Benefits of Martial Arts and Combat Sports Training

Introduction

Training in martial arts and combat sports is one of the best things you can do for your health. The mental and physical benefits you get from this type of training are incredible and can be noticed within the first month that you start your training.

Physically, you learn essential self-defense skills while simultaneously improving/maintaining your physical fitness 

Mentally, you learn how to manage uncomfortable situations to adapt to overcome different obstacles.

Let’s take a deeper look at the mental and physical benefits that martial arts and combat sports training can offer:

Read (or skip) to the end of this article for a real-life situation where all of the benefits mentioned are applied.

Learning how to defend yourself / having the ability to protect others

One of the most valuable skills anyone can have is self defense. Training hard in the gym and learning martial arts techniques will help prepare you in case your safety or the safety of others’ is threatened. 

 

A striking discipline like Muay Thai will help you learn how to fight effectively at distance with your arms (punches, elbows) and legs (kicks, knees), while also preparing you for close-range grappling altercations (clinch – sweeps, trips, dumps).

 

 

A grappling discipline like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) will teach you the art of ground fighting, where an emphasis will be on controlling another person who is actively resisting, then eventually subduing them with a submission (while giving you the option to throw strikes if a real-life situation calls for it, thanks to superior positioning and technique)

 

 

You will be training with other people who practice the same type of techniques, which will make dealing with untrained people much, much easier in a real world situation (if you ever need to). If you can successfully execute techniques on those who know and attempt the proper defenses/counters (and  vice versa - defending against them), doing the same on attackers who very likely don’t know them will seem like a piece of cake. 

 

 

Side note: attackers will most likely not know any martial arts technique, otherwise they wouldn’t attack you for no reason (martial arts would/should have taught them respect and how to control themselves). Even if they do know some things, you will be prepared to fully negate anything they attempt.

 

In addition, you will become familiar with a wide range of positions and you will train many different types of attacks and defenses in each. Doing this on a consistent basis and building up experience in the gym will allow your body to download this muscle memory. Naturally, you will understand and have the ability to do these movements, attacks, and defenses well enough to be able to do it in your sleep. When put in these positions (ex. If you’re caught off guard by an  attacker in public), your body will react before your mind can comprehend what is happening. It will pretty much be like walking to you. You’ve done it so much that you can do it when/where you need, without giving much thought – essential for self defense as every second counts and can mean the difference between safety and harm!

 

Many combat sports like Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, MMA (mixed martial arts), wrestling, kickboxing, and judo (many more out there that weren’t mentioned in this quick list) are competitive sports that can be watched online. Don’t be fooled though. These sports have very immediate, effective real-life uses and – since they can be trained by ANYONE – they are some of the most convenient, real-world applicable methods of self-defense that we can practice. If the techniques work on world-class, professional fighters and martial artists who train on a very very consistent basis, they would ideally work on everyone!

In the increasingly dangerous times we’re living in today, we should hope for the best, but prepare for the worst because it is better to be prepared and not need it, than be unprepared and need it.

Developing self-discipline, self-confidence, and self-control

When you train in a martial art, you will improve your mental and physical discipline and control, all of which will lead to increased confidence. When you’re training, you will inevitably face difficult physical situations, just as you will in real life. Your mind and body will want to give up, but in these moments, it is CRUCIAL that you have a “mind over matter” mindset. You’ll want to quit, you’ll want to give up, you’ll want to rest, and you’ll have many reasons that you can give in – but you won’t. 

You’ll develop the mental discipline to force yourself not to stop when the going gets difficult and the obstacles seem immoveable. Your mental discipline will translate to physical discipline: when your mind won’t allow your body to quit, your body won’t quit –  the human body is incredibly durable to outside stress, which makes us capable of much more than we think. When you focus on finding a solution rather than focusing on the pain you’re experiencing, your body will find a way through or around the obstacle.

 

 

Improved discipline and control, in both the mental and physical realms, can translate well to life outside of the gym. Knowing that you have the discipline to not give up or give in, as you have consistently experienced these moments in the gym, you will find that you are more capable in nearly everything. Experiencing these improvements can help you to skyrocket the confidence you have in yourself as a person. 

