tallgeese

Great book! Regardless of one's style. I think it probably goes a long way to getting over some of the myths that surround karate as a whole.

We spent the last two weeks focusing on the half guard position. First up, we look at how to build frame work from the bottom that will allow us to begin a sweep, or attack: Without these fundamentals and positional understanding, any more advanced tactics will be difficult to implement. Following on this, we use your partners natural response to a kimura effort for the entrance to a back take: So, what other fundamentals do you focus on for half guard? Who else utilizes similar tactics?

First up, congrats on even getting the doors open. Believe me, I know that hurdle in and of itself if a giant milestone! Seven weeks and no new students isn't out of line at this stage. Continue with the social media marketing, even if it doesn't feel like it's paying off right now. It will. Stay active with videos, and the biggest thing is to put out good content on each and every one of these. As Pred alluded to, start to find your voice. What exactly are you reaching for? The kids market? Adults? Self defense? Artistic expression? You need to answer these questions for yourself and then make sure that the message is being covered in every single piece of marking you put out. Really, that's the hardest thing to achieve and even after a year we still slip up doing this. You'll occasionally mis-step, like we did when we tried to add a yoga program. Other times, you'll accidentally hit a home run (we also did this with a dedicated competition themed night, not being a competition focused school this surprised me too.) The big thing is to continually evaluate the success and failures of your marketing campaign. As a generalization, the summer months will show a slow down in numbers. As will the holidays and end of the year. Spring and Fall will show consistent numbers while the New Year's time frame will be a time of huge new turn out. Try to capitalize on this. Also, look at the new school year as a major recruiting month and we've generally had success with a summer incentive as well for brining new kids in with partners concerned about what to do with them for the next three months. We do a summer special that is a three month sign up for about a month's rate. Then we try to convert a majority. We do this again in August as a back to school special. And again in January. This becomes a big book keeping task, but it's led to a big growth for us in the last 12 month cycle. I suggest using a software system to 1) manage all of this, and 2) auto debit for dues. This makes life easier and will let you really dig into the analytics of what is working for you to covert prospects. If this sounds a lot like business...it is. You have to start to accept it. We were white belts in this aspect of things when we started. Most of us are who start gyms. But you have to get used to the fact that it's not your martial arts that sell contracts. It's your ability to 1) reach people, and 2) get them to sign up once they walk in the door. Of course, you have to have a solid product (your art) and have skip at it, but that is simply not enough in a crowded market. It sounds like your off to a solid start. keep at it and keep us posted on how you're doing. If there's anything specific you need that we can help with, let us know.

AWESOME news!

I'm in! Put it on the schedule today!

Welcome aboard! Can't wait to see more from you!

Welcome back! Good to see you!

We run Zen Planner to manage class attendance AND auto pay. We try really hard to sign everyone up on auto pay. It just saves the trouble of monthly conversations about money. There are still occasionally hiccups. Cards expire, etc, but it's way handier.

This. I wash mine every week. It dries well enough to wear overnight.

One thing about jiu jitsu that we can't forget is that as much as we talk about the art aspect, as fun as it is to compete, it is at it's heart designed for self defense. It is a martial art. We can't lose that aspect. Because it's so easy to get away from that, we added a class specific to those goals. Here's a look at some of our training: So, how many grapplers here integrate striking? Conversely, if the strikers here cross train in grappling, do you strike while you're there? Do you take the time to look at what is effective based on position? This is where I see a lot of break down on the striking end.

Congrats!

Hello and welcome aboard KF!

Welcome to KF!

Welcome aboard! Can't wait to see your contributions!

Welcome back! Glad to hear from you again!

Happy Birthday!

Here's some work we put in last week dealing with the very common defense to the straight ankle lock, standing in place to weight. There are lots of mechanics to use here, but one of the easiest is transitioning to a new position. In this video, we move from the standing counter to the X guard. Check it out: How many people utilize the various foot and ankle locks to counter the guard? How many transitions to you prepare for if it is countered?

I think it comes down to: "Are you done with your journey?" If the answer is, after that time, yes. Then by all means, take the position and move on. Look back with fondness and show up to reunions. There is no shame in honestly evaluating this. If the answer is no, then you'll have to find a reason to give your significant other as to why you're passing on the chance Again, neither is wrong. My younger self wouldn't have been as open minded, but I find that things are rarely as clear as my 20 something fighter self thought.

Here's the thing. We can all talk about what "should" a specific unit use, but at the end of the day, those individuals within that unit are the best suited to tell us. They should make the determining factors as to what meets their needs and operational parameters. It's easy for martial artist to get caught up in the theory of what works better, but it's to the individuals doing the job to make a reality based call on the best options for them. I hear this all the time in LE circles and SWAT. Several private based instructors have approached us over the years with this is better pitches. Sometimes the tactics they offer are just awful for anyone. Sometimes, they are great....but don't meet our use of force standards. Sometimes, it works out and we adopt certain tactics. Even within the afore mentioned communities, we vary tactics to a degree based on assignment. There are certain things that the team needs that routine patrol does not. So we design training and get instructors based on those needs. I had a recent discussion with a JKD instructor on what he thought we should be training in. After talking it thru with him, it was clear that if we deployed the tactics he was advocating for SD, we'd end up violating all sorts of case law and probably the 4th or 8th or both Amendments. Now, his tactics would be SOLID for a female defending herself in a parking lot, but it's a difference in need, application an purpose. On a side note, Krav can suffer from this. So, looking at what will drive the need is a first step in deciding what to use. BUT it should be the operational individuals who decide on a unit by unit level on what direction they go.

It would be great to see you there! I'm planning to include an "open exchange" session, where we go around the room sharing techniques, so you'd even have a chance to teach us karate folks some grappling No kidding, I'm seriously considering this. I have to get ahold of a LE conference date that runs around that time that will have to take priority, but if it's a different set of dates...

None that I know of. There's several from that time frame, within a year or two. One who started 3-4 years after I did that I still train with. But my first instructor is still active and I train with him every them we are in the same town.

Welcome to KF! Glad to have you!

Nice work!

Glad you like it. Let me know if it's working for you.

Oshishinobu got the FMA part below. The PTK is short for Pekiti Tersia Kali. It's a specific brand of FMA from Grand Tuhon's lineage. Much like Karate, there are actually several styles of Kali (or Arnis or Escrima, again largely interchangeable large scale labeling) that each have their own particle set of drills, principles, etc. Despite some overlap.