November 24, 2025 • 19 mins
The primary focus of this podcast episode is the exploration of maintaining motivation during periods of stagnation in one's martial arts journey. It is an undeniable truth that even the most dedicated practitioners encounter moments of inertia where the desire to train wanes, and one feels encumbered by fatigue or disinterest. In addressing this phenomenon, I emphasize that motivation is not the progenitor of action; rather, it is through the initiation of action that motivation is cultivated. We delve into common pitfalls such as repetition fatigue, comparison traps, and the burdens of perfectionism that may hinder progress and enthusiasm. I propose actionable strategies, including focusing on incremental goals, altering one's training environment, and reconnecting with one's foundational motivations, in order to reignite the embers of dedication and propel oneself forward in the pursuit of martial excellence.
Takeaways:
- The martial arts journey often presents challenges, including moments of stagnation and frustration.
- It is essential to understand that motivation is generated through action, not the other way around.
- Maintaining consistency in training is vital for cultivating a black belt mindset and overcoming obstacles.
- Awareness of factors such as repetition fatigue and comparison can help individuals stay motivated.
- Changing one's environment can reinvigorate motivation and enhance the training experience.
- Remembering the underlying reasons for pursuing martial arts can provide the necessary drive to continue.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Have you ever been stuck inyour martial arts journey?
Let's talk about it.
Welcome to the ATA Nation podcast.
Welcome back, nation.
We are super excited to haveyou back with us for another episode
of the ATA Nation podcast.
(00:21):
I am your host, senior masterZach Hayden, and it is a joy to be
with you.
We have our athlete of theweek coming up, but before that,
we have get to our main segment.
We're going to be talking a day.
Hey, guys, let's be honest.
Even the best martial artists,we get stuck.
There are days that we don'twant to train.
(00:42):
You know, you're just tired.
It's yucky out right now.
I don't want to do that.
You get frustrated.
You know, you're.
You're just not feeling it.
But those moments are the.
The real test of whether youhave a black belt mindset.
Okay, so we want to talk todayabout keeping motivated even when
motivation disappears.
(01:04):
Keeping moving, going forward,even when motivation disappears.
Because this is a struggle for everybody.
I was just talking to somestudents the other day about, you
know, the fact that, you know,there are days you're gonna have
to do things you don't want to do.
That's part of life.
That's part of the lesson ofmartial arts.
So let's.
Let's start with themotivation myth.
(01:26):
Here's the myth, guys.
Motivation doesn't start action.
Action creates motivation.
Action creates motivation.
Motivation doesn't create action.
You have to take action.
This is a core value at ourschool is taking action.
You know, we are always takeaction ata.
We've got to do the work, andthen you will feel motivated.
(01:49):
I tell kids this all the time.
You don't.
You have a bad day at school,make sure you go to taekwondo because
what you're going to want todo is sit on the couch.
You're going to want to, youknow, doom scroll.
You're going to want to watchsome YouTube, but you won't feel
any better.
You need the endorphins to gothrough your body, and that comes
from kicking and punching somebags, hitting some things, swinging
your chucks around.
You've got to make sure thatyou are creating a habit of taking
(02:12):
action, and then themotivation will come.
You will feel motivated later.
So many students quit becausethey don't want.
Want to go to class.
And their parents will evensay, hey, when he gets to class,
he loves it.
We got to remind ourselvesthat action creates motivation.
Motivation is an emotion.
It's not a strategy.
(02:33):
You think an Olympic athletelike, like Michael Phelps, this is
the guy I use as an example inmy classes all the time.
You think a guy like MichaelPhelps is really thrilled, really
excited to go.
Do you know his breaststroke again?
He's done it like a billion times.
He's not motivated to do that.
He's motivated to achieve his goals.
So he does that.
(02:53):
Momentum is greater than motivation.
Momentum is greater than motivation.
You have to start moving, youneed to start going, you need to
keep going, you need to keep moving.
The motivation will come andit ebbs and wanes because it's, it's
an emotion just like anything else.
This is a huge deal.
You know, I tell students allthe time at my school that I was
(03:15):
never the most talentedmartial artist.
I was never the most talentedmartial artist.
I'm not the most talentedmartial artist.
But the reason I'm a seventhdegree black belt is because I kept
showing up.
I kept showing up and showingup and showing up, doing the work,
putting in the work.
You, you get better by goingby doing it.
And then you're moremotivated, you're more excited when
(03:36):
you get better.
Confidence comes from competency.
You gotta make sure you'redoing the work.
So there's usually threethings that cause people to feel
a lack of motivation or get stuck.
And we wanna, that we kind ofwatch out for these.
So one is repetition fatigue.
This is a big one we see withsome black belt.
Sometimes especially you getyour black belt really young, you
(03:58):
can't test up those kind of things.
