November 7, 2025 • 18 mins
The primary focus of our discourse centers on the five habits exhibited by the most successful martial arts students. These habits are essential for individuals aspiring to achieve excellence in their martial arts journey. First and foremost, it is imperative to recognize that consistency in attendance, even in moments of reluctance, is paramount; successful practitioners demonstrate unwavering commitment to their training. Furthermore, cultivating a mindset that seeks knowledge through questions and feedback is vital, as it fosters continuous improvement and mastery of techniques. Additionally, the act of encouraging fellow students not only enhances one’s own practice but also builds a supportive community, essential for sustained growth. As we delve into these habits, we shall also explore the significance of setting specific, attainable goals and celebrating incremental progress, thereby reinforcing the dedication required to excel in martial arts.
Takeaways:
- Successful martial arts students consistently attend classes, even when they lack motivation or energy.
- Curiosity drives excellence, as the most successful martial artists actively seek feedback to improve.
- Encouraging others fosters a supportive community, enhancing personal growth and training experiences.
- Setting small, specific goals facilitates progress, transforming larger aspirations into achievable milestones.
- Celebrating progress, rather than solely focusing on outcomes, nurtures motivation and reinforces dedication.
- Building habits of discipline and consistency is essential for long-term success in martial arts training.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Let's talk the five habits ofthe most successful martial arts
students.
Let's get started.
Welcome to the ATA Nation podcast.
Welcome back to the ATA Nation podcast.
(00:22):
I'm your host, senior masterZack Hayden.
For episode 175, we're nearingin on 10,000 downloads.
That's just since I switchedthe software that we hosted on and
that was not that long ago.
Like a year and a half, maybenot even.
I don't know.
Anyways, ladies and gentlemen,thank you for tuning in for today's
episode.
One of the things that I'vebeen thinking about recently is doing
(00:43):
a couple of solo episodes inthroughout our athletes of the week
and our other regular guests.
We've got some episodes comingup with other guests.
We've got our athletes of the week.
But, you know, I wanted tobring some topics to you guys, some
ideas, some thoughts, and sowe're going to start with that.
Today we're going to gothrough the five habits of the most
(01:06):
successful martial arts.
Okay, These are, if you arelike your goal is to be a great martial
arts student, these are habitsthat you just need to be plugging
in and taking action on.
And we know that taking actionis hugely important in our training.
So.
So let's start out with thesefive habits and then we're going
to get to our athlete of the week.
(01:27):
Let's get started.
Habit number one.
The most successful studentsshow up even when they don't feel
like it.
Okay.
Consistency beats intensity.
There are so many people Ihave seen throughout my career in
(01:48):
martial arts that were likesuper awesome.
They came in, they wereamazing athletes, they worked hard
and they did their thing andthen they just like, they're gone.
All right?
Because it was about intensityand not consistency.
Motivation fades.
But habits when you've got tomake sure that you are building the
(02:09):
habit of coming all the time.
I am not the most talented,naturally martial artist.
I tell my students all thetime there are tons of people who
started martial arts near me,around me, you know, all the years
that I've come, that I'vewatched and they're like, these guys
are amazing.
Martial arts gone, okay?
They're not there anymore.
(02:30):
The reason that I am a seventhdegree black belt, the reason that
I plan on testing for 8thdegree black belt is because I show
up every week.
You just got to keep coming,you got to keep doing it.
It's a habit.
One of my favorite quotes islong obedience in the same direction.
I just never stop training.
I just never stop showing up.
Tournaments, trainings, atWorlds, trainings at Nationals, whatever
(02:52):
it might be.
Consistency.
Now, this is really importantfor parents out there, your child
and you for that matter.
If you're an adult martialartist, you're going to not want
to go.
Your kid is going to want tostop going to class because they're
going to be like, I'm tired, Idon't want it, I don't feel like
doing it.
I don't want to.
And okay, that is a temporary thing.
(03:14):
Consistency beats intensity.
So push through it.
Okay.
I tell.
This is.
I don't think I've evermentioned this on the podcast before.
