I’ve been in the business of coaching and running Taekwondo tournaments for over ten years from the local to the national level. I understand the time and effort involved with organizing an event and I appreciate what tournament directors go through to host a successful competition. Unfortunately, I also have experienced more negative aspects of these events than necessary and I think it’s time to discuss them and fix them.

My criticism isn’t coming from a place of disrespect. I know what kind of potential our events have for keeping Taekwondo competitors happy, motivated, and willing to compete more often. And when those three things happen, tournament directors and school owners are more successful. This is a business and constructive criticism leads to greater success.

With that said, I have some suggestions for improvements:

Enforce the rules!

Parents and coaches are sensitive to the fairness of competition, as they should be. Athlete safety and a positive atmosphere needs to be the highest priority at every event. Nobody wants to compete in an environment where the rules are not enforced because the situation becomes unpredictable. This is bad for business.

• When an athlete commits a penalty on accident they should not receive a verbal warning, they should receive an actual point penalty. Whether or not the penalty was intentional is irrelevant: a penalty is a penalty. This does not happen consistently.
• When an athlete attempts an illegal technique, but is not successful, they should still receive at least a verbal warning. We know that kicks to the head in child divisions require “control.” So why do officials stand idly by as kids attempt full power and totally uncontrolled head kicks, missing by just inches? If the technique would be illegal on contact, then it’s illegal to attempt. It’s negligent to not foresee the consequences of letting illegal techniques be attempted.
• It is clear that some schools teach athletes to fight dirty. They also have terrible attitudes and often let their poor culture and upbringing bleed into our sport. Taekwondo teaches respect for others, integrity, and self-control. If it appears that a fighter or coach is motivated by malice or behaves in an otherwise uncivilized way, they should be immediately disqualified. Tournament directors should have a zero tolerance policy for this idiocy that I witness at nearly every event.
• Be consistent! That’s all we want. If you warn my fighter for kicking to the head too hard, warn the other as well when it happens. One official will call pushing penalties and another won’t. That’s not consistency. One official will warn for falling, others won’t. That’s not consistency. If you claim to follow a rule standard, then demand that your officials do so.

Train your officials!

If the NFL employed consistently poor officials, the sport would be doomed. Boxing went downhill partly because the judging was highly questionable. Taekwondo officiating is not that difficult, so let’s get it right.

• Know the basics: how many rounds? How long are the rounds? How many points for each technique? What’s a penalty and what’s not? If need be, put a sheet with all the basic rules in every single ring.
• Make sure all officials are on the same page. The last tournament I attended had 8 or 9 rings. It seemed as if every ring was operating by different rules: different match lengths, different point ceilings and gaps, etc. The left hand didn’t just miss what the right hand was doing, it wasn’t even aware there was a right hand. It’s unacceptable.
• On the job training isn’t good enough. People pay good money and invest a lot of time to compete. Game day isn’t the time to train officials. If you’re a tournament director, hold scrimmages and use that time to let your officials train. When it’s time to compete, we want consistency and confidence.

Run it on time and shoot for efficiency!

• For God’s sake, post staging times on the flyer. Asking everyone to show up at 10am and sit around a stuffy gym while you get your act together is killing this sport. If it’s your first event, I understand. If it’s not your first event, average how long it took to get through each division last time and post staging times for all future events based on that information. Adjust as you go. It’s not that difficult and it will save people hours of garbage time.
• Let the people who have the most time invested in our sport compete first: black belts. Run everything else by age from youngest to oldest, but from advanced to beginner so the advanced belts — who have the most time invested — get to go first in each age group. Asking the people who have spent the most hours and dollars training and preparing for your event to sit around the longest is an obvious fail.

Bonus: Get rid of forms!

I have an idea. Let’s get a bunch of kids together who all compete in different styles of a sport and compare them to each other as an event. We’ll make a living comparing apples to oranges. And since we either studied apples or oranges (and generally not both), we’ll continue to insist that our judging is unbiased.

How does a Taeguk student compete against a Palgwe student when two judges are Palgwe instructors and one is a Taeguk instructor? It’s idiocy. It’s like a figure skater competing against a hockey player. Yeah, they both skate on ice but it’s not the same thing Jack, so let’s stop pretending. And it slows the pace of the tournament. 99% of people are there to fight, not dance. Let’s get our fight on and go home.

