Popular Martial Arts And What Each One Offers

I come across a lot of people who want to train martial arts but struggle to pick one. Some start an art, don't gel with it and drop off soon after. I think almost everyone could find a martial art they enjoy, it just might take a few tries, because each one offers something slightly different.

I've trained every art on this list at some point in my life. Some for longer than others, and a few back when I was young. It isn't every martial art out there, but it covers the most trained ones worldwide.

There's no ranking here. I've grouped them into grappling, striking and MMA, with what to expect from each one and the benefits of training it.

Grappling

Grappling arts are about holding, throwing and controlling another person, with no punches or kicks involved. This really suits a lot of people because you can go hard against a resisting partner most sessions and still turn up to work the next day, although you'll probably wake up with a stiff neck and achy muscles. Not enough to stop you from being a normal, functioning person.

Jiu jitsu is built around submissions and judo includes them during ground work. They’re really fun to learn and a practical self defence skill to have up your sleeve in case you ever need it.

Jiu jitsu

Brazilian jiu jitsu happens mostly on the ground, where the aim is to control someone and finish with a submission, either a joint lock or a choke. Most classes end with sparring (rolling) or positional sparring, so a lot of the learning comes from trying things on someone who is doing their best to stop you.

Rolls usually run between 3 and 6 minutes, and you can go multiple rounds back to back. It suits people who enjoy problem solving under pressure, setting traps and catching a partner out a few moves later. I've seen smaller, more experienced people submit much larger people with ease, because so much of it comes down to leverage and timing. Strength mostly comes into play when two people are at a similar level.

Benefits

• A full body workout that feels more like a game than exercise
• Better decision making under pressure, which carries over into everyday life
• Self defence that works without needing to strike if you find yourself in a 1 vs 1 situation
• You can keep sparring into older age (he says, already broken in his mid 30s)
• A clear grading system to work through

Judo

Judo was founded in Japan in 1882 and has been an Olympic sport since 1964. The crux of it is taking someone off their feet with a throw or a trip while you both are gripping each other's gi. The aim is ippon, which you get by throwing someone cleanly onto their back, pinning them there for 20 seconds or making them submit on the ground (the groundwork is called ne-waza, though less time is spent there than in jiu jitsu). Matches can also be won on accumulated scores or the other person's penalties.

Clubs tend to be structured and traditional, with clear gradings and a bow at the start and end of every session as a sign of respect for your partners and the art. Some of the strongest and most athletic people I've come across participate in judo.

Benefits

• Learning how to fall safely, which is useful well beyond the mat (maybe I can use this in my old age as well)
• Explosive strength and serious conditioning
• Better balance (I noticed this quickly from trying not to get thrown)
• Discipline and structure from a traditional club setting
• A clear grading system to work through

Wrestling

Wrestling is about taking someone down and keeping them there. There are no submissions and no gi to grab, so everything comes from position and pressure. Freestyle and Greco-Roman are the best known versions, and each has its own set of rules. It's highly physical and explosive, and the conditioning is hard to match.

Benefits

• Fitness that's hard to get anywhere else
• A strong base and good balance
• A will to win that carries into everything else you train

Striking

Striking arts are built around punches, kicks, knees and elbows, and the benefits show up quickly. After a few weeks of training you'll probably feel fitter than you've been in a long time, and coordination, movement and balance all come along with it.

Footwork, distance and timing improve the more rounds you do. After a while you start reading a partner's patterns during light sparring and predicting how they move, and figuring out how to hit without being hit is a fun puzzle to solve.

Boxing

Boxing uses only the hands, but there's a lot more to it than throwing punches. Because there are no kicks or takedowns to worry about, boxers can put all their attention into the finer details, like how to set up a shot, how to slip one coming back and how to move their feet to stay in range. Footwork and head movement get refined to a level that most other striking arts only skim the surface on.

There are still many styles to learn. Some boxers stay on the outside and work behind the jab, some get in close and go to the body, and others wait for a mistake and counter. Done well, it's a beautiful art to watch.

