Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in the Classroom, Part III

The Case for Martial Arts

The Institute of Medicine recently made recommendations for “strengthening and improving programs and policies for physical activity and physical education in the school environment." The recommendations were based on the fact that the physical, emotional and cognitive benefits of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) are well-documented, and that schools provide an opportunity to help children in these areas.

The evidence is overwhelming and the opportunity is at hand. As our schools once took the lead in providing vaccinations for children, they are now becoming more involved in promoting overall wellness. Nutrition, mental health, and social development are being addressed not only in addition to academic success, but in their powerful connection to it. The classroom, as a place of learning, should address all of these concerns. The need for MVPA is one that can be addressed, and therefore, it should be.

Practicing forms develops attentional skills.

Martial Arts, according to John Ratey, MD, in his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, involves the type of coordinated movements that cause more connections to grow between neurons. In addition, the aerobic exercise of the martial arts elevates neurotransmitters, creates new blood vessels that aid in brain development, assists in development of new nerve cells, and encourages brain cells to log new information.

Martial Arts teachers have long been aware of the benefits their young students get from their training. Parents often report that their children get better grades, have increased self-esteem, display more respectful behavior, and acquire more self-control as a result of their martial arts classes. Martial arts not only has numerous benefits beyond the typical MVPA, it is an activity well-suited to the classroom in that it has a tradition of learning, requires little or no equipment, and contains a powerful system of short and long-term goals, in the belt-ranking system.

Most martial arts programs teach a progression of movement sequences known as katas, or forms. Learning the forms helps students develop sequencing and attentional skills, important cognitive tools. The forms start with simpler movements at the beginner level, and progress to more complex movements at the higher level. The more advanced student not only possesses superior physical skills, but also greater knowledge of forms than the beginner. This emphasis on knowledge and learning lends itself well to the classroom environment.

The martial arts dojo, or training hall, can be anything from the ornate to the minimalistic, but usually require little equipment beyond the floor space. Successful dojos can be run in vacant lots, church basements, backyards or garages, and, certainly, classrooms. One literal translation of dojo is, “a place of the way”. It is a place of learning the way of a particular discipline. In this sense, a classroom is already a dojo.

Bushintai-Do belts hang in a classroom "dojo."

Grades, the external measurement of academic success, are one indicator of proficiency. They provide a clear and powerful goal for many students. The same can be said of the belt-ranking system of the traditional martial arts. While they are proficiency-based, they reflect a variety of attributes beyond natural ability. Determination, patience, and resiliency are all the keys to achieving rank, and natural ability does not provide a shortcut to success. All students, regardless of physical or cognitive gifts, progress at the same rate. This encourages a disciplined, process-based approach to learning, which more resembles an academic pursuit than an athletic one.

Martial arts is an excellent way to address the physical, behavioral, and cognitive needs of the student. The only thing the average classroom lacks, in regards to teaching martial arts, is the martial arts teacher. Bushintai-Do for the Classroom was developed specifically for this purpose.

David Quinlan, Founder and Lead Instructor

Bushintai-Do Programs

Milton, Vermont

Why Bushintai-Do for my Middle School Students: Physical Activity, Academic Achievement and Personal Development

Over ten years ago, our middle school’s drug and alcohol counselor, Cheryl, handed me a small rectangular scrap of white paper with a phone number and a name written on it:

893-8893

David Quinlan

“Call him,” she said.  “My son takes karate classes from him.  I think he could help you.”

We had just walked out of a meeting in our principal’s office, and were wondering what to do next.  Beth, my teaching colleague, and I were asked to create a general education alternative program for our students, and we had discussed some possibilities. That’s when Cheryl gave me Dave’s phone number.

“We need a less traditional classroom,” my principal, Mary, had stated at the meeting.  She was the newly hired principal for our middle school and was in the midst of restructuring our teaching teams and programs.  “We need to offer a different classroom setting, a different approach and give our students options.”

We listened closely.  Fresh from a conference on alternative education programs, Beth and I shared some of our ideas with Mary, including a description of the martial arts classes that were part of neighboring school’s alternative program, Team Thrive.  Neither of us had any martial arts experience or any experience with alternative education, but from our conversations with Phil, the lead teacher of Team Thrive, and his students, it seemed like martial arts could be a good fit.  Maybe we could do the same for our middle school students.  Bill Ayers, in To Teach, writes that “the range of opportunities for students to experience success must be wide and not narrow.”  Martial arts would certainly broaden that range.

