Whats the Best Martial Arts for Fitness??

franman

Getting pretty bored of the gym lately so was looking at taking up some martial arts training to keep me fit. Is there a particular style to would require a more intense workout on a training night?? Open to anything that is friendly to a beginner. Any suggestions??? Thanks

fianna.5u.com

Without a shadow of a doubt the top 4 "styles" for fitness are (not in any specific order):
Boxing
Mauy Thai
Wrestling
No-Gi BJJ

Mixed Martial Arts is a combination of all of them, as such it combines the most types of fitness. So MMA is the best.

If you can't or don't want to train MMA I would suggest Freestyle Wrestling. Which combines every type of fitness.

Generally when a "style" is a sport first and foremost it is better for fitness than those that are a "style" first.

After the above 4, I would say, Judo and Gi BJJ because they use a Gi (like a karate suit) I don't think they push all raound fitness the same way.

Peace
P.S. These styles are aslo the best for fighting

Devon

Just curious, but why do you say No-Gi BJJ requires more fitness than Gi BJJ?

Cabelo

I reckon we'd be alright for fitness too, if you're in a capoeira class its an hour and a half with a stance that never stops moving. It might not build you up and out but I'm sure peeps could lose weight doing it.

I know it keeps me alright and I've got a nice quick little kick to me too

dunkamania

jerryadams wrote:

Just curious, but why do you say No-Gi BJJ requires more fitness than Gi BJJ?

Its harder to pin someone in no-gi,so there is less time spent in static positions.
Compared with Gi BJJ,I find No-Gi BJJ to be more active and a better workout.

Roper

In response to the original poster, I'd go with the advice from Fianna, but I'd shop around too. Basically most other arts will vary from place to place but those 4 would be fairly reliable in terms of their fitness focus.

My one piece of advice would be to stay away from street oriented styles as they wouldn't tend to place much emphasis on fitness.

toffeapple

I've done a few and without doubt the best was Mauy Thai

franman

thanks for all the responses guys. i'll look into the four and try one out in the new year

Colm_OReilly

*Takes deep breath and prepares lecture notes*

Firstly, welcome along to the MA board franman. Now, on to the topic of "fitness".

When most people think of fitness the preconception is that of muscular endurance. If someone says they ran in the marathon you almost invariably get the response "wow, they must be really fit!"

Fitness is actually broken down into several components:

Strength: Basically the body's ability to do work. This is achieved through resistance training primarily (e.g. weights) Different weights routines build different aspects of 'Strength', which is a vague enough term in and of itself.

Cardiovascular endurance/stamina: The ability of the heart and lungs to do work at varying intensities. Cardio work, be it on a rowing ergometer, bicycle, in a swimming pool, making love, all work the heart and lungs but there are very different muscle systems used in eacch exercise.

Locomuscular Endurance/Stamina: This is the ability of the body to carry out the required work over a period of time. Someone could have excellent cardiovascular fitness due to swimming, but put them on a track and they "gas" fairly soon, even at the same intensities, as there are different muscle groups working there.

Body Composition: Your ratio of fat to lean body tissue(lean body tissue=anything that's not fat, inc. muscle, organs, bones, etc.)

Flexibility: The range of movement and ease of movement about a joint.

They're the five main components of 'fitness', as generally used by NCEF practitioners. Also there's the concept of sports (or activity) specific fitness which basically means that a lot of the energy you have in one activity won't necessarily transfer over to a different one. This is mainly down to the fact that the demands on the muscles aren't the same.

Now, on to the question of MA for fitness. Since MA is a skill based activity, the better you get at it, the less intense a workout will be. For example, in BJJ, a beginner will expend a lot of energy to choke an opponent that I would, and in turn JK would expend even less.

While I agree with Fianna on the sports/ma's you should try out for fitness and health benefits he was a little modest when it came to his club in Sandyford. While you'll get good health benefits in mine or JK's place we dont' devote as much time in our training sessions excusively to combat conditioning (high intensity training) and endurance as they do in Fianna.

