Are you planning to get into martial arts training? Well, you need to read this article first to get a clear picture of what to avoid. Martial Arts are not as regulated as other professions. That means that there are things you have to evaluate and check out to stay safe. Remember, Martial Arts are not just about punching and kicking your opponent, it is also about commitment, discipline, responsibility, safety, and incentive. You can only learn about those qualities if you are being trained by professionals and in the right environment.
Watch out for the following 5 Tips That May Ruin Your Training
1. Professionalism
Do your prospective martial arts teachers teach martial arts as a hobby or are they teaching it as their way of earning a living? It’s great for someone to teach martial arts because of the passion they have for it. In fact, most martial arts teachers have at least a black belt. What you need to avoid is being taught by teachers who teach martial arts as a hobby instead of a career. You need someone who will guide you or your child for a couple of years at least. Martial Arts is just like any other training program.
You don’t want someone who will stop offering their martial arts program abruptly. That can happen if your teacher gets posted to a different location in their day job. What you need is a professional Martial Arts training school. You need a trainer who will help you attain your martial arts qualification by training you or your child through every phase of training.
2. Training Facilities
When looking for a hospital, school or college, you always look for one that has the best training facilities. That is because you recognize the importance of having such facilities in aiding the overall learning or treatment process. The same approach applies to martial arts training.
You do not need to train in someone’s basement or backyard. You need a professional training environment complete with change rooms, washrooms, and other amenities.
3. Trainer Qualifications
Most people attain a training rank, which is a black belt in martial arts. However, they do not have an actual certification that indicates they have been trained to teach. The best trainers are those who have a certification in education. Professional trainers are trained on how to pass their knowledge and skills to their students. They also know how to evaluate their students to identify the weak areas they need to work on.
That is the kind of martial arts training you will get from professionals. You would not take your child to a school with untrained teachers or a medical facility that is run by quacks. You should also not take martial arts training from instructors with no educational training or coaching certifications. It’s not safe for you or your child.
4. Junior Classes
In sports, academic institutions, and even health facilities, there are special sections for children and minors. You will not want your child to get trained or practice their martial arts skills with adults in an unstructured environment. Children are still growing, and their needs differ from those of adults. You should only take your child to go for training if the school or martial art trainers have facilities structured for children’s needs.
5. Reliability and Insurance Cover
How long will the training facility you are about to enroll in be around? Is it one year, two years, a just month? Those are questions you need to answer so that you won’t fail to achieve your goals. Martial Arts require you to connect with the trainer. As the trainer’s student, they need to know the best way to train you. The trainers observe you as your train and learn how best they can help you to overcome your weak points. That is going to become difficult to achieve if you keep changing your trainers.
Does the training school you go to have liability insurance? You need to have such insurance to get full protection in case you or your child hurts someone while training. Accidents do happen, but there has to be someone to pay the cost.
Bonus Tip: Honest Ranking
If you are training to become the best, you are doing yourself a great favor. Some schools may promise you quick progression through the ranks. That is not a guarantee of quality in their training; it is just a way of saying that they have low standards of training or none at all. You cannot be sure of a person’s physical abilities until you have evaluated them and gauged their abilities.
If you need to achieve martial arts black belt, then you should be ready to earn it. It is the martial arts skills you gain that make the title meaningful.
We hope this guide has been helpful and you will enjoy your journey to becoming an accomplished Martial Artist.
Day in day out, you struggle to keep fit. You have tried different methods of getting fit but to no avail. Year in year out you have resolved to keep more fit but you have never succeeded. While this can be very frustrating, maybe it is time that you try out other means of getting fit or perhaps doing the same things that you should have done before but this time with a little more “encouragement” and little “reminders”. Record your progress and always try to do better than the day before. Probably you are wondering what we are talking about, if that is the case, then worry not. We are talking about using your smartphone to get black belt fit. Yes, it is possible that aside from being a communication device, your smartphone can also be used for keeping fit.
What are the advantages of keeping fit?
There are many benefits that are associated with keeping fit.
Weight control
By keeping fit, your body weight is kept in check and the chances of you becoming overweight are controlled. Being overweight is not at all good thing as you run risks of contracting diseases that come with being overweight.
Relieves stress
Gym sessions can greatly give you an emotional up lift. After a long busy day at work, all your mind may need is some stimulation from the gym’s practice sessions to bring you back to normal.
Gain extra energy
By exercising regularly, your energy levels are boosted. If you are a sports man for example, regular exercises will enhance your work rate. You can therefore be able to engage in sporting activities without getting tired fast.
Day to day activities
Keeping fit can be very critical in handling day to day activities. For instance, if you are in a martial arts class, you are likely to learn self-defense techniques. Keeping fit also allows you to prepare to defend yourself physically, if needed.
How can you use your smartphone to get black belt fit?
