Reactive vs Proactive

Hello GBMA!

I was browsing old notes today and

came across an entry from 06/08/2010 and wanted to

share it! It’s brief but I think has some nice ways of

framing how we think of Reactive and Proactive!

Reactive:

Relies on chance too often

Proactive:

Leaves as little to chance as possible, always prepared, and minimizes surprises

Reactive:

Avoids responsibility for outcome of own performance

Proactive:

Learns from personal mistakes; gets credit for personal success, responsibility feels good

Reactive:

Instead of training others, does work someone else could do

Proactive:

Constantly trying to work out of a job to accomplish more

Reactive:

Feels comfortable with routines and sticks to them

Proactive:

Uses routines to accomplish clearly defined goals but keeps looking for ways to improve environment with better routines

Reactive:

Measures effectiveness and is rewarded by number of hours put in

Proactive:

Measures effectiveness by predetermined goals that were attained or not

Reactive:

Treats all tasks alike rather than organizing in order of priority

Proactive:

Establishes priorities of what should be done and what can be left undone.

Short and to the point, as promised! Not at all the final word on any sort of discussion on the topic, but a helpful conversation starter!

At the bottom of the page of notes, is what I’ll end this blog post with. It is something I have heard so often from coaches, sensei and mentors throughout my martial arts career and is a take on the famous Franklin quote:

“The best cure is prevention!”

Until next time,

Kanpai!

John Gaddis

Martial Arts is more than just class! - Successful Living as a Black Belt

Below I have posted notes of a lecture I have heard many times over the years in my training. After hearing it a few times, these notes are condensed to the main points. I hope you enjoy and take something beneficial away!

Kanpai

John Gaddis

Successful Living as a Black Belt

The Power of Goals

• Goals give you a direction for your energy!

• They give you a reason for living your life…PURPOSE!

• They lead to progress and development…GROWTH!

  The Types of Goals

• Social goals

• Family goals

• Career goals

• Recreational goals

• Spiritual goals

• Financial goals

The Goal Setting Process

• Dream big and make a list

• Go beyond your expectations

• List the reasons why you want this goal (WIIFM = What’s in it for me)

• List the obstacles

• Strategize how to overcome those obstacles

• List the people you need to deal with

• Find people who can help you achieve your goals

  Plan of action

• Plan out your steps to achieving your goal

• Get to action

• Set a date of accomplishment

• Make sure it is a realistic completion date

• Be open to resetting that date

  Personal Management

• Having a proper attitude

• Positive mental attitude/pays more always

• Politeness and courtesy get you a lot farther

• There are no problems only challenges

• Turn tragedy into triumph

• No one wants to be around a complainer

• Something wonderful is always about to happen

• All things are set in motion by attitude

• Being in good health

• Take care of it – physical and mental

• Proper diet

• Exercise

• Get plenty of rest

• Think positive – stress is simply your interpretation of what is happening

• Taking responsibility

• You are in control of your life

Set goals for yourself

Managing relationships

• Choose your friends wisely

• Associate with positive people

• Disassociate with negative people

• Find people who will keep you in line and tell you how it is

• Find the good in others and make it yours

• Time Management – time is more valuable that money because you can never get it back

Work

When you work stay focused

• Find a career you love to do

• If you don’t like your career get a new one

Studying & Learning

• Spend time learning new things/skills

• Study things outside of your career and make yourself more valuable

Play

• Make time to have fun

• When you play make sure you play hard

• Remember the value of recreation = the re-creation of the vitality of your life

Financial Management

Pointers about money

• Two kinds of money – income/expenses

• Stop spending money until you are in control

• Know where all of you money is going – decide if it is right for you

• Make a list of where your money goes – try two weeks – try one month

• Break the list into categories

• Make new decisions about how to spend your money

• Stop using credit

• Get rid of all debts

  Things to do with money

• Save it

• Spend it

• Lose it

• Give it away

• Financial earnings breakdown

70% - Live off of this amount, usually your checking account

% (Option) - Independent wealth account, this is a permanent savings account

% (Option) – Investment account, use this money to make you more money

% (Option) – Donation account, give to others, the more you give the more you receive

% (Option) – Big expense account, for all the big things like a new car

% (Option) – Annual income account

Six questions to ponder

What image do I have of myself?