Hope you've found this educational and entertaining.

Colm

fianna.5u.com

Colm_OReilly wrote:

While I agree with Fianna on the sports/ma's you should try out for fitness and health benefits he was a little modest when it came to his club in Sandyford. While you'll get good health benefits in mine or JK's place we dont' devote as much time in our training sessions excusively to combat conditioning (high intensity training) and endurance as they do in Fianna.

As far as I'm concerned, that's mad props. Thanks man


Peace

Devon

Colm_OReilly wrote:

Hope you've found this educational and entertaining.

Did I ever? That was very helpful and I will definitely be passing this on if I'm every asked. Very useful to know. Thanks a lot for that one!

breadmonkey

Having said that, doing some grappling on the ground can make your forearms hurt

That hasn't been my experience. Why would your forearms hurt from grappling on the ground?

breadmonkey

Was that supposed to be funny on some level?

judomick

training gi as opposed no gi will work your forearms alot more, so if your not used to the gi side of things you will find your forearms tighten up and HURT!

loz

breadmonkey wrote:

That hasn't been my experience. Why would your forearms hurt from grappling on the ground?

figure 4's hurt

Roper

I don't grapple in a Gi, but whenever I roll with someone else who's wearing one the first thing I notice is the forearm burn. Gripping and twisting (as if it helps me any) causes it.

Gaillimhtaibhse

How about this answer lads...? One discipline is not better than another. Rather, it's the MA that turns you on! I do WTF Olympic style TKD, and when on the floor or ring I am Miss TKD. It takes over. I transform into somebody else. If in tournament, I'm there to win, and spin like Altan's "Windmill." Physical fitness just naturally occurs. So my answer is: Shop around. Find the MA that really turns you on. Then "just do it!"

judomick

the original question was what in our opinions is the best martial art for fitness , not what MA turns us on!?:eek:

Gaillimhtaibhse

judomick wrote:

the original question was what in our opinions is the best martial art for fitness , not what MA turns us on!?:eek:

Excuse me for being enthusiastic. I have known many who sought fitness solutions in the past, only to drop them for lack of commitment or bordom.

dlofnep

I think it depends on the school. Boxing fitness seems to be the most intense out of all I've seen. But like I said, different horses for different courses. One school might have an intense cardio addition to their classes while others might not.

Anyone who has to put their art into practice like in competition will naturally find out quickly how important fitness and cardio becomes. I don't think it would be fair to label any single martial art as the best for fitness. It really does depend on the school. The ratio of schools that make it apart of their criteria however will differ between arts.

fianna.5u.com

I think it was socrates who said "by Zues, a great runner cannot match a great wrestler".

As Colm pointed out there are a great many elements to fitness. Most striking arts don't develop your strenght the way Wrestling would, because you lift people regularly in wrestling.

Most grappling arts don't develop explosive upper body repeatative motions.

Most striking styles develop and outward reaching flexibility (the splits)

Most grappling styles develop both outward and inward (rubber gaurd).

Naturally the style that combines all elements will be the best for over all fitness. (I am not suggesting that the above is a comprehensive list or anything)

Therefore, MMA is the best for over all fitness.

Now I am sure there are boxers who can pick people up and wrestlers who have explosive hands etc. But the style itself is not always responsible for this. Likewise if your class combines cardio, and trips to the gym to circuit train and trips to the weights room for o-lifts and you subscribe to cross-fit, you'll likely be very fit, but that's not down to your style.

Simply put, if you were bored with the gym and wanted to train a martial art for a change (that is best for fitness) you would train MMA.

Peace

Cake Fiend

A great wrestler isn't going to catch a great runner

Earthhorse

I'm inclined to agree with Gaillimhtaibhse.

Fitness is gained over time, not one or two sessions, so picking a martial art that you are interested in, and likely to stick with, is more important than picking the one that is "best for fitness".

Find a style and, more importantly, a club and instructor you like. Fitness will follow.

