Maintaining Your Martial Arts Motivation - Part 2

We have a number of students preparing for the Regional Black Belt Grading coming up on 25th November. There's nothing like an immovable deadline to inspire your motivation levels!

Yet, to get to this stage of putting together final preparations for black belt doesn't happen overnight. It will have been the result of years of regular class attendance, training and commitment. All black belts were once white belts and over this duration of time it's natural that motivation levels will fluctuate.

Regardless which belt you currently are, here are some tips for staying motivated along your martial arts journey:


If You're Active, You More Likely To Feel More Focused & Energised

The simple act of being active can boost our focus and energy levels. If you're a prospective student, getting started is the hardest part, but each class you attend should hopefully make attending classes easier as time goes on.

Instinctively, we like to progress. So as you start to experience the physical and mental benefits, you will be inspired to continue training and challenging yourself.


Martial Arts Can Help You Set Goals 

...work towards them and ideally exceed them. We all know that if a goal seems a long way off or seems like too much effort, some of us simply don't bother. Understand that once you've started, martial arts classes (particularly ones like Choi Kwang-Do which follow an organised belt rank system) provide many minor goals along the way such as learning objectives assigned to certain ranks and gradings.

Belt promotions can also be hugely rewarding!


Martial Arts Training Offers Support From Fellow Students

It is much easier to stay motivated when you have other people around you persuading and encouraging you along the way. Consider the co-operative, non-competitive nature of a Choi Kwang-Do class; you will find that other junior and senior students and instructors alike will always be keen to support you.

Friends, family and loved ones who are aware of your pursuits and goals can also play a big part here.

Read Maintaining Your Martial Arts Motivation (Part 1)

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Jason Wright is a 6th Degree Black Belt and Master Instructor in the martial art Choi Kwang-Do. For further information on Choi Kwang-Do classes in Ealing, West London visit www.TheMartialArtForLife.com

6 Tips For Achieving Your Goals In 2018

The end (or start) of the year is an excellent time to stop, look back, and review what you’ve accomplished before looking ahead and considering what you are planning to achieve in the next 12 months.

Given that martial arts training is a long-term activity, it's a really worthwhile and productive exercise and we’ve discussed a simple, practical approach in the past, but if you haven’t yet decided to start thinking about your goals for 2018 and beyond, here are a few quick tips:


1. Know Your Goal 

Obviously, the first priority is have a very clear idea of what you want to achieve. Know and define your end goal. While an expected answer for a Choi Kwang-Do student goal might be “become black belt”, it could also be “achieve yellow belt senior within 6 months” or “find out what’s required to become an assistant instructor by the end of the year”.


2. Create An Action Plan 

This doesn’t need to be complicated:

• Regular class attendance (where you can be supported by instructors) 
• Regular practise at home (where you can refer to your syllabus guide) 

Your actions will logically be guided by your overall goal and if the above 2 steps are on your action plan there is a high chance you are moving in the right direction. Your goal will also help to rationalise your actions too. If you’re aiming to achieve yellow belt senior in 6 months, and you are questioning yourself on whether you should allocate 10 minutes a day to practising your pattern and speed drill, the best answer is "yes".

Remember: action creates results! 

3. Set Realistic, Short-Term Goals 

One of my tasks over the Christmas break is to prepare and publish the schedule of dates of coloured and black belt gradings for the coming year. From this, students should be able to schedule realistic, short-term goals complete with the dates by which they can work to achieve them. For reference:

- Coloured belt gradings are roughly every 2 months for students taking 2 classes per week, and every 4 months for students taking 1 class per week.

- Black belt tag gradings are every 3 months for 1st degrees, and every 6 months for 2nd degrees.

- Black belt dan gradings are every 6 months.

As you will know, a sustainable way to achieve long-term goals is by breaking them up into smaller, more achievable, short-term goals. Thereby creating numerous successes and helping yourself stay motivated.

4. Keep Track Of Your Progress 

Write down your short-term goals and their dates. A simple wall calendar can be useful for this and will inspire you in a number of ways. Firstly, the physical act of writing them in some way brings the goal 'alive', and using a calendar will provide a visual reminder. You'll see the dates approaching and be inspired to work harder towards achieving them. In addition, not only does ticking them off feel good, you can also look back to see your previous achievements and acknowledge how far you have come. 

