Taking care of one’s body has been in vogue in recent years. Having an attractive body, reducing the risk of disease and increasing life expectancy are all good reasons to have a healthy lifestyle. However, the investment required to maintain a balanced life is sometimes heavy to maintain.
Martial arts are a perfect starting point to start or maintain this healthy routine. They have many benefits on physical and mental health. They allow you to have an athletic body in a more playful way than pushing cast iron. As you learn to stand up for yourself, you build your self-confidence. If you are having a hard day, practicing a martial art is the perfect solution to empty your body and mind.
You will be able to evacuate all accumulated stress, and you will come out of your workouts relaxed and with a real feeling of well-being. The repetition of techniques allows you to have a better knowledge of your body while developing your flexibility and agility.
Martial arts is also a community that is committed to sharing its knowledge. You will have the opportunity to meet new people with whom you will share common values.
Physical benefits
- Weight loss
The motivations behind weight loss are varied. They can be aesthetic, in search of a flat stomach or a more attractive physique overall, but also medical. Obesity is a disease that has been growing rapidly in recent years, and in a world where sugar and fat are present everywhere, no one is immune.
- Bodybuilding
In recent years, weight training has been on the rise in France. In fact, the practice has many virtues such as the prevention of injuries and back pain, aesthetics and well-being or the development of muscle strength.
Nevertheless, participating in a weight loss program requires a certain motivation. The same goes for joining a gym (often very expensive) or continuing a workout that brings nothing but muscles. The initial motivation can be difficult to maintain then. In addition, many exercises that are poorly executed by beginners slow down the progression of the goals set and, in the worst case, lead to the appearance of pain and injury.
- Development of flexibility
Working on your flexibility has many benefits for your health and well-being. A supple body allows you to relax your muscles, which are less tense and tire less quickly. Muscle aches and pains become less severe and may even disappear, especially common lower back pain that disappears by relaxing the muscles in the lumbar area. Your body has better posture, your movements are more fluid and you reduce the risk of injury.
Combat sports training usually includes a stretching portion. Stretching not only prevents injury, but also helps you work on your body’s flexibility. Indeed, a flexible body is an asset in a martial art. It allows you to be more at ease in complicated positions on the ground and strengthens your bid defense.
- Improvement of mobility and reflexes
Your ability to move in front of an opponent is an essential part of the fight and will be put to the test during your sparrings. Your support will be strengthened as well as your ability to respond to your opponent’s movements.
Martial arts are technical, and mastering the perfect kick does not happen in two weeks. Repeated practice will allow you to get to know your body better and to be more precise in your moves. The coordination of the different muscles of your body will be the key to a perfect execution of the different techniques.
- Improvement of the heart and reduction of cardiovascular risks
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among women and the second leading cause of death among men in France. These diseases can take various forms such as hypertension or heart failure. Fighting these risks begins with discussions with your doctor and appropriate nutrition, but these pathologies can also be prevented or even cured with an adjusted sporting activity.
Studies have shown that to improve cardiovascular resistance, regular physical activity is necessary. Combat sports are adept at split training, stimulating the heartbeat and working on endurance. They improve your heart rate at rest and during exercise, increasing your oxygen intake while reducing blood pressure. As seen previously, practicing a martial art helps fight obesity, another notorious risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
- Improved performance through healthy eating
The search for performance in the chosen martial art will push you to take care of your body, which involves physical sessions but also appropriate nutrition. Indeed, an unbalanced, irregular or excessive diet increases the risk of diseases such as obesity or cardiovascular disease and can cause digestive disorders or stomach aches.
Conversely, eating everything in reasonable quantities and respecting the nutritional intake your body needs allows you to have a healthy and varied diet, strengthens your body envelope, reduces the risk of disease and delays aging.
- Exceeding your personal limits
Like most sports, martial arts will put your physical as well as mental strain on you. You will need to push your limits to hold the most difficult sparrings that will be hard on your muscles and for the last few rounds of the session, will be played almost exclusively on your mind! The repetition of technical movements will also require patience and commitment to bear fruit.
- Mental benefits
Procrastination can have a lasting negative effect on your mood and long-term happiness. Planning is a common step to combat this and can be accomplished by joining a martial arts club. This allows you to have training sessions scheduled during the week, led by a coach, where the only constraint for you will be to participate.
- Self-confidence building and stress reduction
Stress, which is on the rise, is the cause of many people’s problems such as insomnia. It plays a role in our general health by aggravating certain illnesses (hypertension or cardiovascular disease for example) and by promoting the appearance of new ones such as depression or diabetes. To fight against stress, the brain releases a hormone called endorphin and regular practice of martial arts allows us to benefit from it.
- Better anger management
Martial arts allow you to vent your anger in a safe and controlled environment. Anger makes you want to hit and what better than a punching bag or a knowledgeable opponent who will hit you back under the watchful eye of the coach.