What areas of my life are not productive?

What area of my life am I most excited about?

What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail

What daily habits are needed for self-development?

What is holding me back from my dream?

Heiho: Martial Arts Strategy

When I face obstacles and challenges, of personal, familial, or business related, I've learned to turn to my support network to settle myself. That network for me is martial arts! My mentors, friends, notes, photos, students, etc. I try to draw some inspiration and lesson from them to help me get through, over or past whatever is bringing me down. And while I admit to myself I'll probably have to relearn the same lessons more than once until they sink in firmly, I am reassured because I have such a great wealth of support to help me along the way. I looked up some old notes to do just that earlier today and thought I'd share them here...

This blog post subject is Heiho or martial arts strategy. These are three of the basic or simplest types of strategy is traditional budo (martial arts/way). These are my takes on the strategies and reflect my experiences. Like any art, martial arts and its participants are constantly evolving and my reflections on these strategy have evolved over time as well. They can be useful in besting all different types of challenges! 

I credit my understanding of Go no Sen (counter attack) to my Sensei, Dean Romanelli of Detroit, MI, whom I remember stressing the importance of response over reaction many times in the dojo.

Strategy and Principles: Heiho

“Only the one with the Initiative has the right to attack”

Sen:

Sen: Initiative (attack) “see first with your mind, then with your eyes and finally with your body”

Sen is the simplest strategy for the uninitiated to understand yet is the apex of complexity for the initiated. While the layman surely thinks attack is the beginning of the battle, the first step, the crucial step, to the veteran the attack is simply the continuation of strategy executed at a time and point of choice. Sen, or the initiative, can be psychological or physical. Both psychological and physical initiative can be attained verbally and non verbally.

Tai no Sen: Body/Physical Initiative (direct and overwhelming attack) 

Here is the pure physical act of overcoming another human being with an attack. Here again the layman will jump to superior force and physicality. The veteran will surely understand that this means attack with superior technique, and as we know superior technique means many things but chiefly it means superior timing. What is the point of the tirelessly studying martial arts if not to be confident in the face of superior force (strength). So while the uninitiated will attack with force, they rarely have a plan for what happens after the initial Tai no Sen, and in the course of engagement, tire to the point of exhaustion. The initiated practitioner seizes the physical initiative through timing thus controlling the course of the engagement and overwhelms the opponent through direct physicality but with technique, be it targeted striking, takedowns, throws, chokes/strangles, and locks all utilizing body dynamics and mechanics that form pure technique. Make no mistake, the veteran understands two things very well: first, technique is pure and flawless, if there are flaws, they lay with the person attempting the technique, and secondly, no one can fight mechanical advantage. The veteran uses these two indisputable maxims to shape his strategy of technique to seize the initiative in Tai no Sen.