The routine starts to feelreally boring.
So that's one of the reasonspeople feel stuck.
And we're going to get to whatto do about that here in a minute.
But number two, the secondthing is maybe like a comparison
trap.
We're looking at the otherpeople around us.
Why don't I have red letters?
I've been doing it like that guy.
Why am I not that ranked?
(04:19):
Why is that person better atthis than me when I've been doing
the same thing?
So we're comparing ourselves,then we're like, oh man, I'm not
as good, I'm not doing this.
Okay?
We lose that motivation.
And often a third way that weget stuck is perfectionism, pressure.
You know, I can't do it asgood as them.
So I'm, I, I don't want to do it.
I'm not very good.
I can't do it.
(04:41):
We want to make sure that we,we, we don't run into that.
Okay?
You know, I, I don't, I thinkrepetition fatigue is the one that
I get more often than anything.
Sometimes a perfectionist pressure.
You know, like I said, I'm notthe most talented martial artist.
And so sometimes that.
That gets me.
I can be like, man, I'm not really.
(05:01):
We'll see.
I don't know, maybe thecomparison trap, too.
I don't know.
A little.
A little bit.
So here's some tips.
If you've been strugglingmaybe with motivation or, you know,
some people who are strugglingwith motivation, or you're an instructor
and you're talking to yourstudents about motivation, and if
you haven't had this, you will.
I absolutely love what I do,but there's still times you don't
(05:25):
have.
You don't.
You're not motivated to do allthe things, all the individual parts.
I'm never motivated to do burpees.
Never.
But the goal that I want mightrequire some burpees strategy number
one, to kind of get youunstuck if you're in a stuck focus
on the next step and not thefinish line.
So let me give you.
(05:46):
This is the example that I. Iuse all the time with.
I did a marathon one time.
I hate running.
Running is, I think, a dumb thing.
I don't run for fun.
I know a lot of people who runfor fun and they like it.
It's joyful for them.
Not me.
I learned martial arts.
Fight or flight.
I'm going to fight.
I don't.
I don't want to run.
But there was a time that Iwas doing some running and mostly
(06:09):
because I needed to.
My sister signed up and Ineeded to.
To beat her.
I couldn't let her do it andme not do it because I have fomo.
So in this marathon, which isa dumb amount of miles to run, dumb.
That's why we invented cars,why we have horses and things like
that.
But you get to this pointwhere you're like, I do not want
to do this.
I am going to walk.
And I would just look and go,okay, I am going to run until I get
(06:33):
to the next street light, thenext telephone pole, the next telephone
pole.
And I get to that telephonepole and go, okay, okay, I'm okay.
I can run to the nexttelephone pole.
That's all I got to do.
Next one.
And then I get to that one andagain, okay, just to the next telephone
pole.
So instead of looking at thelong term, you look at the short
term.
I watched a documentary onetime about Navy SEALs going through
(06:56):
a hell week, I think it was.
And they said, the secret is Ijust got to make it to the next meal.
Just looking at okay, I canmake it to the next meal and then
I can make it to the next mealand then I can make it to the next
meal.
That's the, the key.
You can't be like, I can makeit seven more days.
You'll just give up.
Okay.
You've got to sometimessetting the goal, looking at the
(07:16):
next thing instead of longterm, that can help you get in stuck.
Number two, get you unstuck,change your environment.
I do this regularly with myfitness and my health, like eating.
I think it's part of my ADDor, or something.
I don't, I'm not really goodat sticking with like the same thing
forever.
(07:37):
So I will switch up my, whatI'm doing every, every couple of
months.
You know, I like, okay, I'llget on this kind of eating plan and
not like a diet but like, likeright now I'm doing intermittent
fasting but eventually thatfor me like gets boring.
Okay.
Like I could still do it, butthe motivation is just not there
(07:57):
to do it.
But I've got the momentum ofdoing something healthy.
So I will switch to, okay, nowI'm going to do some Paleo or I'm
going to do low carb or I'mgoing to do something like that.
And same thing with working out.
So I might be on a phase whereI'm like, okay, I'm going to do,
you know, more lifting andthen I'm going to.
And sometimes it's all thesame kind of workouts, but I switch
like, okay, I'm going to geta, I've got a personal trainer right
(08:20):
now and then I'm going to godo a little more of this in my fitness
or whatnot.
So I'm just changing up theenvironment a little bit and I think
this one is really importantfor those martial artists out there
that get stuck in theirrepetition fatigue.
Okay.
You know, go to a different class.
If you're a black belt andyou've got like, okay, maybe we got
these sparring classes and Ihaven't been making many of those.
(08:40):
Maybe make more sparringclasses, spend a little bit more
time with your weapon, youknow, do a little more self defense,
do something, change it up alittle bit in your environment, whether
that's training, where you'redoing it, who you're doing it with,
obviously still at your, yourmartial arts school and stuff.
