…that is just as pertinent today. Enjoy.

Summertime

Ah, that sunny warm time of year is finally approaching. Along with the nice weather and the conclusion of the academic year comes a host of seasonal activities and vacation time for many of our Kempo families. I completely understand that at this time of year it may become hard to get to the Dojo as often as during the school year, but would like to take this time to explain the importance of consistent training.
To save space in this installment I will focus on only one of the myriad remunerations of proper training, our health.
As most of you know, the ability to defend one self is a fortunate after-effect of Martial Arts training. The shortened version of my normal rhetoric to the children is a Martial Artist strives to become a better son/daughter, brother/sister, friend, employer/employee, and while training to that, you will learn how to fight if you ever have to. The Martial Arts is about honesty, integrity, and achieving goals with good old-fashioned hard work. We do our best to keep our minds and our bodies as healthy as possible, through good diet practices and constant exercise. These two things are, always have been, and always will be the core building blocks of a healthy and happy lifestyle. The downside is that it is the farthest thing from easy. It is easy to skip the exercise that inevitably causes minor pain and sweat. It is easy to grab that meal from the local fast food joint, even though most of us know many of the ingredients are literally poisonous. Our society has become a “right here, right now” kind of people.
Here at Kempo Martial Arts, I can promise you that you will never get the “right here, right now” approach to training. You get what you put in to your Art. In order to succeed you must give 100%, and only then will you reap the benefits. Here comes the shocker for most people out there. The benefits have nothing to do with earning belts with pretty colors, or getting colorful stripes on your rank.
The prime benefit is to get up and move around, increase your cardiovascular performance and build lean muscle while keeping the body flexible. These things are integral to live a long and fruitful life. Period. The best way to build these characteristics in your children is to remind them of their responsibility to their training, and the fun they have here at the Dojo. I know it is a lot more fun to go out and play at the beach. I know there are a million other things to do that are not as physically taxing. However, there is no replacement for training to be healthy, and there is no way it can be a part time, “when I have nothing better to do” kind of thing.
Even if your training schedule decreases to only one or two days a week during the summer months, it is better than setting it aside until the weather worsens. One of the best ways to set the precedent for a healthy lifestyle is to show your children and / or significant other that you are willing to work hard along side them. We offer a great family plan to train in our Kempo system, as well as offering Zumba and Cardio-Kickboxing on Tuesday and Friday nights, on a drop in basis. So why not come in and get yourself in better shape today? I promise within a few weeks you will look and feel better, all while having fun. You will never know until you try it.
Train, train, train, and you will live longer so you can train some more.
Yours Along the Way,
Sensei Nick