Go no Sen: Counterattack

There are two ways to interpret this principle: responsive or reactive. One should be embraced and one should be reviled. To react is to do without thinking, or to act instinctually. Now do not take that to mean instinctual reactions are all bad, they are not. They are just bad in the context we are discussing here. For example, instinctually pulling your hand back from a hot surface without much contemplation is definitely a plus. Instinctually reacting with visible hostility or annoyance at someone’s vague verbal statement that leads to further conflict is definitely a minus. Bottom line here, if you find yourself in need of a counter, you screwed up a long time ago! Somewhere, somehow, control of the situation, whatever it may be, got away from you. Now you must decide, how will you respond with your counterattack to take back control, to take back the offensive position. Speaking generally, responsive counterattacks are thought out along the lines of SA (situational awareness). Being aware of what the situation is will dictate how proportional your counterattack is, how immediate, how dire, how much fight will be involved. If you are a veteran (why are you in this position?) this will all happen in the span of milliseconds or seconds. Human reaction time is about three tenths of a second. We train and train and train to add what we are training to current muscle memory. Everyone has muscle memory. It is, at the most primal level, instinctual. Then we add things like bike riding, teeth brushing, shoelace tying etc. to this list. As martial artists we train to add technique, strategy and responses to this otherwise reactive skill set. Once your brain is aware of the situation, it will determine the responsive counterattack, and if you have trained well, your counterattack will prevail because it has what the reactive attack lacks, thought!

I hope these three basic principals and my thoughts on them were clear and to the point. In the future I hope to delve into some of the more advanced strategies and their usefulness to martial artists.

Kanpai!

John Gaddis, Sensei

Gaddis Brothers' Classical Martial Arts

Tips for Being an Engaging Teacher

As a professional martial artist, I have asked myself more than once, ''What is my goal for the members of my dojo?'' As the years have passed, my answer to myself has changed with my maturity and perspective. Currently my goal as a martial arts teacher is to do the most good for the most people who walk through my dojo's doors.

While that may sound vague, I like it because it allows me to have a defined purpose but also be flexible with each individual member of my dojo. We all have strengths and weaknesses and as someone who is in the role of Sensei, I try to address those individual needs rather than set a specific blanket goal for the entire student body. That way, even if a student quits after months or a year of martial arts training, which I hope no one ever does, I feel like they have gained something of benefit from the time they spent in my dojo.

Here are some tips I wrote down many years ago in some instructor training programs I took. To be clear they are not my ideas but I have added my own notes and opinions and I am sure they can be found in many forms in various resources. That being said, these can be very useful reminders of how to engage and keep any conversation rooted in compassion and caring interest.

1) TALK SLOWLY. Typically, good speakers don't rush into a conversation. They take their time to reflect upon what is said and when they do talk, what they say is well thought out. Be centered and collected. Pausing and patience are some of the hardest skills to learn. If you are deliberate in your thoughts and speech, your words will be more impactful to your listeners.

2) Hold Eye Contact. Most people hold eye contact for more than half of a conversation, intermittently glancing away, then returning. Force yourself to hold it longer, even when you're not saying anything. This is effective because as a teacher, you must be in command of the class, and be the leader. To be an effective leader you must make contact and hold the attention of your class!

3) Notice the Details. Individuals with strong teaching skills notice the small details the average person misses. A skillful and engaging teacher will bring those details into the conversation. Watch for tone and body language. Your students deserve this extra effort on your part.

4) Give Unique Compliments. Charismatic teachers are able to really pay attention to people, beyond the facade, and pay unique compliments. As a teacher, trust and confidence are key to building a rapport with your students. If you want to be successful, you need to cultivate unique relationships and rapport with all your students. Do not be a robot!

5) Express Emotion. It is rare to meet someone comfortable enough to speak about their emotions. Keep in mind that it is at the emotional level that people connect the best. To me this simply means care! Employ the Three G's - Be Gentle, Genuine and Generous with everyone you come into contact with. Again, don't fall into the Robot Sensei trap! Let your true nature show, because most people can spot a fake!

6) Offer Interesting Insights. Good teachers can frequently tell you things you didn't know and identify what their students are interested in the most. This is all about reaching people. Peak their interest and you have their attention, channel their attention into effort, and challenge their effort to produce ever improving results!

7) Use the Best Words. As a teacher your ability to speak smoothly has a lot to do with choosing the right words. Constantly develop your vocabulary. Ambiguity invites interpretation, and that is not always a good thing! As a teacher you should be engaging and stimulate your students. All the better if you inspire some student to polish his or her own speech simply because you polished yours! 

