The discipline known as martial arts has spread at an incredible speed in the West since its introduction in the 20th century from its historic roots in East Asia. Martial arts can be classified as either armed combat (including fencing and archery) or unarmed combat (such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, and Boxing). Awareness, strength and skill make a student exceptional in the discipline.
Adults who study martial arts at any level experience a wealth of benefits that transform both their physical health and mental clarity. There are immense advantages to exploring martial arts training even as an adult:
1. Boost Your Self-Confidence
As a martial arts student, the goals you set, the respect you give to the incredible history of the discipline and the positive encouragement you receive lead to greater feelings of self-confidence in your daily life. If you aim for high goals, as a martial arts student, you experience further belief in yourself to accomplish whatever you set out to do.
2. Learn Self-Defense
During classes, students practice realistic self defense techniques. These powerful moves give you a valuable repertoire of self-defense skills. There are also a number of martial arts benefits for women specifically. As you attain confidence in your ability to throw punches, you gain life-saving techniques that can protect you in the face of danger.
3. Relieve Stress
Students report that martial arts practices dissolve stress. The awareness and control of breathing that you develop allow an easy escape route for stress. Since martial artists are trained to focus on the present task, distractions melt away into the background, also helping to significantly lessen the stress accumulated throughout the day. Martial arts students also experience a reduction in frustration, tension and anxiety.
4. Give Yourself a Full Workout
Practicing martial arts gives you a complete, full body workout. When you engage in this training, you are utilizing incredible physical energy. As a result, strength, balance, flexibility and stamina increase proportionally to your dedication to the discipline. Also, Martial Arts moves involve crossing the midline of the body, which has been proven to increase proprioception and brain health.
5. Improve Your Heart Health
When you participate in martial arts classes, you undergo intense cardiovascular workouts. The martial arts stress the heart, leading to improvements in your cardiovascular health. Plus, high-intensity training sessions give practitioners an improved level of fitness, which lowers your heart rate and blood pressure.
6. Lose Weight
Every martial arts training session involves intense physical movements that burn calories. One hour of moderate martial arts training can burn up to 500 calories. Plus, martial arts students discover they tend to naturally crave less food. When eating becomes more regulated over time through martial arts training, you see a reduction in body weight.
7 . Get Faster Reflexes
Students who practice martial arts report that their reflexes are substantially improved. Reflexes not only become quicker as you participate in martial arts activities, but martial arts also helps both men and women develop quicker reaction times in a range of daily, routine life activities, like driving.
8. Develop a Positive Mood
Exercise is known as a natural mood enhancer. Endorphins that are released during exercise boost your mood for up to four hours after training. The mood enhancing benefits of engaging in martial arts are equal to participating in intense exercise sessions.
9. Build Strength
Develop impressive muscle tone through intense bouts of certain martial arts, like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This Brazilian martial art accentuates core muscles. The more you train in BJJ, the stronger your core will get, and the more athletic, flexible, and physically capable you will become. Plus, the gradual buildup of overall body strength helps you execute a wide range of critical moves.
10. Increase Coordination and Flexibility
Lower body stability is emphasized in the martial arts, especially since martial artists need a strong base from which to execute several popular movements. In order to perform certain martial arts tactics, like punching and kicking, increased coordination becomes tactically essential. Adding martial arts to your weekly routine will help you advance in flexibility and daily coordination.
Now that you’ve heard about how martial arts can be amazing for adults to do, why don’t you come by Tai Kai and try out a class?!