Melanie Gibson General Martial Arts, Mental Health, My Guest Posts, Training Tips

My Guest Post: What to Do When Your Martial Arts Practice Feels Stagnant

This article was originally a guest post on the website BookMartialArts.com.

Boxer-working-with-coachHave you ever felt like something was off in your martial arts practice? You find that it’s becoming harder to drag yourself to class, and if you make it there, you’re stealing glances at the clock the entire time. Or perhaps you do enjoy going to class and working out, but it feels like you’re going through the same old motions over and over. Maybe you don’t feel challenged enough, or you’ve hit a plateau and feel frustrated that you can’t get past it.
Are you burned out, or are you just bored?

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Melanie Gibson Class Diaries, Work and Martial Arts

Learning Theory and Hook Kicks…or…Sweat and the 70/20/10 Principle

adult-learning-presentation-tips
Training is useless without application…and it looks like Hannibal Lecter found this guy before we did.

As I was leaving taekwondo practice Monday night I mentioned to my instructor that I liked the sparring drills he added at the end of class. Monday is typically cardio and conditioning night, but lately we’ve been doing some no contact sparring (i.e., we’re not wearing protective gear so we try not to kill each other), reaction drills, and fighting techniques during the latter half of the class. That night we had done a simple drill during which one partner attacked with a roundhouse kick, which is a very typical (and predictable) attack during free sparring, and the defending partner would counter with a low block and a hook kick to the chest. Fun, simple, but surprisingly difficult for some students to do intuitively.
Continue reading “Learning Theory and Hook Kicks…or…Sweat and the 70/20/10 Principle” →