I hope you can find some utility in these tips - There are many successful dojo in the world, whichever unit of measuring success you choose. Student body size, competition success, number of franchises, number of black belts, revenue, etc. While the factors contributing to their successes maybe vary greatly from one to another, I would feel comfortable guaranteeing that they all have engaging teachers at their helms!

Kanpai!

John Gaddis, Sensei

Gaddis Brothers' Classical Martial Arts

Warriors Prepare for Change - 10 Truths

Think about how long you've been alive. How much has the course of your life altered throughout the years? How many people have come in and out of your life? Multiple jobs? Challenging career moves? Maybe you're like me and have moved states in search of better opportunity. 

Change is good! Now I know that is a blanket statement that is dripping with generalization, but I believe it. How else can we view this ever increasingly different world and society? We, as martial artists must keep our positive outlook. The alternative is simply counter to what our martial arts teach at their core. Today I'll be using 'warrior' in place of martial artist. A warrior is someone who prepares and trains for the worst but hopes for the best. Someone who is ready for the uncertainty of change but is ready to find all its promise too.

Sure, if you walk outside in the morning and a tree has fallen on your car in the middle of the night, it might be hard at first to embrace this change as positive. However, if you are a warrior, you might be able to see the good in this situation before losing your composure and becoming irate. Were you or anyone you loved in the car when the tree fell? No? To me that would be the chief positive. Now after realizing that, maybe you can celebrate...It's time for a new car! A warrior must find the good, must inspire others as well as himself to keep going, keep working, training, improving for the future and all the change it will inevitably bring.

Here are 10 Truths about Warriors that help them prepare for change. These truths resonate with us as martial artists but are easily related to non martial artists as well.

1. A warrior is not devoted to any one style or system. He has a foundation but he blends and is flexible. Whether we're talking about boxing, karate, or judo, a martial artist should have an open mind and accept the good and discard the bad. Always with humility and never with ego. Outside the martial arts, people should be open minded to other's differences of opinion. It's okay to have a moral or personal foundation to guide your life, but remember that is your foundation. Do not force your system upon others.

2. A warrior believes in KISS, keep it short and simple. If something is too complicated for self defense, it will fail. Fast, short, simple will keep the warrior alive. Outside the martial arts we should all strive to declutter our lives of stress and drama. Live simply and keep focused on what really matters.

3. A warrior trains hard to fight easy. Sweat in practice to bleed less in battle. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare! A warrior prepares for the worst, so they are ready to meet it. Want to get a new position with your company? Prepare for it! Want to convince your significant other that you really do need a jetski? Prepare for the conversation and it might go much easier than you think!

4. A warrior keeps a positive mental attitude always. Self doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will! Do not defeat yourself before whatever adversity you are facing even tries!

5. A warrior is adaptable. You must be able to change quickly to emerge from sticky situations unscathed. Martial Artists strive for the trained response, not the natural reaction. If you encounter physical or verbal opposition, your trained response should be what allows you to maneuverer past it. The natural reaction is usually the worst thing, if someone pushes we push back. If someone pulls we pull back in the opposite direction. If they say something offensive or small minded we respond equally so. See how much time and energy this will waste? Train your response to these situations, avoid the reaction.

6. A warrior evaluates everything. They evaluate their skills, attitude, surroundings. There is never only one way to do something. Open your mind and your heart and be honest with yourself. Embrace change!

7. A warrior maintains good physical condition. Keep your body and mind sharp. Develop both.

8. A warrior is a quiet professional. Low key, no bragging. Nothing speaks louder than results. Leave the cheap talk where it belongs.

9. A warrior never stops seeking self improvement. Train! Practice! Repetition is the key to mastery. Practice your skills and polish them. If your a school teacher, find new methods of communicating to become and even more effective educator. Continual education is the chief way to stay prepared for an ever changing world.

