Could joining a martial arts community be the secret to your fitness goals?
It’s not just about the physical skills; it’s about the mental resilience, the shared goals, and the unwavering support you’ll find within the dojo.
Let’s dive into how this unique community can help you achieve your active living aspirations.
Martial arts offer a wealth of benefits beyond the obvious ones.
This post will show you how a martial arts community can be your secret weapon to a healthier, more active life.
The Physical Fitness Benefits
Full-Body Workout: Engaging Every Muscle
Martial Art teaches us a variety of movements that depend on major muscle groups, it helps keep those muscles engaged during training.
Be it punches, variations of kicks, or grappling skills, all these engage our muscles to act.
They are essentially a full body workout!
Cardiovascular Power: Building Endurance and Heart Health
Martial art training can be tough and demanding of your body, and it can be naturally aerobic…
This is especially true during drills when certain movements are repeated multiple times.
Getting your heart pumping regularly helps increase stamina and also improves heart health.
This is why most martial arts lessons start with warming-ups and finish with cool-downs stretches.
It is to prepare our body for more intense and challenging movements.
Strength and Conditioning: Sculpting a Stronger You
As you train consistently in a Martial art, you will build strength, power, and muscle tone.
Seeing how body conditioning is an important aspect of martial arts, you’ll be doing push-ups, squats, and core exercises for improvement.
Flexibility and Agility: Moving with Grace and Precision
Another reason to do warm-ups and cool-downs when we train is to increase our muscles’ flexibility and agility,
Stretching those tense muscles helps us practice martial arts move with more grace and precision, not to mention injury prevention.
For instance, a martial art like Taekwondo that uses more kicking would require more leg flexibility stretchings.
Coordination and Balance: Mastering Body Control
Martial art movements are actions that usually not done in daily lives, and practicing them helps improve body awareness and control.
While not done in normal daily movements, they help enhance coordination and help with balance in our everyday lives.
Weight Management: Burning Calories and Achieving Your Goals
Since we mentioned that martial arts require using multiple muscle groups to perform movements, it can also help burn calories.
This could be an effective way to manage weight while you learn self-defence skills as your new hobby.
Mind Over Matter: The Mental and Emotional Benefits
Stress Reduction: Finding Peace Through Movement
Physical exertion is known to help reduce stress and improve mood, this is done through release of feel good hormones usually after physical exercise.
Focusing on martial arts forms and techniques can also help remove focus from your day’s stressors and clear your mind for a change.
Increased Confidence: Believing in Your Abilities
Mastering new skills and overcoming challenges also helps you build self-esteem.
Imagine when you just started unable to do most of the actions your peers perform, and as you progress you would be able to do them too.
Most martial art also have a belt system which help show your progression.
Improved Focus and Discipline: Sharpening Your Mind
Mental focus and discipline is the cornerstones of martial arts, when you train, it is important to stay concentrated.
This can help sharpen your mind, improve concentration and attention span.
As you strive to perform better each time, this can also help you create better, stronger discipline.
Mental Resilience: Bouncing Back Stronger
Martial arts training helps build the ability to overcome obstacles and learn from mistakes.
You can build mental resilience as you go through sparring training, and mastering difficult forms and movements.
Perseverance is key until you can perform these actions, forming a stronger mentality.
Finding Your Tribe: The Community and Social Benefits
Sense of Belonging: Joining a Supportive Family
Martial art can also be a supportive group, a community where many of you start a journey and proceed to grow to limitless heights.
This can be when you’re learning together from the beginning, when you’re learning from a senior, or even, when you are helping a junior out.
You can all be a community of like-minded individuals, even when you have different goals.
Shared Goals and Motivation: Pushing Each Other Forward
Rarely are a martial art that train without partners, and this can provide you with motivation and accountability.
Your training partners and mentors will be there to look out for you, and help you improve along the way.
Respect and Discipline: Building Positive Relationships
Lastly, martial arts always instill values of respect and discipline to its practitioners.
It places importance on respecting your instructors and fellow students, helping you create positive relationships.
Your Martial Arts Journey: Finding Your Path
Exploring Diverse Styles: From Striking to Grappling
Martial arts can be very diverse, with multiple styles that focus on different ideology, here’s some examples:
Striking Arts:
- Taekwondo: Primarily focused on kicking techniques, with some hand strikes. (Kicking)
- Boxing: Emphasizes punching techniques and footwork. (Punching)
- Muay Thai (Thai Boxing): Utilizes punches, kicks, knees, and elbows. (Striking with all limbs)
Grappling Arts:
- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ): Focuses on ground fighting and submissions, such as joint locks and chokes. (Ground grappling)
- Judo: Emphasizes throws, takedowns, and grappling on the ground. (Throws and grappling)
- Aikido: Uses throws, joint locks, and redirection of an opponent’s energy. (Throws and joint locks)
Hybrid/Mixed Martial Arts:
- Mixed Martial Arts (MMA): Combines striking and grappling techniques from various martial arts. (Striking and grappling combined)
- Krav Maga: A self-defense system that incorporates techniques from various martial arts, focusing on practical and effective responses to real-world threats. (Self defense, and practical application)
- Silat: Martial art that blends striking, grappling, and weaponry, emphasizing self-defense and cultural tradition. (Striking, grappling, weapons, and cultural art)
- Wushu: Martial art encompassing choreographed forms (Taolu) and full-contact sparring (Sanda), combining striking and grappling techniques. (Forms and sparring, combining striking and grappling)
Weapon-Based Arts:
- Kendo: Japanese fencing using bamboo swords. (Sword techniques)
You must do some research into a martial art before joining.
Most training dojo/clubs have offers for trial lessons, which is a great opportunity to get your feet wet before deciding which to join.
Finding the Right School: Research and Visit
Always start researching a local schools or instructors, as finding a reputable and supportive training environment will make or break your interest to further your pursue.
Pay the centres some visiting, and observe how a class is conducted.
It’s for Everyone: Age, Fitness, and Experience
As a 38 year old returning to my martial art training, I’d also like to bring to your attention how martial arts can be suitable for people of any age, fitness and experience.
And for different goals, at this point I’m no longer looking to compete in a martial arts contest, but it is to get my body moving and reap the health benefits of staying active.
It is perfectly fine to start slow and progress at your own pace.
Getting Started: Taking the First Step
So are you ready to take the first step?
Remember these tips:
- Finding a Reputable Instructor: Look for Experience and Credentials
- What to Expect in a Beginner Class: A Welcoming and Supportive Environment
Conclusion:
Martial art is a journey of patience and persistence. It is an activity that can benefit both body and mind.
You can definitely explore martial arts as a hobby to create a healthy, active lifestyle.
Ready to experience these benefits for yourself? Find a local martial arts school today and try a trial class!
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