I am a third degree black belt at the Upper Marlboro Martial Arts Center in Upper Marlboro, Maryland and I thought I would give any one that might be interested in taking martial arts a little preview of what they could expect from a class. I hope this information will encourage you to consider martial arts as a form of exercise, self defense, and as a social outlet.

I guess I can’t say for sure if all styles of martial arts fit this pattern but I know that many do. Like most instructional classes, the martial arts class is broken into segments and each segment is done in every class. This makes the instruction consistent from instructor to instructor. This doesn’t mean that all classes are identical. Each instructor will bring their own personality and style into each segment.

Salute the Flag Having respect for our country, each other and ourselves is very important to the study of martial arts. It is more than just physical instruction. We begin and end each class by facing the flag at attention with our hands on our hearts.

Meditation At the beginning of class we take about ten seconds to sit cross legged and meditate. This creates our focus for the class. I tell the kids about the difference between the knife and the hammer. The knife can cut and sandwich because all of its energy is focused on the thin blade. A hammer can’t cut the sandwich because the energy is spread across the face of the hammerhead. I tell them that in class they should be the knife and not the hammer.

Warm Up We get into the physical activity with warm up exercises. These include a lot of stretching to get the muscles ready to be extended while doing the martial arts techniques. We also do jumping jacks, crunches, and I like to throw in a few push ups to get the muscles toned and the heart going. The warm up also gives students that come to class regularly the added benefit of improving flexibility. Their stances get stronger and the kicks get higher and more extended.

Drills Here is where we get down to it. This is the time to practice defense and attack techniques in different stances. We work up and down the floor practicing a technique such as a low block in a forward stance. This is one of the most basic techniques and one that is drilled in every class. You might think that the members with higher rank would want to skip drilling the basics but we all know that we never get it perfect and there is always room for improvement. In addition higher belts spend a lot of time on more complicated techniques and we must avoid getting rusty with the simpler ones.

This is the time when the instructor will begin to focus the drills to a theme that he or she may have in mind for the class. If I plan to demonstrate a few new self defense techniques later in the class I’ll make sure the basic motions for those techniques are drilled in this segment.

Forms A form is a combination of the basic moves put together in a routine of sorts. It is supposed to represent a martial artists defending against several opponents attacking from several directions. It is a method of showing our ability to do our techniques with precision and grace. The forms start with the basics with a few steps up to forms with jumps and turns that require up to fifty or sixty different moves. The old saying is if you practice your form a hundred times that you will see your opponents. If you practice your form a thousand times, your audience will see your opponents.

Self Defense The self defense segment can come in two forms. It can either be practicing individual techniques in response to an attack or it can be free form sparring. Sparring requires careful supervision and constant reminders, especially to the teenagers, to pull the punches and only touch your opponent to score.

We practice defense against a punch and defense against being grabbed in various ways. The defense against a punch is called a one-step. The name comes from the attacker taking one step and throwing the punch and the defender must react with a technique. Once again we start with the simple block and punch to move up to weapons defense with throws and strikes to specific weak points of the body.

Self defense techniques against a grab are called ju jits or grab arts. We teach how to get out of standard grabs, chokes, and holds. No one is going to grab you unless they are stronger than you so the techniques do not depend on out-muscling your attacker. They use balance and matching your strong muscles against their weaker muscles.

We always stress that the purpose of the techniques is to give you a chance to run from danger. We don’t teach saving the world from evil or stopping the bad guy so they don’t hurt others. We teach how to get away from danger and call for help.

This is a basic look at a class. Each class has its own personality but they all provide benefits far beyond self defense. I would encourage anyone interested to stop by a do jang and see what it is all about. If you come by the Upper Marlboro Martial Arts Center Master Baylor would be happy to give you a free class.