by Trace Evans

Created on: May 18, 2008

Martial Arts can be fun and exciting while adding the knowledge and comfort of how to protect yourself, but how do you know exactly what Martial Arts is for you? With thousands of different styles of Martial Arts out there, how can you know what is the best? So many people just go for the highly commercialized styles such as: Tae Kwon Do, Karate, and Kempo. This is good and these styles may be the one or ones you are looking for; however, they dont even scratch the surface. Choosing the right Martial Arts however, is a more of an art form than a decision. Just look at what kind of person you are, what your interests are, and exactly what you see yourself doing. Take for example if you are a dancer or someone who does a lot with his/her legs, well your body is used to the use of the legs, so maybe go with a style such as Tae Kwon Do or Muay Thai that involves a lot of footwork. Anyone can do a Martial Arts form of some sort regardless of age, sex, or physical ability. Now if you are a current Martial Arts enthusiast and just don't know what to do next to further your Martial Arts knowledge, well that is easy also. Say if you wrestled in High School and you love it more than anything. Well my experience with sparring and training with wrestlers, even the best of them, is they are really looking to get in close and take you down; however, when they come up against say a kicker they get beat because they don't know what to do when a kick comes flying to their face, so as a wrestler I would say go the opposite way and try out a stand up fighting system such as Karate, Kempo, or something of that sort. Now the opposite applies as well to those who love fighting standing up, but have no clue what to do on the mat, I have seen the best fighters get taken to the floor and tap within 5 sec, so if you are a stand up fighter than go to the ground with say wrestling, Jujitsu, or grappling. For those just getting started try a few different things out. I have trained in Jujitsu, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Jeet Kune Do, and weapons styles and I love them all, though I do have a preference I try to round out what I learn.

If you are really looking into furthering your depth of knowledge as well as physical ability there are styles that teach the Philosophy as well as the physical, styles include Kung Fu, Aikido, Jeet Kune Do, and many others. These type of Martial Arts are really good because they let you know exactly what your are doing and were it came from, I have found that the knowledge as well as physical ability really compliment each other. Take for example the style of Jeet Kune Do, as some of you may know this is Bruce Lee's fighting system, but as a philosophy major he really put emphasis on the philosophy behind what he was teaching. I love this kind of Martial Arts and study the philosophy behind it every chance I get.

In conclusion to choose the right Martial Arts style for you is up to you and who you are, just look at what kind of person you are and what styles are out there. Do your homework on each style you are considering and find the Sensei's to talk to them about the benefits of their style.

Learn more about this author, Trace Evans.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.