Judo
Martial Arts Belts: Everything You Need to Know About Their Color and Significance
Martial arts, a term encompassing various physical disciplines, are not just about physical prowess but also about mental discipline and spiritual growth. Central to many of these arts is the martial arts belt ranking system. These belts are more than colorful accessories; they signify the milestones one has achieved and the challenges that lie ahead.
Which Martial Arts Use Belt Ranking System?
Karate
This martial art is renowned for its robust strikes and powerful kicks. Karate adopts a structured belt progression system, beginning with the symbolic white belt and culminating in the prestigious black belt. As practitioners advance through various levels, each belt color marks a new stage of expertise and understanding.
Taekwondo
Characterized by its swift and dynamic kicks, Taekwondo follows a similar belt system to Karate. It encompasses a progression from white to black belts, each representing the stages of skill and personal development within the art.
Read more: Best Martial Arts For Fitness
Judo
A grappling-focused martial art, Judo emphasizes throws and takedowns. It employs a belt system starting from white, advancing through different levels until brown. The highly regarded black belt is awarded at the pinnacle of mastery, symbolizing a deep understanding of Judo's principles and techniques.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Recognized for its emphasis on ground fighting techniques, Jiu-Jitsu features a belt system encompassing white, blue, purple, brown, and black belts. Significantly, within each belt level, practitioners may earn stripes, marking progress and skill refinement.
Others
Various other martial arts also incorporate belt ranking systems. Aikido, for instance, moves practitioners from white to black belts, symbolizing a journey of growth and learning. Kung Fu, known for its diverse styles, follows varied belt systems, each reflective of its unique philosophy and technique.
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11 months ago
Best Martial Arts for Women: Know the purposes, risks, requirements
In today's world many females feel insecure in public places, workplaces or even at home. If a woman wants to be healthier, more mobile, and wishes to look better and feel better, she can learn a martial art. Martial art is a great way of self-care and self-defense which is fundamental for every woman. Here come different forms of martial arts compatible for women. Read this article and select the most suitable one for you.
Top 10 Forms of Martial Arts for Women
Krav Maga
Krav Maga is also known as a military self-defense and fighting system which is developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli security forces.
Origin: Israel
Inventor: Imi Lichtenfeld
Specialty: Mainly focus on real-world situations and their extreme efficiency.
Purpose: The purpose is to prepare every individual for a violent, life-threatening physical altercation.
Requirement: More effective for the real world, especially for women.
Risk: small risk of injury in any physical activity but injuries from training are very rare.
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Judo
Judo is one of the most popular and widely-available martial arts on the planet.
Origin: Japan
Inventor: Kanō Jigorō
Specialty: Mainly focused on grappling and throws, using momentum to destabilize opponents and damage them by throwing them onto the ground.
Purpose: The objective of competitive judo is to throw an opponent, immobilize them with a pin, or force an opponent to submit with a joint lock or a choke.
Requirement: Allows women to defend themselves in a range where striking loses all effectiveness.
Risk: Injury-usually of the knee, shoulder, and fingers, and being thrown was the most common injury mechanism.
Read Best Martial Arts For Fitness
Taekwondo
Taekwondo, one of the most recent ones, is a Korean martial arts style.
Origin: Korea
Inventor: No single creator, initially supervised by Choi Hong Hi
Specialty: It is a great option for women’s self-defense as it is something that nobody would expect.
Purpose: The aim of creating a martial art that can deliver stronger and faster strikes than the ones available in any other art out there.
Requirement: Its “surprise element”, together with the pure strength makes it an incredible self-defense tool.
Risk: Muscle strains or joint strains.
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Karate
Karate, the most popular martial art on the planet, is a surprisingly good foundation for self-defense.
Origin: Ryukyu Kingdom (Present day Okinawa prefecture, Japan)
Inventor: Indigenous martial arts of Ryukyu Islands, Chinese martial arts
Specialty: Although it lacks in many places its use of strong attacks by both the arms and the legs does put it in a higher spot than TKD focusing on one pair of limbs too much.
Purpose: The aim of almost all types of Karate is to prepare you for a variety of self-defense situations.
Requirement: Different types of karate provide different street-effectiveness. But almost all types of Karate will prepare you for a variety of self-defense situations, where a strong, fast strike could save your life.
Risk: Fractures (from falling), Hyperextension of the joints, Nosebleeds, Sprains.
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Jiu-Jitsu
This martial art helps you to overcome the opponent with technique in a bunch of grappling situations.
Origin: Brazil
Inventor: Kanō Jigorō, Tomita Tsunejirō, Mitsuyo Maeda
Specialty: Of course, it places higher, but there is a specific issue with the art when it comes to women.
Purpose: It provides essential survival skills, and is the first art women should train.
