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OF MARTIAL ARTS Most of us know that martial arts training is great for self defense purposes, but what about fitness? What aspects of physical fitness improve with martial arts training and how?
Core Strength: Your core includes the muscles making up your “anatomical girdle”: your abs and lower back muscles. These muscles provide spinal support and postural physique: they help you twist, turn, lift, stabilize and balance. Kicking, directional changes during sparring, ground work/grappling and martial arts strength training all improve core stability. The core is your center of power for the execution of most moves in martial arts: it needs to be strong.
Balance: The kicking martial arts especially involve balance. Balance is also tied into core stability: both of which are improved with training.
Speed, Strength and Power: All combat arts require you to be faster than your opponent. Power is a combination of speed and strength: the more powerful your techniques are, the more effective and practical they are.
Flexibility: Flexibility training should be part of all martial arts training. Having a good range of motion is highly beneficial.
Cardiovascular Endurance: whether you have to last through stand up fights or grappling bouts, you need to have the endurance to last through the entire fight. Both steady pace training and interval training are key components of martial arts fitness.
Reflexes and Co-Ordination: Action and Reaction training is going to improve your reflexes. Your opponent does one move and you have to counter with another (better) move. You learn to react fast (without thinking), you learn to co-ordinate various parts of your body: dodging punches and kicks, moving out of the way of weapon strikes, or working your opponent on the ground. You need to work fast and you need to be coordinated and efficient with your skills.
So if you were looking for more reasons to join a martial art, these should really convince you! Train for self defense, fitness and overall mental and physical health. |
