Rules for the Martial Arts Classroom
To become successful as a martial artist, you have to commit yourself to learning. But sometimes, bad habits can prevent you from getting the most you can from your instructors, your fellow students, and your school. By following these guidelines, you can learn martial arts to the best of your ability.
Listen more than you talk
Too often, the sound of your own voice can drown out what the teacher (or a fellow student) is saying. Listen to what the teacher says. Think about it. Only if you still don't understand should you ask. Just remember to ask at the right time and place. In many traditional martial arts classes, interrupting class in order to ask questions isn't considered appropriate. Instead, save your questions for before or after class.
Watch and learn
In addition to listening to what the teacher is saying, watch what the teacher is doing. Try to mimic the way that the teacher performs techniques. Many questions could be answered and problems solved if students would simply do what the teacher (and the senior students) are doing.
Watch the other students as well. Often, especially in the case of behavior and etiquette, they can teach you without even knowing they're teaching you. Imitate what the senior students do (unless the instructor makes the senior student do 50 pushups for it). If everyone rises and bows when the head instructor walks in the room, you should probably do the same even if no one has told you to.
Finally, watch yourself. Look at what you're doing as you do it. (For this, a mirror or camcorder is essential.) As you perform techniques, make certain that you're completing them correctly so that your feet are in the right place and your body is balanced correctly.
Visualize
Creative visualization can lead to martial arts success. Imagine performing your form perfectly. Imagine scoring clean points against your sparring partner. Before class, take a moment to clear your mind and then think about having a perfect practice. After class, relax and take a moment to go over what you did and think about how you can improve your performance next time.
Accept criticism
If you're performing your techniques incorrectly, you need to know it. Your instructor isn't doing you any favors by overlooking poor technique just because you're a nice person. Not correcting your performance can be dangerous, giving you the confidence that you're doing techniques in an effective way, when really you aren't. Performing techniques incorrectly can also cause damage to your body by overstressing your joints or causing strains and sprains. So when you think your instructor wouldn't know praise if it came and hit her upside the head, just remember that when you're facing a couple of street punks, you'll be glad she was hard on you.
Practice, practice, practice
You can't master martial arts techniques without practicing. Sometimes, though, you don't realize just how much practice the techniques require. Most instructors agree that, although you can get the feel for a technique pretty quickly and may even perform it pretty well after a few dozen repetitions, you don't actually master a technique until you've done it correctly at least two or three thousand times, probably more. That's many, many kicks. So, don't get frustrated if you're still having trouble doing a side kick if you've only been attempting it for three months. You have several more months to go.
Respect yourself (and others)
The martial arts don't care what you do outside the training hall. Therefore, it doesn't matter if you're a well-respected neurosurgeon recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. The little high school squirt who is your senior belt still knows more than you do; respect her for it. Also, respect yourself and your abilities, no matter what they are. You can best show this respect by always being courteous to your instructor and your fellow students and by trying your hardest at every training session.
Remember that persistence beats talent
No matter how inept you are, if you keep trying, you can do better than the most talented students who never try. Persistence is at the heart of learning the martial arts. No matter how many times you fail, you must pick yourself up and keep trying. Your fellow students will respect you for it, and you will respect yourself, too. Even better, you'll discover how to master the techniques and achieve your goals simply by persisting.
Persisting is made easier if you also do some goal-setting. You have to know what you want in order to keep trying to get it. Set some long-term martial arts goals, such as earning a black belt or competing for a national title and some short-term goals, such as improving your kicking speed.
Eat humble pie
Who among us hasn't enjoyed the spectacle of watching an arrogant jerk get his comeuppance? It's really fun to see the mighty fall. Just remember, though, that it may be you the next time. Even the best martial artists fall down, forget their forms, and lose sparring matches to lower belts. By remaining humble, these minor setbacks don't turn into major humiliations. Humility is also necessary to learning. If you think that you know it all, you may never discover anything new. A good martial artist knows that there's always plenty to discover.
Cultivate patience
To become a truly accomplished martial artist, along with practicing your techniques thousands of times and persisting in the face of failure, you have to cultivate patience. Every martial artist can describe plateaus in his training. You may have plateaus, too. No matter how hard you try, you just can't master that kick, you just can't throw that one partner, and you just can't lose that five pounds. You need to be patient. You can't achieve a black belt overnight (and what would it really mean if you did?). Through patience, you can achieve your martial arts goals. Remind yourself of that every now and then.
Have fun
Martial artists tend to talk about martial arts in solemn, serious tones. And learning the skills that can maim other people is indeed serious. Discovering how to defend yourself is a big responsibility. Nevertheless, don't forget that martial arts are also a great lot of fun!
