There's an art to every discipline...
Yes, Kickboxing as well as other forms of martial arts can keep you in shape and help you live healthier longer. It’s no secret that martial arts are an all inclusive fitness regimen. To do it well encompasses aerobics, weight lifting, dancing (katas), endurance, meditation and a positive frame of mind. It's no surprise that more people are joining up. But unlike simply going to the gym and signing up, you need to first select the discipline that is right for you. There is an art for everyone but not every art is right for everyone.
Notice how I said "discipline" rather than style of form. The Martial Arts are a discipline and this should be remembered because for you to benefit the most from it, you must have discipline. Like any weapon, it is the person, not the weapon that is to blame. Same for martial arts.
One can train their whole lives in their discipline with no hope of ever experiencing combat. The peace, fitness and meditative serenity that comes from losing one's self within their training can be a unique and rewarding experience alone. Once you find the discipline that matches you, it becomes a vital part of every aspect of your life. Although you can evolve into other disciplines, once you find your perfect match, it will define you. And not just on the mat or the ring, but every aspect of your life.
I began in Tae Kwon Do in early childhood. Although I was motivated and applied myself, I never was quite able to get the hang of it. After three years, those that started with me had advanced far faster than I. Even those that started behind me were passing me by. I grew frustrated. I knew I loved what I was doing but I couldn't get it. Somewhere there is an ancient proverb that probably puts it more eloquently than I can. But after years of struggling, my art finally found me.
It was after I had entered the military and went on to tech school at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, Texas that I found my true fit. I signed up for every training program I could in my free time. I loved being in service and wanted to experience all I could. I took leadership, marksman, security and an Israeli discipline known as Krav Maga.
There is plenty of information available for each discipline so I won't go into that. What I will tell you is how I come to know this discipline was my fit. This is the importance of anyone considering the martial arts. Krav Maga is very difficult to learn and although solo training is involved to learn muscle memory, it requires a partner. The extra advantage is that your partner need not be trained to serve your purpose. He/She only need attack you in every way they can possibly conceive.
I had not realized how well my years in Tae Kwon Do had helped me even though I was not very good at it. I was able to pick up the technique of Krav Maga very quickly. But the pace was what I truly loved. Krav Maga is a military combat survival discipline. Once you engage with an opponent you do not stop your assault until he is totally incapacitated. You do it so quickly that even you do not have time to consider the damage you are doing. This is why I am careful to stress that all martial art is a discipline.
Once you engage your opponent in Krav Maga, it's no different than pulling a trigger. In an instant you have delivered a devastating series of potentially deadly strikes to your opponent. The encounter is often over in seconds and you are either running away or prepared to engage more opponents.
Everything is a weapon. Even the opponent's own body is a deadly weapon you can use against him. An arm is savagely snatched across the body with enough force to dislocate it and folded around his own neck. This is possibly one of the more brutal of techniques but the discipline is one of survival at all costs. This is what I could identify with. Having faced adversity all my life, I respected the origins of Krav Maga.
This discipline originated in Israel by its founder Imi Lichenfeld to help young Israeli soldiers defend themselves in hand to hand combat in the brutal and often savage region of the Middle East. He realized the need for soldiers to know how to defend themselves. But in this region, self defense is not enough. One has to become so immersed while engaging the opponent that he literally becomes the bullet. Students of this discipline, after incapacitating multiple opponents, are left shocked themselves at what they had just done. But in the scenario, they are alive.
Source/Resource
Previously Posted on FullofKnowlege.com
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