- New Year's Resolutions - Student of the Month - Events - Testing - Recommended Book - Video Technique - Dietary Supplement -
New Year's Resolutions
Regardless of what is going on in the world as warriors we need to transcend! This list gives some great pointers to help enhance and maximize your martial arts potential.
- Pack your clothes at night. Mornings are cold and dark now and may be hard to get motivated. Also, keep a packed bag for PAMA and extra clothes in your car. That way you are prepared at all times to train.
- Set a goal for your next testing level in one of the classes. Register or set a date, tell your friends/family, and pay in advance, that way you are bound to it!
- Don't stop home after work! The TV, internet, and refrigerator will be there when you get done. Nothing is more pressing then your health and wellbeing.
- Keep nuts, dried fruit, or a healthy bar available and with you so you are not hungry. Have a snack after work to refuel your brain and body and get ready to train. (Psssstt, there are also healthy, yummy bars for sale in the pro-shop!)
- Buy yourself a Kali, Silat, or Jun Fan DVD in the Pro-Shop. These are great tools to support your practice, enforce what you are learning, and help you jump ahead!
- Stay for more then one class. You are already warmed up and mentally focused. Cross-training is a key to the totality of the martial artist!
- Get your body in line! Do an inventory, how are you feeling? What supplements and/or vitamins are you lacking? Don't waste your time with sub-par brands that will not be absorbed. We are spoiled, the Pro-Shop puts all of the best brands right at your fingertips!
- Get a private lesson to work on the things you have been struggling with and get brushed up on everything. These are great ways to improve and progress in the martial arts. You can always share them with another person so you will have a training partner to work on them with after the lesson.
- Have a book around to read at all times. The Tao of Jeet Kune Do and others are available in the Pro-Shop and are constant tools you can keep returning to and rereading.
- Get a family member or friend to join PAMA. Ask some of the family members who train at PAMA today, this is a great way to bond and spend quality time together. Also, it is a great motivator!
- Utilize the facility outside of class. The school opens at 10:30 and is open throughout the day until 10:00 P.M. each weeknight and 7:00 P.M. on Fridays. Saturdays the hours are 9:00 A.M. until at least 3:00 P.M. Use of the facilities is included in your tuition, take advantage!
- Supplement your training with a weight lifting regimen. PAMA has a gym so that people can get everything they need in one place. See the Pro-Shop to register for the Gym facilities.
- Get a training partner. There is a message board as soon as you walk in PAMA on the right. People who are looking for a training partner place their info on there. Hook up with someone and get some outside partner training in.
Student of the Month
- Dan T -
Dan T
-
Share with us a little bit of your non-martial arts background.
My wife, Dianne, and I have three children Alex, Taylor and Danny. We have lived in the Princeton area since 1989 and feel very fortunate to live in a community influenced by a University. Princeton has been a great place to raise our family.
-
What influenced you to come to PAMA originally and start training?
I was approaching 50 (rapidly) and was looking to improve my flexibility and learn new skills. I was very interested in martial arts, but didn't know how to get started. By chance, I was at a dinner in California and was seated next to a person who had been training in martial arts for the past 20 years. After we had talked about all of the positive benefits that he had experienced from his training, I asked him how to find a quality teaching experience. He knew that I was from the east coast and his immediate response was that there was only one worthwhile place to train in the New York area and that was PAMA. I had no idea that the best Academy in the country was in my backyard.
-
How would you characterize your progress since you first started? Also, what arts have you trained and why?
The longer that I have been a part of PAMA the more I realize that progress is relative. Some aspects can be measured in that I'm fitter, more flexible and have learned new skills. On the flip side, I realize that the training and the philosophy behind the different disciplines require a lifetime of study and that I'm only beginning to scratch the surface. My experience has been both empowering and humbling. Initially, my training was more focused on Jun Fan. Recently, I have been trying to attend classes in each of the areas of study offered by PAMA. I have a better appreciation that the skills acquired in one class can improve your skills in a different discipline.
-
What is it about the martial arts that motivate you to make it a part of your life?
My motivation is to try to work hard in every class and to continue to improve. I recognize that at my age there are certain physical limitations, but those constraints don't hinder my ability to try to be the best that I can be.
-
What is your favorite aspect about training at PAMA?
The people. Whether it is the instructors or my fellow classmates, I have not met a nicer group of people anywhere.
-
Anything else that you would like to add?
I believe that it is a privilege to train at PAMA. Sifu Rick has created a culture and environment that is truly unique and that uniqueness extends far beyond martial arts. To have a group of people care as much as the PAMA staff does about helping other people to improve is special. I consider myself very fortunate to having "found" PAMA after 20 years of living in Princeton.
Events
- Holiday Party! -
by Mike Wolhfert
On Dec 23, the PAMA instructors and staff had their annual holiday get together. All the instructors gathered at the BT Bistro for great conversation, food, spirits and holiday cheer. Everyone had a great time and reminisced on the year that passed. After the festivities we enjoyed some jazz music performed by PAMA's own Sean Kelly and his band Jazz vs. the Space Tiger. It was a wonderful time amongst friends and great way to celebrate the holiday season and welcome in the New Year
- Holiday Get Together! -
by Matt Foster
On December 13th, PAMA's instructors, students, and their families celebrated the holidays with great food, good 'spirits', and some great conversation. The annual PAMA holiday party was a great time for all attendees to socialize and interact without throwing any kicks or punches, though the atmosphere and decorations still had that martial arts flare. There was a buffet of refreshments which included many tasty home cooked dishes and even a healthy and delicious home brewed beer, made by PAMA students who wanted to share their culinary talents. It was a fun event and just the thing to put a martial artist in the mood for the holidays. Thanks to all who came out and contributed.
Testing
-Jun Fan 4 and 8 Month Tests -
(l-r) Joe Naggar and Joe Calzada
Sifu Recommends a Book
- Musashi's Book of Five Rings -
Musashi's Book of Five Rings,
translated by Stephen Kaufman
This classic work interprets Musashi's Five Rings specifically for the martial artist - as it was originally intended. It explains the truths necessary for a full understanding of Musashi's message in depth. The result is an enthralling treatise on martial strategy that combines a warrior's instincts with the philosophies of Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Like the original, this new interpretation is divided into five sections. The Book of Earth lays the groundwork for the study; Water explains the warrior's attitudes through and understanding of strategy; Fire teaches figthting based on the Earth and Water principles; Wind describes the differences in Musashi's own style and styles of other schools; and the Book of No-thing describes the "way" of nature as being understood through "unthinking"conceptions.
-- Excerpt from back cover
Video Technique
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL for many great techniques and videos by Sifu Rick.
http://www.youtube.com/RickTucciPAMA
Dietary Supplement
- Flex Now: Joint Formula -
Flex Now: Joint Formula
by SheaFlex
Over 30 pharmaceutical-standard clinical trials and studies prove FlexNow with 100% SheaFlex70 has a statistically significant and clinically meaningful impact on joint care and management. Our experience includes human, double-blind, placebo-controlled university hospital clinical trials. Studies you can trust, by professionals you can trust.
FlexNow® with 100% SheaFlex70TM is clinically proven to impact all four of the areas required to realize healthy joint function: inflammation, cartilage retention, bone maintenance, and pain. In particular, FlexNow with 100% SheaFlex70 has been proven to:
- Reduce inflammation by 9 times
- Improve cartilage retention by 44%
- Increase bone retention by 10%
- Alleviate pain by 45%
Credits:
Video/Pictures: Mary Jo Colli, Kurt Komoda, Mike Lee
Stories: Mary Jo Colli, Matt Foster, Mike Lee, Mike Wolhfert