Where To Start?

WHERE TO START?

 

For hundreds if not thousands of years people from all over the world have practiced one form of combat or another. Some have become legends in history while for many others attending just one training session was all they could take.

 

 

Often these one-off would be Bruce Lee experts made the wrong choice when attending a club for the first time or they did not realise just how hard it was, in any event, the reasons why taking those first steps into the world of martial arts must be done in the right way is vital if you are ever going to do it right.

Your first contact with the martial arts will often be through films or television programs that depict spectacular fighting sequences and fighters that are near unstoppable. The urge to try your hand at these remarkable skills however could lead to disappointment and a lot of wasted money if you do not know what to look for when attempting to join a club for the first time.

 

Unlike the good old days when the potential new beginner was only bombarded with advertisements in the local news paper to join their club along with all the promises of being trained under the best of the best or a small poster in the local shop window offering instruction in the most deadly or effective of all the various combat styles the new would be beginner now is also faced with a never ending range of all singing all dancing websites that look more like a blockbuster movie than a promotional website giving details of classes for the new beginner.

 

Today the would-be new beginner is faced with a large selection of martial art styles and disciplines, each with their own distinctive good and bad points, depending on what type of martial art they are looking for.

 

It is often the case that someone wishing to join a club for the first time will look for a club that is local and at a time and day that suits their lifestyle, and although this is a practical thing to do, it is not always the best way of finding a good martial arts club in the long term.

 

Many new beginners to the fighting arts have very little idea or understanding of the various martial arts that are on offer and can end up joining a club that was local but finding out after a few weeks that the type or style of martial art in question was not really suitable for their needs, or the club itself was not that good, with regard to the teaching and training standards.

 

There are a few simple steps to take when selecting a club for the first time that can in the long run save you time, money and effort. First find out what types of martial arts are available and visit these classes to see how the training methods, and style of combat, are done within the class.

 

Many martial arts clubs today are focused on the sport competition aspects of the fighting arts and will train their students in competition fighting techniques and sport combat rules rather than the practical aspects of self-defence and streetwise unarmed combat.

 

If your main interest in the fighting arts is the competition area then there is no harm in joining that type of club but beware the fact that learning this area of the martial arts could result in being injured in competition, despite all the safe guards and rules, and will not prepare you for a street fight conflict if that was your original intention.