A Sincere Thank You & Happy Holidays!

Greetings Team,

With Christmas arriving on Saturday and the New Year beginning next weekend, I wanted to take the time to extend a very Sincere Happy Holidays to all of YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES! It's during this time of year that we ALL should take the time to surround ourselves with the people we care about most and share some good ol' fashioned quality time. :)

In addition, I wanted to remind all of you of that sharing the Martial Arts with you is a true pleasure. Getting the chance to watch you all grow as martial artists, fighters, athletes, and people is a true joy. Every day I get to interact with some of the best people I've ever met, and for that I am thankful. As I always say, I am one lucky guy. ;)

In this next year, let's ALL work VERY hard to be our VERY best! I look forward to watching all of you achieve BIGGER & BETTER VICTORIES in 2011!

I will see EVERYONE on the Mats January 3rd!!

COACH

What Kind of Year do YOU Want in 2011?

Greetings Team,

It's that time of year when we ALL talk about our GOALS for the upcoming year! It's normally during this time that we get very excited about what we think CAN happen. We DREAM a little more than usual. We open ourselves up to NEW possibilites. I would love for each and EVERY one of you to reach some new heights this year. But if we can't keep our level of Excitement up, we will never reach our Goals.

There are so many great books to read on the topic of Goal setting. I personally love Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglar. Check out some of their work, you might be impressed. My hope is not to give you a lesson on goal setting today. There are far many better sources you can look into on that subject, such as the men I mentioned above. My hope is to share with you that the #1 thing I believe I should remind you about today...and that is to work very hard daily at keeping your level of Energy HIGH. When we are in the right state of mind, the ACTIONS we take are always for the best! If you can find some strategies that you can employ each day to keep your level of enthusiasm up, I'm certain that you will work hard at your goals!!

So as you get your list of Goals together, please take some time research how to maximize your efforts. Get ideas from intelligent and successful people. Once you have your PLAN OF ACTIONS formulated, please work to keep your ENERGY HIGH! It's the only way to TRUE SUCCESS in 2011!!


I wish you the BEST in 2011!

COACH

Be Inspired Daily

Greetings Team,


In light of our recentWarriors Weekend, I wanted to share with you the power of being INSPIRED. As a Coach/Instructor, watching my students grow on the Mats is very similar to watching my children grow. I watch people become stronger people physically and mentally. I watch them become something more today than they were yesterday. During Warriors Weekend, I got to watch many of you change before me. With every push forward when you wanted to quit, I watched you change. It was very inspiring.

So my encouragement for you today is to be INSPIRED daily. If you had the chance to watch Warriors Weekend, you felt the ENERGY in the Gym. What if you could replicate that feeling within yourself on a day to day basis? Would it affect your life in a powerful way?

So how do we get inspired daily? The answer is simple. Read, listen, and surround yourself with inspiration. I once heard that we are basically an accumulation of the books we read and the people we interact with on a regular basis. Put another way, we are what we constantly think about. If you read and listen to stories of people overcoming challenges or achieving goals against all odds, it will inspire you. If you surround yourself with positive, goal oriented people, they will rub off on you.

If each day you put some positive energy in your mind and body, you will be amazed at how you feel and the actions you take!

BE INSPIRED DAILY TEAM!


All the Best,

COACH

The Motivational Model

Greetings Team,

As we bring 2010 to a close, I wanted to chat with you briefly about a wonderful concept I had the priveledge of recently learning. I feel it will be very important for ALL of us to get our mindset and goals set BEFORE the beginning of the New Year. You hear me say all the time, Decide in Advance! Let's all decide in Advance how successful we are going to be in 2011.

The Motivational Model is simple. Anything anyone ever achieved can be plugged into this simple formula.
1. You must have a Clear Purpose/Goal
2. You must be clear on the ACTIONS needed to be taken to Achieve that Goal.
3. You must be clear on the REWARDS of the ACTIONS you have taken.

Take a moment to think about this simple formula.......Pretty powerful isn't it? Think about anything that is Worth achieving. Don't you have to have a Purpose? Don't you have to have a plan to get what you want? Don't you have to have a reason to keep taking actions?

So many of us want to be more fit...especially around January 1st. So we have a Goal--> be more fit. But many of us aren't clear on what actions need to be taken. Further, we never really get EMOTIONALLY engaged about the REWARD-->an awesome physique and better health.

Many of us want to achieve more financially. But we tend to stop with that goal also. We make excuses on why it's impossible. We never really look into what ACTIONS need to be taken to get that goal. We don't get EXCITED about the REWARDS we would recieve if we achieved it.

