We know that goals must be specific, challenging, attainable, performance-orient­ed and measurable. We all like to have some idea of where we’re going and what we’re doing. The same is true of your students. Without achieving goals, students become uncertain of where they are going, and thus lose motivation.

This applies to your teaching in a number of ways.

Student expectations.

First, it’s impor­tant to know why your students are coming to class. More importantly, you must ask if you’re willing and/or able to teach what they are seeking. Fulfilling students’ needs and reducing students’ frustrations provide meaningful reasons to continue the process of training. It’s critical, therefore, that your instructors and students share congruent and synergetic expectations.

In-class performance goals.

The second aspect of goal setting is the prac­tical goal associated with any part of a lesson plan. These types of goals are very specific, short-term goals and impact class performance. Performance goals allow students and instructors to mea­sure the degree to which training drills have been successfully executed.

One of the keys is that the goal should be challenging enough to motivate your students, and also measurable, so that students can see exactly how close they are to success. A measurable performance goal for a bio­mechanical action might include the correct foot or body position.

Whether being used in class or during competition, performance goals must lie within students’ immediate sphere of control and not be dependent upon an outcome beyond their control. To drive home the point: Students can control the number of times a skill is attempted during a tournament match; however, students cannot control what score, if any, a referee might award for a suc­cessful technique.

Long-term goals.

A third set of goals relates to how your les­son plans fit into a long-term program of study. Every lesson plan should be a step in the process of reaching a specific goal, and pre-supposes the existence of a long-range plan, such as achieving a certain level of rank, fitness or competitive ability.

An example of a long-term goal is achieving a Black Belt. Each pre­ceding rank, then, is a progressive step and a measurable indicator of proximity to the major goal. Each requirement for rank is an action step within the single goal of obtaining the next rank, and should be reflected in your lesson-plan sequence. Each lesson plan and class drill is an action step for the intermediate goals.

“Without achieving goals, students become uncertain of where they are going, and thus lose motivation.”

By analogy, each lesson plan is a section of a road, and the long-term plan is the road map you will use to guide your students to their chosen destinations. If you have no idea what you will be teaching next week, then how will your students know how useful this week’s lesson plan will be to their overall growth and development?

Coaching goals.

The last set of goals that impact the learning environment includes your personal goals as a coach. Your teaching goals must be congruent with your philo­sophical goals, so ask yourself: Why you are teaching?

Sometimes, your goals may be competing with each other. For instance, if you think a big children’s program will pay the bills, but you hate teaching kids, then you have a prob­lem. Alternatively, if you want to train people for tournaments, then make sure that you recruit students who share your desires.

It logically follows that your coaching goals and level of congruence will affect the num­ber and type of students that you recruit and retain. Simply put, it’s a good idea to be working from the same road map that you provide your students.

The referees at the tournaments I attended were in complete charge of their rings, including the surrounding area, whether it was filled with other athletes or spectators. The referee had the authority to disqualify competitors for their actions, or the actions of their coach or supporters.

Though rarely invoked, this policy had the effect of keeping the atmosphere in check and balance. In an art, where practitioners insist that a natural byproduct is self-control and self-discipline, it’s hard to imagine what outsiders must think when they see Black Belts (high ranking or not) arguing to the point of physical confrontation. Large groups (a mob?) fist fighting on the floor demonstrates something, but I don’t think it is either self-control or self-discipline.

This insistence on practicing both of these skills inside and outside your school and inside and outside tournaments, have real benefits for students and society as well.

I’ve been told that at least one major city has suggested that Karate tournaments are not welcome there any longer. The reason is the damage to host hotels was too severe. Now that will help your enrollment drive next year, don’t you think?

Is it possible to teach Americans a measure of self-control? I think so, which is the point of this column. Certainly, the weird violence in this country can only be controlled through people learning to control themselves, i.e., self-control.

At one of those tournaments I attended, groups of competitors, divided by clubs, were seated on the floor. There were, perhaps, 900 people on the floor, and they comprised all age groups-from five years old to seniors.

 ”Insist on behavior at your events that’s consistent with what your say you teach.”

Suddenly, eight or ten people started throwing T-shirts into the crowd and onto the floor. This was duplicated on the other side of the gym. These people walked down the sidelines throwing T-shirts right and left.

Inwardly, I groaned. I had seen this happen once before in the 1980s, with the same organization, and was forced to help rescue the promoter’s wife, as the crowd grabbing for T-shirts almost stampeded her.

Amazingly enough, however, this time not one group broke ranks on the entire floor-No little children, no rampaging teenagers and no stampeding adults.

