Month: January 2018

Self-Defence or Martial Arts Which One Do You Prefer

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People have many reasons to enrol at martial art schools. However, majority do it to learn how to protect themselves. Most of the martial arts move toward a sport or competition oriented syllabus. We should know that sport martial arts and self-defence are two different forms of combat.

In the competition of sport combat, the students are competing in a very controlled environment and are expected to compete in a sportmanship manner. There are judges, referees and rules or regulations to make sure that the sports are conducted in a sportmanship manner.

Conversely, in a self-defence situation, things are totally different. The attacker will attack when you least expect. It is just like an ambush. The element of surprise is normally used to the attacker’s advantage. Normally, the poor victim have no opportunity to response.

Good self-defence required common sense. In this respect, training in martial art will help as it teaches a person to be focused and to make quick judgment. Self-discipline and self-control are the elements of martial arts. Therefore, training in martial arts will certainly help in fine-tuning your skill and give you the advantage of being able to remain calm and be able to make rational decision on how to response. However, when you are in the worst case scenario when you have to defend yourself, your fighting or self-defence technique is your only ticket to safety.

An attack could happen anywhere and at any time so it is advisable to always be vigilant. Some tips for you to remember so that you do not need to fight to survive. Prevention is better than cure.

1. always stay in well lit areas 2. do not accept lifts from strangers. 3. do not walk down quiet, dark street alone. 4. when stopping at traffic lights, make sure you lock your car door and keep the windows closed. 5. always make sure that your mobile phone is functioning well and the battery is charged. It is a tool to get help when you are in danger.

Now, should you get involve in a martial arts or self-defence lessons? Martial arts or self-defence which one do you prefer?

Martial Arts Management And The Dojo Store

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If you aren’t selling equipment, supplies, and apparel at your martial arts school, you are definitely missing out on a significant source of revenue. As a practitioner of good martial arts management, a dojo master should always be looking for ways to further serve the students and sustain the school. The sale of services and products in addition to the core school lessons is an important aspect of any successful school. The dojo store can become a very active and profitable part of your school.

Additional Sources of Revenue

In most businesses, it is important to have a few different revenue streams. This way, if the sales of the main product or service falter in any way and for any reason, the other revenue sources can carry the business, at least for a while. Having a peripheral sales generator for your school is a good insurance policy.

It may seem to you as if setting up the dojo store is a big investment of time and money up front, and it can be if it is done too quickly or too expansively. But having the basic equipment on hand, in popular sizes, can be a quick sale to new or advancing students. You may want to display some of the most popular items, but most items for sale can simply be listed on an order form.

What You Should Stock From the Beginning

Here is some of the equipment you might want to have on hand to sell to your students:

Sparring Gear – depending on the particular martial art you are teaching, this can include head protection, mouth guards, hand and foot pads, and chest and groin protectors. Shin and arm protectors are common as well.

Uniforms – especially if you are teaching children, new uniforms will be in constant demand as they grow. Children can grow into a new uniform size every year.

Dojo Logo Equipment – offer a selection of t-shirts, sweatshirts, baseball hats, bandanas, and equipment bags, all displaying the name and logo of your school. Remember that anyone wearing your logo is advertising your school.

Training Gear – you can offer the basic training gear, such as paddles or even punching bags, along with printed training cards and educational information such as books or DVDs. You should use caution with the quantity of some of these as they can be expensive to stock up front.

Keep the Stream Flowing

You should remind your students regularly about the equipment and supplies you offer for sale. Remind them with a statement in class, post flyers at your school about the sale of equipment, send email notices once in a while to all of your students, and offer periodic sales and discounts. You could even offer coupons for a certain percentage off merchandise as a birthday present and encourage people to purchase gift certificates.

If you advertise your sale of martial arts equipment in the local media, such as the yellow pages, it may even result in an increase in enrollments by getting the name of your school in front of people.

Your students will need to purchase their martial arts equipment from someone; some company down the street or on the Internet. Why shouldn’t it be you? Your dojo store can provide the equipment and supplies that your students need, and provide you with a new and profitable source of revenue, an important part of your martial arts management plan.

