Another old story for you… A young man turned up at the school of a famous martial arts instructor. Upon arriving, he told the Master that he wanted to become his student and be the best martial artist in Japan.
Will warming up for 10 minutes on the treadmill help me in Hapkido class?
Warming up on the treadmill definitely won’t hurt your training (unless you’re operating at maximum intensity and getting too fatigued) but it’s also not the most ideal way to warm up for a class – or for anything other than
The power of deliberate practice
CHA STUDENT BLOG: This month’s blog is written by Chang’s Hapkido Academy student Andrew Kennedy. I work in the investment business and over the past while I have become increasingly interested in something called behavioural finance. It’s a discipline that meets at
Posture, power and performance (part two)
In part one I looked at how poor posture and body mechanics decrease the effectiveness of our Hapkido techniques and expose us to potential injury and pain. This understanding is key to our physical wellbeing, but posture also has a
Posture, power and performance (part one)
One word my students consistently hear me use is ‘posture’. In this two part series I want to look at how posture affects how we feel and also how we perform. Firstly let’s consider our physical performance… In Hapkido the
Q. Will wearing ankle weights improve my kicking?
About a month ago one of my white belt students asked me if he could bring ankle weights with him to class. I asked him why; he said that he wanted to improve his kicks and would practice with them
Q. Should I perform static stretches before Hapkido?
Static stretching involves reaching forward to a point of tension and holding the stretch for 30 seconds. A static stretch includes the relaxation and concurrent elongation of the stretched muscle. Stretching in this manner alters the length-tension relationship in muscles
Compassion in martial arts training
CHA STUDENT BLOG: This month’s blog is written by Chang’s Hapkido Academy student Michi Lutz. When she’s not at Hapkido, Michi is a psychologist working in the NHS and currently completing her doctoral research in counselling psychology. The Compassionate mind
Disciplined practice creates positive mental habits.
I’ll be giving a keynote lecture at The Wellcome Trust this Saturday. My lecture will focus on how our actions in the dojang (martial arts training hall) influence how we act in our day-to-day lives. Intellectually we can understand the
Skills, skills, and more skills (part three)
After spending the past few months arguing for (part one) and against (part two) the importance of learning more skills, I’d like to question the relevance of either argument. So why does focusing on more or less skills actually miss