It's also one of the easiest to start as it's highly accessible - nearly every town or city has a boxing gym. You can train without sparring if you like, and refine techniques on the bag and pads, however, technical sparring is a great way to test yourself and techniques under pressure.

Benefits

• Serious cardio fitness
• Faster hands and sharper reflexes
• Footwork and head movement that carry into any striking art
• Confidence, with or without sparring

Kickboxing

Kickboxing adds kicks to the punches, which brings the legs and hips into everything you do. Most styles allow punches, kicks and knees, and combinations flow from hands to legs and back again. When it all starts to link up it feels great. You have to constantly be aware of a kick coming after a punch and I believe this makes you sharp in the mind as you have a lot to think about during sparring.

It's another great place to start for someone who wants to learn to strike and get fit along the way.

Benefits

• A full body workout, as your legs work as hard as your arms
• Hip flexibility and balance from throwing kicks
• Helps train mental sharpness
• Confidence that carries into everyday life

Muay Thai

Muay Thai is Thailand's national sport and is often called the art of eight limbs, because it uses fists, elbows, knees and shins. It also has the clinch, where fighters tie up at close range and work their knees and elbows.

Pad work is at the centre of it, and a good pad holder calls combinations and pushes the pace. There's a strong sense of tradition, which is nice to see. It came out of Thailand originally, but you'll find Muay Thai gyms all over the world now.

Benefits

• Conditioning that builds round after round on the pads
• A complete striking game, including clinching
• Toughness that builds slowly over time (the shins especially)
• Respect and tradition running through the gym culture

Karate

Karate came out of Okinawa and spread through Japan in the early 1900s, and it now covers a lot of ground. Shotokan and Goju-ryu lean towards precision and form, while Kyokushin is full contact and known for being hard on the body.

Training is built around kihon (basics), kata (set patterns practised alone), bunkai (applying the kata) and kumite (sparring). Many styles keep contact limited, which makes it beginner friendly and easy to train for the long term.

Benefits

• Precision, focus and discipline
• Something you can keep training for decades with limited opportunities for injury
• Training partners almost anywhere, thanks to huge participation worldwide
• A family friendly option you can train together
• A clear grading system to work through

Taekwondo

Taekwondo is Korean, and it's mostly about kicking. It has been a full Olympic sport since 2000, and the sparring rewards fast, high kicks thrown from distance.

A few months of regular training will probably have you kicking higher than you thought your hips would allow. Clubs are common and it's a popular choice for families, so it's not unusual to see a parent and child lined up in the same class.

Benefits

• Flexibility
• Balance and leg strength
• Speed and accuracy with kicks, you learn to cover distance fast
• A family friendly option you can train together
• A clear grading system to work through

MMA

Mixed martial arts puts striking, wrestling and submissions under one set of rules. Most MMA gyms run separate classes for each, so a week might be kickboxing on Monday, wrestling on Wednesday and jiu jitsu on Thursday, with MMA classes in between that bring it all together.

It attracts a lot of people who want to become fighters, but plenty train it just for the variety. Learning to blend the arts and take what works from each one under pressure is a skill of its own.

Benefits

• Variety keeps it interesting
• An understanding of how the arts fit together (a strike changes once takedowns are allowed)
• Self defence that covers both standing and on the ground
• Fitness from every angle
• Takes what works well from all arts and blends them together, so you are a well rounded fighter

My take

I don't think the discipline you train matters much, as long as you enjoy it you'll want to keep turning up. A good coach and a group of people you like being around will probably keep you training longer than the perfect style with neither.

Jiu jitsu is the one that stuck for me, but I've picked up something from every art I've tried. They all complement each other, and principles like balance, cutting angles and timing apply to every one of them. Now that I'm slowly returning after my pec-tear, I've been enjoying expanding back into kickboxing and judo, so they're staying in my weekly training.

If you tried every martial art on this list, I think you'd walk away with something positive from each one.