And so here we go.
When I was a.
A little kid, my.
I tell this to my students allthe time, but I don't.
I haven't shared it out on the podcast.
When I was a little kid, mymom signed me and my brother up for
(03:35):
dance lessons.
We did tap and jazz dance.
And I did that for nine years.
And I tell my students all the time.
Never once do I remember evertelling my mom, hey, mom, I love
dance.
I want to do dance.
My mom just told us to get inthe car and go every Tuesday.
And that's just what we did.
We just got in the car and went.
(03:55):
And I did nine years of thatbecause it wasn't an option.
It was a habit that we hadbuilt, right?
Luckily, I found martial artsand I was eventually like, mom, I
really would like to go tomartial arts more.
And so I don't have to dodance anymore.
And that was fine.
It worked for us.
But consistently showing up,even when you don't feel like it,
(04:17):
Habit number two, the best.
The best martial artists askquestions and seek feedback.
The best students are curious.
Not just.
They don't want just compliments.
They want to get better.
They ask.
They seek out trainingopportunities with their instructors,
(04:37):
and at Nationals, at WorldsOnline, they seek out the opportunity
to learn more.
It's not just about memorizingthings, it's about mastering things.
You've got to be willing tolook, do some research.
This one comes a little easierto me because I'm the kind of person
(04:59):
who, I get fomo, so I want toknow the.
The things that are changing,the things that are updating, because
I don't want to be left behind.
There's a lot of people whoaren't that way.
They're like, oh, this is theway I've done it.
I'm just going to do it likethis all the time.
Curious people are successfulbecause they're learners.
They keep learning all the time.
(05:20):
So if you Want to be asuccessful martial artist for the
long term, what you need to dois ask questions, stay curious, investigate.
Is there a better way to do this?
Can I work a little harder onthis and seek that feedback to make
sure that it's something thatis going to really don't get?
(05:42):
You know, we're talking abouthonesty right now and one of the
pillars of honesty is humility.
Humility is the ability to go,hey, I might not know the best way
to do this.
I might need to ask somebody else.
All right, I might need tocheck, is there more I can learn
about this?
That's being curious, askingquestions, seeking feedback.
(06:02):
Super important habit.
Number three, encourage others.
Successful martial artsencourage others.
You're part of a worldwide organization.
You've got to be there tosupport each other.
Because when you support eachother, when you support go out and
support somebody else, you'regoing to feel better about it, all
(06:24):
right?
And you're going to bebuilding relationships.
That's going to make it easierfor you to continue to train.
All right?
In martial arts, your energyis contagious.
You got to make it positive.
You're going to stay insomething you enjoy longer.
Encouraging others is going tomake you a leader and it's going
(06:45):
to make you more willing to grow.
It's going to put you aroundpeople who are interested in growing
because they're encouraging people.
Okay?
True excellence lifts others up.
You want to be excellent, youwant to make sure you're encouraging
others.
So let's revert to you, thesefirst three.
Number one, they show up.
(07:05):
Number two, they ask questionsand seek feedback.
Number three, they encourage others.
Number four, huge set small,specific goals.
All right?
You need success isn't justone big giant leap.
It's little wins showing up.
This is goes right back to theshowing up habit.
(07:29):
Set those short term goals.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do this.
It's about the reps that youput in.
Big dreams are built one smallgoal at a time.
You got to set those goals.
This is what I'm going to dothis week.
This is what I'm going to donext week.
This is the next midterm I've got.
This is the next testing I've got.
(07:50):
Don't.
It's always, you know, don'talways be focused on the long term.
Make sure you're focused onthe short term because that's where
you're going to be making a difference.
And in those short terms, makesure that you're focused on the quality
of those short term goals, okay?
The next rep, that's whatmatters, the next rep, okay?
(08:14):
You want a vision for whereyou want to go.
You want a big long term goal,but the small goals are what get
you there.
And I tell my students all thetime, like, I don't like push ups
any other more than somebodyelse likes pushups, but I do push
ups because I want this big goal.
All right?
