Mr.Calkins

[evenflow1121]

Some of the theories you have provided us, I recall reading about in martial arts magazines, those magazines for the most part are well flat out wrong 90% of the time, when it comes to issues like history and even technique in some cases, I am not saying that you read them and applied you may have been taught this by some of your instructors, I just dont see how chi sau will help you when you go blind. When you stated that chi sau could be used if you go blind, it sent an automatic ding to my head from something I had read 10 years ago, but also saw about 7 years ago in practice. I saw this guy at a seminar who was a Southern Praying Mantis Master, try to demonstrate Chi Sau blind folded only to take a sucker punch to the face by one of his yellow sashes. Even if you did not read about it and were actually taught this that way, I am sorry I just dont see how things like that will work in a real life situation. I am not questioning your style, your style may very well be quite effective, and what you teach may save someone's life, hell you may even be a positive influence on your students, in fact if I still lived in NYC I would make a trip to Perry, NY to watch one of your classes and introduce myself. However, I would be somewhat careful when teaching chi sau and emphasizing its effectiveness when one goes blind, when you go blind all the guy has to do is kick you in the jewels and the chi sau wont matter too much, or retract one of his hands and execute a punch I guarantee your hands wont be stuck to his for too long.

 

[The Kai]

Wasnt That great.. I have never been to great a Point fighter. I have worked on it.. But I didn't like the Politics in Point fighting. So I stopped going. I did a bit with different Schools I was with.. Didn't like it much and like I said.. I was never the top one in our schools. I did my best and took a few 2nd & 3rd... But that was it

I completely understand that point fighting might not be your fort'e. With Iron body training and the ability to apply crushing weight to you forearms, being able to squat 1,400 pounds several times amd of course the ability to do numerous extended push-ups --you would be a natural for Kyokushin Kai tournaments (Bare Knuckle full contact) have you ever tried this?
What was your record

P.S.- I looked at the photo site-What is a deshi Kai??
__________________
todd

 

[chinto01]

Mr.Calkins I commend you once again for the patience that you have exhibited in this forum. While I do not agree with your methods I do not believe in some of the personal attacks that you are sustaining. I would once again like to encourage the people that are attacking you to maybe step back and help you realize some of the errors you may or may not be making and help you correct them in a constructive manner. Some of the close mindedness that is occurring in this forum is the same closed mindedness that is stopping the arts from growing today. Everyone thinks they are doing it the right way or the only way. In my opinion this is why the growth of the martial arts is grinding to a slow halt. It may also be the reason that some of the traditional arts are fading away. Let's take the blinders off and push aside or diffeences and help eachother not degrade eachother.

 

[BruceCalkins]

I have one simple request Bruce look deep inside your soul and ask yourself if I was in a dark ally with 5 guys looking like gorilla's what would I do and would my system work with reality.

Yes Terry I can say it does. and I train my students in up to 8 Man attacks. I do a demonstration of 3-5 man Blindfolded... But I'm sure no one believes that either.. Come to The Noex Particko's or Battle of Buffalo and you will see it in person. I have plans to enter next year. This year I went for my students.

I have been doing and training Bodyguard work and Security work for a long time and I have worked alot with multiple Attackers.

 

[Aegis]

8 attacker? 3-5 attackers while blindfolded? Another set of claims that are probably going to count against you in everyone's eyes.

If you're training realistically, then 2 attackers should be difficult to handle. 8 at once will pretty much ALWAYS win, and 3-5 while blindfolded is just suicide...

 

[The Kai]

how do you get the attacker's blindfolded

 

[arnisador]

outrageous statements (Leg press 1,400 pounds 15times?)

I wondered about this--could someone who is more knowledgeable than I about weight-lifting comment on this feat?

 

[47MartialMan]

Well Bruce,

I'm going to add this and then honestly leave the issue of Soke Calkins alone once and for all. This is in no way an attack, just my observation. You've made your claims and I've formed my opinion. That's all it is. My opinion. Take it or leave it as you see fit. It is in no way meant to harsh, just fairly blunt as that's my nature.

1. I don't believe you've studied MA's for 37 years. I do believe you have studied MA's over a period of 37 years.

2. You're over weight. That doesn't mean you're not powerful or don't have the ability to move. But you're over weight.

3. I believe that you have the ability to teach people how to defend themselves. I don't believe you have mastered enough of any art to combine "the best" of each into a system uniquely your own.

4. You're website is meant to entice the ignorant to your dojo. This is America, and people do it all the time. Take advantage of ignorance for personal gain. No crime. That's what Salesmen do, regardless of what they're selling. But what most people don't do is try to bring the same garbage they sell to the ignorant masses to those who excel in the knowledge of the arts. Just what did you think was going to happen? I don't envy your position, but nor would I have done what you tried to do. So it's your bed, you sleep in it. People develop web sites to attract an audience. On any web site, one puts their best foot forward. It's their best chance to make as good of an impression as possible. Nobody "just slaps" stuff up there. I believe you have done just that. Put your best up there. Your best leads me to the following.