But how can I tweak it alittle bit to change my motivation
or not change my motivation,but just make it a little more exciting
(09:01):
for, for a while.
Um, and Then strategy number three.
This is huge.
Remember your why you will getlike, hey, I'm going to be an 8th
degree black belt.
My goal is to be an 8th degreeblack belt,.
To be an 8th degree black belt.
You know what I got to do?
I got to work out.
I don't doesn't mean I'mmotivated to work out.
Means I'm motivated to get an8th degree black belt.
So I'm going to go work out.
What's the why that's going tokeep you going?
(09:22):
It's huge.
You know, it's easy to getstuck, but you can't let that be
the end of something.
I was talking to some peoplethe other day.
Martial arts or my leadership class.
Martial arts is something thatyou can literally do for, for your
entire life.
It's fun to do your entire life.
And we want you to be able tokeep yourself motivated for doing
that.
(09:42):
So this week I challenge you.
Look at these things thatmight keep you stuck and take action.
This week, ATA Nation excitedto have with us another awesome athlete
of the week.
Can you introduce yourself, sir?
What's up guys?
I'm Joey Zaworski.
I'm a fourth degree black beltand I train out of Verona, Wisconsin.
(10:03):
And that's it.
Are you up with the moe's?
Is that where, where you are?
Excellent.
Okay.
Part of the level up family?
Yes, sir, absolutely.
So hey, what, you're a fourthdegree now?
How'd you get started inmartial arts?
Who?
I started in martial arts justbefore I turned about 8 years old.
I actually got into it fromwatching bunch of TV shows like Teenage
(10:25):
Mutant Ninja Turtles, kickingit, Power Rangers, things like that.
And that sort of is what gotme wanting to start trying it.
Excellent.
Very cool.
And obviously it seems to havegone pretty decently for you so far,
you know, you know, fourthdegree black belt.
And you, you teach, right?
You're an instructor?
Yes, sir, I teach full time.
Full time.
So what was that did youthink, you know, how early on did
(10:47):
you think, hey, I might, Imight do this as a career?
Was that something early on orlater on you were like, hey, that,
that might work.
It actually was a prettyearly, pretty early desire of mine.
My mom has like, has oldcopies of things from when I was
in like first grade.
People being like, what wantto be when you grow up?
And I would put I want to be akarate instructor and things like
that.
(11:08):
So yeah, it was always, it wasalways interesting because for years
they would ask you in school,like, what do you want to be?
And no one ever really had an answer.
And I was looking around like,I know.
I think I know what I want.
Very cool.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
And you have.
Or were you from the Wisconsinarea before?
Are you a transplant?
What's the.
(11:28):
The journey there?
So I am a transplant.
So I've actually, I've had a pretty.
A pretty extensive journeygoing around.
So I am.
Originally I was born in Ohio,and I started training in Avon Lake
Ata.
Then I moved to another schoolin Westlake, Ohio.
And then 3ish years ago, Imoved to Louisiana to train under
(11:51):
Master Jude Grayson.
And then around four monthsago, I moved up here to work for
the mos.
Excellent.
Very cool.
That's Louisiana and Wisconsinhave a little bit different winters.
You.
You ready for the Wisconsin winter?
Absolutely not.
No, sir.
We're gonna.
We're gonna see how it goes.
Everybody's.
Everybody's weren't.
They're like, oh, it's notgonna be that bad.
(12:12):
I'm like, it's.
It got to like the 50s here.
And I was like, nope, let's.
Nope, let's.
I'm ready to go.
I'm ready to go back to Louisiana.
Let's change it.
Well, are you might need topick up some, like, snowboarding,
some skiing, something like that.
Do the winter time.
So, hey, if we're looking atcompetition, what's your go to event
when it's time to compete?
XMA weapons for sure.
Okay.
What weapon?
(12:33):
What's your go to weapon?
The commas.
Okay.
Have you always been an X Men guy?
Is that something that you'vealways been excited about doing,
or was that, you know, MasterGrayson threw that all on you?
I've always been interested in it.
I didn't start competing in ituntil I actually got my first degree.
That was about when I starteddoing extreme and creative.
(12:56):
I actually didn't start doingweapons until I was closer to doing
closer to my third degree.
Master Grayson was a big partin helping me really able to start
kind of putting things together.
When it came to the weaponsside, I kind of had the ideas, but
he helped me sort of form itall together.
Very cool.
What about if you had to pickan event that was like, maybe not
(13:17):
your top event, not yourfavorite thing to do it tournaments,
what would that be?
Because we love them all.
I mean, we don't want to leaveanything out, but if we had to.
Pick one for sure, for sure, Iwould say probably it would probably
be sparring just because it'ssort of.
