It’s common for new members to ask us why martial artists wear gis. Even if you’ve never taken a martial arts class, you’ve most likely seen a tv show or movie depicting a room full of people wearing white uniforms and belts punching and kicking. Most people understand that this practice is rooted in tradition, but the purpose of the gi (or uniform) is multifaceted.
The word “gi” is derived from the Japanese term “Keikogi” which means “practice clothing”. Gis can range in color from white to black or even blue. Most students beginning their training will wear a white gi symbolizing purity. Colored gis are typically reserved for students that hold a higher rank or position (ie. instructors) within the gym.
While there are several great reasons to wear a gi during martial arts training, we’re going to take a look at our top 3 reasons martial artists wear gis.
Dress For Success
Let’s face it. Some days are just plain challenging. The car won’t start, you’re late to school/work, you bomb an important presentation, and you can’t seem to catch up much less get ahead…the weight of the world can sit heavier some days and takes a toll on our mood. But, as a martial artist, you have a secret weapon…your gi! Sounds crazy, right? But something kind of magical happens when you shed the clothes you were wearing that day and put on your training gi. It’s almost like a reset of sorts. You get an opportunity to physically remove the worst parts of your day and put on new clothes that make you feel strong, confident, and ready to perform at your best. Couple that with a great martial arts class and you’ll leave feeling energized and ready to tackle the rest of your day.
Get The Most Out Of Your Training
Nothing is worse than being mid-workout and suddenly your shorts start ridding up and your shirt starts sticking to you in ways that limit your movement. No one likes feeling self-conscious while they exercise. It’s hard enough to put yourself out there and commit to making healthier choices. You don’t need the added distraction of uncomfortable workout clothes. A good quality training gi will allow for easy movement for striking, kicking, and grappling. As a martial artist, wearing a training gi keeps your focus on your training rather than on what you (or others in your class) are wearing.
You Belong To A Great Community
Experts agree that when you feel like you belong to a supportive community, your physical and metal health improves. When you put on a gi that showcases your specific academy or gym, you feel like you belong. And when you’re surrounded by other people wearing the same gi it creates a synergistic environment where everyone thrives. Much like team sports like baseball and basketball wear matching uniforms, the same is true for martial artists. While martial arts is largely considered an individual sport, there is still an emphasis on working with partners for sparring and pad drills. Wearing matching gis fosters an environment that encourages teamwork and good partnership within the gym.
Ready to put your gi on and start training in the martial arts? At Invictus, we help you do just that! And it’s easy to GET STARTED.
Everyone knows that today more than ever you need self-defense tips to save your life. Because we don’t know when or how it will happen. But we do know this: you are your first line of defense, so training isn’t optional, it’s essential.
Comprehensive studies have shown time and time again that self-defense workshops and education are always beneficial. In fact, not only does a person’s risk of attack decrease but also a person’s fear and anxiety decrease, and a person’s confidence, sense of self-efficacy, and self-esteem increase (University of Oregon)!
Self-Defense Tips To Save Your Life
Line of attack
Every attack has an angle to it. Regardless of which direction the attack comes from, your first priority is to get out of the direct line of attack. Every weapon and means of attack has a specific range and angle and your number one goal is to avoid that direct line of attack at all costs.
Control
It’s never about the weapon or means of attack but always about the source of the attack. A shovel is a useful tool for yard work and gardening. A bat is a useful tool for baseball. A knife is a useful tool for cooking. But all of these tools have the potential to be harmful in the hands of someone with violent intent. So this means that your second priority is to minimize damage to yourself while putting you in a position to reclaim control over your personal sovereignty and safety.
Control can look like the following:
Creating maximal distance between you and the threat
Using a strong, powerful voice to stop a threat
Leveraging non-violent restraint to minimize damage to you and the threat
And more…
Neutralize
Threats must be neutralized. Self-defense situations typically occur when one person believes they have an opportunity cost putting themselves at an unfair advantage. A person needs to apply reasonable force to a threat to bring the situation back into homeostasis. Much like Control, neutralizing the threat can take many forms ranging from range management to non-violent submissions to reasonable but decisive force. Swift action is absolutely key to survival and can be accomplished with regular, consistent practice while increasing the level of pressure with a willing and helpful partner.
