Week Without Walls, Day 3

There are so many success stories to share from this week. I'm way beyond proud right now. Sure, it's mid-week and the fatigue is beginning to eat at their focus a little bit (read as: lots), but they are still making phenomenal progress.

In 3 days' time, they've managed to train as much as most new students train in their first 2 months. Complete strangers are becoming friends. I'm watching a girl with asthma complete 150-yard sprints on the beach without stopping, and without needing to reach for the inhaler in her pocket because she's learning to differentiate between an asthma attack and a good cardio workout. I'm hearing people cheer and support each other as if they were longtime teammates. I'm sensing a sense of camaraderie which I don't often see after 3 days.

Welcome to the NEW old-school, folks.

Longtime martial artists often romanticize about the 'old school' ways of training: how it produced hardcore black belts who were tough-as-nails, how champions from that era became legends, and how people would be hard-pressed to match their caliber of skill. That's also because the training methods also eliminated almost everyone except for the strongest. The practical result of this was a collection of legendary champions, many of whom with injuries that would cripple lesser mortals, and a legion of former martial artists who can claim to have worked out with them.

Then came the 'new school' of the late 80's and 90's (my era): the days when The Karate Kid and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles turned the martial arts into mainstream fare, and schools had to evolve out of the 'dungeon dojo' days in order to retain their latest crop of child prodigies. Often, training was sacrificed in lieu of retention gimmicks, and while martial arts blossomed more than ever before, I'd dare to say that it also resulted in the all-time largest drop in overall quality for the martial arts in general. When I say this, I don't mean that schools weren't producing champions or self-defense experts or people with phenomenal attitudes or community centerpieces....I mean that schools became experts in the art of Take-Yer-Dough more than any other art, and it showed.

Here's the deal: people want authentic training. They want real confidence. They want to know that they're making real progress and not just earning a piece of tape, a new patch, a fancy uniform, an unpronouncable title, or the latest tie-dye glow-in-the-dark belt. Not that those things are bad, but given time, people will resent your program if there is no depth beyond them. We can't offer a bait-and-switch personal development program with a martial arts skin. We need to offer a genuine martial arts program with a world-class personal development program included with the package, free of charge. (Now that's value!)

Training must empower our students, much as our own training empowered us. In the new 'old school', we have the opportunity to use our experience to construct a superior training program which honors the old ways, yet implements the next evolution. Through this, we can reach out to more people, improving our communities one person at a time...and paying it forward.

Someday, they will romanticize about this week in their training: a time when they exceeded everyone's expectations, reached beyond themselves, and achieved greatness.

Time to practice stances in the ocean. Try it sometime - it's fun!