Martial Arts Instruction: Embodying Excellence in Every Class

Jason Stanley 

My conversation with Thomas, a talented but inconsistent purple belt, rings all too familiar. “Is this your best effort, Thomas?” I ask, to which he inevitably replies, “No”. His half-hearted efforts are disappointing, yet it seems an all-too-common attitude among many students.

We instructors stress the importance of wholehearted training because we understand that practice shapes performance. However, many students, particularly beginners and kids, fail to grasp this correlation. They attend classes regularly but don’t fully engage, believing knowledge alone will suffice when it’s time to perform.

“We train like we play, and play like we train”

Reflection led me to question if I truly embody this mantra in my own teaching. If we demand maximum effort from our students, shouldn’t we hold ourselves to the same standard?

Over 15 years, I’ve built my dojo and taught over 15,000 classes, continually striving for excellence in every aspect of my instruction. However, like Thomas, I occasionally get distracted and find myself not delivering my best.

To counter this, I use a mental trigger – a simple question that redirects my focus:

“How can I make this class the best class ever?”

This query stimulates my creativity and helps me design better lessons. During class, if things don’t go as planned, it aids in course correction and maintains engagement.

The human mind always seeks answers, and a simple question can inspire remarkable efforts. So, I pose this question to you, fellow instructors: “How can you make your next class y

our best class ever?” And to Thomas, I’ll ask: “How can you make this your best effort ever?”

What steps can you take to ensure that your next class is indeed your best one yet?

Stay safe. Train hard. – Jason

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3 thoughts on “Martial Arts Instruction: Embodying Excellence in Every Class

  1. Jose Torres-Reyes

    I can honestly say, I’ve never had that problem. Because, my students were paying for the class, and, I knew that they would quit if they found no value in my teaching methods.

    I also always paired them with someone who was really hungry to learn, and was very serious in their approach.

    Students on the receiving end, were not eager to be struck no matter how lightly the aggressive student might strike them. The more aggressive students really blocked hard, motivating the other students to strike fast and hard.

    With every training session, everyone in the gym would stop even to watch the ferocity of the five (5) and six (6) year old students (they were so cute), especially when they performed kata. These were good kids who were not bullies.

    I cannot take any credit for the superb performances of my students, because availability to classes in Japanese Karate was rare in my area. I therefore continued to get students who wanted to take advantage of any opportunity to learn Japanese style Karate.

    1. Jason Stanley

      Hi Jose, it sounds like your students are probably more the “exception than the rule”. Congratulations! You must be engaging your students very well never to have had the issue of a flaky student.

      I’ve found with smaller class sizes it happens less often as students know they’re the focus of my attention and there’s nowhere to hide… so they give their best more often than not. With a larger class it’s more frequent for a small percentage of students to slack off.

  2. Nacer

    I always believe in quality not quantity, over the last 20+ year as an instructor i always maintained a small class approx 12 students, this way allows to focus on each student and help them develop the best way they can, obviously they are different in their ability physically and mentally, therefore as a teach you adapt your approach accordingly to get the best out of each student. I always state to them, “the end result is rewarding, push, push and keep pushing” and also “No pain, No gain”.

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