Posts

How Kids Become Disciplined Through Martial Arts

Discipline could be the most important trait to teach to children these days. It’s certainly necessary in modern times, with kids growing increasingly independent. How can we build trust in our children that they will have enough discipline to walk down the right path, even without our supervision?

Discipline is a popular reason why parents want their kids to learn martial arts. Whether it’s listening at home or in school, or showing more respect to parents or other kids. Martial Arts provides kids with discipline and respect, but it’s not given, it is earned.

Jiu-Jitsu is a great martial art to teach your kids discipline. Through martial arts, kids learn the value of discipline and how to exercise discipline in their lives.

Jiu-Jitsu training is one of the healthiest activities to foster a disciplined spirit. During class there is a structure, technique, drills and of course fun! But kids learn early on if they want to be good at martial arts, they need to be disciplined in their approach to training.

Students who are more disciplined in class, and their attendance are also the ones that advance quicker. This doesn’t mean that Jiu Jitsu is going to take over your child’s life. But spending 2-3 times a week, 1 hour sessions, is a perfect for growth.

Martial arts and discipline go hand-in-hand. One cannot thrive without the other. Kids need martial arts to effectively learn to be disciplined. Conversely, discipline is essential in martial arts training.

Here’s how Jiu-Jitsu is a great a tool for teaching discipline to children.

1) Discipline = Success = Confidence

There is a lesson that you learn fairly quick in jiu-jitsu, whether you’re 5 years old or 50… you must “show up” to be successful. There is sometimes a misconception that students will “get it” right away. That’s not the case in Marital Arts. Martial Arts require disciplined practice that makes the student successful in class and life.

This continued success breeds EARNED confidence. These three elements, discipline, success and confidence are so important to your child self-esteem and mental health. You are giving him / her a powerful gift at such a young age, that many adults will struggle to achieve.

Self-esteem is the #1 key deterrent to bullying. Bullies want weak, shy, and “different”. Kids who don’t fit the norm, or as my mother used to say “Goes to the beat of a different drummer”, have a hard time fitting in with the regular crowd. This sometimes leads to severe bullying, especially if your child isn’t particularly athletic. Jiu-Jitsu empowers children with a healthy and positive self-esteem that will carry on into their future.

2) Learning How To Trust The Process

In our modern age, kids have so much stimulus and their brains are so active! Practice, the art of training, calms the mind, focuses their energy and shows them that there is a path to success. Kids learn to trust the process of training jiu-jitsu.

Training marital arts has a unique way of calming everything down and focusing exclusively on what you’re doing. In Japanese Martial Arts, the call this Mushin “No Mind”. It starts small, un-noticed, but students start getting lost in their practice. It becomes meditative, focused and artistic. Eventually this feeling grows and becomes the goal during training.

Martial artists are always looking to improve on a daily basis, even just 1% each day. By this focus on constant daily improvement, children are taught to remain disciplined so they can maximize their time.

Young martial artists will learn being disciplined in jiu-jitsu class and life will provide them the result they want.

Without discipline, martial artists cannot progress and they will never reach the destination. Discipline is one of the most important aspects of progress.

3) “You Must Focus Daniel-son!” 🙂

Without focus, there is no martial arts… it’s also one of the biggest reasons parents want their kids to learn martial arts. The gain the ability to focus, digest, plan and make good decisions. This is jiu-jitsu.

Jiu-Jitsu is like the best video game in the world, yet it’s real life. In games you’re faced with challenges, decisions, wins, losses, frustration and success. In order to win the game, you need to focus and make good decisions… again, this is Jiu-Jitsu.

There is a huge game element to Jiu-Jitsu training, we call it “rolling”. From the outside looking in, it’s grappling in a uniform, it’s our version of sparring which is one of the cornerstones of Jiu-Jitsu training. This activity is vital for student development, but also becomes a huge playground for kids new Jiu-Jitsu skills. In order to be successful during rolling, they need to focus in class, digest what they have learned, and then apply it during rolls.

Through this training, kids develop a sharp rational mind and learn how to make great choices on the mat and in life.

