2026-02-16

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

I ended up using my Michelangelo analogy in class again last night, so I’ll explain in here in the hope someone else may be able to use it in their own classes.

Michelangelo is probably best known for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but he was a sculptor by trade, and he once said, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”

Karate training is the same process. The black belt is already there, inside you. All you need to do is chisel away the mistakes. Like a sculptor who begins by chiseling away large pieces of unnecessary material, the karate student begins by eliminating large mistakes … poor posture, poor stance, poor timing, etc.

As the sculptor progresses, he ends up removing smaller and smaller pieces of unnecessary marble, using finer and finer tools to do it. Likewise, with the big problems out of the way, the karate student turns to fixing smaller and smaller mistakes … lapses of focus, pelvic alignment, etc.

But here’s the thing: Sculptors are often never satisfied with their work, continuing to tinker with it even after most people would consider it “done.” And karate training is the same way. Good karate practitioners are never satisfied either, always learning more, fixing more, and trying to improve.