Fitness Glossary
aeroboxing, kickboxing
A class that takes the moves of a kickboxer’s training and choreographs them to music.
Fitness Glossary
anaerobic threshold
The point at which your body switches from using oxygen as its primary source of energy to using stored sugar. When you’re in poor physical shape, you hit your anaerobic threshold while exercising at relatively low levels of exercise.
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barbells
The larger weights (for power lifting in a weight training program) that include a long bar with weights added to each end. You need to use both hands to lift a barbell.
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Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis BIA
A method of measuring your body fat in which you lie on your back while a signal travels from an electrode on your foot to an electrode on your hand. The slower the signal, the more fat you have.
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blood pressure
A measurement of how open your blood vessels are. Low numbers mean that your heart doesn’t have to work very hard to pump the blood through your blood vessels.
Fitness Glossary
body composition
How much of your body is composed of fat and how much is composed of everything else. Your body composition is also called your body-fat percentage.
Fitness Glossary
body mass index BMI
A way of relating your height and weight to estimate how fat you are. You can use a simple formula to determine your BMI.
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body sculpting
A non-aerobic, muscle-toning class, usually focused on core strength.
Fitness Glossary
BOSU
A domed, flexible apparatus that helps to improve balance and can be used in a step aerobics exercise routine. BOSU is an acronym for Both Sides Utilized.
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cardio
A term (short for cardiovascular) that is often used interchangeably with aerobic. Aerobic exercise is any repetitive activity that you do long enough and hard enough to challenge your heart and lungs.
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chi
Otherwise known as "life energy," this is the life force that pulses through your body and keeps you vital. Blocked chi can cause sickness or unhappiness.
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circuit training
A fast-paced class or exercise routine in which you do one exercise for 30 seconds to 5 minutes and then move on to another exercise at the next station. Combines cardio exercise with strength training.
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core
The abdomen, obliques, lower back, butt, and so on, that form the midsection. Many forms of exercise focus on strengthening the body's core.
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core conditioning
A non-aerobic, muscle-toning class, usually focused on core strength.
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cross-training
A method of varying your workouts to take your fitness to the next level by adding new forms of training to your current routine.
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Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry DEXA
A method of measuring your body fat that also determines where the fat is located on your body, a more relevant health indicator.
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dumbbells
Smaller weights (for a weight training program) that you can lift with one hand.
Fitness Glossary
elliptical trainer
The hottest trend in cardio machines, which is part stair-climber, part treadmill, part stationary cycle. Your legs travel in an elongated circular movement, and, on some models, you pump arm poles back and forth for an upper-body workout.
Fitness Glossary
exercise ball
A large plastic ball that is an excellent tool for doing challenging exercises (with or without weights) that require varying forms of strength and control.
Fitness Glossary
Fartlek
A type of interval training program that doesn't use an exact measure of time or distance. You just do your intervals whenever you feel like it. The term Fartlek means "speed play" in Swedish.
Fitness Glossary
fitness walking
A faster and more intense walking technique than casual (lifestyle) walking that burns more calories and helps you lose weight. When you fitness walk, you generally move along at a brisk pace of 3.5 to 4.3 miles an hour, covering a mile in 14 to 17 minutes.
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flexibility
The range of motion or distance you can move a joint through. Stretching is the key to maintaining your flexibility.
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free weights
Portable weights used in a strength training program.
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freestyle
The traditional type of swimming movement that uses the front crawl.
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heart rate
The number of times your heart beats per minute.
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high-impact aerobics
A traditional dance-inspired routine that involves jumping or hopping and moves at a slower pace than low-impact aerobics. High/low combines the two types of routines.
Fitness Glossary
in-line skating; Rollerblading
A type of skating in which you wear skates with urethane wheels that enable you to glide, sprint, curve, turn, and spin.
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interval training
A training technique in which you alternate short, fairly intense spurts of exercise with periods of relatively easy exercise.
Fitness Glossary
kickboxing; aeroboxing
A class that takes the moves of a kickboxer’s training and choreographs them to music.
Fitness Glossary
lifestyle walking
A casual walking technique that is low to moderate intensity and relatively slow paced. Most lifestyle walkers walk an average of 2.5 to 3.5 miles per hour, which means that they walk about 1 mile every 17 to 24 minutes.
Fitness Glossary
low-impact aerobics
A traditional dance-inspired routine in which you always have one foot on the floor — you don’t do any jumping or hopping. High/low combines the two types of routines.
Fitness Glossary
marathon
An organized 26.2-mile race for runners and walkers.
Fitness Glossary
maximum heart rate
The maximum number of times your heart should beat in a minute without dangerously overexerting yourself.
