The Different Types of Martial Arts and Their Differences
Ok this is something I've been wanting do to for a long while and I think it's time I did it. There are different types of martial arts in the world, A LOT of different typess. It's not all Karate and Karate chop attacks. I'm going to list the different arts I know and give a brief description. I am in no way saying these are all there are. Also, they are in no particular order.
1) Taekwondo - Art of the legs. The philosophy is to be able to use legs with the same accuracy as your hands. Your legs are naturally at least 3x stronger, taekwondo focus on making them accurate, flexible and dexeterous enough to use them like hands.
2) Traditional Japanese Jiujitsu - The art originated in Japan and focuses on grappling. more specifically joint controls, locks, submissions, chokes, etc. It also has a lot of throws and take-down techniques. The submissions are based on leverage as well as strength but they are all reliant on technique.
3) Judo - It's a specialization of Jiu jitsu that focuses very heavily on throws and take downs. That doesn't mean it's inferior to jiu jitsu in any way. It means it took a piece of the art and evolved it.
4) Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu - The style was created by a family called the Gracies. I'm not going into their history because it long but its a grappling art that focuses on using leverage for submissions. Its main focus is teaching you how to be able to fight off your back, use it to your advantage and come out on top.
5) Aikido - Aikido was art designed to fight against swords, more specifically Katanas. its focus is using the opponent's energy againt them and disarming them while taking away their balance. It has a lot of joint controls and throws most of which I believe extend from wrist control and arm controls.
6) Muay Thai - The art of 8 limbs. It focuses on standing and striking but unlike most striking arts it places heavy emphasis not only on fists and feet, but also elbows and knees. 2 hands, 2 feet, 2 elbows, 2 knees: the art of 8 limbs.
7) Karate - The art majority of the people think as soon as you say martial arts. The reason for this is because of a MASSIVE explosion of Karate in the movies around the 80 and early 90s. You had people like Chuck Norris, Micheal Dudikoff, Steven Segal, Jeanne Claude Vandamme and other actors that had done karate and they brought the fighting science to the big screens and gave us some very different action scenes. Enough about the explosion though. Karate is an art with a unique philosophy in that it focuses on one hit K.O.s They want every strike to be as damaging as possible on the first try. Definitely a power based art but with refined technique and knowledge. Karate is an off-shot of Kung fu styles that focus on power and has combined them all into a single art and it's done well....if you can find a good Sensei, but more on that later.
8) Kung Fu - Hailed by many as being the originators of all Martial arts nowadays, it has a VERY long history dating back AT LEAST 3000 years. It has multitudes of different styles and techniques and branches. Some say it's the art of a thousand strikes but they're wrong. Only some of the Kung Fu styles adopt that philosophy, some, like the ones Karate takes from, focus on one hit kills, other are about joint breaks and controls and the list goes on.
9) Kalari Payutta - The oldest martial art in existence. This style predates even Kung Fu. Most believe Kung Fu is an off-shot of this art. This art includes everything from striking to swords, to wrestling, to grappling. It is very old and very well well rounded. I don't know much about it other than what I've listed as I'm still learning about it myself. One thing to note is that this style originated in India, not modern day India but the India of ancient times.
Now for the more controversial entries. Before I continue I feel like I need to define Martial Arts so it makes sense as to why I classify these as martial arts.
Martial Arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development. (wikipedia, with credible resources, and yes I checked them)
10) Boxing - A fighting and mainly competitive art that focuses solely on the use of hands and how powerful they can be. It takes the accuracy of the hands and strengthens them to the point where they can compete with the strength of the legs, except with amazing accuracy. The legs are used primary for movement and adding weight and spring to the punches. People have said you can't call it a martial art unless there's kicks involved. You'de be very wrong there as and art can have a 'kick' just not ones that need to hit the target directly. Boxing has kicks: the fighters use their feet to spring from the ground into punches or push forward into punches. They kick the ground.
11) Wrestling - An art designed around the principle of controlling your opponent and constantly being in a dominant position where you are in control of their bodies. Wrestling has taken the positioning aspect of grappling arts like Jiu jitsu and developed it to an extreme level. While wrestling is more strength based, there is indeed solid technique at the foundation of the sport. The competitors tend to be very strong because in a competition you need every advantage you can get, not only that, but you're moving bodies that weight at least as much as you if not more depending on how you train and you're learning to use large bursts of energy in short periods of. so again in works.
MMA is not listed here because it stands for MIXED Martial Arts. It's a combination of Martial arts to make a well rounded fighter and competitor. You can train solely in MMA but that is not your style. MMA styles are difficult to name because of the fact that they're a combination.
Also one more thing that needs to be said. Just because you practice Martial Arts does not make you a martial artist. You have to uphold the principles of Martial arts and further the arts in a POSITIVE manner. This is why not all MMA fighters or martial arts practitioners are Martial artists.
