A list of some of the most popular martial arts.
January 9th, 2010 | by admin |Let’s take a look at some of today’s more popular martial arts. While these won’t cover all of the martial arts, these are 3 of the most popular styles today. The first one, Kung-Fu, is particularly popular for those seeking a more traditional martial arts training. Muay Thai and BJJ are customarily used by MMA fighters.
First up is Kung-Fu. Kung-Fu got its beginnings in China, where it was developed for the monks. Although it’s now spread throughout the world and anyone is allowed to practice it, it wasn’t always that way. In fact, historically speaking, just a little while ago it was reserved only for the monks. Many kicks and punches are used in Kung-Fu. It has some joint locks and some throws, but they’re very limited. Unlike Judo and karate, Kung-Fu is a softer style of martial arts. Kung-Fu uses a lot of concepts and body mechanics, whereas karate’s more considered a hard, force against force style. Kung-Fu is more of a soft against hard style. Because of this many people think that Kung-Fu cannot provide any good self defense techniques but Kung-Fu actually has some powerful techniques if used properly.
Next we have Muay Thai, a very popular art thanks to MMA. Muay Thai was developed by the Thai people. It can be seen all over Thailand in many kick-boxing competitions. In Thailand, young boys are taken from their home at a very young age, and they’re raised to fight in the ring for money. Often they go till knock-out or until someone quits. Knees, elbows, and round-house kicks are the primary focus of Muay Thai. Because of these powerful elbows and knee’s, Muay Thai is a great source of self-defense techniques. Their competitions are known for being extremely brutal, but in America you can still practice Muay Thai at a good gym and be safe, because hopefully they’ll be using good, protective padding.
Finally, we will talk about BJJ, or Brazilian Jujitsu. BJJ is a great style that has many powerful self-defense techniques. BJJ is one of the most practiced styles of martial arts due to the popularity of the UFC. Not many people knew about it when it first came out. When the Gracie brothers brought it to the UFC, no one was able to stop it. Royce Gracie was known for going into the UFC and basically defeating everyone in the ring in this all out blood-thirsty fight. After seeing this, the rest of the world saw that Brazilian Jujitsu might be worth learning. Today, it’s practiced by nearly every participate of MMA. A great style for grapplers, it’s actually not used as often as before. Because it’s main aspect is grappling, submissions, chokes, arm bars, and knee locks are often used. Very few strikes and punches exist, and the ones that do are very simple. Once getting your opponent on the ground, the main purpose of Brazilian Jujitsu is to cause them to give up when you do a joint submission or a choke.
These are a few of the more commonly used martial arts in today’s world. However, there are many more popular martial arts out there. This was just a quick look at a few of the most common martial arts. I hope this was able to give you a clue as to what style you may want to learn. If you want to learn more about a martial art, take a look at dojos in your area to see which one is your closest fit. Don’t be afraid to look at different schools. Before signing up, be sure to check out more than one school. Most good schools will let you try a few classes for free before you commit.
