Martial Artists Interviews
The following interviews are exclusive to and performed by IDA. Enjoy. The following Martial Artists have interviews below:
Loren Christensen
Pete Solomon (Coming Soon)
Israel Velez (Coming Soon)
Paul Corrigan (Coming Soon)
Loren Christensen
Pete Solomon (Coming Soon)
Israel Velez (Coming Soon)
Paul Corrigan (Coming Soon)
Loren Christensen
Loren Christensen is an 8th Dan and holds 11 black belts. He is the author of 40 books on the Martial Arts, including: Solo Training, Speed Training, and Fighter's Fact Book. His website is: http://www.lorenchristensen.com/
His books and videos can be purchased from: http://www.lwcbooks.com/
1. IDA: In your books, you refer to fights you have had as a police officer. Do you think that a person uses a different level of violence or different tactics when fighting a police officer as opposed to someone in plain clothes?
Christensen: It varies. No one wants their freedom taken away, especially if they just scored a lot of money or a big supply of dope. Some resist by simply stiffening their bodies and others resist all-out with flying fists and feet. Sometimes the most violent resistance comes from those doing the smallest of crimes, and vice versa. Sometimes hard fights come from unsuspecting people: a 75-year-old man and a 14-year-old pregnant girl, to name two. Big guys are often the easiest to fight and small guys the hardest.
Some people fight uniform officers hard because they have been taught anti authority from childhood. Some people fight because they want you to hurt them and the more you do, the harder they fight, often while grinning. Few fights happen in a large space; most occur between cars, in filthy public restrooms, in that tight space between the bed and the wall, and on a 3-foot wide floating walkway with a river on both sides.
In short, there is no simple answer to the question.
2. IDA: When you think of yourself as a martial artist, which style do you most identify with?
Christensen: Probably the empty-hand hitting arts. I have trained in many, to include karate, kung fu, muay Thai and elements of boxing. Over the last few years I have expanded these to include ripping, gouging, pressing and shredding. These I consider my foundation. What I tell my students when we train in arnis or in the grappling arts, is this: “When all else fails, you can always hit.”
3. IDA: Traditional martial artists usually dismiss martial art home study programs. However, in your Solo Training books and DVD you offer much encouragement to the independent martial artist. What are your thoughts on home study martial art programs for people who are unable to attend a brick-and-mortar dojo?
Christensen: The Solo books and DVD are based on the idea that the reader/viewer has some martial arts experience. If a person has never had a lesson, it would be difficult, but not impossible to train via a book or DVD. If one had no choice, I would say use the home study program but at your first opportunity, get someone to critique you and correct any issues you might have. Then continue with your home program. Get critiqued as often as you can.
4. IDA: The martial arts are more than a small part of your life. What keeps your heart and thoughts focused on this subject?
Christensen: The same thing that keeps my heart and thoughts focused on all aspects of my life. The martial arts are simply part of who I am and what I do. They have been there for me many times in that proverbial dark alley, when other things in my life ended, when I needed to release stress, lose weight, get into shape and make a living. They have been the link to many wonderful friends and fantastic experiences.
5. IDA: There are many aspects to being a good self-defense practitioner- situational awareness, speed, ruthlessness, and balance to name a few; in your view, are there any qualities that are paramount to being a good fighter?
Christensen: All those things are good as well as endurance and target selection.
Too many martial artists jog, swim and do other forms of aerobic conditioning. This is good when the fight goes 30 minutes to an hour. But when it goes all-out for two minutes, which is usually the case, you had better possess anerobic fitness. Anaerobic fitness will keep you in the fight; aerobic fitness helps you look pretty at the beach. Kidding about the beach. The ideal fitness program combines both.
Target selection is critical. There is a big difference between a hard punch to the chest and a little flick to the eyes. When a 130-pound guy is psyched, drunk or crazy, he will likely absorb that punch and keep coming. A flick to a 200-pound man’s eyes will instantly take the fight out of him and make him screech like a little girl.
There are many highly vulnerable targets on the body that are nearly as vulnerable as the eyes.
6. IDA: Are you able to tell Integrated Defense Arts if there are any martial art subjects you wish to broach in a book or DVD that you have not already covered?
Christensen: Just when I think I’ve written my last book on the fighting arts I’ll get another idea or someone will suggest one. That’s the wonder of the martial arts: There is always something more. I’m in my 46th year of training and teaching and at the risk of sounding trite, I’ve barely scratched the surface.
To answer your question, I’m working on a martial arts book now with no plans for another. But that’s been the case for the last several years. That said, I recently sold my first fiction, a police and martial arts suspense story and I’m now working on a follow-up novel.
7. IDA: There can be much mysticism in the martial arts. Do you spend much time with the spiritual aspects of the arts?
Christensen: I am very interested in Eastern religion, to include Zen and other forms or meditation. Of course these things exist without the inclusion of the fighting arts but when they are conjoined, I would argue that they help each other. A lot of people say that the study of martial arts has helped them to focus, to be calmer, and to understand themselves and other people better. I would agree with this and add that it was my decades of training that helped me take to meditation faster.
At first blush, it would seem that they are opposite entities. When you train, you’re exerting great energy through your techniques. When meditating, you sit, and sit, and sit. Once at a retreat, I sat for 15 hours. You think it hurts to kick at a heavy bag and miss it, try sitting motionless in zazen and see what happens to your knees.
It’s often said that the martial arts is a microcosm of life, and I would agree. Meditation helps you understand with greater clarity your life and its place in this world.
8. IDA: Lastly, for the solo martial artist, what guidance do you offer with respect to motivation when there are no belts or tournaments to train for.
