Fitness for kids - Anaerobic vs. Aerobic Lesson of the week!

     Here is our special video for our lesson of the week: "Aerobic vs. Anaerobic."  This was a "mat chat" that we did in our White, Orange, and Yellow belt class this week.  The kids were so engaged and interactive, I couldn't have even scripted a better mat chat.  It was really cool.

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Personal Achievement Academy Lesson of the Week!

     This month our Personal Achievement Academy theme is “Martial Arts Athlete.”  We focus on being healthy, getting exercise, and eating right.  For this week, we’re going to focus on a highly effective method to fast-track an athlete’s ability level – Private Training.  Tiger Woods is considered one of the greatest golfers in the world and he has a private trainer teach him every day.  If you enjoy something and want to become really good at it, try taking a private lesson to help you perfect your techniques. 

Here are the missions!

• Schedule a private lesson to learn something you have always wanted to learn. 
• Train and practice for at least 10 minutes with someone who is better than you.   
• Ask a friend to teach you something you want to learn.    
• Ask a family member to teach you something you want to learn.
• Take a seminar or special class (semi-private lesson) on a subject you want to learn. 

Turn in your missions and receive a green stripe!  It's a new month, new missions, new lessons, and we're working on this muscle to be community leaders!  Our PAA party (for anyone that turns in their worksheet) will be November 5, 2011!!  

Readers are Leaders!

Reading paves the way to success in school and in life!  It can build your self-confidence and motivate you to set high expectations and goals for yourself.  Reading initiates creativity and opens your mind to expand.  Even reading for 10 minutes can ignite your imagination.  Pick topics you enjoy and hobbies you want to learn more about.  Picking topics that you want to learn more about or things you don't know about are great ways to expand your knowledge and become much smarter.  Develop a steady habit of reading for 10 to 30 minutes each day and your mind will grow with knowledge, creativity, and imagination.  Did you know that if you read 15 minutes a day with your parents, friends, or on your won can expose you to more than one million words in a year!?

For adults:  Find something that you enjoy reading and spend 10-15 minutes reading every night before you go to bed.  A lot of people watch TV before bed and it leads to your brain not wanting to relax into a deep sleep.  Every night, I read my favorite book:  How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie and it helps improve my mood if I have a bad day and helps me focus on something I can do tomorrow to make me better.  Try it!

Master Focus!

April's theme is "Knowledge is Power."  Our first week's goal is to improve our focus and have MASTER FOCUS!  Focus is really just another word for concentration.  When you're able to concentrate better and focus on what a teacher is saying to you, your brain gets stronger and you learn faster!  How do you improve your focus and concentration?  By looking, listening to your teacher, and keeping your body completely still.  When you can do all 3 parts, you are a Focus Master.  Next time you are trying to learn something new, use the three levels of focus to learn faster and better:

Levels of the Focus Master-
Level 1- Look directly into his/her eyes
Level 2- Clear your mind and listen
Level 3- Stay perfectly still

Week 1 missions:
1- When speaking to a parent, adult, or teacher, use the three Focus Master techniques
2- Tell your school teacher the 3 rules of a Focus Master
3- Have a parent set a timer and see how long you can stay perfectly still (1 minute is great!)
4- Close your eyes and clear your mind.  Try to think of only one object in detail for 1 minute
5- Take a book and count the words in any paragraph.  Try to perform the county mentally and only with your eyes

Journal to Success

Writing gives you time to find out who you are, plan activities, unleash creativity, understand your thoughts, plan for the future, and open up your dreams.  An easy way to jump start your success is to have a success journal in which you can write down important events, plan for the future and write down important things that you learn. Use your success journal to track your Personal Achievement Accomplishments and write down your goals.  Remember you can write however you want and whatever you want, so be creative and have fun.  The secret of a great journal is to rite in it as often as you can, have fun, and come up with some great ideas.

Try this:
Make a journal by stapling paper together or buy one from the store
Write down ONE goal in your journal
Draw a picture of something you like or something crazy
Write down a short story about anything you want
Write one thing that you learned, anything
Write a short paragraph about a friend, a family member, or teacher

GOOD LUCK!  Maybe your journal will be famous some day!

Charisma!

Leaders have a lot of charisma because they feel good about themselves.  When you have charisma, people will like being around you because you are "celebrating," not "complaining."  You know, you're happy, you smile, your just fun to be around.  Things that charismatic people do is start conversations with other people, listen to them, and help everyone else feel better about themselves.  You should help people to have a good time and you encourage them to do their best if you want to be a charismatic leader.

SPEAK UP!
Here are some things you can do to have more charisma:
1)  Say "hi" to 5 people in your class at school before they can say hi to you first
2)  Tell 5 people: "It's good to see you!"
3)  When someone asks you how you are doing, say "Great! How are you?"
4)  Give someone a compliment to make him/her feel good

Good Winner/ Good Loser

If you give up on your goals, you'll be left in the dark:  Did you know Thomas Edison tried to invent the light bulb more than 1,000 times before he actually got one that worked!?

Good Winners are like this:
Leaders know how to win like a champion.  You congratulate your opponents and encourage them to do their best next time.  Be excited about winning, but don't show off or make fun of the people who lost.  When people tell you how good you are, always say "Thank you!"