It's sort of the newest one.
For me, I'm still sort ofgetting my feet wet.
Especially being new to the18, 29, 4th 5th degree ring.
(13:40):
I'm still getting used tofighting the big guys and doing all
that stuff.
So I would say sparring, butI, when I started I didn't really
like sparring.
That was always kind of thething I shied away from.
But when I moved schools thefirst time to Master Brad Clemens
and Master Chad Coley's schoolin Westlake, they really helped me
find a love for sparring andcombat that I didn't know I had.
(14:02):
Very cool.
That's, you know, we, we loveall of the events.
I would.
That 18 to 29 4th and 5thdegree division is like, you know,
it's scary.
There's some, some top talentin that, that division.
Sir.
So what about goals?
What kind of goals do you have?
Maybe competition wise,instruction wise, training wise.
(14:24):
What are you looking at forthe future?
I mean, obviously in thefuture I think I would like to own
my own school.
Whether that's in, inconjunction with Level up or something
more on my own.
I'm still kind of in theprocess of deciding that.
But that's definitelysomething in the future.
Competition wise, win at least.
(14:45):
I'd like to win at least onetitle in this ring.
Cause I think this is kind oflike the one that run that really
means something kind of kindof stakes your claim, so to speak.
But yeah, just working,working to get better.
Really trying to improve mytraditional events as well as my
extreme and creative events.
Trying to get better atteaching overall.
Things like that.
Oh, that's, that's great.
(15:06):
What, speaking of teaching,what's the thing that like for you
and you know, obviously havingwanted to do this for a long time,
what's one of the greatbenefits or pleasures of being an
instructor in martial arts?
What's, what's something thatlike gets you up in the morning and
are like yeah, that's awesome.
Just really getting to, to seethe passion that I had for the sport
in my students and getting towatch that grow.
(15:28):
It's one of my, it's one of myfavorite things to see.
Especially like because when Iwas coming up I didn't have a really
big X amain creative coach.
So being able to be that for alot of younger students and being
able to help them grow from aearlier stage is really cool for
me.
That's awesome.
Love it.
So hey, we always like to wrapup with what's it mean to you to
(15:50):
be a champion beyond the belt?
I would say to be a championbeyond the belt is tough one.
Yeah.
There's so many things that,you know, like level up.
You know, you guys are alwaysworking on those, you know, getting
people to level up, not justat the school, but in life.
And it's so hard to likeencapsulate that idea into just one
little, one little answer.
(16:11):
It's, it's kind of fun to makepeople do.
Absolutely.
For sure.
But I would say it's.
It really is about takingthose, not just being a martial artist
inside the school.
That's a big thing I like tosell my students a lot is like, you
know, when you leave here,once you take your belts off, once
you take your uniform off, youdon't stop being a martial artist.
You don't stop trying tobecome a future black belt.
(16:32):
You still take all of thosethings into your life with you, and
you've got to continue toapply those life skills.
And it's still, and even mestill, I'm still working on all of
that stuff, working oncreating those differences, making
sure that I'm not lettingcompetition affect my personal life
and vice versa and things like that.
That's smart and that's tough.
I mean, it's, it's an alwaysevolving thing, you know, whether
(16:55):
we're, whether we're a, youknow, orange belt or a, you know,
fifth degree black belt, youknow, working on improving and making
sure that we're, we're takingthis outside of the school.
So.
Awesome, sir.
Well, congratulations on beingone of the athletes of the week.
We really appreciate your timetoday and good luck with the Wisconsin
weather.
Thank you, sir.
I'll need it.
I appreciate it.
(17:20):
Super cool to see athletesacross the country and across the
globe in recent weeks.
If you are interested in beingan athlete of the week, I've had
a couple of people reach outto me and say, hey, how do I get
on the show be an athlete ofthe week?
Those athletes are picked bythe ATA brand ambassador.
So you need to reach out tothem and make sure you follow them
on Instagram and all the places.
(17:41):
Make sure.
Also you are subscribed onYouTube to the ATA Martial Arts YouTube
page.
This podcast drops there as a video.
It also drops as audio on onyour favorite podcast feeds.
And we've been working withthe ambassadors to put a few more
shorts out there on YouTube as well.
So you want to make sure youstay up to date on YouTube for ATM
(18:03):
martial arts as well.
Now, quick programming note.
You may have noticed that thisepisode came out on a Monday instead
of our typical Fridays.
We are going to try thisMonday thing.
Just with the holidays comingup and schedules and all kinds of
things on our end, it's alittle bit easier and I just want
to see.
I think it might be better forour ATM martial artists.
(18:26):
A lot of times people are on Fridays.
You're heading off totournaments, you got all the things
going on and just not as muchtime to check it out maybe.
And it might be a littleeasier for you on Mondays.
If it's not, let me know.
