Written by: David Mun
Artwork by: Seojin Park
Combat sports are not well-practiced. You can walk down the park and see kids playing football, soccer, or basketball, but rarely do you see them laying out a matt and fighting against each other (fingers crossed).
There is a certain stigma around combat sports practitioners as brutes who rely on their ‘muscles’ to bully others. Media portrayal has steadily broadcasted the likes of Conor Mcgregor who are boastful of their combating prowess, but it is all for the show, and most if not all combat sports practitioners are far from cocky. Rather, they are more humble and disciplined.
There are unique benefits to learning combat sports. I may be biased here as I am a boxer myself, but truly there is nothing better than combat sports that deliver the full package of physical and psychological training and enhancement.
The physical benefits alone are already striking. According to GQ, the cardio training from combat sports is far superior to what you can get from anything else. As stamina is the basis for training, most gyms incorporate jumping ropes or mile runs. Doing this for a long period of time undoubtedly leads to better fitness, muscle gain, and weight loss. In fact, most gyms have a class just for fitness alone.
The real crux of learning combat sports is, however, gaining the ability to defend yourself (CMBT 2020). There is an insurmountable gap in fighting ability between a combat sports practitioner and someone who is not. Although it is never good to fight under any circumstances, the ability to defend yourself and others around you when necessary surely is a plus.
Even when removing yourself from a fighting situation, the sheer knowledge of your combat ability leads to greater confidence. Before I learned boxing, I was always scared to stand up for myself in groups because I was afraid of retaliation. Especially given the circumstances that everyone around me was a lot bigger than I was, I shied away in moments of confrontation. But after picking up boxing, I changed. Realizing that I can hold my own, I became more outspoken and gained the confidence that I needed to truly say what was on my mind and stand up for my beliefs.
Another psychological benefit I noticed was stress reduction. According to WebMD, sports, in general, are great moderators for stress. Endorphins released through exercise lead to stress relief and these chemicals are found at extremely high levels when engaging in combat sports. As 75 to 90 doctor visits are mainly stress-related, the benefits are substantial.
Although there are more than a dozen more benefits to combat sports that I can cite such as mindfulness, comradery, improved focus, improved discipline, etc, I will not elaborate because I think you get the picture.
Combat sports offer what no other sports do. They help us become a better version of ourselves by strengthening both our physical and mental states. With that said, I highly recommend you to try it. I promise it will be an experience like no other.
If you are planning to learn more, here is a list of the different types of combat sports that I recommend you check out:
Boxing
Kickboxing
Muay Thai
Wrestling
Jiu-jitsu
MMA
Oh also, don’t just walk into your local gym and sign up immediately. Before choosing which gym to train in, consider the following questions:
Is the gym close to where I live?
Is it run by a credible instructor?
How are the reviews? (Check out online reviews beforehand!)
Do they train professionals? (If yes, this is good. If not, I wouldn’t recommend it. Gyms that don’t train professionals are more fitness-based)
Always stay safe! And have fun training!
Work cited
“Benefits of Sports for Mental Health.” WebMD, 25 Mar. 2021, www.webmd.com/mental-health/benefits-of-sports-for-mental-health.
Daniels, Lexi. “The Mental Health Benefits of Combat Sport.” CMBT Nutrition, 11 Apr. 2022, cmbt.com.au/blogs/academy/the-mental-health-benefits-of-combat-sport.
Isador, Graham. “Combat Sports for Fitness: The Case for Fighting for Your Next Workout.” GQ, 18 Mar. 2022, www.gq.com/story/fighting-for-fitness.
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