Neil Stone’s Tips for successful, energy building classes

Everyone knows Sensei Neil Stone is an energetic (and some say erratic) instructor of the highest caliber.

In fact, in all my years of teaching there are very few people who are as gifted on the floor as Sensei Stone!

Running a high energy class can be a lot more complicated than it looks. Simply doing rounds and rounds of push-ups and jumping jacks is not the way to make a class maintain proper motivation to be productive.

As such, Mr. Stone has several tips that will help an instructor keep the class motivated, working hard, and of course, sweating and smiling!

Get and Stay Connected

Getting a class to exercise and maintain a proper level of energy requires that you know the class very well. Most martial arts classes are not full of people of the same age, energy level, mentality and physical fitness level. In fact, many of them can have a variety of ages that span over 40 years from the youngest to the oldest. As wonderful as this is, it is important to understand everyone's limitations and motivation levels in order to make sure that the class keeps its energy level going. This is so that you can set and achieve realistic goals for the class.

Doing Exercises in different ways

Don't feel like you must “reinvent the wheel" in every session that you run. Fundamental exercises are always needed and therefore there are many ways to achieve the same goals while taking refreshing approaches. Even something as simple as doing a Kata in a different direction is a fun way to make smaller changes that helps keep the class focused.

Have a series of Exercises that you can rely on

As you get better at leading a class, it is helpful to have a series of exercises that you find easy and effective to run. These will become your “bread and butter" drills that you can run easily, confidently and effectively. And while it is always important to think “outside the box" these drills make it easier to help a class achieve physical fitness goals.

Don't forget the tools at your disposal

In the Martial Arts world, most exercises are performed without any tools or teaching aids. This, of course, stems from the mentality that we don’t want to have to rely on anything in the heat of a conflict. But, don’t forget the usefulness of bagwork and other teaching aids for certain exercises. Sometimes “playing with toys” is the best way to spice up a workout!