“Go ahead. Sounds like a good idea,” Mary responded, when we raised the possibility of including martial arts in our middle school’s new alternative program.

A few days later, I held the small piece of white paper in my hand while I dialed the phone number, and left a voice message.  “Would it be possible for my middle school students to take martial arts classes with you?”  I asked, and then left my contact information.

What I didn’t know was that Dave, after years of working with adolescents, saw a need to create a martial art that was purely focused on self-defense.  Students could experience the mental and physical benefits of martial arts without learning offensive or dangerous techniques.  Drawing from his years of training in karate, judo, and Arnis, Bushintai-Do, the way of the warrior in mind and body, was developed and my middle school students were to become its first practitioners.

That was May of 2002.

Sometimes I am amazed that a brief conversation or a simple decision becomes, when reflected upon years later, a significant event.  This is true when I remember the scrap of paper Cheryl gave me with Dave’s phone number, and the intuitive decision Beth and I made to include martial arts as part of our alternative program.  That decision and Cheryl’s recommendation was the beginning of a martial arts tradition for our alternative classroom, called Team Velocity, and the beginning of a powerful learning experience for many of our students, past and present.

Over the years, I have witnessed how Bushintai-Do has helped our students grow in ways I never expected.  While students learn and practice the physical skills of self-defense, they also make academic and social/emotional gains, even though these two activities, martial arts and school performance, seem unrelated. However, as I investigated and read more about this connection, I found that current and emerging research confirms this link:  The mind moves the body and the body moves the mind.

Practicing the coordinated movements of Bushintai-Do.

John Ratey, MD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, states that when we move our bodies in coordinated and complicated ways, such as during our martial art forms and techniques, and when we build our aerobic and anaerobic capacities, such as when we exercise or practice a martial art, we also spark biological changes in our brain cells that make us more ready, willing, and able to learn (Spark, the Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain). Dr. Ratey also claims that public schools could better serve their students by building upon this connection, and he gives the example of the public schools in Naperville, Illinois.  Students in this school district begin their day with aerobic exercise and movement activities, such as yoga, dance or martial arts, and Naperville students boast the highest achievement scores for eighth graders on the international tests of math and science than any other school district in the United States.  These students rank sixth in the world for mathematics and first for science.

Team Velocity students followed a similar trend. While pursuing an advanced degree in mathematics

Lessons begin and end with seated mindfulness practice.

education, I investigated the relationship between physical activity (aerobic exercise and Bushintai-Do) and academic performance. In a year-long study focused on my students, I was able to show a statistically significant increase in physical fitness, as well as an increase in mathematics achievement. In addition to this quantitative data, Dave and I and other teachers have collected over ten years of reflective writing that speak to this body/mind connection.   Many students often comment about their improved ability to defend themselves or mention that they are physically stronger as a result of their martial arts training, but all students eventually reveal their personal insights and growth as a result of their participation in this martial art.  Interestingly, when we ask students to describe the qualities of a Bushintai-Do warrior, students always think beyond the physical traits and mention the qualities of determination, respect, courage, resilience, strength, open-mindedness, self-control, leadership, knowledge, and heart.  

In over 25 years of teaching and learning with students, I know of very few “teaching methods” that encourage this type of introspection and personal well-being and growth. Because of integrating Bushintai-Do into my classroom, I have learned from my students what it means to be a warrior in both mind and body and believe this type of learning has made a lasting difference not only for my students, but for me as well. As Bill Ayers concludes in his book To Teach, “Teachers must understand that even as they teach, they will also be taught.  Even as they help others develop, they will, themselves, change and grow.”

Nancy Keller, Education Coordinator

Bushintai-Do Programs, Inc.

Milton, Vermont

Teacher at Winooski Middle/High School

Winooski, Vermont

Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in the Classroom, Part II

Functional Training and Bushintai-Do

Functional training is the core method underlying the typical conditioning regimen of the martial arts. To help define functional training, we should differentiate it from traditional fitness training – the latter being the conventional wisdom that grew from the fitness boom of the 1980’s, and is gradually being replaced by more functional methods.

