Seven Benefits of Martial Arts for Adults

A previous article I wrote for the Zone Martial Arts blog focused on the benefits of martial arts for kids but you would be surprised at how much benefit an adult can get from martial arts. Maybe you have seen your child training and thought “Maybe I could do that?” or you are looking for a different fitness option than pounding away at a treadmill for hours. If you need some more incentive to try a martial arts class for yourself, I have put together seven benefits that adults can get from martial arts.

Energy

I know it sounds weird to some, but performing a form of exercise can actually increase the energy levels a person has. Martial Arts, not only helps burn fat and calories but it builds strength and gives you an outlet for the stress that you encounter during your day. What’s even better is that it is a much more interesting way to exercise. When you do martial arts training, you need to keep your brain active and thinking about the activity. That means you are training your body and your brain.

An interesting class can not only have you walking away from the class invigorated (yet probably tired), the blood is flowing and you have burned calories in a way that is more interesting than sitting on an exercise bike. Its more practical too from a self defence perspective and is definitely something we encourage at Zone Martial Arts.

Goals

As adults, we tend to forget the need to set goals in our lives. We also tend to forget that achieving a goal is a process in and of itself. When a person comes into Zone Martial Arts, they often have goals of getting fit or learning self defence. Most have a goal of achieving a black belt. When it comes to the last one, the program we offer is broken down into belt levels and a student knows what they need to learn at each belt level to progress to the point of testing for a black belt. The program itself takes the larger goal of wanting a black belt and breaks it down into smaller chunks.

The ability to take a large goal and break it down into smaller chunks is one of the keys to really achieving goals.

We take that a step further and set out goal targets beyond just getting the next belt colour or black belt because we see the benefits of setting goals. You should always make sure they are S.M.A.R.T. goals though (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based). You can read more about goal setting in a previous blog post (Blog Post - Challenges and Goal Setting) but when students start setting goals and achieving them in martial arts, it encourages them to set goals and achieve them in other areas of their life.

Self Confidence

Think this is just for kids? No way. Adults often suffer from self-confidence issues and this could affect them in their personal life and their professional life as well.

Martial Arts helps build confidence as you see the benefits of the goals you set and achieve. As you learn that the kick you thought you could never do becomes your best kick. As you learn to defend yourself and know that you could fight back in a self defence scenario.

Martial arts builds confidence by encouraging you to succeed and showing you the benefits and value when you do. When you have more confidence, you approach things with a can-do attitude and this will mean a happier you.

Focus and Discipline

Martial arts really does help your focus. For starters, you have to put your smartphone down to train in martial arts so there is no distractions from email or messages. To perform a lot of techniques you need to think about multiple things at once. Where are my feet supposed to be, what are my arms doing, where do I need to look? All of these things take focus and the repetitive practice of these techniques sharpens your focus.

Patterns are another great way to develop your focus. You need to not only make sure you are performing the correct techniques but you need to remember them in the correct order, at the right speed and with a focus on your breathing. Then there is board breaking. There is no point even trying to break a board if you haven’t worked on your focus skills.

To work on these things though ultimately requires discipline. You learn as aspect of that through the formality of martial arts training however a lot of the benefits of martial arts come from developing your own skills in self discipline. Pushing yourself that but further or even just making sure you get off the couch and get to training.

At Zone Martial Arts we work hard to make sure our students work at developing their discipline and focus because we see the benefits for students, not only in their martial arts training but in their professional and personal lives as well.

Self Defence

Violence is most definitely on the increase and it is important to make sure that you can defend yourself when you need to. I am not only talking physical skills to defend yourself either. You need to be able to mentally fight back and not just shut down. How do you do this? Martial Arts of course.

Martial Arts training is fun and exciting but it is also building self defence skills and a tougher mind so you can handle and cope with violent situations. It helps help you improve your agility, balance, endurance, flexibility, and even your strength.  It also teaches you how to avoid physical confrontations in the first place

If you are going to exercise, do something fun and martial arts can provide that fun while at the same time providing practical skills to protect yourself. That’s why at Zone Martial Arts we focus heavily on self defence. Its all great being able to kick fast, but if you can’t apply it in a self defence scenario it won’t be much help.

