elitejkd.com

youth buddy day seminar

CLICK HERE for the Buddy Safety Seminar flyer!

Open email to my students. I’ll be posting the website for this news very soon… here is some background info if you’re stuck in traffic or a line at the grocery store!

I’m ready to explode!

I’ve been holding this information in for a VERY long time! As people have found out, finding a JKD instructor any where is not easy. Finding a qualified one, with years upon years of experience is now becoming even harder. I can show you hundreds of emails I receive from people all over the world who are looking for a qualified JKD instructor in their neck of the woods. It is rare. Before I get into the biggest announcement I’ve made to date, I want to remind you of a couple quick notes:

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1. Classes are in full swing. We’re on week #5 of our BJJ classes. Here is a review video: CLICK HERE. We are reviewing all of this info this week and weekend. You can jump in at anytime (but now is a perfect time with the review week).

2. We have a Female Self-Defense seminar on Saturday, 1/21 from 9-11am (Rockford) and Noon-2pm (Bloomingdale) which I will be personally teaching. It is only $19, and perfect for wives, girlfriends, sisters, mothers and female friends and co-workers. Sign up at www.SelfDefenseCalendar.com or through our Facebook pages.

3. Our Instructorship Camp is happening on 2/4-5. Let me know if you’re interested in getting certified in Jeet Kune Do, as EDS has certified more JKD Instructors in the Midwest than any other school or organization!

4. The rumors are true… I’ve been contracted by an elite Federal organization to overhaul their whole self-defense program… literally rewrite their whole manual. If you are interested in helping me fine tune the custom program I’ve been developing for them, please contact me asap. The training is intense.

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Now for the REALLY good stuff!

As many of you know, for about the last 18 months I’ve dedicated myself into digging deeper into the JKD world, and finding not just one, but dozens of other JKD Instructors who have stacks of credentials… many either direct students of Bruce Lee’s, or of his main assistant and student Dan Inosanto. In my mind, every “qualified” instructor must have their lineage traced back to one of these two.

So over the last 18 months I’ve pumped up my JKD IQ… ok, I’ve put them on steroids, by interviewing, meeting and training with dozen upon dozens of JKD Masters! Always wanting to give the best instruction to my students, I thought, “How can I give this experience to my students”? Well, I can’t trek them around the US with me, as I have over the last year and a half. It is too expensive and time consuming. “But, what if I bring these JKD Masters to them?”, I thought.

I quickly found out (as I guessed), that each of these JKD Masters, who are at the top of their game charge $2000-3000 per seminar visit, plus expenses of flights, lodging and food. About $4000 per instructor. But my goal wasn’t to bring just one Master out… any school can do that. They take a whole weekend out and get one perspective, one set of lessons. My goal is to submerge my students in a sea of knowledge, experiences, techniques, drills, lessons and information… just like I got to do this last year and a half.

So, after many, many long talks with my wife, we decided that this vision fueled by my passion was worth whatever the cost was. However, we wanted to make sure it was affordable to everyone. How could those two goals mix? Upon some serious prayer, and more talks we knew it was more important to have the experience AND make it affordable, regardless of the cost to us. Just as we bet the farm on this business multiple times over the last 17 years, based on our passion and vision, we knew we had to do the same here.

Regardless if you are religious, many of you know my wife and I am. Our faith is a big part of our life… the biggest actually. However, I’ve always respected others by not preaching from the front of the classroom. But, I’ll tell you here that God has opened some pretty incredible doors lately, and I want to share that with you (i.e. the Federal contract training above, bringing these JKD Masters to your doorstep, etc.).

As a result, we will be bringing in not just one, not even just two JKD Masters, but FIVE!!! over the course of one weekend here at the school. We are flying them in from FIVE different cities, to teach you the most incredible JKD seminar which has ever been assembled. No where else in this entire world have you ever had the chance to learn from FIVE JKD Masters in one weekend. The cool news is that we’ve made it just as affordable as almost any school I’ve seen charge for just one instructor’s seminar! But it gets better, as an EDS student you’ll receive an additional discount just for being a student here! You’re a part of the school who will be hosting the biggest JKD seminar EVER!

I know you’re asking who are the FIVE, how much does it exactly cost, what are they teaching, etc.? I’ll be releasing a detailed email very soon which will answer all of these questions. For now, make sure you reserve March 30 – April 1st 2012 in your calendars. This event will go down in the history books, and you have a front row seat.

Students who attend class will get the most up to date info!

I’ll be in touch,

Sifu Matt

ps: Yes, this does tie into the new JKD Master’s class being offered exclusively through EDS staring in a couple weeks. There is no extra cost to current EDS students… and the info taught in this limited availability class will blow your mind. Much more info to come!