So you've got to set the smallgoals and that's where the work is
done.
(08:35):
Action beats intention every time.
You've got to be takingactions on those small goals.
And then habit number five,the best martial artists, the most
successful ones, celebrateprogress, okay?
Recognition builds momentum.
Celebrate the progress thatyou make, not just the outcomes at
(08:57):
the end.
If we only celebrate theoutcome at the end, you're going
to miss the journey.
And what's most important ismaking sure that you are celebrating
that progress as you go in inthose small goals so you can get
to the big goals.
You have to acknowledge thegrowth that you've had, not just
the rank that you've got ornot just the title that you have,
(09:21):
not just the letters on theback of your uniform.
Celebrate small wins.
How are you going to do that?
I don't know, give yourself a,you know, the opportunity to, to,
you know, go to a extra event.
Hey, I did this.
I'm going to celebrate this.
Okay, hey, how?
Encourage the people around you.
Let them know this is a goalof mine.
(09:42):
When you reach that smallgoal, what's the celebration you're
going to do for it?
We need, as parents as thatare having martial arts children
that we want to be a big success.
What are you celebrating?
That's the effort.
Okay?
I see a lot of peoplecelebrate the medals at tournaments,
(10:03):
the titles, and not as manypeople celebrating the effort that
is put in.
The effort is what builds a champion.
The effort is what's going tomake a difference.
10 years, 20 years, 30 yearsdown the line, because they learned
how to put in the effort,their title in 20 years isn't going
(10:24):
to matter.
All right, so celebrating theprogress is going to be huge.
All right, so here's achallenge for you at Nation.
Pick one of these habits andstart it this week.
Let me know which habit you'regoing to pick.
All right, let's go throughthem again real quick.
We've got number one and mostsuccessful martial arts.
(10:45):
They show up even when theydon't feel like it.
Number two, they ask questionsand they seek feedback.
They don't just ask questions.
They seek the feedback as well.
Number three, they encourage others.
Number four, they set small,specific goals.
And number five, theycelebrate progress, not just titles
(11:06):
or ranks.
What of these do you need towork on?
And maybe you're good at someof them and some of them you're not
as good at.
Which one are you going totake action on?
Because we only improve bytaking real action on our goals.
Ata always take action.
I hope that helps you this week.
Let's get to our athlete ofthe week ata nation.
(11:32):
We have our athlete of theweek with us today.
Can you introduce yourself, Sir?
Yes, sir.
I'm Justin French from Saline, Michigan.
I go to Omega Martial Arts and.
Omega Martial Arts up there inSaline, Michigan.
This is my part of the countryregion 102.
Hey, Mr. French, can you tellus a little bit about how you got
(11:54):
started in martial arts?
What's your kind of origin story?
Yeah, so my origin storystarted when I was four years old.
I stepped into the classroompretty shy and I kind of.
I loved it from the first dayand I kept with it.
You've just been doing itsince you were four?
How old are you now?
I'm 13 years old there.
Okay.
(12:15):
A long time.
Almost 10 years.
Good deal.
Awesome.
And what degree black belt are you?
I am a second degree blackbelt, sir.
Very cool.
Okay, so, Mr. French, as anathlete, you probably like to compete.
You like to get out there anddo some, you know, kicking and punching
and stuff at tournaments.
What's your.
What's your favorite event tocompete in?
Yeah, so my favorite eventwould probably be weapons.
(12:38):
I've worked with my weaponsform for like three years now.
I've gotten to as perfect as Ican get and I'm still training.
Awesome.
What weapon is it?
I do swords there.
Excellent.
Very cool, everybody.
The sword is a pretty good one.
And that's a.
It's not an easy weapon.
It's got a lot of detail to it.
Very cool.
What about if.
(13:00):
If we had to pick like yourleast favorite event at a tournament,
what would that be?
Probably combat.
I don't train with it much,but it's not one of my.
Not one of your tops?
Hey, that's okay.
Hey, everybody's got their own thing.
It's just interesting to hear,you know, what people like.
What people that, you know.
I mean, we like it all.
