Rick Vargas

I’m disappointed that Clubs and Dance venues out here in Loudoun County and Northern VA, relegate Salsa music to mid week.  It is a great social dance music. Most people here who like to go Salsa dancing on weekends end up going into DC.

My point is that even if you don’t dedicate the whole night to salsa, because there is a significant Latino population in the area, you should at least mix in some salsa.  Yes, you can do it on your weekend deejay’ing. Time for a multicultural change babies.

I’ve seen the Latinos in the various bars and clubs in the area, going along with the hiphop, rock, and country & western.  There’s no excuse, not even economically, for not mixing in some latin, specifically Salsa.  Do that and watch the ladies go “OOOhhh” and start wanting to mimic Shakira and JLo, then watch the guys light up, and buy more drinks for them. Watch people want to learn the graceful moves of slick dancers…

So, club so and so plays Salsa on Tuesday night, because they don’t think its profitable on Saturday night.  They can have it.  I’m not supporting them who won’t support me culturally on the weekend.  The demographics are there. With your Rock, Hip Hop, etc. you can mix in Salsa.  There’s enough healthy variety in our music that it blends well and crosses over.  And don’t argue about a language barrier, there’s a lot of Salsa music in English, and French, and Japanese, somewhere I even have Celtic Salsa!

You can help. You guys who go out of your way top do a little Salsa on Tuesday and Wednesday, start TELLING the owners or managers of those venues, that when you come on the weekend you’d like to hear some salsa mixed in, maybe just a few songs during their 4 hour sets.  Point out that on the weekend there’s Latinos patronizing their establishments as well. Tuesday night I’ll be listening to vintage Ray Barreto and Eddie Palmieri in my own space.

And, in case you’re wondering, yes, I am a New Yorker who grew up on this music, loves it passionately, likes to dance and spends money on the weekends.

Siempre Pa’lante!  Ask me anything!

Stretching is the exercise most associated with karate. For Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I’d say the word is limbering,which I also associate with yoga.

With maturity, I don’t think it’s “stretched” that we want to be, but limber. I’ve got reasonably stretched hamstrings for kicking, but boy is my lower back finding it needs work.  I thinks limber is something you can be most of the time, your range without a warm up.

I’ve often asked, why are there no 40+ year olds in BJJ?  From what I’ve seen, they’re rare.  I think it’s because most instructors, don’t know the effects of that type of training on mature bodies, hurt more than help, so only seek and cater to the high school/college athlete.  People would answer; hey look at Helio Gracie, he’s 80!  Yeah, but I haven’t seen him rolling with the younger UFC guys much lately either.  I suspect at some point he accepted his limitations, and that’s OK.

I’d like to see older participants in BJJ. It has many self defense benefits for them, but I don’t think it’ll happen in the current state of the art.  A 40, 50+ year old cannot be trained like a 22 year old looking to turn pro.

May take some more years before the current batch of tough guy, athletic, BJJ instructor matures, develops arthritis, lower back issues, and learns to train mature students.

In the meantime, you older guys and gals, you know your bodies and conditions better than they do. Operate and train within your limits and capacities. Don’t try to match that 22 year old squat per squat. It’s not a matter of “heart,”  it’s a matter of biology, aging, decay.

I have a 40+ year old instructor.  I am learning and preserving my health.  I’ve worked with a couple of groups of young fighters, I was learning, but over stressing parts of myself that made it difficult to function in my next day’s affairs.  I could not in good conscience continue with that.  I hung in with them, but for how long?  I’m not looking to get into the octogon this weekend.  I like learning and adding skill sets to my repertoire, but don’t want to overpay, and the wrong way, the cost is not worth it.

That said a little rest before class tonight.

Do it to enhance your life not to harm it.

Conversation with martial artists and self defense experts these days can be pretty weird.

It used to be about how hard we trained in our particular practices.  If you had a good punch that you could get me with 9 out of 10 times it was because you worked on it over and over from a lot of angles. You just plain worked it.  Good teachers drilled you a lot to get the most out of you, and for you, in speed, power, accuracy.  Beyond what was required of you from your style or instructor, you were always looking to exceed your personal best.  Self defense was always a factor in why and how you trained.

There were people who talked about secret techniques and supernatural powers, but they were never seen in training halls beyond the free lesson that they left from worn out and huffing and puffing.

Today I hear a lot of new jargon from a lot of guys who also don’t seem to train that much either.  They talk about “reality,” about “odds of going to the ground,” “adrenal stress,” “heightened awareness,” “physiological” this and that, etc.  I hear more talk about “the brain” and “neurons” from martial artists and self defense experts than I do from my scientist son.  I see sales pitches that make it seem like learning self defense is a PhD dissertation.

It’s not that complicated.  Some simple physical instruction, and clues on what to watch for are plenty for most non professionals.

I’ll paraphrase Bruce Lee’s paraphrase of an old zen saying:

“Before I studied martial arts a punch was just a punch, a kick was just a kick.  When I studied martial arts a punch was no longer a punch, a kick was no longer a kick.  Now that I’ve transcended martial arts, a punch is just a punch, a kick is just a kick.”

It’s dizzying to read the material out there complicating martial arts and self defense.  A lot of it very scholarly sounding.  But it can be too much, and overdone.

To illustrated I’ll tell you this story:

I’ve trained in and practiced meditation almost all my life. At one point I had trained with a renowned master in many types of meditation, many techniques.  Years later, I happened upon a Zen Master, and attended his center.  I Listened to the talk, and even had a question/answer with him.  Upon going to the meditation hall I asked “what technique shall I use, a silent mantra, visualization, a breathing one…”

His answer with a snap was, “don’t move muscle, don’t move mind!”  I was confused.  After all, I knew all these things.  So, I sat in the hall amongst others, whose sole technique was to try to sit still in body and mind, and, I had one of the most enriching experiences of my life up to that time.

Simplicity is often a sign of the highest achievements.

Got a question?

Ask me anything!

The disaster in Haiti, any and every disaster, is a call to our spirituality through our humanity.

If you can and care, I encourage you to please contribute something.  There are many avenues for this, I’ve chosen the Red Cross cause it’s the most familiar, and perhaps easiest. A link to them can be found here on Tumblr or on CNN: http://bit.ly/6VSMds.

If you cannot contribute materially, please offer your prayers, chants, vibrations, and good thoughts.