Martial arts training has been around for literally thousands of years. At the core of it, hand-to-hand combat was a way of life up until the use of guns and other motorized weapons.

For the most part martial arts has now become a great way to learn self-defense, get in shape and learn a new art form. But in order to know the best style for yourself, we first have to look at the fundamentals of martial arts and go back in time a few years to see how it all evolved'

Martial Arts Background:
The teaching of martial arts in Asia has historically followed the cultural traditions of teacher-disciple apprenticeship. Students are trained in a strictly hierarchical system by a master instructor.

The traditional form of martial arts has been evolving in Asia for centuries. It has always been a very hierarchal form of training, where the student trains under a master for many years until he himself becomes one and then starts the process all over again. In Aisa and other eastern countries, martial arts was and in many cases still is a large part of life for people.

The influence and development of the 'traditional martial arts' never started until after World War 2. As Western influence grew in the East a greater number of military personnel spent time in China, Japan, Korea and elsewhere. Exposure to Martial Arts during the Korean war was also significant. Gradually some soldiers began to see the value of Eastern martial arts and began training in them.

With large numbers of American servicemen stationed in Japan after World War II, the adoption of techniques and the gradual transmission of entire systems of martial arts to the West started.

Martial Arts Styles:
As training in most arts has been evolving for decades and in some cases hundreds of years, there has become quite a variety of different fighting systems.

Most notably, the common ones are:

Traditional Fighting ArtsThese are systems such as Karate, Aikido, Kung Fu and Taekwondo (to a lesser extent.) They are well rounded and focus a lot on the 'art' aspect of the system.

Sport Fighting ArtsThese are systems such as Jujitsu, Brazilian Jujitsu, Judo, Muay Thai, exc' These are martial arts at the core but are more focused on the sport and competition aspect of the art (generally speaking).

Full Contact FightingThese systems are fairly new and focus on actual full-contact fighting! The most common one is 'Mixed Martial Arts' (MMA). This is a mixture of the other systems, taking the best fighting aspects of them and combining them into one fighting system that best suites the fighter.

What Is The Best Martial Art For YOU?
That is a great question! The best way to find-out is to checkout a bunch of schools in your area. Try one of their free classes or free months that many will offer you. Ask a lot of questions and after a few tries your going to find an art that will work for you!