With no direction from anyone, and caught completely by surprise, not one individual, and not even one club, so much as broke ranks, much less stampeded.

This wonderful behavior was not orchestrated by some “edict” of the organization. If you try to take control of your organization, then that approach will never work. No, numerous club owners and coaches, who are on the front lines everyday, teaching self-control and self-discipline, developed this behavior in their students.

Whatever your martial art and school, when an organization or any club not only teaches self-control and self-discipline, but also consistently practices and demonstrates it, it can become second nature.

It’s rather amazing that many of us do what we say we do. Why not be part of the solution, instead of part of the problem? Why not take a look at your organization?

Insist on behavior at your events that’s consistent with what your say you teach. If a number of people don’t agree with that, then go somewhere else. If your organization and school take this stand, then changes will certainly occur. I have seen it happen.

Fitness students want activities that will slow the aging process and improve their shape. You must be able to create a vision in students’ mind of what they could be if they trained with you for years.

When it comes to physical fitness, many people think only of cardiovascular and strength conditioning, but fitness is also balance, focus, body coordination and flexibility. Where else, but at your school, is someone able to experience such long-term health benefits?

The challenge is that most martial arts schools have no system or process to attract a large enough segment of the adult population to convince students to train long-term. If you market the multitude of health benefits in paid advertising that uses the term “martial arts” or there is a photograph of a student wearing a martial arts uniform, then you will lose a large segment of the potential adult population.

This is why you must have some type of program that will attract the adult market to your school-programs that are focused on fitness, and obtaining results in a short period of time. This is what a program, such as the Ultimate Bodyshaping Course (UBC), is capable of doing: A short, ten-week fitness course in which anyone is able to participate. This is the only way you will draw enough people to your facility to give you an opportunity to up-sell them to a long-term program.

Last month, I recommended that the best time to up-sell students is during their mid-evaluations. Five weeks into the ten-week course is when you will want to present additional programming. Your students have improved their fitness levels and are now in a peak state to talk about training options, following their ten-week course. You will also want to give them some kind of financial incentive to enroll early.

At the mid-evaluation, we ask students to complete a questionnaire about their current fitness level and what they would like to achieve in the future. With questions such as, “Which of these activities would you be willing to set goals to achieve your desired fitness level?” I then list the programs I have available.

The more activities in which they’re able to set goals, the more students you will be able to up-sell and retain.

You can also add to or modify your conventional program to accommodate adult fitness students better. We have what we call the “UBC Elite Training program,” which consists of three
elements: Elite Kickboxing, Elite Weightlifting and Elite Running.

Elite Kickboxing is a non-traditional, adult-only martial arts course. This safe, easy-to-follow program will take students step-by-step toward achieving their goal of Black Belt in American kickboxing. The course is patterned after my extensive training with the legendary Joe Lewis.

Elite Weightlifting is personal attention, motivation and results. This is a group weightlifting class where a qualified instructor gives students the personal atten­tion they need to achieve goals in weightlifting. This pro­gram can also be combined with an Elite Strength and Conditioning class, using strength tubing, calis­thenics and medicine balls.

Elite Running trains students for 5K-road races, with sunset beach runs and workouts at the park.

All for one low price! Students are able to mix and match these classes to fulfill their individual needs. Some students want to earn their Black Belts. Others want to train and go to road races with a group of people. Another group of students loves the benefits of personal attention in fitness and conditioning at a fraction of the cost of personal training.

The idea is to give students a long-term perspective on fitness training. Adults must exercise for the rest of their lives if they’re to live long and happy. Why not set a three- to four-year fitness goal? You must present your program in a way that attracts people who want the long-term benefits of fitness.

In a career spanning more that four decades, Joe Lewis has won more competition titles and instituted more innovations than anyone in the history of martial sports. That’s why he is “The Greatest Fighter in the History of Karate.” Joe can be reached at Martial ArtsProfessional.com.

“Do not slug with a slugger or hook with a hooker.”

Some of us thought we could create some of the best warriors on the planet. Some of us thought we could help people help themselves. Other instructors just loved their art so much that they wanted to share it with the world. Most of us fall into one or more of these categories, or others unknown.

When I look at how our school is structured, how we teach our classes and what we emphasize, I’m constantly reminding my instructors about the importance of the ABCs. The ABCs are the three groups that naturally exist in any school-that is, if you haven’t driven some of them off the mat.

“The A group is the naturally athletic, aggressive and assertive people.”

