During this Christmas season, Aplomb Martial Arts extends its most profound, warmest wishes of Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to our community here in Kansas City! It has been a long and challenging year for many families and communities. Despite the changes that have continued to disrupt what we all know as “normal,” the continued fortitude, diligence, and strength continued to be in full display from everyone. From parents, senseis, students, and family members, there has never been a better time to see what the tenets and principles of martial arts have instilled upon everyone around us. No words can express the pride and joy that we at Aplomb Martial Arts feel this Christmas when we see the students and families around us continue to display the principles that have made martial arts such a beneficial practice: Fortitude: The community has refused to give up, even in the face of economic and health crises, and soldiered on. They find ways or carve new paths to get to their goals and seek resolution for the issues that matter to them. Discipline: Everyone has continued to practice and perform admirably. This holiday season, they have continued the work and maintained a steadfast dedication to their craft without missing opportunities to be with their families. Respect: Aplomb Martial Arts has seen this tenet in action, even more, this Christmas season. There is mutual respect with one another, in the diversity of views and beliefs, the generosity and patience extended to everyone. It’s a season to open one’s arms and welcome them to the fold, following in the path that martial arts has laid before them. For Aplomb Martial Arts, the holiday season marks the end of the year in bright lights, color, and optimism that the coming year will be even better. As we all continue to grow, we hope that our martial arts community will too. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

This Thanksgiving, which remains in unstable times as it had last year, Aplomb Martial Arts wants to extend its best and fondest well-wishes to students, families, colleagues, and community members. Undoubtedly, communities, where Aplomb Martial Arts schools are found, are some of the toughest and most engaged groups out there, willing to provide support and a helping hand whenever needed. When a class member is struggling, someone is there to lend a hand and help them, fostering a sense of community, teamwork, and unity over different groups of people. This is why we extend our gratitude to the community that makes Aplomb Martial Arts what it is today this Thanksgiving. We are thankful for the teachers who pass down years of knowledge down to future generations. We are grateful for the students who pour their passion into the discipline, who have continued to work and train tirelessly despite trials in the world around them. We are also grateful for the families of both teachers and students who have worked so hard to ensure everyone’s health and who have supported the learning process as it continues through this tumultuous year. We cannot forget to be grateful for everyone’s patience, cooperation, and most importantly, their discipline despite the storm that surrounds us all. Yet, we all keep soldiering forward as a community that aims to support each other through fortitude and mental strength. We are all grateful to each other this Thanksgiving; every community member and hope that this holiday season is a much brighter one than last year. We are thankful, this Thanksgiving, that everyone’s hard work, precautions, and efforts have led to a more open holiday season. We hope that the community continues to grow and flourish further in the following year.

If you’re planning on staying healthy throughout the winter season, martial arts will give you all the health benefits you need. Cardiovascular benefits, especially heart-related ones, are part of martial arts’ main appeal to health-conscious individuals. If you need a workout that targets all your muscle groups, gets your heart pumping, and keeps you warm this winter, martial arts can do it all. Cardiovascular and Heart Health Benefits Regularly practicing martial arts (around three times a week) can get your heart pumping. And as it does, your heart rate increases, making your circulation more efficient.  Part of staying healthy and keeping your heart healthy is putting as little stress as possible on it. Making your circulation more efficient contributes heavily to heart health and keeping it strong. Another way that martial arts contribute to heart health is keeping your body at a healthy weight. Having a healthy weight prevents heart disease and minimizes the risk of you developing it. Regular exercise through martial arts, burning calories, toning muscle, and keeping your body’s metabolism up truly aids the body in keeping itself and, most significantly, your heart healthier in the long run. Martial arts don’t just help the body; it also helps the mind, and part of staying healthy is to take care of both. There is a marked reduction in stress when you take up martial arts as your body releases the anxieties through exercise. As a result, your heart is also less stressed and can work more effectively. Stress can negatively affect the body, and that includes organs like the heart. Through martial arts, you’re lightening the load on your organs and making sure that the heart isn’t getting unnecessarily stressed with your day-to-day life.  There are even more amazing benefits that come out of martial arts. Utilizing this sport and lifestyle to discipline your mind and body while reaping the benefits of staying healthy is the best motivator to get started in martial arts. There’s no time like the present—start reaping the benefits of martial arts by visiting Aplomb Martial Arts and finding the class nearest you.  