It’s a Great Family Activity

So often, I see parents dropping their kids off to martial arts class, or sitting next to a field while their kids play soccer or netball. Why sit on the sidelines? Martial Arts is for everyone and it’s a great activity to learn with your kids. That’s why we have family classes at Zone Martial Arts, just so parents can learn martial arts with their kids as a family. 

There are more benefits than just a family activity though. The kids see you doing what they are doing. You sweating just as much as them if not more. They become inspired by their parents to do better and work harder. They see that hard work pays off and they relate to their parents better through this. You have common goals and common interests to talk about over dinner. For some kids, they even start to see their parents as people they aspire to be like, not just the people who ground them, send them to bed and tell them to tidy their rooms.

We have so many families training with us at ZMAX and its so great to see them achieving together.

Leadership

There is a phrase I really love. “A boss says go and a leader says let’s go”. It’s easy to be a boss who tells other people what to do but when you lead, when you show others the way to go instead of telling them, that’s when you get real results.

Martial Arts develops leadership skills. When you have to teach someone else a pattern, the best way is usually by showing them. When you team up with someone for the warm up, and you help them by just doing it with them, you are showing leadership skills.  

As you progress through the years in martial arts training, you are called on to share your knowledge with other students. Share your skills and insights. I have seen many examples of junior students approaching senior students and asking them for advise or help because they have seen that senior student working hard and practicing their skills and that lead by example approach is what makes the junior student want to learn from the senior belt. It makes them want to follow the lead of that senior belt.

The focus on being a leader in martial arts will flow on into other areas of your life and I am not just talking professionally either. You would be surprised how often this skill will benefit everyone.

So if you are interested in trying martial arts, find a school local to you and give it a go. If you live in the Sutherland Shire, come and try Zone Martial Arts. We would love to see you benefiting from some or all of the above points.

Enquire about a trial at Zone Martial Arts - CLICK HERE

Mark Underwood

Mark holds the rank of Master in two martial arts, 5th Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo and 4th Dan Black Belt in Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in a number of other martial arts styles. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts servicing the Sutherland Shire area from the Taren Point location.

Foundations of Traditional Taekwondo - Sparring

This is the second entry in my post series on what I beleive are the foundations of Taekwondo training. I listed them as basic techniques, poomsae, sparring, self-defence and breaking. These are what I believe are part of traditional Taekwondo training. I thought I should go into some more detail on each of them. This entry focuses on sparring.

Sparring is often viewed as the most important part of training in the mainstream Taekwondo community. Once basics can be performed at a reasonably level of competence the students start sparring. Traditionally though, Taekwondo students would not spar until they been training for some time but these days students often start sparring at yellow belt or even white belt.

To most clubs around the world today the word sparring means "competition sparring" but to a traditionalist it can be any number of things. It could mean one/two/three step sparring, throwing even self-defence sparring. These are more fixed and formal types of sparring. They all serve different purposes and each can be seen as limited if you only focus on one part, but together they are good to have in your training regimen.

Competition or Olympic style sparring is what most people in the Taekwondo world today would label as just "sparring". That might seem strange when you think of just how limiting the rules are. Many critics label this as "leg fencing" and while in some respects it is very limiting, it also teaches a great deal of value and is relatively safe to participate in. You have full contact and you can really use those kicks that you have been training, but you can forget about hand techniques though. It is extremely good for conditioning and stamina as well as developing other attributes like distancing and timing.

Traditional style sparring is not seen as much in modern Taekwondo but was quite prevalent before the race to the Olympics began. Here you have kicks delivered at all heights, punches to the face, strikes and lots of other techniques are used at all the heights of the body. It is much less limiting then the Olympic style but can be more dangerous and this is often why it is not being taught.

Some clubs do a version of traditional sparring called free sparring. In this version you can do all manner of techniques however the focus is on safety and not full contact. It is a good aspect of self-defense practice and it encourages more diverse techniques like throws etc. Rules are not entirely ignored with this style as safety is important but you if your opponent kicks high, you kick low, if the opponent grabs your dobok, follow up with a throw? You don’t need to elbow the opponent in the face for them to know you did it so simulation is key. The partner must then acknowledge and respond as if he were elbowed in the face.

