Difference Between Mma And Karate

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Although there are certain techniques and moves that may seem similar, there is a difference between MMA and Karate. Because of The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show on Spike TV people are starting to understand the real difference between the two sports.

Karate is a very old form of martial arts that originated in Japan. It was primarily for self-defense, a way to defend one’s self from an attacker even without a weapon in hand. The moves employed are for blocking an attack and counterattacking through strikes, punches, and kicks. Through the years, it has become a competitive sport and one of the most popular forms of martial arts in the world.

Mixed martial arts or MMA, from the name itself, is a combination of several forms of martial arts. Its roots can be traced back to the ancient Greeks where they participated in no holds barred and extremely brutal fighting matches. Unlike karate that evolved out of a practical need for self-defense, mixed martial arts already started out being a competitive sport. It combines different techniques to subdue an opponent inside the ring.

Practitioners believe that by selecting the most effective moves from different martial arts and incorporating them into one form, they are creating a better and more efficient form of fighting style. There are many forms of martial arts employed in MMA fighting but the dominant styles used Jiu-Jitsu, grappling, and wrestling. Fights are relatively short, usually five minutes per round.

The rules in MMA also differ from others. One is allowed to strike an opponent when he or she is standing or lying on the ground. Other contact sports such as boxing do not allow strikes when one competitor goes down. Although it is allowed in MMA, strict officiating is enforced. A match is stopped when one fighter knocks out or renders unconscious his or her opponent. Another is when one submits to the dominant fighter and if the referee sees that a fighter cannot defend himself anymore from his opponent.

Are Mixed Martial Arts Dangerous

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There has been a lot of bad press surrounding MMA fights and the UFC. Many critics say that mixed martial arts are barbaric and gruesome and are nothing more than amateur street brawls. The beginning of the MMA movement in America and the inception of the UFC did not help matters at firs as they promoted the sport as the most violent combat sport available and only helped to further the negative stereotype. Originally, MMA fights were banned in many states but after stricter rules were put in place and new UFC owners worked to change the barbaric stereotype, the MMA movement has gained huge popularity.

But are mixed martial arts dangerous, at least any more dangerous that other combat or contact sports? Sure, in the beginning the sport itself claimed to be extremely violent but things have changed since then. To really answer the question of the danger in MMA fights, one would have to understand the rules of the UFC and compare it to other sports.

Mixed martial arts is just that, a mixture of many different fighting styles from boxing to wrestling, to jui jitsu, most of which have ancient roots and were at some time a part of the Olympic Games. Critics against the UFC and MMA fights say that it teaches kids that fighting is ok or honorable. Some of these same critics agree that all combat sports are bad and other single out MMA. The truth is, when compared to boxing MMA is not as bad. The object ion boxing is to beat your opponent until they are unconscious or so badly injured that they can no longer get up. In MMA a victory option is knockout, but fighters can also win by submission or referee stoppage, two options not available in boxing. Instead of going at it until irreparable damage is done, many MMA fights end when a fighter submits or the referee stops the fight before serious injuries occur. This seems like a much safer option.

Critics that say that MMA is barbaric and dangerous must not realized that there have been no deaths in sanctioned MMA fights ever. No MMA fighter has ever died during a fight; the same cannot be said about boxing a sport that has lost hundreds of fighters. Injuries are also infrequent, as well as brain damage because submission and referee stoppage is a victory option. The same is not true in boxing, many fighters end up with long term problems, brain damage, or have their careers halted abruptly because of injuries. Even non combat sports like football and hockey see more serious injuries than MMA fights such as broken and fractured bones, spinal damage, and concussions. While MMA fighters do receive injuries, they are not usually severe.

Critics that initially called the game barbaric and dangerous spoke of the lack of rules and regulations. MMA fights have over gone rule changes and additions, and although still allow for a great variety of fighting techniques, the fighters well being is considered. No matter how many people think that MMA fights are dangerous, the sport will continue to grow and attract fans.

Knowing Your Revenue Streams

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KNOWING YOUR REVENUE STREAMS
To maximize your revenue from martial arts school, you must have a clear understanding of your revenue streams.

