It was Memorial Day Weekend when I signed up for those four free Karate Lessons that led to my return to the world of Martial Arts.  I began practicing the Hung Gar style of kung fu back in 1984.  Over the next 17 years, I went from novice to instructor.  And then, I hurt my foot.  And for seven years, I was unable to practice kung fu.  So I put my attention to other pursuits, like music and writing. But then I got fat—very, very fat.  Imagine as fat as you can imagine.  I was fatter than that.  So I went on a diet.  I used the Weightwatchers plan.  It works.  I can say nothing but...

I wanted to tell you what I’ve been doing in my back to kung fu classes, but it occurs to me that without a little explanation, you won’t really understand it. So I’ve decided to give all of Reverbia some basic kung fu lessons in print. Lesson 1—Basic Horse Stance You can’t fight if you can’t stand. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Of course it does. So the first thing you learn to do is to make your legs strong. To do that, you stand in what is called horse riding stance. It makes your legs very, very strong. It’s not easy to do, but it is easy to practice. You can do it while washing...

It has now been about three weeks since I called my kung fu pal, Lee, and started actively practicing Hung Gar Kung Fu again. So here is a little update on my progress. The kung fu road is not an easy road, especially in a hard core school. Not all kung fu schools are equal, but I guess that’s evident. Not all martial arts schools are equal. There are two basic kinds of martial arts schools. One kind of martial arts school is “the business”. This school is supposed to make money. This is an elusive martial arts dream. Hardly any martial arts schools make money. We all knew martial arts schools...