How to Give the “What” and the “Why” When Teaching Martial Arts

by | Dec 29, 2022 | Curriculum-Teaching-Tests, Instructor Certification and Training

If you teach martial arts for a living, read this carefully.

As a parent, if you saw your child clearly underperforming in class yet the instructor proclaims he is doing “awesome!” would you trust that instructors’ feedback on how your child is doing?

I wouldn’t. Would you?

The skills of teaching martial arts have changed over the years. You would think that the process should be producing much better black belts than it is.

When I made black belt in 1978, my instructor hired me to teach for $5 a class. I was thrilled. By the standards of any era, my instructor was excellent and produced world-caliber students.

He made it clear to me that the number one rule of teaching is, “Never compliment a student.” 

His idea was there was always room for improvement and if you compliment a student, the student might think they don’t need to practice anymore.

Fast forward nearly half a century, the number one rule of teaching today is, “Never correct a student. Instead, praise everything.”

When it comes to individual skills like the round kick, any instructor being paid to teach the skill should be able help students improve that skill. That outcome requires honest guidance not shallow gushing.

Clearly, society and culture have created a highly sensitive and easily triggered population, but you can correct and encourage at the same time. 

Instructors need to give feedback that is constructive and motivating. This kind of feedback will help students improve their skills and confidence.

The key is to give your student the “why” with the “what.” For instance, “recoil your kick so your opponent can’t grab it.” 

“Recoil your kick” is the what. “So your opponent can’t grab it” is the why.

The “why” is a motivator. Proclaiming a kick as “Outstanding” is not.

The Solution

There are many ways that MATA helps instructors with this issue. The most popular is the MATA Instructor Certification program. 

We also have a Rank System that includes video reviews of your teaching and we’re creating a custom video review of your classes.

Of the four sections in the program, the Psychology of Teaching section teaches you: 

  • Martial Arts Student Discipline, Praise, and Punishment
     by Gianine D. Rosenblum, Ph.D.
  • Teaching Strategies for Martial Arts Instructors by Age Group
     by Dr. Derenda Timmons Schubert, Ph. D.
  • How to Instill a Sense of Purpose in Your Martial Arts Students
     by Joe Lewis
  • How to Create a Healthy Martial Arts Hierarchy System
     by John Donohue, Ph.D.
  • The Power of Motivation and Charisma for Martial Arts Instructors
    by Brian Tracy
  • Teaching Character Skills Responsibly to Martial Arts Students
     by Scot Conway, Esquire
  • Teaching Martial Arts Students with ADHD
     by Dr. Derenda Timmons Schubert, Ph. D 

MATA Certification Program

Using Text to Increase Enrollments in Your Martial Arts School

by | May 2, 2022 | ,

Texting is instant and is opened 97% of the time, so it’s a real-time communication that helps to confirm to the parents that they made the right decision to choose your program.

Texts work great and MATA/Empower Kickboxing members have a free dedicated SMS marketing platform in their GenerateMoreStudents.com account that allows them to text up to 100 people a month for free.

Attention Martial Arts Instructors! How to Avoid this Common Defensive Gap in Sparring.

by | Mar 3, 2022 | Curriculum-Teaching-Tests

It’s crucial to understand what habits you’re teaching your students.

Teaching them complex moves won’t be as helpful if they need to defend themselves in the real world.

What if you could do both? The idea of that is appealing to me, but it’s not realistic.

For years, I thought that the self-defense and sparring knowledge from traditional karate could be useful. I was wrong.

It took me a long time to break some bad habits that came from traditional martial arts. One steps are not self-defense.

If you chose one skill set to focus on, the students would learn that skill faster.

The dojo is a place of learning. And because you’re the teacher, what you teach must be true right?

This makes it your responsibility to evaluate and revise your lesson plans every year.

Sport tae kwon do teaches you not to punch the head, but in the real world, most fights start with a punch to the head. 

Doesn’t this seem contradictory? Wouldn’t you want your student to be prepared against the common attack?

Point fighting is a type of fake fighting that is based on “killer blow” theories.

Students are trained to stop after striking or being struck, rather than continuing the attack until the opponent is defeated. 

Why would you train your students to stop after being hit or hitting?

That creates bad defense habits, as you’ll see in this video.

Another popular theory is that most fights end up on the ground.

Watch 20 street fights on YouTube and you’ll see about as many fights go to the ground as you do groin kicks. Not many.

That doesn’t mean you should not train in grappling.

I think grappling is essential and it is the big gap in my game.

Maybe because my instructor taught us in the first class that,  “Tae kwon do is a kicking art. The leg is a much longer and stronger weapon than the arm so we can kick an opponent before they get close enough to punch or tackle us.”

He really believed that. As a good student, so did I.

Continuous light contact kickboxing is the most practical stand-up sparring system in my experience.

This means you don’t stop to honor a point. Instead, you strike back.

 

 

Martial Arts Student Retention in the COVID-19 Era

by | Jul 22, 2020 | Offline Marketing & Sales

Martial Arts Instructors
Have Some Big Decisions to Make

In order to enhance martial arts student retention in the COVID-19 era, smart instructors realize that they have to provide INSTANT VALUE for their students.

Here’s an example:

Some of you may have heard of just in case learning vs just in time learning.

Typically, it’s applied to getting a university degree vs going into business right out of high school, which is what I did.

Just in Time Learning

Just in time learning is the specific-education that focuses on the topics one needs to learn related to a business or hobby.

For instance, marketing, management, and teaching skills are immediately applicable to launching your martial arts school.

You learn them just in time and apply them immediately.

Just in Case Learning

Just in case learning is like the padded academia that helps a student become a well-rounded, educated person.

This is a person who is prepared, just in case, someone asks about the evolution of Western European art.

Traditional martial arts are classic just in case learning. So much of an early student’s experience in class is spent learning all kinds of just in case skills.

They are taught traditional blocks that violates every rule of defense. The centerline is exposed. The chin is up. The hands are on the hip or stuck in a clunky position that is held in a pose to show good form.

The instructor explains that “You’d never really block like this but keep practicing and you’ll understand when you get to black belt.”

That is a disservice to the student.

Students DO NOT want stylized representations of self-defense and fighting. They want real skills they can use TODAY, not three years from now.

That is why I created Empower Kickboxing™ as an easy Student Centric Martial Arts Curriculum.

I took the most effective, applicable, and easy to learn skills from self-defense, martial arts, kickboxing, weapons, and grappling so that students get the INSTANT VALUE that is missing from traditional martial arts.

These are just in time skills. Not just in case.

Each Empower Kickboxing class includes:

1. Bow in / Meditation

2. Quick martial arts history lesson

2. Self-defense

3. Vigorous warm-up

4. Teaching segment (martial arts, kickboxing, weapons, or grappling)

5. Pad or partner drills

6. Cool down with Life Skill lesson

This is why every week, schools are joining Empower Kickboxing to get access to the lesson plans, marketing, and direct support from me.

Take a look at a couple of sample lesson plans. You’ll see a design for fast-paced exciting classes that students enjoy and look forward to.

What are you teaching? Just in time or just in case?

See Sample Empower Kickboxing Lesson Plans