AC: To share our programs with other business professionals who are successful in their careers but have failed to master themselves. As we get more successful, we tend to let our physical and mental health wane. I know I can help the busy professional enjoy the fruits of their labor. I speak frequently at area businesses and do “lunch and learns” on topics of self- defense and using the martial arts as a vehicle for personal success through total body fitness and mental well-being.
SM: What does success mean to you?
AC: Success, to me, now means having Empire Martial Arts, Inc. the ability to change and impact lives Alan Condon through my martial arts programs. I know it has helped me through many of Success Magazine: Alan when did you begin SM: Do your students participate in MMA life’s challenges over the last few decades to study the martial arts? matches in the region? and I want to help others achieve the same results in their daily lives. My Alan Condon: I started training in 1974, AC: Although that is not our primary focus, greatest joy is when a student feels when I was nine years old, in the kajukenbo we have several professional MMA fighters more confident in themselves and is not system and continue to train daily. I believe that compete in Vermont, Connecticut, and afraid to pursue their dreams as a result you must lead from the front to be a mentor New Jersey but we have many other students of the confidence they have developed to others in the martial arts. who could compete at that level but use our in our martial arts program. My family training programs solely as a means of total is my number one priority and my wife SM: What designations do you have in each body fitness, both mentally (eliminating stress, and two sons are training as well. My of the martial arts? increasing self-confidence) and physically greatest success to date, is being a good (losing weight, quitting smoking). Many of father and husband. AC: I am a 6th degree black belt in kajukenbo our adult students (American mixed martial arts system), black have become the belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, instructor level in envy of their co- shootfighting, and a certified instructor in workers as they kuntaw/silat. have dramatically improved their lives. SM: What martial arts do you teach at your school? SM: What self- defense courses do AC: Mixed martial arts, Brazilian jiu jitsu, you teach with the muay Thai kickboxing, and kajukenbo. NYS Police?
SM: How do the martial arts instill discipline AC: I specialize and honor in your students? in close quarter battle (CQB) both AC: Discipline is simply knowing what has armed and unarmed, to be done and doing it—eating “dinner enabling officers before dessert.” The truth is human beings to handle difficult battle with self-discipline their whole lives. situations they It’s not easy, so we give them that extra edge encounter on patrol to win. Our program teaches a student how and when they have to develop self-discipline by setting short- to deploy their SWAT term goals and overcoming challenges. teams. I am also the The benefit of this process is that it teaches lead CQB tactical determination and perseverance. A student instructor for an gains respect for themselves and others as international police/ they achieve proficiency in the martial arts. SWAT association.
SM: What age groups do you teach? SM: What are your goals for your AC: We specialize in adults ranging from business, and how ages twelve to sixty-nine, but also have a small will you achieve youth program for ages five through eleven. them?
34 SUCCESS february 2010