5. Reward Yourself 

Like many other martial arts, Choi Kwang-Do is fortunate to have reward system in place: belts. These serve as an indication to both you and your fellow students your level of expertise and/or duration of time training. They are also great for motivation as they prove to you what you can do with a little planning, execution and focus.  

Once you have achieved one of your short-term goals (and definitely when you achieve a long-term goal), reward yourself! This is will mean different things to different people - a new purchase perhaps (book, music, clothing), a meal with friends, etc.

Marking your achievements with something else you enjoy will give you something to look forward to and help you stay consistent.  

6. Re-evaluate Your Progress 

Every month or so, re-evaluate your short-term goals to make sure that you are still on track. How are you getting on? Great, or not so good? Was your goal realistic? Do you need to invest more time? Is your action plan working but not as you had hoped? Take time to assess what you need to do differently and adjust your plan or expectations. Feedback from an instructor can prove useful here. 

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Jason Wright is a 6th Degree Black Belt and Master Instructor in the martial art Choi Kwang-Do. For further information on Choi Kwang-Do classes for children, teens and adults in Ealing, West London visit www.TheMartialArtForLife.com 

Maintaining Your Martial Arts Motivation - Part 1

We've recently completed belt presentations following the first coloured belt grading of 2017. Here are a few tips to keep you motivated as you start learning your new syllabus.


Keep The Habit

We are naturally creatures of habit. Therefore, the habit of your practise is one that we should strive to continue. There will always be occasions when we have to miss classes, but aim to plan them into your week and avoid missing your scheduled classes. If you train one class per week and have to miss a class, plan in advance to attend an alternative class. By maintaining class attendance as a habit (and don't forget practise at home too) in time it will become second nature.


Keep Mentally Focused

Avoid comparing yourself with others. Instead, keep your focus on your own journey and your own development in Choi Kwang-Do. Being mentally motivated is a big part, maybe even a bigger part, than just being physically ready. If helpful, make a note of the scheduled dates for coloured belt gradings and black belt gradings. These dates can help you to chart your projected progress and achievements, and assist with your mental focus and motivation.


Keep Inspired

Instead of just focusing on finding motivation, consider also finding inspiration. Motivation often comes from someone telling us we have to do something, while inspiration is an internal desire to do something. Consider what inspired you to learn martial arts or visit our school in Ealing in the first place?

Think about a student or instructor, or another individual that inspires you (Grandmaster Kwang Jo Choi, the founder of Choi Kwang-Do is an obvious choice here. In fact, here's one of my personal favourite inspirational videos of Grandmaster Choi). Maybe there's a piece of music, a book or a film that gets you really inspired? Whatever works for you.


Keep The Faith

If you're a new student it can seem like there is a lot to learn. It can even be overwhelming. Have faith; by following points above, I can promise you that while Choi Kwang-Do will still be challenging, understand that it will get easier.

Read Maintaining You Martial Arts Motivation (Part 2)

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Jason Wright is a 6th Degree Black Belt and Master Instructor in the martial art Choi Kwang-Do. For further information on Choi Kwang-Do classes in Ealing, West London visit www.TheMartialArtForLife.com

Build A Better You With Martial Arts

There are many great reasons for adults to start learning martial arts, but it does take some time to develop the discipline of sticking to the schedule, regular practise and putting in the effort that is required to hone your skills and get the most from the training.

If you’re an adult who has already taken the first step of booking and attending your first martial arts lesson, congratulations! You’ve already achieved something that many others are still thinking about.

Give yourself a pat on the back and attend your next lesson as soon as possible.

Why is this important?


Don’t Let Fear Stop You Before You Start

While there are many reasons to start martial arts, but reasons can also arise that cause adults to stop before they really get started (we’re excluding all of the legitimate reasons such as work/home schedule, health, moving away, finances etc.)

One reason may be given, but the real reason may also be plain old fear:

• Can I do this?
• Will I be any good?
• Will I look silly?

(For the record, children generally do not analyse their participation in martial arts in this way).

When you take steps to better yourself and gain new skills in a new environment you naturally run some risk of the points above, and these are situations that most adults would rather avoid. So your best option here is not to hesitate; if you enjoyed your first martial arts lesson, ride the wave of enthusiasm and schedule your next lesson right away.

