For the past ten plus years, I have had the honor and privilege of running a martial arts school alongside my wife, who has always put nothing less than the utmost effort into making sure that our school, our instructors, and our students strive for improvement, regardless of how long that improvement might take. Recently, she has initiated a plan that will take over a year to reach its ultimate fruition, but one that is nonetheless both necessary and overdue. Many of our younger students will not, at present, be able to understand the full scope of this plan, nor will they immediately comprehend its benefits. To them, the final results will not be realized for what they perceive as "a long time."
Before I discuss the plan itself, I remind you that I am, at my core, little more than a geek, and as such, my view is always skewed toward geek culture when making connections to the world beyond the martial arts, if such a world actually exists for those of us who choose to walk the path of the martial arts instructor. That said, the best way I can relate this plan to others may be through referencing a work many still believe to be the greatest work of Fantasy Literature ever produced: J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of The Rings. In particular, I would like to make note of one of Tolkien's most interesting characters. No, I'm not referring to any of the Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, or Wizards. The character in question is the Ent, Treebeard. I realize that at this point many readers will have no idea what an Ent is, or who Treebeard is, but trust me, even if you have never read the novels or seen the films, Treebeard is cool.
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| Trust me: Treebeard is cool. |
In The Two Towers, Treebeard is encountered by the hobbits Merry and Pippin. In the film version, he tells them (eventually) after taking several hours to say "Good Morning" to the other Ents that, "it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish, and we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say."
Interestingly enough, the novel actually casts a slightly different light on this speech. In the novel, Treebeard says, "It is a lovely language, but it
takes a very long time saying anything in it, because we do not say anything IN IT, unless it is worth taking a long
time to say, AND TO LISTEN TO." (Emphasis added)
Wait, wasn't I supposed to be talking about the martial arts, and my wife's plan? I am, of course- weren't you paying attention? If we replace a few of the verbs, and the language of Old Entish with the words "martial arts", we begin to see the point, that being:
We don't say or do anything in the martial arts unless it is worth
taking a long time to say or do, and to pay attention to.
I do realize that I ended the above point with a preposition, but so did Tolkien, so you'll just have to forgive me. Now, go back and read it again, and take your time. It wasn't a suggestion; I actually want you to do it. Really. Why are you still reading this part? I said go back and read it again. Done? Okay, then I suppose we can proceed with the plan.
The plan, simply put, is to have our classes, and in particular our youth advanced classes, learn, understand, and put into practice each of the 14 Attitude Requirements of Tang Soo Do. Why then should this take such "a long time?" The answer is because the plan requires us to spend at least one month working on each one of the 14 requirements. Our students must not only learn the words, but must also make a solid attempt each month to understand what those words actually mean, and must show the instructors a genuine attempt to put them into practice. Oh, did I forget to mention? This is also cumulative. For example, by Month 3, students must still be able to recite and explain Attitude Requirements One and Two. By Month 14, our goal is that each student who has made an effort will be able to recite all 14 Attitude Requirements, explain to the instructors' satisfaction what each means, and give concrete examples of what they have done to actively fulfill each requirement, all of which can be found listed here. Does this all sound like a bit too much to ask of a child? I'll be painfully blunt: If you really think so, your child doesn't belong in my class.
They aren't called the 14 Attitude Suggestions. They are requirements. If you don't meet the minimum requirements, you don't move forward. It's really that simple, but what the heck? Let's go ahead and make it complicated anyway. What, exactly, is a requirement? Dictionary.com defines the word requirement as:
They aren't called the 14 Attitude Suggestions. They are requirements. If you don't meet the minimum requirements, you don't move forward. It's really that simple, but what the heck? Let's go ahead and make it complicated anyway. What, exactly, is a requirement? Dictionary.com defines the word requirement as:
a thing demanded or obligatory
and also as:
a need or necessity
If we accept these 14 Attitude Requirements at face value, we begin to understand that:
1. We must demand that our students learn, understand, and fulfill each requirement.
2. We must convince our students that they are obligated to do so.
3. We must help our students identify the specific need associated with and fulfilled by each requirement.
Notice that I used the word must in each of the above statements. Remember: they're not suggestions. Not only must we do all of the above, but we must also insist on doing the same for ourselves. Children understand hypocrisy, and they hate it. Demand no more of them than you demand of yourself.
