Believe in yourself!!!

I hope you guys enjoy these videos. The speeches are done by Erik Thomas the Hip Hop preacher. Enjoy. Peace and Love

Be proud!

If you are a martial artist, be proud of yourself. There may not be anything else you ever do in your life in which you will be a part of the 1%. That's right, you are part of a very small fraternity about 5% of adults in the U.S. have done martial arts and of that only 1.25% do it regularly. It measures out to about 1% in the entire world according to some statistics. The large majority of people either can't, won't, or don't understand the value of training in some form of MA. I sometimes think people have a bit of a warped perception of MA. "Man I can't be out there kicking and punching", "I don't want to roll around with someone on the floor that's gay", even if you do Jiu Jitsu you are somehow you are like Bruce Lee. I'm not sure where all that comes from but I have to assume it's just ignorance and stereotypes.

What we do goes beyond punching and kicking. We create peace and comradery through discipline and pain. We find balance in our imperfections everyone doesn't move the same, we aren't all built the same, but we all train the same, sweat the same and bleed the same...Together. As we progress in the arts we start to loo inward for answers, blame less on our surroundings. We feel empowered when others feel stressed and pressuredand when we feel stress and pressured we know exactly where to look for comfort. We look to Martial Arts which in essence is the look to exchange energy with each other to obtain balance from within. All that being said hold your head high people, you're part of the 1%

International ties

I would like to take this time to recognize a couple of fighters that I've had the pleasure of working with from across the pond. first I want to big up my boy Boubacar Balde from France. This dude is vicious with it. I hold pads for this brother when he comes to the states. he has won numerous fights and just straight beasts on his opponents. so here's his most recent highlight video, you'll notice my real name on the credits in the "merci" list. Next up representin' LDG(Lions Den Gym)in the UK Multiple championship belt holder Khalid Ishmail. I had the pleasure of spending some quality training time with Khalid recently and the dude is a monster. Super humble, easy to talk to but a huge talent when it comes to fighting. He is the owner of a couple of Lions Den Gym fitness centers in England. also reciecved the coveted Arabic Professional Man of the Year 2012 award. He recently had a documentary made about him and here is the teaser trailer. I wish both of these brothers much success in the future. Great guys, great fighters and both deserving of the best.

Training blog ep.2

Wassup warriors!?! I hope you are all well and good. I have been working diligently on trying to present you with some training vids. Still working out the editing between my phone and computer. However I am enjoying the process nonetheless. Here's the latest Training blog update. Please re-post the blog address on Facebook and Twitter if you like what i'm doing(Beh20.blogspot.com) and i'll keep expanding and growing this thing. Thank you all so much for your support!! Love to all.

Honestly expressing yourself - Bruce Lee

In light of the new documentary "I am Bruce Lee" that gave Spike TV it's highest rating ever for documentaries, I wanted to reexamine my martial arts roots. It should come as no surprise that Bruce Lee movies influenced me to become a martial artist as he did for many others. Growing up on the South side of Chicago I can remember how everyone imitated the sounds Bruce made while doing horribly ugly sidekicks at one another. Occasionally I would see a random kid in my hood with a Kung Fu uniform on, walking down the street. I didn't know what to make of it but I definately thought he could kick some ass. I mean you had to be pretty brave to walk around the South side dressed like you ust got of the boat from Hong Kong. At that time Bruce Lee was fantasy to us, a every man hero that we could all relate to. It wasn't until later that I realized it wasn't just fantasy.

At seven years old I started playing little league baseball. I played every year until moving to Texas at 13. As you get older you get to change parks and play with the bigger kids at the big park with the real baseball fields. I remember first being exposed to my new coach Carlos Lovington. He was a slim man with an air of confidence that I still recall clearly to this day. Back then in Chicago gang violence was on the rise and kids were often put into sports to keep them away from the craziness going on around town. Carlos was extremely strict with us and I assume it was for this reason. However I would find out later that he didn't act this way with us because he was a mean hard nosed coach trying to win Little League championships(which we did BTW). he was this strict and demanded respect because he was a traditional martial artist with a blackbelt in Tae kwon do. He gave me my first look into the mentality of a true fighter. However he wasn't my introduction into live martial arts, that respect goes to one of his students. I went to baseball practice early on this day and what I saw that day would change me forever. When I got to the clubhouse to check in with my coach I realized the door was open. I had never been inside before and was nervous about going in. As I approached the door I could see a lone figure moving inside. There in the middle of the room was a young man probably about 16 or 17 years old practicing with Bruce Lee's weapon of choice the nunchaku aka nunchuks. I was overwhelmed, it was real!!! I went home that day and begged to take the only word I knew "Karate". My mom spoke to coach Carlos and the rest is history. I am a martial artist to this day and so proud and happy that it is still a huge part of my life. As another martial artist said to me recently, "it just gives you that little something extra". There are many memories that still cross my mind about my time doing Taekwondo with Master Carlos but one of the best memories was my uncle upon finding out I was training telling me a story. He said to me that he knew my coach and that when he met him "he was kicking the bark off of trees". It just added to the mystique of Master Carlos but after spending time with him you wouldn't have been surprised to hear that he was kicking down Redwoods with Chuck Norris for firewood. No joke he was and still is legendary to me.

I recieved this certificate when I got my green belt. I have chosen to do what Bruce laid out for me ever since "Honestly express yourself" the meaning of Martial arts.