11. How do I know if a martial arts school is right for me?
Coach Mindset-What I tell people that are looking for a great place to train Is if the coaches are more of a guide or a cult leader where everything has to be done their way. I get it, this is a very blurred line. But if they are guiding you in a positive direction at your pace then you’ve found a good gym, if there’s only one way to do something and your coach has “the only way” then you’ve stumbled upon a cult lol maybe not a cult, but a coach that isn’t open to learning other ways to train the myriad of body compositions that are out there.
Cleanliness-is it disinfected on a daily basis if not twice a day.
Accountability- Are the students held accountable for their actions. Is someone making a student uncomfortable? And they don’t address it.
Technique/form/function- are you learning the correct way to do things
Questions- most coaches I know LOVE questions! Including me. If you’re not allowed to ask questions then I’d say there are better gyms out there.
12. Do I need a specific diet or nutrition plan for martial arts?
Need? Not really. Should be more aware of what you put in your body? Yep!
I’ve seen people train with fast food, chocolate bars etc.
Do you want your body to perform at its highest caliber and recovery efficiently so you can stay healthy enough to remain on the mats longer then yes, eating nutrient dense foods, drinking appropriate levels of water, and staying away from processed foods and refined sugars are a great way to start.
13. What should I wear to a martial arts class?
Basically anything that gives you free movement, for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a Gi for Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which are provided free with a signup and board shorts or a rashguard, even a tight fitting tshirt is ok for Nogi. Eventually the rashguard should be worn.
Gloves for Boxing and gloves/shinguards for Muay Thai or Kickboxing. Attire should be loose enough to move freely but not so loose that a foot or hand will get wrapped up in it.
Street Shoes aren’t required and shouldn’t be worn on the mats. There are some instances where wrestling or boxing shoes can be worn eg boxers in the ring, wrestling shoes in wrestling class.
14. How does martial arts training affect my mental health?
It’s a metaphor for life! When you learn to work on beating your opponents across the ring or cage physically, you can learn to beat the emotional, mental, or financial opponents. You stop playing the victim and start learning to adapt and become more durable and confident. So your mind is forced to start finding solutions, it stops becoming “I can’t” and turns it into “how can I”?
15. Can martial arts help with self-defense?
Yes and no. If you’re fortunate enough to find a gym that pressure tests their curriculum in the ring, cage or street then you’re on the right path to learning a legit martial art. If you’re not allowed to spar outside your academy or even spar at all, train in no touch knockouts, “no contact” sparring, yes I’ve seen it advertised lol, then you would be better off saving your money AND not training to do stuff that won’t work and rely on instincts and “seeing red” as opposed to trying to do something that hasn’t been battle tested.
This is not a knock on anyone in particular but we simply don’t get the reps in real life scenarios that our ancestors got. The stuff that didn’t work got left on the battlefield with the dead! lol everyone wanted to do away with the stuff that didn’t work cuz their lives were literally on the line. In this day and age unfortunately we can get away with pretending to do martial arts and no one will be the wiser until the time comes where you actually need it and unfortunately what you’ve practiced up to that point will have to be enough!
16. What are the belts or ranks in martial arts?
It depends on the style of martial arts. It was told to me that everyone starts pure, knowing nothing. And with enough time and energy the colors start to get put into the belt. The red symbolizes blood, green-grass stains, blue-sweat, yellow-sun, and so on and so forth so back in the day you WOULDNT wash your belt cuz you’d “wash away all your knowledge.”
You would literally find the guy with the dirtiest belt because he had the most time in. Makes sense…for back then!! That’s why the belts are different colors, it’s nothing but symbolic of the amount of time you’ve put in. Nothing more, so please for the love of everything Holy WASH YOUR BELTS WITH YOUR UNIFORM! Lol
If you’ve been in this sport for awhile you’ve probably heard some crappy advice. Lol In all seriousness, it can have disasterous effects.
It amazes me how little the fight community knows about cutting weight, and water loading! Well, I mean cutting weight and water loading SAFELY!
One guy I know ate 1 frozen raspberry every hour leading up to weighins..
Another guy started cutting 30+ lbs 5 days before Weighins…
Another guy we saw after getting off the scale started eating a roll with processed meat, kraft slice American cheese and mayo as his first meal getting off the scale. No wonder he was conked out in the corner 15 min after eating..
Another person I know has kidney problems because of the diet and exercise her coach had her on before her fight.
People try to cut too much weight and water too fast with disasterous effects. I’m talking about where your body pulls that water from after it’s pulled all it can?
It can pull from the pericardial sac, or cerebral fluid it’s the last part of the body the water pulls from unfortunately it’s always the last to replenish.
There is a method to the madness. Please do your research before taking on this endeavor!
We have it down to a science because we took the time to educate ourselves on this because we care about our students that fight and the the lives they’ll lead after fighting! The days of blindly following shit advice from people that say “that’s how it’s always been done” are over.
