“Martial Arts is the best workout I’ve ever done.”
–anyone who has practiced real Martial Arts
Total Body
Martial Arts done well is incredible exercise. Just about every day I have a student come to me, smiling, to tell me how well they slept at night after class. Brand new students are in awe of the new muscles they’ve discovered through soreness. After their first real total body workout, just about everybody gets excited.
At the School of Martial Arts we practice all ranges: stand up striking, joint locks and throws, weapon defense and ground fighting. This is important for self defense so that our students can handle any situation. As a happy coincidence, it also inspires us to move our body in every conceivable way in various drills, resulting in the best workout. Yet even if your martial arts school doesn’t practice this way, it’s possible to get your sweat on doing any range, as long as you keep up the pace.
With an experienced teacher, a class will have a powerful rhythm, one that compels everyone in it to work beyond the point they would normally quit. A martial arts teacher must inspire his or her students and engage them for the entire class. In turn, a martial arts student must open themselves to the opportunity of being lit up and inspired. With this mindset, in a well-run class, every single student will grow by leaps and bounds physically and mentally.
Have Fun
My teacher Sifu Brown always says, “the best workout is the one you actually do.” Exercise can’t just be work. It has to be fun and engaging, or you’ll eventually quit. Simple as that. One reason martial arts is such a great workout is because students are engaged in learning a valuable skill. While it’s difficult to see the real-world benefit of being able to lift a dumbbell, real martial arts has intrinsic value. Being able to defend yourself is one of the most important skills a person can have. This physical technique and mental wherewithal to handle an attack has saved several of our students from serious harm—for some, maybe even death.
Yet during class we are not focused on the prospect of facing eminent danger. We focus on the fun of learning something new. We are engaged in helping and pushing our fellow students. We are steeped in mindfulness and living fully in the moment. The nature of our practice forces us to be vigilant with our thoughts and aware of what’s going on around us. We don’t have time to get bored.
After we practice for a few years, we begin learning weapon forms. We teach Chinese broadsword, guan, kwondao, butterfly swords, fan and spear. We also learn how to use sticks and the cane. I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited in my life than standing in a group of 60 students outside Sifu Brown’s school in Michigan on a summer night. I see myself now, spinning a kwondao (picture a thick staff with a spear tip on one end and a giant blade on the other) on the palm of my hand reaching up towards the sky, painted purple by the sunset.
