Martial Arts:An Instructor's Perspective

Contrary to popular belief, joining a martial arts school is not the same as joining a gym. If you don’t have a personal trainer at your gym, it’s just you and the machines. If you don’t use them, they don’t care. At a school, you build a relationship with your instructor(s). There is a personal involvement that goes beyond the superficial. You are being enhanced by them and benefiting from their years of experience. Likewise, by teaching you, they are further developing their own skills in the following ways:

• By physically showing you the techniques, they are adding valuable ‘repetitions’ to their training
• By looking for ways that you can improve each technique, they are imprinting the information into their brains
• They are being given the experience of working with varying body types
• They are developing their teaching and interpersonal skills
• They are building confidence
• As they demonstrate the techniques, they are physically interacting with someone less experienced than them. This causes problem to arise much as they would if in real world situations.
• Being able to demonstrate techniques by ‘mirroring’ helps develop their spatial awareness
• It’s just plain fun

While martial arts is generally perceived as an individual sport/hobby, the natural progress of the teacher/student relationship is a social one. Try to get that at a gym.