4) Conquer Fears

Let’s be completely honest here. Sometimes martial arts is scary for the child and parent. Why? Because it’s real.

Students are learning a very power method of defending themselves. Quickly kids get over fears of getting hurt, or being in a fight. They toughen up.

Essentially their training is “fighting”, just a lot funner! They realize that these fears they had around getting hurt or bullied, quickly fade away because they have the power of Jiu-Jitsu.

This mindset sets them up for life. They learn to face their fears and overcome them.

Jiu-Jitsu is one of the best activities a kid or young teen to do. If you are looking to give your kid discipline, confidence, focus and fear-conquering mindset, then I highly suggest that you give Jiu-Jitsu a try. Get 1-Week free intros lessons at the Cage JSA.

GET 1-WEEK FREE KIDS JIU-JITSU LESSONS

Give The Gift Of Jiu-Jitsu With 1-Week Free Intro Lessons

/0 Comments/by

How Jiu-Jitsu Helps Kids In School

Jiu-Jitsu is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give to a child.

Not only does the child learn valuable self-defense skills, respect, become more disciplined and develop a strong self of confidence, but it also helps kids in the school / social life as well.

Here are 3 ways Jiu-Jitsu can help your son or daughter not only improve themselves on the mats, but also how Jiu Jitsu can make them better students.

1.) Jiu Jitsu teaches students to learn.  Jiu Jitsu classes are like school lessons.  There are topics, concepts and techniques to learn those concepts.  No one gets the jiu jitsu move right away, nor do students understand the underlying concept right away.  Students need to continually practice to understand.  They need to fail multiple times, yet keep trying until they get it.  This is a sometimes challenging for new students.  But the process of Jiu Jitsu helps students make small incremental improvements that over time give them the confidence and ability to perform.

2.) Jiu Jitsu prevents bullying.  This is a big one, and so important for our children.  Jiu Jitsu classes are built around working and training with other students.  Students most work together to learn the moves.  There is no bullying in class, it’s not allowed.  In fact, the concept is that every student needs to help every other student get better.  This carries over into their normal lives.  For weaker students, having a safe environment allows them to learn jiu jitsu, make friends and be a part of something bigger.  For more aggressive students, this process allows them to see how helping others is important.

During their regular school, we notice that after Jiu Jitsu many students cite that if they were bullied, it stops happening.  It’s not because the child had to “fight” anyone.  It’s because they start develop a self of confidence that is perceived by other students.  We also see that students become protectors.  Because Jiu Jitsu teaches the students to help each other and work together, they are more likely to help the weaker and potential bullied students.

 3.) Respect, Respect, Respect.  Jiu Jitsu is a marital art… duh.  But in martial arts there is this deep sense of respect for fellow students and your instructors.  Maybe because Jiu Jitsu is physical, or maybe because they are learning serious self defense skills, or maybe it’s something that just can’t be described that gives students a strong respect for others.  You see it happen almost immediately with both young and adult students.

This sense of respect carries over at home and in their regular education.  As time goes on, the respect they have deepens and they become strongly respected themselves.

We maybe a bit biased 🙂 – but we know that Jiu-Jitsu is one of the absolute best things a parent could ever give to a child.  But let me warn you.  All of these benefits don’t happen over night.  We just can’t give your kid “respect” the first night, week or month.  It takes time.  Our suggestion is to start off with a week trial.

During this trial, what you are looking for is to see if your child “likes it”.  Are they having fun?  Are they engaged?  If so, give them 3-6 months, and see how they progress – we guarantee that you will be impressed with their progress.

GIVE THE GIFT OF JIU-JITSU
/0 Comments/by

How Jiu-Jitsu Prevents Bullying

Bullying is one of the saddest, most challenging experiences and scarring for both the parents and children.

It’s hard to address the problem with schools or God forbid other parents, so what are you supposed to do for kids who are getting bullied in schools and outside?

Martial Arts is actually one of the greatest gifts you can provide to your child not only to prevent bullying, but also for life in general.

One of the best martial arts for this is Jiu Jitsu. Here a 3 ways Jiu-Jitsu can help you and your child end the cycle of bullying.