When I am able to put Part 2 of this post series into coherent words, I will begin to discuss the Attitude Requirements themselves. Let's look at Attitude Requirement Number One just to see how big the plan really is:
Purpose of training should be enhancement of mental and physical betterment.
Throw that one at your class of youth students, pre-teens, teenagers, or even adults, and watch their eyes bug out of their heads. Then try to explain it, and proceed to scratch your own head. Each word in this requirement is carefully chosen and carefully placed, though, and it all makes sense. At the risk of making yet another somewhat obscure reference, I'll leave you with a quote from a somewhat underrated film starring Danny DeVito: Renaissance Man:
- Jamaal: Are you gonna come translate this for us?
- Bill: Why? It's in English.
- Kick. Punch. Easy Stuff.
Comments reposted with permission from facebook:
ReplyDeleteJohn Hubler:
In pondering something that Master Jorgensen posted about recently, I got to thinking about the first of our fourteen attitude requirements: "Purpose of training should be enhancement of mental and physical betterment." I feel that many people interpret this as "we should be training to improve ourselves, rather than training for other, less noble reasons such as revenge, recognition, fame, anger, etc." While that interpretation is certainly not incorrect, I think a lot of times, particularly in adult Black Belts, we fail to embrace the fact that we are still "required" to be bettering ourselves physically and mentally. In the years that I have been teaching, I have watched a great number of adults who have grown mentally by leaps and bounds. As they progress in rank, their techniques often get sharper and cleaner as a result of understanding them better. But physically, considering their strength, flexibility, stamina, overall fitness, etc., their progress is minimal. In fact - I have seen many adults who progress through the ranks because they know their material - but physically have improved hardly at all from a relatively early point in their training. Now - I completely recognize that I am opening up a can of worms here - so before I continue, please allow me to openly admit that as a "younger" instructor, I do not know what it is like to be 40, 50, or 60 years old. I cannot personally relate to the physical struggles that someone in that age group goes through. This post is not meant to point fingers, or to accuse people of being lazy, or to elevate my own status. This is strictly an inquisitive post so that I might better understand how to instruct individuals in this particular demographic - and so that I might even begin to prepare as I gradually creep toward that point myself. My question is this: at what point are we incapable of physically improving? I understand that as we get older, our bodies take longer to heal, and are more prone to injury - however... I don't believe that this means that we are unable to improve. Indeed, a 65 year old person who has very little muscle mass, or who is overweight is still perfectly capable of losing weight or building muscle. Once again, it may happen more slowly than a 25 year old person - but we're not taking time into consideration for the current argument. Is there anything that prevents someone who is older from getting better physically? And - as instructors of the Martial Arts, is it unreasonable to expect all of our students, both young and old, to continue to physically improve? Any and all feedback would be much appreciated! I apologize for the long post, but would love to hear you're thoughts on this. Thanks so much for reading!
Mark Jorgensen:
John - intelligent comments, and it is a point of view I've seen iterated in a number of ways over the last several years. I don't think we ever reach an age at which we stop having the ability to improve ourselves physically, but this does not have to mean we are in better physical condition than when we were younger. I'm not in the shape I was in when I was 18, or even 25. However, I look at "physical betterment" differently now as well. Does my training make me physically stronger, have more stamina, greater flexibility etc, than I would without it, given my current age and physical condition? Absolutely. If so, then this training is fulfilling its purpose and this Attitude Requirement. Do we always maintain the physical condition we should? No..but are we still "better" physically having trained at all? I would say the answer is definitely 'yes'.
