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Martial Art Belt Ranks – Where Did They Come From And What Do They Mean

Martial Art Belt Ranks

Where did they come from and what do they mean?

There are many theories why present day martial art schools use belts and sashes as a ranking system and where the concept of using belts came from. We will discuss two philosophies, one that is widely accepted by many practitioners and another that can be considered as a legend, or story that was passed down by your grandfather. Please keep in mind that the belt ranking system has only been around about 120 years. Throughout this article, keep in mind that not all Martial Arts are the same, your school may have a completely different ranking system than discussed here.

One of the most common arguments comes from the founder of modern day Judo, Dr. Jigoro Kano. An educator and sports enthusiast, Dr. Kano used a black belt to represent his dan (highest-ranking) students in his school, the Kodokan. However, he later realized his kyu (lower ranking) students needed an outward tangible object to acknowledge their accomplishments and encourage their efforts. So he implemented the different colors to signify the progress that his kyu made over time.

Eventually, other Japanese martial art styles such as Karate, Aikido, Kendo, etc. incorporated the Judo belt ranking system when Gichin Funakoshi, an Okinawan karate master and considered as the Father of Modern Karate demonstrated his martial art style, Shotokan, at the Kodokan.

The other theory, known as the belt getting dirty can be considered as a martial arts folklore. When new students started their training they were given the rank of white belt, signifying a birth or beginning. Students were not allowed to wash their belts, therefore the belt would get dirty the more they practiced. In time the belt would become black, signifying the amount of time the student spent practicing and typically their level of skill.

As a new student in a martial art, you will most likely be given a white belt at the beginning of your training and will progress through a color system on your way toward a black belt. However, contrary to popular belief, the black belt does not signify the end of your training, but rather the beginning. In most arts, once you earn your black belt you are no longer considered a kyu, you are now a dan.

Dan have their own ranking system known as degrees. You are a first degree black belt when you first attain it, over time you can test for your 2nd degree black belt (or 2nd dan) and so on. Most martial arts consider a 10th degree black belt to be the highest level of mastery.

As you train in a martial art, don’t get discouraged if you are stuck on a certain belt for a long period of time. It usually takes many years to progress through the belts and this is actually one of the lessons that participating in Martial Arts will teach you. Progressing through the belts requires a great deal of time, dedication, self-confidence, patience and self-discipline. The skills you learn in your martial arts training will apply to almost every aspect of your life and will help you succeed in areas where you never thought Martial Arts would help.

If you would like to learn more about Martial Arts or are interested in finding a school in your area, go to http://www.experiencemartialarts.com.

Combining Martial Arts Like Wing Chun And Aikido

Most martial arts don’t fit together easily. You take the circular hands of Chinese kenpo Karate and try to put them atop the linear stances of Japanese shotokan, and you are going to get an uncoordinated mish mash. Or, the quick and slick jabs of boxing might fit with wing chun, but the round house power punches don’t fit at all.

And, of course, there are arts that do fit together. You can put aikido together with pa kua chang, but it is going to take discipline and logic to categorize individual techniques. And, this leaves the creator with a problem of how do you teach the beast without confusing.

That all said, I was taking an Aikido class one day, I was a mere beginner in that art, though I had seven years of kenpo and karate and a bit of wing chun. So they asked me to partake in randori. which is the freestyle aikido employs to train students. And, it was a sad experience, at best.

I didn’t want to give them my punches, karate had taught me to lock down and become immoveable, and the result was that nobody could throw me, and the give and take of the randori exercise broke down. I blame no one, it was mixing apples and peaches, and one could argue they should have been able to make their art work, but I should have been able to work with them. Interestingly, it was what happened after that that became interesting.

Paul, one of the advanced black belts came up to me and wondered where the breakdown had been. Other black belts, lower ones, stayed away from me like a pariah, but he wanted to learn, and that was the mark of an advanced belt.

So I explained about l how I had been taught to lock down my stance, and we looked at that in conjunction with aikido techniques, and how things could have been different. Nothing was really making sense, until I asked him if he had ever heard of sticky hands. When I showed it to him the lights began to go on.

Wing Chun, you see, has more mobile stances, and we spent hours figuring out how to get the feet to go fast enough to keep up with the aikido centrifugal action. Slowly, we figured out how the feet were supposed to cross or circle with the action of the attack. We began to go into advanced techniques, Paul excited because of all he was learning, myself grinning, because I was getting a super advanced lesson in higher Aikido that the other fellows in the school, the lower black belts, would have died for.

It takes logic to put arts together, and very few people are successful at the endeavor. I succeeded wildly, and this because I always seem to run into people that are willing to look a little deeper, and willing to share what they learn. If you think you know it all, if you’re proud, if you look down on other students, then you will never open your mind and be able to ingest all the wonderful truth that flows so freely in the universe.

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Protect Yourself- Learn Martial Arts And Be Safe

Martial arts use techniques in order to defeat opponents which require to be practiced on a regular basis. Wether you want to learn martial arts through books or DVDs or any other method – this article can give you some useful tips.

When you’re learning martial arts you need to concentrate on practicing movements over and over again so you’re comfortable with a particular movement.

Then it’s recommended you try to learn how to master one particular move at the time – rather than spending little time practicing too many moves at one time. This way you can effectively use martial arts moves against your fighting opponent.

It’s important that you practice your martial arts moved as often as you can. Some people will practice every day for at least an hour, but others can only manage to train 2 or 3 times a week, but as long as you practice your moves often you will get better.