1.) Kids Learn To Be Strong Physically

Bullying starts because the bully sees an “easy target”. Some of the kids who are bullied are typically not athletes or the super-star athletes, or are the ones who have no interest in “ball sports”.

Jiu-Jitsu gives these children the physical skills to not only defend themselves WITHOUT hurting themselves or others AND the coordination, balance and flexibility of an athlete.

Their posture changes, they keep their chin up and they have the confidence to defend themselves if anyone tries to hurt them.

2.) Confidence.

Confidence is probably one of the most important “skills” that will stop bullying in it’s tracks. The problem is that confidence is earned. If your child is scared of getting hurt and has no tools to prevent that, he will never gain confidence and will continue to suffer the bully’s wrath.

Jiu-Jitsu is a unique martial art where the kids will “roll”. Rolling is basically grappling sparring. Kids will wrestle each other and learn what it feels like to go live.

This is SO SO SO SO important in Jiu-Jitsu. The kids are essentially taught how to fight in a safe, organized and healthy way. In classes, rolling is one of the most favorite activities because it’s instinctual, fun and allows them to test out the skills they are learning.

The hidden benefit is that the “fear” around fighting and getting hurt goes away. What is replaced is a sense of confidence and a “bored” attitude about fighting outside of the mats. It’s much more fun to roll with your friends at Jiu-Jitsu because they know what to do.

The bully doesn’t have Jiu-Jitsu, this actually makes him weaker, and if your son or daughter ever had to use Jiu-Jitsu to defend themselves, it would surprise them at how easy it was to stop the attack, control the situation, and make sure no one got hurt.

3.) Helping Others

Jiu-Jitsu can’t be learned alone. You need at least 2 others. A training partner and a coach. Because of this, sharing and helping each other learn is a vastly important.

Children need to work together to learn new techniques, concepts and play games.

This creates a sharing like atmosphere where all the kids and instructors are working together to help EVERYONE get better at Jiu-Jitsu.

If your son or daughter is getting bullied, Jiu-Jitsu is probably the best gift you could ever give them. Our instructors have deep experience with bullies and are here for one reason, to help your children and others to NOT become a victim.

STOP BULLYING - START JIU-JITSU
/0 Comments/by

5 Reasons Your Kids Should Be Learning Jiu Jitsu

There are many reasons why parents choose Jiu Jitsu for their children. Kids can learn great problem solving skills while becoming more disciplined individuals. Here are the top 5 reasons your kids should be learning Jiu Jitsu.

#1. Self Defense

The #1 reason parents choose Jiu Jitsu is because it’s real self defense. Bullying is becoming a real problem in all schools. Giving your child the confidence to stand up for themselves is the #1 bully deterrent. Training Jiu Jitsu also helps to give your child the reflexes needed to anticipate and avoid potential dangers.

#2. Discipline

The world we live in is full of stimulus. Kids are losing their ability to focus in school, and ADHD has become a common problem for many, and classrooms are being disrupted by undisciplined students. Jiu Jitsu is fun to learn, and challenging! Learning the technique requires attention and focus, and so their instructors will require it from the entire class. This teaches your child how to be respectful and behave.

#3. Great Exercise

Training Jiu Jitsu is not only about self defense, it’s great exercise too! Let your kids get their energy out in a fun and safe environment. Jiu Jitsu is an excellent cardiovascular workout for your children and they will LOVE doing it. It will get help your child lose weight, grain strength, as well as giving them more energy and stamina.

#4. The “Jiu Jitsu Lifestyle”

Eating healthy foods, sleeping correctly, and getting exercise are all a part of what we call the “Jiu Jitsu lifestyle.” The lessons learned in class go beyond just the mats. Your kids will learn the value of eating healthy foods, getting a good night’s rest, coordination and great body awareness!

#5. Lifelong Friends

Your children will make new friends; drill techniques together, play games together, and even do live rolling together. This bond will give them lifelong friends, as they grow up together sharing these experiences. It is a great way to learn communication skills with kids of all other ages.

Start your kids down the incredible journey of Jiu-Jitsu with a 1-week free trial and intro lessons.

GET STARTED NOW
/0 Comments/by