I would encourage you to pick 3 Goals that you KNOW YOU WANT to achieve in the future. Fitness, a college degree, a BLACK BELT. ;)  Take some time to write out WHAT ACTIONS YOU MUST TAKE TO GET THAT GOAL. Then stop for a moment...close your eyes...and imagine how you would FEEL if you had achieved that goal. Let that emotion sit inside you and grow for a while. How does that make you FEEL now?

So you see, I am absolutely in love with the MOTIVATIONAL MODEL. I hope that it impacts your life as much as it has mine!


All the Best!

COACH

The Holidays are No Excuse...

Greetings Team,


Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that all of you get a chance to spend some amazing time with your family!
BUUUT.... The holidays are not good excuse to get Fat and Lazy! So my reminder for you today is to have fun over the Holiday Season...just not too much fun. :)

You may have heard me say the phrase Decide in Advance. If we decide in advance what are goals are, it's easier to get the results we want. Decide in advance this year that you will INCREASE your fitness level this winter, not DECREASE it. Now I'm not suggesting to deny yourself some goodies. I am suggesting that you decide in advance how you are going to eat those goodies, and still keep yourself fit and ready.

Let me give you a little suggestion that I think may help. One of the reasons that Fighter's can stay fit is they have a target weight they MUST be to fight. There is no exception. If you can find a target weight that fits you and your body, that will help you ACHIEVE and MAINTAIN your fitness level. Once you get yourself to your Fighting Weight, then you MUST keep it. No exceptions. If you allow yourself to go over your Fighting Weight, then just work hard to get yourself back down. The key is accountability. You are holding yourself responsible to keep yourself ready to Fight.

If you can instill this mentality Team, you just may have the mindset AND body of an elite level Fighter! Good luck in your Quest!

Hope this gave you some benefit today!!


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

COACH

Connecting the Dots...

Greetings Team,

As some of you may know, I went to DC over this past weekend for some martial arts/business seminars. To say the least, it was a very powerful weekend that left me very inspired. My hope in today's blog is to share with you something I came to realize over the weekend...I am one Lucky guy. I say this because I do something I love. As a gym owner, I get to take that one step further and do what I love as a career. But, my intent with this blog today is to help YOU to connect the dots between your martial arts training and your personal life. The longer you train, you will find that these two become just one. The longer you train, the martial arts isn't something you DO. It's something you ARE. It becomes your IDENTITY. And at that point, you can just BEGIN to see how LUCKY you really are, too.

My journey in the Martial Arts began 23 years ago. I was an overweight 11 year old, but I had a burning desire to learn the martial arts. At 11, I think it was more about being a ninja. :) You, also, may have joined the martial arts for any number of reasons. Maybe it was just to do a new excercise routine. But, I have found with myself and for students I have trained over a long period of time, that the reason we start isn't always the reason we stay.

I can remember my first karate class. Can you remember your first class? Isn't it funny how the mind can remember what it wants? At any rate, I remember how much I ABSOLUTELY fell in love with training that very first day. At 11 it was everything I wanted. But to be honest, I had one goal...other than being a ninja of course....self defense. I didn't like the fact that other kids made me nervous or sad. I wanted to feel that I could fight another kid if I needed to. I wanted to feel confident that I could say something back if someone picked on me. And martial arts gave me that...and then some. Over time my love affair with training grew and grew. I didn't realize when I was younger all of the DISCIPLINE AND FOCUS I was recieving. I just trained. It wasn't until much later in life and my martial arts career that I was able to Connect the Dots. I started to realize that every time I didn't quit on the Mats I changed. With every challenge and obstacle that training brought me, I realized I had the ability to conquer it. It took a long time to also realize the person I REALLY was. In my personal life I had a tendency to not be that focused, driven individual. But, as I started to see that I could push through any adversity in my training, I could do the same in ANYTHING  I did. This mentality carried over into my relationships and my business. I can truely say that I would not be the man I am without being a martial artist.

In closing, I would like to encourage all of you to stay with your training...as LONG as you can. If you stay with it long enough, you will find these wonderful revelations in your own lives as I have. And that has always been the beauty of the martial arts...ANYONE can be a winner. Because the winner is inside of YOU.

I hope this imapacts you in a positive way!


All the Best!

COACH

Timing and Technique!

Greetings Team,

I wanted to share with you the idea of Timing and Technique. My hope with all of these blogs, is not only to help your Martial Arts practice, but to help you connect the dots of how these ideas will help you in you personal life, as well.

