Martial Arts Classes for Fitness

A Fantastic way to build fitness , have fun and develop some use full skills is to take a Martial Arts Class.

Martial arts classes almost have it all, the can be a great workout, they provide a challenges you develop new skills and you learn how to protect yourself.

There are a wide range of Martial arts, starting at the beginning we can look at the different types

Traditional Martial Arts

Traditional marital arts tend to be the martial arts the have originates mainly form the far east, especially countries such as China, Japan and Korea.

These style typical called Karate include ShotoKan, Kenpo and Tae Kwondo. These styles are considered ‘Hard Styles‘ emphasize strong stances, and striking with fistes, edge of hands, elbows and kicks.
Some of the softer styles to come from the east include Judo , Jiu Jitsu and Akido. these styles tend to more emphaise locking, holding choking and controlling the opponent on the ground.
Training in these classes is quite ritualized with traditional karate ‘gi’ being worn, instructions in the language of the country of origin and military like class structure.

Tai chi is an unusual style which can alternate from ‘hard style ‘ approach to a soft yielding approach. Tai chi training is considered to be very effective in maintaining health as it focuses on deep breathing and posture, it has been described as a type of moving Yoga

Western Martial Arts

Martial arts have also developed in the west with images of Wresting and wresting manuals dating back to greek and roman times. There are many carving of men wresting in greek architecture and writing on Olympic wresting contests.

Other wester martial arts include Fencing, and Savate a french martial art which originated in Marseille , which combining punching, kicking, In fact is is rumored that Savate which stands for ‘Old Book’ was originally the ‘dirty’ fighting aspect of fencing.
The western martial arts have not being shy about taking form the traditional martial arts, and developed hybrid systems , examples of this include kick boxing which became very popular in the USA in the 70 and 80 , and Thai Boxing form Thailand which allows the use of elbows and knees.
Modern Sports based Martial Arts

With the enormous appetite for western TV for sports, a whole new range of Martial Arts sports have developed. The latest trend is is for Mixed Martial Aarts (MMA ) whihc is a hybrid of a number of systems including thai boxing and brazillian jiu jitsu
The most popular Jiu Jitsu is known as Grace Jiu Jitsu or Brazillian Jiu Jitsu, it was developed in Brazil by members of the Gracie Family who were trained by a Japanese Master.

Military Style Martial Arts – KravMaga

As people have become more time poor and less interested in spending years developing the ‘Art’ aspect of martial arts. So called reality based Martial Arts have appeared , most famous if these is the system called Krav Maga , Krav Maga which means ‘close contact’ is a modern self defence system originally developed by the Israeli Army hut now available all over the world.
Krav Maga emphasis working with the bodies instinctive reaction so that moves can be learned and retained quickly and that your reaction will always be the fastest possible. It also uses HIIT Training to improves fitness