In traditional fitness training, emphasis is placed on isolation of specific muscles or muscle groups. Specific machines are designed to work specific muscles – athletes go from a machine that works quadriceps muscles, to a machine that works gluteus, to a machine that works hamstrings, to one that works calves, etc. This type of isolation, which forces the targeted muscle to do all of the work, is designed to induce hypertrophy, or muscle growth, under heavy work-loads. Under lower load and intensity of work, the muscles grow less, but achieve greater “tone”.

Traditional fitness training emphasizes “open chain” exercises. This means that the hand or foot performing the exercise is free to move. Open chain exercises typically isolate movement to one joint, and thus work load to one muscle. An example is the leg extension. Usually done in a seated position, the foot moves a weight that is placed far from the joint which performs the movement. The movement is performed almost solely by the quadricep muscles. This isolation can lead to rapid hypertrophy.

The horse stance is a compound (functional) movement.

In functional training, the emphasis is on movements not muscles. Muscle hypertrophy, which can be a by-product of functional training methods, is not the primary goal. Instead of isolation, functional training emphasizes compound movements and “closed chain” exercises. Closed chain exercises are those in which the hands or feet performing the exercise are in a constant, fixed position (usually on the ground). They work multiple joints and multiple muscle groups at once. An example is the squat or, in martial arts, the horse stance. Feet on the ground, weight (if any – body weight is often enough) is placed close to the upper body. Hip, knee, and ankle joints are all involved, so gluteus, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves are all working with this one exercise. More importantly, they are working in the way they are naturally used when walking, climbing stairs, getting out of a chair, etc. In functional training, the various muscle groups, and the nerves which control them, are trained together in a natural, efficient sequence.

In sports and in the activities of daily living (ADLs), multiple joint and muscle movements are required to happen at once, or in rapid succession, with maximal efficiency. Functional training is the way to achieve this efficiency – and with it, maximal power, endurance, speed, and stability, and prevention of injuries.

David Quinlan, Founder and Lead Instructor

Bushintai-Do Programs, Inc. 
Milton, Vermont

Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in the Classroom, Part I

The CDC calls for 60 minutes of exercise per day for kids and teens. In one Vermont middle school, students get half of this in their classroom each day. “Exercise boosts brain power,” according to Dr. John Medina, author of Brain Rules (http://brainrules.net/), and this, along with the CDC recommendation, is the rationale behind the SIM (Spartans in Motion) Program at Winooski Middle School, in Winooski, VT. Each day, 11 classrooms (and part of the hallways) become high-intensity workout spaces for 150 or so middle-school students and their teachers.

Resistance bands are favorite part of circuit training.

The students perform 30 minutes of circuit training routines I developed along with the school’s Physical Education teacher. The exercises are low-tech but high-intensity – and low-cost. Each room was outfitted with a step, medicine ball, jump-ropes, agility rings, resistance bands, and juggling scarves, at a cost of about $70 per classroom (aerobics steps were available through the PE Department and other donors). The circuit format delivers maximum benefit with minimum cost, and in a short period of time and limited space. Most children, teens, and adults don’t need any of the complex fitness machinery found in most gyms. Simple body-weight and low-tech resistance exercises are often more functional, and every bit as challenging, as those utlizing traditional gym equipment.

Functional training is the name given to the relatively new focus that is transforming the fitness industry. The old model for fitness training, developed mostly in the 1970s, was based on body-building and long-distance running concepts. The average person, who was never going to be a competitive body-builder, was taught to do essentially the same workout as a body-builder would do - but with less weight. For cardio-vascular fitness, everyone performed a distance-runner’s workout, but with less distance.

Push the desks aside and make time for exercise.

Functional training, in comparison, has its origins in medical rehabilitation. The goal was to recover functional movement after injury or surgery, and thus recover the ability to perform ADLs – activities of daily living. The emphasis in functional training is on improving the quality of movements, not just on building the size of muscles. Soon, the billion-dollar professional sports industry recognized that more functional movement led not only to increased strength and speed for athletes, but also to fewer injuries. Functional training is now the predominant training concept applied by top-level pro and college athletic programs, and is crossing over into the fitness industry as a whole. Popular programs such as Cross-fit and P90-X employ functional training concepts. Even the look of the state of the art fitness center has changed – fewer treadmills, and more open floor space, fewer weight benches and more kettle-bells. In fact, the modern fitness center resembles the pre-1970’s model more than anything else – a lot of medicine balls, Indian clubs, climbing ropes and chin-up bars. Part II of this series, Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in the Classroom, will connect functional training and the classroom-based martial art of Bushintai-Do.