The A group is the naturally athletic, aggressive and assertive people. These are the kind of people my best teachers love. My Black Belt instructors are like the math and science teachers who thrive on motivated students with high IQs. Who wants to interact with the students who struggle? After all, these naturally “athletic, aggressive and assertive” people would provide you with bragging rights.

The second group (B) is “okay” with most instructors. They are the “Believers,” who believe in your program, and they are the “Becomers” (as in, works-in-progress). You can recognize regular growth in these students.

The C group is composed of the “Catch-Up” students. They are always trying to train and grow at the same rate as other students. Most concepts and techniques come harder, many of them don’t understand your corrections and some of them even have lousy attitudes. Who wants to work with them? C students are twice as hard to teach, take twice as much time and effort and make you tired just thinking about how you will ever prepare them for the next big test.

Unless I miss my guess, your students are very similar to the students in our schools. How do you serve these different groups of students? Do you work with just those you like the most and let the others just quietly slip away?

As a school owner, businessman and dedicated teacher, I look at these groups in a couple of different ways.

The first is financial.

I’ve estimated, from experience, that most student bodies can be divided 10% A, 70% B and 20% C. That’s based on the assumption that you run a full-service school, with children and adults and males and females. That means if you pursue A prospects, give them good service and pay no attention to your other students, then your school is only 10% of the size it should be! You are losing 90% of your business.

Even if you build your school around B students-decrease the intensity a bit, but still expect some quality, then you’ve turned your back on 30% of your business. Ten percent is the A group that is becoming bored and 20% from the C group who can’t maintain the pace of the class.

When I look at this grouping concept from the viewpoint of a dedicated teacher, several things come to my mind. I tell my Black Belt teachers that there are two kinds of students-those who impact the art, because they are so talented, and those for whom the art has great impact.

Of course, there are many more of the latter than there are of the former. I also remind my instructors that we will probably impact the life of a C student much more than the life of an A student; and this is great value to both you as a teacher and to them as students.

Look at your school. Is it organized and operated in a manner that allows your “A” students to stretch and excel, or are they restrained? They won’t last long if you do. Then, look at your “C” students, those who understand at a slower pace. What systems do you have in place to enable them to succeed?

Your ability to address your A, B and C students will greatly enhance your pocketbook-and your reputation as a school and a teacher.

E-zines are sometimes referred to as “opt-in” lists because everyone who receives an e-zine has chosen to do so. The E-zine format is an asset for any business wishing to reach a particular audience with a small investment.

When searching for opt-in lists, localize your choices within a 3.5-mile radius of your school. You may also be able to create your list with the help of local radio and television stations and merchants and your students who may access to e-mail lists from children’s athletic teams, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, elementary school list, work associates, church members, etc.

The key to successful e-mail marketing is to make sure prospects feel like they wanted the information…

You can also include a “tell-a-friend” option for your Web site visitors.

The key to successful e-mail marketing is to make sure prospects feel like they wanted the information or that it is relevant to their needs. Include the prospect’s name in the subject field and body of the letter. Make sure the e-mail is readily identifiable as coming from you.

An example of the first e-mail a prospect receives is: “Thank you for joining the Family Martial Arts Center mailing list. This e-mail is being sent as a follow-up to a request made by you. You may be removed from our list at any time simply by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of this email.” For referral or endorsed mailings, make it obvious that the e-mail came directly from someone with whom the prospect is already familiar.

Continually e-mail your prospect once she is in your system. You are more likely to receive a response on the fifth to seventh mailing than you are on the first. Put your prospects into an “auto-responder” e-mail program. An auto-responder sends messages to people who have requested information. It can be as simple as sending one message to anyone who writes to a specific e-mail address, or it can be as sophisticated as offering multiple response messages, each one sent based on the text of the received e-mail message.

The series of mailings you create can include both valuable information and sales offers for your target audiences. For example, you can send complimentary one-month guest passes to birthday party participants, demonstration leads, opt-ins from your Web site, introductory students who didn’t enroll and after-school program leads.

Next, your copy and headlines are vital to generate a response. Too promotional and your message will be ignored. Too passive and no one will take action. It’s more effective to combine information and sales offers in one. For instance, you might send a newsletter containing parenting tips with a link to your Web site, and then follow up with a third or fourth letter inviting them to try your introductory program. Ask them to call or register at your Web site to receive future information and newsletters.

A word of caution: In the offline world of marketing, many of us have sent direct mail to targeted lists. Rarely did any of them complain nor did we worry much if they did. The online world of marketing is much different. People become very upset when they receive unsolicited e-mail (SPAM) and the consequences for you can be quite damaging.

