Why people should practise Martial Arts!
"I don't have kids, but if I did, Martial Arts would be the only thing they would be obliged to do" - MaxJoy
Hello! Hope life and health is shinning on you!
I just got back to training Martial Arts after a long involuntary pause.
https://steemit.com/blog/@maxjoy/my-return-to-martial-arts
Today I'll be expressing why I think doing Martial Arts is so important.
One obvious thing we tend to forget is that health is the most important aspect of our lives. It's vital... literally... Basic yes, yet very often forgotten. With all this new diet and health products... I never see someone saying go into a dojo and practise martial arts.
Martial Arts is the best physical practise
If you're main concern is to look good, there are other things that will make you look "better and bigger" faster. But I can not think of any other sport that gives you such complete work out... all the muscles, reflexes, strength, breathing, stretching, agility, mental... and so on...
It gives you calmness and confidence.
Let's say someone is chocking you ... and your getting tunnel vison and you can't breath... This will be very uncomfortable for the first months but after a while you can stay cool in such circumstances. And after another while you will even be able to get out of there. Trust me.. after you manage to get a huge guy of you while you are deprived of air... everything will be put into perspective in your day to day life. All of a sudden your annoying boss at the office will lose all his power over your emotions ... even his voice will sound like in a lower volume.
Mundane things will be less stressful, you will navigate life in a much calmer way. You will be truly present.
And the fact that you can take care of yourself will just make you more confident... you won't be easily scared on the street and so on... You will hold your grown and remain calm.
It gives you discipline and respect.
"Discipline Equals Freedom" - Jocko Willink
It's a practise where you absolutely need discipline... you can say any practise does , if you want to be good.
True, but Martial Arts demand discipline just to be able to do it.
For example, I used to play basketball and the night after training I could go out with my friends and smoke and so on. After my first Ju Jitsu training, I started cutting down on alcohol immediately.
And you can't fake it... unlike some team sports, where it's all about the team (There is no I in team) and you can just run around in the field or sit in the bench... here it's all about you. You against another guy. If you don't learn the kick correctly and practise it 1000 times, you won't be able to do it.
You will be in competition with yourself in no time. (and in a good way).
Most academies (specially traditional ones) are quite segregated... but for a good reason. There is a way of doing things, you must know your place and respect your elders and more advanced students... there is no entitlement no "participation medal".
And if by any chance you decide to be arrogant with some other student... well .. you will regret it.
It develops your mind
Some people call Brazilian Ju Jitsu the "Human Chess" . Because not only are you doing some excellent physical exercise. You must actually use your head a lot too... you need to anticipate the opponents move, react to it, miss guide his attention ...
Using your body and mind at full power.
It can be useful
I'm actually surprised by how so many people give this spiel: "Oh... I don't like violence... so I'm not doing Martial Arts"... I mean... really?
First of all, you will become less violent. The fact that you're confident and can take care of yourself will automatically make you less violent.
If you're walking with your girlfriend and a guy comes to rob you... you will be calmer than if you did not know how to defend yourself. In that case you would be more afraid and then the odds of a fight actually happening increase a lot . Then you will try to avoid fighting to the most, you won't fell the need to show that you are a strong man, because you know you can fight. You will even see if you can just run with her and avoid conflict. And if all fails, if you can't talk to him, he already has your money but his still agressive and you can not run. Then you will put him to the ground and go home. Much better than the alternative.
It's way more likely that you will avoid a fight and if a fight does happen, it's way more likely that you will just walk away.
Bullying is a very hot topic now a days... there are "anti bullying" associations... Like saying to the kid: Bullying is bad will solve the problem... (A kid who is a serious bully, has some issues that won't be fixed with a "It's wrong campaign)
Allow me to give you a solution... are you ready?... It's called Martial Arts.
If you put you're kid into martial arts, he won't become a bully. (If he is a bully already, don't put him in martial arts, but then again... he won't have the discipline (at that time in his life) to learn it). So he won't become one, already positive. And if a bully comes to him, his sister or his friends he will try and talk to him and if that doesn't work, he will punch him a bit or lock his arm in a grip ... and the bully won't bother him and his circle again... and maybe will start to end the bullying all together...
