I have wondered at times if my coach is too quick to judge people. He's full of stories about how some person "came in, and did x, so I submitted him y times in z minutes, and I never saw him again." (y is typically greater than z in all these stories). That's being said, there is practically nobody that trains with us who has a toxic attitude of any kind. It's hard to tell if that's luck, a reflection of the community we live in, or a result of the swift judgement of the head instructor on people who are perceived to be outside the desired gym culture.
"Wanted to ask an Ai-agent Then I remember that William was sharing data and percentages. I would like to highlight a fragment of a sentence that you proposed to us: Exposed 200 martial artist... Out of curiosity What is the percentage of those 200 martial artists that is active on Belt checker?"
Beltchecker was not established yet, when I did that project.
Also, I would be careful to verify anything an AI told you, for accuracy.
They can tend to have delusions, and suffer from garbage in, garbage out.
One big red flag for me, and I had to catch myself doing it too, is talking shit about other gyms or other instructors for personal reasons unrelated to safety or conduct concerns.
It is a red flag when a school owner or instructor, demands or expects free or heavily discounted services from the students.
And, when school employees, who are also students, are paid less than minimum wage, as an expectation.
It's one thing if every one, including the instructor, helps clean and disinfect the school.
And, if someone wants to volunteer to teach a class, and having some part of the curriculum be learning how to teach a class, that can be and often is reasonable.
It's quite another thing, if the school or organization demands or expect students to be servants to the instructor, and the instructor takes advantage of them that way - that is cultish as Hell, and a major red flag about the school, and/or the organization, and a predatory character defect in the instructor.
"One big red flag for me, and I had to catch myself doing it too, is talking shit about other gyms or other instructors for personal reasons unrelated to safety or conduct concerns."
This. IF it's unrelated to safety. But when it is, I think it's our duty as human beings to bring up the issues. Things such as harbouring criminals, taking advantage of students/customers and other scummy behaviour needs to be outed.
I consider myself lucky having left (for completely fair reasons at the time) a gym which I used to call home, but later turned out has some nonsense going on. A few bad apples really ruin a good gym with good people, at least for those in the know.
This meme below is largely correct, and something I have been saying for decades.
Martial arts gyms, like yoga studios, often have unscrupulous, and/or foolish owners / coaches / leaders,
that hold themselves out as therapists, or life coaches, and sometimes even medical / health gurus.
Especially when the martial arts coach or yoga instructor is not properly licensed as a Mental Health Therapist, or licensed medical professional, this is very shady, a major indicator of a cult environment, and a MAJOR red flag.
"This meme below is largely correct, and something I have been saying for decades. Martial arts gyms, like yoga studios, often have unscrupulous, and/or foolish owners / coaches / leaders, that hold themselves out as therapists, or life coaches, and sometimes even medical / health gurus. Especially when the martial arts coach or yoga instructor is not properly licensed as a Mental Health Therapist, or licensed medical professional, this is very shady, a major indicator of a cult environment, and a MAJOR red flag."
I say it all the time.
I am not your guru and can't help
you with your personal problems but I can teach you jiu jitsu and how to condition your leather boots. Thats all I got
"This meme below is largely correct, and something I have been saying for decades. Martial arts gyms, like yoga studios, often have unscrupulous, and/or foolish owners / coaches / leaders, that hold themselves out as therapists, or life coaches, and sometimes even medical / health gurus. Especially when the martial arts coach or yoga instructor is not properly licensed as a Mental Health Therapist, or licensed medical professional, this is very shady, a major indicator of a cult environment, and a MAJOR red flag."
I coach at my gym. Anytime someone calls me professor or coach or any other honorific, I always say, "Never call me that. My name is Chris, call me Chris." I make a point to go through the same process as everyone else.
Coaches aren't special. We shouldn't be treated as such either. I'm the same thing as a rock climbing instructor and I should be treated as such.
I know it's my training, but I struggle not to call people by honorifics that they've earned. It's my rigid, structured, traditional values from growing up in an old school karate dojo. But out of respect I do what I'm asked. My coach's coach recently asked me to not call him professor, but to call him by his name. It felt weird, but I really felt like it was him showing me respect in return.
"I am a coach / teacher but I identify as not a coach / teacher. Mostly just to keep everyone in a constant state of confusion."
so you identify as the guy in the front of the class :) This seems accurate for me as well. I introduce myself as John and if folks wanna call me Coach that's cool, and if not, cool.
I teach and help because that is my calling, and I enjoy and become a better person from it, but unless it's throwing someone, punching them, or wristlocking them, I'm not your man ;)
