Improve your fitness, how to find the time.

Martial Arts is a great way to get fit and feel healthier so it makes sense that you will improve your fitness when you join a martial arts club. The reality is, that a martial arts class should only be part of your fitness plan. In a class, your instructors will teach you about self-defence, patterns, sparring and so on. This will all improve your fitness but it shouldn’t be the only fitness work you do.

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Improve your fitness, how to find the time.

One day at Korea's Golgulsa Temple as a participant of the templestay program

Five am on a Sunday morning and I am woken with the sound of a dull bell and a monk chanting, coming through some runny speakers outside my room. I put my Templestay uniform on and run my hands through my hair before realizing it doesn’t matter because I am about to put a beanie on to face the minus degree temperature outside. It’s a one kilometer walk up a steep hill to get to morning prayer and meditation where everything is chanted in Korean. 

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A-Day-at-Golgulsa-Templestay-Program

Seven Benefits of Martial Arts for Adults

A previous article I wrote for the Zone Martial Arts blog focused on the benefits of martial arts for kids but you would be surprised at how much benefit an adult can get from martial arts. Maybe you have seen your child training and thought “Maybe I could do that?” or you are looking for a different fitness option than pounding away at a treadmill for hours. If you need some more incentive to try a martial arts class for yourself, I have put together seven benefits that adults can get from martial arts.

Energy

I know it sounds weird to some, but performing a form of exercise can actually increase the energy levels a person has. Martial Arts, not only helps burn fat and calories but it builds strength and gives you an outlet for the stress that you encounter during your day. What’s even better is that it is a much more interesting way to exercise. When you do martial arts training, you need to keep your brain active and thinking about the activity. That means you are training your body and your brain.

An interesting class can not only have you walking away from the class invigorated (yet probably tired), the blood is flowing and you have burned calories in a way that is more interesting than sitting on an exercise bike. Its more practical too from a self defence perspective and is definitely something we encourage at Zone Martial Arts.

Goals

As adults, we tend to forget the need to set goals in our lives. We also tend to forget that achieving a goal is a process in and of itself. When a person comes into Zone Martial Arts, they often have goals of getting fit or learning self defence. Most have a goal of achieving a black belt. When it comes to the last one, the program we offer is broken down into belt levels and a student knows what they need to learn at each belt level to progress to the point of testing for a black belt. The program itself takes the larger goal of wanting a black belt and breaks it down into smaller chunks.

The ability to take a large goal and break it down into smaller chunks is one of the keys to really achieving goals.

We take that a step further and set out goal targets beyond just getting the next belt colour or black belt because we see the benefits of setting goals. You should always make sure they are S.M.A.R.T. goals though (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based). You can read more about goal setting in a previous blog post (Blog Post - Challenges and Goal Setting) but when students start setting goals and achieving them in martial arts, it encourages them to set goals and achieve them in other areas of their life.

Self Confidence

Think this is just for kids? No way. Adults often suffer from self-confidence issues and this could affect them in their personal life and their professional life as well.

Martial Arts helps build confidence as you see the benefits of the goals you set and achieve. As you learn that the kick you thought you could never do becomes your best kick. As you learn to defend yourself and know that you could fight back in a self defence scenario.

Martial arts builds confidence by encouraging you to succeed and showing you the benefits and value when you do. When you have more confidence, you approach things with a can-do attitude and this will mean a happier you.

Focus and Discipline

Martial arts really does help your focus. For starters, you have to put your smartphone down to train in martial arts so there is no distractions from email or messages. To perform a lot of techniques you need to think about multiple things at once. Where are my feet supposed to be, what are my arms doing, where do I need to look? All of these things take focus and the repetitive practice of these techniques sharpens your focus.

Patterns are another great way to develop your focus. You need to not only make sure you are performing the correct techniques but you need to remember them in the correct order, at the right speed and with a focus on your breathing. Then there is board breaking. There is no point even trying to break a board if you haven’t worked on your focus skills.

To work on these things though ultimately requires discipline. You learn as aspect of that through the formality of martial arts training however a lot of the benefits of martial arts come from developing your own skills in self discipline. Pushing yourself that but further or even just making sure you get off the couch and get to training.

At Zone Martial Arts we work hard to make sure our students work at developing their discipline and focus because we see the benefits for students, not only in their martial arts training but in their professional and personal lives as well.

Self Defence

Violence is most definitely on the increase and it is important to make sure that you can defend yourself when you need to. I am not only talking physical skills to defend yourself either. You need to be able to mentally fight back and not just shut down. How do you do this? Martial Arts of course.

