Cobra Kais Got a Few Things Right...

Ok, so the notorious evil Cobra Kais from the Karate Kid actually have
some things in their philosophy I agree with.

That's right, Johnny's Sensei, Kreese (played by Martin Kove), even
though he was made out to be the bad guy and evil teacher, he actually
got quite a few things right in his philosophy. Granted, he took them to
an extreme, but some of the concepts, I agree with.

1. "FEAR does not exist in this dojo!" -- damn straight! you come to a
martial arts school to learn combat, so the martial arts is about
building your confidence and eliminating your fear.

2. "PAIN does not exist in this dojo!" -- i agree! yes, you will get
banged up a little bit in a martial arts school. that's actually how
your body and your mind get stronger, through conditioning. you develop
the mental discipline to overcome the sensation of pain to keep moving
forward.

3. "DEFEAT does not exist in this dojo!" -- very much so. you must think
positively, even when the odds are against you. if you think you will
lose, then you probably will. the power of positive thinking is amazing,
when you decide that failure is not an option.

4. "You lose concentration in a fight and you're DEAD MEAT!" --
exactly!! you must have focus! focus is an important part of martial
arts training. you cannot perfect your techniques if you do not give it
your 100% focus and attention.

5. "Strike Hard!" -- yes! you must be able to generate all your body
power into a single technique. Every technique, every execution must
have your full intent behind it.

6. "Strike First!" -- this is the art of interception! When someone comes
at you, intercept their attack with an attack so that they cannot attack
again. Bruce Lee's art that he created was called The Way of the
Intercepting Fist.

7. "No Mercy, Sir!" -- look, in a self-defense situation, if you are
attacked, you have to be able to get away, and that requires you to make
sure the person who attacked you can't get back up to follow/further
attack you.

8. "Sweep the Leg" -- leg sweeps are great and effective techniques.
When you uproot someone's balance, it tends to make an attacker want to
attack less. This is actually a core principle in Tai Chi!

So, yeah. I agree with all of these. I don't, of course agree with
taking these and turning teenagers into bullies of course. I do believe
in taking these and making someone stronger, more confident, focused,
disciplined, positive, and skilled in combat.

So Mr. Miyagi wasn't the only one who taught effective principles of
martial arts. Kreese did too, but he was a butthead about it.