10 reasons to study a martial art

“Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself”

Chinese Proverb

Three year ago I led an inactive life. I shuttled to work on a train in the dark and shuttled back again fourteen hours later. In between those journeys I worked in offices, moving from one chair to another. I looked forward to the weekends, during which I ate too much, drank too much, felt tired and had no energy to do anything of any consequence. A small voice somewhere inside me kept saying, it’s OK Mark; you can choose to change your life whenever you want to, just give me the word.

The start of that change came when I went to a “taster session” for a then little known martial art called “Jado Kuin Do”. I went along with my elder son and joined in the session for adults afterwards while he played with some other kids. That day was the start of physical, mental and emotional transformation for me, not that I realized it at the time.

For the first time in years I felt shaken alive. It was difficult but fun. A large part of the enjoyment was down to the instructor, a man named Touka. He was only 21, half my age, but he had the leadership qualities, patience and humour that you find only in legendary teachers – it was a real wake up call for me.

“The obstacle is the path”

Zen Proverb

What started with an hour a week developed in time. After a year of training the weekly hour became two to three hours and today I find myself instructing my own classes and living a life full of health, vitality and being true to myself – the old life shuttling to the city on a train is a distant memory. And my chosen martial art is now getting the recognition it deserves.

Finding the martial art that suits you is important as is finding the right teacher – it may not change your life like it did mine, but it will bring you many benefits.

1. Self-realization: It isn’t obvious when you start but the truth is there are no natural martial artists. It’s entirely a learned skill. Because of that truth, it becomes apparent that you get out from it exactly what you put in. When that feedback mechanism “clicks” with you, you suddenly realize just how much you are capable of doing and being.
2. Self-esteem: Many people studying a martial art start because of low self-esteem. Perhaps they have been bullied or have a learning difficulty. In the dojo, everyone enters as an equal and status is conferred only through demonstrable expertise – it is incredibly equitable; the size of your bank balance or of anything else is irrelevant here.
3. Self-assurance: It takes time, but with continued practice comes a real calm with practitioners. Far from violence, you feel that many martial artists have inner peace. That self-assurance is real and comes, I believe, from having an ability to defend oneself, a deeply rooted primal need that is one of the fundamental skills for survival that we are disconnected from. Gaining a defence skill satisfies the lizard brain as Tammy Strobel calls it.
4. Self-discipline: Initially, in any martial art, the discipline appears very external and forced, almost military. It isn’t because you can choose to leave at any time. The external discipline is a reminder – in time the discipline is solely your own. Self-discipline is a very useful trait to own, especially when it becomes subconscious. It gives you the ability to make your choices and stick to them without suffering every temptation without any willpower or control.
5. Coordination: The degree of hand-eye coordination, balance and strength required to become skillful at a martial art is very high. The journey to accomplishment though is very satisfying. Other than your suit or “Gi”, there is really no equipment to worry about. It isn’t an activity for equipment nuts. What you are really learning is how to use your body. Coordination is a key learning. Students with dyspraxia or degrees of autism can have great success in developing and improving coordination and timing too.
6. Weight loss: Gradual at first, but then like a torrent, weight loss is common among martial artists. To be successful you clearly need to eat well. And coming to a session with a hangover, even a mild one, is something that you will only do once! As you improve in your chosen art, you want to become better. Your increasing self-discipline spills over into controlling what you eat and you really will become slimmer.
7. Fitness: Starting a martial art is hard – lots of people drop out in the first month. It can feel like an uphill battle, especially trying to get to and through that first grading. This is normally because as well as learning something new and strange, we are also gaining a base level of fitness. But this challenge makes things worthwhile. Once that base level of fitness is achieved, the complexity of the challenge has increased and you will be concentrating on the learning. You will forget about the fitness and conditioning that you are getting – but you are getting it, in spades! The camaraderie of others training with you gets you through it. So although it’s not a team sport technically, you are sharing with many like-minded souls and helping each other on to success.
8. SAQ: Speed, Agility and Quickness disappear as we become adult. Our situations don’t often demand it. When we are children and at school, we are spontaneous and exercise these skills all the time (or at least children used to – there are many signs now of this changing). Even if we are fit, exercise can tend to be quite formal in the gym or in classes where it’s lots of long steady duration stuff. Martial arts require you to use speed, agility and quickness and this keeps your movements snappy and nimble. The physical quickness supports mental quickness, part of the reason you see more and more older people taking part in martial arts.
9. Strength: It grows without you realizing. So much of what you do in a martial art uses your body weight. Most people can’t move their body weight very effectively and need to use lighter weights, dumbbells, machines, kettle bells and similar to exercise. Being able to use your bodyweight is the most effective thing you can do and your martial art will gradually enable to develop this strength. Martial arts will not make you muscle bound like a bodybuilder, but you will get that sinewy muscular strength and tendon strength that can really protect your body and make you powerful beyond expectation.
10. Camaraderie: Your fellow martial artists will be amongst the closest group of friends and acquaintances that you are likely to make. There is something about the shared adversity, the toughness of training, that brings you together. People really support each other in their club and outside. It can be surprising as a martial art is in many ways a solitary rather than a team activity. But I have found the camaraderie the strongest reason of all to continue my martial arts study.

If you have never tried a martial art, I encourage you to find one and try it out. You may not get the right one for you right away so be prepared to experiment. If you’ve studied an art before but became too busy, why not revisit it? It is never too late to start!