Iain Abernethy - The Practical Application Of Karate

Traditionally this is the time where many of us set our goals and resolutions for the coming year. I’ve therefore prepared a short and timely podcast on the basics of goal setting for this blog. It’s important to have goals, but if these goals are poorly defined they do little to help us. By following the method outlined in the podcast, your goals will have meaning, will help guide your actions, will give you a measure of your progress, will motivate you and will help you achieve the things you want in 2007; both inside and outside of the dojo. When most people come to set their new-year resolutions they are often about all the negative things they want to stop doing. In addition to getting rid of a few bad habits, I’d also encourage you to set some positive goals for 2007. There must be loads of thing you want to achieve and accomplish in 2007 and the simple goal setting methods discussed in the podcast is certain to help you. I’ve used the method to ensure progress in the martial arts and in all other aspects of my life. I hope you find it as useful as I have! More details of the goal setting method introduced in the podcast, and other tools that will help you achieve your ambitions for 2007, can be found in my Mental Strength book and DVD. I hope you enjoy the podcast and it helps you to set the goals that will make 2007 your best year yet! Have a good one! All the best, Iain

Traditionally this is the time where many of us set our goals and resolutions for the coming year. I’ve therefore prepared a short and timely podcast on the basics of goal setting for this blog. It’s important to have goals, but if these goals are poorly defined they do little to help us. By following the method outlined in the podcast, your goals will have meaning, will help guide your actions, will give you a measure of your progress, will motivate you and will help you achieve the things you want in 2007; both inside and outside of the dojo. When most people come to set their new-year resolutions they are often about all the negative things they want to stop doing. In addition to getting rid of a few bad habits, I’d also encourage you to set some positive goals for 2007. There must be loads of thing you want to achieve and accomplish in 2007 and the simple goal setting methods discussed in the podcast is certain to help you. I’ve used the method to ensure progress in the martial arts and in all other aspects of my life. I hope you find it as useful as I have! More details of the goal setting method introduced in the podcast, and other tools that will help you achieve your ambitions for 2007, can be found in my Mental Strength book and DVD. I hope you enjoy the podcast and it helps you to set the goals that will make 2007 your best year yet! Have a good one! All the best, Iain

At the foot of this post you’ll find the latest Iain Abernethy.com podcast! This podcast is just over 18 minutes long and covers the fundamental keys needed to understanding how kata should be applied. It is knowledge of these keys that will enable the karateka to understand the “language of kata” and hence understand what the physical moments of the various kata represent. The podcast can be listened to online using this blog’s built in player (just click “Play Now” or the grey play icon). You can also download the podcast to listen to later on your computer or MP3 player by right clicking “Download”, then click “Save as”, and then choose the location you’d like to save the podcast to. I hope you enjoy the podcast and find it useful. All the best, Iain

At the foot of this post you’ll find the latest Iain Abernethy.com podcast! This podcast is just over 18 minutes long and covers the fundamental keys needed to understanding how kata should be applied. It is knowledge of these keys that will enable the karateka to understand the “language of kata” and hence understand what the physical moments of the various kata represent. The podcast can be listened to online using this blog’s built in player (just click “Play Now” or the grey play icon). You can also download the podcast to listen to later on your computer or MP3 player by right clicking “Download”, then click “Save as”, and then choose the location you’d like to save the podcast to. I hope you enjoy the podcast and find it useful. All the best, Iain

“The Benefits of Fear” and is around 15 minutes long. The podcast discusses the three main ways in which fear is good for us; both from a martial perspective and from the view point for helping us achieve all the things we want from life. This podcast also covers some of the issues discussed in more depth in my new Mental Strength DVD

“Kata-Based-Sparring” and is also around 15 minutes long. On this podcast I discuss the four stages of kata training, the need to take the techniques and methods of the kata into live training (solo kata and compliant drills are not enough), what kata-based-sparring is, and some of the basics of how to structure it. It’s an area of my approach to kata that is of great interest to people and I hope the podcast will add something to your understanding of it (details of the associated DVD can be found HERE).

“The Benefits of Fear” and is around 15 minutes long. The podcast discusses the three main ways in which fear is good for us; both from a martial perspective and from the view point for helping us achieve all the things we want from life. This podcast also covers some of the issues discussed in more depth in my new Mental Strength DVD

“Kata-Based-Sparring” and is also around 15 minutes long. On this podcast I discuss the four stages of kata training, the need to take the techniques and methods of the kata into live training (solo kata and compliant drills are not enough), what kata-based-sparring is, and some of the basics of how to structure it. It’s an area of my approach to kata that is of great interest to people and I hope the podcast will add something to your understanding of it (details of the associated DVD can be found HERE).

Would you believe it! The uber-ludite himself has done a podcast! And this isn’t a one off! We’ll be putting these podcasts together pretty regularly and posting them as part of this blog. To be kept informed of new podcasts, please join the newsletter. As always, I had a lot of help from Richard with this podcast so I’m really pleased with the end result (I did the end and start myself and that’s why the sound “pops” on those bits – I now know how to stop that for future ones though!) This podcast is just under twenty minutes long and you can listen to it now by clicking on the links at the foot of this post. You can also download it and listen later on your MP3 player, computer, or you could even burn it to a CD and listen to it in the car. I guess that’s the great thing about podcasts, you can accesses the information whenever suits you! The interview on this first podcast covers the following topics: How I got involved in karate – What is “Applied Karate”? – The relevance of kata to the modern world – The role of kata – How to start analysing kata – The benefits of karate training – Developments on the website and upcoming events. I hope that you enjoy the podcast. As always, I welcome any feedback and would be particularly interested to know what subjects you’d like me to cover on future podcasts? These podcasts are put together for you, so let us know what you’d like to hear about and we’ll get it sorted! Please send your feedback via the contacts page of the website. Many thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoy the podcast! Best Wishes, Iain

Would you believe it! The uber-ludite himself has done a podcast! And this isn’t a one off! We’ll be putting these podcasts together pretty regularly and posting them as part of this blog. To be kept informed of new podcasts, please join the newsletter. As always, I had a lot of help from Richard with this podcast so I’m really pleased with the end result (I did the end and start myself and that’s why the sound “pops” on those bits – I now know how to stop that for future ones though!) This podcast is just under twenty minutes long and you can listen to it now by clicking on the links at the foot of this post. You can also download it and listen later on your MP3 player, computer, or you could even burn it to a CD and listen to it in the car. I guess that’s the great thing about podcasts, you can accesses the information whenever suits you! The interview on this first podcast covers the following topics: How I got involved in karate – What is “Applied Karate”? – The relevance of kata to the modern world – The role of kata – How to start analysing kata – The benefits of karate training – Developments on the website and upcoming events. I hope that you enjoy the podcast. As always, I welcome any feedback and would be particularly interested to know what subjects you’d like me to cover on future podcasts? These podcasts are put together for you, so let us know what you’d like to hear about and we’ll get it sorted! Please send your feedback via the contacts page of the website. Many thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoy the podcast! Best Wishes, Iain