10. A warrior is unattached to the physical trappings of life. This one is definitely a hard one. Who doesn't love their smartphone? But what it really means is we can't lose sight of what we are all striving for, perfection of our character. Your new BMW is definitely cool, but it is just an instrument. Without you or another person its useless. You are the difference maker. You are the driver. What kind of driver will you be? The professional who always improves his skills? Navigating life's challenges and emerging on the other side a wiser, more successful version of yourself? You decide.

Remember, change is good! Search out, seek and find the good in whatever adversity you may face. Respond rather than react and strive to be the best version of yourself so that you may face whatever change and challenges you come across prepared to do battle and win!

I hope you enjoyed these truths and see some value in them for your daily life!

Kanpai!

John Gaddis, Sensei

Teaching by the Curriculum - The Sensei's Secret Weapons

Hello Classical Martial Arts family! Hello to the casual reader too! 

The topic of today's blog post is: 

Teaching by the Curriculum - The Sensei's Secret Weapons

According to Dr. Mary Alvior "a curriculum is considered the "heart" of any learning institution...". While the the type of curriculum will vary from one dojo to the next, many professional schools including Classical Martial Arts use rotational curriculums and weekly curriculums.

As a sensei (teacher) a chief goal is to produce quality martial artists. By doing so successfully many hundreds of times, you pass on your art and ensure its benefits will reach the next generation. Here in lies the problem that every martial arts school will encounter and every sensei will have to solve...how do you motivate and inspire your students to stick around for the years it takes to reach black belt? The answer is certainly complex, but once you develop and implement a curriculum the answer becomes much clearer! It is a tool that can be the difference maker in helping students achieve the goal of black belt.

In the martial arts, you can divide different subjects usually into the following categories: formalities, basics, forms, sparring/partner exercises, self defense. Furthermore those categories can be sub divided for effective teaching and learning. For example, when you have different levels of students, beginner through advanced, you can take a category like basics and cater it to each level. In one class your intermediate students might only practice the basics required of the beginner students, but with greater emphasis on the finer details and refining their personal techniques. The next time the curriculum calls for practicing basics those intermediate students maybe practicing or learning the basics required for the current level. 

This is the strength of developing, implementing and maintaining a curriculum. It allows you to wield the first secret weapon of teaching by the curriculum: disguised repetition. Successful teachers are masters at getting their students to practice and repeat the required technique and forms so that they learn and gain the necessary skills.

By using a curriculum the teacher can ensure that all subjects of his respective martial art are covered adequately. On the flip side the teacher can also make certain that not any one subject receives too much class time, thus stealing time from other subjects. There are only so many hours in a day and the time a student spends in the dojo usually accounts for less than 2 of them. The sensei must be in control of the clock, being cognizant of the precious time we have with our students. The sensei uses the curriculum to shape that time for maximum effect! The curriculum should account for every minute of class time. The line up and start of the class, the warm up exercises, character building and philosophy segments should be planned out in the weekly curriculum. If the class starts with a plan, it will be much easier to arrive at the real meat and potatoes, the martial arts training, with the necessary amount of class time remaining. 

This is the second secret weapon that teaching by the curriculum allows the successful sensei to wield: effective time management. True martial artists are artists of life, and in my opinion as a byproduct are very purpose driven individuals. Effectively managing time with students will result in more successful students.

So the sensei has their curriculum in place and has been successful in disguising repetition and managed class time effectively so that students progress and achieve their goals. Whats Next? 

Quite possibly the most important job of a sensei and one of the greatest benefits and secret weapons of teaching by the curriculum: student body evaluation and sensei/teacher evaluation. Using a codified and organized curriculum should allow for even progress at each belt level in a dojo, generally speaking. If the dojo is running smoothly, it is the job of the sensei to evaluate students. Their skills and abilities must be compared to the standards and criteria required. If the sensei is pleased, then he knows his curriculum is serving its intended purpose and during personal reflection he will look for new ways to improve upon its current design. If the student body is lacking, then it is the duty of the sensei to ask hard questions about the effectiveness of his curriculum and how he is implementing it. He must reflect on his teaching style and priorities and adjust accordingly. 

