Martial Arts Education

Last month, I cited our need, as instructors, to help our students discover their weaknesses or failings that we can then help them eliminate. That makes what we do valuable-­and worth whatever we charge for it. Allow me to relate an example, knowing that it might upset a few music fans, but I feel it ...

1) Make sure that everyone who enters your fitness classes is properly screened to ensure that they are physically capable of handling the class. 2) Students need to be brought slowly into the program with some type of introductory class, so the instructor can get to know students and evaluate their fitness level. This is ...

By Sang Koo Kang and Earl S. Bagan All of you who are reading this column most likely have been teaching martial arts for a number of years. Doubtless, you have also been studying martial arts and training for many years; most since you were young, and many for more than 20 years, or more. ...

We work in an industry that continues to change from year to year and decade to decade. Since we teach arts that are supposedly timeless, being ancient in origin, one would think that there would be less change. Of course, the goals that we set for our schools and our­selves drive that change. Many older ...

Recently, I’ve been thinking about the difference between the relationships I’ve established with my current students and how I previously interacted with my traditional martial arts students. The biggest difference, of course, is that my current students are adults. In a short period of time, I realized that for me to be successful teaching fitness ...

The legendary martial artist, movie and TV star and founder of the World Combat League and th Kick-Start Program shares the secret of this success. In part 2 of his interview with Stephen Oliver, Chuck Norris discusses his early martial arts training. As with many martial arts great of his decade, Chuck was first exposed ...

Letter from a loving fatherDear Sons, You have learned your martial arts history from me as children, and now from your own study. You often teach me. You have learned how a man, Jigoro Kano, who was a member of the Japanese educational system, changed Jiu­jitsu into Judo. He took a Japanese martial art, modified ...

Dear sons, now that you have decided to make teaching martial arts a career, instead of a pastime, please consider these words of experience. As you know, most traditional groups have an unwritten policy on how to handle their life-long relationships between students and teachers. I have often felt that traditional groups seem to be ...