Why I value the movie “Bloodsport” so much!
- LESSONS

If you were to ask me as many do “what my favorite movie is” – well, that list changes – its fluid!

Few can ever come close to matching what the great Anthony Hopkins did in the Silence of the Lambs – and to an extent in Hannibal too. (the prequel was pretty good too, but I missed Hopkins in it – but yeah, Gong Li – I love her! Hehe).

Action?

The Rambo series and “Over the top” – I remember watching those over and over with my buddy “Lilly” and lots of beer, hehe in college – and I still do.

There’s some Bollywood flicks I’ll sometimes turn on, though not so much because of story etc …

But if I had to tell you an all time favorite – it’s Bloodsport – that GREAT unifier amongst REAL MEN!

There is a reason Donald Trump for one kept fast forwarding to the fight scenes in the movie back in the day. (true story haha).

True, thats not now how real martial arts fights and certainly street fights play out, true – there is a lot of showboating in there, but then again the “Kumite” was supposed to be a “show!” … true, there was no BOXING or pure wrestling in it, and so forth – true, it was a bit of a masala flick, but …

… no getting away from the fact that Van Damme is a fitness el supremo – even at his age NOW – that his martial arts skills (kickboxing, Muay Thai, Taekwondo) are second to none  (unlike Steven Seagal) … and that he was in excellent shape throughout the movie, the training shown in the movie is ALL Realistic, no getting away from the FACTS that …

… a lot of the fighters in the movie, including monkey man (black dude who fights “monkey style”) – are GOOD fighters in real life, some better than Van Damme in their own disciplines, so much so that one (a Hong Kong based fighter going by the name of “chuang ip” in the movie was told to tone down his kicks to make Van Damme look better) – and yes, monkey style martial arts IS a real martial art! …

No getting away from the fact that “the mightier they are” (and weaker they are around the MIDSECTION, REGARDLESS of how much muscle they may have otherwise) – the HEAVIER THEY FALL, and when they do – oh boy!

Just see the movie, you’ll know what I mean.

Anyway, I’m out – I’ll continue this one later!

Back – I was thinking about this while outside (so much for those claiming, and rightfully so at times, “being interrupted” is the death knoll for a writer – it might be, but not if you know how to get past it!) …

… what really, to me makes the movie special?

One man – and his devotion to his ART – and his instructor, his “satoshi” . . .

. . . Of a promise meant to be kept . . . and he kept it!

Throughout the movie, we see Van damme in his classic poses, we already know he’s a hit with the girls (sounds familiar, a certain Dad once told his “son” that if you get my drift. Hehe).

But what really, really matters and makes things special – where Van Damme’s character really comes into his own is the FIGHTS.

Man to man!

PLAYER TO PLAYER – playa!

NIGGA TO NIGGA (I gotta give credit to Training Day there, hehe).

THAT – and the reactions of the MEN throughout the movie FIGHTING each other, when ALL is on the line, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS, you in the “ring” – or squared circle, or Kumite equivalent, where it’s truly down to you, and you alone, all those years of training, instinct all of it culminating in the brutal BATTLE

MAN TO MAN – CAN you win?

CAN you succeed despite the deck being OVERLY stacked against you – and remain humble about it?

CAN you pull off what NO-ONE has before?

Against all odds?

And so forth…

These things, and more truly define the spirit of Bloodsport to me, always will, I’ve lived by these principles all my life, and they’ve never led me astray

Some may call it extreme

So be it, maybe it is, but it WORKS, and end of the day, like Van Damme said – the entire world likes to see two men fighting. Hehe.

Sage!

And thats that – back soon.

Best,

Rahul Mookerjee

PS – Van Damme once made the infamous (or famous, hehe) comment about “if you can get through a ballet workout, you can get through ANY workout”.

He wasn’t lying either.

Ballet, despite what the hordes of fatsos and pumpers at the gym think aint no sissy art, it’s the opposite.

And guess what ballet dancers do for those LEGS – that fitness – that flexibility.

You got it – squats, and tons of them, which brings me around to the fact that there are no excuses NOT for doing squats, and doing ’em daily, regardless of what lumps of pure lard might tell you about it.

And so goes it.

Remember to pick up the 0 Excuses Fitness System – the very SAME exercises a lot of these martial artists train are taught to YOU therein. Along with deep breathing, another huge, huge part of your training – or so it should be, and is for anyone that knows what they BE DOING!

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