Roper

But that's not what was asked though is it?

Let's not be PC about it folks. There are some that are good for fitness, and some that are beaten by a brisk walk.

See the above by Fianna. They're the best for fitness over two or two hundred sessions. Some others may be good or even the equivalent, but you're guaranteed superior fitness in the top 4 mentioned above.

Earthhorse

No, it's not the question that was asked but I think the OP needs to bear in mind that a boring martial arts session will be as boring as a gym session.

OP, is your intention to be super fit or simply reach a decent level of fitness?

franman

Earthhorse wrote:

No, it's not the question that was asked but I think the OP needs to bear in mind that a boring martial arts session will be as boring as a gym session.

OP, is your intention to be super fit or simply reach a decent level of fitness?

I suppose i just want to maintain my current level of fitness which would be described as decent. I wouldnt be giving up the gym just looking for an alternative once or twice a week.

P.S Thanks again for all the great feedback guys. I have some researching to do over christmas now

Clive

If you just want to get "fit" (as in aerobically fit, which is what most people mean) then forget about proper martial arts and just go with cardio kickboxing/taebo or something similar is my advice.

Repli

Taekwondo has a good fitness element too, we spend around 30 minutes of each class running around and doing general exercises..

EPO_MAN

it depends on the class and instuctor...

I dunno how the first reply (name eludes me and I'm not going back due to lack of fitness.....) can say "without a shadow of a doubt".

I did mauy thai for a while and it was tough - damn tough but i actually found a sports jujutsu class harder physically.
But I've done other JJ and not found it too taxing so it all depends on what's being taught and the level of intensity the instructor demands of his class.

anyway it depend on what you're looking for:
I found mauy thai great for cardio fitness but the sports jj had cardio as well strenght training - through throwing, grappling etc...

No art is better than another in this aspect it depnds on the training partners and the school....

fianna.5u.com

The above post confrms, without a shadow of a doubt. MMA is the best for all round fitness.

Peace

Cabelo

Lads, piece of recognition here... we spend our time upside down Good for yer heart. Cartwheely, good for your arms. Kidneystand, good for your arms (deceptive, that one). Flexibility (not as much me because my flexibility is pretty crappy) and a fair old amount of moving should keep anyone together. I've done my share of Thai and never left a class as tired as I leave an hour of fight-dancing. We might not be the quickest but we move well enough on the ground (it's too hard to do in pads, **** that **** . We'll continue our policy of standing to spar peeps... but without pads we'd love a bit of low movement, which would mean hands to the ground. Complicated way of saying we weren't doing pure capoeira for a good reason on Saturday there...


Anyway, the OP probably won't get this far before making a decision so will someone say, "Right on Cabelo" so I can feel justified?:)

Ger Healy

Cabelo wrote:

Anyway, the OP probably won't get this far before making a decision so will someone say, "Right on Cabelo" so I can feel justified?:)

Right on Cabelo, Now lets move on !!!:)

Cabelo

Thankyou

I've had my hardest workouts in judo. Then again, i haven't done a huge amount of striking arts.

Honestly, I think the difference between no gi and gi is quite minimal, for groundwork. I don't notice myself getting tired anymore quickly when I do no-gi. I suppose it has a lot to do with how much your style changes when you take of the gi.

Most martial arts will allow you to maintain a decent level of fitness, if that's what you're aiming for. So the best thing might be to try a few different ones and see which one you enjoy most.

EPO_MAN

fianna.5u.com wrote:

The above post confrms, without a shadow of a doubt. MMA is the best for all round fitness.

Peace

God no you mis-understand me.

fianna.5u.com

No, I understand perfectly,

I answered the question "what is the best MA style for fitness".
You answered "What style, and instructor would be good if I could meet them all and find out if they do extra stuff that is not part of that style, like running around and press ups and stuff"

If you did no running around, no extra physical fitness training and exclusively did the MA style. The one that would make you fittest is MMA.


Peace