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Martial Arts Flexibility – Doing The Splits Is Easy With PNF Stretching

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Are flexibility exercises a real pain for you? Until I discovered something called PNF Stretching, they used to be for me, too!

It means, “Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation.” Fancy words that, in essence, mean you make dramatic gains in how limber you are when you combine relaxed, passive stretches with isometrics.

Yes, dramatic gains. Believe me–I know from experience!

My martial arts students think I’m pretty flexible, but the truth is, I was never a naturally flexible athlete. If anyone has ever struggled with flexibility, it’s me! In fact, when I started practicing Martial Arts in my early twenties I was so out-of-shape I didn’t know my hamstrings from a ham sandwich!

And let me tell you, I had a tough time learning how to get loose enough just to lob a regular round kick to my own head height.

Maybe this has been you’re experience, too: I would arrive an hour before my scheduled class time, sit on the floor off to one side of the room, doing stretch after stretch after stretch until I could finally do the high kicking my belt rank required.

And the next time I came back to class, I had to do it all over again…

And again…and again…

Why Passive Static Stretching Doesn’t Work

And a curious thing-after all that stretching, instead of feeling ready to get out there and do a good workout, I always felt a bit sleepy.

The reason is obvious to me now. What I didn’t know was that all that passive exercise stretching was helping me to slow down, not warm up!

Why? Because in passive exercise stretching, lengthening of the muscles is accomplished by relaxing them, with a little bit of help from applying your body’s weight to the point where you feel the “burn.”

All that relaxation along with deep breathing during the stretch is great for winding down after a workout-or for that matter, as a cure for insomnia.

Believe me, I know how frustrating it can be to try to achieve Martial Arts flexibility that carries over into your “off hours.” And when it comes to Personal Safety, that’s where you really need it the most.

There’s Got To Be A Better Way

It was also frustrating to see other, more flexible people toss their kicks around like their legs and hips were made of rubber. I started thinking, There’s got to be a better way to get flexible!

And there is. After researching many articles and books, and videos, I discovered that Stretching isn’t just Stretching. In fact, there are several kinds of flexibility techniques:
Passive
Active
Static
Dynamic
Ballistic
Resistance PNF

Passive stretching is okay after a workout, but doesn’t do much to prepare you for high kicks. In fact, what I eventually learned was that most of the improvements to my kicking range came through sparring and heavy bag work.

That’s right-although you can help prevent injuries and cramps by passive stretching before a workout, it does very little to improve your high kicking ability.

The Danger Of Overtraining In Mixed Martial Arts

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Are you ready? Are you ready? Lets get it on! ” These are the words are often heard in the matches of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). UFC is a mixed martial arts (MMA) sports event which features the world’s finest fighters using their own styles. Viewers of these event satisfy themselves as they they watch fighters of different martial arts disciplines slug it out with each other. Numerous punches and kicks are thrown during a fight there are times that it features ground fights. Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, and wrestling are some of the disciplines involved in these events.

In the early days of UFC, there were limited rules and it was considered as no holds barred fighting. Most of its matches were considered violent and brutal and were not accepted in national television. The organization was forced by its opponents to go underground because of accusations of brutality and violence. Today, UFC has reformed its rules, having stricter rules, and is sanctioned by athletic commissions. The organization is currently enjoying popularity worldwide along with high demands for media coverage. The advent of UFC paved way for the birth of other MMA organizations like Pride Fighting Championships (PFC) and International Fight League (IFL).

MMA is here and it is here to stay. With the rise of MMA a lot of people have been going “gaga” over it. Wanting to be a part of this sports industry. Before it was Michael Jordan, now people have been raving about Ken Shamrock, Renzo Gracie, and other mixed martial artists. People nowadays want to be fighters, training to get into their fighting form. Many athletes involved in this craft have been involved in serious, rigid training trying hard to reach the peak of their fighting forms. A lot of them over-training on purpose-training till they’re drained and burned out. They use up all their body’s reserved energy and train more. Some believe that extra training will be beneficial for their body and for a fight.

