Martial Art Workout Resolutions You Can Make for the New Year
\Setting New Year’s resolutions can be hit or miss. If you are only jumping on the bandwagon, you won’t get much out of it. But if your commitment is something you planned out and decide to stick with, you could choose this moment to be an important one.
Martial artists thrive on goals. Setting and achieving goals can help you stay motivated and making progress in your development as a martial artist. There are always more levels of depth to explore in the world of martial arts. Start your year off right by making some goals you can achieve by the end of 2020. Keep reading to hear our recommendations for martial art workout resolutions you can make for this new year.
1. Challenge Yourself with a New Partner
Working with the same partner can be good. You can challenge each other because you know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Over time, you can come to trust your partner. However, you put yourself in a better position to learn when you experience something new. You can learn different styles, techniques, and approaches that will help sharpen your skills in your martial arts workout.
Pro-Tip - Try working with people above your level, at your level, and beginners to explore your techniques in different ways.
2. Establish Realistic Goals
Creating enormous goals might sound nice, but if there is no way to complete them, there is no use in creating them. Goals falling through can make you feel shame, embarrassment, and unmotivated to set a new goal. Assess your current level (possibly with the help of your instructor), then set a goal one level up from where you are. The more specific you can be about this goal, the better the goal will be. Example - I will lose 10 pounds or I will do 100 push-ups per day.
3. Commit to One More Day Per Week
Maybe now is the right time to take your training to the next level with an added day of martial arts working out. When you add another day to your routine, you will notice great improvements. Your physical strength, endurance, and flexibility will take off. Also, with more time in the dojo, you will keep the techniques you learn fresh in your mind, so you become more likely to remember them. Make sure to rest after classes to ensure your body heals so you can grow strong without injuries.
4. Back to Basics
Many people can get lost in the constant need to explore new territory that they forget where they came from. Set a goal to revisit more foundational techniques. These fundamentals will help reinforce the building blocks that support all levels of martial arts. Further study in this area can improve your experience no matter how many years you have been practicing.
Finding the Right Place to Practice Martial Arts
Setting goals is an important part of life and an important part of martial arts. Now is the right time for you to set new, attainable goals that you can aim for in the coming year. Having a strong group to guide and participate in your success is important. Since 1985, over 10,000 students have come to New York Martial Arts Academy and found success on our mats. Our instructors teach Jeet Kune Do from their experience in studying with masters in the form.
By Jessica Militello
There’s a lot of great documentaries on interesting and inspiring stories from the world of combat sports and the incredible stories of the fighters who are brave enough to step inside the ring. It’s hard not to...
By Jessica Militello
Francis Ngannou most recently defended the title for the heavyweight championship on February 22 at UFC 270 against the interim champion Ciryl Gane. Ngannou is known for being a knockout artist with punching power equivalent...
Originally posted on 05/29/2020
It is widely accepted by fighters and other people around the world that Bruce Lee was the most influential martial artist of all time. From his famous action movies to his unique martial art of Jeet Kune...
By Jessica Militello
Throughout the three decades of the UFC, there have been tons of historical moments and unforgettable upsets that shocked fight fans everywhere. These days, if you ask anyone what their favorites were, you’ll probably...
By Jessica Militello
Martial arts has seen a gradual rise in popularity for women over the years for myriad reasons. With the rise of professional mixed martial arts in the mainstream and the prominence of female champions like Valentina...
By Jessica Militello
“Suga” Sean O’Malley’s career has been on the rise since he first got on the UFC’s radar back in 2017 on Dana White’s Contender Series. Since then, he’s had an impressive record of...
By Jessica Militello
The UFC recently marked the 28th anniversary of their first fight card on November 12, 1993. At the time, the promotion had entirely different owners and was a fight to the death with virtually no rules in a quest to see...
By Jessica Militello
One of the UFC’s most legendary and respected fighters made a very long-awaited return to the octagon at UFC 266 for a rematch with Robbie Lawler that was 17 years in the making and many couldn’t even believe it...
By Jessica Militello
Most fighters that you watch from boxing to MMA adopt a stance that is either orthodox or southpaw. In these combat sports, it has always been a tradition to stand with your less dominant side forward and your lead hand...
By Jessica Militello
Every once in a while the MMA community revisits the debate of whether or not moves like the oblique stomp should be made illegal in the UFC.
