Presas Arnis in the Family: Help Them Go Solo

You can lead the kid to the training room, but you can’t always make them train.

If you’ve already established a cooperative martial arts training regimen with your child, you’ve probably noticed your best move is giving your young Arnisador a say in the scope of training sessions. This is the gateway toward one of the more important lessons they will learn in Presas Arnis and other martial arts styles like Karate, Judo, and BJJ: the need for solo training.

The author's daughter hitting the BOB in their home training space

You (and your child) can’t always make it to class to train. Maybe you travel for work, or you’re injured. Martial arts progress shouldn’t end when these things happen. This is where independent home training fills in the gap, but these sessions need to be tempered before they’re useful.

After I’ve spent an hour or two working by myself, I will invite my daughter to work on one of Kindred Protective Arts’ anyos (our term for forms or kata), or to have her hit the bag with combinations. I will sit on the basement steps and watch. I’m still present, but my role is more like a coach on the sidelines. This framework sets her up to establish her own independent training, allowing her to hold the room and recognize practice isn’t just centered around me.

The author and daughter working a drill together

“What do you want to work on?” The question matters as much as the answer. You’re offering them the choice upfront. They’re choosing to practice. This keeps the session focused without running the risk of their young minds growing restless. 

At this point, you are guardrails. If you see them struggle, you can offer corrections or demonstrations, but keep these interventions brief. Pay attention to what they’re doing right instead of looking for what’s wrong. Help them realize they do a lot of good things on their own.

Mental practice serves just as useful a purpose as its physical counterpart. I know it sounds like homework, and it is, but part of their training should include keeping a written journal. Maybe get a hardcover journal and get a martial arts school patch to put on it. Get a special pen to go along with it. Establish the training journal is kept in a special place only for training at home and class, so it doesn’t end up a bound edition of random cat and Pokemon drawings. 

It’s heavy with responsibility, but you keep it simple for them with some basic prompts:

1. What did you train today?

2. How do you feel things went?

3. What was your favorite thing?

4. What did you do really well?

5. What could you do better?

These entries aren’t intended to dissect technique. I like to break down techniques in my own journal, but that’s not the expectation for your child. The journal establishes a habit that connects mind and body to training.

Do you have a method that helped your young martial artist go solo with their training? Do you have additional tips to share? Let us know in the comments, and if you're in the Kansas City metro area, we'd love to meet you (and your child) in a Family Class soon!