We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Charles Martinez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Charles below.

Charles, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

I believe there is starting to be a paradigm shift when it comes to the general publics view of the “MMA World” as the sport has grown and gained main stream media attention. At the conception of MMA in America it was branded as “human cock fighting”.

Now although the early days of the sport used that sensationalism to attract a fan base, and some of the early participants may have been your stereotypical “tough guys”. The idea that the sport of MMA is full of dumb tough guys and tattooed thugs is long since outdated. The men and women competing at the highest levels of MMA at this point are ELITE level athletes. Often with long history of being competitive athletes with numerous stand out college and Olympic athletes currently fighting MMA.

I myself don’t stress much the opinion of others when it comes to the sport, I have dedicated my life to coaching MMA/Kickboxing/Muay Thai. Now yes I have way too many tattoos, but I also have a masters degree and am close to a doctorate, I raised a son to be a great young man, and I spent 10 years serving the country while in the US Navy. So to be miss categorized as uneducated or of low moral character due to the sport I chose just doesn’t seem fair.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started training Martial Arts in 1996, then I joined the Navy in 97 so the training got sporadic as I got through boot camp and school. Since 99 I have been training consistently. I have trained everything from first day students to world champions. I have taught people that were terrified of training all the way up to elite level military and law enforcement personnel.
I think what sets me apart from many other instructors is the variety of martial arts I have trained. I’m not an expert in any one thing but I am pretty knowledgeable about MANY areas of martial arts. That varied skill set helps me tailor the training to what a person may need more so than a person who only has one way.
In addition I LOVE teaching martial arts. It’s not just that I teach to make a living. I love conveying the information to the students. Some people get frustrated teaching new people(i do occasionally as well) but I genuinely love when that new person “gets it”

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Self care! These sports are painful, they take a huge toll on the body. I wish I knew when I was younger what I know now, and had taken the time to do all the self care to keep my body in better condition. Massages, acupuncture, meditating, stretching, yoga, proper nutrition/supplementation, all keep you in the game longer.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media has been a tough one for me. I don’t like putting myself out there like that and resisted it for years. Honestly I did a bunch of research about how to build and audience and how to increase your reach on social media. Then I challenged myself to post for a year straight. That’s put me on the right path. I still struggle with it but the positive feedback from the people I interact with make it much easier to keep posting.

Contact Info:

• Website: Coachchuckmma.com
• Instagram: @coachchuckmma
• Facebook: CoachChuckMMA
• Youtube: Coach Chuck MMA