Positive evaluation or negative, the freedom and ease with which this can be done is because of the curriculum. Planned lessons, with specific goals allow for great success but also allow for quick adjustments and fixes. If the dojo and sensei use the curriculum properly, there is not limit to how many top notch martial artist will come from it! That is something every martial artist should be excited about and thankful for!

Thanks for reading! I hope all martial artists out there are planning out their training and I wish everyone continued success! Check back next week, part two will be Training by the Curriculum - The Martial Artist's Secret to Success

Always feel free to email me about any of the subjects contained in our blog posts! - sensei@classicaldojo.com

Kanpai!

John Gaddis, Sensei

Classical Martial Arts 

The Evolution of a Martial Artist Part 2 - Junior Black Belt Ranks

Hello Everyone! Here is the second part to The Evolution of a Martial Artist - Attitudes of Progression that I posted last week. I want to credit my Sensei Dean Romanelli of Detroit, MI and the current head of the Zen Bei Butoku Kai International Sensei Brian Ricci for the themes and some of the content presented here. I heard this lecture presented on September 22, 2012 by Sensei Romanelli and have since modified and added my own thoughts to it.

These descriptions can be applied to any martial art that uses a belt system and are generalizations, please treat them as such. The point of this post is to highlight some of the negative aspects that pop up over the course of years of training and what can be done to counter them. Enjoy!

 Junior Black Belt Level 1 - Humbleness/Competitive Spirit

Earning the first level of black belt is so exciting and is such a monumental time in someone's martial arts training. More often than not I see that when the new black belts arrive in their new class and start to train with the veteran black belts they develop an attitude of humility. This is wonderful to see! The new black belts are motivated by their instructors and by their experienced classmates and friendly competition begins. This can be a high tide that can raise the abilities of everyone! Some other observations that have been made of junior black belts:

They tend to put the brown belts in their place! These new black belts were the brown belts just a few months ago. It can be remarkable how changing a belt can change some one's attitude, and maybe that is a topic for another blog post, but these new black belts tend to enforce the rules and protocol of the dojo. In most cases the brown belts listen because they are so close in age and rank to the new black belts.

They start to realize what they don't know by virtue of hanging around the more experienced black belts and finally with those black belts as peers so to speak. This realization makes everyone a better student and allows for much more learning to take place.

Life long friendships may start to develop between the new black belts who stick around for the long haul! Truly one of the most special aspects of training together and sharing the same interests and passions.

Junior Black Belt Level 2 and 3 - Ego Part 2 + Attitude = Gray Hair for Sensei

After a few years of being a black belt, the typical attitudes usually develop in varying degrees. They are ego, entitlement and arrogance. It is the duty of the Sensei and Instructors to mold a dojo that is free of ego and entitlement. Ego and entitlement run contrary to the very essence of martial arts - self reliance! Through a strong example and firm but positive reinforcement the senior black belts can cut these attitudes down but in my experience they are never fully quashed because unfortunately they are human nature. Aside of the attitudes mentioned above, other observations made at this level include:

Generally improvements are seen in strength and power and student reaches a state of good overall athleticism. This is typically due to the students entering their middle to late teenage years and their bodies having for the most part becoming fully formed.

Physical skill jumps result in overconfidence and ego begins to creep back up and combines with adolescent attitude of grandeur. Ego and Arrogance! They're back and almost always come hand in hand with increased physical abilities. Suddenly these young black belts are stronger and faster than they've ever been and they start to realize it quickly when in class with other teenagers who might not have reached the same part in their adolescence yet. Sensei need to work to encourage an attitude of respect, compassion and gratitude in their dojo. If those three virtues are engrained in the black belts, compassion will win out over ego when the new black belts realize they are physically stronger than some of their classmates.

