Does martial arts build muscle?
Martial arts absolutely will build muscle, but only if the level of exertion while performing the sport exceeds your day to day activity. If you take an adult who normally just has a sedentary job, and maybe walks or jogs for exercise, and they start going to a brazilian jiujitsu class – the increased pulling, lifting, and resisting againt opponents will work their muscles in ways far beyond their daily activity. They will get stronger as their body recovers. Or – the classes likely would include calisthenic type exercises, such as simple pushups and squats, that again exceed the regular daily activity levels, and thus the body adapts and becomes stronger.
On the other hand, if someone is already working out with weights as part of their exercise routine, they may get some accessory or core muscle improvements from learning a new martial art, but they won’t likely get more muscle. The large muscle groups would likely already be adapted enough they are not stressed enough during regular martial arts practice. The large muscle groups are what you visibly see when people “look big”. You could gain functional strength and core strength, but you may not look bigger simply by taking martial arts if you already are training with weights.
For parents of children getting into martial arts, especially those in elementary school, undoubtedly the children will get stronger and build more muscle. They’ll be doing pushups, situps, and other creative exercises during class that works their body differently from playing tag on the playground or basketball on the courts.
Is strength important in martial arts or is technique enough?
Strength is important, but it is a functional strength that is key. Large muscles that are out of balance won’t help too much. All things said, if you take two people trained in the same art with the same technical expertise, the person with more strength will win.
However, in sports such as judo and brazilian jiujitsu, time and time again a well-trained, somewhat experienced athlete will typically be able to control and win over someone who may be much stronger, but lacks any grappling experience.
For those parenting kids who are into martial arts though, obviously just showing up to class is the first step. Once interest is maintained, and if the child is interested in competing, then strength training will only benefit their performance. A child trained in particularly the grappling martial arts such as wrestling, judo, or brazilian jiujitsu, almost certainly would woudl have a better chance to be able to defend themselves against an untrained, bigger kid.
What about cardio? Should you run or bike to help your martial arts?
It may be difficult to get your child interested in cardio workouts – my children’s friends rare very rarely out jogging, but you’ll see them at the gym often.
But absolutely – additional cardio training outside of the martial art sport will only help. Of course, if there is only a certain amount of time available to train, running for an hour may not be the best if it takes away a third of your allotted martial arts practice time.
Every single martial arts sport, with perhaps one exception below, has cardio as part of their team programs. You see it in the cardio done in wrestling teams, the jump rope exercises of boxers, and even Japanese university judo teams start their training days with running in the morning.
The only exception may be old school BJJ (Brazilian Jiujitsu) teachers – who claim that all you need for conditioning in jiujitsu is to roll more jiujitsu. I’ve heard and seen this myself from multiple instructors, who say the cardio will come with more rolling and sparring. That’s certainly true, but it doesn’t mean that training cardio in different forms won’t help further.
There is a big focus on zone 2 training nowadays (long duration, low intensity cardio). Training for longer durations at this low intensity will help build your aerobic base which also improves your high intensity cardio output, such as that used in a grappling or boxing match. Training just high intensity rounds, conversely, won’t help you build your aerobic base and thus won’t help you in lower intensity, longer duration pursuits.
Why are martial artists not big and muscular? A lot are skinny…
Most martial artists fall into 3 camps:
- Those interested in the general health benefits, or as a hobby, often are not as likely to be a “gym rat” compared to say a football player. You might imagine young adults, teens, in a traditional martial art such as taekwondo, or picture middle aged adults joint a wing chun class. They are there for the fun and hobby of learning something new. They likely have less time to hit the gym in general, with work, possibly kids, and then martial arts class in the evening.
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Amateur or professional martial artists such as those you would see in MMA (mixed martial arts) have to train for endurance more so than having increased size for strength. Without a doubt, strength is important, but most fighters are more worried about getting gassed and running out of stamina before a round is over. They find that a leaner body is more likely to last with better energy into the later rounds. The strength they do focus on is a more functional strength, vs the size gains you see in body building.
