What I Love Most In Martial Arts

Steven Barnes
4 min readOct 31, 2019

Taken me two years to take apart what I built to enjoy my martial arts journey in my 20’s and 30’s, but finally became non-optimal in my current life. I needed to focus on recovery, rather than performance. Health over performance. Critical distinction.

It can be subtle. Tai Chi has “performance” aspects (development of attributes) but also health (alignment, flow, balance, relaxed focus, etc.) so it is suitable for both. Want more fitness? After your first daily repetition, perform another, going faster with deeper postures. Hold a specific position low with powerful…

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Steven Barnes

Steven Barnes is a NY Times bestselling author, ecstatic husband and father, and holder of black belts in three martial arts. www.lifewritingpodcast.com.