Embrace The Challenge

The thing about martial arts is that they can actually help you overcome these fears and issues. There is often a focus on the physical benefits and the self-defence attributes, but there are many positive psychological benefits too. For example, Choi Kwang-Do martial arts classes are an excellent way for adults to feel fitter, stronger and more confident.

• You can engage in exciting martial art workouts that will stimulate your brain through co-ordinated movements, and challenge your body to improve your mental and physical fitness.

• You can set short, medium and long term training goals and feel a sense of achievement when you accomplish them.

• You will learn scientifically designed techniques that are gentle on your joints but will enable you to produce explosive striking power for self-defence.

• You can train and socialise with a group of like-minded people to provide you with a feeling of purpose.

• You can develop new self-defence skills in a structured, non-competitive environment to build your confidence and self-esteem.

Let Us Support You

We’re fully aware that the martial arts class environment can be strange if it’s completely new to you – odd phrases and chants, oriental customs etc. So our friendly team of Choi Kwang-Do instructors will help you feel welcome and support you in each class as you learn valuable new skills. In addition, Choi Kwang-Do’s non-competitive training philosophy means that everyone – students and instructors -  are supportive of each other’s development in class.

The only way that people grow and develop is by taking on challenges and aiming to get better in life. Yes, there will be days when the thought of attending class or practising at home after a stressful day at work isn’t very appealing, but the discipline involved with martial arts can help you realise that you have to put effort in, in order to get the benefits out and begin building a better you. Similarly, there will always be reasons to stop or hesitate doing something that challenges you, but when you succeed at something that challenges you, you can find many more motivating reasons to keep going…and it all starts with taking that first step.


Take the first step to building a better you with a 3 month trial membership for only £99

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Jason Wright is a 6th Degree Black Belt and Master Instructor in the martial art Choi Kwang-Do. For further information on Choi Kwang-Do classes in Ealing, West London visit www.TheMartialArtForLife.com

Take Small Steps To Success In 2016

Another year rolls by and here we are in 2016. Look out for Easter Eggs in your local supermarket in the next few days...

We'll soon be bombarded with tips for making New Years Resolutions, setting goals and "making 2016 your best year yet". Making resolutions and setting goals can be challenging, and despite how clichéd it can come across at this time of the year, personally I don't think there is any harm in utilising the New Year to initiate change or refocus ourselves. However, when a goal seems too vast or too difficult to comprehend, we can often fail before we start because we never seriously get started. If we successfully make a change, sticking to it can be even harder.

The key is to take small steps. This is the same as martial arts students having a vision of achieving Black Belt (a minimum 3 1/2  year goal in Choi Kwang-Do), but working on the various Coloured Belts as the 'building blocks' to achieve that goal. Each martial arts class provides the environment and support for the student to work towards those building blocks by learning the martial arts syllabus to take gradings. Upon successful promotion following a grading the student is awarded the new belt rank. The result? A small step towards their goal and increased motivation.

Here's a quick and simple process that you can use to help you take small steps towards your own goals in 2016:

1. On a piece of paper write down today's date followed by a personal goal, but keep it really simple. Think more "eat a piece of fruit every day", rather than "go to the moon in July". Ideally you'll want to write a SMART goal. For a description of this take a few minutes to read Benefit #9 - Goal Setting from The Top 10 Benefits of Choi Kwang Do.

2. Give yourself 1 minute - and 1 minute only - to write down any actions, thoughts or ideas related to achieving that goal. Many will be obvious while others will require you to think a little harder. Either way, keep writing going for the full 60 seconds, even if the idea initially seems ridiculous or impractical. You can criticise later. For now you just want to get the ideas flowing.

3. When the minute is up go back through the list and select 2 or 3 actions and set a date for them to be completed by. Many will jump out at you to be done immediately. Avoid the temptation to take on too much at this stage.

4. Take ACTION. This is critical. As soon as possible do one of your selected actions from the list. It is vital to keep the momentum going whilst you're in a creative mood and are motivated. Once you have completed the actions, return to the list, cross through what you have done, then select 2 or 3 more actions giving them completion dates too.

5. At the end of the month, spend a few minutes reviewing your progress. I like to use the following questions as they focus your mind on what you can learn or improve, rather than what you failed at:

• What went well?
• What was challenging?
• What would you do differently?

If the goal is complete, fantastic! Reward yourself (with a chocolate egg?) If not, select 2 or 3 items from the list, assign dates and take action again. Then review your progress at the end of the next month.

