There are many martial arts types but which one should you choose for your kids martial arts training?
There are a lot of different martial arts types and each one has unique training. Some types require special equipment while others do not. We will explore some of these different types and what their styles entail.
Although dozens of different martial arts types exist they are continually changing with new techniques. There are known techniques that are weaponless which to me are more preferable for kids and they focus more on martial arts movements.
Not all martial arts types are weaponless and most of them incorporate the use of weapons in their training. Some of the weapons more commonly used include sticks, stones, staffs, lances, swords, nunchucks, knives, sai, bows and arrows, and cutting objects that are often thrown.
Martial arts types of training that do not use any weapons use one or more movements. Hand blows, arm blows, blocking, and parries, knee kicks, foot blows, throws, trips, take-downs, grappling and immobilization There are those concentrating on the lower part of the body, others on hand or arm movements and others on the power to throw down the opponent. Some techniques focus on hard styles that emphasize power and strength. This last martial arts type is not appropriate to start kids off with.
Where many of the martial arts types originated is not known, they originated from different parts of the globe. There are a lot of martial arts types that remained unchanged to the present day and many others that have changed their techniques to this day.
Many of the traditional martial arts types originated from Asia. China has established a strong foundation of many of the different martial arts types. Kung Fu styles are some of the most popular styles that originated from China. Kung Fu training entails the physical, spiritual, and mental techniques in their training. There are variations in their training that often incorporates animal like styles such as the monkey style in the southern part of China. In the Northern China, the sword style is commonly used. Tai Chi Chuan is yet another martial arts type. Tai Chi is practiced to harmonize and maintain balance. Another type is the Jeet Kune Do, which concentrates to the ways of the intercepting the fist.
If the more fighting martial arts type is preferred Karate is an example. Karate is the fighting style originating from Japan and is one of their oldest forms known. Though it has many sub-styles, its principal techniques include hand and foot blows. Kobodu is an art of their weapon training. Aikidoku is a part of Aikido, another Japanese fighting technique. Their training is a form of Jiu Jitsu in performing throws and joint locks in a formal manner. They also train for weapon retention and weapon taking. One of the must know of the Japanese martial arts styles is Judo which has two phases, the stand phase and ground phase. Judo concentrates more on throwing and grappling. The art of Kendo is about sword fighting
Taekwondo is one of the Korean martial arts types and is a hard style which uses powerful kicks, jumps, handstrikes and blocks. Higher levels perform grappling. Hapkido is another martial arts type which is for self-defense. It teaches defensive styles against swords attacks.
There are western martial arts types, for example Savate. It is a French style that involves boxing or kick boxing. Boxing which is basically punching, developed from the United Kingdom. Stick fencing like Jogo do pau developed in Portugal. The Afro-Brazilian Capoiera is a mixture of the martial arts types combined with music and dancing. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu trains for self-defense and mixed martial arts. Believe it or not but wrestling is also considered one of the martial arts types.
