The BLAST Functional Martial Arts and Fitness » Volts Corner

5 Key Areas of Self Improvement through Martial Arts!

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:56:21 +0000

Have you ever met somebody who just seems to have his/her life all together? He/she is confident, financially secure and loving life, not to mention in good physical shape, always smiling and optimistic regardless of the possible outcome? I am sure everyone has met someone like this, and if you are like me, you are slightly envois, but more than anything, become motivated to improve my own life. Ultimately, we all want the above mentioned, but what does it take to be that kind of person? I have asked myself this question many times, and through observation of people who inspire me I have discovered several reoccurring themes and would like to share them with you this month.

#1 Set Goals

I know you have heard me say this a million times, so let’s make it a million and one. Successful people set goals!! Why you ask? Goals give you a vision of where you want to be and what you are working towards. If you have never set a goal before, it is simple. Sit down for 20 minutes and day dream about what you really want to achieve. Keep the goal realistic. Visualize it as if you were truly living it. Now, hold onto that thought and begin developing your vision, how you want to achieve the goal, what it will do for you. Set a reasonable deadline, one which allows for unforeseen obstacles that may develop yet a deadline that still forces you to work hard. Develop a plan for each week, adjusting for weeks where you see a lot of improvement or for ones which hold you up slightly. Keep making those weekly plans until you achieve the goal. You must stay intense through the entire process. Reaching a goal is not easy, if it were, more people would be successful and living their dreams. You must preserve and work hard, not allowing obstacles to stand in your way. To learn more about this method, I recommend the book Flight Plan by success guru Brian Tracy.

#2 Develop a Passion

Every successful person I have met or observed has passion for what they do. You can just tell by talking to them or reading their books that they love what they do because of every word they speak or write has a spark to it. Conversations with passionate people are enjoyable and usually inspiring. Some people are born with their passion and others develop it over time. If you are not already passionate about something, visualizing a dream or goal that may help build that passion, and once you get it, focus on achieving your goal so it will become a priority.

#3 Fuel the Body

Everyone needs to fuel their body, but to be a success you have to make sure you are running on all cylinders. I am not just talking about eating right, although that should be number one on everyone’s list because without proper nutrition, you won’t have the necessary energy to push through all the challenges that face you on a daily basis. I am talking about more than food, I am talking about fueling your mind with education and intellectual conversation, fueling your body with nutrition and physical activity, fueling your soul with family, friends, and fun. When I say fuel your body, I mean fuel everything from head to toe, inside and out. Taking care of yourself will ensure you are physically and emotionally able to achieve the goal you set to achieve.

#4 Renew your inner faith

Life is hard and at times you may feel like mentally or emotionally you are not all there. You may have picked up that bad habit you quit years ago, you may have stopped participating in an activity you once enjoyed, or maybe you are just stuck in a rut without a way out. In the fast pace life we lead it is easy to lose track of who we are and more importantly where we want to go. Don’t forget to take time out for yourself regardless of what is happening in your life. There is a time and place for what I like to call self meditation or ‘getting back into the zone.’ Self meditation can be different for everyone – for me it’s taking a run, hitting the heavy bags, training my dogs, or hunting, whatever helps me get back to me. For you it might be hitting golf balls, playing basketball, listening to music or anything else. Inner faith keeps you balanced and on schedule, without it, time and life will pass you by endlessly.

#5 Self Discipline

This is a topic that gets my blood boiling quickly. Being a martial arts/fitness instructor it drives me absolutely crazy when people have NO SELF DISCIPLINE!! I feel the need to Thai kick people in their cranium to help them realize they need SELF DISCIPLINE if you want to succeed! Your path in life is not always glorified, in fact it hardly ever is and most people won’t ever see your successes. If you are waiting for other people to recognize your success it won’t happen, so understand that now. To better yourself, you need to be self disciplined. You need to develop positive habits to change your lifestyle one step at a time, like taking a run when you wake up, making your bed, eating breakfast daily, reading a inspirational quote daily, saving a $1 a day and the list goes on and on. If you just do one of these things each day for 30 days you would be surprised with the changes you would see. Now turn those new things into a routine and you are on your way to a self disciplined better you. Successful people always talk about making positive changes in their lives, making them habits. To get on track with you self discipline, I recommend the book “Becoming a Better You” by Joel Osteen.

Take these 5 tips to heart and start your new and improved life today. This is what martial arts is all about, Self Improvement. Martial arts is a physical and mental tool to improve ourselves on a daily basis!

Your Martial Arts Program Vision

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:47:48 +0000

One of the hardest things to teach a student in classes is the vision of the martial arts program they are learning . The curriculums are built to teach a little piece of the pie each week. With each testing and sash or belt level being on more step to completing the pie. In classes it is our job to teach the material you need to know, give you a great workout and give you a piece of mind through martial arts. But how do we get you to see the bigger picture? I will try to give you a larger vision by explaining the Muay Thai Kickboxing program. MTK is the most popular program at THE BLAST. Therefore I will break down the MTK curriculum to give you a vision to help you in your future training.

