Category: Martial Arts Instruction

Why you should be tracking attendance at your martial arts school

Checking-in with a code or a membership card is a very common practice at fitness gyms. I haven’t seen it done often at martial arts schools, until I joined my current academy which does just that. At first I considered it a hassle – I knew all of the staff personally after the first week, so there should no need to verify my membership every time.

As it turns out though, there are significant benefits to tracking attendance, for both the instructors and the students.
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How to build a curriculum for your martial arts school

A structured curriculum for classes is something that is often missing in martial arts schools. The most common approach is the “technique of the day”, where an instructor would show a few random techniques during class, often without any unifying theme or continuation of previously taught material.

If they’re more diligent, instructors might prepare a week or two worth of material in advance, hopefully covering the same theme or related positions.

The problem with those kind of approaches is that it makes it harder to acclimate new members and beginners into the art. This is especially true for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and other ground fighting arts, due to the amount of different positions one might encounter while sparring, and because most of the movements feel very unnatural for beginners.

(This post is based on my experience training in BJJ for close to a decade, and thus uses BJJ instruction as reference. It should be applicable to every martial art though).

Covering the basics

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