Coach’s Corner: 5 Beliefs That Make You More Resilient

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Happy New Year Team! We are so thankful to start another fantastic year with all of you. We’re looking forward to another year of pounds lost, muscle gained, and more victories!

Today’s Coach’s Corner comes to you today from Inc.com magazine’s article on 8 Beliefs That Make You More Resilient, for you sake we’ve only picked 5 that we think are pertinent to our students. We’ve also added our own personal caveats to make them relevant to you and your training.

“Today’s success can breed tomorrow’s failure if I let success make me complacent about staying motivated and moving forward.”

When you have a great class, or you get an A on your test at the end of the month – definitely pat yourself on your back and give yourself the credit you deserve, but DO NOT let it lead to you missing your next class because you worked super hard the day before. Before you know it you’ll be back on the couch eating Cheetos! We have a saying here at The Academy, “GOOD, BETTER, BEST – NEVER LET IT REST.” This is a mantra that has allowed so many of our fighters to become champions and so many of our students to lose weight and get into the best shape of their life.

“I learn more from failure than from success. Failure renews my humility, sharpens my objectivity, and makes me more resilient.”

Success is great, but failures are what help us learn and make us better. When you have a class or a training session where you feel awkward, or you’re just not getting the technique down right – don’t give up. If you can’t do 30 flutter kicks this month, don’t feel embarrassed, work on them each time you come to the gym. Try to do one more than you did the day before. Let it be the fuel you use to do 40 next month!

“Goals that contain, “I’ll try…” are self-defeating. If I want goals that truly motivate, I use phrases like “I will” and “I must”.”
Having goals that start out with I’ll try assumes that you’re giving yourself room for failure! Instead, make goals that sounds like, “By next month I WILL lose 5 pounds.” Then make your action plan around that. Don’t give your mind the slightest notion that you might slip up. When it comes to health goals, like losing weight and eating healthier – adopting a do or die mentality is not that dramatic. Training down to a healthy weight and eating well will significantly decrease your risk of disease and promote longevity.

“What holds most people back is fear of failure, but if I don’t take action, I’ll fail by default, so what have I got to lose?”
Fear will define the limits of your life, guaranteed. Don’t let it hold you back from doing the things you want to do and accomplish. If you’re thinking about doing your first competition, but have never competed before – don’t psyche yourself out! Come to us for support – we are here to help you push through that fear and achieve!

“What I say reinforces what I think, so if something is about to come out of my mouth that doesn’t serve my purpose, I should simply keep my mouth shut.”
It does you no good to put yourself down or to put others down when they’re having a hard time. When you feel frustrated with yourself, pause  for a moment and remember that there’s no such thing as perfection – but there is progress. Remind yourself that you are better than you were a month ago and you will be better a month from now. But the interim is a time of inevitable frustration, don’t let that get to you. Instead of telling yourself that you’re weak and you’ll never reach your goal, tell yourself that you are stronger than you ever have been and you are going to crush this goal into oblivion!

Coaches Corner: Age Is Nothing But A Number

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Hey Team!

As mentioned in the previous issue, this month’s focus will be on the importance of fitness and martial arts in your life regardless of age. As coaches, we often hear, “I’m too old to do that.” Or, “I’m too out of shape to do that.” You are never too old to start taking care of your mind and body. Not matter what season of life you’re in, you can reap unthinkable benefits from working out, eating healthy, and achieving your goals.

Children:

Here at The Academy, we have students as young as 4 years old training in our Tiny Ninjas program. Children who get involved in martial arts at a young age learn important skills in discipline, respect, and team work that carry on into their adolescent and adult lives, while simultaneously burning off some of that energy that never seems to end. (Parents, you know what we’re talking about.)

Teens and Young Adults: While we don’t have a teen specific program, most of the teenagers and young adults that train here attend adult classes. Just like the Tiny Ninjas and Little Dragons programs, our adult program also emphasizes discipline, respect, and team work. By allowing this age group to train with adults, we expose them a variety of mature and hard working training partners that they can look up to and learn from. This is also a great age to start learning self defense skills that can be used to protect themselves in the event they find themselves in a situation where it is necessary to do so.

Adults:

If you’re between the ages of 25 and 50 then martial arts is a fantastic way to lose weight, become stronger and leaner, and to build mental fortitude. Training in the martial arts as an adult will give you a renewed sense of confidence that maybe you’ve never experienced before, or once experienced but lost it because of stress, work, family issues, etc. While its true that maybe at 50 you don’t feel as energetic or as flexible as a 25 year old, but training at your own pace and with good partners that are patient, will help you succeed in your training. The key to training safely is learning the balance between pushing yourself and knowing when to back off and take breaks. Don’t be discouraged if you have to start slow, or if you have to take breaks. This is normal if you haven’t worked out in a while. As you train more, the workouts will become easier as your body gets more used to training.

50 and over:

As people get into their fifties and into their sixties they write off exercise completely using the common excuse of, “I’m just too old,” or, “My joints hurt too much.” We’re here to tell you that this excuse is unacceptable. We are fortunate to have Coach Dick Kotasek, our Monday and Wednesday night Foundations BJJ coach, who is in his early seventies and a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Professor Pedro Sauer. He is living proof that no matter how old you are, training in martial arts is not just for the young and spry. Choosing to be active at this stage in life is key to potentially prolonging your life. We have a number of students in our programs that are in their late forties and early fifties and they’ve all said that their training has been extremely beneficial to not only their physical health, but their mental and emotional health as well. It’s never too late to start, better late than never, right? Just remember, start slow and take your time!
Coach Dick Kotasek 70 Years Old Still Competing in BJJ!