What is the best all around martial art to improve your physical health?

[Jared Traveler]

If someone's major goals is physical health and fitness, what martial art do you think is best? I'm talking about an average couch potato who wants to shut the TV off and get fit by training in martial arts.

What do you think and why?

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Realistically, the biggest considerations are

1. How much the person enjoys the practice of the art. If they don't enjoy it enough to consistently drag themselves off the couch then they won't show up long enough to get the benefits.
2. What sort of shape they are in to begin with compared to the demands of the class. Exercise needs to be progressive. If you take a morbidly obese 60 years old who hasn't exercised in decades and throw them into a workout for pro fighters, they're probably going to have a heart attack, which isn't very healthy.
3. How you weight the relative values of "health" vs "fitness". The two overlap, but aren't the same. Training for professional MMA competition will get you in fantastic shape, but can lead to long term injuries, which aren't healthy.

For those whose health and starting fitness level allow it, I think Capoeira is an absolutely fantastic exercise. You can start at a reasonable pace and build up to levels of strength, conditioning, flexibility, coordination, and athleticism comparable to any professional fighter, but with much lower chance of concussions or other injuries. I've dropped it from my routine primarily because my wrists have such bad arthritis and bone spurs that I can't use any of the low or inverted positions anymore and it makes me feel like I'm missing out on half the art.

 

[Flying Crane]

Realistically, the biggest considerations are

1. How much the person enjoys the practice of the art. If they don't enjoy it enough to consistently drag themselves off the couch then they won't show up long enough to get the benefits.
2. What sort of shape they are in to begin with compared to the demands of the class. Exercise needs to be progressive. If you take a morbidly obese 60 years old who hasn't exercised in decades and throw them into a workout for pro fighters, they're probably going to have a heart attack, which isn't very healthy.
3. How you weight the relative values of "health" vs "fitness". The two overlap, but aren't the same. Training for professional MMA competition will get you in fantastic shape, but can lead to long term injuries, which aren't healthy.

For those whose health and starting fitness level allow it, I think Capoeira is an absolutely fantastic exercise. You can start at a reasonable pace and build up to levels of strength, conditioning, flexibility, coordination, and athleticism comparable to any professional fighter, but with much lower chance of concussions or other injuries. I've dropped it from my routine primarily because my wrists have such bad arthritis and bone spurs that I can't use any of the low or inverted positions anymore and it makes me feel like I'm missing out on half the art.

When I was an obsessed capoeirista, I was by far in the best shape of my life.

I believe though, that sometimes capoeiristas do not follow the healthiest training habits. In the attempt to do the next best floreios they end up with chronic injuries to the shoulders, knees, hips, back…

 

[Tony Dismukes]

When I was an obsessed capoeirista, I was by far in the best shape of my life.

I believe though, that sometimes capoeiristas do not follow the healthiest training habits. In the attempt to do the next best floreios they end up with chronic injuries to the shoulders, knees, hips, back…

Yeah, I figured there's some sort of risk for those who push too far on the acrobatic side of things without being careful. However that's something which should be completely under the practitioner's control, as opposed to combat sports where you've got another person attempting to mess you up.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

If someone's major goals is physical health and fitness, what martial art do you think is best?

May be the question should be "Which training can be good for health?"

For health, you are interested in:

- flexibility,
- balance,
- endurance.

You can get all of these through this simple drill. If you can still do this 20 times non-stop when you are 80, your health is good.

 

[mograph]

If someone's major goals is physical health and fitness, what martial art do you think is best? I'm talking about an average couch potato who wants to shut the TV off and get fit by training in martial arts.

What do you think and why?

There's an additional component in martial arts: the combative portion. Duh. If the goal is fitness, I'd avoid martial arts unless the combative aspect is what gets them out there: the attractor. I don't think the person should engage in a martial art if they want to get fit in spite of the combative aspect, or if they tolerate the combative aspect in order to get fit. Not good for long-term motivation, I think.

(Capoeira sounds good in that way -- very interesting.)

It's the same with any activity, I suppose: unless they're a gym rat, loving the plate-pushing, there's always going to be an external component that is either a distraction from the fitness, or an attraction to the activity. If the person doesn't want to fight anyone, they're wasting time learning to fight when they could be on the rowing machine burning calories, or on the weights, building big muscles to metabolize glucose. And they might find the combat more of an irritation rather than a challenge.