Join Stephen Oliver online. Visit MartialArtsProfessional.com for direct links to these pages.

Strategy #2: Problem-Agitate-Solve, Part 2
Last month, I presented the “Problem” statement, and I began “Agitating” readers.

Agitate, continued:

You have a HUGE advantage in the marketplace because your “solution” solves a problem that people WANT TO SOLVE! Your “product” literally changes people’s lives and makes them better, more focused and confident. What could be “easier” to “sell?”

I believe that it is, in fact, your obligation to help as many people as possible and to serve your community in a deep, meaningful way that creates a better world. You have SO much to contribute to the universe, so it’s your duty to master the skills it takes to attract people to your school and help them see the benefits they will achieve by training at your school!

Here is where you must do some deep soul-searching. You must put yourself in the shoes of the prospective student (or their parents). You must emotionalize the problem by describing how painful it is to have the problem, all the opportunities you miss by having the problem and all the benefits you’ll gain by having the problem solved for you!

Next, you must invalidate all other solutions, but your own! You must describe why your product (school, program, unique approach to teaching, etc.) is not only THE BEST solution to the problem, but also the ONLY OPTION for those who are serious about solving it!

You’ll want to describe your “USP” (Unique Selling Proposition), or what separates you from your competition, in terms that your potential student (or his or her family) understands. Describing the specific features and techniques of your product, in terms of your “style,” WON’T attract prospective students. You create infinitely more impact when you focus on deeper, more meaningful problems.

 Liberal use of testimonials, success stories or social proof is critical.

Becoming more coordinated, flexible and better balanced are great benefits, but there are MANY solutions for those problems. Baseball, dance, gymnastics and cheerleading can all make those claims.

Consider the BIGGER problems you can solve. Certainly, the students that are interested in solving BIGGER problems would be more motivated to solve them.

Solve:

This is the part that most school owners understand unconsciously.

You’re able to describe why your “product” solves the problem or delivers the benefits you are promising.

Again, this is where ol’ Billy Mays really warms up!

Billy does his “Wow Demo,” dumps the scoop full of “OxyClean^TM” into the massive bowl of inky water and, almost magically, the water virtually and instantly turns white, and then transparent!

You must describe (in terms the prospective student will understand) how you will solve his or her problem, or provide him or her with the promised benefit. Think of it just like an “intro” lesson. After an effective intro lesson, the student and family clearly understand you, like you and believe you. You must create this same level of relationship when the prospective student reads this section of your copy.

Liberal use of testimonials, success stories or social proof is critical. Keep in mind that people are naturally (and rightfully so) skeptical. Anything you write about yourself is “suspect,” but if many other people are making statements about you, then it is infinitely more believable.

Applying P-A-S (Problem, Agitate, Solve) will dramatically increase the effectiveness of your advertising in virtually every media!

Join Toby Milroy online. Visit MartialArtsProfessional.com for direct links to these pages.

The ability to set goals and make plans to accomplish those goals is the master skill of success. It is the single most important skill that you can learn and perfect. You must absolutely become an expert at goal setting if you wish to fulfill your potential as a human being.

Goals enable you to do the work you want to do, live where you want to live, be with the people you enjoy and become the kind of person you want to become. There is no limit to the financial rewards you can obtain. All you must do is to set a goal for financial success, make a plan, and then work the plan until you succeed.

The payoff for setting goals and making plans is being able to choose the kind of life you want to live, so why do so few people set goals? According to the best research, less than three percent of Americans have written goals, and less than one percent review and rewrite their goals daily.

The rea­sons why people don’t set goals have been of consid­erable interest to me. I think that there are five basic reasons why people don’t set goals.

The first reason is that they are simply not serious. Whenever I speak with a man or woman who has achieved a remarkable goal, I learn that the achievement occurred after that person decided to “be serious.” Until you become completely serious and totally determined about your goals, nothing happens.

The second reason why people don’t set goals is that they don’t understand the importance of goals. Young men and women who begin set­ting goals very early in life invariably come from families in which the importance of goals is empha­sized.

The discussion that takes place around the family dinner table is one of the most powerful, for­mative influences in your life. If your parents didn’t have goals, didn’t talk about goals, didn’t encourage you to set goals, and didn’t talk about people outside the family circle who had goals and were mov­ing toward a higher level of achievement, then you very likely learned that goals are not even a part of normal existence.

This is the case with most people. For many years, it was the case with me.

The third reason why people don’t set goals is because they don’t know how to do it. One of the greatest tragedies of our educational system is that you can receive 12 to 16 years of education and never once receive a single hour of instruction on how to set goals.