Read these carefully. Not all will apply to you, but wouldnt it be nice if they did? One clear requirement for successfully utilizing most of these is that you will have to use agreements rather than month-to-month programs.

Revenue Stream 1
Down Payments on New Student Agreements

Also known as a registration fee, this is the initial investment a student makes to join your school. Typically, this is at least two months tuition. For instance, a program is $199 down payment/registration and $99 per month for 12 months or ongoing.

Revenue Stream 2
Down Payments on Renewing Agreements

This is the initial investment a student makes in order to renew or upgrade in your school. The best strategy for this has been the Black Belt Club. If you do not have a solid system for upgrades and renewals, this stream is dry for you.

Revenue Stream 3
Monthly Tuition
This is the lifeblood of your school. As you grow your school, your monthly tuition should grow as well. Ideally, your monthly tuition would cover your base operating expenses each month. For instance, if all the monthly expenses, including your salary, totaled $12,000, your monthly tuition collections from your billing company would cover that amount. In that very healthy scenario, these other streams are 100 percent profit. Mind you, this is not easy to accomplish, but even 75% of expenses paid from your billing check would be good.

Revenue Stream 4
Product Sales
Consider your retail shop as though it were a separate business. Open a separate business checking account for your retail, and deposit all gear sales revenue into that account. Use an American Express card or any other credit card that requires pay-off each month to pay for equipment purchases. When you place an order, pay for it with your credit card. This gives you up to 30 days to sell the equipment to your students. As they pay for the equipment, deposit the funds into the retail account.

When the credit card bill for the equipment is due, pay for it with a check from the retail account. Since you are usually doubling your money, this retail account will grow fast. Your credit rating will grow, as well as your rewards for using the card. Ideally, you will build a large cash reserve and save money on plane tickets and vacations, too.

Sell thousands of martial arts products and supplies directly from your website. You choose which products to sell, set the retail price, and still only pay wholesale. Veteran schools have reported that they have tripled their retail sales using this valuable service.

Best of all, student payments go straight into your bank account and you are billed your wholesale rate, allowing you to better manage your cash flow and not have to wait for your referral check to arrive.

Revenue Stream 5
Special Events
Even if you dont charge for testing, you will want to host at least one special event each month for your student body. These can range from nunchaku seminars to board-breaking, “Fear Into Power” seminars. These are not only pretty easy to manage, but they are a lot of fun. My nunchaku seminars were always packed with 30 to 50 students and would generate around $500-$1,000 per event. The fee of $25 included two rubber nunchaku to use in the class, so it was almost pure profit.

Birthday parties would also go under this category. A two-hour $250 birthday party is not only a revenue generator, but also a lead generator. Some schools have at least one birthday party per week, so its a proven winner.

Revenue Stream 6
Testing/Grading Fees
I didnt include these with Special Events, because exam fees are a little different from special events. Most exams for stripes occur in class, and they usually dont require a fee. The main graduations on the weekends require additional work and staff, so its reasonable to charge for these events.

Typically, exam fees range from $30 to $50 and increase with rank. Black belt exams can be as much as $200 to $300 but, to justify this higher fee, you should provide additional prep classes for the black belt candidates.

Some schools are large enough that they rent auditoriums to showcase their graduating black belts or to conduct the exam. The exam fee should cover these additional expenses.

Revenue Stream 7
Fast Track Testing
This is a touchy subject and has to be handled carefully. The idea is simply that some people are willing to invest more money to get through your belt system faster.

Revenue Stream 8
Paid in Fulls
In recent years, Paid In Fulls (PIFs) have made a huge comeback. MASS and other such organizations have championed the cash out as a way of getting maximum revenue from a student base that will more than likely drop out anyway. As much as I dislike the idea of treating all students like potential dropouts, smart use of Paid in Fulls can significantly boost your bottom line.

Revenue Stream 9
Renewals and Upgrades
Black Belt Club and Masters Club are the most popular and proven renewal programs. For now, we want to focus on the renewal as a revenue generator.