Student begins to think they know it all - more than Sensei - boredom develops in some cases. Suddenly these black belts start to forget that martial arts is about practice! Repetition is the mother of skill and somehow they think they're already the master. If the Sensei is skillful and on top of his black belts, he will rotate his curriculum and use age old tricks like disguising the repetition of practice to combat these feelings of boredom.

Junior Black Belt Level 4 - Maturity Begins

In my years of martial arts training, specifically within the Zen Bei Butoku Kai International, I have only seen a few level 4 junior black belts. This is simply because usually a student turns 18 and there for can test for adult black belt rank. Every once in a while though there is a student who is 17 and has been training long enough to satisfy the requirements of time that they become a level 4. I can say with confidence that the student who has been training long enough to become a level 4 junior black belt is worthy of adult black belt status in all aspects except that one crucial factor - age. Typically you see these common themes at this level of junior black belt.

Leadership begins amongst the junior black belts - the level 4 is the role model. They've been around the longest and probably the most physically capable junior black belt. Additionally, since they are still a junior, they are more approachable and viewed differently by the lower ranking junior black belts.

Boredom, if exists, begins to subside, the goal of shodan (adult black belt) is in sight. The genius of the belt system once again shows why it is so instrumental in helping keep students motivated. As I said before, the level 4 is an adult black belt in all but age usually, so the Sensei should use time as his ally and motivate the level 4 to use the time before he becomes 18 to improve relentlessly.

Skills begin to reach one of many physical peaks - talent has developed. The first physical plateau can occur here. Rarely evident to the student, the Sensei can tell and shouldn't be bothered by it necessarily. This is because the Sensei should know that the next level requires not only physical skill but more importantly mental and philosophical gains that only come with time and age.

Student realizes there is more to shodan than the physicality of it and begin to realize what they have been missing... Maturity is on the rise. This is where the difference between the 18 year old shodan and 17 year old level 4 junior starts to disappear. As a Sensei this is a very exciting time!

I hope you've enjoyed reading and pondering the attitudes that I've brought up here. Next week I will close out this series with the final post, the attitudes of progression in the adult black belt ranks. Check back and feel free to let me know if you have anything to add or if I've missed anything you think is important! Shoot me an email sensei@classicaldojo.com

Kanpai!

Sensei Gaddis

The Evolution of a Martial Artist

Hello Everyone! I wanted to share an old lecture that has been refined many times over the years. I have contributed to these ideas in the context of my own notes but in no way originated these ideas. I want to give special credit to my Sensei, Dean Romanelli of International Martial Arts in Detroit, Michigan. He organized and improved upon these characterizations and I heard them presented by him in a lecture on September 22, 2012.

These descriptions can be applied to any martial art that uses a belt system and are generalizations, please treat them as such. The point of this post is to highlight some of the negative aspects that pop up over the course of years of training and what can be done to counter them. Enjoy!

The Evolution of a Martial Artist - Attitudes of Progression part 1

White Belt - Curiosity

They feel the mystique of the martial arts in general. A beginner comes into the dojo with many preconceived notions. Some are good and beneficial and some are not good and detrimental.

They also feel the mystique of the black belts. This goes along with the the above characterization, but is in my opinion more dangerous. It is paramount that the black belt holders in any school be ambassadors for all the virtues of the martial arts, not the negative misconceptions that the public might associate with the martial arts.

Yellow Belt and Orange Belt - Eagerness

Full of energy and ready to train! They have a few months of training to their credit and are starting to think they know a lot! The yellow and orange belts are experts...around the white belts! So its the responsibility of the senior students to always be positive and encouraging but show these fresh ranks the right example.

Green Belt and Blue Belt - Growth

Intermediate students tend to begin to realize they are missing the details of just about everything. When this happens personal growth may begin. This is probably the most crucial part of a martial artist's first few years, depending on their specific martial art. If the students have had the virtues of Respect, Compassion and Gratitude taught to them, I feel growth comes easily.

