What Is A Martial Art?
When most people think of martial arts, they think of learning how to punch, kick or grapple. They think about words like karate, BJJ, Muay Thai. It's mainly related to fighting, in the street, or for sport. Most people think of the UFC as a martial art. Most people have a perceived notion of what martial arts is. They can picture it when they hear the word martial art. Usually has an Asian feel to it. You would think karate kid when you hear martial art, more than Muhammad Ali. Most people don't think of boxing or freestyle wrestling as a martial art, yet they do think of traditional karate, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu as martial arts. Why do you think that is?
What Is A Martial Art?
It is kind of weird that you take two similar activities, with similar goals, yet one is completely a martial art, and one is never considered a martial art. Again, I think there is a mystical, Asian feel when you hear the word, martial art, and when you hear boxing, you think of two guys in a smoky arena in a ring punching each other in the face, a sport, never considered a martial art. Even though the word, Marshall, translates to military or war like activity, for some strange reason when two guys are beating each other in an all out war in a ring is not considered "Martial" but if somebody is prancing around throwing soft, flowing movements and calling it karate or kung fu, now that's war like? It's weird how the softest, and least wore like activities are called martial art, and considered effective and even deadly, when in reality, if any of them got into a fight with a professional boxer, who isn't even considered a martial artist, they would get completely wiped out, annihilated.
Somethings wrong with the definitions. Why would the least dangerous activities be called martial arts, and some of the most dangerous and violent activities considered a sport, or just an activity? I think the main reason is we are infatuated with eastern mystical things. We assume that it's Asian and eastern, it must be better than our activities that are more "western". People are very easily fooled about the mystical techniques of martial arts. They have taken out Effective, and put in mystical, and boom now it's a martial art. I remember thinking this way when I was like 11 years old. I've been to a couple different karate schools and kung fu schools before I found and stuck with, the one I stuck with, I stuck with it because I felt it was the most realistic techniques that I had seen in the previous karate and kung fu schools. I felt the attitude in the class, along with the effectiveness of the techniques was going to help me reach my goal, which was, not to get bullied too much because I was a Haole growing up in Honolulu Hawaii. At 11 years old, I was definitely without a doubt, not one of the smartest kids around, however, I knew that without a doubt the system that I ended up staying with and training with, was a much better system for keeping my lunch money. Maybe I was very good at some things, but not too bright on most things. At 11 years old, I was able to pick a system that was truly a martial art, and would definitely help me keep my lunch money.
So what really is a martial art. What really constitutes an activity should fall into the category of being a martial art. I know the answer to this question very well, here it is; A martial art is a group of techniques, movements, weapons strategies, philosophies, theories that are all directed for the sole goal/intent of a human to physically incapacitate another human.
Now, with that said, there are many martial arts that have a modified group of similar techniques, but instead of the goal, being singly incapacitating your opponent, in the sport version, you can simply outpoint them. Sport martial arts, or even sparring in your dojo, is a great way to practice and drill these techniques while softening them so you're not actually incapacitating your training partner. So under martial arts would be a category called sport martial arts, and that includes karate sparring matches, kickboxing, BJJ, boxing, pancas, Sambo, and MMA. There are other hybrid sports that would be considered the same category, but there's probably too many specifically to name. You can now have a BJJ tournament with they allow some slapping, and now it's its own sport, so Martial arts sports are always evolving. I think freestyle wrestling, while very necessary, and even pivotal when mixed with other martial arts, I think in and of itself since even though a slam could incapacitate a human in the street, or the mat, unlike the other martial arts, their goal is to incapacitate their attacker or victim, not just a byproduct of it. Football is another sport that could really be used in a street fight because a hard tackle could slam somebody's head against the concrete, and that would win their fight. But again as tough and sometimes brutal as football is, its main goal is to run across a line, and score points, it is not to incapacitate your opponent.
In closing, basically what I'm saying is that there are many tough sports, but I consider martial arts to be not only the technique or the byproduct of incapacitating an opponent or an attacker, but I feel like to be considered a martial art its main goal and everything you do is to reach that goal of incapacitating your attacker. So you can use the word goal, or intent. But that's where I separate some activities and don't consider them truly a martial art, whether that be in sport, or self-defense.
