What does Martial Arts do for You?

This post is adapted from an article in Black Belt Magazine written by Ian Lauer. You can read that article here.

We talk a lot about the benefits or martial arts when talking to new and prospective students. Most parents come looking for discipline and self defence, developing confidence and coordiation. And Kansai Karate does develop all those things. 

Here are a few things you will get from Kansai Karate.

STRENGTH

When you first think about strength I’m sure you are thinking physical strength, and you are not wrong. From the first lesson and in our warm ups we are developing and continually improving our physical strength with exercise and equipment including our impact pads to learn and develop power within our techniques. 

But also karate works on mental strength and toughness, pushing through tough challenges in training and learning. Working to improve our skills and challenging ourselves when things get tough. 

Our 4 hour black belt grading for our adults students is as much a mental toughness exam as it is physical or technical. 

FLEXIBILITY 

Again I know you are thinking about touching your toes. And yes you will stretch and need to stretch to improve and recover from your karate training. 

Additionally we learn that not all problems can be solved the same way. We need to adapt not only to our surroundings but to your opponent. 

Not everyone is built the same way and not everyone acts the same way. Part of our training is learning to adapt to the situation and finding solutions both physical and strategic to solve our challenge and get past our obstacles. 

DISCIPLINE

This is a fine corner stone of martial arts training, not only to listen and learn but to maintain your training. It is easy to learn karate at the beginning everything is new and exciting. It gets to the challenging part when you have to train and improve skills rather than learn new things. 

SELF DEFENCE

As instructors we often say we do punching and kicking. But karate and self defence is not just about in the moment and using your hands and feet. 

Self defence is about developing the confidence to look after yourself and yet not need to use it. Its about looking at your actions and situations that you are in and know when not to be somewhere and avoiding situations that could be dangerous. 

It is about making choices. 

There is a lot more that Martial Arts can do for you, but you will have to come along and find out. 

See you at the dojo.