I have found through my own practice, and the coaching of others, that when our skills fail we can ususally track its failure to either our Timing or our Technique. Let me use Jiu Jitsu for example. The reason it is so hard to be a white belt is that the skills we are learning rarely work for us in a match. We learn armbar and triangle and we try relentlessly to make our partner tap. Class after class we never seem to be able to get it right. So the question is...how do I know why I can't tap my parnter? It's either in your Timing or in your Technique. The reason you should spend hours DRILLING your basics is to constantly fine tune your Technique. I think it's safe to say that if you miss one detail in your submission attempt, the guy won't tap. Have you ever heard my "Bake the Cake" analogy? To bake a cake you need to FOLLOW THE RECIPE. If you miss one ingredient, just one, the cake is terrible. In that same way, if you miss one detail in the pursuit of your triangle...no Tap for you! :) So my first encouragement is to fine tune ALL your basics. Whether it is your boxing, wrestling, or Jiu Jitsu. Constanlty sharpen the smallest of details.

Now what if you know the technique perfect....you know how to execute all the nuances of your triangle, but yet you STILL can't tap the guy? It's your timing. You don't have the ability to set him up or trick him. Or maybe you don't see the opportunity to hit your trianlge at JUST the right time. This is why being a white belt is so hard. It takes forever to just KNOW the skills. Then it takes another forever to be able to actually tap people. Don't be discouraged....it's hard to tap people regularly until you get above the Blue Belt level. At that point you have been working your skills for a year or more and can spend more time on your "game" : your abiltiy to apply the basics you know.

So, when you are having trouble with a skill, ask your self---is my technique bad, or my timing...or both :) From there you know what questions to ask your instructor and how to practice for the next month or so. Remember from my previous blog...work on one skill at a time! If you do, you can really take a look at why your moves are working or not. You can create an ACTION plan to get good instead of trying to just get lucky.

So take your Sniper Rifle out Team and work diligently on your skills. I think you will find that this attention to detail will carry over into EVERY area of your life!

Hope you enjoyed this today!


All the Best!

COACH

How You Do One Thing...is How You'll Do Everything

Greetings Team,


I first heard/read this old Zen phrase a while back. If my memory serves me, I first heard it from my good friend Sensei Joe Hurtsellers that runs 2 incredible dojo's in Toledo. It wasn't long after being introduced to this phrase that I absolutely fell in love with it. My hope today is to share how impactful an idea it truly is, and how it can help your martial arts training and your life.

I often use the Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde metahpor when I talk about the personality of my new students. What I mean is, more times than not, my new students are one personality in the gym...but an entirely different one when they're not on the mats. Usually the personality on the mats is driven, focused, and consumed with being a success. Unfortunately, early on, that personality does not translate well into their personal lives. Maybe they drink too much on the weekend, or aren't a success in businees. Or maybe they aren't a great Dad/Mom/or Spouse. Over time, one of those personalities will get crushed by the other. In my experience, the longer someone trains on the mats, the driven personality wins. Those students learn to be succesful...not just successful at times, or in certain areas...just successful.

So I would like to encourage you to think about that Zen phrase..."How you do one thing is how you'll do everything." I think it's a safe assumption that the "one thing" can be good or bad. It is therefore up to you to make those one things positive. You may have heard the phrase how you train is how you'll fight. See what I mean? If you train to constantly get better, not to "win" that day on the mat, your skills constantly improve. Soon enough you are quite proficient with your skills. When you hit the bags, or spar and you are completely focused on the task at hand, you constanlty reinforce the mental side of your training. When your brain and body are in tune, those skills will come out if you need them....in the cage or on the street.

So over the next week, take a look at your training and your life and see if this phrase can shed some light for you. Can how you keep on your toes in top guard help your side control? Can how you slip a jab help you land one? Can doing that extra push-up or round on the bag help you to not be a quitter when your back is put up against the wall? Only you know the answer...but I'm pretty sure I know what you'll say. ;)

Hope you found some benefit in this today!


All the Best!

COACH

Would You Walk Through the Forrest Without a Compass?

Greetings Team,

Last week we talked about how to attempt our skills to increase our success rate. This week, let's talk about how to streamline our training in a way to mazimize our improvement.

I find all to often that students try to get good at TOO many things at once. As a beginner, or someone new to a skill, we are very novice. There are many pieces of the puzzle that we are missing. If we try to fix every problem we have at once, none have a chance at getting corrected. If, however; you focus on one idea or attribute at a time, all of your attention is put to fixing that mistake in your technique.