The question has been getting attention again lately after viewers watched the...
By Jessica Militello
If you are looking for a martial art to enroll your child in, you may be wondering which style is the best for them to learn and have fun while still being appropriate for their age. Every martial art has a list of benefits...
By Jessica Militello
There are several criteria that are a good idea to look for when choosing a martial arts school for your kids. Obviously anytime you are investing time and money into something, you want to make sure it’s the right...
By Jessica Militello
With all of the many choices of hobbies and sports to enroll your child in, it can become a little overwhelming to find the best one that both you and your child feel most confident about signing up for. Martial arts is a...
By Jessica Militello
Anxiety can be very uncomfortable and scary for anyone to deal with, but for parents who have children who deal with anxiety, it can feel frustrating to watch your kids struggle with it, especially if you are unsure of how to...
By Jessica Militello
Warning: This article may contain spoilers if you have not completed the first three seasons of the show Cobra Kai.
While fans of Cobra Kai anxiously wait for season 4 after a pretty intense season 3 finale, it’s...
By Jessica Militello
Some of the most brutal and historic moments in the UFC have been from fights finished with knockouts using knees. Fans have a tendency to look at a fighter’s grappling, striking, and kicks, and can tend to overlook...
By Jessica Militello
For every UFC fight, the conversations in the days and weeks leading up to the event and thereafter always returns back to the debate of who has the best skill set to defeat their opponent and what tools really win...
If you have ever watched mixed martial arts, you’ve no doubt seen someone use their elbow at some point during the bout. These elbow strikes can be some of the most vicious and effective attacks in any fighter’s arsenal.
There...
The art of Jeet Kune Do created by Bruce Lee integrates all facets of combat. Various styles are borrowed from boxing, fencing, and other types of fighting. But one of the things that makes it truly unique is Jeet Kune Do footwork.
If you...
If you want to achieve success as a martial artist, you need to improve your takedown defense as a way to avoid being brought to the ground during a fight. When mixed martial arts (MMA) first started, skilled grapplers won many of the first...
When you use a knee strike or stomp, you get a low-risk, high-reward option for self-defense. With a head kick, the potential high reward is counterbalanced by the real risk of you missing and the attacker staging a takedown.
But even if...
Unless an attacker or mugger threatens you with a gun, most instances where self-defense is necessary will be up close and personal. Learning close combat moves is essential to protecting yourself in these dangerous situations. It can help...
There’s a saying in the martial world that says, “Either you move your head or he’s gonna move it for you.”
Effective head movement is used to avoid oncoming attacks and also to set up strong counter moves. It can...
We all know that martial arts help people of all ages live healthier lives. People often miss the many benefits of martial arts for kids in school. Taking regular Jeet Kune Do martial arts classes at New York Martial Arts Academy can help your...
Martial arts was initially seen as combative and puzzling. It was mostly learned and practiced by adults and was chiefly about self-defense. Martial arts has ever since grown from that stage of tiny dirty schools to schools teaching...
Bruce Lee often called his art of Jeet Kune Do, fencing without a foil. In this entry we will be discussing what he meant by that statement.
If you take a look at fencing and Jeet Kune Do, you will not a few similarities. One of...
A slew of Bruce Lee types, embracing both men and women, could soon be making their way through the streets of New York--but with an added physical dimension; expertise in rough, tough and often savage street fighting. In brief, those bad...
By Cass Magda
JKD has its own identity and follows a design with a purpose. It is a system. A JKD man's movement is definitely different and distinguishable from other martial arts such as Thai kickboxing, wing chun, or karate. The physical...
By Cass Magda
In the Tao of JKD Bruce Lee said, "I hope that martial artists are more interested in the root of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers or leaves. It is futile to argue as to which single...
Jeet Kune Do is training and discipline toward the ultimate reality in combat. The ultimate reality is returning to one's primary freedom, which is simple, direct, and nonclassical. A good Jeet Kune Do man does not oppose force or give way...
1. SDA (Single Direct Attack)
A direct attack is composed of a single movement. The objective is to go to the target by the most direct route. Although it is the simplest of the attacks, it is the hardest to complete successfully because the...
Like the people who run most magazines, we at Black Belt love to look at surveys--in particular, surveys that tell us what you want to read. Back in the 1970's those surveys told us you were interested in kung fu and jeet kune do. In the...