Every January people look for a new challenge, and every January a few of them walk onto our mats for the first time and never leave. Martial arts is a powerful way to get fit, but the benefits that keep people training for years are mostly in the mind. Here are five research-backed reasons to take up martial arts this year, from the team at Hammer’s Gym in Nunawading, home to Australia’s first fully structured Muay Thai grading system for more than 25 years.
1. It sharpens your goal-setting
Goal-setting matters in fitness, work and life, and martial arts trains it constantly. A structured grading system gives you a clear next step, a syllabus to work through and regular milestones to earn, and the discipline of turning up and chipping away at a technique soaks into everything else you do. Members often tell us the mindset they built on the mat is what finally got their other goals moving. Pair it with our guide to setting fitness goals.
2. It reduces aggression
It sounds counter-intuitive, but the research is consistent. A US study of children aged 8 to 11 who trained in traditional martial arts, with an emphasis on respect, self-control and defending themselves, found the training reduced aggression in boys and made them more likely to step in and help someone being bullied. The effect is not limited to children: other studies have found reduced physical and verbal aggression and lower hostility in teenagers who practise martial arts. Learning how to fight, in a structured environment, tends to make people calmer and less inclined to. See why learning martial arts matters.
3. Better stress management
Arts such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu force you to control your breathing and stay calm while someone is trying to submit you, and Muay Thai pad rounds demand complete attention. Studies of martial arts practitioners report reduced feelings of stress and a greater ability to manage stress when it arises, in young and middle-aged adults alike. It is meditation with consequences, and it works. Read how training helps with anxiety and stress.
4. Enhanced emotional wellbeing
Researchers are increasingly examining the links between martial arts and emotional health, and the findings are encouraging. In one study, 45 older adults aged 67 to 93 took part in martial arts training, cognitive training or general physical training for three to six months. The martial arts group showed lower levels of depression afterwards than both other groups, possibly because of the practice’s meditative elements, and reported improved self-esteem. The benefits are not reserved for the young.
5. A stronger memory
Martial arts appears to improve working memory. In one study, participants were tested on recalling and repeating sequences of numbers, forwards and backwards, with the sequences growing longer until they could no longer keep up. The martial arts group outperformed the control group and could recall longer series. Learning and chaining techniques, remembering combinations under fatigue and reading an opponent all train the brain as hard as the body.
And the fitness is a bonus
None of this even counts the physical side: cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, coordination, strength and fat loss that few other activities match. See the six health benefits of martial arts training. Martial arts has been practised for self-defence and personal development for centuries; only recently have researchers had the tools to measure how much it does for the brain, and the answer is a great deal.
Start this year at Hammer’s Gym
You do not need experience, fitness or any particular build; you need to turn up. Hammer’s Gym runs beginner classes in Muay Thai, boxing, BJJ, wrestling and MMA every week in Nunawading, with a structured system that takes you from your first class to your first grading and beyond. Read Muay Thai for beginners to see what a first class involves, check the timetable, and claim a free trial class. We are minutes from Mitcham, Blackburn, Box Hill and Doncaster. Make this the year you start.