Specifically for the AAU

Just two things for you: the coaching fees are ridiculous and your website is overly complicated and annoying.

Coaches are the heart of getting athletes to your events and this sport is not exactly oozing with outside funding. If you need more revenue, make your event registration a little more expensive but spare the coaches, we’re just here for the athletes. Oh, and get to using Daedo ehogu as fast as possible for all divisions!

If you enjoyed this letter and agree, please share!

I haven’t asked myself this question over the years because I assumed I knew. I assumed I knew because I was once a prospective student looking for a school with my own parents and since have looked for and found many schools to join for other styles that I’ve been interested in. But what I’m starting to realize about prospective members is quite different from what I thought I knew.

What I thought prospective members were looking for:

• Very high quality martial arts instruction.
• High rank and performance standards.
• A curriculum with meaning outside of the dojo.

What I’m starting to believe prospective members are looking for:

• Decent quality martial arts instruction.
• Average rank and performance standards.
• A curriculum that is meaningful, but that doesn’t get in the way.

Based on what I thought I knew, I believed that prospective members would pass up competing schools who might be more convenient and offer lower-cost memberships to attend a better school with higher quality instruction, standards, and meaning. Now, after more than a decade of experience, I’d say that convenience and cost can’t be underestimated in an industry where prospective members either don’t care as much about those things or are unaware that there is any difference between competing schools.

I may be completely off-track, but my analysis is that prospective members love the idea of high quality martial arts instruction, high performance standards, and meaningful curriculum. They love those things the same way that children love the idea of being a professional athlete or an astronaut. Unfortunately, ideas are easy to love but difficult to realize. Excellence is demanding and we just don’t have time for that.

I don’t have any doubt that parents want the best for their children. But life often gets in the way of our desires. High quality martial arts instruction costs more and when faced with higher costs for an add-on activity that they’re not sure their child will stick with to the end, the most convenient or lowest-cost school starts to look more attractive to parents. High rank and performance standards are a no-brainer to most prospective parents until it’s their own child that’s faced with overcoming failure or other obstacles. A curriculum with meaning outside of the dojo seems like an amazing alternative to just teaching kicks and punches and prospective parents see the value until their child actually has to fit the work into their busy schedule.

When reality starts to get in the way, prospects seek simplicity. Schools with lower quality instruction, lower standards for performance, and less complicated curriculums win. If you can entertain kids for an hour with fluff that looks like meaningful instruction, play games, and avoid getting in anyone’s way, people will settle for you. And when the industry noticed that and started catering to it, all was lost.

If this analysis is true, we must find a way to win without throwing all self-respect and quality out the window. We have to offer the quality instruction, high standards, and meaningful curriculum without getting in the way. If those three things start to make the program too complex and demanding, it seems that all bets are off.

In the following series of articles I’ll explore the different aspects of the martial arts program I’ve administered for years. We’ll talk about the upside and downside and hopefully get some great feedback on why certain things sound great but don’t end up working as intended and why some things that offer little value are very popular. If you disagree with my first analysis, perhaps the next few articles will help clarify my point of view.

What I’d like is some feedback on this first article. Am I on track? Am I completely off-base? Use the comments section to tell me what you’re looking for in a martial arts school and program.

I’m telling my students all the time that proper squat position relies on keeping the feet straight. There are countless trainers and instructors who insist that pointing the toes out makes it “easier” on your knees (whatever that means). The fact is that straight foot position and knees out provides a superior platform for stability and power translation as Kelly Starrett shows in the above video.

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We just finished another Winter. Spring is here and Summer will quickly follow. I’ve watched the changing of seasons for over ten years as a martial arts instructor and I’ve watched countless students just like you slip away from training as the weather gets nicer and the multitude of activities of Summer beg for your time.

Martial arts instructors just like me will stand before their classes in the coming weeks and preach about the importance of consistent training. They’ll talk about how the first class you miss is the first step toward dropping out. They’ll talk about how martial arts is a year-round activity, not a seasonal one. They’ll stress the importance of practicing if you go on vacation so you can stay in shape and pick up right where you leave off. They’ll offer fun camps and other activities to keep you interested in training because they know how strong the grip of Summer is.

Their speech won’t work.

You’ll hear them, but it won’t make a difference. You’ll even agree with them, but you’ll end up defying them. You’ll fail to heed the warnings and you’ll become a full-time member of the dropout class. The quitters. The “I did that once” crowd. That is the destiny for students who don’t know why they train.

