25 martial arts goals, from your first class to your next belt

Martial arts goals for beginners

Beginner goals are about turning up and learning to fall, stand and move safely.

• Train 2 times a week for 3 months.
• Learn to fall safely on both sides.
• Learn the first 5 techniques on your syllabus by name.
• Perform your first form from start to finish without stopping.
• Earn your first stripe or belt.

Belt and grading goals

Belt goals work best when you turn them into things you can count before the grading.

• Attend 30 classes before your next grading.
• Know every technique for your next belt by name.
• Pass your next grading at the first attempt.
• Teach one technique to a newer student.
• Write down what your instructor corrects after every class for a month.

Martial arts technique goals

Technique goals pick one movement and repeat it until it works under pressure.

• Do 1,000 repetitions of one kick or throw in a month.
• Drill one technique 50 times on each side at every session for a month.
• Land one planned technique in live sparring.
• Learn one escape from each position you get stuck in.
• Film one form or drill a month and fix one detail.

Sparring and competition goals

Sparring goals should be about staying calm and trying your techniques, not about winning. For striking with the hands only, see boxing goals.

• Do a first sparring or rolling session.
• Spar 100 rounds in a year.
• Stay calm for a full round with a higher belt.
• Enter a first tournament.
• Compete 3 times this year.

Conditioning and long term goals

Long goals suit martial arts, because progress is counted in years. A high kick is a flexibility goal before it is a martial arts goal, so flexibility goals are worth a look.

• Attend 100 classes in a year.
• Train at least once in each of the 52 weeks of the year.
• Kick at head height with control.
• Hold a low stance for 2 minutes.
• Stretch for 10 minutes after every class for 3 months.

What is a good martial arts goal?

A good martial arts goal is something you do, not something you are given. A review of 27 studies of goal setting in sport found that process goals, about how you carry out a skill, had the largest effect on performance. Goals about results came well behind. A belt is a result. "30 classes before the grading" is a process.

Quality counts as well as hours. A review of sports studies found that deliberate practice explained 18 percent of the differences in performance. That is a real share, and it is why "drill one technique 50 times each side" is a better goal than "train more".

Make it specific, then keep a record. A review of 35 years of goal research found that specific, hard goals beat vague ones, and the research on goal tracking found that monitoring progress raises the odds of getting there.

How to track martial arts goals

Tick off every class the day you train. A review of 138 studies found that people who monitored their progress reached their goals more often, and that recording it beat keeping it in your head.

Classes are a day count. Rounds and repetitions are amounts that add up. A belt takes long enough that the count is closer to a 365 day challenge than to a 30 day one.

Between gradings nothing seems to change. A picture that fills up one class at a time shows how much mat time you have put in.

Frequently asked questions

What are examples of martial arts goals?

Attend 30 classes before the next grading. Drill one throw 50 times each side at every session. Spar 100 rounds in a year. Enter a first tournament. Each one is a count you control.

Is getting a black belt a good goal?

It is a good direction and a poor goal, because the date is not yours to choose. Set goals for what earns it: classes attended, techniques learned, gradings passed one at a time.

How often should I train to progress?

Often enough that you can keep it up for years. Two classes a week for a full year is 100 classes. That is a clearer goal than "as much as I can", and it survives a busy month.