Yet, in certain schools where goal-setting programs have been introduced since first grade, young people become excited about goal setting-even if the goal is only to improve their grades by five or ten percent during the course of the semester or to be on time every day for a month.

Children become so excited about achieving goals that by the third or fourth grade, they love to go to school. They achieve the best grades. They are seldom absent. They are excited about themselves and their lives. This is why your work, teaching goal setting in your martial arts school, is so important. Most of your students would never be exposed to it otherwise!

The fourth reason why people don’t set goals is fear of rejection. The fear of rejection is caused by destructive criticism during early childhood, and it is manifested in adulthood in the fear of criticism from others.

Many people are reluctant to set worth­while goals because they have found that every time they do set a goal, someone tells them they can’t achieve it. The old, negative, military style of teaching can actually be very damaging to a child’s esteem, and create the fear of rejection that restrains so many from setting worthwhile goals.

The fifth reason why people don’t set goals is the fear of failure. The fear of failure is probably the greatest single obstacle to success in an adult’s life. It can stop you more than any other psychologi­cal problem. What’s incredible is that you can’t achieve success without failure. It’s an indispensable prerequisite for success.

All great success is preceded by great failure. Indeed, one maxim for success is, “Double your failure rate.” You must try, fall and learn, and then try again. It’s important to realize that to succeed through goal setting, temporary set­backs and challenges are inevitable parts of the goal-achieving process.

The third and final part of the ABC model is the letter C, which is Conviction. Webster defines con­viction as: “firm be­lief.” My definition of conviction, as it applies to martial arts instructors, is: “a declaration, and more im­portantly, a demonstration of strongly-held beliefs.”

It is always easy to say you believe in certain principles, but it is much harder to live them. I have seen instructors, who claim to teach self-discipline to their students, stand­ing outside before class smoking ciga­rettes. Other instructors smoke in their offices between classes, and, believe it or not, I know an instructor who drinks beer and smokes during his classes! I know it seems crazy, but it’s true.

I’m not here to make moral judgments about adult indulgences, if they’re legal. I do feel very strongly, however, that when a citizen (a non-martial arts stu­dent) sees a martial artist drinking or smoking in uniform, it sends a very nega­tive message to the general public-a message that we have very little self-dis­cipline, even though we claim to teach it.

There are rules of conduct that apply to virtually every type of uniform, and a martial arts uniform should be no differ­ent. If you must smoke, then drive around the block between classes. If you can’t leave between classes because you’re too busy, then stop smoking. If you have a beer after class at the local tavern, then change your clothes first. I once knew an instructor who would drive to the bar in street clothes and change into his uniform in his car before entering the bar because he thought it impressed women.

 ”It is always easy to say you believe in certain principles, but it is much harder to live them.”

One of the most telling tales of your convictions is the way you dress. During the early days of my school, I wore sweat pants and T-shirts during the day and uniforms at night. I was fortunate that one of my fitness-center mem­bers was a very successful business­man, who told me that I must start dressing for success. I asked him why I should wear any other clothes than my martial arts attire, and he replied very plainly, “Because no one will ever take you seriously as a businessperson unless you dress like one.”

He was right. I started to wear slacks and a nice shirt to work everyday, and my fortunes changed. I was invited to join service organizations, such as the Lions Club, and was suddenly on the Who’s Who list of up-and-coming young businesspeople in my town.

Conviction is unstoppable. Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame had conviction, and it kept him going, although more than 1,000 restaurants refused him before the first one tried his now famous recipe. Ross Perot had conviction when he launched his software company, Electronic Data Solutions (EDS). Seventy-seven companies rejected Perot before one of them gave him an opportunity. Today he’s a billionaire.

You’ll immediately know an instruc­tor who has conviction to teach his/ her art by the passion he or she expresses when talking about it. You notice I said, “con­viction for teaching his/her art,” not just conviction for the art itself. It’s not enough to be in love with your art, you must be in love with teaching your art to be successful in this business.

I’ve known instruc­tors who didn’t like people, much less teaching, but opened a school anyway because they thought they could make a few extra bucks. I’ve never known an instructor who didn’t love teach­ing that succeeded in the martial arts busi­ness. They simply lacked the conviction to spread the positive word about their classes.

Finally, a professional martial arts in­structor should be the embodiment of suc­cess in America, a reflection of everything good and admirable in society. From the way you dress to the language you use, or allow to be used in your school, you are an advertisement for your con­victions. Are you sending the right messages?

