How to Learn Martial Arts Martial arts is the study of fighting people. It’s not something most people think about, but like anything else, the ability to fight can be learned. The only thing standing between you becoming Jason
I believe, only behind kindness, toughness is the single most valuable human trait. ThBourne, James Bond or Beatrix Kiddo is time and dedication.
Why Martial Arts?
e ability to face pain, embarrassment, and failure, and get up with a smile on your face to try again is an invaluable ability. But it’s not born into most of us. It has to be learned, and to be earned.
Martial arts is the study of fighting. Most people think of fighting as a barbaric method of conflict resolution, reserved for people with anger issues or drinking problems. Just as with fencing or football, when you add rules and structure to even the most primal of activities, you end up with something which can be shockingly intellectual. When you don’t have to fear actually getting hurt, fighting becomes the ultimate game of challenging yourself against another person and seeing who has worked harder and learned more. It’s a game everyone should play, both because it presents one of the ultimate human challenges, and because it can save your life.
Fighting is perhaps the least ‘artificial’ of all competitive sports. The rules exist to keep the practitioners safe, but beyond that, it’s a simple question as old as time: who is better at exerting their will on the external world.
I never really considered studying martial arts until I was well into adulthood. My only previous experience was a failed half year ‘studying’ Taekwondo as a child. It turns out that it wasn’t that physical activity wasn’t for me, or that fighting wasn’t a fun thing to do, it was that Taekwondo was just the wrong martial art for me.
Fighting someone full on in an environment where no one will get hurt is fantastically fun. It’s also immensely challenging, the fighting methods which work are nuanced and not the way the body naturally wants to move. It takes practice and dedication to build up skill, and with martial arts you get to test that skill in the most palpable way possible: combat.
Martial arts are not just for violent people. In fact, if you’re ‘violent’, please don’t get anywhere near where I train. The people I’ve met through martial arts are generally normal people. They are much more afraid of accidentally hurting someone than they are interested in the opposite. When you think of fighters you might think of steroid-fuel brutes wearing Tap Out shirts, but those people generally don’t actually train. In fact, the more actual martial arts knowledge you gain, the less likely it seems you are to want to ever get into a fight on the street. Unlike the thug who thinks he’s tough, you know just how unpredictable a street fight is, and you have years of getting your ego checked to prevent you from doing something stupid.
Martial arts have a wonderful way of controlling and moderating your ego. There is nothing like having someone with more experience than you dominate you to remind you that everything worth having in this life is earned. There are people who are born with more natural ability than others, but no untrained person is gifted enough to stand toe to toe with someone with even just three years of training in a serious art. Conversely, however experienced you become, t1 Comment in moderationhere will always be those people who are better than you, even if it’s just on this particular day. And their supremacy won’t be theoretical or potential, it will be palpable, and you will know that the only way to best them is to work harder for longer.
When we remove ego, we’re left with what is real. What replaces ego is humility, yes — but rock-hard humility and confidence. Whereas ego is artificial, this type of confidence can hold weight. Ego is stolen. Confidence is earned. Ego is self-anointed, its swagger is artifice. One is girding yourself, the other gaslighting. It’s the difference between potent and poisonous.
— Ryan Holiday, Ego is the Enemy
Types
It’s worth mentioning there are many types of martial Learn Martial Arts arts in the world. In general I choose to divide them in this way:
- Modern
- Spiritual
Modern martial arts are ones where you actually fight against a living opponent as a part of your training. This actual (but not injurious) combat allows the art proved and refined every day. It also allows you to find your own unique style which works for your body and interests. Most importantly, it viscerally proves that what you’re learning is real, and it quickly winnows out techniques which are all show. These martial arts generally contain little or no ‘spiritual’ component.
Spiritual martial arts are ones which use inherited techniques which don’t get tried or tested against resisting opponents. This includes many Asian martial arts like Kung Fu. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t study these arts! They have spiritual components which can be very valuable for practitioners who are suited for them. Like any other physical activity, they can also help you improve your control of your body and your mind. Learn Martial ArtsI wouldn’t expect to win an actual fight based on a dead art however.
Spiritual arts don’t appeal to me personally because it’s important to me that what I learn is not arbitrary, that it incorrect or ineffective techniques to replace those that work. It’s also very possible that the environment which the art originated in just don’t align with the modern world.
Modern arts, on the other hand, evolve and change almost daily. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu today is very different from BJJ ten years ago. Each person finds their own moves, and invents their own variations which they can test many times per class against someone who very much doesn’t want them to succeed.
It’s important to note the modern art idea requires the art to involve combat against a resisting opponent. Many arts include faked or phony combat where the opponent ‘goes with’ the attacker. This includes arts like Aikido and many variants of Wushu. Again, this doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be studied, just that they are not a great way to actually fight someone.
How do we know this? Mixed Martial Arts. The UFC was actually. If a technique works, the professional fighters in the UFC would use it. You just don’t see many dead arts represented there.
How do I learn a martial art?
Learning how to fight is training your body to act and react correctly faster than you can consciously think.
How do you do that? You drill. Over and over you do the same moves. Each time you do a move correctly it strengthens those neurons in your brain, gradually moving the knowledge from your slow conscious brain to your fast subconscious.
As you practice, focus on your mistakes. Each time you identify a mistake, you try to practice more without failing in that particular way. Eventually you run out of mistakes and they give you your black belt.
Just kidding, you never run out of mistakes!
After some study you will reach the point where you understand the ‘language’ of your particular form. ‘game’. The specific moves you like, and how to chain them together to be able to defeat someone in combat.
Depending on your art, you may get to the point where you actually get to ‘fight’ people quickly (in a safe, constructive way), or it may not happen for a long time, or ever. If you are able to, you will begin the journey of figuring out your particular ‘game’. The movements, combinations and set ups which best align with your body and your personality.
You will have periods of disappointment when you don’t do as well as you think you are capable of. You will have highs when you manage something you didn’t think possible. Most importantly, you will slowly and gradually improve over the months and years. It’s worth remembering that if it was easy and quick to get these skills, they wouldn’t be worth much. It takes years. For you, for everyone. Learn Martial Arts
Finding a School
What school you pick is even more important than what art you choose to learn.
It’s close to impossible to learn a martial art without attending a gym which teaches that art. The moves are too nuanced, and too physical, Learn Martial Arts is a fundamental requirement that you have at least one partner practice with and against.
You won’t have every option. There is undoubtedly a limited number of schools in the corner of the world you happen to live in. If that corner is San Diego or New York City you may have dozens of great options,a rural town you might be lucky to have an instructor with a few years on him or her to teach you. Either way, evaluating your options requires showing up to a class.
Any reasonable school will allow you to take a free class, or week of classes, to give it a try. They have tremendous experience with new students, will tell you what to bring, and will make things as easy for you as they can.
Here are some questions you should be asking yourself:
