Martial Arts Drills

As most people know, most types of Martial Arts use belts and sashes to distinguish the different levels of skills and training of the students. But where did this ranking system come from? Before reading any further, you should realize that this system is in use for only 120 years, that not every martial art uses the same ranking system and that even the local martial art school can have a different system.

The most common and most accepted story of the origin of the belt ranking system is the story of Dr Jigoro Kano. He was the founder of the modern judo, as we know and practice today. Dr Kano was a teacher and a sports enthusiast and decided to let his dan students (the ones with the highest ranks) wear a black belt, so they could be easily recognized as Dan. Later on he realized that his kyu students (lower ranks) needed something to target their efforts. This became the system with the different colors to easily identify the progress that his students made over time.

When the Okinawan karate master Gichin Funakoshi, who is considered to be the “Father of Modern Karate”, gave a demonstration of his martial art style, Shotokan, at the Kodokan, he was impressed by the belt ranking system and decided to implement the system for his own students. Soon this was followed by the other Japanese martial arts as Aikido, Karate, Kendo etc.

When new students start their martial arts training, they are likely to be given a white belt. During the training tehy will progress through the different colors and earn the black belt. Although most people think that this is the highest rank one can achieve with martial arts, the black belt is actually the beginning of the real training. The black belt means that someone is no longer a Kyu but a Dan.

Dan have their own ranking system known as degrees. You are a first degree black belt when you first attain it, over time you can test for your 2nd degree black belt (or 2nd dan) and so on. Most martial arts consider a 10th degree black belt to be the highest level of mastery.

More information about various martial arts can be found on www.martialartinfo.net

What’s your style? Are you a kung fu fanatic or a karateka? There are so many martial arts gracing the globe these days. Have you found the one that truly suits your body and physical attributes? This can be a challenge, no doubt. The good news is the information you can acquire from the privacy of your own home. There is a plethora of it out there to say the least. Find out anything you like about any style you prefer. Purchase all the personal martial art equipment you need to practice at home. In this day and age you can totally have your cake and eat it to. Are you ready to get the scoop self-defense?

What martial art equipment sits in your workout room or garage? Have you attained all the necessities for a good workout? This is imperative in my book. Everyone should have a decent heavy bag, a jump rope, weight set, speed bag, and floor mat. These are the bare essentials regardless of style. Speaking of style, this will certainly have an impact on the martial art equipment you desire. I like to practice Wing Chun, therefore I need my Mook Yan Jong. What is this you may ask? It’s just a fancy name for the wooden dummy. You’ve probably seen one of these in a kung fu movie of some sort at one point or another. It’s a great training aid for building close combat skills. A few other defense arts make use of this martial art equipment as well. As far as a heavy bag goes, I feel that this is the quintessential of fighting and self-defense arts. It’s imperative to practice hitting something that’s solid. Air doesn’t cut it. You need to feel the impact on your limbs. This is what great martial art equipment is for. Furthermore, if you really want to get good at what you do, then you must test it out in full-on sparring against resisting opponents. This is the only way to know if it measures up. You may find that it’s not what you hoped it would be, and decide to choose a different style.

Are you in the market for quality martial art equipment? Hey, the absolute best place to browse is the Internet. I don’t care what you’re looking for you will find it on the World-Wide-Web. After all, isn’t that what we have computers for? Hop online today and sort through all the useful martial art equipment.

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