We may train as martial artists, but do we have the stamina and functional strength needed to sustain us during a fight for our life?  How about while protecting a third-party?  How about running for help?  How about running to help a person who is at the other end of a parking lot and then having the endurance to actually help them when you get there?  Martial Arts and functional strength…one without the other…. does it make sense?   

I was always in decent shape, not in great shape. Funny thing is, today I think I’m in decent shape, not in great shape.  When I was a white belt in To-Shin Do (1997 or 98), I had some prior training in Shotokan Karate and believed I could protect myself in a critical incident.  Now that I’m a Nidan (2nd degree) in To-Shin Do, I realize how little I know and wonder if I’ll ever really be ready for the things I may face. Hmm…kind of cruel all the way around, don’t you think?

 I’ve lost 60 pounds doing the program “Power 90″, drinking “Shakeology” for breakfast and doing the program “P90X”.  I have more energy than ever before.  It has changed how I look at fitness and survivability.  After my completion of Power 90-In Home Boot Camp from January-March 2010, I became a Beachbody Coach.  Check out my site at www.beachbodycoach.com/sperrey . There is something at Beachbody for everybody.  Am I trying to reach the people???….YOU BET I AM!

Work hard at your martial arts training.  Work hard at your fitness.  The two go hand in hand.  Does it have to be To-Shin Do and Beachbody….no, of course not.  Find your something…be ready.  Someone you love may thank you.

Mark Sperrey

Train Hard-Train Often

I want to thank everyone for their comments on this topic. I have been actively instructing kids ages 5 and up for almost 15 years on at least a weekly basis , so this is what I am basing my statements on. Several years ago I realized that children do not have what I call an age of discern ability until sometime in their double digit years. Let me explain this first. Kids are constantly being TOLD when they can and when they can’t do most things in their lives. For examples, don’t eat that, don’t watch that, do your homework. Etc. Etc. We even tell them when they can and can’t defend themselves. At a certain age they start to be able to discern when they can actually do things without second guessing. This ability comes with the maturing of ones thoughts and actions.

My point is simple. Children will not be able to defend themselves with any relative chance of winning unless they can react without thought, without concern for consequence, and a certain level of maturity.
Even with martial training there is not a child out their that most adults could not manhandle from one location to another. Moving them from in the yard to into the house, from the street to the car, from one room into another., from standing and fighting to pinning them to the ground. You get my point.
We often look at the above scenarios and think how horrible they would be. But if we had to do it for the safety or even survival of a child we would not hesitate in saying that we could move them without a possibility of failure on the part of the adult.
With all that being said I also feel that proper movement, balance, situation awareness along with many other things should be taught to children beginning at a young age.
As an adult I started training about fifteen years ago. I feel pretty comfortable now with dealing with bad situations. I think that kids today need some sort of training to be able to defend themselves if need be. They will not be able to beat an adult in a fight when their 5,6,7,8~ ~ ~but they will be collecting the proper tools for the job. And with the proper tools and the knowledge to use them are children will go far.

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