Fitness Glossary
meditation
A mental process involving focused attention, or calm awareness, which is also called mindfulness.
Fitness Glossary
mountain bike
A fat-tire outdoors bicycle with upright handlebars that is built to withstand rough terrain.
Fitness Glossary
multi-gym
A home gym contraption that looks like a bunch of health-club weight machines welded to each other.
Fitness Glossary
muscular failure
In a strength training program, the point at which your last repetition with weights is so difficult that you cannot perform another repetition.
Fitness Glossary
orthotics
Fitted shoe inserts designed by a podiatrist that correct weight distribution along the foot.
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periodization
A method of organizing a strength training workout program into several periods, each lasting about four weeks. Each phase has a different emphasis.
Fitness Glossary
Pilates
A form of exercise that emphasizes correct form using your body’s core. Pilates is named after its inventor, Joseph Pilates, who invented the technique for injured dancers.
Fitness Glossary
plantar fasciitis
An inflammation of the tough fibrous band of tissue that runs the length of the bottom of your foot.
Fitness Glossary
pulse
The number of times your heart beats per minute.
Fitness Glossary
Qigong
An element of a T'ai Chi practice that covers many different types of movements that involve using and feeling the body's energy.
Fitness Glossary
recumbent bike
A type of stationary bike with a bucket seat that provides back support so that you pedal straight out in front of you.
Fitness Glossary
repetition rep
One complete motion of an exercise, often used in reference to strength training.
Fitness Glossary
RICE
An acronym that stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation — common treatment methods prescribed for runners with training injuries.
Fitness Glossary
road bike
The traditional type of outdoor bicycle with curved handlebars that is built for speed.
Fitness Glossary
rolling stair climber
A cardiovascular machine that resembles a section of a department-store escalator. A set of stairs rotates in a circle so that you climb continuously, but never getting anywhere.
Fitness Glossary
rowing machine
A cardiovascular machine that increases stamina, upper body endurance, strength, and flexibility by mimicking a rowing motion. Also called a rower.
Fitness Glossary
set
A group of consecutive repetitions in a strength training program.
Fitness Glossary
Spinning
A popular group studio cycling program invented by ultra-distance cyclist Johnny G. and licensed by Schwinn, which manufactures the bikes used in these classes.
Fitness Glossary
stair-climber
A cardiovascular machine that has two foot plates you pump up and down to mimic the action of climbing stairs. Also called a stepper.
Fitness Glossary
stationary bike
A cardiovascular machine that comes in two styles: upright bikes and recumbent bikes.
Fitness Glossary
step aerobics
A choreographed routine of stepping up and down on a rectangular, square, or circular platform.
Fitness Glossary
strength training
A type of workout that uses any combination of weight machines and free weights (dumbbells and barbells) to build muscle strength.
Fitness Glossary
stride frequency
The number of strides that a runner takes over a certain time period.
Fitness Glossary
studio cycling
Group exercise classes that are taught on stationary bicycles.
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T'ai Chi
An ancient martial art focusing on smooth, slow movements that cultivate inward focus and free energy flow. T'ai Chi is properly pronounced tie-jee.
Fitness Glossary
target heart-rate zone
A range that is between 50 percent and 85 percent of your maximum heart rate that can tell you what heart rate to aim for during a workout.
Fitness Glossary
treadmill
A popular choice for a cardiovascular machine in a home gym if you enjoy fitness walking and jogging (or running).
Fitness Glossary
upright bike
The traditional kind of stationary bike, which resembles a regular bicycle.
Fitness Glossary
walk-run
A workout in which you alternate walking and running. By sprinkling running intervals throughout your walking workout, you can spike up exercise intensity and burn more calories.
Fitness Glossary
water aerobics
Aerobics classes that do traditional workouts in waist- to neck-high water in a swimming pool. The resistance of the water makes the workout feel far more intense, while the water cushions you from the impact.
Fitness Glossary
weight machines
Stationary equipment mostly found at gyms that are easy to use and help you to safely and quickly advance through a strength-training workout.
Fitness Glossary
weight-bearing exercise
A type of exercise in which your skeleton is supporting any sort of weight, as it does when you walk, run, or lift weights.
Fitness Glossary
Wushu
The “martial art” or traditional self-defense activities practiced with or without weapons (includes T'ai Chi).
Fitness Glossary
yin and yang
The terms for opposites that are opposing yet complementary. A concept used throughout all of T’ai Chi and Qigong.
Fitness Glossary
yoga
A series of poses (known as asanas) that you hold from a few seconds to several minutes. The moves — a blend of strength, flexibility, and body-awareness exercises — are intended to promote the union of the mind, body, and spirit.
