Life Style Martial Arts

Life Style Martial Arts

By Alberto Borjas

Alberto Borjas

As a lifelong Martial Arts student and physical educator, I always found a contradiction between Martial Arts training and the health of its practitioners.
I have experienced the many benefits of Martial Arts but also suffered many ailments as a result of its practice.


The goal of Martial Arts in the modern era should be to promote health and longevity; however I became less healthy than people who did not practice martial arts.  

          Two years ago I was about to quit my training because of severe back problems and other ailments.  I tried chiropractic but it didn’t help much.  I was almost 57 years old but I was not ready to quit.  I’ve always seen martial arts not as a sport but as a way of life.  

          One day I decided to contact Grandmaster Kim Soo and he invited me to his Dojang.  After he welcomed me at his office I took my first Chayon Ryu class.  That day I started to understand many things.   I realized that many of my body ailments were not a result of my age but a consequence of poor training methods.  Poor training methods can make you very unhealthy. 
Traditional teaching methods were designed without taking into consideration the health of the practitioners.  That training leads to injuries and makes it almost impossible to keep practicing after you pass your prime. 

          In my experience of more than 30 years studying Martial Arts I’ve found many problems in Martial Art Schools that lead to injuries.  Some of these problems are:

• 1.    No proper warm up and/ or cool down or no warm up or cool down at all.
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• 2.    No proper structure of class.  E.g. Core training material done at the beginning of the class without a proper preparation.
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• 3.    Poor teaching methods due to the instructors lack of knowledge of the natural human body mechanics.  E.g. Wrong teaching methodology of kicking techniques can lead to knee and/ or hip injuries.
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• 4.    Wrong methods of breathing.  Improper breathing rhythm, for example not exhaling during exertion.
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• 5.    Instructors lack of a deep knowledge or teaching experience. In the great majority of schools most of the teaching is done by junior Black Belts, even teenagers.
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• 6.    Instructors lack of knowledge of scientific methods of training.  E.g. Improper training methods to increase flexibility can lead to hip injuries.

Another problem in today’s Martial Arts world is the lack of programs oriented to the adult population.  A great number of schools don’t offer adult classes or fall in the following categories:

• 1.    Children focused schools: curriculum is focused on children and adult students simply don’t fit in.
• 2.    Sport oriented schools – curriculum is focused on sport competition and competition is not for everyone especially after you pass your prime.
• 3.    Schools that offer adult classes but their curriculum is not catered to senior students or not deep enough to maintain adult students interest.

Grandmaster Kim Soo designed a scientific
method of teaching martial arts.

 All these are universal problems you will not find in Chayon Ryu schools.  I firmly believe the solutions to these universal problems are in Chayon Ryu.

Chayon Ryu is a new approach to training ancient martial arts in the modern day.  Grandmaster Kim Soo based on his unparalleled knowledge and teaching experience designed a scientific method of teaching martial arts.  He recognized the importance for preserving and improving the health of martial arts practitioners. 
Chayon Ryu or Natural Way is based on natural human body mechanics emphasizing the balance between body and mind to promote longevity and success in life.  Chayon Ryu is not only for talented people or gifted athletes; it is for everyone.  Everyone can benefit from Chayon Ryu practice regardless of age, gender or physical limitations.  The first thing you will notice in a Chayon Ryu school is a great number of students way past their prime training alongside children and young students; that is very uncommon in today’s Martial Arts schools.

In my opinion the first of many virtues of Chayon Ryu is that it allows its practitioners to enjoy the benefit of martial arts training their entire lives:  A true lifestyle martial arts system.

          Now after 2 years of training in Chayon Ryu I can say my body is almost 100% healed.  Chayon Ryu methods of training have helped me to heal my body and I am in the best physical shape I’ve been in the last 10 years.  I am enjoying martial arts training again. 

          In today martial arts world there is a great number of systems or styles that offer Self Defense or Sport competition.  Grandmaster Kim Soo’s Chayon Ryu Martial Arts provides far more than that for modern day practitioners: A life style martial arts system for the 21^st century.

 I think we have the obligation to promote Chayon Ryu so others can benefit from its practice.  Like Grandmaster Kim Soo says “share the good medicine”