I would love to know what'sbest for you.
If you hit the subscribebutton, comment on YouTube would
be great.
Hit that.
Like hit that.
Subscribe on YouTube or onyour favorite podcast feed.
(18:48):
That's going to wrap it up forus today.
Make sure you guys arechecking out these upcoming events.
Lots of cool stuff coming up.
We've talked about the H.Julie Classic in Little Rock coming
up in like a week.
And for those of you whocelebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you
have a great Thanksgiving week.
Get out there.
Go beyond the Belt ATA Nation podcast.
(19:09):
Be sure to subscribe and sharewith your ATA family.
Have you ever been stuck inyour martial arts journey?
Let's talk about it.
Welcome to the ATA Nation podcast.
Welcome back, nation.
We are super excited to haveyou back with us for another episode
of the ATA Nation podcast.
(00:21):
I am your host, senior masterZach Hayden, and it is a joy to be
with you.
We have our athlete of theweek coming up, but before that,
we have get to our main segment.
We're going to be talking a day.
Hey, guys, let's be honest.
Even the best martial artists,we get stuck.
There are days that we don'twant to train.
(00:42):
You know, you're just tired.
It's yucky out right now.
I don't want to do that.
You get frustrated.
You know, you're.
You're just not feeling it.
But those moments are the.
The real test of whether youhave a black belt mindset.
Okay, so we want to talk todayabout keeping motivated even when
motivation disappears.
(01:04):
Keeping moving, going forward,even when motivation disappears.
Because this is a struggle for everybody.
I was just talking to somestudents the other day about, you
know, the fact that, you know,there are days you're gonna have
to do things you don't want to do.
That's part of life.
That's part of the lesson ofmartial arts.
So let's.
Let's start with themotivation myth.
(01:26):
Here's the myth, guys.
Motivation doesn't start action.
Action creates motivation.
Action creates motivation.
Motivation doesn't create action.
You have to take action.
This is a core value at ourschool is taking action.
You know, we are always takeaction ata.
We've got to do the work, andthen you will feel motivated.
(01:49):
I tell kids this all the time.
You don't.
You have a bad day at school,make sure you go to taekwondo because
what you're going to want todo is sit on the couch.
You're going to want to, youknow, doom scroll.
You're going to want to watchsome YouTube, but you won't feel
any better.
You need the endorphins to gothrough your body, and that comes
from kicking and punching somebags, hitting some things, swinging
your chucks around.
You've got to make sure thatyou are creating a habit of taking
(02:12):
action, and then themotivation will come.
You will feel motivated later.
So many students quit becausethey don't want.
Want to go to class.
And their parents will evensay, hey, when he gets to class,
he loves it.
We got to remind ourselvesthat action creates motivation.
Motivation is an emotion.
It's not a strategy.
(02:33):
You think an Olympic athletelike, like Michael Phelps, this is
the guy I use as an example inmy classes all the time.
You think a guy like MichaelPhelps is really thrilled, really
excited to go.
Do you know his breaststroke again?
He's done it like a billion times.
He's not motivated to do that.
He's motivated to achieve his goals.
So he does that.
(02:53):
Momentum is greater than motivation.
Momentum is greater than motivation.
You have to start moving, youneed to start going, you need to
keep going, you need to keep moving.
The motivation will come andit ebbs and wanes because it's, it's
an emotion just like anything else.
This is a huge deal.
You know, I tell students allthe time at my school that I was
(03:15):
never the most talentedmartial artist.
I was never the most talentedmartial artist.
I'm not the most talentedmartial artist.
But the reason I'm a seventhdegree black belt is because I kept
showing up.
I kept showing up and showingup and showing up, doing the work,
putting in the work.
You, you get better by goingby doing it.
And then you're moremotivated, you're more excited when
(03:36):
you get better.
Confidence comes from competency.
You gotta make sure you'redoing the work.
So there's usually threethings that cause people to feel
a lack of motivation or get stuck.
And we wanna, that we kind ofwatch out for these.
So one is repetition fatigue.
This is a big one we see withsome black belt.
Sometimes especially you getyour black belt really young, you
(03:58):
can't test up those kind of things.
The routine starts to feelreally boring.
So that's one of the reasonspeople feel stuck.
And we're going to get to whatto do about that here in a minute.
But number two, the secondthing is maybe like a comparison
trap.
We're looking at the otherpeople around us.
Why don't I have red letters?
I've been doing it like that guy.
Why am I not that ranked?
(04:19):
Why is that person better atthis than me when I've been doing
the same thing?
So we're comparing ourselves,then we're like, oh man, I'm not
as good, I'm not doing this.
Okay?
We lose that motivation.
And often a third way that weget stuck is perfectionism, pressure.
You know, I can't do it asgood as them.
So I'm, I, I don't want to do it.
