The Info Dragon’s Lair

Bruce Lee, the world famous martial artist, was perhaps the single biggest influence in the resurgence of interest in the martial arts. Kids responded to the prowess of Mr. Lee, popularized on the big screen, in a big way. Today, martial arts training is part of the mainstream sports scene. You can find martial arts classes, offered in almost every town, all across America.

We all know that kids aren’t getting enough exercise and this is reflected in rising rates of overweight and obese children. How can you pry them away from sedentary activities? Enrolling your kids in a martial arts training program is one excellent solution.

You won’t have much trouble getting an enthusiastic response from your kids. The martial arts evoke images of powerful, agile superstars with almost magical abilities. There’s a certain romance to martial artists akin to the knights of old, television’s Zorro and the Three Musketeers.

Martial arts training provides kids with skills in self defense that can help keep them safe from would-be predators in everyday situations. This fact alone makes a parent feel more secure about their children’s safety.

Besides this obvious advantage, martial arts training teaches discipline, helps build good ethical standards, healthy self-esteem and provides a workout that fosters strength and agility. Unlike conventional team sports, martial arts are highly structured in a hierarchical progression of skill sets.

Novices typically begin with a white belt, distinguishing them from other students with greater skills. There is a great psychological incentive to progress to the next level, where they are rewarded with a stripe on their white belt or a different color of belt. To proceed to the next level, students must pass a test, conducted by the instructor, proving that they have mastered the necessary skill sets. Instructors carefully assess each student’s abilities before allowing them to test. This allows a student to progress at their own pace and encourages them to work hard to attain that next stripe or belt.

You can enroll your child in a martial arts training program at any time of the year. The student is simply integrated into the novice class upon enrollment. Their peers may be younger, older or the same age. This eliminates the pressure of competition on the basis of age. Older kids are encouraged to help younger kids develop their skills. When students prepare to test, they are usually paired with a student at the next level.

When choosing a martial arts school, interview instructors and learn the premises of the specific martial art. For example, Tae Kwon Do is one of the more aggressive disciplines, while Aikido is based on using your opponent’s strength to deflect the aggression.

Martial arts training can continue for a lifetime. Such kids grow up able to defend themselves, while being strong, fit, healthy and disciplined individuals.

I recently signed up for a jujitsu class to help me get in shape. I’m not the kind of person who can go to the gym and mindlessly work out on a treadmill or Stairmaster for an hour, so I figured jujitsu would be a fun way to stay active. The first session is just a couple of weeks away, which doesn’t give me much time to find the martial arts supplies I need.

The 12-week beginner class that I’m in will just cover basic fighting techniques, so for right now, I think I’ll be able to get by with only a uniform and maybe some gloves. I’ll also need some headgear and a mouthpiece as well, because I don’t want to lose a tooth from an errant kick or something!

Since I’m just starting out, I want to limit my purchases in case I find that I don’t like jujitsu very much after all. Towards that end, I’m going to buy my gear from an online store that specializes in martial arts supplies. There are lots of these types of websites out there, and the selection of products they offer is amazing. They have gear, uniforms, weapons, and miscellaneous martial arts supplies for every discipline, and they stock a wide range of sizes too, which is good because I’m a bit on the small side. I’ve already seen several sweet jujitsu uniforms at great prices, so now all I have to do is decide which one I like best.

If it turns out that I do like this jujitsu class, I’ll continue on to the next level. There’s an advanced weapons class that I think would be awesome to attend, so hopefully my skills will develop to the point where I can enroll in that one. Of course, I’d have to get even more martial arts supplies if that happens, but I don’t mind. Even with the cost of the classes and the equipment, I’m still saving money over a yearly gym membership. Plus, I’m learning to defend myself in the process, which might come in handy someday.

I know that jujitsu (or karate, or tae kwon do, etc.) isn’t for everyone, but if you’re looking for a way to lose weight or tone up your muscles, you might want to consider signing up for one of these classes. If nothing else, you’ll at least have an excuse to buy all sorts of cool martial arts supplies and weapons!

With most types of martial arts, the color of the belt that you have will signify your rank within your style of martial arts. The belts that are used with martial arts signify your rank within that style, although they have no universal means or ranking within the martial arts world. More or less, they tell others how much you know about your specific martial art.

The use of belt colors in martial arts is an old practice, dating back hundreds of years. Belts and their use in martial arts all started by a man known as Jigoro Kano, who created the style known as Kodokan Judo. Kano started out by using only white and black belts to signify rank within his style of martial arts. His reason for using belts, was to specify which students could compete in different activities. For example, those with white belts couldn’t compete in the same activities as those with black belts.

Shortly after Kano introduced his idea of using belts, other belt colors were introduced to the world of martial arts. Over the years, it became a great way of telling what experience a student had in his style – just by the look of his belt. Other styles began to use this system as well over the years, including Karate, Taekwondo, and several others.

The only problem with using belts to signify ranking, is the fact that one school may have different requirements from another school. Even though they both may teach the same style of martial arts, their ranking system and requirements to get a certain ranking may be totally different. This can cause confusion in ranks, especially if a black belt from one school isn’t as versed in the style as a black belt from another school. Even though most schools stick to the same criteria, there are schools that choose to incorporate their own unique style as well.

Although most martial arts styles use belts to signify rank, there are some martial arts out there such as Shootfighting that don’t use belts at all. The styles that choose not to use belts don’t go by rankings either, as they are more or less for self defense purposes. Pitfighting is another style that doesn’t use belts either. These styles are great to learn for protecting yourself – although they differ from the traditional sense of martial arts.

All things aside, belts are an innovation to martial arts. They give students something to aim for, and a reason to keep practicing. Most students that study martial arts aim for getting the black belt, which is the most prestige belt in martial arts. A black belt takes years of practice to obtain, as the student will move through many lower ranked belts before getting the opportunity to try and earn the black belt.