For example, I play squash. Love it. But I get fit in order to play squash: the game is the attractor, since I'm not much into the gym thing, and if not for my love of the game, I'd need to find another reason to go to the gym. (General fitness for survival is a great motivator as I age, though.) While squash is great for cardio, as you improve, you actually run around less as you play more efficiently (of course, the opponent plays a role). The same might be true for a martial art: as you get better at it, you might need to work out elsewhere to work your body harder, depending on the art and opponent, of course.

So if the combative aspect is the attractor, then great, martial it is. BUT that might depend on the specific dojo, and how much cardio they throw into the training. My thought is that some dojos might expect you to get fit on your own, so the combative aspects need to be enough of an attractor to get you into the gym aside from going to the dojo.

... and of course, injury is a factor. Playing squash, I could injure my hips, knees, back, if I don't stretch enough. So couch potato needs to factor injury avoidance and prevention into the new activities.

My point? As others have written, pick an art that looks like enough fun that it gets you out, has a low risk of injury, and attracts you to do all the other stuff to stay in shape in order to practice the art ... and all that other stuff might have to be done in a gym, not on the mat.

Finally, as with all "which art?" questions, the answer seems to be "check out what's in the neighbourhood." If the dojo is close by, that's a great motivator, no matter what the art is.

So maybe pick an art that's close by, with a lot of cardio in their program.

 

[Xue Sheng]

If someone's major goals is physical health and fitness, what martial art do you think is best? I'm talking about an average couch potato who wants to shut the TV off and get fit by training in martial arts.

What do you think and why?

For fitness...modern Wushu... but the actual fighting side of that would be Sanda/Sanshou... which with the right sifu, would also get you into pretty good shape

 

[MetalBoar]

I think a lot of good points have been made already. Similar to others, my response was going to be, "The martial art they'll keep doing", but I think @mograph makes a very good point by really evaluating the core piece of the question and expanding the answer. For me, I find the martial aspect interesting and motivating, but if someone doesn't feel that way about MA, then they should do something else.

Specifically, if the only goal is fitness, general functional ability (with no specific needs or activities in mind) and aging well, and the person dislikes all aspects of exercise (not interested in MA, not interested in any sports, doesn't like to dance or hike, doesn't enjoy any aspect of the gym), then they should probably do a quality HIT strength training program that they perform about once a week and some kind of short, full body, relatively low force, calisthenics-ish routine that takes them through a large range of full body movements that they can do a few times a week with a small time commitment to maintain mobility and metabolic function. This may not get them super fit, but it will be maintainable until they are at death's door and if they keep it up they'll be far more fit than the vast majority of their contemporaries when they hit their 50's, 60's, 70's and beyond. In terms of maintaining health and minimizing wear and tear on the body, it'll be hard to beat.

 

[skribs]

If someone's major goals is physical health and fitness, what martial art do you think is best? I'm talking about an average couch potato who wants to shut the TV off and get fit by training in martial arts.

What do you think and why?

I'm going to echo what @Tony Dismukes said. The martial art that you show up to regularly is more important than what is theoretically best. This goes for technique, this goes for application, but it also goes for fitness. This was a big part of why I started martial arts - going to the gym wasn't fun. Going to the dojang was.

I'll give a couple of answers here: a forms-based TMA, or a weapon-based martial art.

In a form-based art, you spend a lot of time working out without realizing it. It takes a lot of leg strength and flexibility to do the stances properly. Simply doing the techniques over and over again with snap power will tone your muscles, even if they don't bulk them. Point sparring is very high cardio, especially with the kicks from Taekwondo. There's also relatively low risk of life-altering injury in Taekwondo or Karate competitions compared to what you see in MMA or other striking sports.

Weapons, on the other hand, are naturally weighted, so practicing a weapon-based art means you're moving around a lot of weight.

 

[mograph]

Specifically, if the only goal is fitness, general functional ability (with no specific needs or activities in mind) and aging well, and the person dislikes all aspects of exercise (not interested in MA, not interested in any sports, doesn't like to dance or hike, doesn't enjoy any aspect of the gym), then they should probably do a quality HIT strength training program that they perform about once a week and some kind of short, full body, relatively low force, calisthenics-ish routine that takes them through a large range of full body movements that they can do a few times a week with a small time commitment to maintain mobility and metabolic function.

If they do have racquet skills, and access to some courts (there's the rub), squash is a great HIIT exercise.