These last two sparring kinds are not done frequently by many clubs, but a Dojang that says it practices Traditional Taekwondo should spar in other formats than just competition style sport sparring. The most important part of all of this is that the instructor clearly identifies the training goal of each form of sparring so there is no confusion in the students mind. It would be catastrophic if the student tried using sports oriented sparring in a real life self-defence scenario.



Mark Underwood

Mark is a 4th Dan Master in both Taekwondo and Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in other styles of martial arts. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts in Sydney, Australia

Foundations of Traditional Taekwondo - Breaking

In my last post I mentioned the foundations of Taekwondo training. I listed them as basic techniques, poomsae, sparring, self-defence and breaking. These are what I believe are part of traditional Taekwondo training. I thought I should go into some more detail on each of them. This first entry focuses on breaking.

The breaking portion of our training has many roles to play. It is often featured at demonstrations and is usually the audience`s favourite thing to watch. Breaking at demonstrations is a wonderful thing for the audience. Martial artists can watch a demonstration of patterns or techniques and we can appreciate the power and technique involved in the motions. The typical audience member however cannot see this. They may appreciate the technique but to them a punch looks like a punch. Breaking though is a way for the audience to appreciate the power of a technique. Like I said, to them a punch is a punch, but a punch that breaks a roof tile in two is something spectacular.

There is a practical combat reason for breaking, it goes beyond merely a show at competitions, demonstrations and gradings. For a martial artist though, the importance of breaking isn't in the display of power or how tough your knuckles are, it’s more an internal thing. If we hit something hard like a wooden board, roof tile etc, we will feel pain. I see it a lot with breaking, people are afraid to feel the pain and they stop there punch or strike, just before or on the board they are trying to break (usually resulting in more pain than if they just punched through it). This mental block is what we train breaking for. If you are afraid to hurt your hand you are going to pull that punch or strike when you try and break. More importantly though, if you pull that punch or strike when you need it, in a self-defence scenario it could have even worse consequences.

We get past that mental blockage by trying to break hard things with your kicks, strikes and punches. We learn to use all our potential in our attacks and not hold back. We learn that although a little pain might happen when we break a board, we know that its manageable, that we can continue on and that pain fades away. It develops confidence, and also it is a way to test yourself to see if your attacks truly are powerful. You can look powerful hitting air as much as you want, you can hide your flaws under the disguise of speed, but you cannot hide anything during breaking. Either your go through the target (breaking it) or you don`t (it breaks you).

Accuracy, timing and ability to hit a non-cooperating target (another human being) while he/she is trying to do the same to you, is trained in sparring, while the destruction of the target was trained in breaking. It all worked together to create the big picture and the students were allowed to aim their techniques toward illegal but practical targets as there was little to no contact (eyes, groin, temple etc).
Today the vast majority practice competition sparring with sport techniques aimed to score points. This means the power of a lot of the techniques are pulled back with some techniques not being trained at all if they don’t score. This has diminished the training of breaking at some schools. The importance and need for self-defence though have, in my opinion, increased the need for training in breaking. It is hard to re-create violence in a safe way yet breaking allows us to do this. We can use more devastating attacks and see the outcome. We can push through mental barriers that might arise in real life scenarios.

The primary objective of breaking is to remove the mental barrier that stops people from using their full potential in attacks. Breaking should be tough, not easy. Just stack them up and smash through them. Taekwondo techniques should be so effective that it can destroy just about anything if practised to a sufficient level!

Keep that in mind the next time you have to break



Mark Underwood

Mark is a 4th Dan Master in both Taekwondo and Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in other styles of martial arts. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts in Sydney, Australia.

7 Reasons Why Your Child Should Practice Martial Arts

One of the things I see as crucial in today's society, is for children to learn martial arts. There are a lot of different reasons but I did come across this blog entry from a martial artist in the U.S.A. that really resonated with me and I wanted to share it with you as well.

7 Reasons Why Your Child Should Practice Martial Arts

“The martial arts are ultimately self-knowledge. A punch or a kick is not to knock the hell out of the guy in front, but to knock the hell out of your ego, your fear, or your hang-ups.”

- Bruce Lee

Martial Arts provides kids with a healthy dose of self esteem and self respect. That's just two of the many benefits one gains with participation in things like Taekwondo or Haidong Gumdo.
Whether your kid is too bossy, too shy, or perhaps just a little hyper, the martial arts can help your child learn many important life lessons. (And, of course, those same lessons apply for all of us, not just kids.)

