What tip or advice would you give another martial artist?

[Alan Armstrong]

What is the best tip or advice would you give another martial artist?

[singularity6]

Make sure your fit - both mentally and physically. Strained muscles, joints, ligaments or tendons can set you back, as can a bruised ego. Martial arts requires patience in all aspects.

[sensei8]

Nothing in the MA is absolute; therefore, proof is on the floor!!

[tallgeese]

Relax. It's a marathon and not a sprint.

[singularity6]

Actually, I would like to change mine: If you're gonna be dumb, you've gotta be tough.

[Lupin1]

Keep showing up. Honestly that's the alpha and omega.

[bushido_man96]

Keep showing up. Honestly that's the alpha and omega.

Agreed. Once you start, don't stop. Keep going. You'll be glad you did.

[Nidan Melbourne]

Well Two Things; but they interrelate so much:

1. Relax!!!!

When you relax, you develop and form better habits than when your tense.

Also it prevents you from doing something silly that could lead to injury.

2. Listen to Your Body!

Also means to remember that you need rest, as all humans do. Because if you don't then you will get hurt.

[JR 137]

The bit of advice I give most often to members who've just joined...

White belt is the hardest rank.

I've always thought that. EVERYTHING is new. It all seems awkward and unnatural - hand techniques, kicks, stances, movement, kata, etiquette, saying "Osu" a million times, etc.

Everything you learn after you've got the very basics down, you can relate to something you've previously learned. Not so at white belt. Sure, a kata like seiunchin is far more difficult than taikyoku 1, but by that point you've got a frame of reference. I had more difficulty with learning taikyoku 1 than any other kata. Not even close. I still vividly remember trying to learn it, thinking "I'll never get this." I've never felt that way about any other kata. I guess a better way to say it is it took far longer to click than any other kata I've learned.

[Alan Armstrong]

Unlearning is just as important as learning.

Unlearn bad habits and replace them with good ones.

Learn how to improve eating habits with a better understanding of nutrition and reduce food intakes that are known to cause illnesses and diseases.

Learn how the body works and how food and exercise improves the quality of life you have and be aware of the consequences of abusing ones health with an excessive type of life style.

Emotional health is just as important as physical health, never loose the child in us all, the simple happiness and joy of making a sand castle on the beach.

The biggest killers can be related back to unhealthy levels of stress and anxieties, letting go of pent up negative emotions, distructive anger, unfounded fear and past resentments, is a beginning; misery or happiness like everything else, both take practice to learn or unlearn.