Do you have a code to live by?

I truly believe in having and believing in a code to live by. In times of crisis, in situations where you are challenged to make a decision or situations when you need a moral guide, your decision will be strong and honest when you have a code to guide your final decision.

Here are 12 principles you can use to build your code.

1. HONESTY. Be honest in all communications and actions. 

2. INTEGRITY. Maintain personal integrity. 

3. PROMISE-KEEPING. Keep promises and fulfill commitments. 

4. LOYALTY. Be loyal within the framework of other ethical principles. 

5. FAIRNESS. Strive to be fair and just in all dealings. 

6. CARING. Demonstrate compassion and a genuine concern for the well being of others. 

7. RESPECT FOR OTHERS. Treat everyone with respect.

8. LAW ABIDING. Obey the law. 

9. COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE. Pursue excellence all the time in all things. 

10. LEADERSHIP. Exemplify honor and ethics. 

11. REPUTATION AND MORALE.

12. ACCOUNTABILITY. Be accountable.

Active Self Defense

How would you react?

Clerk Fights Armed Robber from Active Self Protection on Vimeo.

From Active Self Protection

Success comes in small victories

Small Victories Create small victories, they add up, no matter how small or short in time. Those are the moments that carry you through to the next big challenge. And there is always another challenge. Taking small victories allow for more present moment focus. They lead to collectively completing the bigger goal! Focusing on the end goal may present such an overwhelming task mentally and physically one may quit – collectively small victories add up to success. For someone who never seems to get started – start with small victories. Life’s plan rarely flows the way one plans. Taking these small victories will open doors to paths in life – many of which can lead to huge successes.

Active Self Defense

How would you react?
Random Knife Attacks Caught on Video from Active Self Protection on Vimeo.
From Active Self Protection

What are you looking for in a martial art? Check us out at Marty Martin Karate.

10 manners for kids

10 Basic Manners for Kids 1. Follow the rules. Whether playing a game or participating in activities here follow the rules. Don’t make up rules, follow the rules and if you are out in a game then you are out. In the time it takes to argue whether you are out or not the game would have continued and you would probably be back in the game already. 2. Wait your turn and do not interrupting other people when they are speaking. No one can be heard if there are too many voices at once. Wait your turn until the other person is done speaking, and then ask your question. Be sure and give your full attention when the other person is speaking so as to reinforce the positive behavior of waiting your turn. 3. Do not raise your voice. This shows a loss of control. Raising your voice level causes the other person to raise their voice and now you are arguing – neither will get their point across. 4. No name-calling. Even if it's in "fun," name-calling hurts others feelings and is disrespectful nor does it make friends. 5. Be polite, say, "Please" and "Thank you" often. This shows respect and appreciation. In addition, if they are thanked, then say, "You're welcome". 6. Clean up after yourself. Whether at home or at the karate center, always pick up after yourself. It's your mess so clean it up. If other children leave a mess, then remind them that they need to clean up before the next activity can begin, and stick to it. 7. Good sportsmanship. After playing a game (sports, cards, board game), no matter the outcome, be pleasant. If you win, do not gloat or show off, but to be kind. If you lose, don't sulk or get mad, but be a good sport and tell the other person "good game" or speak well of them. Then try your hardest the next time. 8. Go through open doors in a line. When everyone tries to push and go through door at the same time it’s just a mess and you won’t get there any faster. When someone lets you go first tell them "thank you." 9. Always greet someone when they are new to the program. Being polite shows respect for others. 10. Respect differences. When people do things differently from your family because of diversity in culture, race, or religion, be respectful. Point out how interesting it is or how different families do different things. Families have their own traditions or rituals, and it is important and has meaning for that family.

Active Self Defense

How would you react?
Knife Attack Against Officer Caught on His Body Cam from Active Self Protection on Vimeo.
From Active Self Protection

Marty Martin Karate

From basics to going airborne we have it at Marty Martin Karate

How do we learn?

Can you learn from the internet? I want you to think about this. How do we learn? The education system we have today starting with kindergarten uses a combination of teacher explanation reinforced with written material and in many instances visual presentations. It is a proven statistic that a student will only retain a portion of the teacher presentation. So what can a student do to improve the retention? The answers do homework; study of the material, research the subject. How do people learn more about a subject – they study, they research, they teach. See the pattern here? I don’t think very many martial arts programs have their students do homework and I doubt seriously many instructors assign research projects during their respective belt training levels. Improving my students ability to retail more, to have reference material, to have a guide that helps my instructors teach consistently with higher retention rates is the driving force behind my filming all these videos and now making them available through https://martymartinkarate.com So my answer to the question can you learn from the internet is yes you can. That learning comes through observing instruction, having a consistent reference, a place to do research. I think this is the most important point to the subject, having a solid source to reference the material you are learning is the key to knowing your material.

