Martial arts is fantastic for a number of things, fitness being only one of them, but have you ever wondered what fitness means to you?

There are a lot of benefits to being fitter and almost everyone at some point think (even if in a passing thought) that they should get fitter and reap the rewards. Your brain knows when it wants to be fitter, you just need the perseverance to do it (http://martial-art-concepts.com/blog/perseverance-what-it-is/).

Here are just some of the benefits you get from fitness through training in the martial arts:

Increase muscle

Just increasing the amount of activity you do on a daily basis will increase muscle throughout the body. With exercise the body becomes more adapt to that exercise by increasing muscles mass needed for the job. The beauty of martial arts is that your entire body is used (even those tiny muscles you didn’t know you have until you exercise them) to perform even the basic martial art movements, and so you aren’t just concentrating on arms or legs as you would at the gym for example, but your entire body.

Reduces stored fat

Most of us have heard about the different body shapes, like the triangle, square, apple and pear. The 2 most know are the apple and pear. The shape comes from where the body stores fat, obviously storing fat in some places is more dangerous than in others, for example around the stomach and organs is more dangerous than stored on the hips.

Exercise uses energy to perform the task at hand, however its show that because the body becomes more used to a particular exercise it becomes more efficient and therefore requires less fat to burn.

As stated before martial arts uses every part of the body and so the body takes longer to become efficient and therefore burns more stored fat.

Strengthens bones

As age increases bone density decreases, and so the bones become weaker and more prone to damage. Women are slightly more at risk of this due to their bones losing density faster. Exercise slows, halts or reverses this but only with the bones that are used.

An exercise that only uses a particular part of the body only strengthens those bones. Martial arts uses all the body and therefore the entire skeleton is strengthened, and as already mentioned the muscle is increased also while training martial arts, therefore giving extra support to the skeleton.

Increases brainpower

As you train in the martial arts you may realise that your breathing a little heavier, this is great! The extra oxygen goes to your muscles to help them perform your techniques and to the heart to help keep up with the increased demand.

However, it doesn’t stop there. The brain also gets an increased flow of oxygen. Simply by practicing a few simple martial arts techniques such as footwork can increase your brainpower, especially if you have already trained those techniques in the class.

This is great for everyone, especially school children who sometimes find school work a little daunting. This with the next benefit on the list will have them ready for anything.

Puts you in a better mood

Martial arts put you in contact with other people. Here at Martial Art Concepts we like seeing like minded people train together, just a smile or a short conversation is proven to better your mood.

Bullying is a problem in schools and so the friendly environment here at MAC where they train together and play games together does wonders for their mood and confidence.

Martial arts provides you with opportunities each time you train and new challenges, each technique you learn is like a little victory for your brain and so conquering the technique gives you something to be proud of. This is particularly good for children who may not of believed that it was possible for them to be able to do anything like what they do now, which leads to other benefits like increased confidence and respect.

So the question isn’t whether you should train or not, it’s why wouldn’t you want all those great rewards.