The Many Benefits of Martial Arts: Why Taking Up a Discipline Helps

Roy • May 29, 2019

The most obvious way in which you stand to gain by taking up a martial arts discipline is physically and here’s how you do this:

Speed, Agility and Coordination

Most martial arts require practitioners to be agile and quick. Practicing martial arts regularly improves both speed and agility. As a result, your reaction times shorten, your reflexes improve and you become capable of physical feats that you might have once thought were beyond you.

Further, your hand to eye coordination also improves through consistently practicing a martial arts discipline.

Flexibility and Stability

Exercises conducted during martial arts training help improve flexibility in those practicing. Apart from this, they also help with stability and body control, benefiting the same over a period of time.

Strength and Stamina

Though martial arts rely greatly on technique, there is a fair amount of strength training that goes into the same. Strength is required for all kind of physical activity including kicking, striking and grappling.

Further, anyone who has ever spent time sparring will know how the same could have you short of breath in under five minutes if you’re not adequately practiced. Martial arts training exercises also include numerous aimed at improving stamina.

In short, martial arts training benefits both strength and stamina tremendously.

Cardiovascular Health

Regular training means a regular workout. This in turn improves your cardiovascular health. Apart from burning potentially damaging stored fat, taking up a martial arts discipline and practicing regularly helps lower blood pressure.

Psychological Benefits

Martial arts are not just physically beneficial. One article posted by the online publication Psychology Today elaborates on numerous positive psychology aspects of martial arts. Apart from benefiting your self-esteem, here are some more ways in which martial arts is beneficial– only, these are psychological!

Concentration

Martial arts practices are known to benefit one’s ability to focus. This is in part because staying alert is a crucial part of any martial arts training. This is particularly so when sparring with an opponent. At this time, you need to watch yourself while you figure out ways to bring your opponent down. This would be impossible without focus or without the ability to concentrate.

Stress Relief

Martial arts helps produce endorphins in the body as do other exercise forms. In a sense, regular martial arts practice acts as a form of stress relief. This among other things is in part, due to the fact that those practicing have a healthy outlet for any energy that may lie within.

Cognitive Function

Finally, taking up martial arts is known to greatly benefit cognitive function. Learning new techniques, understanding how they work and implementing the same allows for new neural pathways and connections to be formed. This holds true as much for children as it does for adults.

The Upshot

Who would have thought taking up a simple martial arts discipline could have offered so many benefits, both physical and psychological. If you’re sold on what you have read here and feel you could use some martial arts in your life, we’d love to help!

Our London – Ontario based martial arts institute offers adult martial arts lessons and martial arts classes for children. Instructors at the institute specialize in disciplines which include Karate, Jiu Jitsu and MMA self defense among others. Feel free to check out our programs or connect with us for more information !

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