Floyd Burk Information & Floyd Burk Links at HealthHaven.com

Floyd Burk is a contributing editor who writes exclusively for Black Belt magazine and its sister publications since the December 1994 issue. Burk writes the recurring "State of Tae Kwon Do" column, starting in 2001, that covers current trends and interesting topics on Korean martial arts.

He has contributed around 60 features (fifteen of which are cover stories), 70 columns, 12 Hall of Fame stories and several dozen more "Black Belt Times" pieces.

Burk has interviewed several martial arts legends including:

[edit] Martial art background

Burk’s martial arts training began in 1970 with Japanese Shitō-ryū^{[unreliable source?]} in the den of his father’s attorney’s residence in Riverside, California. Later, Burk began training in American karate; he earned his black belt in December 1979. In 1980, he opened his first karate school in Upland, California. Burk relocated his school to Norco, California, in 1981 and established a school in Rancho Cucamonga, California, in 1983. While Burk no longer has schools in these towns, karate programs are still operated there by students and/or students of students and other colleagues.

Burk and his wife Martha moved to San Diego, California, in 1991 where they opened two commercial schools and two community service karate programs. These well established and flourishing concerns bring much pride to the Burk family who have worked hard at making them a success. Burk’s schools are called Trad Am Karate (short for Traditional American Karate), the system Burk founded in the 1980s. There are more than a dozen affiliate TAK programs throughout the United States.

Burk is also the co-founder of the Independent Karate Schools Of America (IKSA). The IKSA was established in the early 1980s as an organization to represent independent martial artists who stood for honor, integrity, indomitable spirit and loyalty. These pillars still apply today and the organization is thriving under the leadership of Burk’s closest “friends of the arts”. Burk is also a successful photo-journalist who writes exclusively for Black Belt. Burk, an avid martial arts researcher, writes a monthly column called the “State Of Tae Kwon Do” and has written several dozen feature articles over the years.

For the past 20 years Burk has been training under Grandmaster George W. Owens of Russellville, Arkansas' who teaches his own system known as Honto-ryū karate. Honto-ryū is a system that utilizes karate’s hand and foot techniques, aikijujutsu’s limb and joint manipulations and pressure-point attacks and defenses. Included in this combat system is an emphasis on the training, research and analysis of traditional Okinawan and Japanese Kata.

In September of 2009, Burk was promoted to the rank of 10th Degree Black Belt (Jūdan).

[edit] References

Black Belt, January 2004, "The Life-Saving Power of a Martial Art" by Floyd Burk
Black Belt, April 2005, "Extracting Fighting Secrets from Forms" by Floyd Burk
Black Belt, June 2007, "Teacup Form of Tukong Moosul" by Floyd Burk

[edit] External links