The Martial Library: Choosing Your First Book
Imagine for a moment that you walk into the Library of Congress. As you enter the rotunda, you are immediately awed by the sheer size of the building and the incredible number of resources available to you. The fact is that you are lost. You may have come in with some inkling of what you wanted to learn, but now you are so overwhelmed by the size and complexity of the building that you freeze. That is what it can be like when you start your martial arts journey. As you look at the field of martial arts to decide what to train in and how to begin, you can become overwhelmed with all the different styles, schools, and lingo that surround the martial arts culture. Where should you start?
This new series of blog posts is written in the hope of exploring the martial library; hopefully helping you find your way through the massive catalog of martial arts styles, schools, training environments, and instructors. Back in the 1970s and 80s in the USA, the choice was easy. You found the one school that was close enough for you to attend, and that was where you started. Now, unless you are in a very small town, you probably have at least 2 schools to choose from, not to mention the online training methods that are available. In my area alone, there are at least 19 schools within 20 minutes from my house. Many of those schools offer instruction in 2 or more specific arts or styles. If you have never trained before, choosing which school to attend can be a daunting task. Here are 5 tips to help you choose the best “book” to check out first.
1. Know your goal – In other words, what are you wanting to get out of the training? Martial arts training is an amazing journey that can take your mind and body to new levels. However, if you don’t know where you are going, it will be hard to choose the right path. Most people start martial arts training for one or more of the following reasons:
a. Self-defense
b. Fitness
c. Discipline (for themselves or their children)
d. Looking cool
By setting some specific goals in your own mind, your choices will begin to narrow a bit. If you are looking for self-defense, a Wushu, Tai Chi, or Fitness Kickboxing class are probably not going to be your best option. However, if fitness is your goal, one of those might be exactly what you need!
2. Know your-self – What are you willing to commit to? How much time do you have to devote to the study of the art? What previous injuries or limitations to you have? All of these factors can affect your choice. If you are young and healthy, pretty much any art will work for a start, but if you (like me), are showing signs of wear and tear from age and use, you may want to choose something that is less dynamic to begin with. That being said, martial arts training is designed to help you overcome difficulties and use the body you have to accomplish great things. Don’t let an old injury or a current lack of fitness stop you from starting the journey!
3. Find the right instructor – It has been said by many, that the art you choose is much less important than the instructor who teaches you. I wholeheartedly agree with that statement! If you were choosing a book in the library, you wouldn’t deliberately pick one that was written in a foreign language to be your first on a particular subject, would you? Instructors are the same way. You need to find one who can communicate well with you. Someone that you “Click” with. Unfortunately, it is also necessary to do a bit of checking on the instructor you choose. It is a good idea to google their name or check out their social media profiles before signing up. Just because a person claims to teach the values of a martial artist, doesn’t mean they live them. You can also read reviews of the school and ask around to friends to see if they have heard anything positive or negative about the school or instructor.
4. How does it smell? – Yes, believe it or not, I frequently smell a library book before taking it home. It sounds weird, but the best books I have ever read have a particular smell. Something about the way it is made or how frequently it has been read and handled can clue you in to whether it is a good book or not. Martial arts schools are similar. If you walk in and you are immediately accosted by the wet, musty smell of sweat and grime and old equipment, you probably want to reconsider training there. That isn’t necessarily to say that the instructor or style is poor, but the cleanliness of a place is a HUGE factor in determining whether it is safe to train at. An instructor who truly cares about his students will maintain the sanitation of the school to prevent things like fungus, staph infection, and bloodborne pathogens from spreading. While you’re at it, take a look at the equipment. Unlike a book, a well-worn cover isn’t necessarily the sign of a good training location. That doesn’t mean everything has to look like it is brand new. However, equipment that is old and worn out, can lead to injuries and should be discarded.
5. Who else is there? – If you walk into the school and see no one like you, it may not be the right location for you to train at. That doesn’t mean it is a bad school, but it may have different goals than you do. For instance, If you are looking for kids classes but you walk into a professional MMA gym, you will probably not see many children and the classes will likely require a level of skill and discipline that a child hasn’t yet developed. If you are looking for fitness, but the instructor has a belly and there is little to no high intensity training in the class, you probably want to look elsewhere. If you are a beginner, and you find a school with a good balance of beginners and advanced students, you are probably in a great place to start!
Regardless of your goals, I highly recommend that everyone start their martial arts career with a traditional martial art such as Karate, Taekwondo, Kung Fu, or Jiu Jitsu. Because of the history and structure of these arts, they will give you a foundation for the rest of your training. I hope that these 5 tips have been helpful to you as you begin your journey. In the next few posts, I will be going into a little more detail on what the “martial library” has to offer and hopefully inspiring you to dig deeper! Whatever your reason for reading this, I hope it has encouraged you to begin (or continue) your training. Get out there, open a “book”, and take the next step in your martial arts journey today!