Now that Halloween is at the end of the month, Halloween safety is front and center in every parent’s mind. Kids are excited to go trick or treating once again while dressed in their favorite costumes. But as everyone is likely rusty after a year of having to go without, it’s time to look back and remember critical Halloween reminders that keep all the kids safe this season. Set up a no-touch trick-or-trick chute! This is the easiest way to make sure kids are safe with no contact. Create a “chute” (could be made of a pet tunnel or even a toy car ramp) where adults can simply slide the candy down into the kids’ goodie bags at the door. For Halloween safety, kids should maintain as little contact as possible. Fortunately, it’s easily done—just keep them at arm’s length, deposit the candy, and the kids are on their way. Electronic devices down. While it’s incredibly tempting to take so many photos and videos of little ones walking around in their costumes, vigilance requires your focus. It’s time to keep your eyes off the screen and keep them on the kids. The kids should not be holding their devices as well. This way, you’re all able to watch your surroundings, look out for oncoming traffic in the streets, see paths in the dim light, and more. Light up the costumes! One excellent and effective Halloween safety tip is to make costumes safer is by adding lights on them. LED light strips are cheap and can be stuck easily in certain places—all kids have to do is wear a little pack with a USB power pack on it, the same as you might use with a smartphone. If you don’t want to stick lights on, reflective tape can also help see kids outdoors. Trick or treating is one of the best times of the year for many kids, so making it safe for them is essential. There are many ways to keep kids safe this year—take advantage of using most of them! Part of being safe is developing more awareness, discipline, and vigilance. All of these things can be fostered with martial arts. Visit Aplomb Martial Arts to learn more.

You might be wondering why martial arts makes such a great winter workout. For one thing, martial arts are an excellent cardiovascular and all-around physical and mental exercise no matter the time of year. It’s easy to do and practice indoors or outdoors and requires little equipment to get you started. But beyond that, there are other benefits to taking martial arts as your workout plan for the next season. It keeps you warm. One of the best things about exercise and cardiovascular exertion is the thermal effect on your body. Your heart is pumping, blood starts circulating better, you’re getting more oxygen into your lungs, and your body heats up more. Martial arts as a winter workout gives you that benefit, keeping your body and your muscles warmer. It contributes to weight loss. It happens to everyone: many of us eat a little more during the colder months, and it’s all part of our bodies’ habit of keeping warm. More food means more fat and more warmth. But if you keep doing your martial arts exercises over the winter, you’re less likely to gain weight uncontrollably or bloat up as you’re burning the fat you are storing. And because martial arts also keep you warm, you’re not losing vital body temperature. It gives you better mental health. The saying “holiday blues” is there for a reason: people feel a little more depressed, stressed, and anxious during the holidays. But that’s why martial arts are a better winter workout than ever these days: martial arts are all about discipline, balance, and control of both mind and body. It’s an excellent way to overcome the holiday blues and defend both mind and body. This winter, don’t fall into the trap of going stagnant, staying indoors without much activity. Continue practicing martial arts as your winter workout and reap all the benefits it offers. Looking for a way to get started on learning martial arts? Find the class nearest to you by visiting Aplomb Martial Arts.

When you consider the mental health benefits that people could find from practicing martial arts, people don’t always consider kids into the equation. But just like adults, kids stand to gain plenty of mental health benefits by learning and practicing martial arts. These benefits would help guide them as they grow into teens and adults and could even shape the kind of person they grow up to be. Discipline The first and most crucial benefit of martial arts for children is that it teaches them discipline. Children are at the age where they have boundless energy, and they start learning boundaries in the world around them and within themselves. Through martial arts, they get the mental health benefit of discipline, where they know how better to control their actions, thoughts, and words and cultivate better habits. Concentration Children’s attention spans are notoriously short. They are very easily distracted and often have trouble focusing. Through martial arts, they learn to develop their concentration and focus. There is a standard format and routine that they can follow, and it makes them focus on what they are constantly doing, enhancing their ability to direct their attention to one thing at a time. Some parents have found that their kids with ADHD have even shown improvement in their symptoms. Respect Respect is also seen as one of the most significant mental health benefits of martial arts. Through the people they meet as they train and the values instilled in them, children learn to respect their teachers, fellow students, or opponents, and especially themselves. It becomes deeply ingrained into their psyche. Self-Confidence Children and pre-teens are at a time in their lives when they can be highly susceptible to peer pressure, or they might have issues with self-esteem. Martial arts allows them to grow with confidence in themselves, their abilities, and most of all it will enable them to become confident in the person they want to be rather than what others want them to be. Martial arts continues to do great things for adults and children alike. They shape bodies and minds, making them healthier on the road to growth. Are you interested in enrolling children into martial arts classes? Visit Aplomb Martial Arts to find a dojo near you.