To many, this may sound ridiculous but is very possible that you use some of the physical fitness apps in your smartphone to enhance your fitness to black belt levels.
Recording your progress
It doesn’t really matter what your kind of work out is. Whether you are cycling or you are just at home exercising, you need to record your progress using the apps in your smartphone. This helps you to track your progress over a period of time. What is fun about it is that you can share your progress with friends which can also serve as a motivator.
Learning moves from different angles
With these smartphone apps, you can gain access to some moves from different view points. This enhances your efficiency and gives you an upper hand against your competitors. The apps can also show you how the same moves you have been doing can be done in different ways.
Source of motivation and encouragement
Some apps have reminders that wake you up or reminds you that it is time to work out. This ensures that you do not miss a single session. Also, the apps can be a source of motivation and encouragement. For example, it tells you if you can do 20 sit ups in one minute, you can do 100 in five minutes. This motivates you to even complete the a hundred sit ups even before the five minutes elapses.
Conclusion
There are many advantages that come with keeping fit and some of them are discussed above. It is also possible that you can use your smartphone to keep black belt fit and even be able to compete in professional competitions like martial arts. You only need to download the physical fitness apps into your phone.
Most people know that martial arts require discipline both physically and mentally. But do you think you are as skilled and disciplined as a black belt? Do think you have what it takes to stick with the training that is required to achieve a black belt? If so, you should seriously consider finding a qualified instructor to help you start on your journey.
Achieving your black belt in martial arts is no easy task. As with life, you must be prepared to try and fail many times. It will take dedication, determination, and practice to achieve this high honor. Just like with your professional career, it will take lots of time to hone your skills so that you can advance. There are many benefits that come with dedicating yourself to learning martial arts. Some of the benefits include self-discipline, determination, focus, and self-confidence. When training in the martial arts, you will learn how to set goals and achieve them over the course of several years. Each level takes time to achieve, so when you accomplish a new belt it is a very satisfying feeling. Over the course of those years you will learn not only persistence and perseverance in your martial arts training, but you will be able to apply those skills to your life.
You will learn through your training that you cannot always achieve your goal immediately. You will learn that it may take great focus and long-term determination to achieve the things that you desire . You will also learn how to stand strong in all types of situations when you are standing alone. This lesson can apply in everyday situations in your life. You will learn how to have the confidence in yourself to stand up and act when you feel it is appropriate.
Training for your black belt will not be easy. You will be faced with many physical challenges along the way. You will be hurt, sore, tired, and you may feel like giving up. If you are a good student, you will learn to push through these problems to achieve your ultimate goal. There are not many other sports activities that have as much for you to learn and to teach you as the martial arts. If you are truly dedicated to mastering the skills that martial arts has to teach you, then you will be mastering skills that you can also apply to all areas of your life to help you become more successful and happier.
There are many disciplines of martial arts that are taught in this country today. You should do some research into each style and discipline to determine which would more suit your interests. Once you figure out which discipline is the one that you want to pursue, you should begin searching for a dojo or an instructor that you feel you would like to work with. Once you figure out which location you want to train at then you should do a little bit of background research into the instructor or the school and read any customer reviews that you come across on the internet. Customer reviews can be extremely insightful and helpful when you were trying to determine if the location is the right one for your individual needs. Make sure that your instructor also has their own black belt. Next, you will want to observe or participate in one of the regularly scheduled classes. Being able to see what the other students are doing during the class will help you understand whether or not you are willing to join the particular school or dojo.
There are many reasons people want to earn their black belt. These are just of the few of the benefits associated with training for your black belt. If you are serious and you feel that you have what it takes to become a black belt, then you should begin your search for a good place to train. You will learn so many beneficial skills and techniques that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. If you achieve your black belt, then you can be assured that you will find contentment and fulfillment in more than just one area of your life. And who knows, you just might inspire others to strive to achieve that ultimate goal as well.
Self-confidence is about being convinced in your own abilities and trusting yourself in a given situation. Self-confidence does not mean arrogance. Arrogance is about believing that you are more important than others around you or about having an exaggerated belief in your own abilities. The two characteristics seem similar in words but they look very different in practice. The main difference between the two is where the thoughts are directed. Arrogance is focused on those outside of oneself. Arrogant people believe they are better than someone else. Conversely, self-confidence is a focus inward regardless of the external influences.
What is Self-defense?
Self-defense is the defense of one’s person or interests. By its very nature self-defense cannot happen prior to some external aggression. Self-defense never goes on the offensive. If an attacker rushes you and you deflect them into the wall behind you, that is self-defense. If you then charge them and start punching you are no longer self-defending, you are attacking. This is not to say that it isn’t within your right to go on the offensive but that is not what this discussion is about. This is about the connection between self-confidence and self-defense.
How can Self-Confidence Be an Effective Self-Defense?
