Choosing the right martial art and school for you
By: Patrick William
There are many martial art styles
out there and choosing the right one for you may just be daunting and
confusing. Usually which style of martial art and especially which
school to choose are important decisions to make. Though there are
thousands of schools that claim to provide you with world’s best
training, you must be careful and practical in choosing your style and
school.
In reality, the choice of "which martial art" is going to
be different to person to person depending on his needs and situation.
All martial arts are good –karate, kung fu, judo, kickboxing, krav maga
– everything has its own goodness in it. You can train any of them, but
when choosing between them you have to consider many practical aspects
so that you choose the right one.
What you need to consider before choosing
1. Don’t fall a victim
There
are literally many martial art schools that claim to offer the best
martial arts. Well, if they were "the best", everyone would choose them.
When choosing the style you have to use your commonsense to assess
whether their claims is right or wrong. These schools just want business
rather than properly teaching martial arts. Never fall victim to those
marketing slogans that attracts you at the moment you read them. Never
look for a short cut. It really takes a lot of patience and practice to
master anything in the world.
2. List out your priorities
When
choosing a martial art, you need to be clear of what you expect out of
it. Some people train for self defense, some for competitions, some for
fitness and so on. You must know why you want to start training. If you
don’t know why you want to do martial arts, your endeavor is most likely
going to fail.
3. Your style
As said above all martial
arts are good. Though they can be performed by everyone, to get the most
out of them, you need to know what the differences between them are. Do
your background study and research and know more about these martial
arts so that you will be in a better position to choose the best one
suited for you. You should also be aware of the fact that many martial
arts require formality, these include kendo, karate, kung fu etc. Some
people may not be interested in these formalities.
4. Be practical
You
have to be practical in certain things when choosing the right one for
you. You most probably can’t choose kung fu because you like it the most
but you have to travel for two hours to reach the nearest school. Look
in the internet for nearest martial art schools and visit the premises,
meet the instructors and people there. Talking to them will give you
some idea about the place and environment.
Choosing the right
style of martial art and school plays an important role in how you are
going to go about it. Keep these points in mind when choosing the style
and do your background-research to find the right style and school for
you.
