Andrew Smith

Martial arts

Do you think Martial arts are for you? Sometimes lifting weights can get boring and maybe it is just not the type of exercise you want, and if you are new to working out and trying to lose a few ponds then maybe you should try something like martial arts. Martial arts gives you a lot of excitement, and it teaches you not only to strengthen your body, it helps strengthen your mind to.

I think that Martial arts are a very good habit.  I also think that everyone should at least try it.  Martial arts are VERY physical and can get you in, or keep you in, GREAT shape! I like to think it’s an awesome way to get active. These are five reasons why I think you should at least consider Martial arts:

It is very active.

It can get or keep you in great shape.

It exercises mental and physical strength.

You can apply it to anything and everything.

You learn how to protect your self and others.

People have practiced Martial arts Cense the human species was on the Earth. People always had to fight to get something, and then they had to fight to keep it. Martial arts is the why to protect anything, your self, your families, and anything you own. That is one of the reasons why I think you should consider martial arts.

You can apply martial arts to anything. You will feel better and you will be in better shape. If you need to move furniture, you will have the mussels to do it. Even if you drive, martial arts can help with reflexes and timing, Master Brian told us a story about how reflexes (Martial art training) helped him when he was driving one day. He said that earlier that morning someone ran through a red light and he was going through the green light, and he seen the person coming and he seen the person just in time and stopped the car. Luckily no one got heart. That is just an example. There are other ways as well. 

Martial arts and the physical activity that you would be doing is very good for creating stronger bones and you even get more resistance to viruses and become less likely to get sick. I practice a Martial art that is called Moo Sool Do, it is a combination of Tae Kwon Do, Tang Soo Do, and Hap Ki Do, and I feel a lot more energized then if I would not be taking it. When I started to run; I can probably run for about four miles and be worn out. If I tried to do that before I went in Martial arts I do not think I could have mad it one mile.

Martial arts can even help with stress. Some people are different then others and there for they loss stress differently, someone might loss stress in the martial art class some might have to do something ells to loss stress, I know it works for me. When your stress free, your body “likes” you. You are more healthy and motivated. Stress can make your body have a variety of problems. Martial arts can help you evade them. 

Another thing with martial arts is that it helps you mentally. One part of martial arts is meditation before and after class. Well that is how it is with my school. Most schools do meditation before classes, but not all of them are the same. Meditation helps focus your mind on your training and takes you away from all of the problems and irritations you might have out side of class. When you get good at meditating you can learn how to focus your self and keep calm in stressful environments.  Meditation is actually very vital to martial arts. It helps you “prepare” for class, yet you still try to think of nothing.  You see I found out that Martial arts relies on the mind more then the body. When you encounter a threat people tend to think to much, there for there going slower then they would be if they where thinking of nothing and letting there reflexes take over. One time I was sparing a third dan black belt, and she likes to kicking left and right, over and over and over again. I always got hit when I was starting out. The last time I spared her she through the kicks, I blocked every one of them and landed a few kicks my self. The trick was that I really did not think about it, I seen it coming and my arms just blocked the kicks all by them selves.   

Meditation is one of the ways you can exercise mental strength.  Another way is to fallow rules. Self-control, and discipline are big ones. Self-control is one of the things that you would have to have if you do not want to get in to trouble. If you know how to heart someone but you do not know when to use it or when to stop, people can be severely heart/ killed. Iv heard stores of people losing there “cool” (getting angry) when people are acting “inappropriately”, instead of looking for a way out and ending the situation they let there anger get a hold of them. They end up beating people and getting sent to jail, even if they where some-what innocent. Self-control lets you evaluate those situations and by using little force get out of them. One (major) way self-control helped me was about one year ago. My friend was hanging out with the wrong crowd. We go for walks sometimes and this time we went, a big group of people started to talk to my friend. Just by standing there I can fell the atmosphere change and I started to fell this… unpleasant sensation, like anything could happen. Then I seen one of the kids, by the look of it he was the leader of this group, talking to someone and I seen him hand him drugs. When I seen that I started to tell my friend  “lets go”. I guess the “leader” wanted to fight my friend, well I guess he called it “boxing” (bare-knuckle fighting if I might add). I wanted to go, but my friend did not. I left and went down the street (with my friend permission, he kinda wanted me to go.), about a half hour went by and he did not come out, so I went and checked on him. When I went over there I seen him with his face all bruised and bloody (he was fine, no permanent damage, I did not start beating the people up for two reasons, he brought it on him self: he knew what he was doing. Plus there were a lot of people there.). Then the “leader” stated to say he wanted to fight me. I said no. He started to make fun of me and everything and I knew if I started to fight then I probably would have got heart really bad, not that I would have lost the fight with the leader but I was afraid if I won all of his friends would have jumped on me. I do not think with out self-control I would not have been able to hold my self back from hearting them. It gave me the opportunity to look things over and analyze the situation. I am a person with a really bad temper. I am happy when I am happy but the littlest thing can set me off sometimes (that is where meditation can come in again.). I was surprised that I keep my cool and thought about it before I did anything that I would regret. 

Martial arts practice a lot of different exercises. I can name a few for you:

Run then punches: (mostly a cardiovascular exercise that challenges your endurance and how well you can preserve energy). In this exercise you have one other person with you. He is standing about eight meters from you. The person that is standing there is going to be holding two paddles, or something to punch. You run from eight meters and punch the paddles/something ten times and run back to the line and repeat for about one to two minutes. Then you can go on a brake for about one or two minutes, as your partner dos the exercise.

Push-ups: (mostly a arm muscle exercise) this is where you lay on the floor and by using you arms and you lift your self up and down. You use the ball of your foot (where your tows meat your “mane” mass of your foot) and your arms to lower your self down word and back up again. He mostly makes use do are age on push-ups (the amount of times you go up and down).

Leg-lifts: (mostly a core muscle exercise) This exercise works your core muscles, mostly your abs. What you do is lay on the floor and lift your legs. You want to do about twenty of them, if you cant do that then do fifteen.

That is only three exercises out of MANY! Exercising is a very important thing in Martial arts. If these exercises do not challenge you then you can do more reps (how many times you repeat the exercise) or you can find more exercises by joining a martial art.  

Martial arts can help you in SO many ways that most people do not even think about. I hope this paper helped you understand why martial arts are good for you and why so many people practice them. I hope you will find a martial art that fits you and teaches you as well as I am being taught (OR BETTER!). 

Resources:

http://www.chosuntkd.com/mdc/articles/roleofmed.htm

http://www.how-to-meditate.org/why-learn-to-meditate.htm/

http://sidekicksma.com/

http://nutritionresearchcenter.org/healthnews/?p=263

http://martialarts.about.com/od/choosingaschool/a/traininggoals.htm

http://www.healthyforms.com/getting-active/index.php

http://www.kugaipro.com/martial.html

http://www.aarp.org/health/staying_healthy/stress/a2003-03-12-stressresources.html