Now that there is a baseline for the definition of self-confidence and self-defense it’s time to address the original question. Since self-defense refers to a physical attack how can self-confidence, something that is mental, ever be a self-defense?
Can Martial Arts Develop Self-Confidence?
Martial arts refers to several sports/skills of primarily Japanese origin that focus on forms of self-defense. There are aspects of martial arts that teach how to go on the offensive but the primary focus is on self-defense, self-control, and self-awareness. So if martial arts teach self-defense, can martial arts also teach or develop self-confidence in those who practice martial arts?
Physical Training
There is no doubt that martial arts training is a fantastic exercise. It is a rigorous training that will affect your posture, endurance, stamina, agility, balance and so much more. It will get your heart rate up and burn calories. It is extremely effective as an aerobic and weight loss activity.
While this is a wonderful result of martial arts training, it is not the primary goal. However, if you were in better shape would you be more confident about yourself? If you developed a better posture, which is primarily straightening the back, holding the head upright, and straightening the shoulders, would you feel more confident? The answer is yes, it would make anybody feel more confident about themselves.
Mental and Physical Discipline
Martial arts is about structure, tons of structure. It is about learning physical motions that you can control completely. It’s about learning to focus your mind not only on your own physical movements but about everything that is around you. Martial arts teaches how to assess a situation in the blink of an eye and make a conscious decision about how you will respond. During training, martial artists are constantly put into sparring matches with an opponent who is bigger and stronger than they are. This forces the trainee to think and act with complete control of their mind and body because they know if they fight by strength alone they will lose.
Would this discipline develop self-confidence? Would a person who has been training for 1 month feel more confident than they did on their first day of training? It most certainly would give self-confidence. Remember, self-confidence is trusting one’s own abilities. The more training a martial artist has, the more confident they will be in themselves.
Can Self-Confidence be and Effective Self-Defense?
So now that it has been established that martial arts will enhance your self-confidence let’s look to see if that self-confidence can be a self-defense.
Arguments For
As stated above, martial arts will instill a confidence in its artists that they did not have before. This may very well be unknown to the person because they might not be able to see or understand the changes taking place. Generally, those who choose to attack or bully someone else will pick someone they feel is an easy target. A martial artist will walk and handle themselves with a level of comfort and control that could very likely deter someone from attacking them.
Beyond the mental discipline of martial arts is the very practical physical training. The training is to teach how to repel an attacker. The training is specifically focused on how to repel an attacker that is bigger and stronger than you. If you are threatened by an aggressor and you are confident that you and those with you will be safe because you can effectively defend against any attack that person can bring, you will not cower before the attacker. On the contrary, you will stand confidently before them. Attackers almost always will prey on the weak and easy targets. If they realize you are not an easy target they will most likely leave you alone.
Arguments Against
If your self-confidence comes from being physically fit or from knowing how to throw a few punches it can be very easy to cross the line from self-confidence to arrogance. If you have an exaggerated sense of your own abilities you may ignore the dangers and you may actually encourage them. Self-confidence that is really arrogance will look like a challenge to an attacker and may, in fact, encourage them to attack.
Self-confidence means you know what you are capable of but it also means knowing what you are not capable of. The reason that martial arts works against a stronger opponent is because the opponent believes that their strength, street smarts, and rage will give them the upper hand. All the self-confidence in the world doesn’t ensure victory every time.
Conclusion
The answer to the question “can self-confidence be an effective self-defense?” is yes it can be. If self-confidence is grounded in reality it can be very effective at stopping an attack before it ever happens. That is the best kind of self-defense, the kind you never have to use. But self-confidence won’t always be effective. There are situations where self-confidence won’t be enough and where physical self-defense will be required. Martial arts is great for both. It will boost your self-confidence to levels you never expected and it will also give you the skills and training necessary to use physical self-defense to protect yourself or those around you.
Martial arts have become increasingly popular over the last several decades in this country. One of the main reasons for this is because it not only allows for productive physical activity and teaches important skills but, it also teaches important life lessons. In fact, you must master many life skills and order to advance and achieve the next level in any martial art. The following are some of the most beneficial lessons that you will learn if you begin learning martial arts.
– Perseverance
When studying martial arts, as with life, you must have perseverance. You must learn how to keep trying until you succeed. You may fail many times before you accomplish your final goal. It is important that you learn how to get back up and keep trying when you get knocked down. Martial arts will teach you how to handle setbacks and keep pushing forward until you succeed.
– Growth Through Struggle
Martial Arts teaches that there can be no growth without some degree of struggle. Martial arts will help you to acknowledge and deal with struggles in both training and in life. You will learn how to work through challenging times to achieve your final goal.
– Growth Through Opposition
Throughout life and throughout martial arts training, you will face varying degrees of opposition. When You face challenges and opposition you will learn how to overcome and grow from those experiences.
