2025-10-20

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Your performance will almost never be better than your practice. This came up twice last night:

This applies to “attitude training” as well as physical training. I frequently talk about being able to “flip the monster switch” and go from a friendly member of normal society to a ruthless self-protection machine. You can’t practice slow, weak, heartless technique and then assume you’ll be able to handle yourself when the adrenaline starts pumping. You have to develop mental intensity, just as surely as you need to develop good body mechanics.

If you don’t train, you almost certainly won’t perform. I was talking to my students about the need to practice at home between classes. One of the younger students chuckled and said he never trained outside of class. I just turned to him and said, “… and it shows.” 🤷‍♂️ You don’t get better at school if you never do homework. Karate is no different.