I know why I train.

When I was 12 I chose to be a martial artist. I chose to dedicate myself, to train hard and train consistently, and to make Black Belt. I did that and then thought about what the next step would be. When I was 17 I chose again to be a martial artist, but this time I chose to dedicate myself to being a lifelong student and teacher.

I know why I show up day in and day out to teach. I know why I’m still a student. I know what martial arts has done for me and what I can do for others through it. I know why I show up two to three days a week to be humbled by others in a martial arts style that I’m still a novice at. I know why I cross train three other days per week to stay in shape. I know why I eat right.

And because I know why I train, Spring and Summer are just seasons. They aren’t road blocks in my training. They’re not going to derail me. I see the big picture.

Do you know why you train? Do you personally make the decision to go to class day in and day out or does someone else make that decision for you? What are your goals? Are you willing to reach those goals or do you just bathe in the warm light that is the idea of being a Black Belt? Everyone wants to be a champion. The idea of it is great. But few are willing to become one.

When it comes to being a martial artist or a Black Belt, are you just teasing yourself or are you serious?

I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.

If you know why you train, balancing life and training are easy. I have a lot of fun during the Summer: I go on vacations, I hang out with friends, I play outside, and I frequent the pool. But I also train and teach. Life is about balance.

I might drop training at the studio from 3 or 4 days a week to one or two days a week depending on what else is going on in my life. I might train at home in the morning so I can have my afternoon free or vice versa. If I’m in Destin, my favorite vacation spot, you’ll find me doing a sprint workout on the beach before the day begins. I don’t take vacations from my life, I just make vacations a part of my life. The training never stops because I never want the benefits to stop, regardless of what else is going on in life.

The best action step for tomorrow is not to get your next belt, to go to class, or to make a new list of goals. It’s not to consider all of those things I told you your instructor would say. If you’re serious about success then your action step is to find the answer to the question: why do I train? And then figure out if you’re willing to get the benefits or if you just like the idea of having the benefits. When you have those answers, martial arts will become a part of you. And it will be a part of you that you will never want to take a break from, never want to put on freeze, never want to cancel, and that you’ll never let slip away simply because it’s warm outside.

I’m considering filming premium instructional videos for Taekwondo forms and sparring that would be available for viewing and download on this blog, but I need some information from students and parents before I get started.

Please take 30 seconds and answer my five question survey regarding premium instructional videos. I will use the results of this survey to develop these videos, so your feedback is very important. Click the button below to take the survey.

I hate the gym. The free weights I want are always in use, the benches share the same story, and there’s a bunch of people who want to look like they’re doing work standing in the way of everyone who actually wants to work. I don’t have a gym membership for this very reason, so I run into the problem of how to get my weight training in. Enter The Ultimate Sandbag.

The USB is a tool that I picked up a few months ago and I’ve been working with it on a weekly basis doing functional strength training. You can use it anywhere: in your house, in your yard, on vacation, anywhere! This week’s WOW is one of the routines I’ve been doing and it will absolutely kick your butt. My USB has 50 pounds of sand in it, but you can fills yours with any amount you’d like. If you don’t have a sandbag yet, get one and then come back to this WOW when you’re prepared.

There are many different exercises in this WOW. Therefore, it might behoove you to write them down on a piece of paper to reference during the workout so you can go in order and make sure you don’t miss anything. The 25 seconds rest between exercises will give you plenty of time to check the list to see what’s next. After a few workouts, you’ll have it memorized.

Happy lifting!

Here’s an important question for martial arts school owners and parents all across the globe: what’s the best way to segregate students so that instructors can lead the highest quality classes while creating the least burden on parents?

From the beginning of my teaching career, classes were segregated mostly by rank and slightly by age. The youngest students (ages 4 and 5) got their own class, regardless of rank. The 6-12 year olds were segregated solely by rank. And the 13+ group got their own class regardless of rank. This effectively means that for ages 4 and 5 and 13+, the class can have students with only a few days experience training with advanced students. The largest group of students (age 6 to 12) were only segregated by rank: beginners in one class, intermediates in another, and advanced/black in another.

I’ve taught in that system for 10+ years and I’m beginning to think that separating by age is far more important than separating by rank. I want to list the pros and cons of both and then I want you to weigh in with a little poll and then some thoughts in the comments section if you don’t mind. I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this!