Martial Arts training is fun and exciting but it is also building self defence skills and a tougher mind so you can handle and cope with violent situations. It helps help you improve your agility, balance, endurance, flexibility, and even your strength.  It also teaches you how to avoid physical confrontations in the first place

If you are going to exercise, do something fun and martial arts can provide that fun while at the same time providing practical skills to protect yourself. That’s why at Zone Martial Arts we focus heavily on self defence. Its all great being able to kick fast, but if you can’t apply it in a self defence scenario it won’t be much help.

It’s a Great Family Activity

So often, I see parents dropping their kids off to martial arts class, or sitting next to a field while their kids play soccer or netball. Why sit on the sidelines? Martial Arts is for everyone and it’s a great activity to learn with your kids. That’s why we have family classes at Zone Martial Arts, just so parents can learn martial arts with their kids as a family. 

There are more benefits than just a family activity though. The kids see you doing what they are doing. You sweating just as much as them if not more. They become inspired by their parents to do better and work harder. They see that hard work pays off and they relate to their parents better through this. You have common goals and common interests to talk about over dinner. For some kids, they even start to see their parents as people they aspire to be like, not just the people who ground them, send them to bed and tell them to tidy their rooms.

We have so many families training with us at ZMAX and its so great to see them achieving together.

Leadership

There is a phrase I really love. “A boss says go and a leader says let’s go”. It’s easy to be a boss who tells other people what to do but when you lead, when you show others the way to go instead of telling them, that’s when you get real results.

Martial Arts develops leadership skills. When you have to teach someone else a pattern, the best way is usually by showing them. When you team up with someone for the warm up, and you help them by just doing it with them, you are showing leadership skills.  

As you progress through the years in martial arts training, you are called on to share your knowledge with other students. Share your skills and insights. I have seen many examples of junior students approaching senior students and asking them for advise or help because they have seen that senior student working hard and practicing their skills and that lead by example approach is what makes the junior student want to learn from the senior belt. It makes them want to follow the lead of that senior belt.

The focus on being a leader in martial arts will flow on into other areas of your life and I am not just talking professionally either. You would be surprised how often this skill will benefit everyone.

So if you are interested in trying martial arts, find a school local to you and give it a go. If you live in the Sutherland Shire, come and try Zone Martial Arts. We would love to see you benefiting from some or all of the above points.

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Mark Underwood

Mark holds the rank of Master in two martial arts, 5th Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo and 4th Dan Black Belt in Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in a number of other martial arts styles. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts servicing the Sutherland Shire area from the Taren Point location.

Movies fights are nothing like real life

I am like a lot of people and love action movies. As you would expect, some of my favourite action movies have some awesome fight scenes. I love the way Jason Bourne takes out the bad guys. The Matrix

People see these movies and think that if they learn how to do martial arts, they can do moves like that, learn to defend themselves like that and that they can pull off moves just like in the movies. They believe that one day they can do these moves not just in classes but in real life fights as well. I am here to tell you; real life will never look like it does in the movies.had some great fight scenes as do movies like The Raid and that’s before we start to talk about specific stars like Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Bruce Lee. A lot of people start doing martial arts because they have seen some awesome moves in film but that has a negative side as well.

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ZMAX Blog - Movies fights are nothing like real life

Mark Underwood holds the rank of Master in three martial arts, 5th Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo. 4th Dan Black Belt in Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords) and 1st Dan Black Belt in Gongkwon Yusul (Korean MMA). He has also trained in a number of other martial arts styles. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts servicing the Sutherland Shire area from the Taren Point location.

Martial arts is not just about learning how to fight

In this day and age, I do think it is important to learn how to defend yourself. There seems to be more and more violence occurring in our suburbs than ever before and knowing how to defend yourself is important, but that doesn’t mean you have to learn how to fight. Martial Arts should not be about learning to fight, but learning to control your body and more importantly, control your mind.

READ MORE AT WWW.ZMAX.COM.AU

ZMAX Blog - Martial Arts is not just about learning how to fight

Mark Underwood holds the rank of Master in three martial arts, 5th Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo. 4th Dan Black Belt in Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords) and 1st Dan Black Belt in Gongkwon Yusul (Korean MMA). He has also trained in a number of other martial arts styles. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts servicing the Sutherland Shire area from the Taren Point location.

Mark In South Korea - Part 5 - The Jealous Winter and grading in Gongkwon Yusul

I was in the car today with Master Kim from the World Haidong Gumdo headquarters and I mentioned that it has gotten cold again. There were a few days of slightly warmer weather in Seoul (11 and 12 degrees), but the icy cold temperatures and wind have returned (1 degree). Master Kim told me that Koreans have a word for this, they call this Kkot Saem Chu Ui (Kotsamchewy if you are wondering how to pronounce it). 

