How to get started in martial arts. Here are some tips and advice on what to look out for as you search for your first, or subsequent martial arts school.
Enjoy the sound effects. [Gunshots were not an intentional part of the production]
Types of martial arts vary, but this can apply to any of them. Here is a list of some of the more common styles you may find in your quest in the USA:
Boxing (western and Chinese) - often depicted in modern times as the sport with two contestants wearing trunks and padded gloves facing off in a ring. Original roots encompass a far broader definition that included grappling, and weapons. Something more similar with Chinese boxing styles like mantis, eagle claw which include kicking, grappling, and joint locks/chokes/submissions in addition to striking with fists, palms, fingers, and elbows.
Kickboxing - a combination of striking and kicking. Also more sport oriented with rules to protect combatants from serious injury.
Wrestling - as with boxing, in modern times this calls forth distinct imagery in our minds of two combatants on a mat grappling one another to the ground and looking for a pin. Wrestling’s roots are far more pervasive and have origins to every continent on the globe. Greco-Roman which is more common in our minds today, to catch wrestling, to folk-style wrestling that changes slightly from culture to culture whether in Asia, Europe, Africa, or the Americas.
Jiu-Jitsu (Brazilian and Japanese) - jiu-jitsu origins hearkens back to the combat arts of the samurai which included but were not limited to hand-to-hand combat methods such as throws, joint locks, and ground finishing moves (submissions). Eventually this migrated to Brazil in the 1900’s where it was blended with catch-wrestling methods and focused more heavily on the ground fighting component of hand-to-hand combat.
Judo - a descendant of Japanese jiu-jitsu that focused on the grappling and ground fighting elements of jiu-jitsu.
Karate - an Okinawan fighting art that originated by blending methods from Southern China with the indigenous grappling methods of the Okinawan people. Also included weapons in addition to hand-to-hand combat applications.
Shuai Jiao - a Chinese throwing art similar to Judo but lacking the ground fighting elements. Descendant from Bokh, and other folk wrestling styles found in Mongolia and northeast Asia.
Tae Kwon Do - a Korean martial art developed in the mid 1900’s that focuses heavily on kicking.
Hapkido - also a Korean martial art that focuses more on locking and throwing methods.
Aikido - a Japanese martial art centered around falling, throwing, and locking an opponent.
Tai Chi - an old style of Chinese boxing that has been converted to a form of health practice and physical education since the early 1900’s. Prior to that it was a hand-to-hand combat art that included striking, kicking, throwing, and joint locking/chokes.
Kempo - an American martial art that early on focused on practical self-defense. Combined methods from all forms of Asian fighting arts as well as boxing and kickboxing.
Krav Maga - an Israeli hand-to-hand combat system designed specifically for commandos/special forces. Techniques are straightforward and practical, relying heavily on strength and speed to overwhelm the opponent.
