Just a pondering thought which I would like some opinions on. I have been considering the amount of people who will be coming into joining a gym or sports club (like a MA) in January buying the gear or attending the classes and quitting after a few weeks. If you have your own club how do you feel about this? Does it ever occur within your lessons? Do you offer any "new year new you sales" to promote people to come attend your lessons? To those who attend classes how do you feel it effects your training (if at all) ? I personally have changed my eating plan and increased exercise since about a month before Christmas, and yes, I had a very nice and healthy Christmas time! I've lost about a stone but have quite a lot more to lose yet. But I will be attending a few MA classes in various things to see what will suit me at the moment but I worry about whether how the "new year" effects classes etc, I'll still be going don't doubt that but it does leave me thinking... Cheers, Si.
if someone wants to spend money starting something then quitting after a few weeks thats their problem. The only time it's affected me is when my old training partner left. He'd started when i had, we were similiar size despite the big age difference so we progressed and trained together. But all thats really changed is now im out weighed by my partners bu ti like it. its more of a challenge.
You STILL not started training after all those styles you asked about? As for people starting then quitting,that's their own problem.I imagine most instructors know it's going to happen each year.
The reality is that people start and quit at all sorts of times. I've had groups of 10 start and only 1 get beyond 3 months. I had a group of 19 start and they were all there after 2 years; they formed the backbone of my club for a long time actually. I've had people get to BB then quit. The reasons they leave vary. I've had people leave because of illness, because of work changes, because of family, because of other interests, because they realised they wouldn't be teh d34dly in 3 weeks, because training was just too damned hard, because of all sorts of things. Self-deception is the main reason. I will not make it easy. The only answer is for students to knuckle down and train. Hard hours. Sweat. Pain. Dedication. Focus on details. Yes, they'll have a blast along the way, but ultimtely, if they cant make the sustained effort, they can't learn an MA, so they're in the wrong place. Mitch
No because the training of the existing members can suffer if they're partnered together. Don't forget I'm starting something new next week, my training partner has been picked (3rd dan I believe) God help me! From what I can make out it'll be so different to what I'm used to.
enjoy. but when you get the rare person who thinks tey're amazing cos theyve got to black belt in a different art or watched the karate kid or something i find it amusing to watch them lose horrifically
Strangely enough we've had 100% student retention albiet a low rate of new people over the last 2 years.
I think that any time you have a lot of noobies starting, the instructor can take advantage of it and use it as an opportunity to go back to basics for a few weeks. I always feel that this approach really helps my training because every time we do the basics something new 'clicks' and I feel like I've really moved my training on! I think it can be more of a problem if you get 1 or 2 new starters a week for a prolonged period of time, as it can delay the progress of the rest of the class if the basics have to be covered every week. As for clubs owners, if it increases their income for a few weeks, I don't see that being a problem!
When I was teaching, we had two times of the year when there were a lot of new people: January and September. January for obvious reasons, and September because for many families, that's the start of a new year as well (what with school and fall activities and such). And while I knew that most probably weren't going to be around in three years or so, I tried to keep them involved and interested. A funny thing that happened often enough: a kid starts classes. Then the father or mother starts so they can do something together. Then the kid decides he doesn't want to anymore, but the parent likes it and sticks with it.
I suspect we may have one or two newbies. We're a work club though so it won't be anything massive. We have had a poster up in our gym for a while though! These days we largely have women join up in 2's and 3's all through the year. I think the blokes are scared lol.
January is as good a time to start as any. As a beginner there is the advantage that there is a good chance that you will be starting along with some other people. I've seen adverts promoting clubs around the start of year. Most clubs would be more than happy to accommodate new students at any time of year. If someone is interested in starting a MA, I don't think they should let the time of year put them off starting.
