Martial Arts Professional Magazine

The biggest misconception about martial arts fitness programming is that it’s not possible to retain students or to upgrade them to higher priced programs. The reason is that students’ needs are not being served-and those needs are very different than a martial arts student’s. You must convince fitness students that your program provides many long-term […]

Screen new students before you allow them into your school. To qualify for Black Belt, one must demonstrate skills and possess the right attitude. To gain membership to a school, however, the only standard seems to be money.
Organizations, such as the elite military and the FBI, require high qualifications before accepting new recruits to assume […]

If you’ve been a martial artist for very long, then you know that many of the “old-timers” seem to have bad knees. Some of these problems stem from dramatic injuries, such as a strike to the knee joint (like my ACL tear several years ago) or an attempt at a jumping or spinning kick. Some […]

Some years ago, I was at a major “contact” Karate tournament that had attracted fighters from across the country for many years. More than a few of the matches are decided by knockouts, and the action is always hard and fast. The rules allow for full-contact kicking to the head and body, but hand strikes […]

When promoting your fitness-kickboxing program, don’t make the mistake of promoting what students won’t want, instead of what they do. The more you promote the activity of kickboxing, instead of the results, the fewer students you will attract.
If you ask 100 adults, “Would you like to do martial arts or fitness kickboxing, or lose weight […]

The air on the Santa Monica pier is usually alive with the emissions of countless biological organisms, giving it that fresh, faintly fish-smelling sourness that lets you know that you’re in the midst of life; and this despite the fact that tons of raw sewage are dumped from there into the Pacific Ocean every day. […]

What I have learned during more than 30 years of teaching is the value of paying close attention to my students, with an eye toward learning from them. If you keep your eyes open, then you will invariably have that occasional situation that will cause you to pause and reflect on what you just experienced […]

There has been a long-running dispute among the “experts” about certain exercises used in many fitness workout routines. Some say that there are contraindicated exercises that should probably be eliminated from any program that targets a general audience.
Other experts want to see scientific evidence that certain exercises are harmful before they consider modifying their programs.
Health […]

People study martial arts for many worthwhile reasons, which is entirely separate from the desire to acquire self-defense skills. There’s a big difference between martial arts study and self-defense training. That difference is based on an individual’s motivation to pursue either of these goals. There is some overlap, but they are most certainly not the […]

The reason so many martial arts schools have trouble teaching effective fitness kickboxing is because conventional martial arts and fitness kickboxing are two completely different animals. Teaching conventional martial arts has very little to do with teaching martial arts fitness.
The elements of a good fitness kickboxing class are not the same as a conventional martial […]

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 is […]

Somewhere in the middle of rushing between activities, places and people, somewhere in the crevices of our wall-to-wall work schedules, there is the time we take for ourselves. This is when we do something a little extra for ourselves-perhaps a hobby or simply to relax and focus our minds to reorganize our thoughts. A little […]

Do you have what it takes to be a pro fighter?
Are you physically suited to be a profes­sional fighter? I’ve seen many careers end because of problems, such as asthma and high-blood pressure. I’ve seen people break their metacarpal bones in their fists repeatedly because of inadequate bone mineral density. I’ve seen people who were […]