thinking about it. KMSF: How was the adjustment for you as far as the experience of being a student and not having to worry about explaining what you're doing to anybody else to being a teacher? MF: I've always enjoyed teaching, but it's definitely another skill set. On top of learning to fight or do self-defense moves and putting it in your muscle memory, you have to stop, break it down, and explain it in a coherent, yet dynamic and exciting way. You have to use your brain and your muscle memory at the same time. It's a new set of challenges. It reminds me of first krav classes I took. There was so much there, and you can feel how far you have to go - it's that kind of excitement again. That's what I wanted, and why I decided to teach. It makes me see how much there is to do and gets me motivated. KMSF: Is there anything you like to focus on in your teaching? MF: There are two areas that I love to emphasize: body mechanics and street scenarios. Proper body mechanics will help someone who doesn't have as much strength or size. You can punch hard just by knowing the right way to punch instead of being big or strong. Street scenarios are equally important because it brings the realism into play. Students don't always know how to react to violent situations, and I can help them learn. KMSF: So let's go back to you being a student. How was it when you started? Do you remember what your first impressions were? MF: A friend told me to meet him at the school to try out a noon class with Barny. I think I was five minutes late. My friend told me later that Barny had said to him, "Looks like your buddy's not gonna make it." I got in, joined the class and did the warm-up and everything. I can't remember what we worked on, probably punches or something. I felt like a fish flopping around on the sand - I hadn't done anything like that in a very long time. We did some self-defense move, and Barny had me choke him. I think this is one of Barny's things that he does to people. At the time I was really freaked out because he called me up to the front of class and told me, "Squeeze my throat," so I put my hands around him and tightened my grasp, but I didn't squeeze. He flicked my hands off and said, "No, come on! Really choke me!" He was yelling at me, so I thought, "Okay, I'm going to squeeze this guy's throat," and his eyes start bulging out, his voice changes and the entire time he's saying, "Choke me! C'mon, choke me! Do it!" Then he rips my hands off like twigs or whatever. That right there sold me. I was just so taken by the intensity of the experience. Being who I am and my sense of humor, I think I didn't approach it with a lot of seriousness at the very beginning, I just thought, "This is crazy." But I got sucked in pretty fast, saw what krav is about, and it really won me over. There's no irony about my participation now, but it's funny when I tell people what I do, I can see in their faces the same reaction I had that first day in class. KMSF: I always tell people I wish I had started it as my first martial art. MF: I wish I had it in my 20s... that would have been nice. It's one of those things where you don't have to prove anything to anyone except yourself. There isn't this insurmountable "prove that you're dedicated by kneeling for hours and maybe we'll teach you something" attitude. Krav is totally lacking that pretense, and that's what really won me over. You're right in it. So often in life you get "Here's this goal you must achieve to participate" and it's so insurmountable that you get discouraged and you give up. With krav you get right into it right away. KMSF: How did you hear about krav? MF: I'd wanted to get into some kind of fighting and self-defense thing for a while. I saw a tourist get mugged in the middle of the day with a bunch of people around when I lived in the Tenderloin. He got knocked to the ground and these guys started beating him, and everyone - including me - just walked away. I thought, "I need to help this guy," but my next thought was, "But what if they turn on me? I don't know how to defend myself." After it was over, I was really angry: angry that it happened, and that I allowed it to happen. That was maybe a month or two before I came to the school. It was a definite trigger. Also, I'm tall, but I'm pretty skinny. I never felt like I could power my way out of some bad situation. It would always require some kind of speed and skill to help me. I had danced around the idea of doing a martial art for a while, but none of them seemed to fit. I tried kung fu a long time ago, but it didn't seem relevant. KMSF: Did you ever do any sparring when you did kung fu? MF: Not really. I never got to that point. I had a teacher that was really into learning forms; it was like memorizing a dance routine, and I just thought it wasn't going anywhere. Sparring was a revelation. I waited a year before I did it; it was a huge leap for me, in showing what I needed to learn at that point. I think Danny did a good job in helping me get over this fear of getting smacked by just throwing me in there. Then I went through this phase of being aggressive all the time to carry me through. Finally a year ago, Barny took me aside while I was punishing this big guy and said, "You know, this isn't a contest. You're not here to win anything. You're here to test yourself, and this is a game you're playing in your mind. You're not here to slug it out with anybody." This light bulb went on in my head, so since then I've taken a learning attitude towards sparring. It's really been a revelation to take what I've learned and put it into practice and see what happens in a fluid situation. Not to get all spiritual or philosophical, but you're looking at yourself in any fight you get into. If you get mad and start acting crazy, the other person is going to do the same. Whatever you put out is reflected back to you. Now I get embarrassed when I lose my head in sparring. I go home and I start analyzing what I did in class. It's taken me four years to get to that point, but it still amazes me what I'm taught on these subtle levels. KMSF: Obviously you've progressed to where