(13:20):
Of course, it's all fun, but,you know, you got to specialize in
certain things.
So what kind of, you know, we're.
We're partway through the New season.
We just had fall nationals.
Do you have goals for thistournament season as a competitor,
what you're looking to do,just better yourself, titles, things
like that?
(13:40):
Yes, sir.
So some of the goals I've beentraining for this year is my goal
is to be a world champion oneday, and my goal is to be a third
degree by winter.
Excellent.
So it's coming, coming up?
Yes, sir.
Excellent.
Okay.
Are you excited about thatthird degree form?
Yes, sir.
You've been practicing thoseslow sidekicks at the beginning?
Yes, sir.
(14:01):
Those are challenging.
Good.
That's exciting.
That'll be a lot of fun.
And what's nice aboutswitching from second degree to third
degree is you don't have tochange divisions at a tournament.
So that makes, it, makes iteasy that way.
I like how you phrased, I wantto be a world championship someday,
a world champion someday.
You know, a lot of people puta lot of pressure on themselves that,
(14:22):
like, this year, it's got tobe this year.
I've got to do it this year.
And, you know, I mean,sometimes that's a smart goal to
set, but sometimes it can bebeyond that.
Do you have any, you know,what do you think about that journey
to becoming a world champ?
Yeah, so some of the journeyI've been doing, I went to the athlete
(14:44):
development camp in Arkansas,actually, and I've been training
nonstop at my school and justputting in a lot of effort.
Excellent.
Well, I know, I know Mr. Kaferup there is.
I've known Mr. Kafer since,like, I started Taekwondo a few years
(15:04):
ago, and he has been on thatjourney to get a world championship
for world champion for yearsand just finally got his.
And, man, that guy is a toplevel athlete.
So I think it's important foreverybody to just, you know, keep
practicing, keep trying, keepworking, set that goal, you know,
and don't always put thepressure like, it's got to be this
(15:25):
year.
It's got to be, you know,right away.
Everybody wants things right away.
Okay, so what about for you?
You said third degree is your goal.
You're working on getting that.
Excuse me, what about the,the, you know, are you doing any
things at the school trainingwise that you are kind of focused
(15:48):
on, obviously that thirddegree, but anything else that's
really keeping you busy withthat training?
Yeah, I've been in the legacyprogram for like three years now.
I teach every Wednesdays.
I help with the White, OrangeYellow Tigers and Karate for Kids.
I've also been training, likeI said before, with world championships
(16:10):
and just putting a Lot of effort.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Or great.
We love to see people, youknow, in that legacy program working
on improving themselves,helping pass it to the next generation.
That's super cool.
Okay.
Hey, what's it mean to you tobe an athlete that goes beyond the
belt?
Yeah.
So beyond the belt is like, myjourney of going beyond the belt
(16:34):
is really showing my ATAskills out of school.
Just training, giving respectto others out of school and in ATA
and showing everything I'velearned and all the discipline aspects
into everyday life.
Well, that's excellent.
If you were.
(16:56):
If you're looking at the lifeskills that you learn in martial
arts, what's the one thatlike, for you is like, hey, this
is the one that really ismaybe like your favorite because
you're good at it.
Or maybe the one that you'relike, I need to work on that one
a little bit.
Which life skill do you think of?
And you go like, yeah, that's a.
That's a great life skill tobe focused on.
(17:17):
Yeah, my favorite life skillwould probably be discipline, because
without being disciplined, youreally can't get anything done, at
least to a certain extent.
Yeah, no, you're 100% right.
I mean, you got to have thatdiscipline to keep moving forward,
to keep training, to, youknow, do the life skills that we
talk about outside of the school.
So that's really cool.
(17:37):
Well, hey, sir,congratulations on being one of the
brand ambassadors, athletes ofthe week, and thank you so much for
your time today.
Thank you, sir.
I hope you've enjoyed today's episode.
I'm going to ask for twothings from you today.
Number one, like and subscribethe ATA YouTube page on YouTube.
