Black Belt Magazine

It’s been said that there are two kinds of people in the world: astronomers and astronauts. In the past, at least, astronomers would sit quietly at the eyepiece of their telescope and study the universe, while astronauts would hop onto the business e

Martial artists from all over Japan recently assembled in Tokyo for a series of lectures on the life and legacy of Donn F. Draeger. The American martial arts researcher and writer is best-known for his book Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts, co-writt

William Christopher Ford, a shorin-ryu karate black belt and actor — coincidentally, his filmography includes Karate Kid Part III — has made his directorial debut with a short documentary titled The Last Dojo. The subject of the film is Black Belt Ha

▸ Highlights From the 2019 Martial Arts SuperShow in Las Vegas Enjoy these behind-the-scenes cellphone photos the editor of Black Belt took at the 2019 Martial Arts SuperShow, the event organized annually by the Martial Arts Industry Association. ▸ K

Stephen K. Hayes and I were talking about lessons that would help people live an honest and successful life. He said it all begins with selfimprovement and the ability to make good choices. The advice he gave revolves around carefully examining three

• Dimitri Logothetis, who helmed the three Kickboxer remakes with Alain Moussi, has scored big time. His next film Jiu Jitsu, in addition to starring Moussi, will feature Nicolas Cage, Tony Jaa and Frank Grillo (host of Fightworld on Netflix). • Just

Malachi Mutakabbir: I am reaching out to you about the June/July cover of Black Belt. I want to express how happy I am to see that you guys recognize 52 Hand Blocks as a true martial art. I have been training in it most of my life. Sensei Mo is like

OF COURSE, we all know how outlandish many of the scenes and plots in martial arts films can be. If most of the fight scenes in them were performed in real time, for instance, the participants would need oxygen to keep them from collapsing due to she

AS HE TELLS HIS FAVORITE STUDENT Johnny Lawrence in Cobra Kai, the YouTube series that continues the Karate Kid saga, “Someone’s got to step in and stop the ass kissing and start the ass kicking. That’s why we’re here. The world needs Cobra Kai.” IT’

ZHENGTONG’S girlfriend and baby came to the sports school to watch us train. I made several jokes about his 2-year-old being almost ready to start grappling. The first few times, Zhengtong laughed, but later he said with uncharacteristic seriousness,

THERE IS A POSSIBILITY that your lungs puffed a wee bit and that your heart rate rose, but I’ll wager that the low number of repetitions did not make any fatiguing demands on your legs. They’re probably good to go for another 10. Since what you’re fe

CRIMINALS ARE APPREHENSIVE. They don’t want to be seen by eyewitnesses or be caught. These things manifest in demeanor and movement that can be identified once you know what to look for and once you develop sound situational awareness. It’s even true

FOR THE MATRIX, the Wachowski brothers wanted frenetic-paced, over-the-top, Hong Kong–style martial arts action, and they wanted to shoot it in a way that no one had shot martial arts action before. They needed two things: cutting-edge special effect

The design of the Centurion Glove is based on that of Century Martial Arts’ original, best-selling grip-bar bag glove. With a classic look — black and burgundy leather with a tan accent over the grip bar on the palm — it features modern construction