Why martial arts above any other form of fitness activity?

Something often overlooked with Martial Arts is the incredible benefits to a person’s fitness, notably cardiovascular health. A weak cardiovascular system can be very dangerous, potentially leading to the very obvious outcome of heart failure, but it also has many debilitating signs including shortness of breath and feeling very weak. A strong cardiovascular system through structured exercise can be hugely beneficial, prolonging life and increasing your quality of life.

Experienced practicing martial arts enthusiasts will fully appreciate the cardiovascular benefits, and how martial arts as a continuous form of exercise can dramatically increase your cardiovascular strengths as well as strength of mind and confidence.

Less motivation is required

As an exercise, martial arts in itself doesn’t have the stigma of feeling like to you have to do it, just to maintain a level of fitness as many exercise based pass times do. Half an hour a day really does fly very quickly when you are partaking in a martial arts class, and within that period you have put in an intense, enjoyable work out that not only has strong cardiovascular benefits, it is also a complete body workout meaning you don’t have to spend time working on different parts of your body. It is a natural process with most martial arts to work on the whole body, and those looking to partake in martial arts classes to lose weight as their main goal, very quickly see significant positive changes in body shape. Martial arts provide a perfect balance to your exercise regime, exercising every muscle and sinew in your body, building natural muscle mass while you do so.

Muscle mass is key to long term health as well. The higher your muscle mass, the higher your metabolic demands will be, and you will burn calories much more quickly which in turn helps prevent obesity, promoting natural and healthy weight loss. Greater levels of muscle mass also lead to improved agility, flexibility and balance. This is particularly good for people experiencing the natural fatigue that comes with age. As you grow older, muscles, balance and agility are something we should all work on to improve our quality of life. Martial arts provide an excellent intervention, halting those typical aches and strains we experience through the ageing process, building long-term benefits to how our body functions. The old adage of continually working and testing our minds to keep them fit active is a perfect scenario for our bodies as well.

So why martial arts above other methods of keeping fit?

Indeed, losing weight, toning our bodies and feeling great through any form of fitness, especially something we enjoy doing is a superb use of our time, and keeping us all healthy. However, martial arts provide something extra, giving our minds an edge, and you could explain it as improving the fitness of our minds. All forms of exercise improve our confidence and empower us in some way to achieve more, but martial arts sit at the very pinnacle of confidence building. It provides an unshakeable self-confidence, and mental toughness. It makes us truly resilient to the most testing of circumstances, building a level of confidence that is unmatched. Crucially it provides a real sense of control, improving our mental state, instilling a sense of self-discipline and self-belief, providing a further sense of clarity around our goals and ambitions.

We may be biased here at our martial arts academy in Witham, but our years of experience watching how martial arts has an incredible influence on the people who visit the academy regularly, has led us to conclude there is nothing better in the form of exercise to influence fitness of the body and mind as well as martial arts.