Martial Arts Fighting Styles

There are many martial arts fighting styles. Martial arts are some of the oldest fighting styles in the world, and include a wide variety of techniques, teaching styles, and purposes. The following are the ten most popular martial arts styles today.

1. Karate What most people think when someone says “martial art.” This Japanese art is directly translated to Empty Hand describing its use of only the body, no weapons. First developed in the 16^th century, Karate has evolved into the most popular martial art today.
2. Tae Kwon Do the Korean martial art meaning literally “Foot hand art.” Tae Kwon Do is over 2000 years old and has developed into many different styles in its lifetime. It is alongside Karate in popularity worldwide, and is very similar in technique.
3. Kung Fu is a broad term used to encompass all Chinese martial arts. It was developed by fugitives housed by the Shaolin monastery; many of whom turned into monks. Since there were five different Shaolin temples, five different styles of Kung Fu emerged.
4. Judo is one of the newer martial arts. It was derived from Jujitsu and holds many of the same principles. However they are very different in that Judo has no strikes, and is only a grappling and holding technique. Judo is meant to help improve character more than to be used as a self defense.
5. Tai Chi Chuan is a “soft” Chinese martial arts mainly used for stress relief, as it focuses on breathing and balance. Its movement are slow and deliberate and meant to help the practitioner focus.
6. Muay Thai is a Thai martial art mainly used in fighting competitions like you would see boxing. It includes very harsh blows to vital joints, which can cripple an opponent. Unlike some martial arts it does in fact focus on combat instead of the health and wellness of the trainee.
7. Aikido is another Japanese martial art, though its creation has been fairly recent: it is only just over 100 years old. Aikido is a strictly grappling martial art, focusing entirely on trapping and throwing your opponent to the ground.
8. Boxing while generally considered only a sport, is technically still a martial art. Boxing focuses much more on punching strikes than most other martial arts. While a seemingly straight forward art, it is thousands of years old and has history in many cultures.
9. Sumo Wrestling was once very similar to boxing, but is now more a grappling art. The purpose, instead of knocking the opponent out, is to simply make them step out of the 4.5 meter circle. Sumo wrestling is also a very old martial art.
10. Krav Maga is an Israeli martial art. It is used mainly for disarming your opponent, and is a highly focused self defense technique. This is a very modern art, focusing in practicality and physical well being rather than mental.