For example, do you want to eat processed, unhealthy junk “food”? Well, you have the discipline to know that you may want it, but still resist it. Why? This goes back to your increased self control. You understand that in the short term, it may taste good, but in the long term, it does more harm than good when it comes to where you want to be (ex. certain physical shape or level of fitness). You control your mind, you control your body, you control your actions. 

 

Everything is dependent on your level of discipline and focus.

Building mental and physical strength 

Combat sports training is difficult for a reason and this is evident in the quality of the professionals who compete. No disrespect is intended with this comparison, but there are different levels of quality between the best conventional sports players and the best combat sports athletes.

Obviously, each will be better suited to their own sport. But whether anyone wants to say it or not, people understand that there is a difference in the training they experience. Why? In combat sports like wrestling, a win and a loss could be the difference between making an Olympic team and waiting another couple of years to compete for the opportunity to make the team again. In mma, a win and a loss could be the difference between a title shot and having to fight 3 more fights to be reconsidered as a contender. In baseball (160+ games) for the majority of the season, a win and a loss is likely the difference between a nice post game talk and a disappointed one, until the very end of the season when the playoffs come into view. In other words, combat sports competitors must be all in because so much depends on their next performance. 

Nothing is guaranteed after a competition, so everything is given in training leading up to it.

This type of training mindset is applied to all levels of martial arts training. This forces practitioners to develop a strong work ethic and maintain sharp physical fitness

Mentally, practitioners will learn to force themselves to not give up and give in. They will have to adapt or face the consequences of not improving. Eventually, they will fail – this is a guarantee. But, they will learn from their failures, bounce back, analyze their mistakes, and come back even better – building up mental strength and improving their resilience.

 

Your body follows your mind. When your mind inevitably becomes stronger, so too will your body. Your mind will be able to endure more, so your body will follow this example. Physically, you will build great functional strength as martial arts often requires you to train with another person, who is giving some degree of resistance. In addition to your training partners’ body weight, they are using force, momentum, and pressure against you. 

You will constantly be adapting to the changing amount of resistance you face, using many different muscles that conventional exercise (weight lifting, running, etc) may miss, and repositioning your body weight’s balance due to the constant motion you will be in. You will develop really great flexibility, agility, and mobility while increasing your strength and endurance; everytime you train, you will be improving/maintaining these aspects of physical fitness!

Improved ability to manage difficult situations and overcome obstacles

As you improve your discipline and self-control, confidence in yourself and in your abilities will also increase. Similar to the mental fortitude and physical attributes you have worked hard to earn, these can translate to real life immediately and very effectively for you.

You’ve faced difficult situations in training before. You’ve had to manage obstacles when you were exhausted and fatigued. Thanks to your martial arts training, you know what it’s like to be in a bad position and overcome challenges. 

 

You also know what it’s like to work your way out of a situation like this. Instead of focusing on how much the situation may suck, how tired you are, or any of the other factors beyond your control, you know to focus on the situation. You don’t panic and you instead analyze what you’re in for, how you can overcome this obstacle, and ultimately take action and do it.

Whether it’s de-escalating a confrontation that could have become violent without intervention, working longer hours to finish a project before a deadline at work, or simply being more patient with your loved ones (parents, kids, friends, etc), your martial arts training has prepared you and given you the ability to do it.

Lifestyle Changes (Nutrition, Strength and Conditioning)

Another great benefit that martial arts training can have can be seen in the lifestyle changes that practitioners make. Once they start to lose fat, gain muscle, and become more physically fit, they usually will want to maintain or improve the shape they are in. They have experienced first hand the beneficial changes that their hard work has led to and they have no intention of stopping anytime soon.

Not only will they keep showing up to training as consistently as they can, but they will change their lifestyle to better aid their health and their training. They know what they felt like before they started training and, compared to how they feel after they started training, they don’t want to go back to that.