I'm not very good.
I can't do it.
(04:41):
We want to make sure that we,we, we don't run into that.
Okay?
You know, I, I don't, I thinkrepetition fatigue is the one that
I get more often than anything.
Sometimes a perfectionist pressure.
You know, like I said, I'm notthe most talented martial artist.
And so sometimes that.
That gets me.
I can be like, man, I'm not really.
(05:01):
We'll see.
I don't know, maybe thecomparison trap, too.
I don't know.
A little.
A little bit.
So here's some tips.
If you've been strugglingmaybe with motivation or, you know,
some people who are strugglingwith motivation, or you're an instructor
and you're talking to yourstudents about motivation, and if
you haven't had this, you will.
I absolutely love what I do,but there's still times you don't
(05:25):
have.
You don't.
You're not motivated to do allthe things, all the individual parts.
I'm never motivated to do burpees.
Never.
But the goal that I want mightrequire some burpees strategy number
one, to kind of get youunstuck if you're in a stuck focus
on the next step and not thefinish line.
So let me give you.
(05:46):
This is the example that I. Iuse all the time with.
I did a marathon one time.
I hate running.
Running is, I think, a dumb thing.
I don't run for fun.
I know a lot of people who runfor fun and they like it.
It's joyful for them.
Not me.
I learned martial arts.
Fight or flight.
I'm going to fight.
I don't.
I don't want to run.
But there was a time that Iwas doing some running and mostly
(06:09):
because I needed to.
My sister signed up and Ineeded to.
To beat her.
I couldn't let her do it andme not do it because I have fomo.
So in this marathon, which isa dumb amount of miles to run, dumb.
That's why we invented cars,why we have horses and things like
that.
But you get to this pointwhere you're like, I do not want
to do this.
I am going to walk.
And I would just look and go,okay, I am going to run until I get
(06:33):
to the next street light, thenext telephone pole, the next telephone
pole.
And I get to that telephonepole and go, okay, okay, I'm okay.
I can run to the nexttelephone pole.
That's all I got to do.
Next one.
And then I get to that one andagain, okay, just to the next telephone
pole.
So instead of looking at thelong term, you look at the short
term.
I watched a documentary onetime about Navy SEALs going through
(06:56):
a hell week, I think it was.
And they said, the secret is Ijust got to make it to the next meal.
Just looking at okay, I canmake it to the next meal and then
I can make it to the next mealand then I can make it to the next
meal.
That's the, the key.
You can't be like, I can makeit seven more days.
You'll just give up.
Okay.
You've got to sometimessetting the goal, looking at the
(07:16):
next thing instead of longterm, that can help you get in stuck.
Number two, get you unstuck,change your environment.
I do this regularly with myfitness and my health, like eating.
I think it's part of my ADDor, or something.
I don't, I'm not really goodat sticking with like the same thing
forever.
(07:37):
So I will switch up my, whatI'm doing every, every couple of
months.
You know, I like, okay, I'llget on this kind of eating plan and
not like a diet but like, likeright now I'm doing intermittent
fasting but eventually thatfor me like gets boring.
Okay.
Like I could still do it, butthe motivation is just not there
(07:57):
to do it.
But I've got the momentum ofdoing something healthy.
So I will switch to, okay, nowI'm going to do some Paleo or I'm
going to do low carb or I'mgoing to do something like that.
And same thing with working out.
So I might be on a phase whereI'm like, okay, I'm going to do,
you know, more lifting andthen I'm going to.
And sometimes it's all thesame kind of workouts, but I switch
like, okay, I'm going to geta, I've got a personal trainer right
(08:20):
now and then I'm going to godo a little more of this in my fitness
or whatnot.
So I'm just changing up theenvironment a little bit and I think
this one is really importantfor those martial artists out there
that get stuck in theirrepetition fatigue.
Okay.
You know, go to a different class.
If you're a black belt andyou've got like, okay, maybe we got
these sparring classes and Ihaven't been making many of those.
(08:40):
Maybe make more sparringclasses, spend a little bit more
time with your weapon, youknow, do a little more self defense,
do something, change it up alittle bit in your environment, whether
that's training, where you'redoing it, who you're doing it with,
obviously still at your, yourmartial arts school and stuff.
But how can I tweak it alittle bit to change my motivation
or not change my motivation,but just make it a little more exciting
(09:01):
for, for a while.
Um, and Then strategy number three.
This is huge.
Remember your why you will getlike, hey, I'm going to be an 8th
degree black belt.
My goal is to be an 8th degreeblack belt,.
To be an 8th degree black belt.
You know what I got to do?
I got to work out.
I don't doesn't mean I'mmotivated to work out.
Means I'm motivated to get an8th degree black belt.
So I'm going to go work out.
What's the why that's going tokeep you going?