Christensen: Progress is the best motivator. When you see improvement in some aspect of your training, that makes you want to train harder.
Train to music: rap, metal, Asian.
Goal setting. Establish realistic goals: 1) end of the month, 2) three months from now, and 3) a year from now.
Read martial arts books, magazines and watch DVDs, instructional and movies.
His books and videos can be purchased from: http://www.lwcbooks.com/
1. IDA: In your books, you refer to fights you have had as a police officer. Do you think that a person uses a different level of violence or different tactics when fighting a police officer as opposed to someone in plain clothes?
Christensen: It varies. No one wants their freedom taken away, especially if they just scored a lot of money or a big supply of dope. Some resist by simply stiffening their bodies and others resist all-out with flying fists and feet. Sometimes the most violent resistance comes from those doing the smallest of crimes, and vice versa. Sometimes hard fights come from unsuspecting people: a 75-year-old man and a 14-year-old pregnant girl, to name two. Big guys are often the easiest to fight and small guys the hardest.
Some people fight uniform officers hard because they have been taught anti authority from childhood. Some people fight because they want you to hurt them and the more you do, the harder they fight, often while grinning. Few fights happen in a large space; most occur between cars, in filthy public restrooms, in that tight space between the bed and the wall, and on a 3-foot wide floating walkway with a river on both sides.
In short, there is no simple answer to the question.
2. IDA: When you think of yourself as a martial artist, which style do you most identify with?
Christensen: Probably the empty-hand hitting arts. I have trained in many, to include karate, kung fu, muay Thai and elements of boxing. Over the last few years I have expanded these to include ripping, gouging, pressing and shredding. These I consider my foundation. What I tell my students when we train in arnis or in the grappling arts, is this: “When all else fails, you can always hit.”
3. IDA: Traditional martial artists usually dismiss martial art home study programs. However, in your Solo Training books and DVD you offer much encouragement to the independent martial artist. What are your thoughts on home study martial art programs for people who are unable to attend a brick-and-mortar dojo?
Christensen: The Solo books and DVD are based on the idea that the reader/viewer has some martial arts experience. If a person has never had a lesson, it would be difficult, but not impossible to train via a book or DVD. If one had no choice, I would say use the home study program but at your first opportunity, get someone to critique you and correct any issues you might have. Then continue with your home program. Get critiqued as often as you can.
4. IDA: The martial arts are more than a small part of your life. What keeps your heart and thoughts focused on this subject?
Christensen: The same thing that keeps my heart and thoughts focused on all aspects of my life. The martial arts are simply part of who I am and what I do. They have been there for me many times in that proverbial dark alley, when other things in my life ended, when I needed to release stress, lose weight, get into shape and make a living. They have been the link to many wonderful friends and fantastic experiences.
5. IDA: There are many aspects to being a good self-defense practitioner- situational awareness, speed, ruthlessness, and balance to name a few; in your view, are there any qualities that are paramount to being a good fighter?
Christensen: All those things are good as well as endurance and target selection.
Too many martial artists jog, swim and do other forms of aerobic conditioning. This is good when the fight goes 30 minutes to an hour. But when it goes all-out for two minutes, which is usually the case, you had better possess anerobic fitness. Anaerobic fitness will keep you in the fight; aerobic fitness helps you look pretty at the beach. Kidding about the beach. The ideal fitness program combines both.
Target selection is critical. There is a big difference between a hard punch to the chest and a little flick to the eyes. When a 130-pound guy is psyched, drunk or crazy, he will likely absorb that punch and keep coming. A flick to a 200-pound man’s eyes will instantly take the fight out of him and make him screech like a little girl.
There are many highly vulnerable targets on the body that are nearly as vulnerable as the eyes.
6. IDA: Are you able to tell Integrated Defense Arts if there are any martial art subjects you wish to broach in a book or DVD that you have not already covered?
Christensen: Just when I think I’ve written my last book on the fighting arts I’ll get another idea or someone will suggest one. That’s the wonder of the martial arts: There is always something more. I’m in my 46th year of training and teaching and at the risk of sounding trite, I’ve barely scratched the surface.
To answer your question, I’m working on a martial arts book now with no plans for another. But that’s been the case for the last several years. That said, I recently sold my first fiction, a police and martial arts suspense story and I’m now working on a follow-up novel.
7. IDA: There can be much mysticism in the martial arts. Do you spend much time with the spiritual aspects of the arts?
Christensen: I am very interested in Eastern religion, to include Zen and other forms or meditation. Of course these things exist without the inclusion of the fighting arts but when they are conjoined, I would argue that they help each other. A lot of people say that the study of martial arts has helped them to focus, to be calmer, and to understand themselves and other people better. I would agree with this and add that it was my decades of training that helped me take to meditation faster.
At first blush, it would seem that they are opposite entities. When you train, you’re exerting great energy through your techniques. When meditating, you sit, and sit, and sit. Once at a retreat, I sat for 15 hours. You think it hurts to kick at a heavy bag and miss it, try sitting motionless in zazen and see what happens to your knees.
It’s often said that the martial arts is a microcosm of life, and I would agree. Meditation helps you understand with greater clarity your life and its place in this world.
8. IDA: Lastly, for the solo martial artist, what guidance do you offer with respect to motivation when there are no belts or tournaments to train for.
Christensen: Progress is the best motivator. When you see improvement in some aspect of your training, that makes you want to train harder.
Train to music: rap, metal, Asian.
Goal setting. Establish realistic goals: 1) end of the month, 2) three months from now, and 3) a year from now.
Read martial arts books, magazines and watch DVDs, instructional and movies.
