Discipline without anger: Secrets for adulting…

As a martial arts instructor, I often receive praise on the way I work with kids.  “I don’t know how you do it…”, “you have so much patience!” and so on.  The truth is, I’m not an extraordinarily patient person.  To the contrary, as someone who strives to be a ‘high achiever’, patience is a virtue that does not come naturally to me.  However, experience has taught me that if I employ a basic system of structure and discipline with my younger students, that takes most of the stress away from maintaining order when a child is having a difficult day.  Here are a few of the key principles to keep in mind, that can be employed by parents, babysitters… anyone who deals with children on a regular basis.

The Psychology of Fight Simulation: Honing real world skills in a safe, controlled environment

If you train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for self-defense, especially if you are at a Gracie Certified Training Center, you are going to incorporate Fight Simulation classes into your training.  But what is a Fight Simulation class?  First of all, this doesn’t happen on your first day in a BJJ school (or shouldn’t at least).  It’s often the culmination of the beginner self-defense curriculum where students learn to use the techniques they have learned in all possible combinations to defend themselves against a larger, striking opponent. 

Confession of a reluctant ‘Juicer’

Working out has never been the hard part of fitness for me.  5 days a week, 7 days a week, weights, cardio, martial arts training- I enjoyed it so it was easy to build positive habits that stuck around.  Diet was always the elusive part…  I kind of figured that I could out-work my diet in the gym, but that’s never the case.  Spoiler alert- abs are made in the kitchen more than the gym…  The biggest problem I encountered was that whenever I would cut weight or try to eat really clean I would get hungry.  Neigh- ‘hangry’.  And that wasn’t fun for anybody involved.  Like when Bruce Banner gets angry and becomes the Hulk, except he wants a pizza and a diet coke.

I’ve tried lots of different things- adjusting levels of carbs and proteins, substituting this kind of carb for that kind, intermittent fasting, but they always seemed to be unsustainable, at least for me, and so faded away over time out of my regular eating habits.

Recently, one of my students suggested the benefits of juicing…  

4 Tips for being an Awesome Training Partner

Jiu Jitsu is fun, training it is fun, and (with a little practice) sparring is really fun.  It’s only natural that you want to share something that you enjoy so much with others, particularly if you are paired up with someone who has much less training experience than you.  You naturally to fall into the microcosm of ‘teacher’ and ‘student’ within your group, and if you are the ‘teacher’ of course you want to help out your partner as much as possible.

EPIC WIN: Parents, THIS is why you need to put your kids in Jiu Jitsu!…

As a martial arts teacher, you get an amazing sense of fulfillment watching your students grow both as martial artists and also as individuals.  Sometimes however, you have the opportunity to receive a much greater reward- the knowledge that your teaching directly helped someone in their everyday life.  This is such a story…

3 TRICKS FOR GETTING KIDS’ ATTENTION

Ever have trouble getting a kid to ‘tune in’ when you’re talking? If you’ve talked to more than a few kids, the answer is probably YES. Try one of these to keep them on their toes, but in a fun way.