It has been well established in the health and wellness community that the benefits of regular exercise are too numerous and essential to ignore. There are a lot of ways to approach exercise—and it can take some trial and error to discover what works best for you. One great option to explore is learning the art of grappling.
Grappling is a term that applies to techniques used in various combat sports, including the martial arts. It refers to maneuvers and counters that are applied to an opponent to gain a physical advantage and improve positioning. It also involves methods for forcing an opponent to submit. It does not involve weapons or striking an opponent in any way.
Grappling techniques are divided into eight categories:
- Clinch fighting
- Takedowns and throws
- Submission holds
- Pinning or controlling techniques
- Sweeps
- Reversals
- Turnovers
- Escapes
Practicing grappling is a great way to improve your physical strength and endurance. It requires the use of a wide range of muscle groups and focuses on utilizing them for maximum efficiency. In addition to building muscle, it offers great cardiovascular benefits, builds endurance, and improves mental focus--skills that are all necessary for intense physical training.
Few forms of exercise provide as many real-world benefits as grappling. One of the most valuable being its potential for application as a self-defense tool. By learning grappling skills you can improve your ability to successfully protect yourself from an attacker. Grappling classes combine the potentially life-saving knowledge you would gain by studying self-defense with the health benefits of a guided workout.
The combination of these two disciplines is an amazing way to build self-confidence. This increased confidence can carry over into all aspects of life, especially areas like work performance and personal relationships. This, along with the focus, discipline, patience, and perseverance required to master grappling techniques, can allow you to excel in ways you didn’t know you were capable of.
For those interested in taking a grappling class in New York, look no further than New York Martial Arts Academy (NYMAA). Recently NYMAA was awarded “Most Outstanding School in North America” by Educational Funding Company, one of the largest Martial Arts consulting firms in the world! Contact New York Martial Arts Academy today and get your first week of training free.