Traditional Martial Arts, Mixed Martial Arts, and Martial Arts Taught Today

Traditional Martial Arts is a big controversy in the martial arts world.  Many see it as out of date, too formatted, and not practical.  In many circumstances it is understandable why people view it that way.  Students who lack the understanding that training and fighting require different understanding of body mechanics and common sense usually view Traditional Martial Arts in a negative light.  However, many of the training and sometimes impractical movements are indeed not right for a fight, but the training is for strengthening the body, mind, and spirit.   When a fight is necessary, all the training is done and reflexes take over, but the strength, wisdom, speed and other trained skills are still there.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a combination of Karate, Muay Thai, Tai Kwon Do, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  They take the best parts of each and use it to teach a person to fight.  However, many of the fighting is for a fight in a ring with rules and regulations.  MMA lacks the beauty of effort, philosophy, wisdom, and other teachings that used to take martial artists a long time to discover inside themselves. 

Martial arts that most people find are offering belts, patches, uniforms, tournaments and so on.  They make a lot of money. It is a business.  A student can become a black belt in 3 years is not normal, and until recently, impossible.  Many black belts cannot fight, do not understand, and are not martial artists.  Martial arts is not an after school activity as many parents take it to be.  It is not about getting excess energy out of the children, it is about teaching children to control the energy and put it to good use.  The goal is learn the art well, and the black belt is just a dirty white belt: it shows you have put blood sweat and tears into your training.