Rashaud Olson:
ReplyDeleteI'll be the controversial one and say that TSD, by itself, is a horrible fitness program. Not because it doesn't work, but because we fail to progress or advance our training in those areas. To go along with Master Jorgenson's comment, I'll also never have the physical capacity that I had when I was 18 or 25, even though I'm only 30. It's just reality. However, I've been fortunate to run into individuals who have advanced and changed my perception on what physical training SHOULD be. TSD is a short term physical program. When you're young, and indestructible, doing jump kicks, kicking and punching the air really hard, hitting things, and doing 1 million jumping jacks is great. When you hit your 30's, or even upper 20's, it starts to fail you. Even though you CAN do all of that stuff, you SHOULDN'T. I credit yoga for more of my physical health and continuing longevity in the martial arts than anything else. I'm actually healthy, and far less injury prone than I've ever been in TSD because of it. Even when I slightly twinge my legs now, I recover fast than when I was younger. Yoga has taken the kinks out of my back form TSD's hard training, and I think allowed me to practice harder than if I did TSD by itself. I've met instructors that do kettlebell training in their 50's and 60's, and claim that it has restored their martial practice, once almost lost, too. The point is that we often discuss how your fighting ability has to change as you age, and practice must advance. Well, so does our physical fitness reginmen. If I were to only rely on a traditional "TSD Workout", I'd be a mess. Sure, my metabolism is great... but that doesn't meant I'm actually in good shape or really healthy. That doesn't mean my longevity in the arts will be any good. If there's any lesson we can take away from seeing those before us caution us about the injury prone stages of later life, it's that there is no such thing as a martial art that can "Cure All" or "Train all Skills". TSD is universal, but it does not Universally prepare us for everything. If you want your body to hold together, I believe you need to seek those who specialized and concerned themselves with that very thing. When you want to learn a sword art, people seek a sword master.
Last point. When you want to learn a sword art, you seek out a sword master. Firearms... a firearms instructor. I think we see disappointment in the physical realm because we've mistakenly believe that what carried us when we were younger, is sadly unsustainable. We should seek people that are qualified in those areas, instead of believing that we have all of that answers to those questions.
Mark Jorgensen:
I don't necessarily disagree with all your points, but I can't automatically agree, either. If we are injuring ourselves and our bodies in TSD, I've found that we're usually doing it wrong. There is a concept Grandmaster Shin writes about called Hwal. I believe when we train correctly, particularly with hyung, that we do gain physical rejuvenation. Our problem is that as we get older, we don't change our TSD training methodolgies correctly. Look at Master Strong as an example. I saw him test for 8th Dan, and he put most people half his age to complete shame, physically and otherwise. We don't always teach TSD correctly, either, because our teaching frame of reference for how others should train is too often ourselves. Now I'm not saying that supplementing TSD training with other areas won't help you even more, because it will. This is one of the reasons why GM Shin introduced Ki Gong to us to begin with. Also, if we read what GM shin says about how different age groups should view their training, we see big differences. The problem usually isn't WHAT we are training, but HOW we are training. Just my POV...
John Hubler:
ReplyDeleteThank you both for your insight and well-thought out answers! As usual, I find that I suffer from an exceedingly narrow point of view, and I sincerely appreciate it when others can shed light on another way of looking at things which seem obvious when revealed, but eluded me when left to my own thinking. So again - thank you both for your excellent responses! Also - I also feel that I should clarify - when talking about "people who fail to progress physically" I lump myself into that group as well. I'm 100% sure there are people who would look at me and say that I have progressed very little physically in the time they have known me - so for anybody else reading this, please do not think that I am pointing fingers, because in this instance, there is definitely still three fingers pointing back at me.
Mark Jorgensen:
Another quick point. It believe it is very important the the requirement in question contains the phrase "enhancement of". I think too many people read it without really looking into what the word "enhancement" means, or read it as if that phrase were omitted altogether. But that's all for another post...
John Hubler:
@Master Jorgensen - I loved your post on the fact that the "fourteen attitude requirements" are just that - requirements, not suggestions. I'm very curious to know - given your upcoming challenges that you will be issuing to your students, where will "physical betterment" fall into that? Will you be "requiring" students to show evidence of physical enhancement? Or will it be more of an "open invitation" to try? Would love to hear your thoughts on "demanding" such things, as an instructor.