Whether you got the postcard I sent you, or saw this on Facebook, I’m glad you’re here. Ya know, so many people have so many questions about Evolutions, I thought I’d cover a couple quick questions about them.

If you haven’t read the previous improvement points, I would encourage you to…

-What is an Evolution?
It is an assessment of what a student has been taught over the last 3 months of information. I specially don’t use the word “test” because it does not brings the stress of a test, and it is more fun than any ?regular? class. In short it is like a 2 hour mega class for my adult students and a 45 minute test for my youth students.

-Why do we go through Evolutions?
Bruce Lee was against belt systems… no doubt about it. However, Bruce was fighting against the superficial belt ranking systems of non-functional arts and styles at the time. Whether you get a yellow belt or brown belt in stuff that does not work… it is still “stuff that does not work”. This does not mean Bruce did not believe in a ranking system… quite the opposite. Bruce Lee had ranking systems for his students in Jun Fan, Gung Fu, and others (source: Dan Inosantos video interviews in his series “Definitive Inosanto Collection, 1999″).

Just as Lee and Inosanto, I too wanted to make sure we take the positives of a ranking system, but exclude the negatives. What are some of the positives? Here is a short list:
*Show student progression
*Give measurement of student growth
*Class and student organization system
*Personal growth/goal tool
*Curriculum organization

Some of the negatives (especially in this day and age…), plus EDS’s stance:
*Trap to renewal: Our membership renewals have nothing to do with promotion
*Mega money maker: Our youth fees for evolutions are free because youth classes cost higher per class as compared to adults, and youth evolutions happen within regular class times. Adult fees are a fraction of most school belt tests, and sleeve numbers and next color t-shirts run the student no extra cost. In addition each written test is hand graded, and physical test gives written individual feedback or strengths and weaknesses.
*Everyone must test, or you are out of class: Our evolutions are optional. They are for your growth and progression.
*Incomplete: At EDS each student must pass 4 separate cycles (3 month testing periods) in order to pass onto the next level. It is rare that a student is incomplete when they rise to the next level.

I’ll see if I can answer some more questions about Evolutions in a couple days, so check back. BTW! Our new online calendar is up and running. You can check out all of our Bloomingdale and Rockford self-defense locations martial arts events at www.SelfDefenseCalendar.com.

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu Matt

There is no doubt that social media is impacting most of our lives in one way or another. Here at EDS, we’re going to specifically be using our Facebook pages and video to do some pretty cool things.

Make sure you sign up for our Fan Page by clicking here and “Liking” us:

Bloomingdale Location

Rockford Location

Tons more to come!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu Matt

We’ve really made an effort to keep the academy as clean as possible since the start of September. The Rockford Self-Defense School and Chicago Suburb Self-Defense location both have about 120-160 people trekking in and out of it every week (depending on events, etc.).

Also note that each location probably isn’t much bigger than your house or apartment. Imagine over 100 people not just walking, but training in your house every week. They bring in their fast food garbage, their homework, magazines, water bottles, change of clothes, etc. How would your house look then?

My point isn’t to make this an excuse to keep an unclean business, just helping you to have a realistic standard. Regardless, we know we needed improvement in this area. Therefore, we upped out cleaning schedules and methods we use to do our cleaning.

Here is where I need your help:

1. Please let us know if anything needs more or extra cleaning. We can’t reach this goal without you, so please let us know.

2. Please throw any garbage out you bring in. I hate to throw 3/4 full Gatorade bottles out, but in order not to spread sickness and help keep the place clean we have to throw everything out by the end of the night.

Let us know what you think, and how we can help this goal more.

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu Matt

We are putting the finishing touches before launching our new calendar. We’ll also be mirroring our events on our Facebook pages – where you can also register directly.

I know this improvement isn’t as in depth as the others, but having a quick and efficient online registration place will help save you a spot, pay quickly and remind you of upcoming events.

I’ll post the new link very soon…

Also check in with improvement #9 later this week! Subscribe to the RSS to get the latest news!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu Matt

We just got done putting on excellent “female only” self-defense seminars at both our Rockford and Bloomingdale locations. It is common to see Rockford Kick Boxing Classes or Chicago Cardio Boxing Classes being advertised these days. Although they give an incredible cardio workout, they are a far cry from what women’s self-defense needs are, many times.

The female student population is growing here at EDS, therefore, we are taking extra time to address females’ needs when it comes to personal protection. Here are a couple of resources to fit your schedule, or the schedule of one of your loved ones:

Regular classes: This is the best option, with the best results. Remember, the big family discount of 50% off tuition can be extended to a wife, sister, girlfriend, mother, or other female loved one. Plus, we have special 90 day programs just for them – so they can get the benefits without feeling like they are overcommitting.

