An Overview of the Martial Arts

By Dean K Michaels

When someone makes the decision to learn how to defend themselves or protect themselves and become a better person, what pops into the mind is martial arts. Different fighting styles is taught and learned all over the world.

The ancient arts have been learned for quite some time now throughout history but it was when Bruce Lee rose to fame they became really well known. Bruce Lee invented and practiced the technique of Jeet Kune Do which involves great counter defenses as well as fast striking. When people saw how fast Bruce Lee could move and how great he was at the art they started to want to learn for themselves, and find out how martial arts could help them.

Put into specific styles, these arts is broken down into certain groups. The style will depend on which country you are studying in and exactly what you want to do. A lot of countries offer the style of fighting art they invented, developed and refined. Brazilian Jui-Jitsu is offered in Brazil. Karate is offered in Japan. China has Shaolin. France has Savate, Thailand offers Muay Thai. Each style has different techniques and moves.

A lot of people think these styles are only for self defense but that is not always so. Martial arts competitions and tournaments are a regular practice in many countries, and techniques such as sparring, floor routines and at times the quite famous block and brick routines will be seen. Throughout the world competitions are held that give fighters the opportunity to show how much they have learned about the art.

At the top of the list these fighting arts teach someone how to protect themselves from a would be attacker, it helps people develop discipline and self control. When someone begins to learn a fighting style, they will soon develop a more positive state of mind. No matter which style of martial art is learned a more disciplined and controlled state of mind will be enforced through repetitive learning processes.

For those who are quick to anger and in need of learning levels of self control, fighting arts can be of great benefit. Self control will be learned as well as how to apply self defense if a dangerous situation arises. The art of self control is of utmost importance and when martial arts is taught to the wrong person with the wrong intent it can be a very disastrous situation.

Over the last ten years a lot of mainstream competitions have come into focus, such as the most popular of them all "UFC" Ultimate Fighting Competition, plus others such as "King of the Cage" and "Extreme Fighting". The UFC has caused a lot of interest to come about in the sport and has progressed a lot over the years. Stylists from all over the world are brought together to try out there knowledge and skills and see who is the best.

A lot of wrong ideas have risen due to the UFC, although these fighting styles are great to learn and it may go well in the UFC, it doesn't mean it will necessarily protect you out on the streets. With a sport like karate there is hardly any grappling at all and the focus is on teaching blocking and striking. If you get in close karate is not much good, but from a distance it can be lethal.

At the end of the day if you choose to do martial arts for the right reasons it's a great thing to learn. Martial arts can teach you about yourself and skill you in the art of self defense if you give it a try, that's why its important to pick the best style that will fit your particular needs and what you wish to achieve, as each style has different techniques.

Dean K Michaels is a 20 year + Boxing and Martial Arts Fanatic and writes for the companyhttp://www.ultimateboxingbags.com. For the best prices and fast service check out: http://www.ultimateboxingbags.com. The Author grants full reprint rights to this article. You may reprint and electronically distribute this article as long as its contents remain unchanged and the Author's byline remains in place. --------------------------------------------------- For more on Martial Arts, see www.bestmartialartsource.com.