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Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven

On a recent trip to Vicenza Italy I found the perfect set of stairs for training. The stairs lead to the Church of St. Mary of Mount Berico. According to legend the Virgin Mary appeared twice to a peasant
worker in the years 1426 and 1428. She promised that if the people of Vicenza constructed a church on the top of the hill, she would save them from the plague. They did and she did. So as you see these stairs are quite literally the staircase to heaven. Find some stairs and enjoy the following.

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Just Give Me 10 Minutes and I Will Make You a Man
Just Give Me 10 Minutes and I Will Make You a Man

The Ultimate Kettlebell Exercise for the Standup Fighter By Jon Engum, Master SFG Question asked the other day… What is the go to kettlebell exercise for martial conditioning? Well, pick your poison; you really couldn’t give a bad answer. Are Kettlebell swings good for the martial artist? Uh, Yah!! Or how could you argue against the Get-up? No not really,…

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Putting A Steel into your Swing
Putting A Steel into your Swing

Jon Engum, StrongFirst Instructor. A sharp knife requires a steel to keep the edge in fine cutting condition. You may already know the term “steel” is a metal rod used to put a fine edge on knives. As a small boy watching my grandfather expertly wield his in a whirlwind of steel vs. knife he would, as a maestro conducting…

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Train Hard Fight Easy
Train Hard Fight Easy

As a Taekwondo Master for more years than I care to recount, I am disgusted with the public’s seemingly well justified view of Martial Arts today. The proliferation of McDojos and six year-old black belts has given Martial Arts a black eye. With sub-par schools run by so-called experts with bellies so big their belts look more like bow ties,…

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Ichi geki, hissatsu! = One strike, certain death
Ichi geki, hissatsu! = One strike, certain death

When I was a boy every Sunday afternoon one of the cable channels aired “Kung Fu Theater”. You may not remember it but as budding Martial Artists my friends and I never missed it. The Hero’s had to have some special style, a unique weapon or special power that was theirs alone. My favorites were the woman who fought using…

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The Tao of Hardstyle
The Tao of Hardstyle

I see said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw. What do you see? If three men were to describe an elephant without the benefit of sight one might feel only the elephants’ tail, he will describe the animal as snake like. Another may feel only the elephants’ trunk and say it is like a tree…

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Just Add Water
Just Add Water

Jon Engum, Master SFG Instructor August 25, 2011 “Mother mother ocean I have heard your call…in your belly you hold the treasure few have ever saw”… Jimmy Buffet, A Pirate Looks at 40. Water is the giver of life. The sustainer of the earth, the primordial fluid our ancestors first crawled out of. The human being has always had a…

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