Disarm
All things being equal, it is always better to get away from a person with violent intent rather than try to disarm them. There are too many variables in the chaos of protection that can make even the most trained person become a victim of increased violence. That said, not every attack has a weapon to consider but every attacker has the potential to use a weapon. If you decide to attempt to disarm a person with violent intent who is also using a weapon, be prepared to be harmed by the weapon. Your safest plan of action is to simply neutralize the threat and quickly remove yourself from the situation as fast as possible then report what happened to the local authorities.
These self-defense tips to save your life can quickly become your first line of protection. With proper training and consistent practice, you can feel safe and secure every day.
One of the most important aspects of any goal-setting activity that you have is to make your resolution stick. Of course, most people would agree that while that’s easy to say it’s more challenging to actually do. So, here are a few quick tips and tricks you can quickly use to make your resolution stick:
Know What You Want
You must first know what it is you hope to accomplish. Whether it’s to fix some mistakes of the past or avoid some undesired future, knowing what it is you actually want to achieve is the first and most important step.
In fact, some of the most successful people agree that creating a vision board is key to actualizing your goals. There are several reasons that this is absolutely true but here are some key points to consider:
You can SEE your goals daily
You will FEEL like you’re making progress
You have a greater SENSE of motivation
Of course, if making a vision board seems daunting to you, simply find some images that inspire you and keep them where you can see them daily.
Remember, this must be personal and doable… but most of all, what you ACTUALLY want. Because people who know what it is they truly want always get it.
Have A Plan
There’s a good reason that books like Discipline Equals Freedom and Atomic Habits are so popular: success only comes from consistent planning and daily execution.
Without a plan to achieve your goals, your resolutions simply become wishes. Having coaches and mentors to support you is crucial and key to accomplishing your goals.
In fact, one of the best examples of this is in mixed martial arts training at Invictus. Each new belt rank and level quickly support your wellness goals (whether physical, mental, etc) while keeping you challenged and growing. It’s easily one of the best ways to feel good and get a great workout while making tangible progress.
Daily Execution
Put simply: your goals won’t work unless you do.
Recently, during one of our small group classes, the coaches were having a conversation with members about small, daily actions and how quickly they can add up. The coaches asked the question: have any of you ever done more than 7,000 push-ups? Everybody agreed that they didn’t know. The coaches then encouraged the members that if they committed to only 20 push-ups per day that they would accomplish having completed over 7,000 push-ups in a year.
Everyone was stunned.
No one had thought it was that simple.
Small, daily action creates big results. To do this, here are a few suggestions to leverage to turn your goals into results:
Set a reminder on your phone
Tell a friend to help keep you accountable
Join a community of like-minded people
Hire a coach to help you
Schedule your actions
The most important lesson here is this: take consistent and intentional action daily.
Track Your Progress
You need to know where you are today and set up a system to review your progress. There are several great resources available via apps and web services today. But it’s usually the simple one that will help you the most.
For example, when it comes to nutrition goals, most people set big goals (which is good) with unrealistic time frames or caloric targets. This makes keeping your goals so challenging that the goal actually becomes a roadblock. The best nutrition goals are the ones that you can actually do consistently. Meaning, if you have the resolution to drink more water, start simply by drinking 500 ml in the morning and 500 ml in the evening. Then, as you feel thirsty throughout the day, you’re free to drink water as needed. To do this, you can buy a 1,000 ml (about 1 qt) water bottle and mark it halfway so that you can easily see your progress.
Whatever your goal, keep track of your progress to see what’s working and what isn’t. Think of it from a scientific perspective and that you need data to better understand what is effective at helping you achieve your goal and what is less effective.