Rick Bell is a marketing specialist and veteran martial arts school owner, and is considered one of the leading experts on enrollment in the industry today.

When Master Jihan Jae asked me to come to San Francisco and insisted that I drive instead of fly, I wasn’t reluctant to do so. I had known of Jihan Jae’s grandmaster status, the highest in the world of Hapkido, for a very long time; and when I had finally convinced him to train me, I was already a Black Belt.

It was the first time I would train with an Asian instructor as well. To that point, all my instructors had been Americans and I felt a bit more pressure training with someone native to the culture that created the martial arts. I felt as if I would be required to reach greater heights than any of my other training.

Pressure aside, I knew there was more to learn, so I drove eight hours and paid him $100 an hour for three hours of instruction, in advance. That was more than 15 years ago; and, then, $100 was an even more exorbitant rate than it is now. For three times that much, I expected some high-quality instruction.

After I arrived at the grandmaster’s dojo and completed my warm-up routine, we went onto the mat, and began the lesson. Ten minutes into the lesson, the grandmaster asked me to perform a sidekick, which I, of course, did. He then informed me that my toes were “up” during the kick. As you probably know, your toes are supposed to be down during the kick. I was aware of this mistake in my technique and responded to his criticism with a flippant, “I know.”

Upon hearing this remark, the grandmaster bowed to me and replied, “Good, then you don’t need me,” and walked away from the lesson. That’s it! It was over! Enraged at my lost money and time, I packed my car and headed home, cursing the name Jihan Jae during my eight-hour drive to L.A.

When I arrived at home and had cooled my heels, I realized, however, why he had made me drive to San Francisco. I called the grandmaster later and apologized for running my mouth, and he agreed to train me again. The time I spent reflecting on my behavior during the drive, luckily, led to an apology and a mended relationship.

The lesson I learned was not to talk back to my teacher. His point was that if I knew my form was wrong, then I truly didn’t need him. I had made a comment without really thinking it through, disrespecting his role as a teacher by telling him what I did incorrectly. I forgot that my role as a student was to listen and learn.

At that moment, Jihan Jae became my teacher as opposed to my instructor, or a personal trainer, whose motivations lie mostly with the physical aspects of training and not with my character, with which the grandmaster was concerned. During that initial meeting, I had proven to him that my character needed a little shaping, and he had proven that to me through the school of hard knocks.

Now, he could have overlooked my little outburst and continued to train me. In fact, his method was far more immediate and intrusive-and I learned that lesson quick, let me tell you. As students, it’s important to remember that it’s not our place to question what our teacher tells us, or why. As instructors, we’re required to teach lessons effectively, sometimes with or without tough love, but always to teach the lesson.

Jihan Jae taught me that lesson, and, after I called him with my apology, he accepted my request to train me. From that point forward, I didn’t talk back, and I was a good student, and the grandmaster was a great teacher.

Ballistic stretches can include the swinging leg-lifts to the front and side that prepare students for those front and side kicks.

There are three different types of stretching exercises that professionals should under­stand. They are: 1) static stretching, 2) ballis­tic stretching and 3) dynamic stretching. Static stretching is any slow and deliberate stretch. Sitting on the floor and slowly reach­ing to touch your toes is a static stretch. Typically, these stretches are held for 10 to 20 seconds at the point of furthest extension.

Ballistic stretching is a rapid bouncing or swinging movement beyond the point of full extension. Ballistic stretching exercises are renowned to be dangerous. Bounce stretching is bad, and bouncing before warming up is especially dangerous.

Another example of a ballistic stretch with which you might be familiar is to prop your leg on a support like a table or bar, at your maximum stretch, and then quickly bounce up and down to stretch the muscle even further (Fig. 1).

“Ballistic stretching is a rapid bouncing or swinging movement beyond the point of full extension.”

That kind of exercise is the classic, danger­ous ballistic stretch-and can result in injury. Does that mean that all swinging type motions, such as leg swings, are bad?

To answer that question, I must introduce another term at this point, dynamic stretching. Dynamic stretching is a broad, continuous movement to an “easy point of extension,” but doesn’t go beyond the maximum for the joint (and this varies for each person). Note that this definition does not indicate uncon­trolled, rapid bouncing movements.

That’s the difference. If you swing your leg up as fast and as high as you can, then that motion is considered a ballistic stretch. If you fail to warm up adequately-for several minutes, not seconds -you compound the probability of injury.