(18:03):
Make sure you go over there,like, and subscribe, because you're
going to get all the updatesfor new, new podcast episodes you're
going to get real or shortsthat are going to come out from the
brand ambassadors and clipsfrom the podcast, and maybe we'll
do some live stuff in the future.
I've got plans.
Just got to take action on those.
So, number one, head overthere and subscribe.
Number two, let me know whatyou think of the solo episode information
(18:27):
today, and if it's somethingyou'd like to hear a little bit more
from, or if you're like, no,just do guess I don't want to hear
from you at all.
Let us know.
Hey, get out there and be a champion.
Beyond the Belt ATA Asian podcast.
Be sure to subscribe and sharewith your ATA family.
Let's talk the five habits ofthe most successful martial arts
students.
Let's get started.
Welcome to the ATA Nation podcast.
Welcome back to the ATA Nation podcast.
(00:22):
I'm your host, senior masterZack Hayden.
For episode 175, we're nearingin on 10,000 downloads.
That's just since I switchedthe software that we hosted on and
that was not that long ago.
Like a year and a half, maybenot even.
I don't know.
Anyways, ladies and gentlemen,thank you for tuning in for today's
episode.
One of the things that I'vebeen thinking about recently is doing
(00:43):
a couple of solo episodes inthroughout our athletes of the week
and our other regular guests.
We've got some episodes comingup with other guests.
We've got our athletes of the week.
But, you know, I wanted tobring some topics to you guys, some
ideas, some thoughts, and sowe're going to start with that.
Today we're going to gothrough the five habits of the most
(01:06):
successful martial arts.
Okay, These are, if you arelike your goal is to be a great martial
arts student, these are habitsthat you just need to be plugging
in and taking action on.
And we know that taking actionis hugely important in our training.
So.
So let's start out with thesefive habits and then we're going
to get to our athlete of the week.
(01:27):
Let's get started.
Habit number one.
The most successful studentsshow up even when they don't feel
like it.
Okay.
Consistency beats intensity.
There are so many people Ihave seen throughout my career in
(01:48):
martial arts that were likesuper awesome.
They came in, they wereamazing athletes, they worked hard
and they did their thing andthen they just like, they're gone.
All right?
Because it was about intensityand not consistency.
Motivation fades.
But habits when you've got tomake sure that you are building the
(02:09):
habit of coming all the time.
I am not the most talented,naturally martial artist.
I tell my students all thetime there are tons of people who
started martial arts near me,around me, you know, all the years
that I've come, that I'vewatched and they're like, these guys
are amazing.
Martial arts gone, okay?
They're not there anymore.
(02:30):
The reason that I am a seventhdegree black belt, the reason that
I plan on testing for 8thdegree black belt is because I show
up every week.
You just got to keep coming,you got to keep doing it.
It's a habit.
One of my favorite quotes islong obedience in the same direction.
I just never stop training.
I just never stop showing up.
Tournaments, trainings, atWorlds, trainings at Nationals, whatever
(02:52):
it might be.
Consistency.
Now, this is really importantfor parents out there, your child
and you for that matter.
If you're an adult martialartist, you're going to not want
to go.
Your kid is going to want tostop going to class because they're
going to be like, I'm tired, Idon't want it, I don't feel like
doing it.
I don't want to.
And okay, that is a temporary thing.
(03:14):
Consistency beats intensity.
So push through it.
Okay.
I tell.
This is.
I don't think I've evermentioned this on the podcast before.
And so here we go.
When I was a.
A little kid, my.
I tell this to my students allthe time, but I don't.
I haven't shared it out on the podcast.
When I was a little kid, mymom signed me and my brother up for
(03:35):
dance lessons.
We did tap and jazz dance.
And I did that for nine years.
And I tell my students all the time.
Never once do I remember evertelling my mom, hey, mom, I love
dance.
I want to do dance.
My mom just told us to get inthe car and go every Tuesday.
And that's just what we did.
We just got in the car and went.
(03:55):
And I did nine years of thatbecause it wasn't an option.
It was a habit that we hadbuilt, right?
