Alright, let's talk about that endorphin high...

You wanna' know why Crossfit is so popular? I personally think it has a lot to do with endorphin.

Crossfit encourages people to push their bodies to the limit, and that's exactly the sort of thing that triggers the body to release endorphin. Now, as we know, endorphin is basically the body's own natural morphine.

Which is why finishing that quick 10k, or 30 minutes of rolling, or a Murph feels so good afterwards. It may not feel that way while you're doing it, but after the fact, you feel like you're floating (once you finish puking, of course).

Back in the 90's when fitness kickboxing was really popular, I figured out that triggering an endorphin rush was what kept people coming back to class. I discovered this by accident after a friend of mine gave me some advice on how to keep my kickboxing classes full.

"Mike, you have to kill them in every class if you want people to talk about your program. Nobody finishes an easy workout and tells their friends about it. But if you kill them, they'll tell everyone how hard your workouts are, and word will spread."

"Cool," I thought. "I'll do that." And I did. And word spread. But the interesting thing was, some of my students stuck around for a long time (years, in some cases), and they always said it was because they were "addicted" to kickboxing class. 

That's the endorphin rush at work.

Can you do this in your martial arts classes? Yes, but it's harder to do right in some cases, depending on what you teach.

For example, if you teach MMA or jiu-jitsu, all you have to do is have your students roll for 30 minutes, and they're probably going to get there (especially if they aren't conditioned).

But if you teach another art, you'll need to finish class with a series of hard drills, like combos done at a fast pace up and down the floor, or burnout drills on the pads and bags, or sprint drills... you get the idea. High intensity, short duration drills will do it every single time.

However, I don't suggest that you kill your martial arts students in EVERY class, because it'll lead to injury, especially if students are exhausted and attempting risky moves. Besides, to be honest the body isn't designed to push itself to exhaustion every single day.

But twice a week isn't a big deal, so if most of your students come to class two times a week, it's okay to do so. 

The only problem with this is if you have a lot of deconditioned students or older students attending your adult classes. Those folks aren't going to want to do those hardcore drills. 

So, save them for your advanced adults, or use them sparingly. I have lost some really great older students because I pushed them too hard. Don't make this mistake.

Alright, enough on endorphin. Tomorrow we'll talk about serotonin and oxytocin, and how those two brain chemicals play a role in keeping students coming to class.