5. Action shots. Action shots and poses are two different things. Your site offers Soke Calkins posing, nothing more. Call it what it is.

6. Weapons. My personal pet peeve because of the additional danger involved in claiming not only the ability to be proficient, but to teach. The horror! When I addressed you regarding the "pose" of the dragon sword, I was in my rights to do so. Even if you thought what I said was absurd. If it's a pose of a sword presented by a student, they just say so. (To date, it still doesn't), but don't put it under "Action shots". You're sending two very different messages and still try to defend it.

7. Your Step father. Small issue at face value, but indicative of what you're doing. On your site, you claim he played major league ball. In a post response, you claimed he played in the majors and minors. In my own research, I found he only played in the minors. If I'm wrong, just prove it otherwise. Here's what gets me. Anyone who has ever played AAA ball is nothing short of a phenominal ball player in their own right. It an amazing acheivement. Why can't that be good enough for you? Why do you have to make him out to be more than he is, when what he is, is already nothing short of a tremendous ball player. Man, if I'm wrong about anything, I hope you can prove me wrong about this.

You just seem to have a need to embellish everything. It makes the otherwise believable into something that raises red flags. IMO, if you had just come to this site, claiming reality and left all the bells and whistles crap behind, you would have been welcomed with open arms instead of being raked over the coals. You continue to hold to your claims, without convincing anyone of any of it, and just won't let go. Until you do, Bruce, you can't tell people what they can and cannot think about you. I think you'd be a worthy story in your own right if you just brought yourself back to reality.

Please take this as the constructive criticism it's meant to be.

Regards,

Nicely said.

 

[47MartialMan]

If it sounds like ego, it probably is. That is the scary part about things like ego. You believe one thing and are really doing something else.

So if you could only set aside your need to talk about how good you are and admit that you know next to nothing about martial arts you then might start to learn. Until you stop trying to tell us how much you have learned, we can't help you. It should not take three or more people posting before you admit even a simple thing like the definition of the term mentor is not as you used it.

We want to help people like you that know so little about the martial arts. It is out duty to repay the kindness those have shown us by teaching us to help people like you who are lost in the woods without a clue as to get out and into the light. But we can't help you unless you start to show the proper attitude that will let us in.

Another nicley written post.

Bruce, let go.

(somehow sounds like a SW quote)

 

[47MartialMan]

1)It will never happen since he has already set up shop and presented himself has someone who is supposed to have knowledge…..coming down from an ego that high up could be fatal.

2)Mentor, Soke, etc…. I certainly don’t speak Arabic nor would I argue the finer points of an Arabic word with someone who lives in that country. Talk about an EGO!

3)I love it when folks with an ego like Bruce’s come to my dojo to “check me out”. I let them go through their gambit of showing all their techniques…….most if not all never work. Then when nothing their bloated rank has to offer works they can lose the ego and train. Until then they seem to like to walk around and sniff “their own brand” as Fat Bastard so eloquently put it.

1.) I dont know know about it being fatal. But a ego is like the "eye".
When the "eye cannot see itself, someone else has to be the mirror." However, the brain that governs the "eye", must logically set aside any false interpretations and understand what is being seen. This is somewhat like the occurance of a mirage. Such as the ego-a mirrage.

2.) Bruce had admitted that he misused the term-mentor. If he can only realise the misuse of other things.

3.) Bruce has been in the same mind-set for so long. Sure, it is hard to completely understand what he says. I told him to slow down and PROOF what he had wrote before clicking "Summit".

 

[bignick]

I wondered about this--could someone who is more knowledgeable than I about weight-lifting comment on this feat?

He said leg press, not squat...so I'm assuming he's using a machine which completely isolates your muscles and gives you stability allowing you to lift more than with free weights....

I'm still not sure about that though 1,400 lbs is a LOT....considering a 1,000 lbs squat is still one of the benchmarks for the great powerlifters....and they're not doing multiple reps either....

 

[The Kai]

If your ego makes you believe you can your knife over to a attacker, indirectly your ego has killed you.



"It will never happen since he has already set up shop and presented himself has someone who is supposed to have knowledge…..coming down from an ego that high up could be fatal. " RR

 

[47MartialMan]

If your ego makes you believe you can your knife over to a attacker, indirectly your ego has killed you.



"It will never happen since he has already set up shop and presented himself has someone who is supposed to have knowledge…..coming down from an ego that high up could be fatal. " RR

Do you mean;

If your ego makes you believe you can HAND your knife over to a attacker, indirectly your ego has killed you.

Not one to look to correct, I was confused

And your statement is sad but true (sounds like a heavy metal song)

 

[The Kai]

47 you are right! Thanks for the heads up (makes more sense the way you wrote it!

 

[elder999]

He said leg press, not squat...so I'm assuming he's using a machine which completely isolates your muscles and gives you stability allowing you to lift more than with free weights....

I'm still not sure about that though 1,400 lbs is a LOT....considering a 1,000 lbs squat is still one of the benchmarks for the great powerlifters....and they're not doing multiple reps either....

