Martial arts is the best form of exercise. Martial arts trains almost every part of the human body.

It trains the big muscles like the thighs and shoulders, and the fine muscles like the smaller wrist and forearm muscles. They are worked almost at the same time in some martial styles.

As a result, muscle groups are never isolated in training at any given time. When someone goes for a punch, they snap it while putting their whole body into it. This should train the whole body all at once, and not just the arm doing the punching.

Martial arts, unlike doing the treadmill while watching TV, makes you focus on the task at hand. Putting your mind into it as well as your body increases calorie burn.

When I look at exercise, I am looking at a broad picture, something that has the whole package. I don’t want to get just knotted forearms or six pack abdominals, although I think that they are a good thing. I want to get healthy and stay healthy for a really long time.

Martial arts are not all about strength and speed. The versatility of the art is boundless. Martial arts like Tai Chi can actually be a great form of exercise. You see them at the park at six in the morning – those old men and women out there in the rising sun moving as slow as molasses. Tai Chi has been shown in studies to improve circulation, lower heart rates, and even increase intelligence!

Exercises like standing in a squatting stance punching the air are ridiculously simple but painfully hard. But if you can do it, your body will be stronger than it ever was before. Someone can do this and other more involved martial art routines without any equipment at all – anytime, anywhere.

When one stretches, blood circulation increases, making it harder to lose muscle and harder to gain fat. When a body-builder lifts weights they get too tight. Capoeira or Brazilian jiu-jitsu is excellent because it stretches you out and builds muscle at the same time.

Maintaining health and well-being is, of course, just part of it. Martial arts can get a practitioner into the best shape of his or her life.  

“I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in my life thanks to my training. It made me stronger both mentally and physically, and I believe the footwork and balance work has helped me out in sports, since it has worked out the whole body.” said Celso Dalisay, leader of the martial arts club at Sacramento State.

Martial arts builds confidence in one’s self. A normally sickly, shy and reclusive young boy could evolve into a strapping young lad full of self – esteem and new-found skills. Dalisay also said that “martial arts has made me a much calmer, patient, disciplined individual.” Ethics and self-discipline complements the self-confidence. Martial arts training is useful because it helps in all things, including other sports.

Greg Brown, an older student at Eddie Chong’s Wing Chun & Bak Mei kung fu school in Sacramento said “the thing about martial arts is that it helps build physical strength, plus self-confidence, which can transfer over to other sports. They help each other.” 

Getting good in martial arts takes time. A person won’t get good in a day or a month. However, that’s just like any other sport. The long term benefits are superb in scale.

Also it’s not grueling on the body if you do it a lot. Martial arts styles like Wing Chun kung fu is not hard on one’s body at all. There are a lot of soft movements and the stances are easy on the legs. I asked a Wing Chun instructor’s assistant senior, Barry Lee, what he thought about martial arts and other sports. He said, “some styles are definitely a lot less strenuous than sports like basketball or whatever. You won’t ever blow out anything like an ACL with some styles.”

People should definitely look into martial art as a form of exercise. The versatility and dynamism of it is astounding. The practitioner will get his cardio, strength, flexibility, and inner calm on when they dive into the world of martial arts. Some styles will not produce the beach body that people want, but exercise is more than just that.

 Miles Tsue can be reached at [email protected]