Arrowhead Martial Arts Studio Blog

This guy clearly didn’t get the memo this was a fight and not a “So You Think You Can Dance” tryout. Can you say B2a?!

The take away? Stick to business and be ready to seize the moment.

Ready to take the next step? Get One Week of FREE Martial Arts Lessons!

I have been blogging on this site for over three years and I thought I would do a quick round up of 12 of my favorite posts from my blog. For some, you might have missed these since many were older posts so I hope you find them of interest too.

Here they are in chronological order (from the most recent to the oldest):

1. How to Improve Your Martial Arts Forms
2. Is Blocking an Antiquaited Training Method?
3. Top 5 Tips on How to Avoid Becoming a Kenpo Robot
4. How Often Do You Practice Martial Arts?
5. Documenting Your Martial Arts Journey
6. Don’t Become A Kenpo Technique Junkie
7. It’s Not How Much You Know …
8. Stabilize Yourself with Kenpo’s Bracing Angles
9. Forms - Are They An Important Component of Martial Arts Training?
10. American Kenpo’s Three Phase Concept of Training
11. Are You Waiting to Exhale? Breathing Techniques 101
12. How To Avoid Training Burnout

Which posts from this blog have been your favorites?

I thought this was ironic. Here is the home page of Google.com today. Apparently, they love Karate!

Obviously, it has to do with the Olympics but still fun to see nonetheless.

I thought it would be fun to take a moment and share this photo. I was going through some old photos and thought this was a good photo to remind everyone that you have to start somewhere in the martial arts and no one is born a black belt. This is Mr. Shawn Gough, one of our 3rd degree black belts, after his first belt test. This was taken when I was teaching out of fitness club in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. Of all my students, he has been with me the longest and is the second person to have received a black belt from me.

I am happy to announce that the Paul Mills International Kenpo Camp is going to be on September 26th-27th, 2008 in Evanston, Wyoming. Rather than doing another camp in Las Vegas, Mr. Mills has decided to do something a little different. I am glad that he made this decision as I know the cost of running the camp was getting out of hand given the U.S. economy.

This KENPO camp is open to all AMAS students and will be two days of training you won’t want to miss! There will be multiple seminars available covering the many facets of our AMERICAN KENPO System. Learn first hand from the American Kenpo Karate Internationals top black belt instructors including my instructor Mr. Paul Mills.

Given that this is only a little over an hour a way I highly recommend that you plan to attend.  To save on travel and hotel, I highly recommend you carpool and split a room.

HOTEL & SEMINAR LOCATION:

Best Western Dunmar Hotel
Call (307) 789-3770 and ask for Paul Mills AKKI Discount. The discounted room rate is $99/night + Tax.

As soon as the seminar schedule is available (including seminar costs, topics, and instructors) I will post it a link on the blog.

So who is planning on going besides me? Let me know in the form of a comment below!

Taking the martial arts was one of the best things I could have ever done for myself. It has given me so many rewards that far exceed my ability to articulate.

That said, I will try and articulate one of them.

One of the major gifts it has given me is the strength to stick up for myself in extremely difficult and stressful situations. In fact, I firmly believe I would not have had the inner strength otherwise had I not been in the martial arts. It has been a tremendous source of strength for me.

“Have faith and believe in yourself, have courage, create and always be humble.” — Mr. Paul Mills, 10th Degree Black Belt

I look at my instructors words above and have thought about the many levels this statement can be applied. It’s a rather simple statement, but to me, is one that is very profound.

I look at the first two pieces, having faith and believing in yourself, are primary contributer to help you to develop the third, or courage. In fact, I encourage you to memorize this statement and think about it’s meaning often.

In addition to having faith and believing in yourself, here are some additional tips on developing the ability to stick up for yourself:

1. Understand you are worth sticking up for.
2. Know what is worth sticking up for and what isn’t.
3. Start in small, but important, areas.
4. Focus on a positive outcome, not what will happen if you fail.
5. Know when the time is right. Learn to trust your gut.
6. Don’t make excuses for other people’s bad behavior.
7. Understand that what you know is not known by many.
8. Develop the “don’t worry, I’ll be fine” attitude.

For many, people let others walk all over them be it a boss, coworker, friend, stranger, family member or a spouse. Sometimes we don’t even realize it is happening. However, there are those times where you know all too well it’s happening and you aren’t doing something about it.

Avoid letting yourself get caught in the trap (or what Mr. Mills calls a prison) where you feel helpless you can’t do something about it. The reality is that you can and do have the tools to stick up for yourself.

Remember, the fear in you is always working to stop you from sticking up for yourself. For some, that fear is constantly telling them to just sit there, do nothing, ignore it and it will all go away. However, we all know that this approach isn’t healthy and can, in fact, make things worse later.

Sometimes protecting yourself never involves ever having to lay a hand on anyone. Sometimes the best self defense is to take a stand, stick up for yourself, and stop letting people walk all over you.

How has taking the martial arts helped you stick up for yourself in your everyday life? Share your thoughts in the form of a comment below!

Our Salt Lake City Utah martial arts studio will be closed on Thursday July 24th due to the state holiday. Be sure to mark your calendars!

You might have noticed that everything outside of the blog has recently been freshened up a bit. It has been about 1 1/2 years since I updated the look of the site and wanted to get things ready for some upcoming additions.

I think we’re on at least the 9th version of the site!

Anyway, feel free to wander through the site and see what’s new. You’ll quickly notice the colors are a little deeper, the page is a little wider, I added the monthly newsletter sign up page into the main navigation, you can see the latest blog entry on the homepage for easier access, and more.

I hope you enjoy it!

These are some great clips put together on what not to do in the martial arts and what happens when you take your eye off your target.

These people must be horrified that 1) it’s on YouTube.com 2) It’s being sent around and posted to blogs 3) it was likely on America’s Funniest Home Videos. I hope to NEVER make this reel!

I just wanted to take a minute to congratulate Blake on his yellow belt promotion last Thursday. Please join me in commending him on a job well done!