singularity6

You only really need to like your job. Frequently, people who turn hobbies into careers end up not feeling the same way about them. Local gyms and YMCAs might hire yoga instructors and pay them very little (and frequently wave/reduce membership fees.) Most people who run these classes simply enjoy doing so, and appreciate getting the workout without paying the gym fees. Most people that I know who teach martial arts don't own their own school... but they don't pay to be at the school (some even make a little side money.) Going to school to become an athletic trainer seems fairly popular these days. You'll learn the science about how the body moves and works. Nutrition will be an important part of the curriculum, too. You might be able to fuel your career with your passions, as well as teach the things you like on the side (the credential and experience will help you land these side jobs, as well.)

I suspect they never really become "easy." If they did, concerns should be happening. My wife is always at the gym. She can hold a plank for about 2 minutes, and claims it starts getting hard to do after about 75 seconds. Sit-ups might be easier for some, and harder for others. I think that largely depends on your body shape. Short torso? Sit-ups will be a lot easier for you than for someone with a longer torso. (I have longer arms, so pull-ups will always be hard for me.) If an exercise ever becomes easy, it's probably indicative that you should change things up.

Congrats, man!

I've thought about this... I tend to wear pants that allow more free movement (DuluthFlex cargo pants, Duluth jeans, Carhartt cargo pants with gusset, etc) when I'm out and about. Flipflops are easy... kick them off! I've also thought about being warmed up... adrenaline will kick in and help. Regardless, if you get in a conflict, you shouldn't expect to walk away unharmed. You'll either take hits, or you'll strain something from the effort. Either way, the goal is to be able to walk away.

Yes! Happy birthday!

This stuff has circulated amongst a few folks in our school. It's not FDA-approved... You'll have to buy it as a "supplement" and it can be very dangerous if you're not careful... but I've been told it works wonders! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyl_sulfoxide

LOL! Great story. The master instructor of our school is a retired cop. He's got several like that. They always amuse!

Hey, that's nifty! Hopefully I'll get to meet up with some folks when I travel.

You know, I regret not starting martial arts at an earlier age. I immensely enjoyed the self-defense class I took in college when I was 20. A decade later, I took an aikido class while in grad school. That was a blast, too. It wasn't until I was 36 that I decided to give MA a go (partially because schools near Detroit are so EXPENSIVE. Things are cheaper where I'm at now.) 20 years ago, injuries didn't phase me for long. Sure, my shoulders still popped out... but that hurt for a couple days instead of a couple weeks. My hip muscles were probably a lot stronger then, too. 10 years ago, things hurt less. I didn't have plantar faciitis... injuries still healed relatively quickly... and I would probably have gained flexibility faster. All that being said, I've still made progress. My round and side kicks are approaching head-height, and my stamina and core strength are probably much better than the average person these days. Sure, I'm sad I missed MA at some of the stages of my life. But I'll still keep going!

We do have some particular advantages here, however. a) This is martial arts. It's not supposed to be easy! b) The syllabus is essentially a contract between the instructor and the student. All complaints about the syllabus should be aired BEFORE signing up for class.

Yay! Pizza and beer for all!

Mindful meditation has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, and improve mental performance (which would also help those perform physically,) so I think meditation is definitely something for all to consider. I'm not sold on fasting for everyone. I, for one, have a hard time doing anything if I don't eat regular meals. I get light-headed, nauseous, and shaky (once I went to TKD class with only having a salad for lunch... I left early due to seeing stars during warm-up.) Regarding celibacy - there is no scientific evidence that supports the myth that abstaining before athletic performance improves said performance. And about those "chi-busting" things MatsuShinshii pointed out... I'm a man of science, so I'll pass on the magic and make-believe. Ultimately, if something works for you, go for it. Just be careful and try not to hurt yourself, or someone else!

Solid post!! May I ask you a question, instructor to instructor... Have you ever had a student(s) ever express their distain over the length of your syllabi?? If so, how did you explain it, its length?? I have at one of my previous institutes. And they were right! The course coordinator had a lot of draconian rules, along with a very lengthy detailed schedule in the syllabus. When distributing it to my students, I separated the schedule from the syllabus, making it two separate documents (each being about 4-5 pages front and back.) From then on, I've always tried to keep things "chunked" up. Including a detailed schedule of the whole course doesn't make much sense. I do not know what your syllabus entails. I suspect that there might be some ways of breaking it up. Have a brief outline for each rank, maybe? Then provide students with further details as they progress? When my wife and I started in our school, they gave us the curriculum up through 4th geup (blue belt.) It's still several pages long, and 3 years ago, it looked like a lot of information. I'd imagine the syllabus through 1st geup is at least as long as the one I have!

