Martial Arts training has been around for literally thousands of years. At the core of it, hand-to-hand combat was a way of life up until the use of guns and other motorized weapons.
For the most part Martial Arts has now become a great way to learn self-defense, get in shape and learn a new art form. But in order to know the best style for yourself, we first have to look at the fundamentals of martial arts and go back in time a few years to see how it all evolved…
Martial Arts Background:
The teaching of martial arts in Asia has historically followed the cultural traditions of teacher-disciple apprenticeship. Students are trained in a strictly hierarchical system by a master instructor.
The traditional form of martial arts has been evolving in Asia for centuries. It has always been a very hierarchal form of training, where the student trains under a master for many years until he himself becomes one and then starts the process all over again. In Aisa and other eastern countries, martial arts was and in many cases still is a large part of life for people.
The influence and development of the "traditional martial arts" never started until after World War 2. As Western influence grew in the East a greater number of military personnel spent time in China, Japan, Korea and elsewhere. Exposure to martial arts during the Korean war was also significant. Gradually some soldiers began to see the value of Eastern martial arts and began training in them.
With large numbers of American servicemen stationed in Japan after World War II, the adoption of techniques and the gradual transmission of entire systems of martial arts to the West started.
Martial Arts Styles:
As training in most arts has been evolving for decades and in some cases hundreds of years, there has become quite a variety of different fighting systems.
Most notably, the common ones are:
Traditional Fighting Arts – These are systems such as Karate, Aikido, Kung Fu and Taekwondo (to a lesser extent.) They are well rounded and focus a lot on the "art" aspect of the system.
Sport Fighting Arts – These are systems such as Jujitsu, Brazilian Jujitsu, Judo, Muay Thai, exc… These are martial arts at the core but are more focused on the sport and competition aspect of the art (generally speaking).
Full Contact Fighting – These systems are fairly new and focus on actual full-contact fighting! The most common one is "Mixed Martial Arts" (MMA). This is a mixture of the other systems, taking the best fighting aspects of them and combining them into one fighting system that best suites the fighter.
What Is The Best Martial Art For YOU?
That is a great question! The best way to find-out is to checkout a bunch of schools in your area. Try one of their free classes or free months that many will offer you. Ask a lot of questions and after a few tries your going to find an art that will work for you!
Jim Anderson is an avid trainer and helps people learn self-defense using Martial Arts to protect themselves on the street. His site is
http://www.underground-training.com/martial_arts


I've enjoyed golfing on weekends ever since I was in high school.
I've enjoyed golfing on weekends ever since I was in high school. Over the years, I've put in countless hours on the links, at the driving range, and on the putting green. As much as I'd like to believe that all this hard work has been the single biggest reason for my consistently lower handicap, I have to say that a lot of the credit belongs to the great advances in club and ball technology that have taken place in the last couple of decades. But this technology doesn't come cheap, which is why I do all my shopping at golf discount stores.
Golf discount stores offer name-brand equipment and accessories for a fraction of the price that regular retail outlets charge. Yes, I'm talking about brands that any golfer would be familiar with, such as Callaway, TaylorMade, Ping, and Nike. The cost of a single titanium driver can be several hundred dollars, so I'll gladly take whatever savings I can get. All golf discount stores have slightly different pricing policies of course, but I can usually count on paying anywhere between 10 to 40 percent off the manufacturer's suggested retail price for my clubs and accessories.
Even though there are several golf discount stores within driving distance of my home, I prefer to shop online. I've found that unless a place by my house is having a major sale, online golf discount stores almost always have better prices on everything due to the lower overhead costs associated with maintaining a website versus a physical retail location. But since choosing clubs and other golfing equipment is largely dependent on how that equipment feels in your hands or how it fits your body, an extra step is required here. Before ordering any new products from golf discount stores, I go to a nearby shop and test out the prospective equipment. Once I settle on an exact model or size, I can order from a website and save money. This system may sound like a lot of extra work, but believe me, it's worth it.
I save enough money by shopping at golf discount stores that I can afford to get higher-grade items once in a while or replace equipment sooner than is absolutely necessary. This gives me an advantage when I'm out on the links, and the results show up on my scorecard week in and week out.
If you're a golfer looking to save extra money on your next equipment purchase, then I recommend you try shopping at online golf discount stores. After all, better equipment can really work wonders on your handicap!

http://www.golfidea.org


TV Shows For Backpackers
Not many television shows are produced with backpackers in mind. Still, there are some tv shows that can be appreciated especially by backpackers. They may even contain some useful lessons. Here are some examples of the best.
The Classic National Geographic Specials
Specials produced by the National Geographic Society are great viewing when you want to get motivated for new backpacking trips. The older ones are some of the best for this, like the thirty-year-old episode where four guys built a raft and floated down the Yukon River. You can find many of these on DVD now in public libraries, as well as in some video rental stores. You can se newer episodes on the National Geographic Network and occasionally on PBS.
Les Stroud's Survivorman
This television program is all about wilderness survival. You'll find it on the Discovery Channel, the Science Channel, and possibly others. It's about one man against the elements. The man in this case is Les Stroud, who is put in various environments to survive for seven days while filming himself.
One great feature of Survivorman is that each show has a "theme." The Canadian arctic episode, for example, has Stroud left with a broken-down snowmobile. He cannibalizes this various useful items, including the seat cushion, which he uses for a insulating sleeping pad. The Sonoran desert episode has him in the middle of a desert with a broken dirt bike, and he uses wires from this to weave a blanket of grass.
The show is creative and entertaining, but is a survival program useful for backpackers? I think so. There are specific techniques of survival that Stroud shows us and, more importantly, the inspiration the show provides. Survivorman lets you know that you can survive - and it gets you in the habit of thinking about how to use everything around you. This is knowledge that not only makes the wilderness more interesting, but could also save your life someday.
I Shouldn't Be Alive
It's a pure survival story show - all true stories of people that have survived some of the most horrible circumstances in every type of wilderness. In one episode the story is told of a couple who were stranded for nine days in the middle of winter in the Sierra Nevadas - with a baby. They really shouldn't be alive, but they are.
This is the point of watching a show like this. It is inspiring. Watch the episode where the man crashes his plane in the African desert and breaks his spine, then faces killer elephants, ants, thorns, hyenas and more. If you are ever lost in the wilderness, just recall a few of these shows and you'll know that people have survived worse situations than yours. You won't give up hope too easily.
The various "reality shows," like survivor, are mostly drama and more about political survival than wilderness experience, but there are other things for backpackers to watch on television. These include movies that get us motivated, like the "White Wolf," series. Movies like these may not be full of great acting, but they always put teenage hikers in beautiful setting that make us want to get the pack out and start making plans.
One final recommendation. If you can catch it on television or rent it from the video store, watch "The Edge," with Anthony Hopkins. It is an inspirational survival story for starters. It also has some of the most beautiful scenery you'll see in a movie. You'll want to start planning a trip to the Canadian Rockies before the movie is even over. This one is my kind of backpacker television.
Copyright Steve Gillman. Visit his website for backpacking tips, photos, gear recommendations, a free book and a new wilderness survival section:
The Ultralight Backpacking Site : http://www.The-Ultralight-Site.com