Mark Jorgensen:
ReplyDeletethere will be more to come...but proof of "physical betterment" is coming in a number of ways. At the beginning, we are concentrating on correcting the physical aspects of our stances, and very basic techniques like center punch, but we are also working on doing correct pushups,etc. It is important to recognize that physical betterment does not always automatically equate to better muscle tone and conditioning. That's actually only a small part of it.
John Hubler:
I'm very excited to hear about how this pans out for you and your school! Thank you again for your insight and giving me some food for thought!
Mohamad Mabrouk:
What a great post. I actually read the entire thread . You know mr. Hubler, there have been many a times when I used to walk into a room and go, 'wow, is that person really that good? They are always complaining about their body parts!' In reality, as instructors our goal is to bring out the best in our students. And as time grows, so does ur perception. Your eyes will be opened in march, I am sure of it. I always tell students that you do not need to side kick someone in the head if you physically can't. But you Should train to do the perfect side kick at the height that you can throw it. Does that mean they will not improve? Absolutely not, just from their sheer determination and comfort to realize that their side kick does not have to be as high as let's say mr. John Hubler , they still gain their physical prowess from it. Mr. Rashaud Olson, you found your yang in yoga as QCN foun his in Qi qong. There is nothing wrong in diversifying your skills to help maintain ur body. All great answers and thoughts from great people. I look forward to seeing all of you in march!
Donald Dolan:
ReplyDeleteAs someone that started TSD at the age of 42 and very significantly overweight, this topic is close to my heart. I am now 43 and still very significantly overweight and I struggle with that every day. Although TSD hasn't caused me to lose massive amounts of weight in the year or so that I've been doing it, my slow march to ever higher weights has stopped, and started to slowly... oh so slowly, go the other direction. They say that at 43 you can't recover or move like you did when you were in your 20's. I call BS on that. I've been overweight since I was 8 years old and have struggled all my life just to SLOW that weight problem. I've had back problems, neck problems, no stamina etc. etc. for most of that time. Ask my family, they'll tell you that I used to have my back go out on me even as a young teen where I could hardly stand up straight. As I got older my physical condition has slowly deteriorated. Not that I was a wreck, but I would literally get winded walking up a single flight of stairs. I caught every cold that came along and went through large bottles of ibuprofen regularly as I was taking literally 12-16 tablets a day. Then I joined TSD and here I am a year later. I'm still fat, but I can do a full hour TSD class without feeling like I'm going to pass out every time. I can do rolls and breakfalls and not feel like I broke something. I RARELY get sick anymore. My back hasn't given me any problems since shortly after I started. I may not be majorly thinner, but I'm a LOT healthier. And yes, I move a LOT easier and recover a LOT faster than I did when I was 25. I'm heavier, but in better shape than when I was 25. My point to all this rambling is that EVERYONE can improve their physical state. Even if that "improvement" is that an 80 year old man slows the natural decline in his body's ability to heal and recover. That he slows the natural muscle loss and other negative effects of aging. "Improve" does not have to always mean that we're better than we were at our prime, it can mean that we're better than we were yesterday in that we're doing our best to improve our physical health. To me, the key there is "doing your best to improve". If you're putting your all into it, then you're living up to the requirement, even if you're just slowing a decline. If you're just going through the motions and maintaining a status quo... you're not. Me? I'm going to be healthier and in better condition at 45 than I EVER was at 25! Tang Soo!
David Josefik:
This is just my view. Each dojang has it's own climate. At D.J.studios Karate, I will be the first to admit, we have a get in shape work out climate. I trained under Grandmaster Shin at region #8 for many years (over 20). I never went home with a dry uniform, maybe if we put this (climate) in our classes, ( less teaching more training), you would see tang soo do is the best work out ever.
Mohamad Mabrouk:
Master josefik, do you usually keep the climate at around 120 degrees. I can see you doing that.
David Josefik:
Great to hear from you. And, when I'm around great wtsda student's, my enthusiasm just gets warmer.
Any time a martial arts studio ups the ante and expects more from their students, we all benefit. This is great stuff, thanks for sharing it. It gives me some ideas...
ReplyDelete