The doctor is in

Dr. Rowe sent this in. This study shows that people will not practice at home alone as much as being with a group. As karate instructors I think we know this. Marketing in studios and health clubs often use buddy deals to get people in so they will have a bit of peer pressure to go to class. I think this study proves this concept. But it also opens the avenues of tele-study, something I have been looking into.

Group tele-exercise for improving balance in elders.
Wu G, Keyes LM.
Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401, USA. ge.wu@uvm.edu

Abstract

This study was to assess the level of acceptance and efficacy of a group tele-exercise program designed for balance impaired elders to improve balance and reduce fear of falling. The program would allow a group of elderly subjects to participate in a structured, interactive, and supervised exercise class from their own homes through a videoconferencing system. A total of 17 independent living elderly subjects (mean age, 81 +/- 8 years) participated in the study. An Internet-based videoconferencing device (VCD) was installed in each subject's home, allowing real-time video and audio communication with the exercise instructor and all other participants. The exercise was in the form of Tai Chi Quan, three times per week for 15 weeks. The main study measures included exercise compliance, level of acceptance and satisfaction, and the effectiveness of the exercise program on balance, fear of falling, and general health. Three subjects dropped out of the study. For those remaining, the average compliance was 78% (range, 51% to 98%). All subjects were able to operate the VCD independently, and expressed earnest interest in continuing tele-exercise programs in the future. There were significant improvement (p < 0.05) postexercise in fear of falling score (18%), single leg stance time (43%), Up-and-Go time (21%), and body sway during quiet stance (>8%). This study has demonstrated that the group tele-exercise program is acceptable and welcomed by elders, and is effective for improving balance and reducing fear of falling.

PMID: 17042710 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

European Kenpo

I was over in Athens, Greece this past weekend. John Fillipidis had me as his guest. I was able to work with John privately and you can tell he's been paying attention to his lessons. His students know quite a bit about concept and principle, which shows me he's passing it on. They have depth of knowledge. John and his people ask good questions. I believe it's ingrained in the Greek mind to think deeply; Socrates, Plato and others come to mind. Their physical skills are very good and they have solid stances and footwork.

    Marc Sigle, from Esslingen, Germany came along with me. We had a great time in Athens. The people there were friendly and went out of their way to show us a good time. John took us down to the Acropolis area to walk around the Plaka and stroll through the Agora. It's a park today but many, many years ago it was where the market, Senate, temples and more were located. John told me it was where Socrates and others spent their time. It was a treat to walk the same ground.

   The lessons I taught were well-received. It was cool to work with guys named Panos, Yiannis, Achillies and Adonis. John himself is a craftsman, he works with wood. He made this for me, and the Ed Parker image for Marc. His attention to detail carries over to his teaching and execution of the art. John is intense.

On the way home I stopped at Marc Sigle's studio, where they are no less excited about Kenpo. I taught a big class or two there. Marc's people hit and they're fast. And it's good to see people I have come to know over time like Nadja, Paul, Lenny, Hannah, Paula, Griet, Andy (both of them), Anka, Friedeman, Kevin and the rest. It is interesting to see the cultural differences in the countries there and compare them to home. People are the same all over in many respects but they are also different. I ame very fortunate to be invited to the schools and privileged to carry the flame of the Parker system forward. I never thought I would be in these places, teaching the artt, when I first started.

New studio opening in Louisiana

On Monday, July 5th, two of our PKS black belts are opening a new studio in Covington, near New Orleans. Dr. Francis Rene and Mr. Danny Sullivan will operate it. Both are 4th degree black belts. Dr. Rene worked with Huk Planas for years and now studies with Mr. Steve White of Manchester, New Hampshire. Danny Sullivan is one of my home-grown Florida black belts. They are working closely with Steve White on the business end, which will certainly insure their success. Steve has what is probably the largest all-Parker Kenpo studio in the US. I wish them the best of luck. Their contact info is below.

