Is one hour a week worth it?

[Danny T]

Jai,

We humans be it young or old, have tremendous abilities. Physical as well as mental, yet we often simply disregard them. Why is it in other physical or athletic programs an hour per week is ok but martial art must be longer or more often? In other programs we can learn multiply things but in martial art only one. Why? To be great one certainly needs to dedicate far more time but to be proficient 10-15 minutes a day everyday and an hour of competent instruction per week will give yourself and children a great start. Children learn Baseball, Football, soccer, Tennis, and many other sports by playing around and some good instruction from time to time unless they are associated with a specific program and most of those programs are for only 90 days a couple of hours per week. But wait this is martial art, if it is only 1 hour then it is a waste time and money. WHY?

I have several students; youth, teens, and adults who only train with me 1 hour per week and they are doing quite well. A few of them also are doing different arts like Muay Thai and Wing Chun, or Muay Thai and Kali at the same time and are still doing very well. How can that be?

One they come every week for their 1 hour and two they spend 10-15 minutes per day at home working on some aspect of their training. One of them goes home and has his children do some training every morning for 5 minutes and every evening for another 5 minutes. Ten minutes a day 7 days a week will not make them champions but will get them further along the road to being competent in their basics. In this manner they get more training time than those who come twice a week for their 1 hour class.

So If you are able to get yourself and your children only 1 hour of competent, quality instruction per week and will train at home 10-15 minutes per day I am certain you will progress well. If you are accustom to 5-6 days per week for 2-3 hours per then you should be able to do a lot of personal training on your own and spend some great quality time with your children as well. Plus the great benefit of helping them learn a skill.

Danny T

 

[searcher]

Well, the question really needs to be asked; how good are you?

Can you take the information imparted over a single hour, and reinforce it (correctly) over the course of the week? Can you then impart that knowledge to your children, as they try to remember and reinforce the results of their one hour lesson?

One hour a week is plenty, if you can train effectively and efficiently on your own in between times.

What needs to be asked and said^^^^. I think Adept hit it on the head.

 

[ArmorOfGod]

Sadly no and no. There are no other schools within two hours driving distance one way from us.

I am not doubting you, but are you sure about that? Two hours would drive me halfway across South Carolina and then some.
Have you called all of the YMCA's, rec centers, and churches to see if there are any "hidden" schools? Many of them are established and very good. The problem there is finding them.
I don't know if you want to post your location, but this is THE site if you want some help looking for a school. People here have contacts everywhere.

AoG

 

[Mark Lynn]

Sadly no and no. There are no other schools within two hours driving distance one way from us. Also my wife has told me that any MA I do or have the kids do will be "my thing". She doesn't want anything to do with it, and I have no family in the area to support me or back me up.

The only other option would be the sports TKD school but they do not take students until 8 years old, and I personally do not wish to return after suffering injuries that will prevent me from further progessing past where I currently am.

Jai

A couple of suggestions.
1) I would have a "NICE" calm discussion with your wife about supporting you on this if the kids really want to do this. However if it is just you wanting them to do this realize that it can be a big hassel for the spouse to drag the kids who don't want to go do something to a class, keep up with the equipment etc. etc. And it can be a let down for you as well when you have to take them and they have lost interest. If your kids were involved in any other sport, piano lessons, etc. etc. she would have to do the same thing in taking the kids to the event and sitting there watching them.

So if the kids really want to do this than I would try and make her see the value and the benefits to them attending 2X a week and maybe she will support this once she sees the kids getting benefits from class.

2) Take an honest assesment of your goals and physical abilities in regards to what you want you and your kids to get out of the new training program.

If you want to learn learn a new martial art than making the transistion from Olympic style TKD to Shotokan might not be to hard of a transition, however as it has been said TKD had a major influence from Shotokan but where tradtional or old school TKD might not be that big of a transition moving from Olympic style to Shotokan will be a much bigger transition.

You mentioned injuries, do you have injuries to your legs, knees, etc. etc. since the Shotokan style will probably have much deeper stances than the more upright Olympic style that you are use to. This can be harder on your joints if your are training on a hard wood floor and you are use to some kind of mats.

What are your goals for the kids? And will the new school meet these goals. I would imagine that your classes will be broken up kids in one class and you in another. What will they be teaching the kids? They should be teaching an age appropriate curriculmn, if not then that is something to look at as well.

3) Some people has said you can also work with your kids outside of class. However this is much harder than it sounds. You are not their instuctor you are their DAD. Big differnece. I know from experience and I am their TKD instructor as well. There is a reason why many instructors have someone else train their kids. Really think about this one as it can be a let down as well.

Personally I only take kids at six and I have to water down and slow the program down for them. Around 10 is a good age as their attention span and maturity is greater. But the improvement I've seen in the young kids corrdination, respect for each other and adults, etc. etc. is great so if they have a program for young kids I would not discount out of hand but actually watch it with your kids and see if they are interested.

But I would not take them to a place that would hurt either you or your kids by they way the practice the style.

Mark

 

[MJS]

Ok so here is my problem.

As some of you may know I am switching from sports TKD to Shotokan Karate around the first of the year. The big issue I have is, the Shotokan school is open only two days a week, and I will only be able to make classes one of those two days. Classes are one hour long. So I would be getting 4 hours, 5 hours tops, of instructor based training a month. Is this even worth the time? I am also thinking of enrolling my two oldest kids, ages 7 and 4 as well. Would this be worth it for them? Keep in mind I am use to five or six days a week for two or three hours a night.

I suppose you can look at it a few different ways. First, if you're really interested in training, then I'd say one day is better than nothing. Then again, you could find that its not working out for you, and that the second day is something you would need in order to progress.

Another option is private lessons. In addition to the 1 group class, taking a 1hr. private lesson would supplement the other class that you can't make. Additionally, it would be 1 on 1 so there would be more focus on what you need to work on.

Good luck in your decision.

Mike

 

[Jai]

AoG.

Yes I am 100% sure about the lack of schools in the area. I live about 2 and a half hours from the twin cities here in Minnesota, any major or larger city is at least a two hour drive. Two hours the other way takes me to the Iowa/Minnesota line and more farm land. Most towns in this area don't have a population over 1,000. I found a data base that lists all registered schools in the state by county, the next closest to me is a good hour and a half away.

Boar,

The wife and I are talking this over, and will work something out if this is something the kids show an honest intrest in, but it won't be until after the first of the year since we are getting ready to move and we have the hoolidays coming up soon.

 

[Jai]

Forgot to add in the injury list

Both outter(prenoral) tendons on my right ankle

Left knee doesn't always work the way it should

Those are the ongoing ones, but I've done a good number on my body over the years through MA and other sports(football ect)