2023-02-08
Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.
Let’s talk a little bit about stretching and strenthening exercises, and why I lead them myself in every class (as oppsoed to having a student lead them). Habits, good or bad, are powerful things. In karate, as in life, we want to build good habits and break bad habits. Keeping strong and limber is important, particularly as you get older, but children have trouble recognizing long-term benefits and adults are often “too busy.” That’s why I lead warm-up exercises myself.
- I’m setting a good example for everyone. If I do it along with the students, it shows that I think it’s important and that I’m not going to ask my students to do anything that I’m not willing to do myself.
- Fewer people “slack off” when I’m leading the exercises. On one hand, I’ve noticed that when I’m up front knocking out push-ups with the class, fewer people tend to “phone it in.” On the other hand, while a yellow belt leading warm ups might be shy about calling out a brown belt for slacking off, I’m not. 😉
- It maintains my own habit. I’m a busy adult, just like my students, and it’s very easy to “just skip today”, but by leading exercises myself, I help maintain my own stretching and strenthening habits.