(09:22):
It's huge.
You know, it's easy to getstuck, but you can't let that be
the end of something.
I was talking to some peoplethe other day.
Martial arts or my leadership class.
Martial arts is something thatyou can literally do for, for your
entire life.
It's fun to do your entire life.
And we want you to be able tokeep yourself motivated for doing
that.
(09:42):
So this week I challenge you.
Look at these things thatmight keep you stuck and take action.
This week, ATA Nation excitedto have with us another awesome athlete
of the week.
Can you introduce yourself, sir?
What's up guys?
I'm Joey Zaworski.
I'm a fourth degree black beltand I train out of Verona, Wisconsin.
(10:03):
And that's it.
Are you up with the moe's?
Is that where, where you are?
Excellent.
Okay.
Part of the level up family?
Yes, sir, absolutely.
So hey, what, you're a fourthdegree now?
How'd you get started inmartial arts?
Who?
I started in martial arts justbefore I turned about 8 years old.
I actually got into it fromwatching bunch of TV shows like Teenage
(10:25):
Mutant Ninja Turtles, kickingit, Power Rangers, things like that.
And that sort of is what gotme wanting to start trying it.
Excellent.
Very cool.
And obviously it seems to havegone pretty decently for you so far,
you know, you know, fourthdegree black belt.
And you, you teach, right?
You're an instructor?
Yes, sir, I teach full time.
Full time.
So what was that did youthink, you know, how early on did
(10:47):
you think, hey, I might, Imight do this as a career?
Was that something early on orlater on you were like, hey, that,
that might work.
It actually was a prettyearly, pretty early desire of mine.
My mom has like, has oldcopies of things from when I was
in like first grade.
People being like, what wantto be when you grow up?
And I would put I want to be akarate instructor and things like
that.
(11:08):
So yeah, it was always, it wasalways interesting because for years
they would ask you in school,like, what do you want to be?
And no one ever really had an answer.
And I was looking around like,I know.
I think I know what I want.
Very cool.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
And you have.
Or were you from the Wisconsinarea before?
Are you a transplant?
What's the.
(11:28):
The journey there?
So I am a transplant.
So I've actually, I've had a pretty.
A pretty extensive journeygoing around.
So I am.
Originally I was born in Ohio,and I started training in Avon Lake
Ata.
Then I moved to another schoolin Westlake, Ohio.
And then 3ish years ago, Imoved to Louisiana to train under
(11:51):
Master Jude Grayson.
And then around four monthsago, I moved up here to work for
the mos.
Excellent.
Very cool.
That's Louisiana and Wisconsinhave a little bit different winters.
You.
You ready for the Wisconsin winter?
Absolutely not.
No, sir.
We're gonna.
We're gonna see how it goes.
Everybody's.
Everybody's weren't.
They're like, oh, it's notgonna be that bad.
(12:12):
I'm like, it's.
It got to like the 50s here.
And I was like, nope, let's.
Nope, let's.
I'm ready to go.
I'm ready to go back to Louisiana.
Let's change it.
Well, are you might need topick up some, like, snowboarding,
some skiing, something like that.
Do the winter time.
So, hey, if we're looking atcompetition, what's your go to event
when it's time to compete?
XMA weapons for sure.
Okay.
What weapon?
(12:33):
What's your go to weapon?
The commas.
Okay.
Have you always been an X Men guy?
Is that something that you'vealways been excited about doing,
or was that, you know, MasterGrayson threw that all on you?
I've always been interested in it.
I didn't start competing in ituntil I actually got my first degree.
That was about when I starteddoing extreme and creative.
(12:56):
I actually didn't start doingweapons until I was closer to doing
closer to my third degree.
Master Grayson was a big partin helping me really able to start
kind of putting things together.
When it came to the weaponsside, I kind of had the ideas, but
he helped me sort of form itall together.
Very cool.
What about if you had to pickan event that was like, maybe not
(13:17):
your top event, not yourfavorite thing to do it tournaments,
what would that be?
Because we love them all.
I mean, we don't want to leaveanything out, but if we had to.
Pick one for sure, for sure, Iwould say probably it would probably
be sparring just because it'ssort of.
It's sort of the newest one.
For me, I'm still sort ofgetting my feet wet.
Especially being new to the18, 29, 4th 5th degree ring.
(13:40):
I'm still getting used tofighting the big guys and doing all
that stuff.
So I would say sparring, butI, when I started I didn't really
like sparring.
That was always kind of thething I shied away from.
But when I moved schools thefirst time to Master Brad Clemens
and Master Chad Coley's schoolin Westlake, they really helped me
find a love for sparring andcombat that I didn't know I had.
(14:02):
Very cool.
That's, you know, we, we loveall of the events.
I would.
That 18 to 29 4th and 5thdegree division is like, you know,
it's scary.