If you went to a dance studio the vision at the end of your training would be to perform a specific dance. Martial arts has kind of the same idea except the end result takes longer. Your goal in any program at THE BLAST should be to achieve the highest level. Which in MTK is Level 10 Black Sash. So lets take a inside view on what would get you to your Black Sash. I will explain this in an overview as it is much more detailed while training. However this should give you a good vision for any program you train.

Phase One

Phase One encompasses Levels 1,2,3 in a rotating curriculum, meaning you can achieve any of these levels in any order. A student must complete all the levels to graduate to Phase Two. Phase One can best be described as “Foundational”. In the foundational Phase of your training you will learn offensive, defensive, counters and sparring methods with the 8 limbs of Muay Thai Kickboxing: Punches, Kicks, Elbows and Knees. The goal is to get a good base in how to train MTK. You will learn what techniques go with what distance Ex: Pot Shotting (Long Distance) Combinations (Medium Distance), In The Pocket (Close Distance) and Clinch (Tied Up).

Other things taught will include: sparring drills, sparring, footwork, timing, flexibility, conditioning, hard work ethic, personal growth, body limitations and Muay Thai Art concepts. A big part of the MTK is how to use equipment such as heavy bags, Thai pads, focus mitts, kick shields, jump rope and various other equipment to help your training.

With equipment training being so important it will come as no surprise that the workout will BLAST you into shape! Impact training gives you a workout that other fitness workouts cannot match.

Phase Two

Phase two encompasses levels 4, 5 and 6 in a rotating curriculum. Now that you have the foundation of Muay Thai accomplished it is time to step up the training a bit. We expand on your foundation by teaching you “Savior Techniques”. Savior techniques are spinning techniques to help you take advantage of an otherwise disadvantage situation. New advanced techniques are taught to challenge you to rise to a new level in your training: Other things taught in Phase Two would include: leg catches, cut kicking, cross body defense, multiple combinations taught at once, faking, precision, maximizing power and tighten up the foundation even more to make you solid in your training. By the end of Phase Two your dedication to Black Sash should rise to a new level as you are in a new level of training both physically and mentally.

Phase Three

Phase three encompasses levels 7, 8 and 9 in a rotating curriculum. With your foundation now getting stronger and stronger along with your knowledge of the art getting deeper Phase Three becomes just as cerebral as physical. There is no more excuses for not being in shape! Your physical fitness should now be a high level. Learning ”Jumping Techniques” on top of your foundational skills and spinning skills will be top priority. Phase three will finish with you having a wide variety of foundational skills backed up by spinning and jumping techniques. Your MTK tool box will be full and now it is time to “Functionalize”. Along the way of your MTK career different aspects of your training have been more difficult for you than others. In this Phase it is potent that you bring your weaknesses equal with your strengths and start learning more about yourself. I have said many times that Phase Three is the ”Process Levels”, meaning it is time to process what you have learned and functionalize it according to your thoughts and your body.

Black Sash

Black sash is a level by itself and is level 10 of the curriculum. The day has come, it is time for your Black Sash test! You are performing advanced techniques, thai pad drill, sparring, conditioning, physical fitness requirements, MTK essay and other little things. The test will be brutal with multiple instructors feeding you and sparring you to see if they can break you mentally. But you made it through congrats! Now where does your training go!

Here is where a Black Sash becomes a problem. Most people when they achieve the highest level think they have reached the end of their training. The fact is just the opposite should happen, your training has just begun. Now that you understand many of the techniques in the curriculum it is time to go back through the curriculum and dissect what works for you and what doesn’t. Your personal Muay Thai now develops. You now practice to stay in shape, learn how to use your techniques in different ways along with training as a personal self development tool.

Besides the self process that is taking place you are now considered a leader in the school. Your peers will look up to you for your dedication to the art, THE BLAST and mostly to yourself. You will now fall into the role model category and start helping other students achieve their goal of Black Sash. It is this philosophy that keeps the art alive along with everyone growing. Now that you are helping people you will start to learn how to practice what you preach and lower ranks will hold you accountable to be at your best all the time.

Being this level of a martial artist is so rewarding. The level that you are able to give back what you learned is an experience that is so fulfilling.

Although this is just a narrow inside view of our curriculums. I hope this helps you see your program with a bigger picture. No matter what program you train at THE BLAST they are all basically set up the same. Set your goal right now to be a Black Sash and become a high representative of the art you have chosen to participate in!

Until next time see you in class,

Mike “The Volt” Vaughn
THE BLAST Functional Martial Arts & Fitness

www.theblastma.com

Volt’s Corner

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:14:04 +0000

I recently heard people talking about some of their personal goals. Some wanted to get in shape, some wanted to work hard on their careers, some wanted to spend more time with their family, some wanted to quit smoking and the list goes on and on.

