Chuck Johnson is a Martial Arts Instructor/ Action Film Actor based in Tokyo, Japan, and Michigan, USA. He has been teaching for 16 years, holds ranks in Taekwondo, Judo, Capoeira, and Karate, and is an experienced bodyguard. He is also a member of the Screen Action Stunt Association, and Society of American Fight Directors. Additionally, he has 10 years of ELT experience, and is the developer of Phat English, a system that uses specialized hip-hop music to teach the subtle nuances of GAm English pronunciation. For more information, visit www.chuck-n-action.com or follow Chuck on twitter at chuck_n_action
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- Teachers vs. Doers- What to look for in a martial arts instructor.
- July 13th, 2010Category: Arts & Entertainment, Travel
- The other day, I was having a conversation with good friend and martial arts writer, Keith Vargo about his experience training at Tokyo’s infamous Takada Dojo. During the conversation he jokingly mentioned how one of his best instructors at the dojo actually didn’t ... » Continue Reading
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- On Self Publishing in Japan…
- May 19th, 2010Category: Starting a Business
- I was recently contacted by the Hall Houston, the author of Provoking Thought to contribute a piece to his blog A teacher in Taoyuan about my experiences as a self-published ELT author. The content of that piece is as follows. For those of you working in the ELT industr ... » Continue Reading
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- The Merits of Forms Training
- May 7th, 2010Category: Uncategorized
- A few months ago, in addition to my usual regiment of Taekwondo, Capoeira, and Katana Tate training, I started studying Seishindo Karate. Although I had originally approached the system’s grandmaster for weapons training (mainly because I wanted to widen my fight cho ... » Continue Reading
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- Interview with Antonio Graceffo: The Shaolin Monk from Brooklyn
- April 5th, 2010Category: Uncategorized
- Before sept 11th, you were a successful investment banker in NY. What prompted your decision to leave it all behind and dedicate yourself to martial arts instead? Going to Shaolin had always been a dream of mine, as had completing the martial arts training I had beg ... » Continue Reading
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- Finding Flow, Part 2: The teacher
- March 11th, 2010Category: Arts & Entertainment
- While engaged in a Capoeira Roda recently, the opportunity to engage a lower rank student arose. Having trained beside him on numerous occasions, I knew what he was capable of, and what his relative strengths and weaknesses were. He was in his late teens/early twentie ... » Continue Reading
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- Japan Snowboarding, Martial Arts, and finding flow: Part 1 – The individual
- March 3rd, 2010Category: Uncategorized
- Not too long ago, while helping out as an assistant at a friend’s ski camp, I had the chance to go snowboarding for the first time this year. Although I’m certainly not the best snowboarder in the world, I came to the slope knowing what I wanted that day- the feeling of ... » Continue Reading
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- The Best Martial Arts for Action Cinema: Part 2 – Weapon styles
- February 4th, 2010Category: Uncategorized
- So in the last blog entry, I wrote about which empty hand martial arts are most commonly used in action cinema and for this blog, I would like to explore which weapons martial arts are the most applicable. Much like in the case of empty hand martial arts, which weapo ... » Continue Reading
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- The best martial arts for action cinema: Part 1 Empty Hand Styles
- February 1st, 2010Category: Arts & Entertainment
- Not too long ago, I was approached by a student who wanted to know the best martial art to concentrate on for action. Although much like in the world of practical martial arts, there are those who would argue that one style that trumps all, most experienced martial a ... » Continue Reading
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- The Life Cycle of the Martial Artist
- December 22nd, 2009Category: Uncategorized
- Not too long ago, I experienced an almost comical interaction between one of my martial arts teachers and the grandmaster under whom he was trained. We had a rank test coming up, and despite my having spent months preparing for it, the night before, my teacher told me ... » Continue Reading
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- Different paths on the same journey
- December 16th, 2009Category: Uncategorized
- A few months ago, I went to Korea to visit my former Taekwondo master there, and he took it upon himself to show me his latest feat of physical conditioning. Having strengthened his hands to the point that knuckle, knifehand, oxhand, and 3 finger push-ups no longer re ... » Continue Reading