David Quinlan, Founder and Lead Instructor

Bushintai-Do Programs, Inc.

Milton, Vermont

Sparring with the Self

Martial arts training provides many opportunities for learning. Students can not only learn to strike, block, throw, and pin an opponent, but they can also learn ways to deal with problems in everyday life. Many of these lessons can be frustrating, and even painful, but if the student persists, he or she will gain life skills as well as martial arts skills.

Sometimes during sparring training, students are asked to practice defending against an attacker's strikes, without hitting back. The attacker moves in with a constant barrage of punches, kicks, and fakes. The student is asked to maintain a good stance, focus on the attacker, and avoid being hit.  He or she can use footwork, blocking, ducking and slipping, but no striking. This is a difficult drill, but one that is important for developing a student's skill and confidence. It also teaches a skill that is useful in everyday life.

Bushintai-Do students practice self-defense techniques.

Eventually, all martial artists learn to handle this drill with ease. The goal is to relax as much as possible, and react only as often and as much as is necessary. The student must use evasive footwork, but also rely on blocking. If a strike gets through, the student must learn from the mistake, but not dwell on the failure. In the beginning, many students find this difficult. Their reactions are as different as the individual students, but tend to fall in to one or more of the following categories:

Category One - The Runner: This student does not trust his blocking skills enough to rely on them, so he runs. He is achieving the object of the drill, not getting hit, but does it by avoiding the striker as much as possible. While this can be a good strategy at times, the Runner needs to learn to stand his ground sometimes, and practice his blocking. Sooner or later, an attacker will catch up with him. In standing and blocking, he takes a chance on getting hit, but will learn so much more about self-defense than he would by just running.

Running from problems in real life does not solve them. It is good to be able to avoid problems, but there often comes a time when it is best to stand and face the problem head-on. The more often a person does this, the easier it gets, just like in sparring.

Category Two - The Jammer: This student reacts to every strike and fake with such force and intensity that she over-commits and creates openings in her defense. She must learn to relax, wait, and only react to the strikes that would really hit her. When she does react, she needs to learn to keep her blocks short and controlled. She must learn to only use as much force in her blocks as is necessary to stop the strike.

Many people react to real-life situations in the same way. Any kind of minor insult or criticism is met with anger and over-reaction. Just like in sparring, this strategy can cause more problems than it solves. The Jammer needs to learn which threats need to be dealt with and which can be ignored. And when dealing with a threat, the Jammer needs to learn to not over-react.

Category Three - The Doubter: Some students defeat themselves before they even get started, by thinking that they will probably fail. This kind of attitude usually causes the student to perform at a much lower level than he is capable of.  In sparring, the student has to learn to trust his reflexes and his training. Instead of thinking negative thoughts about failure, he needs to concentrate on the details of the task at hand. He will sometimes fail to block a strike, this is part of sparring. When he does fail, he has to forget about that one and concentrate being more prepared for the next one.

The doubter defeats himself in life as well as in sparring. Self-doubt causes him to achieve much less than he is capable of. He has to learn to have confidence in himself. When faced with a difficult task, he needs to concentrate on completing the task, not on what will happen if he fails. He will sometimes make mistakes, that is part of life. When he does fail, he must learn from the mistake and then move beyond it.

Conflict and challenge are unavoidable parts of life. By learning to handle the conflicts and meet the challenges in martial arts, we all can learn to handle them better in everyday life.

David Quinlan, Founder

Bushintai-Do Programs

Milton, Vermont

The White-Belt Mindset

Shoshin - Japanese for "Beginner's Mind" 

When a student begins to train in a martial art, a white belt is typically worn around her waist. Many times new students feel uncomfortable wearing a white belt because they think the belt is one of low status, while, by contrast, the words "black belt" conjure up images of a practiced and seasoned master. 