– Learning To Trust Yourself
Learning how to trust yourself can be one of the most challenging obstacles to face during martial arts training. You may not be self-confident right now, but with the proper instruction and plenty of patience and practice, you will learn how to begin to trust your instincts. You will become more confident and self-assured of your judgment and abilities.
– Giving Respect As Well As Earning Respect
This may be the most important lesson that martial arts can teach you. It is critically important throughout your life to show proper respect and learn how to earn others respect. Respect is earned over the course of time as other individuals see your worthy qualities. Part of those qualities include showing the same courtesy, kindness, and understanding that you expect to be shown in return. Martial arts will focus on this intensely. These skills are incredibly important for people to master in order to have harmony in their lives. For children, this can be a crucial lesson that they have the opportunity to learn early in life to help them function as a productive member of society. Without this important skill, you will be unable to achieve all that you wish, because others will not give you the consideration and respect that you need to work your way up in the world. If you start studying with a qualified martial arts trainer they will help you to learn what it means to give and show respect properly.
You will learn many important life skills throughout the course of your martial arts training. These are just a few of the highlights you can expect when you decide to seek training from a qualified instructor or school. When looking for a school make sure that you check into the instructors background and qualifications. It is also a good idea to check any customer reviews that you can find online as well as ask any of the students that attend the school what their thoughts and feelings are about that location. It would also be a good idea to take a trip to the location that you are considering and speak with the instructors and perhaps watch one of the classes to get a better idea if that school or instructor would be a good fit for your needs.
There are so many benefits to learning martial arts. You can expect to become more physically fit as well as learn how to defend yourself. But, the benefits do not stop there. You will learn things that will assist you throughout your life and will help you achieve your dreams. With a little bit of hard work, dedication, and determination you to will be able to climb the ranks of the martial arts which will give you a great sense of pride and accomplishment in your life.
Bullying is an epidemic which has been present in the learning experience for many years. However, bullying has also evolved over time and with particular intensity over the last 20 years or so with the invention of mobile phones, the internet, and social media. In fact, bullying has gotten way out of control across schools and online, becoming almost intolerable. Each year, thousands of kids worry about going to school in the morning because they fear a bully. Many children cannot even escape the bullying when they leave school as the bully can now easily reach them online.
The psychology of a bullied child, however, remains the same as it has always been throughout the years. Many children who are bullied either in school or online are afraid to tell their parents or a teacher for fear of reprisal from the bully, because they are ashamed, or simply because the feel an adult will not be able to help. It is, therefore, imperative for kids to develop confidence in themselves which will enable them to counter bullying and deal with being bullied in a healthier way. Martial arts has long been cited as an excellent way to combat bullying, for many years due to the self-defense aspect of the sport. However, as bullying has become more psychological in recent times, martial arts is adapting to teach kids much more than simply how to defend themselves.
The Evolution of Bullying
There are three different types of bullying which have been experienced by children in schools for many years – social, verbal, and physical. However, in today’s modern society children must also deal with a fourth type of bullying – online. Each type of bullying has detrimental effects on the child who is experiencing it:
•Social – Every school has groups, clicks, gangs, or whatever you wish to call them, of kids who can often be quite cruel when going with the group. These groups can torment and tease a classmate by starting rumors or mocking an aspect of their appearance. This can result in the bullied child withdrawing from social activities and events and even lead to depression.
•Verbal – While verbal bullying is not tolerated in schools, bullies can still verbally abuse a victim without an adult hearing or knowing about it. By calling a child names and assaulting them with words in the hallway, bathroom, or other places teachers cannot hear them, the bullied child can suffer regarding their grades and self-confidence, often dreading going to school.
•Physical – The worst form of bullying is a physical assault. Getting punched, kicked, or hit leaves a physical reminder of what the victim is going through and in the worst cases can lead to serious bodily harm to the bullied child.
•Online – The newest form of bullying takes places online via instant messaging, social media, and other forms of online communication. It can be tough to know if a child is being bullied online as they often keep their messages and social media private, however, this form of bullying can seriously damage a child’s ability to socialize and have confidence in themselves.
These forms of bullying display the evolution in how a bully targets their victims. Bullies are very adaptive and will use one or all of these methods to achieve their goals. For instance, just ignoring taunts in the hallway of school could lead to the bully seeking retribution by bullying a child online. If they continue to be ignored, a bully might even turn to physical assault. For these reasons, it is essential martial arts evolves with bullying and does not become outdated when providing kids with the skills to counter bullies.
How Martial Arts Counters Bullying
Beyond the core training, martial arts equips children to deal with all forms of bullying. The way in which martial arts is taught to kids adapts with the times and provides them with skills such as:
•Development of self-esteem. Children who have high self-esteem are less likely to become the victim of bullying and will learn not to be afraid to stand up for themselves.
