elitejkd.com

No, I’m not NOT blogging anymore.

Wanted to keep the news of the Haiti Grapple-A-Thon at the top of the list. Still working out a couple times a day… I’ll have more on that soon.

For now, I want to thank those who participated in the Evolution this last weekend. Holy Cow! Awesome job… I was very impressed with every level, and the amount of people we had graduate into the Intermediate level. Congrats to all!

Here is a blurb from what one of our students said on our Facebook page after the event:

“I want to thank and show my gratitude to Sifu Matt and the great staff at EDS, Bloomingdale, Paul, Noah, Mike Soper, Pete Juska, Dr. Glen, Tim Hill, and all my sparring partners and fellow students, for helping me reach my goals in EDS as well as for helping me do my best in every way.

-Kalyan “Don Carrenza”

I couldn’t have said it any better. As I also stated at this event, we have a number of super incredible things going on in 2010. Whether you are a new graduate to a new level, or a past student who wants to get back into the flow, please accept my help in reaching your goals. Contact me anytime!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

Forty days non-stop, doing my morning ritual. It is time for a day off. It was also a smart move, as I taught two back to back seminars all day on Saturday and Sunday.

Therefore, I slept in till 7:30 ish, got up and spent time with my family, went with them to the doctor’s office for my kids 5 and 3 year check up, and took an extra long lunch. I’ll still work till 9:30pm tonight, still logging in about 8 hours of work… but it is much better than my usual 12-14 hour work day

By 1:30pm I was back at my desk here, working away. I don’t feel guilty for taking the morning ritual time off, which is what YOU need to do after a set period of time.

Know when to take a break. Given my crazy schedule lately, and this weekend’s events it was the right time for me. I’ll be back bright and early tomorrow to restart my regular schedule.

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

Ps: Check with the calendar tomorrow for some major event updates!

Wow, day forty. Eight weeks of doing this every morning. I just quickly want to thank all of the students who have done some or part of this morning ritual thing with me… You are an inspiration to me.

Did you write down a couple goals yet? It’s ok to take some time out to really think about them. I challenge you to take sometime over the weekend and get some clarity on them. I’ll be back on Monday to discuss some of mine, and show you how to get even more specific.

For starters, get detailed… Just don’t write, I want to be a good grappler… or I need to improve my grades. We always get what we focus on. If it is general, we’ll get general… or in my mind, boring results. If we get specific, we get specific results, which is what most of us want.

I do believe we have one more ticket left to this Saturday’s Matt Hughes’ Team MMA fight here in Rockford. If you want to attend, just call me.

We’ll also be using the open sessions as training times for the Grapple-A-Thon! We have a very intense curriculum which will serve all levels!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

I encourage all of my students to write down 3-6 month goals. I’m working with a student right now who feels slightly burnt out… tired… etc. The one surefire way to re-energize you is to make a new goal, or set of them. Here are some of the basic questions you nee to answer:

1. What specifically do you want?
2. Why do you want it, including what will happen if you don’t achieve it?
3. What do you need to do on a regular basis to get it?

I challenge you to start on these questions, and I’ll help you fine tune them tomorrow.

Lastly, don’t forget to check out our incredible upcoming online Jeet Kune Do Newsletter! We will most likely have Tim Tackett and Gary Dill in the first edition. If you don’t know who they are, Google them… you’ll be impressed!

In the meanwhile, go to www.JKDnewsletter.com right now to get a free subscription and ask your questions to these masters!!!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

This weekend is the “Matrix Live” seminar, which will be a 2 day intensive self-defense seminar, for all levels. If you attend, you’ll receive the Matrix DVDs for free. If you have already bought them, you’ll get a credit… fair?

If you want more info on the series, please check out www.JeetKuneDoMatrix.com . The website is updated with more and simplified info. I think you’ll like it.

Tomorrow I want to announce some of the people I’ll have lined up for the new online JKD newsletter. Remember, I’m giving you a FREE subscription to it, if you only help me come up with the best questions. More to come tomorrow.

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

I got sucked in. I really did.

Stayed away from the phones that could act like computers for years. Refused to have a phone which could read email… as I didn’t want to get all caught up in responding to emails where ever I was. But in the end I got sucked in, and got an iPhone late last year.

Now I think, what did I ever do without one?

The cool thing is that I totally use it through my whole morning ritual. Here is a recap, and explanation of what I mean:

1. Run: I have my iPod or Pandora radio playing in my ear every step.
2. Mini JKD Workout: Same as above, but I put it on speaker.
3. Mini Kettle Bell Workout: Same as above.
4. E-cises: There is a “No Pain” app if you are not familiar with this part… although I have it, I have my favorites, and use the iPhone for relaxation/meditation during this time. Many apps for this.
5. Read: There is a Bible app which I’m using right now… it is not only awesome but free!
6. Plan: I could use numerous organization apps here… but I like the old school approach of pen and paper.

