Guide to Practicing Martial Arts at Home Alone or with your Child

Sometimes you miss your training at the dojo, gym or academy due to work, emergencies or a busy life. So what do you do on those days when you really want to get a workout in no matter what? Here is a short guide to training at home!

Suggested Equipment

Fortunately, you don't need much equipment to get a great workout at home. A couple of kicking pads or a heavy bag will do the trick. Then you just need a couple items like a jump rope, some dumbbell sets up to 30 pounds, maybe an AirFit, a BOSU ball, 10lbs medicine ball, stability ball and a long, thick resistance band. With just a great imagination you can literally have millions of combinations of workouts for any martial art or sport.

What to Train

When you are training at home the first thing to realize is that you want to train the techniques you actually know. It would be counterproductive to train a move on your 10,000 times just to find out it is completely wrong. Please don't spend hours on youtube trying to become a master. There are a lot of nuisances to training which an instructor can share with you in class, that they won't and usually can't through a video. Also, an instructor can make on the spot corrections to help you progress faster. As a teacher I encounter a lot of people who do improper home training, so they spend the a lot of time unlearning bad habits once they join our academy.

How Long to Train

One of the most common misconceptions about training time and frequency is that you have to train for a very long time... well that is correct. Actually the misonception is that you have to give 100% muscular and cardio effort to get a great workout. Well, let me tell you, not only do you not need to train all day 7 days a week, but you do not have to try to kill yourself every session.  I work out pretty hard, but I also take breaks in my routines, proportionate to that effort. Futhermore, the difference is training with 100% mental focus. There are so many skills, drills and techniques you can work on with a partner or by yourself. You have to make up in your mind that you want to get better no matter what and train with what equipment and surroundings you have available.


Don't Overdue It


The worst thing that pro athletes do is overtrain. The worst thing that those wishing to be a higher level athlete do is over train. Think of it like a train, since that is the root word for over training. You can load a train up and take it to a destination sure enough. However there will be times along a long voyage where the train worker may have to take a minute to grab more fuel from storage or maybe the Conductor will need to rest and let the Assistant Conductor take over the nexf shift. All I am alluding to is that we all need breaks to refuel and rest our bodies.

I hope I addressed some of the concerns you had about how to train when you absolutely can't make it to class. Remember as well, martial arts is about discipline and the most important part of this is being disciplined in showing up to class when at all possible.

vr/

Benjamin Moriniere "Sensei"
www.capoeira-okinawa.com
www.facebook.com/CapoeiraAcademyOkinawa

3 Reasons Women SHOULD Do MMA

Yudansha MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) is comprised of training in Jiu-jitsu, Judo, Kickboxing and Arnis (Filipino Knife and Blade). It is a well-rounded approach to martial arts, a holistic view if you would. No one style do we call better, but we know that we should strive to become the best we can at each phase of martial combat, e.g. striking, clinching and grappling.

For women, MMA and Jiu-jitsu have not been very popular sports. While there are plenty of women doing the sports, there are far more who shy away from all the bodily contact, the machismo attitudes and the ruffians who don't know their own strength and beat all the would-be, dedicated female students to shreds.

The first thing that women should realize, and teachers for that matter, is that people train for different reasons. Most women train for self defense and only a few train for competition. Don't be afraid to voice your opinion to your instructor, and instructors don't hesitate to ask these important questions. Not everyone determines a great class by how many bruises they have on their body.

Most people want to learn in a safe, de-pressurized environment where they can excel at a steady pace without being thrown to the wolves in any aspect of their training.

So, now that we have prepared the foundation of information, here are the 3 Reasons Why Women SHOULD Do Yudansha MMA.

1. Practical Self Defense

People are crazy out there nowadays. You never know when an emergency might arise and what you will need to do in that situation. Survival mode will kick in and you just hope that all of your preparation will help you and your family members, friends or whomever is involved survive. Yudansha MMA will teach each women practical self defense movements for offense and defense to be used against smaller or larger opponents, and even how to properly wield and defend against weapons.

2. Confidence

Every single woman that I have trained has gotten stronger and stronger every week, every month. Looking back at videos of when they began is like night and day. Confidence and skill come through repetition and constant improvement. Most importantly though, students must have a focused resolve.

3. Stronger Body, Stronger Mind

Yudansha MMA will build supreme levels of muscular and cardiovascular endurance. Keeping your body in tip top shape not only means you may live a happier and healthier life, but your mind will become just as quick and sensitive to danger as your body.  Tough training mixed with a healthy diet and living can make you a well tuned, howbeit lady like,  machine.

Thank you for tuning in and if you have any questions about training, or if you are an instructor with any questions please leave a comment.

v/r
Benjamin Moriniere "Sensei"
www.capoeira-okinawa.com
www.facebook.com/CapoeiraAcademyOkinawa 
www.twitter.com/CapoeiraOkinawa

No Day Off from Leadership

Leadership is a way of life. Even though 97% of us are content to be followers, at some times in our lives we will take on leadership roles. Then others will continuously be business or community leaders their whole lives in one way or another.

The driving quality a leader will and must have is influence. As one of the greatest Leadership speakers put it, "Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less." - John C. Maxwell.   The influence that we have with our families, students, neighbors, friends and business partners comes through trust built over time.

Everyone is watching us, because they want to believe and hope in something positive and good that they can support. So, there is no Day Off from Leadership. Leadership is a constant state of leadING. We are not only leading on the mat but off the mat. We are leading when we are sitting at the diner having an ice cream cone. We are leading at a PTA meeting with our kids.

We are always leading, and we should always be growing and cognizant of the fact that whether you like it or not... people look up to you. Some will tell you they do, most will not, but many you will find out years from now when you need the encouragement the most.

v/r
Benjamin Moriniere "Sensei"
www.capoeira-okinawa.com
www.facebook.com/CapoeiraAcademyOkinawa