Common practice has been to upgrade someone to a BBC or MC and replace his New Student agreement or program with the more expensive BBC or MC program. In most cases, the renewal had a registration of $299 or so, and tuition increased $10 per month.

Another popular strategy is to keep the student on their current tuition plan, but charge them a one-time or annual fee to upgrade to BBC or MC. For instance, a student is paying $110 per month for her current program. A BBC or Masters’ Club upgrade is presented as an annual upgrade for $500.

Revenue Stream 10
Discounting a Past-Due Contract
When I was a publisher for Martial Arts Professional magazine, we sold advertising to clients who wanted to reach and sell to our readers. On occasion, an advertiser would want to cancel the contract. In the world or publishing, the process for doing this is called shorting the contract.

In exchange for committing to a set number of ads, the advertiser would be given a discount for each ad they placed. Shorting the contract meant that the ads the client ran would be re-billed at the one-time rate and, if he paid the difference, wed release him from the contract.

Revenue Stream 11
Career Training Programs
For years, Ive taught the importance of creating a Leadership Team of assistant instructors to help you provide a higher level of service to your students. Typically, the Leadership Team is a by invitation only program for Black Belt Club members.

More and more schools are expanding Leadership Team programs into a precursor to a full-blown Career Development program that trains students to become martial arts school owners and instructors. Students pay for the right to attend staff meetings, practice role playing, and venture “into the kitchen” of the school.

Tuition for these programs are as high as $7,900 for a two-year course. Keep in mind that, in order to offer this, you really have to know this business cold and create a solid curriculum on par with a vocational school, because, in a sense, thats what you are offering.
Student Audit

This is not so much a revenue stream as a way of plugging leaks in your cash flow. The Student Program Audit is a single sheet of paper with three columns and 11 rows. The columns are for a students first, second, and third programs within a school. Typically, these are New Student, Black Belt Club, and Masters’ Club, but any program will work.

The first six rows are the various payment options a student might use in your school. The next two are the start and end date for the program, which are followed by a check mark to make sure the Party Responsible for Paying is noted in the agreement and that the injury waiver has been signed. Your job is to audit each and every students file to make sure you have each of these important items in the students folder.

The first few times you do a Student Audit, it is like found money. You will be amazed at how much important paperwork is missing. More than that, you will be stunned at how many students are training who have expired or have no record of payments.

Staple one Student Audit to the outside of each student file.

Build Around Your Core
Not all of these revenue streams will be for you. Thats why the Core Dynamic of Finding Your Own Voice is so important. I personally helped create many popular trends in this industry. I also made it clear what programs I would never teach, even though I developed and sold them. What is good for me may not be good for you. Know what you like, and why you are doing this for a living, and then build strong revenue streams around those core programs.

Definition About Martial Arts

Arts blogger

Typically this group uses “Martial Art” in one of two ways:

1) The first definition is a generic one, which defines a “Martial Art” as the study of any kind of combat and/or self-defense techniques.

This definition includes non-oriental arts like boxing. This definition includes both those arts practiced primarily as a sport, and those arts practiced primarily for self-defense. This definition includes those arts that emphasize only physical technique. This definition also includes those arts that emphasize a philosophical or mental aspect in addition to physical techniques. In its broadest usage, this definition includes learning how to drive a tank or drop bombs out of a plane as a Martial Art. This explains the somewhat facetious references you will see to “Gun Fu”, the martial art of learning how to use firearms (implying, as the dictionary definition does, that a martial art must be oriental to be legitimate).