Is Squash A HIIT Exercise? - The Racket Life

Squash is a popular indoor racket game known for grueling attacks and high-speed balls. Although squash isn’t an Olympic game, it is far underrated in...

theracketlife.com

That's all. Carry on ...

 

[Gerry Seymour]

If someone's major goals is physical health and fitness, what martial art do you think is best? I'm talking about an average couch potato who wants to shut the TV off and get fit by training in martial arts.

What do you think and why?

In my opinion, that depends more on how the club trains and how YOU train than on the specific art.

It does seem likely a grappling art has more built-in full-body benefit than a purely striking art.

 

[Tigerwarrior]

An average couch potato would greatly benefit from any art. But doing mma training would probably be too intense at first. Full body stuff I think of that gives a good workout is kickboxing,boxing, and karate, also grappling styles. Weapon arts are good too. But when you watch weight loss shows on TV whenever they do martial arts type stuff it's cardio kickboxing, not even from a legit coach and they still get amazing results from it. But I agree whatever art keeps them coming back is the right one.

 

[Jared Traveler]

I brought It's up after getting smoked yet again and Muay Thai class. You hit the pads for five rounds, with 1 minute breaks in between. And then usually there is other activities, potentially sparring also included in the class.

I have found that hitting the Mitts is far more physical than punching or kicking the air. Also with a pad holder, he doesn't let you get lazy and drop your hands, you have to keep them up high in Muay Thai, which is killer on the arms.

Doing full force kicks come in these is a lot harder than just throwing punches on the mitts, or at least works many different muscle groups.

I've also never done a muay Thai class without some running involved, at least one full round of running.

I did a lot of Judo/sambo, which is extremely physical. But not constant output, a lot of the class is spent practicing technique that doesn't involve cardio, or even a lot of physical output. And when your grappling you try to make the other guy work harder than you. I have no doubt that grappling is extremely physical, but it also leads to a lot of injuries.

Training in Muay Thai has proven for me to be the most consistently physical martial arts training I've ever done. Although I've done judo classes where I had to drag myself off the mat, I still find that Muay Thai is consistently more physical. And certainly more physical than when I did other striking systems, largely due to the pace, and striking the mitts.

I think the difference is, one I'm training without air conditioning. But also the nature of Muay typing a sport, they are trying to condition you to compete for a full five rounds. That objective drives the pace and intensity of training.

I'm sure there may be other systems that work you as hard, but this is definitely the best system I've taken for physical fitness. In the best part is although it can be painful, and you experience discomfort, it's very rare to receive a real injury without competing.

 

[Tigerwarrior]

I brought It's up after getting smoked yet again and Muay Thai class. You hit the pads for five rounds, with 1 minute breaks in between. And then usually there is other activities, potentially sparring also included in the class.

I have found that hitting the Mitts is far more physical than punching or kicking the air. Also with a pad holder, he doesn't let you get lazy and drop your hands, you have to keep them up high in Muay Thai, which is killer on the arms.

Doing full force kicks come in these is a lot harder than just throwing punches on the mitts, or at least works many different muscle groups.

I've also never done a muay Thai class without some running involved, at least one full round of running.

I did a lot of Judo/sambo, which is extremely physical. But not constant output, a lot of the class is spent practicing technique that doesn't involve cardio, or even a lot of physical output. And when your grappling you try to make the other guy work harder than you. I have no doubt that grappling is extremely physical, but it also leads to a lot of injuries.

Training in Muay Thai has proven for me to be the most consistently physical martial arts training I've ever done. Although I've done judo classes where I had to drag myself off the mat, I still find that Muay Thai is consistently more physical. And certainly more physical than when I did other striking systems, largely due to the pace, and striking the mitts.

I think the difference is, one I'm training without air conditioning. But also the nature of Muay typing a sport, they are trying to condition you to compete for a full five rounds. That objective drives the pace and intensity of training.

I'm sure there may be other systems that work you as hard, but this is definitely the best system I've taken for physical fitness. In the best part is although it can be painful, and you experience discomfort, it's very rare to receive a real injury without competing.

This! I have the same view. I did judo for 9 months tested for green(the belt before brown), 95% of the classes I went to started like this, warm up, rolls/breakfalls, conditioning, technical work learning new throws and set ups on the crash pads, the rest drilling and after that randori. So alot of drilling, but we did get alot of conditioning in too, but we always did randori at the end of class it was the last thing we did before leaving. My coach was a usjf and this is the only judo school I trained at. I was in my best shape there but everyone's body is different. For most people a striking art will probably be a better cardio wise. But I gained alot of strength when I was doing judo, especially isometric strength.

