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4 Elements of Martial Arts Fitness You Can Train from Home

March 27, 2020

When you can’t make it in for your regular martial arts classes, your training doesn’t have to stop. Along with martial arts training to continue improving and refining your skills, you can also work on improving your fitness from home.

Here are four aspects of martial arts fitness that you can train from home:

1. Endurance

Increasing your endurance benefits your martial arts training, as well as your daily life. Running, biking, and swimming are all great options to build your aerobic endurance. From home, your easiest options will obviously be biking and running. But if you do have access to a pool, swimming is an excellent low (or virtually zero) impact way to build more endurance.

2. Strength

Even if you don’t have access to a lot of strength training equipment, you can still work on increasing your strength from home. Bodyweight exercises like pushups, squats, lunges, situps, etc. can be done virtually anywhere. With simple pieces of equipment, like a set of dumbbells, a kettlebell, or a medicine ball, you can include functional, full-body movements that use your upper and lower body together while increasing your core strength. Try to stick to exercises that are based on movements instead of a specific muscle group. For example, rather than a biceps curl, focus on movements that mimic what you do in martial arts, like pushing, pulling, rotating, etc.

3. Agility and Speed

Sprinting for short distances can help you develop more speed. The take-off for each sprint is one way to become more explosive, and if you vary your direction, than you’ll get some agility training as well. If you’re not used to sprinting, then make sure you’re warmed-up before you begin. And quality is more important than quantity. Start with a few intervals and give your body some time to adjust before ramping up to longer sprint distances and more intervals per training session.

4. Flexibility and Balance

If you’re looking to improve flexibility, balance, and coordination with a single non-martial arts activity, then try yoga. You’ll increase your range of motion through your hips and shoulders, as well as major muscle groups throughout your body. Yoga also helps you develop balance and can address any imbalances you might have between your left and right sides.

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3 Ways Jiu Jitsu Promotes Mindfulness

March 16, 2020
A Jiu Jitsu martial arts practice has many health benefits for your body and your mind. With every class you attend, you are building habits that can lead to improvements in your physical and mental health. By focusing all of your attention on a single activity, Jiu Jitsu, your training becomes like a moving meditation. When you become more mindful, you become more aware of your thoughts. Managing these thoughts means you experience less stress. And when you experience less stress, your overall health and daily life improve. Here are a few ways that Jiu Jitsu promotes mindfulness: 1. Breathing. One of the basic ways to create a strong connection between your body and mind is through breathing. Taking deep breaths where you’re focusing on the inhale and exhale creates a calmer mind, reduces heart rate, and improves performance. Shifting your focus to your breathing directs your attention away from the stress of the day. One hundred percent of your attention is on your Jiu Jitsu class and what’s happening in the present moment. 2. Awareness of Thoughts. It’s impossible to stop negative thoughts, but it is possible to reframe them. The first step in managing negative thoughts is to become aware of them. This awareness develops, along with a strong mind-body connection. If you practice awareness of your thoughts (either positive or negative) while training, you’re also increasing mindfulness. 3. Individual Focus. Comparing yourself to other students in your class makes it tough to maintain a mind-body connection. Rather than paying attention to others, focus on yourself. Practice noticing when you’re no longer focused on yourself and bring your attention back to your training. Letting go of how much the other students are progressing in favor of your own improvement promotes mindfulness.

5 Skills that Encourage Kids to Be Leaders

February 28, 2020
Through martial arts, kids develop both character-building and leadership skills. Here are a few skills from martial arts that encourage kids to be good leaders: 1. Focus Martial arts students practice paying attention to their instructor while ignoring distractions. Students learn to focus only on what is relevant and responding appropriately. Being able to recognize and let go of the things that aren’t relevant to the task at hand is one of a leader’s many strengths. 2. Self-Discipline A disciplined martial arts student has figured out the value of working hard and putting effort into their training. He or she has learned that training through repetition ultimately helps to accomplish a goal. At the same time, a leader recognizes the importance of committing to the learning process to achieve a future goal. 3. Respect From the first time a student steps on to the mats, respect is a fundamental value of martial arts. Instructors expect all students to be respectful of each other. They honor and show kindness to everyone and receive respect, honor, and kindness in return. 4. Self-Confidence Martial arts provides kids a chance to build up a belief in themselves and expand what they think they’re capable of. Hard work, patience, and dedication to martial arts leads to success and confidence. And a confident student is more likely to grow and become a confident leader. 5. Social Skills Group martial arts classes encourage the development of social skills. Students learn how to interact with one another and build relationships with kids from a variety of backgrounds. The ability to build strong relationships is another valuable trait for good leaders.

3 Awesome Things About Group Jiu Jitsu Classes

January 30, 2020
If you’ve been thinking about starting Jiu Jitsu, you might have done a little bit of online research and discovered a variety of training options. Most Jiu Jitsu academies offer students a few different programs, including both group classes as well as private training.
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