Luckily, I found martial artsand I was eventually like, mom, I
really would like to go tomartial arts more.
And so I don't have to dodance anymore.
And that was fine.
It worked for us.
But consistently showing up,even when you don't feel like it,
(04:17):
Habit number two, the best.
The best martial artists askquestions and seek feedback.
The best students are curious.
Not just.
They don't want just compliments.
They want to get better.
They ask.
They seek out trainingopportunities with their instructors,
(04:37):
and at Nationals, at WorldsOnline, they seek out the opportunity
to learn more.
It's not just about memorizingthings, it's about mastering things.
You've got to be willing tolook, do some research.
This one comes a little easierto me because I'm the kind of person
(04:59):
who, I get fomo, so I want toknow the.
The things that are changing,the things that are updating, because
I don't want to be left behind.
There's a lot of people whoaren't that way.
They're like, oh, this is theway I've done it.
I'm just going to do it likethis all the time.
Curious people are successfulbecause they're learners.
They keep learning all the time.
(05:20):
So if you Want to be asuccessful martial artist for the
long term, what you need to dois ask questions, stay curious, investigate.
Is there a better way to do this?
Can I work a little harder onthis and seek that feedback to make
sure that it's something thatis going to really don't get?
(05:42):
You know, we're talking abouthonesty right now and one of the
pillars of honesty is humility.
Humility is the ability to go,hey, I might not know the best way
to do this.
I might need to ask somebody else.
All right, I might need tocheck, is there more I can learn
about this?
That's being curious, askingquestions, seeking feedback.
(06:02):
Super important habit.
Number three, encourage others.
Successful martial artsencourage others.
You're part of a worldwide organization.
You've got to be there tosupport each other.
Because when you support eachother, when you support go out and
support somebody else, you'regoing to feel better about it, all
(06:24):
right?
And you're going to bebuilding relationships.
That's going to make it easierfor you to continue to train.
All right?
In martial arts, your energyis contagious.
You got to make it positive.
You're going to stay insomething you enjoy longer.
Encouraging others is going tomake you a leader and it's going
(06:45):
to make you more willing to grow.
It's going to put you aroundpeople who are interested in growing
because they're encouraging people.
Okay?
True excellence lifts others up.
You want to be excellent, youwant to make sure you're encouraging
others.
So let's revert to you, thesefirst three.
Number one, they show up.
(07:05):
Number two, they ask questionsand seek feedback.
Number three, they encourage others.
Number four, huge set small,specific goals.
All right?
You need success isn't justone big giant leap.
It's little wins showing up.
This is goes right back to theshowing up habit.
(07:29):
Set those short term goals.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do this.
It's about the reps that youput in.
Big dreams are built one smallgoal at a time.
You got to set those goals.
This is what I'm going to dothis week.
This is what I'm going to donext week.
This is the next midterm I've got.
This is the next testing I've got.
(07:50):
Don't.
It's always, you know, don'talways be focused on the long term.
Make sure you're focused onthe short term because that's where
you're going to be making a difference.
And in those short terms, makesure that you're focused on the quality
of those short term goals, okay?
The next rep, that's whatmatters, the next rep, okay?
(08:14):
You want a vision for whereyou want to go.
You want a big long term goal,but the small goals are what get
you there.
And I tell my students all thetime, like, I don't like push ups
any other more than somebodyelse likes pushups, but I do push
ups because I want this big goal.
All right?
So you've got to set the smallgoals and that's where the work is
done.
(08:35):
Action beats intention every time.
You've got to be takingactions on those small goals.
And then habit number five,the best martial artists, the most
successful ones, celebrateprogress, okay?
Recognition builds momentum.
Celebrate the progress thatyou make, not just the outcomes at
(08:57):
the end.
If we only celebrate theoutcome at the end, you're going
to miss the journey.
And what's most important ismaking sure that you are celebrating
that progress as you go in inthose small goals so you can get
to the big goals.
You have to acknowledge thegrowth that you've had, not just
the rank that you've got ornot just the title that you have,
(09:21):
not just the letters on theback of your uniform.