With that same thought in mind, I often find students try to get good too many different techniques at one time. I once heard that a man that is kinda good at 100 techniques is nowhere near as dangerous as a man who is outstanding at just a few. You need to pick one skill, punch, submission, etc...and then work on it RELENTLESSLY.

Remember Team, the martial arts is a LIFE LONG endeavor. This past summer I celebrated my 23rd year of training. And there are MANY skills I just now feel like I am becoming highly proficient at. You have to look at the big picture and look for long term skills, not short term.

You may hear me say often that Everyone WANTS to be good...But not Everyone knows HOW to get good. You have to have the tenacity to pick one skill and go after it for 5,6,7,8 months if you have to. I personally have been working on my Rear Naked Choke since JANUARY! And I STILL have a long way to go. :)

So my encouragement for you this week Team is to streamline your practice. Find a skill or two to "master" for a few months. When you feel some decent improvement, move on. By the end of the year you should have 1 or 2 moves that you do well. And just maybe, you will be "dangerous"...


Hope you found some benefit in this!!


All the Best!

COACH

Do You Use a Shotgun, or a Sniper Rifle?

Greetings Team,

My topic for you today is the concept of getting laser beam focus on achieving your goals. For this particular conversation, I will relate it to our Martial Arts training. I'm sure, however; that you can easily apply this concept to your everyday life.

My metaphor of a shotgun and a sniper rifle simply refers to the method you may chose in attacking your goals. Let's take Jiu-Jitsu for example. If you are playing from bottom guard, you have a list of attacks and sweeps in your arsenal. The challenge is, how do you ensure you can get them to work? If you randomly go after submissions and just hope you catch one, you are using a shotgun. If I were to stand across the room and shoot my shotgun at my target, I'm hoping some bullets hit it. This is really what you are doing when you attack in this way. Hope is not a great term to use in fighting. So, how do you ensure victory? Use a sniper rifle.

I think it's safe to say that if I aimed at that same target with my sniper rifle, I wouldn't hope my bullet hit its mark. I would put it in my cross hairs and pull the trigger. To that end,  you need to put your opponent in a position where you know where he can go and what he can do. If you tie him up and limit his movement, THEN go for your submission, you have put him in your cross hairs and pulled the trigger.

So as you are training this week, make a point to put your partners in positions where you can attempt certain attacks. I guarantee you'll see better results!

Next week we will talk about how to streamline your practice even further by isolating  yourself to only a few skills/or techniques.

Hope this helps!


All the Best!

COACH

Sometimes Victories are Measured in Inches...not Yards

Greetings Team,

My topic and reminder for you today is the concept of how to track your progress. Often times I will hear students say, "I don't think I'm getting any better." Another one I hear is, "I feel like I'm getting worse." Normally when we feel this way about our training, we are going through a "growth phase." Simply meaning that we are at a point where we are trying to get better at certain skills.

Let me help you keep this simple. When you are new to training, many of us do not know any skills. Or if we do, chances are we are learing new skills in areas we are difficient. Either way, we go through this massive learing cycle. We start to get in better shape and we start to pick up skills we had no idea how to do before. Once we go through this big shift, change starts to slow down. And when it does, our improvements go from extremely noticeable to very small. Because of this, our brain has a hard time recognizing when we get better. We are so used to these huge achievements, the small ones rarely get noticed.

I'll share a metaphor. If you were very overweight, the first good chunk of weight loss is such a huge physical change that it is very easy to notice. It excites you and motivates you. But then, change becomes a lot smaller. Your body gets tighter and more fit, but it takes longer and is harder to achieve. This is when most get discouraged and give up. They ruin all they're hard work.

So, my encouragement for you is to not apply that thought model. If you do, you will also give up. Sometimes you need to rely on your Coaches, Teammates, and friends to remind you that you ARE doing well. If you give yourself enough time you will get the hang of whatever you are working on. You just have to stay focused on your goals and don't lose sight of your long term objectives. Believe me, you will be so happy you did not quit.

No one EVER gained ANYTHING from quitting...

Hope you find benefit from this today!!


All the Best!

COACH

Welcome to My New Blog!!!

Greetings Team,

I wanted to have the ability to share my thoughts with you on how to improve your training, as well as your personal lives. These blogs can range from a Jiu-Jitsu technique to how to set and achieve goals!!

I will be sharing some weekly wisdom with you...I hope you get benefit from them!!


Pursue Excellence!

COACH