
What My 7 Year Old Learned From MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) - solson
http://www.steve-olson.com/7-things-my-7-year-old-learned-from-mma-mixed-martial-arts/
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movix
Avoid violence of any type, move to the coast, buy a surfboard. This will
teach you balance, make you fit, calm your mind, put a smile on your face.

There is no logical sense in learning a system of violence (defensive or
otherwise) to improve your body and mind.

Goal Setting - I'm gonna paddle this board through this beach break like a
dolphin

Persistence - Opps, it just dumped me on the beach - try again

Confidence - Cool, I made it to the line up

Nutrition - I eat a Paleolithic hunter/gatherer diet. No carbs, no dairy. Food
my body was designed for.

Physical Fitness - Paddle, swim

Frustration Tolerance - Repetition, learning, fun

Focused Attention - All I can think about is this wave

Sportsmanship - It's a big ocean, go for it buddy

Who's the best surfer? the one having the most fun.

And BTW, yes I've done my share of martial arts training. If what you really
want is to learn how to kick ass, go here: www.russianmartialart.com

~~~
pageman
and if he gets into a fight that he can't get out of? what will he do? surf?
:P

~~~
movix
I was being more metaphorical than literal.

/me sidesteps long involved off-topic discussion about fighting

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wallflower
The value of martial arts training for parents and for kids is that it
distills the value of respect into kids. Everything from "Yes, sir" to
thanking your parents after each class.

When it comes to fighting, the thousands of repetitions of self-defense moves
should and could help in a situation where you don't have time to think about
fighting. For example, one of my fellow classmates was walking down a street
in Kingston, Jamaica and a guy grabbed his arm and he quickly and
automatically broke the hold and put the guy in what is like a police hold.

~~~
mistermann
An even better effect is that it might instill some respect into the parents
as well (writing from Canada, in case you have never seen the way hockey
parents behave before).

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biohacker42
Sorry about yet another HN meta comment but, can we please save article like
this for mma.reddit.com

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Hexstream
"After about a year, he could do over 100 squats and 50 push-ups in near
perfect form."

I hope you don't seriously consider push-ups depicted on the picture below to
be "near perfect form"...

~~~
jadence
It looks like he's doing a version of "dive bomber pushups" which were popular
at the MMA gym I previously trained at.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttk8RdiIHzA>

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cakesy
This is great, but be wary of your son doing too much muscle building when he
is so young. I have heard from several sources that it may stunt growth. Never
seen anything conclusive, but I have never looked for anything either.

~~~
catch23
and what are these "sources"?

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elai
It comes from an assertion that _heavy_ weights can damage a child's growth
plates (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyseal_plate>) inside their bones.
High rep bodyweight exercises like pushups and squats are not going to cause
that.
([http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Growth_Plate_Injuries/d...](http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Growth_Plate_Injuries/default.asp#3))

~~~
a-priori
When I did a coaching program for Judo (NCCP Level I, to be exact), I was
taught to never allow pre-pubescent children to do strength training.
Callisthenics are okay, because the resistence is limited by the child's body
weight, but weightlifting of any kind is not. Something about building up too
much muscle around the joints, leading to arthritis later on.

EDIT: I just went looking for sources for this, and I cannot find any. Unless
someone has better Google-fu than me, take what I said above as an extremely
suspect anecdote. It seems that the major risks are that coaches will push
children too hard, causing damage to muscles, tendons and so on.

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budman
...How to kick another 7 year olds a$$.

MMA has ruined america. There are more "tough guys" walking around now it
seems with everyone so quick to want to fight. Like an advanced civilization
taking a step back to more primitive ways. Now instead of team sports and
learning that the whole is greater than the parts, we have 7 year olds with
muscles and ego. And if you don't like it.. want to fight?

~~~
noonespecial
Martial arts taught me quite the opposite. Fighting is difficult and dangerous
and the outcome is far from certain, regardless of the level of experience.
Its not like a Jackie Chan movie. You opponents don't wait in line for you to
get around to them and one hit to the head with a hard object can be fatal.

I'd submit to you the opposite. Less TV and more martial arts training would
make people much less eager to start a fight.

~~~
rw
We can observe this as a natural experiment: what are the rates of street
crime in Japan vs. the US?

~~~
redcap
Really not a good comparison. a) the culture is so much different - a lot of
acting for the good of the group rather than the individual, and b) there
really aren't _that_ many people who study martial arts.