Purple Belt - Change

You don't always see your own progress - and think you aren't getting any better. This is common in the intermediate ranks. The designation 'intermediate' is the largest category of rank levels for those under black belt. Progress is fast up to this point and incremental during it. Students need to have staying-power. This is the training period where they learn perseverance and to simply keep training no matter what, day in and day out.

Other activities start tempting us away...After 2-4 years of training, many people can become simply distracted by 'life'. New trends and activities, changes of scenery and other things start to appeal because they have the 'new factor'! A good martial arts school will have a diverse curriculum and encourage cross training to keep students motivated and focused on the ultimate goal...Black Belt!

Basically as my Sensei summed it up for me: Either you transform or you don't. Those who do realize that they have come to far to quit now - they are halfway there.

Brown Belt - Ego

The brown belts can be real trouble makers if the wrong attitude is prevalent in the martial arts school. Brown belts can think they rule the dojo and that they should be black belts already. Students around this level usually resort to physical technique and ability instead of their intellect for the most part. The way I learned, brown belts are in a waiting period to calm their skills and attitudes down to black belt level. To a level where the first response to a problem or situation isn't physical, because before the problem or situation culminated, they used their intellect to diffuse or resolve it.

I hope you enjoyed this perspective into some of the attitudes that can both help and hinder us in our martial arts training!

Next week I'll be posting the common attitudes that afflict junior black belt and adult black belt ranks.

Kanpai!

Sensei John Gaddis

Hosack Elementary Dessert and Auction Night

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to take a quick moment and recognize the students who participated in the 2016 Hosack Elementary Dessert and Auction Night!

We had yellow and green belts who are students at Hosack demonstrate their martial arts skills! It was great! Our students demonstrated their basic karate movements, their individual kata and then showed the entire audience their indomitable spirit by breaking some boards! The crowd went nuts!

We hope everyone who watched and came had a great time, see everyone next year!

Check out photos from the event in the Photo Collections tab!

Sensei Gaddis

Yokoso! Welcome!

Welcome!

Thats exactly what those wooden blocks you see in the banner photo at the top of the page read. Let me take this opportunity to welcome you to the website for our dojo (school), Classical Martial Arts.

I look at our dojo as a community and it is my hope that this new website will serve as an extension of our dojo and strengthen our community.

If you are a new student or interested in martial arts, it is our hope that Classical Martial Arts can provide you with enough information to feel comfortable taking the plunge and trying out something we truly believe you will enjoy and come to love!

Please browse the website and check out some of the photos in the collection! We will update our schedules and calendars as often as possible to keep everyone up to date. 

For our dojo members, I wanted to take the chance to share one special part of martial arts I see as our dojo grows from a new school to an established community.

Martial Arts are unique in many ways, but one way in particular if you ask me is the 'dojo' itself. Training in the martial arts can become a very individual pursuit sometimes. As we push our limits and strive to get just a little bit closer to that ever-fleeting idea of perfection, we can forget that there are many other people facing the same challenges and overcoming the same obstacles as we are.

That is where the dojo comes in. When we are in the dojo, we see our classmates, our friends, and our martial arts family. The dojo reminds us that there are other responsibilities and duties than strictly our own pursuit of perfection. Chances are, there will always be someone senior to you and someone junior to you in your dojo, in your martial arts community. The dojo reinforces the core virtues of respect, compassion, and gratitude: respect for your seniors and the guidance and examples they set forth; compassion for your juniors as you help them learn the same lessons that you had once learned; gratitude for the opportunity to train, to learn, and to serve others. The dojo brings all of this to the forefront and it is in the dojo, helping, training, serving and cooperating with our friends and classmates that we come closer to personal perfection than we could have ever came on our own!

Kanpai!

Sensei John Gaddis