It's like car insurance... Do you want to crash your car?... Do you attract a car crash if you have an insurance?... No! But you have one in case you need it. Same thing. You won't attract violence (any more than usual) since you are calmer and more peaceful and in case you need it, it can be very, very useful.
It's true that you can attract what you put out... and violence does create more violence. But again... you will be more peaceful. You will attract less violence and when you just can not stop the violence, you will be able to deal with it.
I'm sorry to say... but an agressor does not care, if you "don't believe in violence"... good people are faced with bad situations... So if you don't like violence you should really give a Martial Art a try.
As always, thank you for reading.
Photos (except Logo) from Pixabay.com
Hey, I just found your post and saw that you are coming back to BJJ, nice! Always happy to encounter more jiujiteiros here in Steemit :-)
I have always been curious about JKD but have never tried it. Right now I am more focused on ground fighting but I will definitely would like to train in it sometime in the future.
Really nice post about martial arts, I wish more people saw them that way. I think many people have the misconception that they teach people to be violent and bullyish when it's actually the opposite. Nothing has ever so deeply transformed myself like martial arts training, both physically and mentally. Now I can't imagine my life without them.
Cheers, and thanks for this beautiful reminder :-)
Yes! Martial arts have the ability to change peoples lives. I believe it's even the norm!! Glad to find a fellow martial artist here.
All the best!!
Thank you so much for this nice comment!
Eu gosto das artes marciais. Eu fiz kung fu por 5 anos na minha adolescência e adoraria ter continuado hoje na idade adulta :) Valeu!
Nunca é tarde demais...
Nunca mesmo :) Ja tive alunos de mais 50 e 60 anos ... ja tive quem nunca praticou de todas as idades e da sempre para progredir.
Muito bom o seu texto @maxjoy, acredito que essa arte deveria ser aplicado na escola como ensino também, como tentativa de acabar com o bullying ... falando em bullying semana passada um adolescente estudante de 14 anos matou 2 e feriu outros por não suportar a situação que vivia dentro da sala de aula. Acredito que esse problema seria resolvido de vez.
Sem dúvida que devia ser ensinado na escola. Se um dia eu montar uma escola vai ter Artes Marciais.
Não sabia dessa triste acontecimento com o adolescente.... Como é possível ?.... AI está um exemplo que tinha sido evitado.
Bom Domingo!
É um fato lamentável que deveria ser solucionado antes, infelizmente o final foi triste.
Excelente semana!
In competition we know how to prepare for an event that will happen. Thus the experience of the preparer, the competitor, the long history of a sport of combat and the preparation allow to emerge at the competitor qualities that will resurface during the fight. While no preparation can recreate the conditions of an assault on the street. The main concern of those who wish to learn how to defend it must therefore be realism. The techniques employed will therefore have to be part of a different problem
Yes, that's why it is dangerous to train and then think you're Bruce Lee. That's mainly an issue with competition (like you said) , it's is very popular now a days, to train a Martial Art for competition and try to win medals. That can be extremely dangerous in a street situation. However that's a complex topic that needed a separate article to really talk about it.
However Martial Arts are not about winning medals. Not about competition but mainly about real life scenarios. In their essence and philosophy.
The main advantage of a martial artist in a street situation, will be the ability t keep calm. And with all mental and fight preparation it will have better odds to get out of there than most people.
But yes, today's competition martial arts that are so in fashion, can be deceiving and dangerous.
Thank's a lot for the comment.
You talked about bullying but not in the way I thought. The reason why they won't get bullied is because of the confidence they will acquire, which is just a side effect of building their own strength imho. :)
Yes!! I agree 100%.
its a very helpful post, thank you.
Great post... we are new here on steemit.. but hace decades of experience in the fitness industry.
DO follow is and stay tuned.. some great content coming youre way to keep you motivated and fit.. the sexy way :)