Celebrate small wins.
How are you going to do that?
I don't know, give yourself a,you know, the opportunity to, to,
you know, go to a extra event.
Hey, I did this.
I'm going to celebrate this.
Okay, hey, how?
Encourage the people around you.
Let them know this is a goalof mine.
(09:42):
When you reach that smallgoal, what's the celebration you're
going to do for it?
We need, as parents as thatare having martial arts children
that we want to be a big success.
What are you celebrating?
That's the effort.
Okay?
I see a lot of peoplecelebrate the medals at tournaments,
(10:03):
the titles, and not as manypeople celebrating the effort that
is put in.
The effort is what builds a champion.
The effort is what's going tomake a difference.
10 years, 20 years, 30 yearsdown the line, because they learned
how to put in the effort,their title in 20 years isn't going
(10:24):
to matter.
All right, so celebrating theprogress is going to be huge.
All right, so here's achallenge for you at Nation.
Pick one of these habits andstart it this week.
Let me know which habit you'regoing to pick.
All right, let's go throughthem again real quick.
We've got number one and mostsuccessful martial arts.
(10:45):
They show up even when theydon't feel like it.
Number two, they ask questionsand they seek feedback.
They don't just ask questions.
They seek the feedback as well.
Number three, they encourage others.
Number four, they set small,specific goals.
And number five, theycelebrate progress, not just titles
(11:06):
or ranks.
What of these do you need towork on?
And maybe you're good at someof them and some of them you're not
as good at.
Which one are you going totake action on?
Because we only improve bytaking real action on our goals.
Ata always take action.
I hope that helps you this week.
Let's get to our athlete ofthe week ata nation.
(11:32):
We have our athlete of theweek with us today.
Can you introduce yourself, Sir?
Yes, sir.
I'm Justin French from Saline, Michigan.
I go to Omega Martial Arts and.
Omega Martial Arts up there inSaline, Michigan.
This is my part of the countryregion 102.
Hey, Mr. French, can you tellus a little bit about how you got
(11:54):
started in martial arts?
What's your kind of origin story?
Yeah, so my origin storystarted when I was four years old.
I stepped into the classroompretty shy and I kind of.
I loved it from the first dayand I kept with it.
You've just been doing itsince you were four?
How old are you now?
I'm 13 years old there.
Okay.
(12:15):
A long time.
Almost 10 years.
Good deal.
Awesome.
And what degree black belt are you?
I am a second degree blackbelt, sir.
Very cool.
Okay, so, Mr. French, as anathlete, you probably like to compete.
You like to get out there anddo some, you know, kicking and punching
and stuff at tournaments.
What's your.
What's your favorite event tocompete in?
Yeah, so my favorite eventwould probably be weapons.
(12:38):
I've worked with my weaponsform for like three years now.
I've gotten to as perfect as Ican get and I'm still training.
Awesome.
What weapon is it?
I do swords there.
Excellent.
Very cool, everybody.
The sword is a pretty good one.
And that's a.
It's not an easy weapon.
It's got a lot of detail to it.
Very cool.
What about if.
(13:00):
If we had to pick like yourleast favorite event at a tournament,
what would that be?
Probably combat.
I don't train with it much,but it's not one of my.
Not one of your tops?
Hey, that's okay.
Hey, everybody's got their own thing.
It's just interesting to hear,you know, what people like.
What people that, you know.
I mean, we like it all.
(13:20):
Of course, it's all fun, but,you know, you got to specialize in
certain things.
So what kind of, you know, we're.
We're partway through the New season.
We just had fall nationals.
Do you have goals for thistournament season as a competitor,
what you're looking to do,just better yourself, titles, things
like that?
(13:40):
Yes, sir.
So some of the goals I've beentraining for this year is my goal
is to be a world champion oneday, and my goal is to be a third
degree by winter.
Excellent.
So it's coming, coming up?
Yes, sir.
Excellent.
Okay.
Are you excited about thatthird degree form?
Yes, sir.
You've been practicing thoseslow sidekicks at the beginning?
