The sport of mixed martial arts appears to be taking North and South America, Europe and Japan by storm. It is not a new sport by any means; the modern bout of popularity for mixed martial arts goes back about 20 years.
So, it has been bubbling under for quite a while, but now every city and town appears to be offering training in MMA to one degree or another.
There are gyms specializing in mixed martial arts and other gyms are providing it as one of their range of martial arts and fitness regimes. However, learning MMA is not like studying other fighting skills, because MMA incorporates, or may incorporate, all the other skills. Mixed martial arts is not a sole fighting skill on its own like say, boxing or aikido is.
Ultimately, this means that a devotee of MMA has to master say, boxing, wrestling, karate, jiu jitsu and Thai boxing which naturally takes a great amount of dedication on behalf of the student.. So why would you want to learn mixed martial arts?
The reasons why individuals do some things are extremely personal, but two of the most popular reasons cited for wanting to learn MMA are to stay fit and to be able to defend oneself.
MMA requires a high degree of fitness and stamina, but it also increases one's self-confidence and powers of concentration. This latter benefit seems to help children (and adults) with ADD and ADHD, but all children benefit from increased confidence, fitness and the ability to defend themselves from bullies.
All recognized, formal fighting skills have blind-spots when it comes to a real street fight. In a street brawl, usually the bigger guy wins. Training may reverse this, giving the smaller person with superior knowledge the edge.
However, say you learn boxing to defend yourself and you are picked on from behind one night; you are knocked to the ground and a large man gets on top of you. Your boxing skills are not much use now, are they?
Or say that you learned wrestling, but the other guy is really fast and he keeps darting in and hitting you, wearing you down and you simply cannot get a hold of him. Or say he has a knife?
Aikido is fantastic for disarming opponents and karate and Thai boxing give you a better reach by teaching you to fight with your legs. In this fashion, mixed martial arts provides a more rounded method of self-defence and attack.
Part of the skill in learning mixed martial arts is choosing which martial arts to learn. Tae kwon do is a very athletic style involving high kicks and jumps. A weighty person would not take to tae kwon do easily, but might prefer Brazilian jiu jitsu. Fortunately, your teacher will know which combinations of sports will be best matched to your personality and your body sort.
So, it has been bubbling under for quite a while, but now every city and town appears to be offering training in MMA to one degree or another.
There are gyms specializing in mixed martial arts and other gyms are providing it as one of their range of martial arts and fitness regimes. However, learning MMA is not like studying other fighting skills, because MMA incorporates, or may incorporate, all the other skills. Mixed martial arts is not a sole fighting skill on its own like say, boxing or aikido is.
Ultimately, this means that a devotee of MMA has to master say, boxing, wrestling, karate, jiu jitsu and Thai boxing which naturally takes a great amount of dedication on behalf of the student.. So why would you want to learn mixed martial arts?
The reasons why individuals do some things are extremely personal, but two of the most popular reasons cited for wanting to learn MMA are to stay fit and to be able to defend oneself.
MMA requires a high degree of fitness and stamina, but it also increases one's self-confidence and powers of concentration. This latter benefit seems to help children (and adults) with ADD and ADHD, but all children benefit from increased confidence, fitness and the ability to defend themselves from bullies.
All recognized, formal fighting skills have blind-spots when it comes to a real street fight. In a street brawl, usually the bigger guy wins. Training may reverse this, giving the smaller person with superior knowledge the edge.
However, say you learn boxing to defend yourself and you are picked on from behind one night; you are knocked to the ground and a large man gets on top of you. Your boxing skills are not much use now, are they?
Or say that you learned wrestling, but the other guy is really fast and he keeps darting in and hitting you, wearing you down and you simply cannot get a hold of him. Or say he has a knife?
Aikido is fantastic for disarming opponents and karate and Thai boxing give you a better reach by teaching you to fight with your legs. In this fashion, mixed martial arts provides a more rounded method of self-defence and attack.
Part of the skill in learning mixed martial arts is choosing which martial arts to learn. Tae kwon do is a very athletic style involving high kicks and jumps. A weighty person would not take to tae kwon do easily, but might prefer Brazilian jiu jitsu. Fortunately, your teacher will know which combinations of sports will be best matched to your personality and your body sort.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with Mixed Martial Arts Training Gyms. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Mixed Martial Arts Quotes