Reason #1: They (and You) Will Get More Active

This is the obvious reason kids should do martial arts in this day and age - to get active and moving. In case you haven’t noticed, we have an epidemic when it comes to our nation’s obesity problem. We’re also increasingly unfit in addition to being overweight. The problem is particularly alarming as it relates to our kids.

Youth sports and physical education programs are great, but not every kid is an athlete and many schools no longer offer PE. The martial arts offer many benefits, but when it comes to fitness, becoming a true martial artist means becoming a supremely fit person. Martial arts can help your child get fit and healthy.

Reason #2: They’ll Learn to Find Focus and Stillness

Of the many challenges that parents face today is that we are constantly plugged in. While there are a great many benefits to the Internet, there are many more benefits in stillness and silence. Unfortunately stillness and silence seem to be rare to find. At some juncture in life, every one of us comes to learn that the greatest obstacle we face in this lifetime is ourselves. That battle is fought in the stillness of our hearts and the willingness to confront ourselves. As Bruce Lee pointed out, behind the punches, kicks, and knees, a true martial artist learns to sit with himself and see where his weaknesses are.
In years of martial arts classes, I remember many challenges, breakthroughs, and setbacks. What I do not remember are distractions or gimmicks like you often see at your local health club. At the martial arts studios and boxing gyms where I trained, there was just hard work and sweat equity. As a martial artist, your child will learn what it is to be still, challenged, and focused.

Reason #3: They’ll Learn to Take Hits

In the martial arts, your child will learn what it is to take a hit,whether that hit is a literal blow or a disappointment like failing a test. Part of life is learning that we all take hits. The key is in learning how best to take that hit and get back up. Unfortunately, this lesson seems to be lost on many in our every-kid-gets-a-trophy culture. In the martial arts, your kid will learn to fail - a lot. Half of martial arts is hitting, but half is also getting hit. Ironically, learning how to take a hit is perhaps the best way for your kid to learn how to avoid it.

Reason #4: They’ll Gain Self Confidence and Self Respect


Teaching martial arts, I have been able to witness first hand the confidence students have gained by participating in the martial arts. Learning martial arts gives kids a tremendous amount of confidence.
The right martial arts school will teach your child that there are no tough guys. Every martial artist ultimately learns this sense of respect and true confidence. Your child will learn that confidence and respect for others comes from a deep sense of self-knowledge.

Reason #5: They’ll Connect Their Mind and Body

What they don’t teach you at your local health club is how to really listen to your body. To listen to your body is to also see your thoughts and have heightened awareness of your emotional construct.
A martial artist is taught to see, feel, and listen - both internally and externally. Tapping into intuition, fear, and courage are examples of being able to put the physical together with the mental. How often have we heard the phrase “being paralyzed with fear”? Being able to combat such a thing is what you learn in the martial arts.

Reason #6: They’ll Learn Conflict Resolution

People often ask me whether I have ever used my martial arts and boxing training in a fight. Indeed I have used the skills learned from martial arts many times to resolve conflict, but thankfully, never in a physical altercation outside the ring.
One of the first lessons was that words were never grounds for a fight. That advice right there has saved me many times. In the martial arts, you learn that there is no such thing as “fighting” words. Instead, you learn to respond without reacting in the martial arts.

Reason #7: They’ll Learn to Breathe

Of the many things I have learned in the martial arts, breathing is near the top. Indeed, nothing is more essential to the success of how we move our body than tapping into the life force of our essence - our breath. Ask a professional athlete, or an actor, dancer, or signer, and they will tell you that to succeed in any physical craft is to access your breath correctly.
I am shocked at times working with adults who never learned to breathe properly when under physical exertion. This skill can literally save your life. In the martial arts your kid will learn the essence of how to breathe and even relax under pressure.

The Take Home - How to Proceed

The bottom line is that almost any child can and will benefit from participation in the martial arts. For a typical six or eight year old the point is to just get them moving and focused. The key in choosing a teacher or school is to do your due diligence when it comes to evaluating the integrity of the program. As a starting place, I would choose a prospective instructor or coach who talks more about the needs of your child than his or her program.


Mark Underwood

Mark is a 4th Dan Master in both Taekwondo and Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in other styles of martial arts. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts in Sydney, Australia.