It is important for a martial arts teacher to continue to train & grow as people & martial artists. Even though I have trained in the martial arts since 1977 and hold black belts in 5 styles every week, I take a private 1 hour lesson with the grand master ( Hanshi Bruce ) as well as driving 1hr & 30min each way to take two hour private lessons with one of his top students.
I take two to four hours a week of Jiu-jitsu / grappling classes & attend a weekly zoom class with another one of Hanshi Bruce’s top students as well as a monthly 4 hour advanced training program every month. I also make it a point to attend 1 & 2 days martial arts seminars on the weekends at least one weekend a month. When the opportunity arises, I will invite black belts from outside my dojo to come and train at my dojo as well
I also watch about 1 hour a day of training videos produces by Hanshi and some of his top students as well as reading an hour or two a week of different martial arts related material
This is all on top of the 12 hours a week of classes I teach & as most of you all know I try to do every class with the students not just stand there and bark commands
In the mornings I also lift weights or, perform kettlebell and or mma conditioning so on any given week I am doing 12 to 20 hours of physical training in any form as well as 7 to 10 hours of video
So my average student attends 3 hours of class per week
Where as a student I am pure student 5 to 8 hours a week, plus training & classes
Some martial teachers get to a point where they think they know everything, joining a bunch of associations to get even more patches and certificates, walking around with all the stripes on their belt, getting fat talking about the old days, when in fact they spend more time drinking beer and watching sports then they do training their art they claim to be masters of.
This a bad place to be where you start protecting your ego and clinging on to absolutes this makes you stale and eventually obsolete
Your Martial Arts Sensei, should also be the biggest & best student in your dojo, if not you’re in the wrong Dojo and at some point in your journey that will suddenly become very evident.
“Train, struggle, learn & grow ” Sensei Bill
“ struggle is the law of growth”
Hanshi Bruce & James Mitose