 

[Zombocalypse]

If someone's major goals is physical health and fitness, what martial art do you think is best? I'm talking about an average couch potato who wants to shut the TV off and get fit by training in martial arts.

What do you think and why?

Tricky question. My honest answer is the following.

The best martial art for the purpose of health and fitness is essentially the worst martial art you can come up with that you can pair with an intelligently-designed weight training program.

Bro, you gotta separate the two. A person will never achieve real strength gains from suplexing an arbitrary number of friends. One can argue that wrestling is the most physically demanding, therefore it is the "healthiest", but ultimately your question is tricky as hell. Train in a martial art to learn how to fight. Lift weights (and do cardio) in an actual weight training gym to improve health and fitness.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Tricky question. My honest answer is the following.

The best martial art for the purpose of health and fitness is essentially the worst martial art you can come up with that you can pair with an intelligently-designed weight training program.

Bro, you gotta separate the two. A person will never achieve real strength gains from suplexing an arbitrary number of friends. One can argue that wrestling is the most physically demanding, therefore it is the "healthiest", but ultimately your question is tricky as hell. Train in a martial art to learn how to fight. Lift weights (and do cardio) in an actual weight training gym to improve health and fitness.

I have to disagree. That depends upon the level of fitness you’re chasing. For someone training hard and consistently, they can get a lot of fitness gains (including strength, insofar as it is used in the training) from that training.

Of course, you can get better fitness results from dedicated training, especially regarding strength. But it’s not a binary thing.

 

[Zombocalypse]

I have to disagree. That depends upon the level of fitness you’re chasing. For someone training hard and consistently, they can get a lot of fitness gains (including strength, insofar as it is used in the training) from that training.

Of course, you can get better fitness results from dedicated training, especially regarding strength. But it’s not a binary thing.

There is training hard, and then there is training hard efficiently. Ultimately, as much as anyone can manage, they must absolutely make training as measurable-by-numbers as possible. You don't want things to enter the realm of linguistic vagaries. If you do, you have macho-minded wrestlers thinking they "worked hard" when the only muscular stimulation they did was equivalent to deadlifting 100 pounds.

I guess it was a bit unfair for me to say that "suplexing people is ineffective", but the point remains. Training in a controlled environment, controlled intensity, controlled volume, controlled pacing, is far more effective than random hard work in some activity.

For example, although I would never doubt that hard-working manual laborers like farmers or construction workers are strong and have gotten strong through their hard activities, I would still consider formalized weight training to be much more effective than what they do. In formalized weight training, you get to measure stuff. And that's extremely important in training.

 

[punisher73]

I think that age is an important factor in this discussion.

For an elderly person, rolling around in BJJ might not be the best option. BUT, Tai Chi might be the best thing for them.

As I read through the responses, they all seemed to assume a younger person in good health without physical ailments.

 

[Zombocalypse]

I think that age is an important factor in this discussion.

For an elderly person, rolling around in BJJ might not be the best option. BUT, Tai Chi might be the best thing for them.

As I read through the responses, they all seemed to assume a younger person in good health without physical ailments.

Everyone, even paraplegics, have to stay fit. As a matter of fact, often times the worse off you are, the more you need to lift. My mom doesn't believe me and she ended up punier than a tiny mouse.

Young, ambitious athlete? He should lift. Full-grown adult? He should lift. Old people? They should lift. There is something in weight training for everyone. Not all weight training programs are for everyone, but there is something in weight training for everyone.

Maybe you're one of those people who enjoys making cute little excuses about not lifting. Yeah, fine, be like that. Just realize that a different version of you somewhere in an alternate reality is kicking *** because he is willing to put in the work to lift.

Also... And this is gonna sound incredibly dorky and silly to a lot of you. I don't really care... In the world of anime and Japanese video games, you have extremely sexy ladies like Aerith Gainsborough and Rinoa Heartilly. No doubt, they are very beautiful. But that's not how beauty works in the real world. Aerith doesn't exist in the real world. In the real world, female beauty comes from curves and a little fat. How does a woman get those curves? By lifting weights.

 

[punisher73]

Ummmm.....huh?

Thread title:

What is the best all around martial art to improve your physical health?​

It doesn't say the best way to get fit. Nice strawman argument though.