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Mind, Body & Spirit
Who Trains, Wins is a personal guide to growth through martial arts, written with a mix of tough love, lived experiences, and clear admiration for the warrior path. You describe martial arts as a blueprint for living. When did that shift happen for you?
When I was young, I was living by trial and error. I could be told what to do, but many times I needed to learn the hard way. I found that when I was training regularly and spending the majority of my time with those who were focused on self-improvement, I was consistently getting better all around results in my life. When I wasn’t putting in work on my spiritual/physical side, I would move backwards, and my general life results became poor quickly. I am a slow learner, but around age 26, it eventually became ridiculously obvious. I found the rhythm for my success required continuous work in mind, body & spirit – all three equally. If I slacked, I paid in kind.
Was there any story you hesitated to include but ultimately felt needed to be there?
Such an insightful question. In writing this book, I wanted to focus on the reader and where they want their life to go. Originally, I included many, many personal stories that seemed to be relevant as examples in each section. Ultimately, I cut 98% of them as they were just that, personal, and weren’t broadly relevant to a wider audience. I didn’t want to drown out, drone on, and hijack a success formula self-help book, to instead make it an autobiography. The martial arts is a very personal journey and each person should start “tabula rasa” – as a blank slate, and let the martial arts principles and their discipline bring them where they need to go. I didn’t want to inject any bias or limit the scope of what’s possible for those in completely different circumstances to my origin. So the stories I told I felt were just enough to make a connection with the reader, and I tried to leave lots of room to write in their own story and personal comparisons.
How can someone with no martial arts background start applying these principles immediately?
A self-assessment is the place to begin. Identify your ideal experience in this human form that you think is achievable for yourself. We don’t need to be talking lofty goals. Just a few simple improvements. Are you on the path to getting there? If not, why not? I believe many people don’t realize life can be navigated with more success if you first draw up a map for where you want to go. That map needs to include a regime to shore up 3 areas: 1. Spiritual, 2. Physical, 3. Mental. These three separate systems must run at peak potential simultaneously for quick results. If they are optimized, backed by a plan, a road-map of who you want to be and where you are going, the world will make way for you, and you will get much further than you can imagine.
How do you help readers stay motivated when progress feels slow or invisible?
This is the secret sauce and one of the hardest questions we all must face. Love is the key. Love for your pet, your grandmother, love for yourself. The motivation, love, and joy bring are boundless. I cannot instill work ethic or push you, you need to want to be there. Love feels scary to give unconditionally, but if you love yourself, then you will want what is truly best for yourself. We live in a society that makes food and cars and sex about self love. Those can quickly become traps and negatives. True self love means staying healthy, focusing on positive things, helping those in need. Giving of yourself and your time is empowering and uplifting. So find and hug your grandmother today, time is limited for those. Go outside and smile at a stranger, the rest of their day they will remember that. Look in the mirror and say I love you three times out loud, and see if you don’t all of a sudden look just a little more attractive. I’m smiling just thinking of you doing that. That’s the key to staying motivated – love.
Imagine taking on your biggest challenges with the mental fortitude and unshakable confidence of a seasoned fighter. This isn’t reserved just for black belts or elite athletes. Anyone can apply these principles to daily life and see real results.
The truth is, you already have the tools inside you. You just need to sharpen them through deliberate practice. Like a fighter perfecting their stance or a martial artist drilling their forms, success in life requires consistent training in the fundamentals. Use the same proven martial artists techniques for any challenge you face.
This book will guide you to the core essentials that separate those who achieve from those who simply dream. Through the same discipline, mental toughness, and strategic thinking that masters have used for centuries, you’ll develop the warrior mindset that makes unlimited success inevitable.
Who Trains Wins reveals how martial arts discipline translates into wealth, success, and fulfillment—not through shortcuts, but through becoming the complete person capable of achieving any goal.
This isn’t theory. It’s a battle-tested roadmap.
YOU’LL LEARN:
• How to choose the right martial art, school, and master (and what red flags to avoid)
• Training regimes broken into achievable daily steps
• How to master emotions, conquer fear, and build unshakeable self-respect
• Ancient philosophies adapted for modern success
• Nutrition and physical optimization for peak performance
• Spiritual practices including meditation and energy work
• The warrior’s path from student to teacher to master
Train your mind. Hone your body. Transform your life.
The path is clear. The methods work. I’ve walked it, and so can you.
Join me in training to WIN.
About the Author;
(Drawing on decades of training across multiple disciplines—from Tae Kwon Do to BJJ, from close protection operations to high-risk contracting—author Matthew Black distills the martial wisdom that transformed his life into practical tools anyone can use.)
Who Trains, Wins: How anyone can train for SUCCESS & WEALTH with THE MARTIAL ARTS Train and Grow Rich
Who Trains, Wins is a personal guide to growth through martial arts, written with a mix of tough love, lived experiences, and clear admiration for the warrior path. The book blends personal stories, practical training advice, and reflections on discipline, emotion, and mindset. It walks through the author’s own training across many countries and styles, and it ties each lesson back to everyday life. The message comes through loud and clear. Training shapes the body, the mind, and the choices we make.
Some parts felt almost like a coach shouting from the sidelines, and other parts felt like a quiet conversation late at night when you admit things you rarely say out loud. I liked that contrast. It kept me awake. Author Matthew Black writes with a kind of sharp honesty that sometimes pokes at you. I felt it most in the sections about discipline and frustration. They reminded me how often we get in our own way. The storytelling adds heart. His memories from childhood scraps or tough nights on the job land with real weight. They give the book grit and color, and I appreciated that he never tries to make himself look perfect. It made the lessons easier to trust.
His talk about training against yourself really resonated with me. It is easy to chase external markers of progress. It is harder to sit with your own limits and push past them. I liked how he tied emotional control to fighting, and how those thoughts spill into everyday challenges. He writes in a way that makes you feel both seen and pushed. At times, the tone got intense, yet it also carried warmth. It made me feel motivated and a bit humbled at the same time.
By the end, I felt the book had given me more than advice. It had given me a mood. A sense of wanting to do better for myself. I would recommend Who Trains, Wins to anyone who wants a mindset shift and not just a workout plan. It is perfect for people who crave discipline, or who feel stuck and want a spark to move forward, and for anyone curious about the deeper side of martial arts.
Pages: 290 | ASIN : B0G4NFFWX8