He asked if I had ever heard this phrase which I hadn't. He said the weather change at the start of Spring happens often and its like Winter just doesn't want to let go. He said its because Winter is jealous. Winter is jealous of Spring and the blossoming flowers that Spring gets to enjoy but Winter never does. It is so jealous that Winter tries to fight back and stay longer so it can see the flowers but Spring always wins and the warmer weather comes. Kkot Saem Chu Ui roughly means Winter is jealous of the Spring Flowers.

I thought it was a beautiful story and I wanted to share it with you

In 2014 I started Gongkwon Yusul which is a Korean Mixed Martial Art style. It has striking, kicking as well as throws and ground fighting. Unlike a lot of general MMA, this style has a belt and rank system so you can keep track of your progress which has always appealed to me. 

Last night (March 7), despite the cold and my busted ankle (really need to see a Dr about this when I get home, I am doing a Nicole at the moment), I completed my 1st Dan grading test. What was also exciting is that I have been appointed as an instructor of this art as well so I can start teaching this to my students at Zone Martial Arts. This has been such a great art to learn and I am so happy to have made it to this achievement.

More training still to come this week for Gumdo, Sunmudo and Taekyun and my templestay adventure starts Monday next week and goes for 5 days. I am getting a little sad now that I realise that I only have 2 more Taekyun classes this week and 1 more Gumdo class but that's only for this trip. I have to move into consolidation mode for a while so that I don't forget all that I have learned and can learn more new stuff on the next visit.

U.N.T.

Mark

Mark Underwood holds the rank of Master in three martial arts, 5th Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo. 4th Dan Black Belt in Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords) and 1st Dan Black Belt in Gongkwon Yusul (Korean MMA). He has also trained in a number of other martial arts styles. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts servicing the Sutherland Shire area from the Taren Point location.

Mark in South Korea - Part 4 - Past the halfway mark

I have had such a wonderful time over here and it is both good and bad that the halfway mark of this trip has passed. Its good that I am past halfway because I am really missing my family and my friends and students. Its bad because I have had such a great time and learned so much so far but I can also see how much I have still got to learn. However here is where I am at this point in my trip.

While over here I have been training in five different Korean martial arts. It means that I am training pretty much every day and for multiple hours a day, sometimes going from one martial arts school and hurrying to the next for my next martial arts fix. So what am I training in?

Taekwondo and Haidong Gumdo of course. I haven't had the opportunity to do as much Taekwondo on this trip as I have wanted to although a lot of what I am learning in the other arts will really benefit my Taekwondo journey and what and how I teach. My Gumdo journey has gone forward in leaps and bounds. I have learned a whole new level of skill and technique in this art and I cant wait to get back and take my Gumdo students along for the ride. One of the best parts of this was a Bamboo cutting seminar I was part of at the World Haidong Gumdo headquarters. I say seminar but it was myself and a Master from Japan (he was American living in Japan) with the Bamboo King, Master TaeKyoung Lee. Such a privilege to be a part of this.

I am also continuing my training in Gongkwon Yusul. I started this art in 2014 and next week I will be sitting for my 1st Dan grading in this art. Gongkwon Yusul is a form of Korean Mixed Martial Arts of Korean Judo. Lots of great striking drills, ground fighting work, take-downs and rolls/break-falls. This past few weeks have really taught me so much in GKYS and I feel like its all coming together for me to be able to start teaching this art soon to students. You may start to see some GKYS drills leaking into Taekwondo training as well as some of the content extends across both styles.

The other two styles are Taekyun and Sunmudo. Taekyun I have mentioned before and is an old Korean Martial Arts and Sunmudo is something practised at Golgulsa Temple where I will spend the last week of this trip in a temple stay program. They now teach Sunmudo in Seoul as well so I have been training this three to four times a week as well. What is great about these two martial arts is that they have two different approaches. One is from a martial arts perspective and the other is for a movement and well being perspective. If you look at these two arts a different way, Sunmudo is a little like Korean Yoga and Taekyun can be performed like a Korean Tai Chi. I am looking forward to offering some classes in the future which are for the older generation or for people who only want to do a martial art for movement and well being. 

It hasn't been all perfect though. I hurt my ankle at GKYS training a week ago and it is still causing me issues. I am starting to think it was more than just a sprain but we will see how it goes. I have also been sick with a fever and cold and that wasnt pleasant. Neither of these stopped me training long term though. Codral got me through the cold and Korean anti inflammatory medicine is great :)

I have also met a whole lot of wonderful people who have gone out of their way to show me new things and experiences. I am so lucky to have a wife and family who love me and allowed me this opportunity and a leadership team and student base who support my journey. I thank you all and I cant wait to get back to you. 

U.N.T.

Mark

Mark Underwood holds the rank of Master in three martial arts, 5th Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo. 4th Dan Black Belt in Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords) and 1st Dan Black Belt in Gongkwon Yusul (Korean MMA). He has also trained in a number of other martial arts styles. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts servicing the Sutherland Shire area from the Taren Point location