Tag: kids karate

  Happy Monday Team!   We had a great time at the MOC Sparring event at 8 Limbs Academy yesterday in West Philadelphia.  Ken, Tre, and Ade all stepped into the ring and put on a fine showing.   Fighting is a team sport, even though you go out there alone.  Without a strong support […]

There is just so much information to learn in martial arts.  Angles, posture, footwork, strikes, positions, you name it.  And especially in the grappling arts!   Developing some literacy in your art will give you a massive boost in your learning speed.  However, literacy isn’t just some emergent ability that comes with time.  You have to work […]

  Happy New Year and New Monday team!   2022 was an amazing year for the academy.  After taking a serious beating over the two worst years of the pandemic, we were able to regain our footing and move forward again.   I personally want to thank all the staff and students here for your […]

Happy Monday Team!   I hope everyone was able to spend some time with their families this week, or at least get a little bit of R&R in.  I definitely needed the downtime after an intense open mat on Xmas eve 🙂   We are running an adjusted schedule this week.  Please make sure to […]

  Happy Monday Team!   We’re back for another busy week of training here at the academy.   Please note that the academy will be fully closed on Saturday, December 24th.  We will be open as normal on New Year’s Eve (12/31).   Also, for the remainder of the year, all friends and family are welcome […]

  If you are training long enough, at some point you will have to take some time off.  This is inevitable.  Work, family, friends, relationships, injuries — these can all demand significant amounts of your time (and, rightly so) and pull you out of a comfortable training routine.   Coming back from a long layoff […]

  Happy Monday Team!   It’s crazy to think we are already at the end of October, 2022 — and yet, here we are!   We have a bunch of SPOOKY events coming up in the next week, so make sure to come out and get in the spirit with us.   First up, we […]

  Happy Monday Team!   We are back after an arduous but fun and successful outing at Grappling Industries on Saturday.  The team picked up 5 Gold, 1 Silver, and 3 Bronze medals in some highly competitive divisions.  We are back competitively this Saturday with Isis Toledo in a grappling superfight!   This week also brings some […]

  Often I give a brief, lighthearted anecdote in this column, and discuss a perspective that can give you an edge to your training.  But today I am going to be a little more direct, and address something I see way too often as a coach.   In fact, I see it a lot, and as […]

  Happy Monday Team!   We have a rare break in the action this month with not much confirmed on our calendar.  So let’s double down in training and really focus on the basics!   I have some fun and important news for everyone as well: we have made some changes to our Jiu Jitsu […]

  One of the most important concepts in becoming a successful martial artist (regardless of how you define “success”) is that of ownership.   We could spend hours talking about all the different ways ownership is important: owning your excuses, owning your responsibilities, owning your emotional state, etc.   All of these could even be the […]

  Happy Monday Team!   Back to work after a packed weekend!   Our Path to Blue Belt workshop was packed — I hope you all got something out of it.  When we go over a comprehensive and exhaustive set of ideas and concepts, it’s unrealistic to absorb everything.  Many of these concepts require multiple […]

  Happy Monday Team!   Got a scorcher of a week on deck, so make sure you are setting yourselves up for success by hydrating like crazy throughout the day!   We have a busy Saturday coming up as well, so we’ve made some small adjustments to our weekend schedule to accommodate it all.  Please […]

  Happy Monday Team!   We are heading into an important week here at the academy, with the return of our Striking 101 Review Test on Wednesday!   This test is for any student that has completed more than 4 consistent weeks of training in our fundamentals program.  Participation is free, but you will need […]

  Simple one for you this week.   Just show up.   Feeling tired?  Just show up.  Sore?  Just show up.  Hungry?  Just show up.   I’ve been training for nearly two decades, and I can tell you the hardest — and most important daily step in your training regimen — is just to show […]

  Happy Monday Team!   Fresh off another competitive weekend in which we saw a number of our grapplers make some noise at Grappling Industries this Saturday.   Big congrats to the veteran competitors Paul, Madison, Isis, and Gianna for their predictably strong performances.   Jason and Joe both competed for the second time, which […]

  Ultimately, what you put in, you’ll get out.  That’s the beauty of what we do in these combat sports.  The process is simple, but you have to look at it from a wide vantage point.  Week to week you may not see results.  Even month to month it’s not guaranteed.  Year over year?  Ok, […]

  Happy Monday Team!   I want to start out by saying a giant, huge, humongous, gargantuan thank you to everyone who came out for our anniversary shindig.  A good measure of whether a party is fun can often be how few pictures there are — I was personally too engrossed in hanging out that […]

  Be careful with your excuses. They expose your values. When an athlete or student tells me they want to take their training to the next levell, but then makes an excuse for skipping practice, or not focusing on the drill, or whatever really–there is always something written between the lines. Truly, I do not […]

In one of my earlier emails, I told you that persistence is one of the five core tenets of martial arts. It’s a must for kids to learn to fulfill their obligations and stick to their commitments – but what makes them want to do that? In martial arts, we attribute it to one small […]

You know how good it feels to set your sights on a goal and then achieve it. It’s empowering and invigorating – and it’s not just a matter of chance. Goal-setting is an important life skill. The good news is that studying the martial arts can help your child learn: The importance of setting goals How to […]

There are a lot of emotional benefits available to kids who study the martial arts. We’ve talked about some of them already, but today I’m going to talk about one that sometimes gets overlooked: Martial arts classes are a great place to make friends! Think about how most of us make friends. Friendships often start with commonalities, […]

As adults, we think a lot about stress. Modern life is difficult. We worry about paying the bills, doing our jobs well – and we worry about our kids. That’s part of our jobs as parents, but we don’t want our kids to be affected by stress. It’s not good for them physically or emotionally. Still, […]

It’s time to talk about the emotional benefits of studying martial arts. Let’s face it – kids have a hard time managing their emotions. You’d be hard-pressed to find a parent who hasn’t had to deal with their share of temper tantrums. It’s exhausting. Also, consider the other side of the coin: it’s exhausting for […]

It’s time to talk about the fifth and final core tenet of martial arts. In many ways, this tenet brings all the other tenets together – and it explains why kids who study martial arts have a light in their eyes that other kids don’t. We call it Indomitable Spirit. What does it mean to have an indomitable […]

In the last couple of blog articles, we’ve been talking about the core tenets of martial arts instruction, and today’s tenet is one that a lot of kids need to learn. I’m talking about self-control. Control is something that’s hard for kids. Their brains and bodies aren’t fully developed, and from the time they’re babies, […]