•Self-control. While bullies are often hot-tempered and dominant, martial arts teaches self-control, discipline, and respect, which can lead to them being a better person.
•Faster thinking. Martial arts also develops thinking skills which will help a child to respond quicker in troublesome situations.
•Physical fitness. Kids who train in martial arts will gain a better physique, leading to them not being the attention of bullies anymore.
These essential skills develop both the body and mind to help children counter bullies whatever way they try to attack. However, bullies will always evolve new ways of targeting their victims, and it is important that martial arts continue to develop techniques which will help children counter these methods and reduce bullying.
A key component in the teaching of martial arts is respect. This is clearly demonstrated in the respect shown to the instructor before, during, and after the lesson. However, the lessons of respect also spill over into everyday life and lead to kids and adults alike gaining a deeper concern about how they treat their families and loved ones. Showing respect for people is an important skill in life and can lead to a happier home environment and a more successful social life. Here are some of the ways in which martial arts training can promote respect and generate a positive attitude in respect to the family, loved ones, and peers:
A Disciplined Environment
During martial arts lessons, respect is paramount, and the formal environment of a class encourages both the instructor and the students to maintain both discipline and respect throughout the lesson. At the beginning of a class, when the students first enter the room, they often bow to their instructor and their peers, showing both a mark of respect and signaling they are ready to focus on the day’s training. These practices demonstrate respect for both the lesson and the space in which the teaching is being conducted. An agreement to halt participation in outside life while training is taking place is a significant sign of respect.
Aside from the mark of respect shown to the lesson and each other, martial arts also promotes discipline in other ways. Controlled movements, continuing training when fatigued, and holding back force when sparring are some examples of practices which require control. Only showing respect to others in the class also requires discipline. Even if frustration creeps in during a lesson, respect and discipline are to be maintained at all times. These lessons easily spill over into life outside of the martial arts class and increase respect and discipline towards family members.
Engaging with Others
Trying to get along with a group of people in a social setting can be quite difficult at times and respect is essential for maintaining harmony. During martial arts classes, when students interact with instructors, some may not see eye to eye at all times. Perhaps a particular skill is difficult to master, and frustration creeps in and holding back an outburst is necessary to maintain respect for the class. Through training in martial arts and experiencing these frustrations, students learn how to keep their cool in difficult situations despite making mistakes. They learn to find other solutions and ways to improve their skills. Once again, this is transferable to real life situations and can help people treat their families with the same respect as they would show in a martial arts class.
Humility
Everybody makes mistakes at times and everyone loses a match up in a martial arts class. There is always someone who possesses greater skill or strength and so humility is an important trait to possess. Students learn humility in martial arts by understanding they must work hard to reach the level of others, especially those who are very talented. Being humble is an important part of respect and is an essential lesson learned in martial arts. This humility once again transfers out of the classroom and into home life. People who learn humility in martial arts are more likely to show humility at home which will reduce frustrated outbursts against family members and increase respect and the way they treat love ones.
Self-Respect
It is impossible to respect and treat others in a gracious manner if you have no respect for yourself. Martial arts teaches respect not just for your family and loved ones, but also for yourself. Self-respect must be obtained if you are to respect others and true to this, students are encouraged to develop self-respect by taking care of their appearance and etiquette. It is a student’s responsibility to maintain cleanliness, clean their own uniform, and keep tidy both at home and in classes. Students are also encouraged to groom themselves and maintain high hygienic standards. Poor eating habits, smoking, lack of discipline, over consumption of alcohol and other lack in standard indicate a lack of respect for oneself. As students learn to respect themselves they will also learn how to treat their families, elders, peers, and superiors with similar respect.
How often have you started something and told yourself “This time I’ll do it!” only to lose motivation after a month, maybe weeks or even just days. How much of your time do you spend knowing that if you were a little more disciplined and focused you could get to where you want to go? How often do you actually get it and how long does it last?
Most peoples’ typical experience is probably that without external accountability, your motivation toward new disciplines has an expiration date. You can look at a successful person and feel motivated by their success. But what happens when you aren’t able to achieve similar success in short order? Who will hold you accountable to achieving your goals? Martial Arts instruction holds many people accountable to their goals while teaching them the key ingredients to make discipline a part of your daily routine.
There are certain strategies you can apply by yourself in order to stay motivated!
Make the following exercises a part of your daily regimen:
Love the person in the mirror.Every morning provides the opportunity for you to accept who you are! It’s absolutely important to love who you are and what you’ve become. That’s the first step in being self-motivated.
Reaffirm your true love for the person you see each and every morning.
Remind yourself that you’re here for a bigger mission of which you might not yet be aware.
Restore the peace of mind that comes with self-acceptance. Doing this every day allows it to be engrained in your soul.