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Separating by Rank

Separating by Age

Other issues with age discrepancy…

Teaching a six-year-old requires a far different skill set than teaching an 11-year-old. Putting a six-year-old in the same class as an eleven year old simply because they share the same rank has never made sense to me. They can’t work with each other on anything that requires contact (sparring or partner drills). One can’t hold pads for the other. One has a better attention span. One can understand concepts the other can’t. Yet, that’s how it’s done in many schools. Even if the class has enough students to where all the older kids can partner with older kids and younger with younger, everyone still loses because you lose what’s possible with better segregation.

Other issues with rank discrepancy…

I put “theoretical” next to the pros of the rank segregation group for ability and pace. It’s a mistake to think that two green belts should be able to work at equal pace and to assume they’ll share similar ability. It sounds good on paper but it’s simply not the case in practice. A seven-year old green belt is not equal to a ten-year old green belt (this is a great argument for minimum age requirements for certain ranks–but that’s a discussion for another day). There is a reason the teens and adults train separately from the kids, so why shouldn’t one child who is five years older than another also train separately?

Scheduling benefits to separating by age…

At our school, when I drafted a mock schedule separated by age, I needed less class times to get everyone better segregation. That’s a win-win. Here’s a comparison of the real schedule for a typical Tuesday vs. the mock schedule.

Obviously, if a parent has two children, one 8 years old and one 11 years old they’d have to stay for two classes. It’s a downside to parents, obviously, but if we’re talking about what’s best for students I see it as a very small hiccup. The siblings will get better instruction by being in classes for their age group and the rest of the class will get better instruction as well.

Conclusion and voting

It’s a huge burden on both instructors and students to have such a large age gap in every class. Separating students by age instead of rank would fix nearly every problem experienced by students and instructors on a daily basis with very few negative side effects. I’ve made my case, now I’d like for you to vote and leave your opinions in the comments section. Or if you have a different solution, perhaps a mixed schedule or some other idea that nobody’s thought of, I’d love to hear that as well.

To leave your expanded thoughts, use the comments section below!

Starting today, all 60 minute one-on-one private lessons AND all group private lessons scheduled for spring break week will be 12% off for 2012 if you use coupon code springbreak. Effective dates are 03/31 – 04/07.

Private lessons give students a chance to work one-on-one (or in small group of 2-4) on anything they’d like to focus on. Based on my experiences with students in a private class setting, productivity and retention is at least 500% better compared to regular class attendance due to increased attention, far less distraction, more repetition, and constant correction and coaching.

During private lessons, students feel less pressure and more confidence. They ask questions, work harder, and stay focused longer. And teaching tougher concepts is easier in a private class setting so students quickly take their training to the next level.

Most students use private lessons to:

• Gain confidence or increased skill with sparring.
• Develop stronger, faster, and sharper technique.
• Learn new grappling techniques and concepts.
• Prepare for competition.
• Learn or perfect a form.
• Prepare for a promotion.
• Get back into shape after a break.

Are you going to be around for Spring Break 2012? If so, you should seriously consider getting into the studio for some one-on-one or small group private lessons! Use the links below to get more information and make your purchase! Remember, use coupon code springbreak to get the discount.

• 

  Private Lesson Slots for Friday, May 11th

  $30 Select options

As a coach, it’s part of my responsibility to give my students the information they need for success. The following list of daily habits has given me better health, better performance, and much success and I’d like to pass it on to my students. Of course, the list changes as I grow and adapt but it’s a great resource nonetheless.

You may already do some or many of these things, but it’s worth the read if there’s even one thing here that you can add to your daily ritual. Whether you’re a martial artists athlete, a parent, or just a casual reader, I hope this list benefits you as much as it has me.