Obviously if I wanted to, I could access the net off of the phone, and post these blogs. It is a cool little piece of technology which I’ve used since day one of this workout. Being an app junkie now, please throw me any favorites you have.

New online videos being released very, very soon. So much more info coming through this blog – please stay tuned!

Speaking of high tec, I have a brand new announcement coming up you’ll definitely want to learn about. This is a first for EDS and me! Keep in touch!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

Day thirty six. I think this is week eight, as you’ll remember I don’t “count” weekend days.. Glad you are here with me.

We have some new videos which we are posting online. I’ll get you those clips sometime this week. I also have some more coming with Sifu Roy Harris and Sifu Paul Vunak. I think you’ll like them.

I also want to describe how I use my “smart phone”, which in my case is my iPhone in my morning workout. If you have a smart phone, you’ll be interested. If you don’t, it will still be a great review of what has really improved my life in less than 2 months.

Lastly, we have our 2 Day Intensive Camp this Saturday and Sunday. If you want more info, just call me. We’ll be covering every range of fighting, and tons of Jeet Kune Do info. If will benefit anyone who attends, at any level.

I wish you a great week, and stay tuned in… much more to come through this blog.

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

Whether you are here as a first time visitor, or you check in everyday, Welcome.

I have to tell you, if you want to improve your life, you need to hold yourself accountable. I would love to say that there is some magic pill to take, but there isn’t. If you go back to Day One in this 35 day blog, you’ll see how I can help you understand some of the things I know people need to make change. You’ll see changes in as short as 4 days, or as long as 34… but isn’t it all worth it in the end? Feeling better, looking better, knowing you’ve accomplished something…

I don’t know these things because I’m a genius. I know these things, because I’ve worked with people for over 15 years now, helping and seeing them make positive changes in their lives. I’ve also seen what people do to fail. I’ll save those points for a future blog.

For right now, I want to challenge you to first take a look at a challenge anyone can do, and that is to get involved with our Haiti Grapple-A-Thon. In short, people pledge participants to grapple non-stop for 15 minute increments. Our goal is to go a full 2 hours, or 120 minutes. That is 8 – 15 minute increments.

If someone pledges you $5 per increment, and you go for 30 minutes, they’ll owe you ten bucks. If another pledges $25, and you go for the full 2 hours, that is $200. Regardless of how long you think you can grapple, I’m looking for 33 people who can raise $300 in order to reach our $10,000 goal.

Just to let you know that I put my money where my mouth is, we recently ran an Instructors Camp and Counter Assault Tactics Team (CATT) seminar, where I donated 100% of the revenue generated from that even. By the generosity and dedication of our students, I was able to write a nice 4 figure check to direct Haiti Relief. Money I wouldn’t have minded putting in my pocket, but I knew could serve a greater purpose to those in serious need.

So whether you want to donate, participate or both… We need your help. Starting the first week of March, we’ll be designating special “Grapple-A-Thon” training times at each academy to help us train for this event – regardless of what your current skill level is (most will have little or none!). Those special training times will give you around… 34 days… to get yourself to a new level.

Therefore, if you want to serve a greater cause than yourself, AND get yourself in shape AND learn some incredible grappling skills… this is it!!! I don’t care if those will be your first classes, or you’ve been a student of mine for years!

On Monday, I’ll be rolling out a summary of all the events we have coming up in the next couple months. Female self-defense seminars to Evolutions, new classes starting up to a rockin’ two day seminar on 2/27-28. Sign up for the RSS at the top left of this page, so you automatically get notified of updates!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

Ps: Did you check out www.JKDnewsletter.com yet? You’re missing out!

Why? You have to take a look at all of the things we have going on this upcoming season. Grapple-A-Thon, New Female Seminars, Evolutions, 2-Day Camps, a new JKD Newsletter which will be online, a new Facebook page, new online videos, dozens of new pics up soon… I can go on and on.

Please check back in tomorrow for an exciting blog entry which will go over many of these things, and help you “get back in the game”!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

Don’t feel the best today… been fighting something off for the last week, and it has finally caught up to me. My wife told me I should stay in this morning and not run, then workout, then hit the gym, and then train tonight. Looks like she didn’t read yesterday’s blog. Did you?

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu

Ps: Starting up a new section of the blog over the next two days… Stay tuned if you want to see how we’re going to prepare for the Haiti Grapple-A-Thon Fund Raiser. If you want to improve your ground game, you’ll want to read this!