As an instructor (of math, of course,) I am frequently grappling with the perception of others. Like martial arts, math is a subject that takes a lot of time, hard work, dedication, and the mastery of one skill in order to move on to the next. Syllabi in my courses are among the earliest impressions a student will have in my courses. They are often the only impression my administration may have of my courses. That being said, I need to make sure my syllabi are readable, clear, concise, and at the same time, detailed. To manage this, I have various organizational techniques (that may vary from class-to-class.) Breaking up the information into chunks and careful choice of language are common to all these techniques, however. Content is essential, but packaging is key!

If "physical ability" is the primary limiting factor, then should these folks not have black belts? https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/wheelchair-bound-karateka-a-world-champ-285529 https://www.transfermaster.com/blog/view-post/Disabled-Man-Black-Belt http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2187522/Man-paralysed-waist-martial-arts-instructor--gaining-black-belt-kickboxing.html This isn't meant to be a judgmental question. Your school, your rules. Personally, I would be willing to meet a student where they're at to give them a shot. Those with significant limitations can be the best, most rewarding students.

To me, a black belt is similar to a bachelor's degree. If you're focused, it should take around 3-5 years to EARN. Upon receiving it, you should be a better, more well-rounded person - so sparring, forms, discipline, technique and behavior should all be part of your testing. Completing a black belt signifies that you're ready to continue on training in that style, honing your skills, and also ready to start teaching (to an extent.)

When looking for a house, I told my wife I needed space to train. Seeing that we have about 6 months of Winter where we live, it had to be indoors. Well, we found a house that was satisfactory for both! I have a large portion of the basement where I can train with a fair amount of freedom (if you ignore the low ceilings!) I can do my forms to about 80% or 90% (again, ceilings get in the way sometimes) and I have plenty of space for my free-standing heavy bag. While I don't have any formal bag training, it is nice to have a target.

A friend of mine tried running a boxfit class at our local YMCA. I gave it a shot, but due to my schedule, my participation was quite limited. There's some definite potential there, however!

To the bold: I don't see the relevance of this, as this is not the case. Besides, Douglas was very supportive of women's rights, as well. To be a recently-freed slave then going against the grain on another important social issue? I call that EXTREMELY noble and brave.

Interesting. All my active-shooter training sessions have said to do the opposite. Standing your ground seems like it should be the last thing to do for a number of reasons. *Paint balls aren't much of a threat, so I suspect behavior might be different if real bullets are involved *I am not sure how much I'd be able to perform "heroically" in such a situation. I trust other people much less than I trust myself *All the federal guidelines I've read (written by law enforcement) suggests run -> hide -> fight, in that order *Actually training to respond appropriately to such a situation requires regular intense training (SWAT- or infantry-level training.) Those jobs are done/should be done by special people with a strong sense of self-control who are able to keep calm in extremely stressful situations. Most people probably wouldn't qualify

Ran across this during my morning coffee, and thought it was worth sharing. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44922889 Progress is a good thing!

My pinky toe tends to not do exactly what I tell it to. I imagine it'll end up getting pretty smushed one day.

We've had a few students relocate successfully and maintain their rank. Some needed a month or so of classes before the rank they earned at my school was reinstated, however.

You get extra resistance in the water. Your arms and legs have to push the water out of the way vs the air. They’re quite useful in the rehab setting. Take someone with ACL reconstruction; they’ll be able to run on an underwater treadmill before they’ll be able to run normally because the bouyancy in water counters the pull of gravity, thereby significantly reducing the impact on the knee. Same for a lot of injuries. For general working out without an injury that benefits from it, I have no idea why. Edit: I guess it would be cooler than running outside in the summer. I get all that. But what I'm wondering is, if you're in a pool, where you are close to weightless and have all the low impact resistance, why not just walk in the pool? Or perform slow motion footwork drills in the pool. Or balance exercises. Or slow kicks. Or just about any exercise that's appropriate for the goal? I don't understand the advantages of confining one's self to a treadmill where the range of movement options is very limited, in the zero impact almost weightless environment of the pool. A number of factors go into the need/desire for various exercise tools. Treadmills exist despite us having plenty of sidewalks and trails outside. It takes up a lot less space to have a tank with a treadmill in a PT facility. Have you ever been to a public pool? It's frequently hard to use without someone else being in your way.

Our school has this issue! It's been exacerbated by the business of our master instructor, too... we no longer have a set testing schedule! I was a white belt for 6 months due to the testing cycle, and due to my own personal commitments outside the class. The same thing has happened to me multiple times... A test would happen too soon for me to test, and then I'd end up waiting until the next one. I've been at it for nearly 3 years, and I'm only 5th geup. We train on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6pm-8pm, and our tests, when they happen, are on a Saturday morning. To make things a bit more complicated, our school has 2 locations, which are about 45 minutes apart from one another. In my opinion, it's important to have testings for students. The first 2 or 3 ranks, however, could probably be done in-class when the instructors feel the student is ready. Maybe once they hit the 4th rank in their art (assuming there are 10 to hit black belt,) then get them on a regular schedule.