Set A New Goal
Inevitably, if you’ve been following these success methods, you will need to set a new goal. Now, it could be that you’ve learned along the way that your initial goal needed adjusting. It could also be that you accomplished your goal and now you’re ready for a new challenge. Regardless, always remember that the goal isn’t the point… your transformation is.
It’s been said that the journey is often more important than the destination. But in fact, you can be confident in knowing that who you are becoming as a result of achieving your goals is the ultimate prize and best result you can accomplish.
Make Your Resolution Stick
See, when you become a healthier individual, then your family is better because of it. Because you become better, their lives are positively influenced.
Your health and wellness goals made you a better person…
…improving the quality of life for your whole family,
…which makes for a better community,
…and inspires others to take better care of themselves.
Realize that there are people right now in your life that need you to do this. They are waiting for you to take bold action to accomplish your goals and make your resolution stick.
At Invictus, we help you do just that! And it’s easy to GET STARTED.
Over the last decade, we’ve helped hundreds of martial arts students achieve sparring success. There’s no shortage of helpful advice we can offer when it comes to technical tips:
Keep your guard up
Maintain a stable stance
Focus your eyes on your partner
Retract your punches and kicks
Keep moving
But if you’re new to martial arts training, and especially just starting to spar, these technical tips can sometimes fall short of being helpful. So, if you’re frustrated with your most recent sparring experience or you’re just ready to take your skill development to the next level…keep reading.
First, it’s important to acknowledge that sparring is more than just a physical exercise. There’s a mental component to sparring that must be equally developed. Clearly, the best tips for sparring success encompass both the physical and mental.
Keep in mind that sparring is simply an opportunity to try out your martial arts skill development on a resisting partner and, with the right mindset, it’s quite fun!
Here are our five tips for sparring success:
Have A Plan
Sparring is just as much a tactical exercise as it is a physical one. Sparring requires you to constantly be thinking about your next move. While your plan will need to adapt to your sparring partner, it’s always advisable to start any sparring match with a general plan. Knowing your personal strengths and limitations is a huge benefit. If you’re taller than your sparring partner, you can use your legs to keep them out of range. If you’re smaller than your sparring partner, you’ll want to get in close to take away their optimal range.
Sparring with different partners is also a huge learning opportunity. Want to level up quick? Spar with people who can out-pace, out-punch, and out-plan you. Study what they do and ask them for help. Some of the most effective strategies we’ve learned have been from sparring partners who were better than us.
Stay Calm
It’s ok to feel nervous before sparring. Unless you’ve been training for a while, you’re probably not use to the idea of someone punching and kicking at you. It’s important to accept that in a sparring situation you’re going to get hit (after all, even the professionals do!). The key is to control where you get hit and how you respond after. Practicing offense and defense drills that help you experience what it feels like to absorb a punch or kick will build your confidence in this area. As you build trust with your sparring partners, you’ll realize it gets easier to remain calm, even with punches and kicks being thrown at you.
Most importantly, remember to breathe. It’s common for people to inadvertently hold their breath as they spar. Practice exhaling when you strike so that breathing becomes routine, even when your focus is on blocking, evading, and countering. Ultimately, breathing and remaining calm will help you conserve energy and strike with better precision.
Stick To The Basics
When your adrenalized, complex movements are more challenging to pull off successfully. When you first start sparring, use the most basic techniques you know: jab, cross, hook, and round kick. Sticking to the basics will increase your skill and also keep you mentally focused. In fact, simple and direct works best 80% of the time. Save the more complex moves for the remaining 20% of the time.
While it might be more comfortable to throw one strike at a time, using combinations will increase your chances of connecting with a viable target. Counters are also key. It’s easy to find yourself in a position where your partner is doing all the striking and you’re doing all the defending. Look for opportunities to counter after defending every strike your partner throws.