I’m reminded of something a student told me. He said that every morning he would look in the mirror and say to himself, “don’t you go dying on me you good looking son of gun, you’ve got important things to do”. What a great way to remind yourself that you and what you are planning to do are important!
Accept your stage in life.Believe that you’re exactly where you should be at every moment. Your ability to accept that things happen in their own time will make you comfortable with what you’ve already achieved.
Bear in mind that being comfortable where you are doesn’t mean you can’t strive for greater success.
Knowing that you’ve done your best to get where you are is enough to keep pushing you forward.
Every few days, write a list of things you’ve achieved, whether big or small. Combine them at the end of the month and take an overall look at your awesomeness!
In Martial Arts training, those that learn that you will get there if you don’t ever quit often are able to apply the same thinking in all aspects of their life
Surround yourself with positive energy. Positive energy can come from the things you choose to do. It can also come from the people you surround yourself with. When you’re surrounded by positive energy, you can’t help but maintain positivity!
Watch movies that empower and uplift you.
Do things with your friends that build encouragement.
Put yourself in situations where you’ll come out the other end smiling.
Let’s face it, at some point your motivation will wane. Having people and things around you that will help you get over those hurdles will be important to making discipline a habit in your life.
Help others from the goodness of your heart. Avoid helping for personal gain or recognition. When you help others and see the positive impact, you naturally feel better about yourself.
One helpful act with a positive outcome is usually very inspiring. Seeing the difference you can make in others’ lives proves that you’re pretty awesome!
Knowing that you’re important to someone else’s well-being can make you feel worthwhile. It encourages you to keep helping.
Focus on smaller goals. Reaching for and missing broad, unrealistic goals can be very de-motivating. When you’re unreasonable with your capabilities, you end up feeling disappointed when you miss the mark.
Why not break your major goal into smaller, tangible ones? You’ll be able to focus on one part at a time, with each part being another step closer to success!
Celebrate whenever you achieve a goal – large or small. Proving to yourself that you can do it motivates you to keep going.
In Martial Arts we have short range, mid range, and long range goals built in as you progress toward your Black Belt.
Approach this daily regimen in the same way a professional sports player approaches training day. What are your goals for the day? What can you achieve when you hit each target? What do you focus on when you feel like giving up?
You are your biggest supporter. In order for you to achieve success, you must learn to discipline yourself! It’s not cheating, to have others help point you in the right direction on the occasion that you get sidetracked. Tell yourself you’re worth every bit of success that comes your way.
No matter how impossible you might think something is to accomplish, there’s someone out there getting it done anyway. Most often, excuses are a way to justify fear of failure, fear of success, or a lack of resolve. Excuses get in the way of success and living fully.
By overcoming your excuses, success becomes much more likely!
Avoid letting these excuses sabotage the life you desire:
I don’t have the right education. A surprising percentage of the most successful people never completed high school. It’s true that education is required to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer, but education isn’t required in many situations.
Our society places a high emphasis on education, but it’s not always necessary. Motivation and commitment are far more valuable than education in most cases. How committed are you?
I don’t have enough money. Many of those wealthy in the present were poor in the past. Some of the biggest companies were started in a one-car garage. Money certainly makes things easier, but it’s not always necessary to get started.
A lack of financial resources is a convenient excuse to stay stuck in your current situation. The world is full of money. If you don’t have enough money to move forward, find a way to acquire more.
I don’t have enough time. With careful planning, you can find time in your schedule for your priorities. How much extra time do you need to achieve your goals?
You might need to eliminate some of the activities that aren’t as crucial to making your dreams come true, such as club meetings.
If you regularly overextend yourself by saying Yes every time someone asks you to do something, practice politely saying No until you can sometimes make that your answer.
Delegate some of your responsibilities.
Cut down on watching television. You’d be surprised how much you can get done during the time you usually spend watching shows on TV or the internet!
It’s too late to get started. Do you think life has passed you by? An 80 year-old man climbed Mount Everest successfully. People over the age of 60 have graduated from medical school. Is it really too late? It’s possible that your age or life circumstances can make success more challenging, but it’s unlikely that it’s too late.
What can you do today to take that first step?
I don’t know how to get started. There was a time when Tiger Woods didn’t know how to play golf and Warren Buffett couldn’t even spell “stock.” It might be true that you don’t know how to get started. That just means you require some education.
There’s never been a time in history when more free information was available. You can find anything you need to get started online or at the local library. And there’s no law that states you can’t sit in the bookstore all day and read to your heart’s content.
If you feel that success is eluding you, thoughtfully consider the possibility that you might be making excuses. You might discover that what you thought was stopping you all along was really you! Now that you know, you can get past your excuses and on the path to success.
Don’t assume the person knocking on your door is the person you are waiting for. Make SURE you know who is on the other side before you open the door.
