Martial Arts: Karate or Kung Fu

The Astounding Benefits of Training

Martial Arts are often highly misunderstood. The brutal, ego-driven classroom demonstrated to us in "The Karate Kid” movie stands out as what many people expect to find on their first night of a class. Sadly, this keeps many people from even looking into training. Unfortunately, they miss out on a very rewarding experience full of personal growth and challenge. Men, women and children of all ages are filling martial arts dojos today and experiencing a very special path toward realizing their potential in all aspects of their lives! And really, very little of this has anything to do with fighting. The ability to fight, is merely a fringe benefit.

Karate, Kung Fu, Tae Kwan Do, Jujitsu, and all other arts have much in common. Primarily this would be the result of the training, the benefits and rewards that go along with any long term devotion to training of any kind. In addition to the resulting fitness improvements in strength and cardiac conditioning, and to the enhanced mental focus and the cadre of new friends who have trained side-by-side with you in your struggles to attain each belt level, karate and other martial arts have an additional common outcome that is unique to their study. This would be an ethic, for want of a better word, a dedication to honor and respect of the lineage. A lineage that supplied the knowledge that led to the belt they proudly wear. Not that it is the belt, a mere scrap of material which can easily be tossed aside, but rather what the belt represents. Because those who study the martial arts know that people living in the ancient times of daily challenges to one’s very survival and protection against invaders, worked hard to develop, preserve and pass along the information to generations of future martial artists. And this lineage of fighters, innovators and caretakers of that precious work put that belt around our waist today.

This aspect of training also translates to humility in the individual who long studies it. Humility is becoming something of a lost quality in our competitive world where we are training our children early to sell their attributes so as to be visible above the see of applicants for a school or job. Certainly, this is not a quality that appears overnight in the martial artist. Much like a child who is full of themselves and then grows to become a more mature, sensible adult, the martial artist goes through several phases as well on their way to humility.

So while the arts themselves can differ vastly in the style and execution of their material, long term training brings many common results to the individual who trains. These range from health and fitness enhancements, to greater mental focus and intensity, community and friendship, honor and humility. Every day that I train in martial arts, I learn and grow. For this I am grateful to our generations of Grandmasters and to our current day instructors, who keep it all alive and allow me to study.