Have you ever wondered: isn’t all martial arts fitness? Or all martial arts essentially do the same thing, right? Sadly, no. In fact, some martial arts styles are great for fitness! But, martial arts styles aren’t all created equally.
And this is particularly true regarding fitness and conditioning.
We believe that all martial arts styles have merit and value. They’re all beneficial in some way. And what you receive from training really depends on your goal. If your goal is fitness and conditioning, you truly need to understand the philosophy of the instructors and coaches.
Why? Because our experience has found that some martial arts styles are better equipped than others when it comes to fitness and conditioning. This becomes even more apparent when you want to develop strength, stamina, agility, power, leverage, efficiency, and durability.
So, if you’re like us and want to truly receive all the fitness benefits that martial arts has to offer, here are three things to consider:
Tradition vs Innovation
Every martial art in existence today has a rich history of lineage with some dating back thousands of years. But to truly be beneficial to you today, it HAS to adapt. No exceptions.
A typical solution to a traditional martial art that has found itself slowly becoming less and less relevant is to add a combative style of training to the base curriculum. This can look like a very traditional style deciding to add Krav Maga for self-defense or even a cardio-based class to the schedule. This “add-on” approach is a great choice for some but doesn’t genuinely create a habit of a fitness-focused lifestyle.
In recent years, a more innovative approach to martial arts has been widely adopted in professional competitive sports. Modern martial arts styles understand that every session needs to smartly incorporate a mindset of practice and even create accountability to help you achieve your goals.
It should come as no surprise that most if not all professionals today choose these modern styles of martial arts when performing competitively. Additionally, you don’t have to want to compete professionally or even want to fight at all to benefit from training like Conor McGregor, Buakaw Banchamek, or Gordon Ryan. As a matter of fact, you can’t go wrong finding a good instructor or coach to help you learn a more modern fitness-based martial art. So, go try a class for FREE and see if you like it!
Isolation vs Integration
Traditional martial arts are well known for isolated movements which only target one primary muscle group at a time. So, if your goal is to develop ridiculously amazing psoas muscles (also known as your hip flexors), then a more traditional martial art may be right for you! Additionally, seniors may find it more challenging since these more isolated movements can put undue stress on joints.
Fortunately, modern martial arts put more emphasis on total-body synergistics for complete muscle integration. Modern martial arts comprehensive training always gives you more benefit and value by targeting muscular kinetic chains. In fact, during a typical training session at Invictus, you can expect to effectively condition your calves, quads, hamstrings, glutes, abdominals, lats, delts, traps, pecs, and more.
Choreography vs Performance
Everyone knows that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There is so much to be admired in the fluid, choreographed sequences of patterns of martial arts. It really is beauty in motion!
But in today’s world, choreographed movements like katas/forms have little if anything to do with real-world application. Today, people like you want to know, “Will this protect me?”
Modern martial arts help condition us for chaos and give us the power to do something about it.
Fitness is your potential for performance. Conditioning is putting your potential to work with the physical and mental ability to perform. By focusing on fitness in training then conditioning for unpredictability, you’re not only making yourself more metabolically resilient but cognitively flexible as well.
As you can see, all martial arts have value but AREN’T the same. This is especially true with fitness goals. What matters most is that you find a solution to help you accomplish your goals and coaches who are as committed to your success as you are. So, when you’re ready, come TRY A CLASS FOR FREE and we’ll be happy to partner with you to help you accomplish your goals!
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