There's some, some top talentin that, that division.
Sir.
So what about goals?
What kind of goals do you have?
Maybe competition wise,instruction wise, training wise.
(14:24):
What are you looking at forthe future?
I mean, obviously in thefuture I think I would like to own
my own school.
Whether that's in, inconjunction with Level up or something
more on my own.
I'm still kind of in theprocess of deciding that.
But that's definitelysomething in the future.
Competition wise, win at least.
(14:45):
I'd like to win at least onetitle in this ring.
Cause I think this is kind oflike the one that run that really
means something kind of kindof stakes your claim, so to speak.
But yeah, just working,working to get better.
Really trying to improve mytraditional events as well as my
extreme and creative events.
Trying to get better atteaching overall.
Things like that.
Oh, that's, that's great.
(15:06):
What, speaking of teaching,what's the thing that like for you
and you know, obviously havingwanted to do this for a long time,
what's one of the greatbenefits or pleasures of being an
instructor in martial arts?
What's, what's something thatlike gets you up in the morning and
are like yeah, that's awesome.
Just really getting to, to seethe passion that I had for the sport
in my students and getting towatch that grow.
(15:28):
It's one of my, it's one of myfavorite things to see.
Especially like because when Iwas coming up I didn't have a really
big X amain creative coach.
So being able to be that for alot of younger students and being
able to help them grow from aearlier stage is really cool for
me.
That's awesome.
Love it.
So hey, we always like to wrapup with what's it mean to you to
(15:50):
be a champion beyond the belt?
I would say to be a championbeyond the belt is tough one.
Yeah.
There's so many things that,you know, like level up.
You know, you guys are alwaysworking on those, you know, getting
people to level up, not justat the school, but in life.
And it's so hard to likeencapsulate that idea into just one
little, one little answer.
(16:11):
It's, it's kind of fun to makepeople do.
Absolutely.
For sure.
But I would say it's.
It really is about takingthose, not just being a martial artist
inside the school.
That's a big thing I like tosell my students a lot is like, you
know, when you leave here,once you take your belts off, once
you take your uniform off, youdon't stop being a martial artist.
You don't stop trying tobecome a future black belt.
(16:32):
You still take all of thosethings into your life with you, and
you've got to continue toapply those life skills.
And it's still, and even mestill, I'm still working on all of
that stuff, working oncreating those differences, making
sure that I'm not lettingcompetition affect my personal life
and vice versa and things like that.
That's smart and that's tough.
I mean, it's, it's an alwaysevolving thing, you know, whether
(16:55):
we're, whether we're a, youknow, orange belt or a, you know,
fifth degree black belt, youknow, working on improving and making
sure that we're, we're takingthis outside of the school.
So.
Awesome, sir.
Well, congratulations on beingone of the athletes of the week.
We really appreciate your timetoday and good luck with the Wisconsin
weather.
Thank you, sir.
I'll need it.
I appreciate it.
(17:20):
Super cool to see athletesacross the country and across the
globe in recent weeks.
If you are interested in beingan athlete of the week, I've had
a couple of people reach outto me and say, hey, how do I get
on the show be an athlete ofthe week?
Those athletes are picked bythe ATA brand ambassador.
So you need to reach out tothem and make sure you follow them
on Instagram and all the places.
(17:41):
Make sure.
Also you are subscribed onYouTube to the ATA Martial Arts YouTube
page.
This podcast drops there as a video.
It also drops as audio on onyour favorite podcast feeds.
And we've been working withthe ambassadors to put a few more
shorts out there on YouTube as well.
So you want to make sure youstay up to date on YouTube for ATM
(18:03):
martial arts as well.
Now, quick programming note.
You may have noticed that thisepisode came out on a Monday instead
of our typical Fridays.
We are going to try thisMonday thing.
Just with the holidays comingup and schedules and all kinds of
things on our end, it's alittle bit easier and I just want
to see.
I think it might be better forour ATM martial artists.
(18:26):
A lot of times people are on Fridays.
You're heading off totournaments, you got all the things
going on and just not as muchtime to check it out maybe.
And it might be a littleeasier for you on Mondays.
If it's not, let me know.
I would love to know what'sbest for you.
If you hit the subscribebutton, comment on YouTube would
be great.
Hit that.
Like hit that.
Subscribe on YouTube or onyour favorite podcast feed.
(18:48):
That's going to wrap it up forus today.
Make sure you guys arechecking out these upcoming events.
Lots of cool stuff coming up.
We've talked about the H.Julie Classic in Little Rock coming
up in like a week.
And for those of you whocelebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you
have a great Thanksgiving week.
Get out there.
Go beyond the Belt ATA Nation podcast.
(19:09):
Be sure to subscribe and sharewith your ATA family.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Betrayal: Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a brand new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-4 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.