Sometimes life throws us a curve-ball and we have to miss a few classes.

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure”

When that happens it’s easy to feel a bit ‘out of the loop’ and though it really shouldn’t be a problem, sometimes our subconscious takes over and starts playing silly games with your confidence, and it seems to get harder and harder to get back in the dojang. If you’ve ever been in that position, I bet a few of these thoughts have gone through your head:

“I’ve not been for ages, I’m so unfit it’s going to hurt when I go back”

“I’ve forgotten everything!”

“Everyone else has learned a load of new stuff and I’ll look daft because I can’t do it”

“They’ll all think I’m useless for not training”

Trust me, we’ve all been there, and I’ve heard all these B.S. excuses a hundred times over the years.

The simple fact is thats just our silly subconscious talking. The same one that makes us procrastinate about all sorts of things.  Sure, you may need to take it steady for a couple of classes to ease back into a routine, but other than that you’ve got nothing to worry about.  Worried about what others are thinking?  Think about it, how much do you worry about other people’s training?  The simple fact is, we miss you when you’re not there, and the only thing we’re likely to be thinking is “hey I hope they’re ok and back training soon”.

There’s a very simple solution if you’ve missed some training and want to know how to get going again.  Take a top from Nike and JUST DO IT!  All you need to do is take that first step back into the dojang and you’ll soon realise that you had nothing to worry about.

We’re looking forward to seeing you soon!

Hey team,

Wow, the past year has flown by, it doesn’t seem like five minutes ago I was writing ‘happy new year’.

Did you make any goals last year? Maybe you set some new years resolutions. If you did, did you stick to them? I’m guessing for a large group of us probably not, but rest assured you weren’t alone!

Do you know why most people’s new-years resolutions fail?  It’s because as a society we’re conditioned to the fact that “nobody sticks to new years resolutions”, or “they’ll be forgotten by the end of january” etc. If your whole life you’ve heard things like that it’s going to be pretty hard to break the mould isn’t it?

Japanese Kanji characters for KAIZEN

So, instead why not try a different plan this year, and don’t just make short-term resolutions, but instead commit to one simple principle of Kaizen– aim to just make small improvements every day.  If every day you do one small thing to improve your health, a small ‘chunk’ of time on a project, one good deed for someone else etc. after a while they all add up.  You couldn’t jump to the top of a mountain in one step, but you could climb it one small step at a time..

Now I know I rattle on about it a lot, but how about trying one thing, spend a bit less time on Facebook and try visiting our discussion forum instead!  At the last count there were over 11,000 posts in 700 topics with some really interesting discussions about all kinds of topics relating to martial arts, fitness training and personal development.  Everyone is welcome to join, it’s free and it’s a great place to keep in touch and share in your passion for the martial arts.  Parents are welcome to join too!  We would love to see some contribution from you guys on there :-)

Check it out at: www.blackbeltacademy.info/forum If you’re not a member yet just click on the ‘register’ link at the top, pop in your name and email and we’ll get you online right away!

As we’re approaching our christmas break I’d just like to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone for their support over the past 12 months.   Firstly, thank you to everyone who contributed the very touching testimonials which led to two very special awards for me at the GIMA training weekend, promotion to 6th Degree Black Belt and GIMA Instructor of the Year.

I would especially like to thank Shirley Williamson and Robbie Hirst for their fantastic support in class. They really are the unsung heroes of the Academy that keep things running smoothly behind the scenes and allow me to focus on the teaching. If you’ve not done so recently, please take a moment to thank them personally.  Thank you also to all the parents who support their children and ensure they’re in class nearly every lesson, to the adult members who turn up regular as clockwork and even those who can only make it once in a while, you all inspire me every day, and you are the reason I do this.

Until next year, KAIZEN!

Master Olpin  관장님 리차드

We’re currently beavering away behind the scenes on a major re-write of the Academy website.

The main goal is to bring it up to date with some modern features, in particular better compatibility with the way people use the web these days. Most people tend to do their casual browsing on smartphones and tablets etc. so we’re rebuilding from the ground up with a modern ‘responsive’ layout that will automatically scale itself and show content which is suitable for the device you’re running on.

We’re also building in a proper blog based on the worlds best blogging platform ‘WordPress’, which will enable us to keep you updated much more regularly with news and special offers.

Finally, we’re integrating a properly managed mailing list provider which will enable us to have automatic sign-ups to the mailing list, and to provide instant, automatic updates with information sent automatically to new visitors etc.

Trident - Personal Safety Trainer

On Sunday 24th February, Master Olpin attended certification course with Steve Timperley of Trident Safety and Intervention Systems and is now certified with TSIS as a Personal Safety Trainer within the organisation.

We’ll soon be offering an introductory personal safety workshop as a service to schools, businesses and groups within the local community.

Contact us for further information

Finally back from the printers!

DSCF0757

“It’s like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.”

Master Olpin with Chris Crudelli

Our chief instructor, Richard Olpin was honoured last weekend at the Black Belt International awards held at the Hilton Hotel in Bradford, UK.

Master Olpin was presented with an International award in recognition of his services to the development of the martial arts in the United Kindgom.

His award was presented by Chris Crudelli, the presenter of the “Mind, Body and Kick-Ass Moves” TV show.

We’re planning to have Mr Crudelli down to Dursley for a Seminar early next year so watch this space for more details!

 

Miss Dimery with Emma Elmes

 

Also at the same event Master Olpin and Miss Dimery had the chance to meet the lovely MissEmma Elmes, multiple world champion in creative forms and weapons.

Again, we’re hoping to have Emma visit us early next year for a seminar.

Top tip guys: start stretching now!