Requirement: It teaches incredible skills to handle the fight on your feet or is in a hold.
Risk: As it always takes the fight to the ground, it puts women at risk.
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2 years ago
Best Martial Arts For Fitness
While traditional sports like running, cycling and swimming are seen as the face of what weight loss and general fitness looks like, many unconventional sports hold their own while teaching practitioners additional skills - martial arts being one of these activities. Skipping, jumping and static exercises are just the preliminary steps before getting into the meat of your training. While all martial arts implement some form of said exercises, here are the best ones for you to maintain the best fitness.
Top martial arts for muscle-building and weightloss
Muay Thai
While many martial arts are seeing proper representation by fight companies like One FC and UFC, the sport that has everyone talking is Muay Thai. It is possibly one of the most prevalent striking martial arts in the competitive and casual scene right now and for good reason.
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Aside from being known for its eight limb technique (shoulders, elbows included), clinches and sparring are other tiring routines to expect in a Muay Thai class. As the entire body is constantly engaged, and having a larger selection of strikes than most other martial arts, it’s key to keep it all together with decent stamina and endurance at the very least.
While Muay Thai may be gruelling and every strike is meant to be practical and not flashy, the classes that represent the art know better than to throw newbies off the deep end when they first start - hence the appeal to newcomers. If you’re interested in getting fit fast and having fun while learning to defend yourself, there are few striking martial arts that can top Muay Thai.
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Brazillian Jiu Jitsu
Many casual martial artists tend to have varied preferences that are based on body type, style and ultimately practicality. Like Muay thai, Brazillian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is the dominant art of its category, that being grappling.
When the fight happens on the ground, there are few who know exactly what to do in situations like those to defend themselves - which is where this martial art fills a void in the industry. Many classes offer a gi-based way of training that measures skill by belt colors, but more casual versions, without grading are also available.
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BJJ requires a strong core, flexibility and stamina to endure escaping locks and having strength to subdue your opponent. While cardio is important to keep going on the ground, stamina is slightly more prevalent here as your muscles will have a substantial time under tension when wrestling. If you don’t mind getting into your opponent’s face, this could be the choice for you.
Wrestling
Another grappling art that requires a lot of physical contact, wrestling has been a reliable tradition that has lasted this long due to how effective it can be when done correctly. Despite being a grapple sort, wrestling requires far more endurance than one might assume. Sussing the opponent out and finding the right opportunity for a takedown.
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Going through the motion of wide-arching swings and pinning the opponent requires big movements, involving multiple muscle groups. When doing this frequently, you can imagine how easy it is to run out of breath and strength in a matter of minutes.
Keeping up with an hour of lifting people and watching out for injuries can be daunting, however wrestling classes are safe hands that will prepare you for the art with a good mix of cardio and strength training. If you are slightly on the heavier side, this martial art could be made for you.
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Boxing
This stylish and sophisticated martial art has been around for a long time and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. To say that boxing puts up a sweat is an understatement. While boxing favours upper body strikes and tons of different ways of punching (jabs, hooks, uppercuts, etc), the feet are doing more than meets the eye.
Constantly maneuvering and bending to ensure your hips are thrusted correctly as you extend each arm for a punch can be a lot to deal with, especially when smaller movements are required for evasion of any sort. Ducks and weaves are a core buster, relying on many muscles from the hips down to the ankles. Overall, it is a well rounded striking sport that is respected for how much it keeps fighters on their feet at all times.
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Judo
Similar to wrestling, Judo does require a lot of throws and takedowns, but is slightly different from the other grapple sports. While each of these grappling techniques require the fighter to understand exactly how to safely land to avoid injury, Judo training does have a fair amount of cardio involved while also prioritising on mental wellness.
This is often a gi-focused martial art which requires a proper uniform and grading system. It may not have the same level of fame as BJJ, but many professional fighters use Judo to this day for its ability to use minimal effort to get a takedown in. Judo is slightly more passive and requires more techniques that are based on reacting, but it is still crucial to maintain a good amount of stamina while waiting for the right throw.
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Mixed Martial Arts
Of course, this is by far the most staple “fighting style” in the martial arts scene and for good reason. In the entertainment and fitness industry, many look up to the versatility and customizability of mixed martial arts (MMA) as it can always be improved on by fighting geniuses and still be considered “correct” if it works in a competitive environment.
From throwing to striking to groundwork; there are many ways to tackle your unique approach to MMA, however if you are not a risk taker, the combination of Muay Thai and BJJ will be a safe combination to try out.
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Be warned that since you are juggling multiple techniques, practicing often is good in order to ensure that you are getting the most out of the different aspects of your combination. Also, keeping fit while learning these special techniques is a must and that can’t be done without practice.
3 years ago