1400 lbs. is a lot, but there are women that do that much. Mechanics enters into it; it's easier for someone with shorter legs than mine.

This lady leg presses 1400 lbs. for reps....but she doesn't have a 39" (39"+?) gut in the way...

 

[47MartialMan]

47 you are right! Thanks for the heads up (makes more sense the way you wrote it!

Hey I wasnt trying to correct, but understand.

Who is that in your avatar?

 

[BruceCalkins]

He said leg press, not squat...so I'm assuming he's using a machine which completely isolates your muscles and gives you stability allowing you to lift more than with free weights....

I'm still not sure about that though 1,400 lbs is a LOT....considering a 1,000 lbs squat is still one of the benchmarks for the great powerlifters....and they're not doing multiple reps either....

You are right I am talking about a Leg Lift Unit. It has me on my back supported and I only lift with my legs.. I have been doing this for a long time. And I have seen others do more. But that is my limit so far.

 

[eyebeams]

My suggestions to Bruce would be as follows:

1) He should probably ask a student to represent him in fora like these.

2) He should get his page redesigned. He should get someone to write down what he wants to say on it, get his own domain and implement a clean design.

3) He should caption his pictures to let us know where he's hamming it up and where he's actually demonstrating.

4) His site should include a curriculum sample

It seems to me that Bruce believes in at least aspects of his own lineage and didn't know the background of the term "soke," preferring to use the unfortunately now-standard Western usage.

To be charitable and relate it to my own experience:

I wonder if, in some ways, Calkins has been left with an incomplete or confused lineage, has been forced to work things out for himself, and somehow ambled into calling it "his style." Certainly, a lot of his lineage claims seem to be vague. In that case, I'd say it would be better for him to be less grandiose.

I sympathize; I've been left with an incomplete and probably synthesized tradition myself. I studied kenpo for a decade with someone who had no documentation of any kind and only a hazy sense of history (and almost no grasp of Japanese), and have only been able to determine that he did, in fact, train with a Japanese guy in the early 80s and that his mistakes almost certainly come from mistranslating terms that he heard and filling it in with the nearest thing he could read.

Sometimes, these one on one teachings are impeccably managed and leave you with a Don Angier. Sometimes you get my teacher. Sometimes you get to be second in the line of deception or broken telephone, a la the Saito family "ninjitsu."

So I can see why someone might want to give all that hazy, but very real training a label and actually do something with it.

In my case I stopped teaching students altogether (aside from one member of my immediate family) and enrolled in an art with a rock-solid lineage to give myself the benefit of a traditional foundation. I researched what I knew about my own teachings and I seek to refine them through cross-training (other students have branched out into JKD and Krav Maga). Eventually I hope to have the satisfaction of a personal art that I may pass on to my children, but not to the general public.

Bruce Calkins has, on the other hand, used his hazy lineage to create his own art, give himself the highest rank and spread these claims online.

Bruce, if you do not have rock solid surety about every element of your lineage (not, "it could be interpreted this way," but as solid as you know where your batleth is, revise your site. At the very least, if you feel you have instruction-worthy skills to teach, what's wrong with calling in the Calkins Dojo? You say you still train with other instructors. Acquire permission to teach along one of these verified lineages, and use your other experiences to spice it up -- as long as they compare with those of other arts. Or do as I did, and find the strength to close the door on teaching something you know works, but does not have a real claim to the wider respect of the community.

 

[47MartialMan]

eyebeams;

Very nice and constructive post. IMHO, Bruce needs many posts such as yours, and not blatant debunking, bashing, and harsh ones.

I agree, as he had a name change here, that he also has to set forth changes per his site/title/rank. He can do all of this and still "save face". If he is such a grand martial artist and instructor, he can implement any change for the better.

For sure, he ought to dislodge and/or no longer post affiliation with such questionable and controversial people, sites, organizations, and terminology mis-use. I would like to see him change his outlook-if possible.

Because of association, Bruce can only believe or have the mind-set that he, himself, trained in a particular style or achieved title/rank. For this can point that he (Bruce) has been deceived or under-educated by someone else.

However, back to the old atheist/theologian and pro choice/pro life dispute, some people are affixed to their reality or beliefs.

Bruce has to become educated and helped by those here. People say that he is mis-using or claiming to be something. He has to adjust and not become emotional to the point of disgust. Giving harsh or constructive criticisms will only further his disgust and not promote change. He must take constructive suggestions and ultimately use them.

As my posts do reflect that I consider him a martial artist. I think, he has been mislead by many others like him, to have many mis-understandings. Thus, he continues the cycle and so forth will his students. Ignorance (and I don't mean non-intelligence) "breeds" ignorance. Gullibility and ego breeds the same. Teacher done-students do, in many cases and the cycle will continue until someone in that particular chain, desires to become better-the goal of a good martial artist.

Peace in martial arts;

Richard

 

[The Kai]

He should not be claiming any of the stuff that he does. falsified certificates, very limited time in any one dojo, lousy sense of history, memories right out of every B ninja movie


BTW-the avatar is one of the greatest bands from the 80's