Stances have been the bane of many beginner (and veteran) practitioners; there are many times I’ve told students (and been told myself!) to “bend your knees” or “get lower” in their stance. One of my instructors would walk around with a shinai (bamboo sword) to help “adjust” student’s stances and Continue Reading
Personal Experience
A Fact About Good Leaders
I was reading The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C Maxwell, and one thing that he mentioned in the course of the book really stuck with me. He mentions that bad to mediocre leaders have followers underneath them while good to excellent leaders have and create other leaders Continue Reading
Just Get Started: The Importance of a First Step
One of the most daunting things in life is starting something new. It can be starting a new martial art, starting a blog article, or starting a project at work. While getting started and taking the first step is easily the most difficult thing to do, it is the most Continue Reading
How to Workout with Different Footwear
In my previous article “Different Training Floors and How to Adjust to Each One” https://urbanmartialartists.com/?s=training+on+different, I talked about how one can adjust to different training surfaces such as wood, asphalt, and so on. In this article, I would like to discuss what the different kinds of footwear are and how Continue Reading
Awareness and Avoiding Conflict
Many of us would go through life and will never experience a violent encounter, and I hope you, dear reader, never have to. However, there is something to be said about being prepared, both physically and mentally, so that, if we were to meet such misfortune, we would be able Continue Reading
“You Have Two Ears, and One Mouth”
I like to think of this literal statement in a couple different ways. The first, is something a lot of little kids have issues with: thinking before they speak. So many times when I’d be teaching a class of 4-6 year olds, one would raise their hand as if they Continue Reading
Don’t Negotiate Against Yourself: Ask For What You Want!
I remember one Saturday afternoon after finishing class in the city, my students and I had planned to go share a meal together in Chicago’s Chinatown. In the past, going to eat dinner in Chinatown was a relatively easy thing. We would go to one of our favorite restaurants and Continue Reading
Musicality in Martial Arts
From sixth grade through high school, I played the trumpet in my school band. I wasn’t a particularly skilled trumpeter (trumpetist?) but the experience gave me several valuable experiences: a love of classical music, an increased lung capacity, and an understanding of basic musical theory. I can still sight read Continue Reading
My Answers to Commonly Asked Martial Arts Questions
The minute someone finds out that I practice martial arts, I find myself immediately bracing for the same questions I hear all of the time. And I feel like most martial artists can probably relate. So I figured I would answer some of the more common questions I have been Continue Reading
Don’t Confuse the Roles of School Owner and instructor
When evaluating yourself and your ability to have your own and run a martial arts program, you need to be able to evaluate yourself in the different roles that you have. You are both an instructor and a school owner simultaneously! Your business skills AND martial arts skills matter. Sometimes Continue Reading