Even though most burglars and potential intruders look for unoccupied homes as their targets, you should never assume that just because you are home you will be safe from a potential break-in. Not only are your home and personal belongings at risk, but your family and loved ones as well if an intruder enters your home while you are in it. In addition to ensuring your home security system is up to par and in good working order, they are a best self-defense tactic if someone enters your home threatening harm while you are at home with your children?
When people mention the phrase self-defense it conjures up all sorts of images. For some those images will be of the Karate Kid, for others it will be visions of elderly women learning techniques in the local church hall. Then of course we have the extreme, men dressed in camouflage, rolling around in the woods and eating bugs. All these images spring to mind because there are actually courses and classes being taught that mirror your visions. Sadly, these courses and classes are not how a self-defense class should be structured and taught.
It is unfortunate that there are instructors all over the world teaching versions of self-defense that actually are far removed from the reality of violence, and what they teach is not likely to ever help you to be able to both protect yourself and reduce risk of being involved in a violent incident. This has caused people to ‘switch’ off about the need and importance of learning a quality self-defense system, in fact due to these images the term ‘self-defense’ is often deemed ‘un cool’ and almost slightly ‘cheesy’. The truth however is that it has never been more important to learn self-defense skills and when taught correctly self-defense is an interesting subject to learn regardless of your age.
Now I am not going to sit here and frighten you with stories of violence. We all know that there are dangerous people out in the world that can cause both our loved ones and ourselves harm. The chances that you will come into contact with these individuals after the age of 25 are greatly reduced due to a likely change in social habits. After all most people either settle down at this age into a relationship or career.
However self-defense is certainly not all about fighting or fancy moves. It is my belief that good self-defense and self-protection is about applying common sense crime prevention advice to your life.
If you learn something but then do nothing with the information you have received then learning it in the first place was pointless. This is exactly what self-defense is all about. It is the study of preventing harm. Not just dealing with it when it happens.
A good self-defense instructor should tell you that 90% of self-defense skills are what are known as ‘soft’ skills. They are the physical application of common sense crime prevention tips. For example, you might be walking home and have two routes to take, one is across a dark and spooky looking field and the other is actually a longer but well-lit route which takes you passed populated areas and is clearly a safer option.
Now the person who takes the safer route is actually practicing self-defense. This shift in viewpoint is essential to acquiring the belief that self-defense is not about fighting. It is about avoiding the need to fight and removing the risk from your life.
For that reason it is so important to take a good quality self defense course. Not because you want to learn to fight, but because you want to avoid the risk of being hurt. Many people believe that self defense is just about fighting down the local bar or pub. This is totally not the case.
Good self-defense is routed in taking steps to minimize the risk of harm coming to both yourself, your family and your property. These steps are usually simple ones such as taking a safe route home, to the more complex ones that involve installing burglar alarms to your homes and perhaps where appropriate using physical intervention and self-defense skills to keep safe.
It is essential that you take steps to learn these skills and pass your knowledge to your children and you friends. This is why it is never too late to start your self-defense training, because the most effective self-defense training actually involves using your mind.
So please at least look into finding a course or session near to where you live, however as I have said not all self-defense courses are the same. You need to be aware of just what a good course offers. However a good rule of thumb is a course that focuses on avoidance and awareness, rather than physical fighting skills is actually far more useful that a fighting based class.
So if you sign up for a short course or a class makes sure you ask the instructor what the course entails. Ask them if they cover things such as ‘avoidance and awareness’. If the course or class is a quality one then these skills will be a major part. As I stated it’s never to late to start training because self -defense is not about fighting. It is about using your mind to avoid danger and take steps to reduce the risk that you will ever face violence.
Real self-defense knowledge is more necessary than it has ever been. The world is a dangerous place. It does not matter where you go; you hear stories about terrible things happening to the nicest people. Sometimes it seems like dreadful threats are lurking everywhere you go – in the cities, in the towns and even in the villages.
You’re probably thinking that this is a paranoid, pessimistic attitude to take, right?
Maybe yes, maybe no, but if you are female, do you want to take the risk of becoming another awful statistic?
This is where real self-defense comes into play because it is better to have practical self-defense tools that you do not use than to lack the means of defending yourself when the worst comes to the worst!
Real self-defense is a complex subject, though, and there are many powerful, practical techniques and theories that can be learned, but here are a few simple tips on how best to defend against a bigger, stronger opponent.
Maintain your distance. The best means of real self-defense is the avoidance of physical confrontation. Whatever the creep says or does, try to maintain and if possible extend the distance between the two of you. The best possible outcome is an easy escape from a dangerous situation, and being able to maintain and control distance can be the key to making this happen.