Covington Karate Studio
812 S. Tyler St. Suite C
Covington, LA 70433
985-893-9644

Member subscriptions

If you're a member on my website, that means you have a paid annual subscription to the Member Section, you may have been cancelled recently by PayPal. They tell me that if any member has recently changed their credit card or payment info and not updated it in the registration section of my site, you get cancelled automatically. Many of your names have come up recently as cancelling and some of you have contacted me to say you did not want to. Please go in and check to see that your info is current.
   I don't know a whole lot about this technical stuff and suspect there may be something else involved but it's a place to start. Sorry for the inconvenience.

New Member Section article

I had uploaded my latest article to the Member Section of my website at http://www.leewedlake.com/ entitled Implicit or Explicit. It's about memory. Here's an excerpt.

Brain researchers say that unconscious thought is what accounts for making decisions in micro-seconds. Quarterbacks must develop the ability to recognize patterns and apply them to a set of options, then select the option that will be successful. Sound familiar? You see the punch coming, determine if it’s right or left, straight, round, overhead or uppercut and whether you have room to step forward, back or to the side. You somehow decide if you should block or parry. Should it be inside, outside, over or under? Front hand, rear hand or both? Which foot forward? How much force to be applied? You do all this in the space of time it takes for the opponent to cover roughly the distance of a step-through or closer. And you make it work! How did you do that?

Seminars in Pennsylvania and Georgia

I was at Marc Shay's school in Broomall, PA (near Philly) and then down to Keith Mathew's studio in Canton, GA (near Atlanta) this past week. I had been in Washington, DC for Rolling Thunder over the Memorial Day weekend and stayed up there for some extra time. Sam Babikian in PA arranged to have me over to the Mr. Shay's. We had a good turnout for my session on family groupings with emphasis on body mechanics. Mike Corsello and Stephanie Hammond came down with students from their studio in North Wales and Brian Price made the trip over from the Reading area. Brian donated his body to science as my demo partner. It was my first time there and the group was a pleasure to work with.

    Since I had come up with friends from Florida and we trailered our motorcycles, I planned to ride back down to Florida. I did a combination of side roads, interstates and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's been a while since I'd ridden in the mountains so it was a bit mentally exhausting but I got my "groove" back quickly. I stopped in Roanoke, VA and Maggie Valley, NC for overnights before arriving at Keith's studio on Friday.

     I did four sessions for him there, including one for kids. Long 2, club and gun defenses for the adults and push defense for the kids. My good friend, Robert Wallace (some of you knew him as Robert Ray), showed up from Spartanburg, SC. He's been with me for 16 years and was the one who introduced me to Keith. We had discussed Keith's progress and I decided it was time to move him up to third black. We did his promotion just before lunch, between the seminars. Keith has been working steadily toward the rank, both having me up and travelling down to Ft. Myers. His students are showing that he's passing on the lessons - everyone is improving. My congrats to him!

  That's Keith with his youngest son, Parker and pictures of his kick up.

Rolling Thunder

I've always wanted to go to this event, one of the largest motorcycle events in the US. It's on the Sunday of every Memorial Day weekend for the last 23 years. This year, when my friends asked me if I could go, I was able to say yes. Six of us went up from Fort Myers, a thousand mile trip, one-way.
   The event started to raise awareness of the POW-MIA situation and has broadened to include a salute to all veterans. Last year they said they had 260,000 motorcycles show up and this year were expecting a half-million! The parade started at noon but we were staged at 7am, which put us somewhat toward the front. It still took us 40 minutes to get out of the parking lot after the first bike left. By the way, the parking lot was the north lot of the Pentagon. I have never seen that many motorcycles in one place in my life.

   While we were killing time, a B-52 bomber flew over at low level. Very appropriate, since the name "Rolling Thunder" was first used as a bombing mission name during the Vietnam war where those bombers continuously saturated that country.

    We rode the parade route through downtown DC. There were thousands of people lining the streets, waving, cheering, holding signs and yelling their thanks to the veterans. It was a touching experience. You may not agree with war but the troops say "Hate the game, not the players". The veterans deserve recognition and they got it that day. I'm glad I was there to see and be part of it.

   Many of our group were heading back to Florida the same day so we decided not to attend the activities at the Vietnam memorial. We rode back to the hotel and passed the Pentagon again, where the lot was still half-full of bikes. I don't know if they made the half-million mark but there were a whole lot of motorcycles in Washington that day.