Unhealthy snacks like potato chips will soon become fresh organic fruit. Soda drinking habits will soon disappear and water will become their go-to beverage. Processed junk “food” and fast “food” that once passed as meals will become extinct in their life, as they choose to switch to a food consisting of real, whole foods instead. They will soon realize that these little changes will go a very long way

Food is fuel that can drastically affect your training and your progress. Would you put low quality  fuel in a race car? Or would you give it the proper fuel it needs? You only have one body, and treating it that way when it comes to nutrition is something that martial arts training can help you implement as a good habit

To help stay in shape to maximize success in training, people have started doing strength and conditioning outside of martial arts. Their S&C routines make them stronger and give them better endurance, which directly helps them in the gym.

They see that it is much easier to consistently maintain this lifestyle, than to work their way out of a more unhealthy one, so they opt to make this change for good!

 

Finding a deeper sense of community with teammates and others in the gym

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” In life and in martial arts, truth can be found in this saying. When you see world championship fighters fighting in front of sold out crowds and on millions of screens worldwide, who do they walk out with? Who do they go back to in between rounds? Who got them to where they are? Their team and their support system.

Combat sports training gives everyone in the gym an opportunity to bond over a common goal of self-improvement, the love for martial arts, and just about any other shared interests that you discover between others. Take the time to meet new people, talk with them, and find out more about them. Going through difficult training situations and learning/adapting alongside one another builds a deep connection between everyone involved, whether you realize it or not. You may have more in common than you think and that stranger you weren’t sure of? They might just become your main training partner, a close friend, or someone you consider family.

Real Life Situation

We just threw a kitchen sink’s worth of information at you, regarding how martial arts training can benefit you. Let’s take a look at a simple example that ties them all together.

You’re out in public with friends and family. All of a sudden, a troublemaker starts harassing your group. They threaten to hit multiple people and come close to doing so a few times. 

Nobody in your group knows what to do – they’re like deer caught in headlights. There’s nobody else around to hear or help with what’s going on. Your group is on their own and nobody is coming to save you guys.

Fortunately for everyone, you know martial arts. You have trained in Muay Thai (a striking martial art) and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (a grappling martial art). Because of your training, you understand how much damage the techniques from both disciplines can do. 

You know you have the ability to defend yourself and others thanks to your training. You have the discipline, control, and confidence to try and deescalate the situation before it turns physical. You have the mental and physical strength to support this effort. In training, you have been put in much more difficult situations alongside your training partners who have helped you and given you a lot of great tips, so adapting to this one and overcoming this obstacle is nothing new to you.

From here, the situation may end up taking a violent turn, but your Muay Thai (striking) and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (grappling) have prepared you for both stand-up and ground combat, so you will be able to handle yourself in both areas and physically stop/control this attacker.

The situation may also deescalate, as once the provoker sees your calm, but firm composure (backed by your confidence in your training), they decide it may not be such a great idea to try and cause harm. They comply with your attempt to de-escalate and agree to stop. They leave and everyone is left unharmed.

 

As we mentioned earlier, you hoped for the best, but were prepared for the worst – something that saved you and your group from harm. Without your martial arts knowledge, skills, and experience, the situation could have been a lot worse, for everyone involved.

This is one of many hypothetical situations that can actually take place, so being prepared through martial arts training can always help.

Check out the following links, as they relate to the benefits of martial arts and how they apply to everyday life in the real world!

“A harmless man is not a good man. A good man is a very, very dangerous man who has that under voluntary control.” (from A Good Man Is Dangerous - Jocko Willink and Jordan Peterson)

Combat Sports Training for Beginners

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE of martial arts being used to help others - Brian Kemsley prevents a kidnapping with his skills (Fighter Series)

The benefits of combat sports training for mental health 

Brian Kemsley - Prevents a baby from being kidnapped 

Great reasoning to start martial arts: Joe Rogan - Jiu Jitsu for Self-Defense

Joe Rogan - Best martial art for self defense (grappling)

Different martial arts great for self-defense (convenient, accessible) 

Self-Defense Tips

How Joe Rogan got into martial arts

Thank you for reading - we hope this was a helpful summary of the great benefits that martial arts training can provide for practitioners! We hope to see you in the gym soon!