Inner peace

Fitness with Coach Martin's Crucible Fitness...

Active Self Defense

How would you react...How many times did he shoot?

chamber full from Active Self Protection on Vimeo.

From Active Self Protection

You never know

Fitness with Coach Martin's Crucible Fitness...

Active Self Defense

How would you react...

Legally Armed Firearms Trainer Shoots Man Who Corners Him from Active Self Protection on Vimeo.

From Active Self Protection

Three strikes

Three strikes you’re “Not” out!

Imagine that there are two batters. Batter A steps up to the plate. Every pitch that he is thrown, he swings super hard. He misses once, he fouls the ball once, and he connects to a pop up fly and gets caught out. Batter B steps up to the plate, the pitcher throws three strikes in a row, striking the batter out. The batter never lifted the bat off of his shoulder.

Which of these batters were more successful at trying to get to first base? The answer is, batter A. Batter A showed confidence and had such a positive self image by believing in himself, that he tried to knock the cover off the ball with every swing. Batter B had such low self image, and was afraid to strike out, that he stood there and watched three chances to succeed pass him by, in the hopes of received a free walk to first base.

Even though both batters failed to reach first base, batter A learned from his swinging failures, and showed great confidence and the will to succeed. Batter A is the type of person that has a positive self image, believes in himself, and will try even harder next time. Batter B, just like those three balls, will let life pass him by because of how he feels about himself.

Work it ladies

Fitness with Coach Martin's Crucible Fitness...

Fit is sexy

Fitness with Coach Martin's Crucible Fitness...

Dunce to Genius

From dunce to genius in one easy step!

When Victor Seribriakoff was fifteen, his teacher told him that he would never finish school, and that he should drop out and get a job. Victor took the advise, and for the next seventeen years, he did a variety of odd jobs. He had been told that he wasn’t smart, and for seventeen years, he acted like it. When he was thirty two years old, an amazing thing happened. While applying for a job, an evaluation revealed that he was actually a genius with an IQ of 161. Guess what; seemingly overnight he started acting like a genius. Since that time, he has written books, had several inventions, and has become a successful business man.

This story of Victor makes you wonder how many geniuses we have walking around acting like dunces, because somebody told them that they were not smart. Obviously Victor did not suddenly acquire a tremendous amount of additional knowledge. He was already very smart and bright. He did however; suddenly acquire a tremendous amount of self image. When Victor saw himself as a genius he became more effective, and more productive. When he saw himself differently, he started acting differently. He started expecting and getting different results. How someone thinks about themselves will determine what type of person they become.

Moving Forward

Fitness with Coach Martin's Crucible Fitness...

Best phone call ever

The best phone call ever!

Let’s imagine for a moment. Your telephone rings, and the voice on the other end is someone that you greatly respect. This could be your teacher, your pastor, your coach, your karate instructor, or a friend.  This person says, “I just thought I would call and tell you that I think that you are one of the nicest people I know” “You are a great person to be around, and I like listening to the things that you have to say” “Every time that I am around you, I feel inspired and motivated to want to be a better person” “I wish I could see you every day, because you motivate me to be my best”. “That is all I wanted to say, and I look forward to seeing you soon”

Now, if a person called you and said these things to you, how would that make you feel about yourself? You would feel great about yourself, wouldn’t you? By someone taking their time to call and say all of those things about you, it would probably make you want to be even a better person yourself. You would have such confidence in yourself, that you would want to get better grades, work harder in your other activities like hobbies or sports, you would want to be a better son or daughter, and even a better martial artist.

The words that the person on the phone said to you, made you feel positive about how you see yourself. What if the person on the other end of the phone was you? What if you said all of those great things about yourself every day? Things like I’m a great person, I always try my best; I can do anything that I set my mind to. I want to help others. There is a saying that the mind completes what ever picture we put in it. If we paint a picture of ourselves about the type great person that we could be, we can become that person. It all starts with the way that we chose to see our self. How we see our self is called our “Self Image” If you say positive things to yourself, you will have a positive self image. With a positive self image, an interesting thing happens. Your confidence grows, and when your confidence grows, your competence grows, which simply means, when your self image improves, your performance improves.

If you see yourself as a straight A student, you will become a straight A student. If you see yourself as a doctor, you can become a doctor. And, if you see yourself as a black belt, you can become a black belt.