Good "Losers" are like this:
Being a good loser is one of the most important qualities to achieving great things in life.  The more time you spend complaining about losing, the more time your opponents have to get better.  It is impossible to win every time, so turn your losses into wins.

When you Lose, Try the Winner's Game Plan:
Step 1 - GET OVER IT! Tell yourself you tried your best and tell your opponents "good job!"
Step 2 - GET BETTER! Write down why you lost and practice what you did poorly
Step 3 - GO TRY AGAIN!  Keep trying your best, Winners never give up, they TURN IT UP!

Stand up and Lead!!

This week we focus on Leadership.  Leadership is not just a word, it's an action!  Did you know that people who speak in front of crowds earn on average four times more than the average American?  Earn what, you may ask. They earn more money, more promotions, better grades at school, their goals, awards, you name it!

Get up in front of people as much as you can.  it will make a tremendous impact on your life!  Studies show that the #1 fear in life for most people is getting up in front of others and speaking.  When you conquer things that other people are afraid of, you set yourself up for extreme success.  Try giving a presentation, telling a joke, a story, doing a comedy show.  You can also try singing, reciting a poem, acting, teaching, or reading to a group.  Next time someone asks for a volunteer, be the first to raise your hand.  Everyone is scared at first, but pretty soon it will be easy and you will not be afraid to Stand Up and Lead!

Here are ways that you can be a LEADER this WEEK!
1 - Be a volunteer to read or perform in class
2 - Practice reading out loud at home
3 - Memorize a good joke or story and tell it to a group of people
4 - Teach a friend or family member a martial arts move and practice with him/ her
5 - Perform a set of martial arts moves or demonstration in front of your martial arts class

Suitcase for Time

Week 3 Missions:

1.  Write down one fun thing you want to do after school and plan when you are going to do it
2.  Do one of your chores or responsibilities before school so you can do something you want to do after school
3.  With your parents, plan out your chores, responsibilities, and the coolest weekend ever!
4.  Organize your room and your homework study area
5.  Write down the hours you spend on the phone and computer, then compare it to the hours you spend reading and studying (gotta have balance!)


Any students who complete the 5 missions - post the successful week on Facebook for everyone to see and congratulate!

What do you do?

The circle of success for a child is threefold:  the student needs to be willing to get better at something, there needs to be positive parents that support the child, and positive role models or life coaches like martial arts instructors that help them along the way.  What happens when the parents are positive and supporting, the instructors try their best, but the student is just unwilling to learn?  If everything that you've tried doesn't work and you feel like you just want to give up. 

My mom used to say, "I don't know how a parent can just kick their kid out of the house.  No matter what you did I wouldn't kick you out."  Well, lucky for her I never did anything that bad.  But is that what happens when parents give up?  I thought I was really good at getting into the head of kids and teenagers and could relate to them pretty well.  Recently I worked with a teenager that, it seems, just can't be reached anymore.  His mom is at her wits-end because he's abusing her with angry words and sometimes even tries to hit her.  He picks on his little brother too, who is almost half his age.  What do you do when you're faced with such a challenge?

I guess usually, on this blog I post tips and information that I have to share but this time maybe I'm asking for some opinions and comments.  What do you do when your only option is to kick a kid out or call the police?

Challenge Yourself!!

This week's theme for Personal Achievement Academy and becoming a martial arts athlete is to Challenge Yourself!!  You can become really good when you challenge yourself!  For instance, when you start to get tired, you challenge yourself to keep going and do a few extra exercises or techniques.   You will improve much faster if you do a few extra kicks or techniques when you get tired.  Why do you get so much better?  Because the self challenge gives you a jolt of energy and you will end up doing more techniques.  Plus, most people give up when they start to get tired.  When you keep going, you will excel past everyone else.  Challenge yourself to keep going next time you get tired and remember that you are getting closer to becoming a martial arts athlete!

Take the challenge!  Next time you feel like stopping, challenge yourself to do a few extra repetitions before you stop.  Lock at other people training.  When they start to slow down or give up, do a few extra repetitions.  Don't be afraid to try an exercise or martial arts move that is really hard!  Sign up for a private lesson, extra class, camp, seminar, or workshop that will challenge you!

COOL FACT!!  15 extra kicks per class is 2,340 extra kicks per year!

This is an awesome story about a real kid-leader!!

I'm not going to put a lot of words in this post, you need to watch this video.. what a great kid and you can tell he has a great family!  "You should always look out for your friends,"  says Tyler.  What a great message!

Have a Consistent Workout Plan

To be a martial arts athlete, you have to be consistent!  Consistency means that you make it to every workout you plan without missing very many of them.  When you consistently work out at least three times a week, you get really fast, stronger muscles, stronger bones, a better looking body, better grades, a better attitude, AND you're less likely to get sick!  When you do three martial arts workouts per week you get fit, you learn how to protect yourself and you get to achieve your black belt all at the same time.  Now, that's cool!  Plan out at least three martial arts workouts each week, be consistent, and don't miss too many classes!

Here are your missions for this week:
1.  Plan our 3 martial arts classes (or workouts) you are going to do in one week
2.  Write down these 3 classes or workouts and put them up in your room
3.  Make it to all 3 workouts and check off each one as you do it
4.  Do any 30-minute workout with your friends
5.  Do any 30-minute workout with your parents

Cool fact:  People who work out with family members or friends have an 85% higher chance of being consistent and not missing classes.