Check Your Ego
Every sparring match begins with a respectful bow as a reminder that both partners are prepared to help and not harm the other. Sparring is not about beating up your partner. Ultimately, ego clouds judgment and can cause you to rush and even loose control of your power. If your primary focus is striking with power, your technique will suffer and you will miss the opportunity for growth and advancement in your skill development.
When it comes to having the best sparring experience, adopt a givers mindset. Sparring is not a competition, it’s a partnership. When both sparring partner focus on helping the other improve, magic happens. Mutual challenge and respect results in mutual development and benefit.
Focus On Learning, Not Winning
Sparring is not about winning or loosing. Some days, you won’t be able to miss, while other days, you won’t be able to hit a single target. Sparring is all about learning. Every time you spar, try to improve from the last time.
As we mentioned before, sparring is just as much mental as it is physical. While you’re sparring, rather than focusing on winning, focus on your mental state:
Stay calm and remember to breath
Be aware of your position and guard
Concentrate on your opponent or partner
Practice those problem-solving skills
Stay in control of your emotions
Most importantly, have fun! Remember, it can take years to get really good at sparring. The best martial artists are the ones who show up, consistently put in the work, and enjoy the experience.
Ready to up your sparring game? Try a FREE training session at Invictus! Which class below are you most curious about?
Today, we’re going to share with you the BIGGEST gym secret that most of those others gyms don’t want you to know… gym memberships DON’T work.
Surprised?
Think about it… imagine owning a car but never learning how to drive it. You might agree that would be absolutely ridiculous but that’s exactly how most gym memberships operate! A person will visit a gym, select a monthly membership, and then use it about half the time never knowing how to get the most out of it. In fact, of the 20% of Americans who have a gym membership, just over half (56.6%) use their gym membership at least twice per week.
But you’re not like most people.
You know their biggest gym secret and you have a secret of your own: Invictus. That’s right! You need the right coaches to help you get the most out of your membership. Because at Invictus Martial Arts we take a personalized approach to your training helping you maximize your results.
We prioritize your training to help you…
Get stronger and more flexible
Improve focus
Develop good habits
Set goals and achieve them
Grow in confidence
And so much more!
So stop paying for a membership that doesn’t work. And start investing in a personalized approach to your wellness with a FREE session at Invictus. We have new classes starting and invite you to get real results today. Click below for the class that interests you the most and get started for FREE…
At Invictus Martial Arts, we know that you want to feel your best and everyone knows that going to the gym is always an essential part of any healthy lifestyle. But in order to do that, you need to feel confident that you’ve clearly made the right choice to get training again. The problem is there’s so much contradicting information out there regarding the safety of training at a gym which makes you feel confused and unsure of what information is even reliable.
We believe investing in your health always includes a commitment to exercise well-being. Fortunately, fitness training has been not only scientifically proven to reduce stress AND boost your immune system but making an educated decision about returning to the gym really shouldn’t be that hard. And we understand your concerns about keeping proper spacing, hand hygiene, etc, which is why we’ve taken bold action steps to ensure that you and your family will always have wellness-supported, enjoyable training sessions here at Invictus Martial Arts.
Here’s how we do it…
Smart Spacing
Committed to going above and beyond the minimum guidelines, we at Invictus Martial Arts have smartly spaced dots on our training mats that maintain a distance of at least 2 meters (6’ 6”). As an added benefit, all our group training sessions leverage a small group training philosophy allowing up to 18 pre-registered participants per session. If you’re like us you’ll love how easily you can now train together while maintaining proper distance and getting in a great workout!
Fresh Air Supply
Pushing the boundaries of what martial arts training can be, Invictus Martial Arts utilizes a transformative fresh air supply system giving you confidence and peace of mind. During typical use, our fresh air supply system lets you benefit from hospital-grade MERV-14 air filters to prevent the transfer of bacteria and infectious diseases removing particles as small as 1/300 the diameter of human hair. To us, wellness isn’t just a phase or passing cliche, it’s the air we breathe.