Does this sound simple to you? Great...it's supposed to be!

Of course, for bigger, more complex or very important goals you would need to spend more time planning and organising actions, but for simple goals this process might be effective for you. It's designed to assist in regularly taking small but regular steps with minimal analysis.

2016 is here so if you try this or already use a different process that works well for you, feel free to share your ideas.

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Jason Wright is a 6th Degree Black Belt and Master Instructor in the martial art Choi Kwang-Do. For further information on Choi Kwang-Do classes in Ealing, West London visit www.TheMartialArtForLife.com

Throw Yourself Into It!

Roughly a year ago I had our adult students working on sliding kicks.

The technical aspect of what these are isn't really that important but just to provide some context, as the name implies sliding kicks involves performing a kick whilst sliding forwards towards the target. It's a way of covering distance dynamically to reach an out of range target while simultaneously attacking. It's faster than taking a separate step forward towards the target and then kicking. Plus, it can also result in a more powerful kick as the whole body weight is being thrust forwards with the kick.

Officially, sliding kicks occur in the Choi Kwang-Do curriculum at 2nd Degree Black Belt but this wasn't a Black Belt Class. In fact, there were only three black belts in the entire class of 16 that evening...one of them being me!

So why was I getting the students to do this?

The first reason was that it was a fun challenge for many, without straying too far outside of what they would normally be working on, eg. basic kicks with the target in a comfortable range whereby a slide is not required. However, the main lesson behind the lesson (if you see what I mean) was that to perform a sliding kick you have to throw yourself into it.

Physically speaking, you really do have you launch your body weight towards the target but in a controlled manner. If you don't, you simply won't cover the distance and reach the target. If you do, your balance (and subsequent power) will be negatively affected. This is quite a radical change for most students because they would have been initially taught to kick from a stationary position without sliding.

Emotionally speaking there can be even more to learn. Once you have practised and realised the need to launch your body weight towards the target, you're less likely to hesitate when approaching similar techniques in the future.
You will have already demonstrated to yourself that to complete particular tasks, you sometimes have to overcome self-induced obstacles.

Of course, among the more junior students there was lots of hesitation at first. Perfectly natural given the circumstances, but that was that whole point; to enable the students to recognise when this is happening, when they may be deliberating over a task that has little or no damaging outcomes.

Make a decision.
Affirm commitment.
Throw yourself into it!

There are many areas of life whereby unless we make a commitment and throw ourselves into something, before starting we've already limited the experience we could potentially receive. A valuable and useful lesson for me, the students...and maybe for you too?

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Jason Wright is a 5th Degree Black Belt and Master Instructor in the martial art Choi Kwang-Do. For further information on Choi Kwang-Do classes in Ealing, West London visit www.TheMartialArtForLife.com

What Inspires You?

If you are in any way connected to Choi Kwang-Do, or follow Choi Kwang-Do through the various websites, blogs and social media, you will no doubt have seen many comments about the UK seminar in May (not to mention lots of talk about the landmark Choi Kwang-Do seminar in Korea in October 2010).

Seeing Grandmaster Choi perform, teach and talk about the development and evolution of Choi Kwang-Do is highly inspirational for Choi Kwang-Do students and instructors the world over. Many of the images, videos, reports and conversations convey how inspiring the seminar was...and continues to be.

Maybe you were at the seminar yourself?

Or if you weren't at the seminar, imagine you've watched an excellent film on TV or at the cinema.

Or you've seen your favourite musician perform.

Or you're engrossed in reading a biography of someone you respect or admire.

We all know that feeling; how each of these events can touch us emotionally, dwell in our minds and inspire or motivate us in different ways.

A great way to get motivated is to associate, watch or read about others who are either successful, or have made achievements in your field of interest. Whether that be martial arts, your current occupation or your desired one.

Part of the reason for this is that by associating yourself with others who are successful will make their goals and stories seem more real to you.

You can also get a feel for the challenges they faced and overcame, which may help you to see how you could overcome them too.

So what inspires or motivates you?

Or if relevant, what motivated you to begin martial arts?

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Jason Wright is 5th Degree Black Belt and Master Instructor in the martial art Choi Kwang-Do. For further information on Choi Kwang-Do classes in Ealing, West London visit www.TheMartialArtForLife.com