Ideal Martial Arts Class Structure

Hi!

I've given a lot of thought to the ideal structure of a one-hour martial arts class. Before that, though, here are a few assumptions:

1) Students learn better when they know what to expect. If a student can show up for a certain class at a certain day at a certain time several weeks in a row and have what is a decidedly different experience each time, then learning will suffer.

2) Instructors teach better when there are consistent guidelines. If instructors are not given any guidelines as to how class should be run, then each instructor will do this his/her own way. This will lead to inconsistencies in what the students know.

3) The value the instructors add is based on their knowledge of martial arts. If class turns into an aerobic exercise class or most of the work-out is activities not related to martial arts, then having qualified martial arts instructors is NOT adding value to the class.

Now for the structure. The preceding number is the number of minutes after the hour.

00: Opening. This includes student line-up, attendance card collection, opening ceremonies, and recognition.

05: Stretching and warm-up. The goal of this time is to ensure that the students are ready to work-out, not tire them out. For example, any aerobic activity (like jumping jacks) should be done only long enough to loosen-up, not so long that it becomes an exercise. Students should have plenty of energy, and the class should have plenty of time, left for learning and practice of martial arts. What kind of stretches are done will depend on what is planned for class.

15: Curriculum instruction. The goal of this time is for the instructor to teach curriculum. It is up to the instructor how to split it, but it is expected that students will review basics and learn something new. During forms classes, line drills may be used to help students improve their basics. During sparring classes, line sparring may be used to help students develop new technique to try during free sparring.

45: Burn-out. The goal of this time is to ensure that the students get their work-out. Depending on how challenging the curriculum portion of the class was, the instructor has some discretion here, but the goal should be to ensure that the students are pushed to improve their physical endurance. Having this at the end of class ensures that the students are too tired to execute proper control of their technique during the curriculum instruction portion.

55: Closing. This includes the student line-up, Q&A, and closing ceremonies.

I'd love to hear from you think!

Thanks,
Matt