Female Self-Defense Seminars: We are trying to put on a female seminar every season. Please check with our current calendar for updates. Cost is usually a nominal $19 fee.

Online Self-Defense Courses: Both our Insta-D-Fense (InstaSelfDefense.com) and Pepper-D-Fense (PepperSelfDefense.com) are great programs for those female loved ones far away. Get our instruction online, and get it immediately! Great for college students and busy moms!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu Matt

Bullying has increased in todays school environments. There is no doubt about that. So what are you going to do about it? Well, here is what you should do:

Use Elite Defense Systems as an anti-bullying resource.

Last night we put on an anti bully seminar at both EDS locations. We have compacted very important information, every student needs to learn. The staff and I are busy visiting schools and daycares to share this information FREE of charge.

Therefore, I encourage you brainstorm any connections you have, where we can share this information pro bono. As a self-defense school, we see it as our responsibility to educate kids and parents about this topic.

As we continue to improve upon the things inside of the schools, we need to also enhance the communities we live in. Please help us, help others. You can contact me directly at matt@elitejkd.com.

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu Matt

Will there be Rockford Kick Boxing Classes? How about at our Chicago martial arts school? I would love to see Bloomingdale Boxing classes! Who will teach these classes?

Questions, questions… here are some answers:

Rockford Martial Arts Academy: Bryce Franck will be teaching Kick Boxing classes at our Rockford facility within the next week or so! Show up next Wednesday night as he will be guest teaching the whole evening from 7-9pm! (Attend 1 or 2 hours!) If you are a renewed student through 2012, the classes are FREE. More details to come in class.

Chicago Martial Arts Academy: We have an instructor and a boxing competitor from a local martial arts gym, who we are working out the details of a new class with. Out of respect for the current gym (what a concept), we are waiting until I get the ok from his current gym’s owner. He also has some current obligations from an upcoming match he is in, so hold on tight. Lots of more info to come. Once again, if you are renewed through 2012, these additional classes will be free.

Hang with us here guys… Lots more info to come.

You asked for it – and we’re giving it to you!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu Matt

I’ve spent a good portion of the summer talking to everyone from staff to students… to even MY instructors on how to strengthen the curriculum. In the previous post, you can check out the improvements to the youth curriculums, but today I want to focus on the adult self-defense curriculums.

Using the example of last week (Week 2, Kick Boxing Cycle, Weapons Essentials Focus), here is a run down of how each level will be taught:

Adult Beginners: We still have each cycle split into three months -
1st month: Essentials, covering the most important “objective” in each range. No accordion here… just solid fundamentals. We’ll also be injecting several forms of competition also will help those guys.
2nd month: Expansion… this is taking the given focus and adding in 4 tools. For example: Kick Boxing range will go through Destructions, Entry, Fakes and then back to the Essential topic of Interceptions for the 4th week. During this month, you’ll really get to expand your knowledge base of that Cycle’s focus (more techniques, concepts, drills, etc.).
3rd month: One by one, per the curriculum, we start mixing in the main topic (i.e. kick boxing) with Weapons, then Ground, then CQ/Mass Attack… This is the Accordion month. By this time the student should know the Essentials (1st month), then have more tools to work into the main cycle’s topic (for kick boxing: destructions, fakes, etc.)… so in the 3rd month they start intergrading it all together – but with more focus on Kick Boxing because that is the cycle’s focus.

Adult Intermediate: Talking about this with Vunak and Cruse, they reminded me of a video series Tom Cruse did where he took energy drills and made them more “preservation” focused, by making them full contact. You’ll have to see it to believe it! Intermediates should also be brining their “accordion” drill up to a new level, always mixing in the present energy drill they are working on. Accordions should also include helmets for full contact.

Adult Advanced: The three Matrixes are the peak of self-preservation. Futhermore, they should be done in a scenerio setting to test the students. Accordions at this level should include all ranges and all energy drills. Helmets will be a regular thing during this class too. Hang on tight… this will have class intensity like you’ve never seen!

Graduate: Let me define what this level is all about: Your weaknesses. This is the 2nd year of “Advanced” work, and should focus on anything over the last three years that the student has not worked up to their potential. How do you train at this level? During the Graduate year, the student should find the areas in the curriculum where they have not really grown. They should attend those classes… yes, even Beginner and Intermediate level classes. This is humbling, but a necessity. There is now a seperate goal sheet for this process.

I know that is a lot to take in… but the Staff and I have been working hard to make this Fall very exciting and laser focused. Comments and questions are always welcomed!

Lee, Love and Life,

Sifu Matt