Why Learn Mixed Martial Arts?
Posted by Owen Jones in Uncategorized, tags: aikido, boxing, exercise, fitness, fitness equipment, health, hobbies, judo, martial arts, mixed martial arts, other, recreation, sport, Uncategorized, wrestlingThe sport of mixed martial arts appears to be taking North and South America, Europe and Japan by storm. It is not a new sport by any means; the contemporary round of popularity for mixed martial arts goes back about 20 years.
So, it has been bubbling under for quite a while, but now every city and town appears to be offering training in MMA to one degree or another.
There are gyms specializing in mixed martial arts and other gyms are providing it as one of their repertoire of martial arts and fitness regimes. However, learning MMA is not like learning other combative skills, because MMA incorporates, or can incorporate, all the other skills. Mixed martial arts is not a solitary fighting skill on its own like say, karate or aikido is.
At the end of the day, this means that a devotee of MMA has to master say, boxing, wrestling, karate, jiu jitsu and Thai boxing which obviously takes a immense deal of commitment on behalf of the student.. So why would you want to learn mixed martial arts?
The reasons why people do some things are highly personal, but two of the most popular factors given for wanting to learn MMA are to get fit and to be able to protect oneself.
MMA requires a high level of fitness and endurance, but it also increases one’s self-confidence and powers of concentration. This latter benefit seems to help children (and adults) with ADD and ADHD, but all children benefit from elevated confidence, fitness and the ability to defend themselves from bullies.
All recognized, formal fighting skills have weaknesses when it comes to a real street brawl. In a street brawl, normally the bigger guy wins. Training may reverse this, giving the smaller individual with superior skills the edge.
However, say you learn boxing to protect yourself and you are picked on from behind one night; you are knocked to the ground and a large man gets on top of you. Your boxing skills are not a lot of use now, are they?
Or say that you learned wrestling, but the other guy is very fast and he keeps darting in and hitting you, wearing you down and you just cannot get a hold of him. Or say he has a knife?
Aikido is fantastic for disarming opponents and karate and Thai boxing give you a better reach by teaching you to fight with your legs. In this fashion, mixed martial arts provides a more rounded method of self-defence and attack.
Part of the skill in learning mixed martial arts is selecting which martial arts to learn. Tae kwon do is a very athletic style involving high kicks and jumps. A weighty person would not take to tae kwon do readily, but may prefer Brazilian jiu jitsu. Luckily, your instructor will know which combinations of sports will be best matched to your personality and your body type.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a range of topics, but is now concerned with Mixed Martial Arts Training Gyms. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Mixed Martial Arts Quotes
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