Pt.2

What is your weekly training regime?

Actually I'm very into Kali, Wing Chun, JKD
and weights training, so I really understand the training you have to go through!

You just love continuing that mental and physical drive
(no movie pun intended) which is great...

So martial arts in essence was your grounding point & there's something really grounding about getting your ass kicked!

I totally know what that feels like! To be honest, that's why I and most people go back for it (training in martial arts), just for that feeling ...and you feel liberated.

It's a strange concept, but so true.

Do you have any special training methods that you use?

Like as we do in Wing Chun!

What advice would you give our readers on both starting martial arts and staying fit?

Thank you for taking time to speak to me and let our readers know about the really you, not what they see in the movies. It was a real pleasure speaking to you!

Well, the next movie I'm doing is call 'Song of the Knife' which has Snoop Dog involved and is going to be a very gritty, urban martial arts film. I'm training 6 days a week right now. Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. I'm doing anywhere from 1-1:20hrs of Maui Thai, with a Maui Thai coach and my sparring partners and then Tuesdays, Thursdays
and Saturdays I do lightweights and core training, pushing big tractor tyres and all that functional training, like doing Bicep Curls and then throw a medicine ball up 10 feet in the air and squats and then do it all again, ya know very functional and interval training for a full hour. So along with all that core, balance, strength training, I'm training for my new movie character in Filipino martial arts and Jeet Kune Do, so I'm working with one of Guro Dan Inosanto's students.

So you can understand that I'm always training. I mean people have said to me "You don't do action movies anymore" & I'm like "I don't do action movies anymore, but I still do Action", meaning I'm always training & I've never stopped training. That's the only reason why at 45 years old I could even think about doing a movie like Drive, because I do love training and I never stopped ya know!

Yeah
I've seen how easy it is, I mean in America we live in a culture
where it is conclusive we gain weight. The sickness that
people get, a lot of the physical ones start off with gaining
weight. Joint pains, ankle pains, diabetes, all these different
things and it's because we spend so much time in the
darn car, we use cup holders that are in fact the sales
point for selling vans which is ridiculous.

I know because whenever I get back here, even through I'm training, I've gained 5-7lbs within the first couple of weeks ...and that is because when I'm on a vacation somewhere I like to walk lot. I can't really snack like when I am in America and I eat 3 meals, but when I'm here there is lots of snacking and driving, so it's not really my exercise but my consumption. I see people already on a slippery slope... all of a sudden, 10lbs then 20lbs then 30 you know. They are unhealthy, they don't feel good and everything's hurting, so I promised myself that
I would be like my teachers and would never stop doing
martial arts... I surf, I do Yoga and play music, but I've always
had the love for martial arts.

There is nothing like waking up in the morning, going to the gym and getting your butt kicked by your teacher every week.

Yeah and like you said "there's something really grounding about getting your ass kicked".

Most boys I knew when I was young thrived on discipline, we may complain about it, but we respect it.

I do all the traditional stuff and I skip rope, run the road and all of that stuff, but the fun thing for me to do to strengthen my legs, like if I'm
in the park or up a hill and there is a boulder or something,
instead of just jumping UP&DOWN&UP&DOWN for the calf's or
explosive speed, I'll jump up & do a back flip & I'll jump up &
do a back flip & I'll jump up ...& do a back flip, ya know like that.
The great thing about my father's style is sparring in different environments, likes sparring on the side of a hill in casual
clothes so like in a real fight, you are not going to have
your shoes off or warmed up for 20 minutes! You are going
to be in a suit or other regular clothes. We call this
"Terrain Training", as I like to put some tables and
chairs and spar in and out of the obstacles or
in a closed area.

Yeah, or in a bar etc. I like to be very practical and learned that from my father's school, that's what we do!

If your starting out in martial arts, I think it's important to checkout a lot of different schools and see what you have a natural inclination towards, as far as movement. As you know, there are styles that have more hand movements, leg movements... do you want grappling or throwing or a striking art or mix. So I would shop around for the one that suits you.
Talk to the teachers personally, as people are different in particulars, so you have to find the one that is right for you. Once you start going, take it slow and my advice, my BIGGEST advice is " There is no end". There is no stopping, it doesn't stop at a 'Black Belt', Black belt is only the start of your journey. A 'Black Belt' is when you know all your basics and now you develop as you know all the basics. It's like when you get your Bachelors degree and now you need to go out and experience the world.

The learning never stops!

My pleasure, thank you!

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