Health-Conscious Flooring
Now, this may not be relevant to you but members at Invictus Martial Arts always love knowing that even their training floor helps keep them healthy. Our Dollamur Swain Hybrid mats aren’t just great for balance and safety at an enormous 1-1/2” thick, they’re also fantastic for supporting your healthy lifestyle. From Dollamur:
Instead of utilizing an antimicrobial additive in the vinyl surface of our sport mats, Dollamur infuses a biocidal additive which is registered with the EPA under FIFRA. Rather than focusing only on treating surface microbes, biocides protect Dollamur sports mats by eliminating potential microorganisms within the vinyl surface itself.
So, we invite you to CONTACT US today to re-ignite your passion for fitness by training In-Person with Invictus Martial Arts. And in the meantime, CLICK THIS LINK to discover all the ways we’re invested in supporting your wellness so you can stop worrying if it’s safe to workout and simply enjoy getting stronger and more skilled at Invictus Martial Arts.
When it comes to getting fit in martial arts, you typically spend most of your time deciding which type of martial arts is right for you. While the style of martial arts you want to train in is important to know and understand, there’s something else you really need to consider before making your decision final: do you choose a private academy or a public studio? There are some glaring distinctions between the two that our members want you to understand.
While you can get in shape and learn cool moves at any studio, it may not be the most effective way to reach your goals. Check out the infographic below to learn how a private martial arts academy like Invictus replaces the outdated public studio, then get in contact with Invictus to discover how our members accomplish more in less time through hard work and skill proficiency.
When you’re ready to take your next step, schedule a FREE Private Consultation with us. We’ll take the time to get to know you and what you hope to accomplish. Together, we’ll discover the right training to help your goals become results!
Since the inception of Invictus Martial Arts, the well-being of our martial arts community has clearly been a focus and priority. The intentional design of our state-of-the-art Academy was created to foster togetherness where friends and family alike can train with one another while enjoying all the benefits of a safe environment. Our role and dedication to you, our martial arts community, will be to continue in this vigilance to make ongoing decisions with courage always informed by the latest scientifically-based data and guided by our Creed.
You may be aware that we have taken a series of preventative steps in response to the developing public health concerns, including increased additional cleaning and disinfecting procedures for our industry-leading Dollamur mats as well as the training pads and gear.
In addition to her extensive martial arts training, Mrs. Garza has spent the last 15 years as an Analytical Chemist specializing in clinical diagnostic testing and wisely chooses non-toxic, low-volatile disinfectants that effectively reduce potential contagions.
It’s important to Invictus Martial Arts and to you, our community, that we take every precaution to minimize the impact of potentially irritating fumes and vapors that are often found in harsh industrial solvents by using more natural, organic solutions like essential oils.
Fortunately, our bathrooms support your well-being by having touchless toilets, hands-free faucets, motion-sensing LED lights, and automatic soap and towel dispensers. Bathroom garbages are conveniently located near the exit of each of our spacious bathrooms so that a paper towel can be used to sanitarily exit.
Additionally, every member is required to purchase their own gear to not only encourage continuous improvement through practice and training at home but to also help support good health by reducing borrowing gear. This empowers each member of our community to take charge of their own wellness knowing that clearly Invictus supports your health and happiness.
Lastly, since opening, Invictus Martial Arts has conveniently installed two touchless hand sanitizer stations with highly-effective, foaming hand sanitizer biocide (superior to leading alcohol-based equivalents) which leaves no unpleasant scent or uncomfortable residue. The therapeutic properties of the hand sanitizer we use is anti-fungal, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial as recognized by the FDA & EPA. It easily and quickly kills up to 99.99% of germs and keeps working for 3+ hours after application.
Obviously, we care about our members’ sense of wellness and we will continue to monitor the developing public health concerns, but, at Invictus Martial Arts, you can confidently train knowing that we prioritize your well-being.
At Invictus Martial Arts, you belong.
Ready to experience the Invictus difference for yourself? CLICK HERE for a complimentary lesson.