you are through hard work, but you also have aptitude and athleticism. Did you develop that in other sports? MF: I've never been much of a team sport guy. My dad was really independent - he was a major environmental lawyer - and we'd get involved in the lands and areas he helped protect. So while other kids were off with their families in Hawaii lying on the beach, my whole family would do extreme backpacking trips. As soon as I was able to walk, we were doing these crazy seven-day multi-path traverses through northern Yosemite and the high sierras every summer. I was expected to put on boots, put on a backpack, and keep up. We went cross-country, off trail, boulder-scrambled over passes and things like that. I went to mountaineering school in Yosemite and climbed all around Berkeley where I grew up. My dad encouraged these individual sports, such as cross-country running. I think these things carried over into other activities I did later, like skateboarding and surfing, which use a lot of balance and basic athletic strength. All of the balance-related activities I did as a kid really carried over into krav. Skateboarding in particular: being comfortable on the balls of your feet, staying mobile, moving on your feet and yet not concentrating on it because you're working other parts of your body. KMSF: What other kind of things do you like to do? What are your interests outside of krav? MF: I was a music journalist for years. I've interviewed a lot of people that I had always dreamed about meeting and talking with, it just sort of happened. The world of the music I cover - Jamaican music and electronic music - is a much smaller circle than I imagined. Once I started talking to some people, I would be led to others; I met legendary producers, some of whom I partied with, a few have even stayed at my apartment. I still do that on the side, and from time to time I write articles. I've reviewed more albums than I could ever possibly recall. I definitely travel whenever I can. I like to go places people normally don't like to go, to non-touristy places. I really love getting away from people. I haven't been camping lately because of my son, but I try to get away every summer. It's such a rare experience to be in a place where there's no one else around. I also like to base my traveling around music. I find that hooking yourself into a music scene opens your eyes to more than what you would see on a normal tourist track, and being somewhat of a shy person it gives me an entry into a world I would normally never be able to investigate. When I went to England, I got to travel outside of London and learned a lot about the culture outside of the city. I'm probably going to go on a trip to Iran with a friend of mine next year. I want to record and meet people who play classical Persian instruments, get around and see the country, since it's amazing and no one goes there. I want to get down to Cuba and experience all the Afro-Cuban jazz that's still going on there. KMSF: Do you feel like your experience with training has affected your life in other avenues? MF: As a writer, I occupy a different professional space than other people. Writers are creative people and are afraid of failure, so there are insecurities that go with the job. By being more physically confident, it makes me more confident in my job. I'm more confident about my logic and my opinions, and if people don't agree with me, that's fine. Before, I kept second-guessing myself. It's funny how four years in a system will inspire confidence - it's a subtle shift. With that confidence, everything else becomes relatively easy. Back to Top Removing Barriers to Learning This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it We see only what we want to see. It's not just a cliche - our cognitive abilities have a limit. We can focus our full attention on only one thing at a time, and keep track of about 7 things at once with varying levels of focus. Our lives and the lessons we have learned is the sum of where we have chosen to focus our attention. The only way to truly learn something new is to rid ourselves of prejudice as much as possible - to have an open mind. This takes effort, so choices have to be made. First, we have to become aware of our own prejudices and how they color our world view. Second, a tougher choice has to be made: to take the risk to try something new, suspend disbelief, and risk struggling or failing by approaching a challenge in a new and unfamiliar way. Our prejudices can filter out new information that could be useful; we can fall into the trap of seeking confirmation of our way of thinking. This is not learning - it is simply justifying a pre-determined world view. We must ask, "Where does this view come from?" Typically, it is compiled from the influences of our environment, experiences, and exposure to the thoughts and ideas of others. The first two we cannot always choose, but we can influence what we are exposed to by the focus of our attention. Emotions are a clue to our capability to observe without prejudice. Strong emotions can cloud our ability to fully observe a given situation, whether it is a debate at work, a conflict in a relationship, or a self-defense scenario that is frightening or intimidating. Very often these emotions come from past experience. While they can help inform us how to react in a situation, they can also interfere with our ability to cope in new and constructive ways. Since humans have not yet developed the ability to truly concentrate on more than one thing at a time, we must remember that learning filtered through prejudice is not truly learning. An example of this is a skeptical student who sits through a lecture without really listening, already decided whether the material suits their world view before they sat down in the first place. Choosing to have an open mind, to stop, look, and listen without pre-conceived notions, we give ourselves the best chance of learning something new. With good teachers and other supportive students to share our struggles, we have everything we need to deal with challenges in ways we never could have imagined before.