When there is no alternative to getting physical, remember that:
1) You might not be able to rely on your strength, but a palm slap can help you to escape a potentially dangerous situation. It does not require fine motor control, which is one of the first things to be inhibited in a tense situation, so it is easy to perform. It may not be a strong attack, but a well-timed slap might stun your attacker long enough for you to make a quick escape. You can extend this line of thought to many other forms of attack too; stick with strikes that do not require too much accuracy or complicated movements to be performed effectively. Gouges, rakes, slaps, bites: these are not fancy to look at, but they can be effective means of real self defense for people who lack quality training in more sophisticated methods.
2) A swift kick or knee to the groin of a male opponent, if landed correctly, is guaranteed to weaken even the strongest punk. Real self-defense techniques might not be flashy but they work!
Follow these few tips and you will have an advantage over many people who know nothing about real self-defense applications, but there is so much more to know. Finding yourself out of your depth in a dangerous situation is not the time nor place to realize how much you do not know, so you owe it to yourself to get informed!
Effective self-defense requires more than just a few “karate moves.” It involves the ability to think strategically, and understand how to defend yourself with as little wear-and-tear on you as possible. Especially if you are a woman dealing with a larger, stronger, male assailant.
Many sensible aspects of self defense involve avoiding those situations where you may be at risk and also ensuring your personal environment is secure, i.e. correct locks, movement activated lights, alarm systems etc.
The question which arises is, do you or do you not defend yourself? The reality is that you won’t have much time to ponder this question, and even a moment’s hesitation may see you overpowered.
You need to make up your mind and have a plan in advance. Different circumstances will call for a different response. e.g. someone enters your home threatening harm while you are at home with your children?
That example is clear-cut, don’t be hero, even if you are taking self-defense classes! Just cut your losses. So here you have a clear policy.
But what if you encounter someone in your home or a pleasant date turns nasty? Here you have to make another decision, do I fight or give in to them and hope they don’t hurt me too badly. The problem is you don’t know what their intentions are.
What you do know is that a decent normal human being wouldn’t be doing what they are doing. If you are going to fight then you must fight with all your heart, all your resources and all your brains.
Note I didn’t say with all your strength. This is because it is highly likely that your attacker will be stronger than you, if you try to match strength then you will tire faster than them.
The main thing is the intensity of your defense, which must instantly become an attack. Make a lot of noise, scream and yell. Don’t just flail your arms widely in circular motions, use straight-line thrusts to the eyes, throat and face.
If your arms are being held stomp with your feet and thrust forward with your knees, jab with your elbows and bite!
Whenever I discuss some of these aspects of defense some people cringe and think it’s just too much. But imagine yourself being knocked to the ground, kicked punched, raped. Your attacker isn’t going to be gentle, why should you!
Fight and fight until you are exhausted and then keep fighting. So what if you are tired, so what if you can hardly breathe, never give up! Your adrenalin will mostly mask your injuries.
This will certainly gross you out, but if you thrash and fight for your life and you reach a point of utter exhaustion then you may well vomit from the shear effort. If so don’t turn from your attacker but vomit on them. Yuk I hear you say! Survive I say!
The harsh reality is that you may do all you can and are still badly injured, raped or both, but you will know in your heart you did all you could do and this knowledge is sure to speed your physical and emotional recovery.
If you have already been the victim of a violent assault and you didn’t fight back. Don’t blame yourself, don’t look back in regret, you’re not weak; you just didn’t have a plan, you weren’t prepared.
In our world we shouldn’t have to think about such things, people should treat each other with respect, but sometimes life isn’t fair! Take action attend a quality defense class and decide to fight if heaven forbid the situation should arise again.
Watch out for the following 5 Tips That May Ruin Your Training
Day in day out, you struggle to keep fit. You have tried different methods of getting fit but to no avail. Year in year out you have resolved to keep more fit but you have never succeeded. While this can be very frustrating, maybe it is time that you try out other means of getting fit or perhaps doing the same things that you should have done before but this time with a little more “encouragement” and little “reminders”. Record your progress and always try to do better than the day before. Probably you are wondering what we are talking about, if that is the case, then worry not. We are talking about using your smartphone to get black belt fit. Yes, it is possible that aside from being a communication device, your smartphone can also be used for keeping fit.
Most people know that martial arts require discipline both physically and mentally. But do you think you are as skilled and disciplined as a black belt? Do think you have what it takes to stick with the training that is required to achieve a black belt? If so, you should seriously consider finding a qualified instructor to help you start on your journey.
Bullying is an epidemic which has been present in the learning experience for many years. However, bullying has also evolved over time and with particular intensity over the last 20 years or so with the invention of mobile phones, the internet, and social media. In fact, bullying has gotten way out of control across schools and online, becoming almost intolerable. Each year, thousands of kids worry about going to school in the morning because they fear a bully. Many children cannot even escape the bullying when they leave school as the bully can now easily reach them online.