• Get eight hours of sleep: Your body needs sleep for recovery and rebuilding. Your brain needs it for optimal function. Do not skimp on sleep or you will find that optimal health, performance, and success are unachievable regardless of your other efforts.
• Workout, walk, or play: No day should pass without one of these three things receiving your attention. Workouts should be high intensity efforts and you should lift heavy things often. If it’s a rest day, get out and walk or play. If you’re a parent, play with your kids. Or play with your friends (flag football, frisbee, etc.). Do not let a day go by without being active in this regard.
• Read: Where most television shows are candy for the brain reading, especially non-fiction, is whole food. Read a paper book, a digital copy on your Kindle, or books or articles on your computer, but read something. The newspaper doesn’t count. Learn something new. Motivate yourself. Give your brain something to chew on.
• Write: Where reading is a great way to feed your brain new information, writing is a way for you to channel your own thoughts into more cohesive ideas and gain deeper comprehension. It’s also a way for you to spur your creativity. Offer the world something of unique value. Stretch your mind.
• Take your multivitamin: The easiest way to make sure your body is receiving all the nutrients it needs for optimal health, performance, and success is through a daily, whole-food based multi-vitamin. Don’t buy the cheap crap at the grocery store; spring for the real stuff. My favorite is Source of Life Gold MiniTabs. Phenomenal quality.
• Feed your body real food: Treat your body well and it will treat you well. Health and body composition are 85% nutrition and 15% activity. Go out of your way to get this done and you will reap the rewards. It’s not about how long you live, or that everyone is going to die some day, it’s about quality of life, being here for your kids, and being able to take part.
• Avoid poisons: Avoiding poison is obvious for health, performance, and success but the poisons themselves aren’t always obvious. Gluten, whole grains, high fructose corn syrup, fake sugar substitutes, hormones, pesticides, BPA, pink slime, and all the hidden poisons that we come into contact on a daily basis are making us fat and shaving years and quality off our life. Be vigilant and refuse to be a victim.
• Mobilize: Learn how to help your muscles and fascia recover. Learn how and when to stretch properly. Do yoga. Health and performance are linked. When I’m 80 I hope I can still do a full squat. Get your mobility education on at mobilitywod.com
• Cross something off your to-do list: There’s no better way to relieve stress than getting things done. Be organized, meet your deadlines, and ship things to the world. At the very least, learn about what drives procrastination.
• Have some family time: Relationships are the most important thing to human beings. We’re driven by relationships. Take time to reach out to friends and set aside time for family, especially if you have children. Bonus points if you can do it outdoors.
• Ask questions: There are three reasons you should ask questions all the time: to learn new things, to engage others, and to give the floor to others. Learning new things is obvious; ask questions to learn something new everyday. Ask questions to engage with other people; it’s the easiest way to have a conversation and help the other person feel important. And ask questions to offer the floor to others as a hedge against your constant need to be the center of attention and to show that you don’t believe you always have the answer to everything. Asking questions is powerful.
• Do something outside: Human beings love being outside and the sun stimulates the production of essential Vitamin D. Doing things outside lowers stress and simply makes life better. Make it a point to get outside every single day for at least 30 minutes. Kids should be outside every day for at least an hour. Bonus points for going outside in the rain with your kids.
• Compliment someone: When you compliment someone it benefits both of you: they feel great and you feel great. It nurtures humility and it promotes a healthy mindset and outlook. Don’t just wait for an easy situation to compliment; sometimes you have to specifically look for things.
• Do something just for you: Are you the type of person that is always doing things for others, failing to slow down and ever do something for yourself? You’re important too. Take time just for yourself to do whatever you want, every day. Do something for your health, your financial wellbeing, etc. Avoid buying things for yourself on impulse as a way to “do something for yourself”; that’s not healthy.
• Refuse to feed addiction: The majority of us are addicted to something. It doesn’t have to be the obvious: drugs and alcohol. We’re addicted to shopping, to eating, to cleaning, to hoarding, and the list goes on. Those addictions hinge on the fact that we feed them day in and day out. One of the best habits you can build is to recognize and hedge against those addictions by taking steps, day after day, to say no. Why are you going shopping today? Why are you cleaning now? There are legitimate reasons for everything, but there are also excuses we use to feed our addiction. Do things legitimately, but stop making the excuses. If you find yourself excusing the behavior just to get your fix, that’s when you need to walk the other way. Daily.

These are the top 15 daily habits I try to remember and live by. If you have your own daily habits that you’d like to share, please add them in the comments section below. I’d love to hear some of your routine for health, performance, and success!

Today I’m adding an entirely new category to the site: WOW (workout of the week). These are workout routines for my students, fellow instructors, and other fantastic readers of the blog. Hate coming up with a workout? Hate the same boring routines? Just follow my posted workouts every week! Don’t forget you can view the WOW category to see all of them!

This is my ritual Friday workout. Every Friday morning, this is my life rain or shine.

I hope you enjoy this WOW. Let me know how it goes!