Concentration is often achieved through deep breathing exercises, muscle relaxation exercises and other exercises like closing the eyes and concentrating on a particular image in the mind. Concentration will definitely help increase your observing power and deep breathing exercises will channel your mental energies in the right direction. Concentration can also keeps the task in mind and avoids any distractions hampering your martial arts moves.

While learning martial arts it is crucial to understand what you are doing and if you have a doubt or a question it is recommended that you clarify your doubt with the instructor. If you are learning martial arts through books and DVDs then a good way to clarify your doubt is to research online since the internet is full of useful information that can help you.

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Anger Management And Mixed Martial Arts

The core ingredient of a meaningful self-defense program is considered to be anger management. However, there are not many martial arts programs that have this comprehensive approach in training. Instructors have not been given proper guidance on how to incorporate anger management in their training program. But now, many martial arts academies including those in Maryland teaching Mixed Martial Arts, are teaching anger management alongside the basic techniques of martial arts.

Anger is essentially rooted in feelings of frustration, fear, failure, stress, rejection, and so on. These feelings are experienced by men, women, children, and elderly. We all go through moments of rage time and again. It can be due to peer pressure, unhealthy competition, financial crises, dissatisfaction in personal or professional life, or some other reason. Eventually anger takes a toll on those who are getting angry and the party bearing the brunt of the rage. Anger is known to increase the chances of high blood pressure and heart attack. It also affects a persons capability to think logically and make meaningful and correct decisions. In some cases this can even cause long lasting and even permanent damage to relationships. Proper anger management can help a person use his feelings in the right direction to solve a problem rather than wasting time and filling oneself with negativity.

Mixed Martial Arts can be more than just an art of self defense. It can help the mixed martial arts practitioner in anger management too. The practitioner learns the art of showing restraint, respect and resilience. Like other martial arts, even Mixed Martial Arts discourages an athlete from attacking an unaware or unprepared person. Techniques such as biting, eye-gouging, fish hooking, clawing, twisting and pinching flesh, small joint manipulation, attacking the groin area, using abusive language, spitting, and hair-pulling are illegal and unethical. MMA athletes are strictly discouraged from using techniques that aim at injuring the opponent. Athletes are responsible for the safety of their opponent. While applying any of the submission techniques, MMA athletes must apply the pressure slowly. They must stop the moment they feel that any further pressure can injure the athlete. This teaches the MMA athlete the clarity of purpose, which is to make the opponent submit and not to hurt him. It also teaches them to respect their opponents strength.

If you are planning on learning Mixed Martial Arts with a focus on dealing your anger issues, it is a great idea. You will learn to be self disciplined, avoid losing your temper constantly, avoid using profanity during a match or practice and control your negative emotions. All these are positive qualities that are worth imbibing in your life and not just while you are learning a sport or a martial art such as Mixed Martial Arts.

Find out whether your preferred Mixed Martial Arts , academy in Maryland or nearby areas such as Virginia and Washington D.C. offer a comprehensive learning course that includes anger management.

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What are the Martial Arts Styles Used in MMA

The combat sport known as mixed martial arts or MMA employs many forms of fighting techniques. Consisting mostly of grappling and striking techniques, MMA borrows so much from different traditional forms of martial arts that have been in existence since the ancient times.

Some of the most commonly used martial arts in MMA include kickboxing, boxing, wrestling, jiu jitsu, and muay thai. Most professionals argue that jiu jitsu, particularly Brazilian jiu jitsu, is the spine of mixed martial arts. However, there are those who contend that each of the fighting styles contribute to the whole expertise of an MMA practitioner. To understand, listed below are some of the martial arts forms from which mixed martial arts often borrow.

Kickboxing

Gathering from its name, one will easily get that this martial arts form consists of various boxing and kicking techniques. Professional fighters say that this field is very much related to another martial arts form called Muay Thai. Kickboxing is well known in MMA. In fact, the audience can easily discern once a player starts to use kickboxing techniques. As most professionals say, it is said that kickboxing accounts for almost 90% of the striking techniques used in the field of mixed martial arts.

Muay Thai

Muay Thai is the national sport of the country Thailand. It is a martial arts form and at the same time combat sport that uses punches, kicks, as well as knee jerks. Techniques used in Muay Thai are considered as assets of every MMA fighter. Moves such as the flying knee and the superman punch are known for their effectiveness and brutality in every mixed martial arts match.

Wrestling

Another popular form used in the mixed martial arts arena is the sport known as wrestling. For those of you who are not yet familiar with the MMA industry, dominant fighters are those who are wrestlers by profession. Some of the great MMA fighters with background on wrestling include Brock Lesnar, Cain Vasquez, Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk, Josh Kosheck, Ryan Badder, Randy Couture, Mark Kerr, Kevin Randleman, Vladimir Matushenko, and Mark Coleman among many others. Indeed, wrestling, as a martial arts form, is the number one source of techniques used in grappling resulting to as many takedowns and submissions in every mixed martial art fight.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is very popular in mixed martial arts matches because practitioners of this style makes their opponents lose via submission. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is focused mostly on grappling and ground fighting techniques. It is in demand for players who want to learn proper submission methods.

Boxing

Last but not the least is boxing. Boxing is a very familiar sport to everyone but only a few people know of its contribution to the world of mixed martial arts. Boxing makes use of jabs, hooks, body blows, and uppercuts to strike an opponent. It is the ultimate source of hand strikes in MMA. Boxing techniques can bring about fatal hand strikes and knock outs in an MMA match.

Evolution Martial Arts 14436 N Dale Mabry Hwy Tampa, FL 33618 (813) 961-5245 http://www.graciebarraevolution.com

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