Don’t bow in your class, do ten jumping jacks, and then instruct students to start leg swings as high as they can. If you warm up first, and then work your way into a few slow and controlled leg swings, then you are doing dynamic stretching and that is an acceptable and even valuable exercise, according to experts.

How high can you swing your leg to be safe? Obviously, that varies with the individ­ual. You definitely must lift the leg high enough for a stretch. That’s called “over­load”; and it is a necessary element of a stretch to promote flexibility. There is, how­ever, a difference between the discomfort of overload and pain. If it hurts, then you’ve gone too far.

That’s one reason that fast, bouncing motions are dangerous. Once you feel the searing pain, it’s too late. You’ve just pulled a muscle; but, by gradu­ally working into a stretch, you can control the amount of load you are putting on the muscle and tendons.

For example, do a few leg swings only as high as your waist to start (Fig. 2). Then, do a few as high as your shoulders (Fig. 3). If you’re still not past your normal range of motion, then do a few over your head (Fig. 4).

As an instructor, you should remind your students that not everyone would have the same range of flexibility. A nine-year-old will probably be able to swing her leg higher than a 49-year-old, a Brown Belt high­er than a White Belt, etc. Do not allow a middle-aged, out-of-shape, beginner think he has to swing his leg over his head like his instructor. The middle-aged man will try to swing his leg high and hard and that’s an uncontrolled movement that just might hurt him.

Keith D. Yates, M.A., is a veteran martial arts teacher who earned his first Black Belt in 1968. He served for several years on the Physical Education faculty at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he introduced the first martial arts program for credit in a southwestern university in 1971.
Figure 1

Bounce or ballistic stretching is the most dangerous type of stretching for a student.

Figure 2

Leg swings should only be executed when the student is completely warmed-up. Start with low, waist high swings.

Figure 3

Raise the level of the swing to the shoulders.

Figure 4

Then, if comfortable, swing the leg throughout your entire range of motion.

We ask applicants to our RMCAT self-defense course if they have ever been assaulted and had to defend themselves. One 3rd-Degree Black Belt and contact-tournament champion related this ATM incident:

“I saw a man standing near the ATM and I knew something was not right. He was very big and looked like a homeless, transient type, maybe 50 years old. I went to the ATM machine anyway to get money. When I turned around, he was standing right there behind me!

“I don’t know why, but I just froze. I didn’t even see the punch that hit me. I just saw stars. I know I put my hand in front of my face, but that’s about all I did. I felt another real hard shot to my face, and then I was on the floor. I received a hard kick to my stomach that totally took the wind from me. I couldn’t understand what had happened. How did that broken-down bum attack me? I knew it was because I had just choked, and my martial arts was no help to me at all.”

“There are two different ways that our brains and bodies store information and motor skills.”

Here’s another somewhat similar account of a barroom incident that also shows how adrenal stress can work, especially for those with no prior conditioning.

“I guess at first I thought, `Hey, I’m a Black Belt and this guy just doesn’t know who he’s fooling with. When he was in my face and screamed at me how he’d stomp me into the ground, I just couldn’t believe it was happening. Then, he hit me in the face and I’m still just standing there. I didn’t do anything.

“There are two different ways that our brains and bodies store information and motor skills.”

“He hit me maybe three or four times before I even started to try to fight back; but none of my stuff was connecting and I felt no power in my shots at all. I can’t remember what techniques I tried, if any. He was just pounding on me again and again; and his shots were hitting my head and shoulders. Then, some of the guys who worked there pulled him off me. By that time, I was totally enraged and saw that I was bleeding, but I didn’t really feel any pain. I knew I was not hurt too badly either, but my whole body was shaking. I felt like I would explode. I’d definitely received the worst of the fight. Later, when I calmed, I asked myself, `Where was my Karate?”

Where was his Karate, indeed? The answer is that his Karate remained in the dojo, as that is the only place he had ever practiced it. He had never practiced his techniques during the type of adrenal stress that he felt when that bully was in his face. Neither had the Black Belt at the ATM.

Yet, one might think that, since both of them had been in tournaments with some level of contact and many people watching, that those experi­ences would have prepared them for this adrenal reaction. Clearly their “formal” fighting experiences did not, and I’ll tell you why that might be.

There are two different ways that our brains and bodies store information and motor skills. Dr. William Cahill’s research at the Irvine Center for the Neurological Bases of Learning and Memory provides very strong support for this idea of the “adrenal mind and adrenal memory.” Information and experiences that occur during ordinary circumstances are stored as memories in one part of the brain, while information and experience that occur during adrenal stress are stored in another memory system. The adrenal memories are also much more persistent and perma­nent than the memories acquired during ordinary circumstances.