2) The second definition is much narrower, and draws a distinction between a “Martial ART” and a “Martial WAY”. To offer a gross simplification:

A martial art is the study of an art that emphasizes only physical techniques. Perfection of technique is the primary concern. A martial way emphasizes the study of both physical techniques and a philosophical or mental aspect as well. Perfection of the self is the primary concern. The emphasis on this distinction is very clear for those arts that have Japanese names. Typically, Japanese martial *art* style names end in “jutsu”, such as “jiu-jutsu”, “aiki-jiujutsu”, or “ken-jutsu”. Typically Japanese martial *way* style names end in “do”, such as “ju-do”, “aiki-do”, or “ken-do”.

art

Pronunciation: ‘rt

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from Latin art-, ars — more at ARM

Date: 13th century

1 : skill acquired by experience, study, or observation

2 a : a branch of learning: (1) : one of the humanities (2) plural : LIBERAL ARTS b archaic : LEARNING, SCHOLARSHIP

3 : an occupation requiring knowledge or skill

4 a : the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects; also : works so produced b (1) : FINE ARTS (2) : one of the fine arts (3) : a graphic art

5 a archaic : a skillful plan b : the quality or state of being artful

6 : decorative or illustrative elements in printed matter

synonyms ART, SKILL, CUNNING, ARTIFICE, CRAFT mean the faculty of executing well what one has devised. ART implies a personal, unanalyzable creative power . SKILL stresses technical knowledge and proficiency . CUNNING suggests ingenuity and subtlety in devising, inventing, or executing . ARTIFICE suggests technical skill especially in imitating things in nature . CRAFT may imply expertness in workmanship .

Martial Arts

A martial art is any skill that can be applied in warfare. The word martial means “military.” So, a martial art is a military art. Most people don’t really consider that when they think of the martial arts. The first things that usually come to mind are leaping, kicking, punching, blocking, inverting elbows, twisting necks, throwing, and sword fighting. That is a very narrow view of the martial arts, though. Did it occur to you that horsemanship, javelin throwing, archery, spear fighting, halberd fighting, wrestling, knife fighting, rifle, shotgun, and pistol shooting, demolitions, logistics, and battle strategy are all martial arts? Anything that a soldier might do in battle is a martial art.

Information on tea storage can be found at the Types Of Tea site.

Various Types of Services in a Modern Hair Salon

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Hair salons nowadays are offering a variety of services according to the changing needs of their clients. This is indeed a benefit for clients since they get everything at one single place and that too at reasonable prices.

Pampering and grooming are two things that both men and women desire. Everyone wants to look perfect. Times have gone when people used to visit a salon for a haircut. These days, hair salons offer services beyond the traditional hair care services. The professionals put in best efforts to provide solutions to clients.

Since, the salon professionals now understand the changing trends and needs; they make sure that they keep updating the techniques and equipments being used. There are several new treatments available at much cheaper cost and the best salons aim at delivering the benefits to their clients.

With the increasing awareness and easy availability of information using the internet, people are becoming aware of the importance of personal grooming. Even men are becoming conscious. From treatments to makeovers, people can avail various services under one roof. Some such services are:

Hair extension Long Island NY: Hair extensions are indeed a boon for people who desire good quality, long hair. The latest techniques are simple and results are quick. This is why an increasing number of people are opting for this option. While some choose hair extension to change their style, for others it is a solution for problems like excessive hair loss etc.

Spas: Earlier, this service was not available in salons since people were not willing to spend much. However, with time the costs have come down and people are aware of the benefits. This is why leading hair salons now offer spa treatments and services from head to toe. There are special sections for this service.

Hair color: Hair color in the past was used to hide white hair. But now there are numerous colors available in mar the market using which one can transform his look. However, few important concerns related to this service are: the quality of color used, their effect on hair health, technique used and the expertise of the professional. This is why it becomes essential to consider the best hair colorists in Long Island NY.

Nail care: Some salons also offer nail care services. Such services are becoming popular. There are nail extensions, nail arts and other concepts. This ensures that one has healthy and beautiful nails attracting everybody’s attention.

There are numerous services offered by modern hair salons and hence, one should consider them while selecting a salon. It is always better to choose one which offers all solutions under one roof rather than running to several places for different services. Also, the approach helps in saving money since salons offer affordable packages to ensure the best experience.

Macy Busson is a hair color expert at www.topsalonlongisland.com. Top Salon Long Island is New York best national directory for finding information on Beauty and best hair colorists in Long Island NY. For more information please click here