by Happy Dan

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Its got to be .... Running.

Martial arts is basically training for self defense. Self defense can take many forms and any serious student will realize that it's a lifelong pursuit. It can take you years of practice to reach a practitioner level in martial arts and there are many different types of martial arts like Karate[Japan], Xing Yi[China], Ba Gua[China], Taekwondo[South Korea], Kalari Payattu[India], Silat[Indonesia], Ju-jitusu[Brazil], Kick Boxing[America], Muay Thai[Thailand] etc.

I have studied Karate and Xing Yi and now believe that each martial art is complete in its own right. Every martial arts is special and teaches us different things. I have my own views and opinions on the above two based on my experience.

I started learning martial arts (Karate) during my college days. And soon I was heavily into it. As soon as I woke up at 4:30am, I was out of the door and into the park. A nice warm up and I was ready. My routine was familiar to the Cat which frequented the park. It consisted of a series of exercises. From punching to kicks and the slowly the Kata's. Soon I got very good at it and the addiction continued and there came a time when I was winning at competitions. I entered myself in a Savate (French Martial art) competition and won second place.

My stretching was phenomenal. I could do complete splits and also kick and hold my leg in the air after the kick. I could do a break fall over a car without breaking a sweat. And my hunger continued to grow. I soon started to practice walking on hands as well as doing hand stands. I also decided to build the strength by working on parallel bars.

Soon my body could not take it and my shoulders gave up on me. I had injured my shoulders and had to stop practicing for more than 3 months. Event after I came back, my shoulders continued to give me trouble, so I was forced to quit practice completely.

I started learning Xing Yi in UK. It's a simple martial art. There are five main elements; Splitting, Drilling, Crushing Pounding and Crossing. It takes years to learn this art. The key thing here is patience. Its also called as an internal art martial art. As it focuses on enhancing your internal energy. The main stance is called San Ti' and this leads to having strong and powerful legs. I practiced for about 6 months and then I got injured. The injury was not related to the practice.

Now I have found running. And Believe me when I say that it's the best martial arts.

After all martial arts is not just about 'fight', its also about 'flee'.

Learn more about this author, Happy Dan.

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