Consider a familiar example that illustrates this. Do you recall where you were when you first heard that the space shuttle Challenger had exploded, and all aboard were killed? Do you recall where you were, even if years ago, when you heard a family member had died? For those my age I would ask, do you recall where you were when you heard that President Kennedy had been assassinated?

You likely do remember, even though these events happened years ago. Yet, it would be difficult to remem­ber what you were doing the day before or the day after. This is because those ordinary daily events weren’t recorded in your “ordinary” memory, while the traumatic events were recorded in your adrenal memory.

This also applies in another manner. Have you ever entered a room or, perhaps, opened a box and suddenly a scent is released that recalls, with surprising fidelity, a memory of which you were not previously conscious? Have you ever taught someone to drive a car and discovered yourself in the passenger seat stomping furiously and automatically at an imaginary brake pedal on that side of the car?

Though it may not be obvious, both of these events are products of that “adrenal-type” memory mechanism. Adrenal-stress effects are very real, as our students at the ATM and in the bar fight discovered. The adrenal reaction is an integral part of us and, thus, there’s no escaping it, nor should you want to escape, either. What you must do is to learn to use it to your advantage rather than being paralyzed by it.

Don’t you want your techniques in a self-defense situation to be as “automatic” and immediate as that person stomping on that nonexistent brake pedal? Yes, you do. Is this not the very concept of Mushin-the state of “no mind”-but only instant, automatic reaction that the Asian masters so often spoke of as being the ultimate goal of your training?

Then, you teach, which is something else entirely. Or is it?

Instructors are charismatic personalities that capture the minds and hearts of students, motivate students to perform and inspire them to attain lofty goals. When we teach, however, what are the systems that make the process reproducible?

“Ah, but…” you say, “teachers are born, not made.”

Great teachers may have talent, but they work at their craft, hone their skills and learn the system.

When you teach, you create an environment in which students learn. Regardless of the subject material, there are attributes of the learning environment, which facilitate the learning process. As a martial-arts instructor, you are accountable for the creation of a learning environment and the lesson content. The level to which your classes satisfy each of the conditions of learning directly affects your retention rate.

“The level to which your classes satisfy each of the conditions of learning directly affects your retention rate.”

There are twelve conditions necessary to create a great learning environment.

Establishing Goals. This must rank as the most important condition. Simply put, if you don’t know what you want your students to learn, then it is impossible to proceed with the teaching process.

Form and Function. Form answers questions of “what” and “how.” Function answers questions of “why.” Your students need specific and unambiguous instructions about what to do and how to do it. They also want to know why they should do it the way you have taught them.

Movement. Learning martial arts is not a static, isolated activity. It’s a dynamic, physical, personal interaction. Your students should experience the full breadth of movement as soon and as much as possible.

Foundation. Build a set of skills that will be the bedrock upon which you can construct a durable edifice of knowledge. Your students will grow in confidence as you present each successive lesson and they apply the knowledge to their journeys of discovery.

Simplicity. K.I.S.S.! It works. Start simple and build from there. Let your students add skills as they learn, don’t bury them in details during the early part of the journey.

Series and Sequence. This is the road map that links the elements that you offer to your students, so they make a cohesive and integrated whole, rather than a set of disjointed techniques.

Transference. Bring it home to your students. Pragmatism is a very powerful motivator. If what you teach can be applied directly to the life experiences of your students, then learning is facilitated. Teach your students in settings that most closely resemble the situations in which your students will actually use the skills you teach.

Meaning, Value and Benefit. When you present it enthusiastically, the lesson content has real value for students. If your students want to be fit, then explain to them the health and fitness benefits of the drills you’re teaching. If your students want self-defense utility, then meaning and benefit is conveyed through the practice of scenario-based drills and the use of a situational teaching paradigm.

Activity. Your students don’t want to hear your stories; they want to write their own stories. A good rule of thumb is 85% do and 15% talk. Your students came to train and learn skills, not sit and watch you perform or listen to you explain how many times you could have been a world champion with a certain technique.

Reinforcement and Feedback. Let your students know how they are doing. Many of us think we are quite good at this one, but do we always reinforce specifically? Immediate? Constructive?

Satisfaction and Enjoyment. This is what closes the exit door and keeps your students returning for more. Create high energy, positive environments where you send your students home “sweaty, smiling and sore.”

Creativity. Students don’t just want to do what you tell them to do; they will naturally tend to experiment. Students love to solve problems during class. Give them that opportunity, and reap the benefits of a higher retention rate.