Martial Arts training provides a full body workout which, in turn, improves your overall health, strength, flexibility, fitness, coordination, and balance. As Martial Arts training contains elements of aerobic and anaerobic exercises, there’s no doubt that your body will be conditioned over time and increase your endurance. After all, the more you train, the better your body will be able to adapt to the demands of Martial Arts.
So, why are Martial Arts so beneficial for our bodies? We delve deeper to find out more!
Balance
There are many ways to train balance. Martial arts, in particular, can improve various aspects of our physical and mental capacity, which in turn directly affects our balance. The ability to control your body’s position, especially while moving and performing physical activities has many proven benefits.
Martial Arts works the entire body, from the base to the upper torso, to the all-important core. It helps strengthen your legs and improves your flexibility, all the while enhancing your mental sharpness and focus; so you are always aware of your positioning.
Coordination
In sports, balance is described as the ability to stay in control of your body movement or to stay upright. Coordination is defined as the ability to move two or more parts of your body smoothly, efficiently, and under control. Taking on any sport is likely to help you improve your coordination. Martial Arts can be particularly good in this area because it relies on you moving in certain ways in order to master certain techniques.
Your improved coordination won’t be noticeable to begin with. But the more classes you get under your belt, the better you’ll get and the steadier you’ll be at all times. You might actually find you’re fitter and more able to take on a range of movements than you were before. If you sometimes feel like your hands or feet are a few seconds behind your brain, this feeling could disappear soon after you begin your study of Martial Arts.
Flexibility
Martial Arts require a certain dose of flexibility. Training requires a lot of stretching to avoid injuries, and the Martial Art movements themselves will help you become more flexible too. Increasing flexibility provides many physical benefits, such as improved posture, fewer injuries, and improved physical performance. As your flexibility increases, these benefits can lead to improvements in your martial arts practice, as well as in your daily life.
Flexibility for Improved Posture
Maintaining good posture puts less strain on your spine, joints, and connective tissue. At the same time, good posture makes you feel more confident and opens up your lungs leading to better Martial Arts performance.
When you focus on increasing your flexibility, improvements to your posture are likely to follow. As you devote more time to stretching, you’ll begin to recognise what good posture and proper alignment feel like throughout your body. As your alignment improves, you’ll notice improvements in your Martial Arts training.
Flexibility for Fewer Injuries
As your flexibility improves, your risk for future injuries decreases. Becoming more flexible can address any existing muscle imbalances and reduce your risk of getting injured. Incorporating stretches that address the major joints and muscle groups throughout your body will give you a better sense of areas that require more attention. For example, you might find that your shoulders are extremely tight, especially on the left side.
Flexibility for Improved Physical Performance
Committing the time to improve your flexibility allows for better movement throughout your entire body. The ease of movement comes from your muscles working more efficiently and effectively. Better movement translates into improved physical performance when sparring, on the mats or competing.
Endurance
Endurance training involves raising the body’s heart and respiration rate. This helps in boosting overall fitness and also improves the health of organs. A general fallacy is that, endurance training doesn’t build strength. But, in fact, there are a variety of endurance training exercises that will build strength. Endurance training helps improve daily lifestyle movement and makes it easier to carry out day-to-day tasks. When it comes to building endurance for Martial Arts, it can be helpful to look at two different types: general endurance and specific endurance.
General Endurance
Generally speaking, endurance is a physical skill that plays an essential role in our overall health and fitness. Along with strength, balance, and flexibility, endurance helps us carry out the activities of our daily lives, including the time we spend on the mats. You can build general endurance by heading out for a run, a bike ride, or even a swim. These types of activities develop a healthy level of endurance and can help you in your Martial Arts training.
Specific Endurance
Another way to look at endurance and Martial Arts is the specific physical endurance you need to outlast an opponent, make it through a class feeling good or, to make it to the end of a competition without being exhausted.
To make your endurance training more specific to Martial Arts, it’s helpful to vary the intensity of your workouts. Martial Arts falls in a range of intensity levels. This training might look like high-intensity interval training with periods of rest in between.
Muscle Tone
Martial Arts is a high-aerobic workout that uses every muscle group in your body. It can increase muscle mass and build muscle tone. Muscle mass and metabolism are associated with each other, which means that you can burn more calories even while at rest!
A typical Martial Arts class begins with warm up exercises to release the body’s muscles. Students engage in a series of stretching exercises that provide muscular strength and flexibility. This muscular strength and flexibility come in handy later, when practitioners begin their Martial Arts techniques; such as kicking, throwing, grappling, or striking.
After the initial warm up session, Martial Art students are involved in more severe forms of muscle workout such as push-ups, sit-ups and squats. These are done in multiple sets and are great for boosting muscle build up. Plus, they also play a significant role in burning calories. Training on a regular basis helps the student gain muscular strength and also tones muscles, especially in areas such as the arms, legs, and torso.
It is only after such high level of preparation that the actual sparring and self-defence sessions begin. This way, Martial Arts combines strength and cardiovascular training to help students achieve a toned and fit body.
Is Martial Arts For You?
Now that you’ve read all about the benefits to your body when training in Martial arts, it’s time to get started. Make the decision today to push yourself to a new level of personal performance. In no time, you’ll be reaping all the benefits of learning Martial Arts!
If you enjoyed this read, check out our first blog of the ‘Benefits of Martial Arts’ series where, we looked further into how Martial Arts benefits our mind! Or, read our handy tips and guides on choosing a Martial Arts club and the benefits of Martial Arts for children.
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