Yes, sir.
(14:01):
Those are challenging.
Good.
That's exciting.
That'll be a lot of fun.
And what's nice aboutswitching from second degree to third
degree is you don't have tochange divisions at a tournament.
So that makes, it, makes iteasy that way.
I like how you phrased, I wantto be a world championship someday,
a world champion someday.
You know, a lot of people puta lot of pressure on themselves that,
(14:22):
like, this year, it's got tobe this year.
I've got to do it this year.
And, you know, I mean,sometimes that's a smart goal to
set, but sometimes it can bebeyond that.
Do you have any, you know,what do you think about that journey
to becoming a world champ?
Yeah, so some of the journeyI've been doing, I went to the athlete
(14:44):
development camp in Arkansas,actually, and I've been training
nonstop at my school and justputting in a lot of effort.
Excellent.
Well, I know, I know Mr. Kaferup there is.
I've known Mr. Kafer since,like, I started Taekwondo a few years
(15:04):
ago, and he has been on thatjourney to get a world championship
for world champion for yearsand just finally got his.
And, man, that guy is a toplevel athlete.
So I think it's important foreverybody to just, you know, keep
practicing, keep trying, keepworking, set that goal, you know,
and don't always put thepressure like, it's got to be this
(15:25):
year.
It's got to be, you know,right away.
Everybody wants things right away.
Okay, so what about for you?
You said third degree is your goal.
You're working on getting that.
Excuse me, what about the,the, you know, are you doing any
things at the school trainingwise that you are kind of focused
(15:48):
on, obviously that thirddegree, but anything else that's
really keeping you busy withthat training?
Yeah, I've been in the legacyprogram for like three years now.
I teach every Wednesdays.
I help with the White, OrangeYellow Tigers and Karate for Kids.
I've also been training, likeI said before, with world championships
(16:10):
and just putting a Lot of effort.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Or great.
We love to see people, youknow, in that legacy program working
on improving themselves,helping pass it to the next generation.
That's super cool.
Okay.
Hey, what's it mean to you tobe an athlete that goes beyond the
belt?
Yeah.
So beyond the belt is like, myjourney of going beyond the belt
(16:34):
is really showing my ATAskills out of school.
Just training, giving respectto others out of school and in ATA
and showing everything I'velearned and all the discipline aspects
into everyday life.
Well, that's excellent.
If you were.
(16:56):
If you're looking at the lifeskills that you learn in martial
arts, what's the one thatlike, for you is like, hey, this
is the one that really ismaybe like your favorite because
you're good at it.
Or maybe the one that you'relike, I need to work on that one
a little bit.
Which life skill do you think of?
And you go like, yeah, that's a.
That's a great life skill tobe focused on.
(17:17):
Yeah, my favorite life skillwould probably be discipline, because
without being disciplined, youreally can't get anything done, at
least to a certain extent.
Yeah, no, you're 100% right.
I mean, you got to have thatdiscipline to keep moving forward,
to keep training, to, youknow, do the life skills that we
talk about outside of the school.
So that's really cool.
(17:37):
Well, hey, sir,congratulations on being one of the
brand ambassadors, athletes ofthe week, and thank you so much for
your time today.
Thank you, sir.
I hope you've enjoyed today's episode.
I'm going to ask for twothings from you today.
Number one, like and subscribethe ATA YouTube page on YouTube.
(18:03):
Make sure you go over there,like, and subscribe, because you're
going to get all the updatesfor new, new podcast episodes you're
going to get real or shortsthat are going to come out from the
brand ambassadors and clipsfrom the podcast, and maybe we'll
do some live stuff in the future.
I've got plans.
Just got to take action on those.
So, number one, head overthere and subscribe.
Number two, let me know whatyou think of the solo episode information
(18:27):
today, and if it's somethingyou'd like to hear a little bit more
from, or if you're like, no,just do guess I don't want to hear
from you at all.
Let us know.
Hey, get out there and be a champion.
Beyond the Belt ATA Asian podcast.
Be sure to subscribe and sharewith your ATA family.
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