Squawman

Fighting is one thing but if someone challenged him to act he would curl up ito the fetal position and start to cry.

Don't take this as racist or anything but the people that can do the most push ups in a row without stopping have always been Mexican. Its amazing, they can do like 80 - 100 without stopping.

Stephan Oliver does alot of business seminars and he's pretty much a car salesman.

The reason for an organization and I mean local or nation wide schools being together is so the person that calls himself the "founder or president" can make money by not doing anything. Our school just got out of an association that we belonged to from the beginning and lasted almost 10 years. We did alot of things as an association in the beginning like testing and seminars but the other schools were very closed minded and didn't like changing there curriculum to make a better martial artist. Martial artists can be very egotistical so nobody wanted to listen to other ideas. So as the years passed we got nothing out of the association and still had to pay monthly dues. So they can do their own thing but the funny part is that alot of them still call us aking for advice on running a successful school.

I think it's a good idea to try different styles after you get your black belt because then you can become a well rounded martial artist. One reason that black belts leave a school after their first degree is because there instructor doesn't have an actual curriculum for getting your 2nd degree and so on. Usually what happens in most schools is that once you get your 1st degree the instructor has you teaching more and might fail to actually teach you more. He might see a black belt as a way he can get out of teaching class himself. I would say that if you have 5 black belts or more then you need to make just a black belt class.

We charge $99 a month for at least 2 days a week but we offer 4-5 classes a week for every belt except for white & yellow belts where we offer 6 classes a week.

Demo teams are great. plus another good thing to do is getting in the schools. Ask to do a demo for a school assembly or do an after school class for a few weeks.

I teach kids as young as 3. And with that in mind here is how you do it. You can not teach a 3 and 4 year old the same way you teach a 6, 7 year old just like you don't teach a 10 year old the same way you teach a 30 year old. We have all these classes separate and the 3-4 year olds only come in once a week for 30 min. We teach them alot of focus drills and work on self control among other things. You guys are exactly right when you say they don't grasp the concept of martial arts thats why we look at it from the point of having the student for years and making them into a great martial artist or at least a great person. How many parents come into your studio and say "I want my kid to be able to do a great jump hook kick." They always come in and say they want focus and self control. So thats what needs to be focused on whether they are 3 or 13. Bottom line is that it takes a special person to teach very young kids and I think with our studio having approximately 60 kids from ages 3-7 we are very successful at it.

The only reason that you want to change your diet is because of what the Tibetan Lamas said and not because of the tons of research that actual scientists have done saying that protien is needed if you want to build muscle. Yes, I don't trust how food is processed either (even though I buy it straight from the grocery store). But if your really concerned about it then look for all organic food. The only problem I find with organic food is that it can cost almost double of regular food.

Randy Couture lives in the same city I do and the local paper had a good article on him. It said for his next fight against Vitor Belfort he will get $120,000 just to show up and another $80,000 if he wins. That is his third fight of a three fight contract which could be worth $525,000. Plus Couture has a studio in town that he owns plus since he's a big name he does alot of seminars around the country. So you could make good money at it but it is very,VERY hard.

I found a web site that has alot of flash games https://www.freegamez.nl One of the games is fighter santa and was really cool to play. Give it a try.

3 days ago my biggest injury yet. Torn lateral meniscus in the knee. I made a quick move while grappling then couldn't extend my knee out. I go see the surgeon next week.

We had a guy snap his achilles tendon. actually I've heard of it happening a couple times the tendon just gets weak. I've taken a couple shots to the thigh and gotten a good bruise that kept me from bending my leg for a good month. If you can get all the way to Black Belt and not have a scratch on you then you are damn good or are doing some really lame point sparring stuff.

I can't see myself doing much else. There is nothing else like seeing a student come into your school and sometimes they are so uncoordinated they can't even walk down the floor and then transforming them into a great person metally and physically through the years. I also love to see our school grow and getting more and more known in the community. Plus it's also that ego boost you get when your done with a class and you have parents tell you how great you are with the kids. (Twice today in fact). Where else can you work in your pajamas and have fun.

As an instructor it gets very hard to come up with new games and drills for the students so the classes are always different. I would love to hear what you guys do for say balance, speed, coordination, focus and so on. I'm looking for drills for all different ages i.e. 3&4 5,6,7 8-13 & adult.

You are completely right and thats why most of these type instructors only have a hand full of students. Because they are the ones who can tolerate the person. When anybody asks me what the best style of MA to learn I just say to find the best instructor you can.

It sounds like you are using too much arm. You might be moving your arm out away from your body too much which means your palm will strike first and to compensate for that you are bending your wrist to hit the correct knuckles. Do some shadow boxing in the mirror to see where your hands are positioned. Your hands should be right by your jaw and when you go to throw the uppercut just move your hand away from your face a little bit and then punch straight up. Remember to use your body too by bending your knees and pushing off, you only have so much power in your arms so you have to use your body.

Obviously, Tumadre, you are a highly successful school owner with hundreds of students so I guess you do know all there is. Please don't stereotype instructors just because you have come across some that weren't all that great or maybe just not as great as you. The 100 people we signed up for trials were actually people who made appointments at the demonstration and then came in the studio to sign up. If you say that only 5% will become paying students then you are telling me my studio sucks along with my teaching. Like I said before obviously you know all.

I'm sorry Tumadre but I can't even begin to tell you how many things were wrong with your statement. The reason to have a demo team is to show the public what you have taught your students. A demo team reflects what your school is like. If your demo team is terrible then it shows what your teaching is like. And if you do it right you have a table to sign up people right where your demo team is performing we just signed up over 100 people for trial lessons from our last demo.

I tell the kids in class that if they fix their uniform or tie their belt while they are in the middle of working out that they are more focused on how they look instead of what they are doing. I tell them I don't care if they are naked by the time they are done just stay focused on what you are doing.

Having a Demo team is great for advertisement and also to get your name out in public. Try to be as creative as possible ("Creativity is King") and to push your team to do things "outside the box" meaning trying things they didn't think they could do. Add as many elements to the routine as possible, Weapons ,Forms, self defense... Just make it as energetic as possible and leave the audience wanting more. Having seen alot of demos there is nothing more boring than seeing the same thing over and over (Yeah, we get it you can break boards!!) Or some guy out there by himself thinking he's the greatest thing since Cheeze Wiz. 3 rules to focus on for the demo team: 1 What do I have to do 2 What does my partner have to do 3 Am I projecting to the audience

I have read that canned fruit is as good as fresh because when it is processed it spends very little time from when it is cut up to when it is canned so it doesn't lose very many nutrients. The biggest thing to watch out for is fruit packed in heavy syrup. Get fruit that is pack in its own juice.

This question probably has come up before but I'm looking for some advice or maybe just some of your personal stories. We have some assistant instructors who are black belts who help out in a few classes but are not paid. We have one instructor that we have a few problems with. He is basically yelling at the students from the time they step on the floor to the time they leave. He has no variation in his voice and gives out very little praise. It's not like he hates the kids he just runs it a little more hard core than the rest of us no matter if it is a beginner class or kids going for their black belt. The head instructor has had one talk with him but it only changed for a little bit. There are some parents who don't think to highly of him either. Any advice?

We have our yellow belts (3 ranks) on a rotating curriculum and it is working well. It is a whole lot eaiser to teach the class but yes it is hard to keep everyone together if the student misses class especially during the summer. I would love to get the rest of the classes the same way but it is hard to implement.

I was wondering if anybody uses a rotating curriculum?