Welcome to the “Getting Started in Martial Arts” series. Over the course of the last few months, I have had many people ask me how to get started in martial arts. They have asked me questions such as “Is it too late for an adult to start martial arts?”, “What is the best martial art for self-defense?”, “What is the best martial art for health?”. I hope with this series I can shed some light on these questions and similar ones. We will begin the series by categorizing martial arts into 3 categories: striking, throwing, and grappling. Later, we will be talking about different reasons to learn the arts. Lastly, we will look into the benefits of martial arts and picking schools based on what you want to receive from martial arts.
Let’s get started by looking into the differences between striking martial arts, throwing martial arts, and grappling martial arts. Striking martial arts are arts with an emphasis on striking with the limbs. These arts have a strong focus on either punching, kicking, or both. You may not learn a lot about fighting on the ground or throwing people in these arts. Some of these arts include Taekwondo, Karate, Muay Thai, and Boxing. Within striking arts there are specialties, the most common being: kicking, punching, and clinching.
Two arts that specialize in kicking are Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do. Both of these arts originated in Korea, with Taekwondo having more of a focus on kicking and Tang Soo Do incorporating aspects of Japanese karate into its style. Muay Thai and Boxing specialize in punching. However, you will also learn a lot about footwork and clinch fighting in some of these arts as well.
Throwing arts are arts that specialize in causing opponents to lose their footing and putting them on the ground. You will learn different ways to grab an opponent, break their balance, and how to effectively and efficiently get them to the ground. Some throwing arts are Judo and Hapkido. Judo is a heavily sports based throwing arts with origins in Japan. Hapkido is a throwing art which has its origins in Korea. Hapkido is a throwing art that incorporates some of the same kicking styles from Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do.
Grappling arts are arts that specialize in grabbing and ground fighting. These arts have a focus on “submitting” an opponent on the ground. By submitting, the art focuses on causing opponents to feel pain and having them display they have felt enough. In order to show they have submitted, practitioners of the arts would verbally express they have had enough, they will either tap themselves or their opponent with their hands or feet, or have a third party, such as a coach or referee, intervene when they felt someone has had enough. A common grappling art is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, also known as BJJ.
These three categories are common categorizations of martial arts. Some martial arts fall into more than one, such Hapkido. Though I referred to it as a throwing art, it can also be considered a grappling art. There are more categorizations but these three hopefully get you thinking more about what you want to see in a martial art. As the series continues, we will be exploring other aspects of martial arts you should think about as well.
Even if you don’t know which category you would like to start with, just pick one, if you don’t like it try another. Some schools even try to incorporate all of these in their curriculum even if they focus on one art and some arts do a little of all. You now have a starting point to start researching! So start researching, if you have any questions feel free to contact us through the Blog, through social media, or even email.