It got me thinking about what some of my current goals are. Did I want to fight again, grow my business, spend more time with family, get in great shape and stay there? I wanted to do all these things but then it came to me. I wanted to get back to BALANCE in my life.

I think we all need to think about BALANCE. So many times we get wrapped up in life and keep piling more and more on ourselves. We do things we normally don’t do: over help people, stop working out, quit activities we like and other things because “We are simply too busy for them.”

What I have learned studying martial arts my whole life if that there is essentials to keep you sane and true to yourself.

These areas include: 1. Working out. 2. Eating Right. 3. Spending alone time. 4. Spending time with family, friends, spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend. 5. Positive attitude.

Whenever I have felt the most empty or overwhelmed is when one of these 5 essentials were out of whack. So for this Volt’s corner I want describe the 5 essentials to a basic standard of living through the martial arts code.

Working out

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:01:50 +0000

How great does it feel when you get done with a good BLAST martial arts class? You are sweaty, tired and happy!. You feel like you learned things and accomplished something. The feeling inside is unlike any other activity. You have everyone else in class around you feeling the same way as you and me pushing you beyond limits you never knew you could go.

Some of you lift weights on the side or do other activities. How does that make you feel? For me there is no other feeling than a good sweat from an awesome martial arts workout, lifting weights or taking a run. You feel good about yourself. You feel confident and have a have a sense of self satisfaction. Imagine quitting these activities because you are to “busy”. You simply can’t they are a essential basic need and why quit something that makes you feel good.

My suggestion to people who don’t do anything is to get moving. Join my martial arts program, go for run, whatever it is get your body moving in a fitness way so you feel better about yourself. For people who have worked out in the past but stopped for whatever reason. Set time a side 3 days a week for your workouts.

Eating Right

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:01:06 +0000

Now imagine feeling good about your workouts and eating right? Eating right gives you the energy to keep up with your daily activities. It helps you lose weight and feel better about yourself. It puts you above the average person because you can control what you eat. It amazes me how many people workout extremely hard but then go eat everything in sight. If you are a person that does this you are totally messing up your workouts.

By eating wrong your workout was worthless because you just put junk food back into your body and over ate. Treat your body right with good food and it will treat you right by showing weight loss, healthy skin, hair and much more. My suggestion for this part is that you get on a good nutrition program and follow it 80% of the time. We have a nutrition plan available at THE BLAST if you would like to learn more about this subject.

Spending Alone Time

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:00:32 +0000

Some people have a really hard time with this. Some people simply cannot do things without other people. The fact is that you have to spend some time by yourself without other distractions. Sit down and read a book or magazine, take a run by yourself, go to the gym by yourself, watch TV by yourself. Anything that will make you happy and content to just be by yourself!

I will warn you that this is not a pleasurable experience at first. All your emotions will surface and you will learn a lot about your feelings. Start doing this 15 minutes a day. Think of this like modern day meditation. In the end you will be happy that you spend some alone time to clear you thoughts and make better decisions for days to come.

Spending Time with Others

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:59:36 +0000

Now go have some fun with other people. Go out, have a party, have a cookout, go to a movie, do something that is fun with other people. Getting social with friends, family or significant other is super important. You need these people to make you laugh, talk about your problems, believe in you and plain talk about things that have no relevance to anything.

That way you can step outside yourself or your relationship and enjoy other people’s riches. My suggestion to you is that you call someone you haven’t seen in awhile and invite them out to dinner or over to your house.

Positive Attitude

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:59:01 +0000

This one is the most important essential of the 5. So many negative things come our way day in and day out. It is easy to fall into that negative attitude. I don’t feel like working out, i don’t have time to spend alone, It takes too much time to make healthy meals, I am sick of all my friends. See how easy it is to fall to negativity!! The fact is a negative attitude can ruin everything in your life.

Try this tactic: if a negative thing upsets you try replacing it with one positive thing. Let’s say for example you lost a sale today at your job, one that you were really counting on. Replace that with, well I have an appointment with someone next week I will make that sale. See negative things build on each other and it becomes a snow ball effect. Try to rise above that and keep a positive attitude towards everything.

I will guarantee this: for every one negative thing that happens to you there is a way to replace that with a positive. Do some research on motivational speakers like Tony Robbins or Brian Tracy. These guys keep your mind on the right track. They show you how to train yourself to think positive all the time.

I didn’t mean for this month’s Volt’s corner to be such a long article but I think it is important for people to have BALANCE. Try these 5 essentials together and you will see a drastic change in your life. If you feel weak in one of these five areas, step outside yourself and work on improving it. Once you have this BALANCE in your life you will feel much better about who you are and accomplish things you never thought possible.

Good Luck and Good Training. See you in class,

Mike “The Volt” Vaughn