What many students don't appreciate is that a white belt can symbolize "a beginners' mind"--that a student who is a white-belt is open to new learning.  If a martial artist is not open-minded throughout her training, she will never grow in the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve the rank of black belt.  But why would the color black symbolize years of training and practice?  In theory, when a white belt is worn many times, it becomes soiled with use, acquiring a darker and darker color.  Those students who earn a black belt have done so through their own hard work and effort. However, extend this analogy one step further:  If the black belt, darkened through years of use, is washed, it would return to its original white color.  In this way, even though a black belt represents high status, a black-belt martial artist really is a white-belt student, still practicing and learning.

With an open mind and persistent
effort, anything is possible.

This has become a powerful metaphor for students in my classroom.  For any student to learn and grow, he must be open to new learning--whether this is in Bushintai-Do, history, math or English.  With an open mind and persistent effort, a student can become a black belt, can become an accomplished mathematician or writer, and, then…can continue to grow and learn. This is the definition of a life-long learner.

At the start of the new school year, I like to honor the new white-belt students in my classroom with a special White-Belt Ceremony. At the ceremony, new students learn how to wrap their white-belts around their waist. They also are introduced to a notion that may seem contradictory; white-belt status in not one of low rank, but one of endless possibilities and growth--whether they are at the dojo (Japanese for martial arts studio) or in the classroom.

Welcome to all new students of Bushintai-Do, the way of the warrior in mind and body. Always keep your white-belt mindset.

Nancy Keller, Teacher

Winooski Middle and High School

Winooski, Vermont

Education Coordinator

Bushintai-Do Programs, Inc.

Bushintai-Do and the Middle School Student

Bushintai-Do means the “way of the warrior in mind and body.”  For more than 10 years, my students and I practiced and learned this martial art as part of our school day together.  A few years ago, I had an eighth grader who found the meaning of Bushintai-Do important to her, and chose to write about it for her blue belt promotion essay.

I oftentimes learn about myself and others through the eyes of my middle school students. When I read this student’s essay about Bushintai-Do, it was one of those moments.

A Warrior and Her Ways

by

Winooski Middle School Student

September 2006

A warrior means so much to so many, especially in the martial arts world.  When I think of a warrior, I see a thin young man, hair back in a ponytail, and a nice black uniform. I also see a nice skin complexion, confidence. I see him standing in a world like nothing’s there, ready for anything, anybody, or the obstacles that may come his way. I can smell a fearless boy with courage and a whole lot of confidence. He is strong and ready for a battle and possibly his last fight. I can touch the sword and feel how good it feels to be in my hands. I feel, as I am the boy, self-assured and brave.  I can taste how good it would feel to be a warrior like this boy.

This warrior in my head reminds me of Bushintai-Do because of the “Iron Man” on the school patch. The meaning of Bushintai-Do is the way of the warrior in mind and body. The Iron Man on the patch stands in a half circle and is like a shadow. He reminds me of a warrior because he doesn’t have 

a face. A warrior with no face to me means you are ready, like the boy, to battle the struggles, people, and things that come your way. A warrior could be anyone. For example, my grandma can be a warrior at church because she believes in the way of God and the church. Or someone who’s learning how to read, they’re learning something new.

Being a warrior also is not just being physically strong, but mentally strong.  When you’re physically strong, you’re built and athletic, but it is more than that. You’re not physically strong, if you’re not also mentally strong. Mental strength is using your head and your heart the most, and not just your muscle.

How does martial arts relate to being a warrior? Martial arts relates to being a warrior because it helps you make it through the struggles when times are tough. It prepares you for where life will take you and through many obstacles. It prepares you physically and mentally because it gives you faith when you need it most. I think martial arts can create a strong warrior for any situation. I have to be a warrior on the football field because I have to be ready for a hard hit or a new play. I have to know the way of the team, like I have to know the way of the dojo. In math I have to be a warrior to learn new concepts and to be a better mathematician. At home I have to be a warrior to learn new things about my family every day.

Warrior means in English:  a person who is or has been in warfare. But to me a warrior is someone like the young man, the Iron Man and, of course, my sensei. Bushintai-Do has taught me the way of the warrior in mind and body, and I think has formed many warriors over the years.

Nancy Keller, Teacher

Winooski Middle and High School

Winooski, Vermont

Education Coordinator

Bushintai-Do Programs, Inc.

Milton, Vermont