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You will see some pretty big, muscular competitors in the heavier weight classes of grappling. Some of this in the professional world may be due to the use of performance enhancing drugs and steroids, which not only help the athlete to recover faster but of course can help to gain size.
What is the healthiest martial art?
Some people simply what to pursue a sport, in this case martial arts, for the health benefits. In this case, they are not really interested in self defense or learning how to fight for the sake of fighting, but may want to try something new and have a goal of simply getting fit, while perhaps avoiding injury.
In some cases, if that person is looking for a martial art that also has a somewhat meditative aspect to it, and delves into mind – body connections, then of course tai chi comes to mind. Tai chi is certainly on the gentler and slower, low to no impact end of the spectrum, and may be very well suited for seniors. There is plenty of data coming out on how tai chi for example may be useful in fall prevention in older adults.
There are some more traditional tai chi schools that have a more active approach, and may almost approach live sparring with their “combat” exercises which are called “push hands”. On youtube, for example, there are videos of a Chen style Tai Chi master going up against wrestlers.
Other internal style traditional Chinese martial arts such as xingyi, bajiquan, will be similar but have higher speed in their forms and exercises.
You won’t get the same kind of physical strength that comes from more intense martial arts, but if you are after a better mind body connection, perhaps some moving meditation, or want to slowly become more active in a safe, different, way, these traditional chinese martial arts are good options.
At the other end of the spectrum, the higher intensity martial arts with live sparring are suitable for those aiming to have an intense improvement in their cardiovascular, and certain extent, muscular strength. Typically, wrestling, judo, and brazilian jiujitsu (in that descending order) are the most physically demanding martial arts.
Wrestling in America has an “embrace the grind” culture, and the intensity of the sparring, shooting for takedowns, and drilling has likely made more athletes vomit than any other sport. Judo, with its competition focus on constantly attacking throws (otherwise suffering a penalty), also drives athletes to have very good cardio. Brazilian jiujitsu tends to be a bit different classically, as the pace is much slower than these other two grappling sports. But the effect of sparring in usually every class against resisting opponents, alongside a slow grind and trying to force techniques against your parter, leads to a nice mix of aerobic and anerobic conditioning.
Note that the injury rate, even if they are small injuries like finger sprains or pulled muscles, is also on the other end of the spectrum and will be orders of magnitude higher than the gentler arts.
Capoeira, a Brazilian art, deserves a special mention as it develops skills not unlike gymnastics. It was originally a martial art designed to be practiced as a dance, so that slaves could develop fighting skills as well as the fitness required to escape. The athleticism and flexibility developed is incredible, with capoeristas doing cartwheels, jumping spinning kicks, and routinely doing moves you would expect to see from a freestyle gymnast. Sparring is more of a dance, and most schools don’t have partners actively strike their opponent.
For parenting purposes though, it is most important to simply find a martial art that your child is interested in. Is your child more interested in the flashy kicks of tae kwon do? Or is the high intensity of jiujitsu more suited to them? Either way, the physical health benefits of being active on a regular schedule make any of the martial arts a better choice than just lounging around.
What do boxers do differently from martial artists that get them ripped?
Most boxers have a physique that is not only very low body fat, but well-developed muscularly. This may be related to the training to mimic the multiple rounds in a fight. In effect, it is high intensity interval training – there is not a long, catabolic stage that is a focus of training but rather short rounds that burn calories but preserve muscle mass.
There is a huge difference in intensity – one of the classic boxing exercises is to do rounds of jump rope. Most people can feel the marked difference in cardiovascular output from 5 min of jump rope vs 5 min of a slow jog.
There is also a bit of an unfair comparison here, as boxing is one of those sports where weight cutting is not uncommon. Athletes may cut multiple kilograms to make their weight division, losing a signficant amount of fat and this appearing more ripped compared to athletes who don’t have to make weight.