It may surprise people but practicing martial arts could be beneficial to you during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, this also considers following proper safety and sanitation protocols to ensure everyone’s continued health. Doing martial arts at a time like this has proven to have numerous positive effects, not the least of which are the following: It improves organ function efficiency. Martial arts are a cardiovascular exercise and engage multiple body systems while you go through strenuous movements. It keeps the body organs working at their best instead of weakening with stagnation from long periods of inactivity. It even increases blood flow and maintains the drive of healthy oxygen-rich blood to the organs, and keeps them healthy. Boosts muscle strength. Because of the lengthy quarantines and lockdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have not been active. Because of that, their muscles haven’t been getting the exercise and activity that they need to stay strong. With its repeating movements and multiple stances, practicing martial arts keeps muscles in their top form and prevents you from getting injuries due to weakened muscles. Improves your mental health. People all over the world have suffered mentally and emotionally from the toll of the pandemic. They have lost loved ones, jobs, businesses and have continued to live under the specter of the disease that threatens millions of lives. But maintaining health and wellness through martial arts also improves a person’s state of mind. It brings their sense away from the shadows of COVID-19 and allows them to meditate, focus, and even improve their self-discipline and patience. It boosts immunity and resilience. By continuing workouts and exercises, the body becomes more resilient. It fights better against stress and boosts the production of the mood-improving hormone endorphins. As a result, the body’s immunity improves and bounces back quickly from illness. You’d even be able to sleep better at night, and with the body better rested, it’s much more resistant to stress and disease. Martial arts has so many benefits, and it’s ultimately a great way to equip the body with defenses against COVID-19. Keep practicing martial arts at home or at the COVID-safe dojo. Visit Aplomb Martial Arts to find out your options.

Kenpo or Kempo Karate has a long, deep, and rich history. Karate altogether has storied origins that every martial arts practitioner would do well to know and appreciate so that they could understand why they do the training they do and from where the discipline and its tenets first stemmed. The Art of “Te” The practice started as “Te,” performed by indigenous people in the Ryukyu Islands. It slowly grew over time and was influenced by Chinese martial arts practices as well. A number of the first varieties of Kempo were affected by these unarmed combat styles. The primary use of these martial arts (and remains true of Kempo karate today) was effective and practical self-defense. Often, the practitioners would use them against other forms of self-defense styles. These variants were used by the Yoshida and Komatsu Clans. Evolution of Kempo Karate As the years progressed, karate began to evolve beyond its initial forms and influences. For the art to remain effective against other forms of unarmed combat, instructors made modifications and adjustments. It began to turn into the karate that people practice today, taking particular root in the island of Okinawa in Japan. Before too long, the practice made its way to Hawaii in the year 1940. James Mitose, who had grown up in Japan, brought the tradition over, calling it Kenpo jiu-jitsu. Growing the American Style Kempo karate eventually kept evolving in the American style. The development of American Kempo still adopts the discipline and ideals of its origins in Japanese karate. However, some scholars may argue that it’s a more modern and slightly more aggressive style than its Japanese counterpart. Its focus is firmly towards self-defense and unarmed combat instead of the more philosophical directions of Japanese styles. Modern American Kempo karate is a finely honed means of exercise, discipline, self-defense, and skilled unarmed combat. It’s an art form and a way of discipline as it is a tool to defend yourself should the occasion call for it. Learn more about the origins of Kempo Karate by heading to Aplomb Martial Arts to talk to one of the professional instructors today.