Over-training according to specialists takes place when an individual spends too much time training and not enough time resting and eating the right food to rebuild muscle tissues and other components during exercise. There is a difference between “good” soreness and fatigue. Although some kinds of discomfort may mean injury, others are just signals which means that one’s muscles are growing stronger and fitter. Individuals are advised to give their body time to heal rather than using muscle relaxants.

Specialists claim that the resting period is as important as the training period. The human body needs to rest and recuperate after training. Other factors that may lead to over-training are too much training, frequent competition, and heavy travel schedule. Over-training according health experts may lead to delayed progress, injuries, and other illness. That is the reason while some boxers or mixed martial artists break down with injuries and other illness before competition. People who over-train may also experience depression, loss of appetite, weight loss, muscle soreness, and insomnia.

Over-training may lead to injuries and in the long run may lead to the development of arthritis due to wear and tear of the muscles, joints, and other body parts. Though there are many anti-inflammatory drugs out in the market that are able to give arthritis pain relief , proper training, exercise, food intake may slow down or prevent the development of arthritis.

Exercising is necessary for a healthy lifestyle. Health experts believe that too much of a good thing may do more harm than good.

Top 10 Selling items in Arts and Crafts Shows

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Arts and crafts fairs are great venues to showcase your creativity and make money at the same time. There is a wide array of products, which can be showcased. Listed below are the 10 types of items that are very popular and generally sell very fast in an art and craft show.

1) For the Kids

Kids are priority always and parents are happy to buy things for them. It is good to encourage your kids creative talent and taking them to various art and craft shows is good way of boosting their talent. You can find many items for children aged 0 to 12 in crafts shows to catch their attention. Items like painting tools, paper crafts which the children can do by themselves, or which children and their parents can do together.

2) Limited Edition Crafts

Giving a timeline for an item is also eye-catching. When you make an announcement or put a tag on your item that it will only be available, for example, on that day because of limited stocks perhaps, then people tend to give attention and take advantage of its availability, like art collectible dolls, cards, home ware items etc.

3) Crafts with themes

Crafts items with theme also catch interests. For example, you may sell items for pets such as dog collars, leashes and pet clothes like dresses and sweaters.

4) Unique Items

Products that cannot be seen and bought easily in public places like malls or even online, gain attention too. Browse ebay.com or etsy.com for unique crafts items and you will find a new shape candle or design, or embellishments, which can also be customized.

5) Environment friendly

Recycled products made from organic materials are also a hit. This is because there are a lot of people now concerned about the environment. Examples are home displays made from used papers, sculptures from broken glass or paintings from coffee beans.

6) Jewelry

This may be a regular product in arts and crafts shows but it has never lost its touch. You may blend uniqueness in style so that each item would look like it’s personally crafted for the buyer. This difference will give the items an edge from the others selling jewelries too.

7) Glass products

Making glass items like vases, or mirrors with beautiful frames is not a common skill. Showing these types of items in arts and crafts shows also showcase the superior talent of the makers because this skill is really difficult. People who appreciate this kind of talent will show their appreciation by buying the glass items.

8) Items for women

Women make up a great proportion of any country’s population. Most consumers are the homemakers too. You can get their interest with items such as bags, knitted or crocheted tops, cross stitch items or homemade perfumes and scented candles.

9) Products for laptops and the like

Laptops, mobile phones and other products help people communicate are used by all these days. Feature items like laptop bags and covers and mobile phone holders or cases are also great selling craft items these days..

10) High Quality items

Quality is always essential for any product. Making sure your item may it be big or small has top quality will also ensure your buyers will buy and even comeback or refer you to other buyers even if the product is just a regular one.

Creative talent is always great to have. You can either pursue it as a hobby or can also make living out of it if you are really good at it. Take the time to research items will sell in arts and crafts shows so that you can earn maximum profit out of your creation.