Martial Arts Training - Discovering What's Best For You!

Martial Arts training has been around for literallystationed in Japan after World War II, the
thousands of years. At the core of it,adoption of techniques and the gradual
hand-to-hand combat was a way of life up untiltransmission of entire systems of martial arts to
the use of guns and other motorized weapons.the West started.
For the most part Martial Arts has now become aMartial Arts Styles:
great way to learn self-defense, get in shape andAs training in most arts has been evolving for
learn a new art form. But in order to know thedecades and in some cases hundreds of years,
best style for yourself, we first have to look atthere has become quite a variety of different
the fundamentals of martial arts and go back infighting systems.
time a few years to see how it all evolved...Most notably, the common ones are:
Martial Arts Background:Traditional Fighting Arts - These are systems
The teaching of martial arts in Asia has historicallysuch as Karate, Aikido, Kung Fu and Taekwondo
followed the cultural traditions of teacher-disciple(to a lesser extent.) They are well rounded and
apprenticeship. Students are trained in a strictlyfocus a lot on the "art" aspect of the system.
hierarchical system by a master instructor.Sport Fighting Arts - These are systems such as
The traditional form of martial arts has beenJujitsu, Brazilian Jujitsu, Judo, Muay Thai, exc...
evolving in Asia for centuries. It has always beenThese are martial arts at the core but are more
a very hierarchal form of training, where thefocused on the sport and competition aspect of
student trains under a master for many yearsthe art (generally speaking).
until he himself becomes one and then starts theFull Contact Fighting - These systems are fairly
process all over again. In Aisa and other easternnew and focus on actual full-contact fighting! The
countries, martial arts was and in many cases stillmost common one is "Mixed Martial Arts" (MMA).
is a large part of life for people.This is a mixture of the other systems, taking
The influence and development of the "traditionalthe best fighting aspects of them and combining
martial arts" never started until after World Warthem into one fighting system that best suites
2. As Western influence grew in the East athe fighter.
greater number of military personnel spent time inWhat Is The Best Martial Art For YOU?
China, Japan, Korea and elsewhere. Exposure toThat is a great question! The best way to
martial arts during the Korean war was alsofind-out is to checkout a bunch of schools in your
significant. Gradually some soldiers began to seearea. Try one of their free classes or free
the value of Eastern martial arts and beganmonths that many will offer you. Ask a lot of
training in them.questions and after a few tries your going to find
With large numbers of American servicemenan art that will work for you!