What is the best martial art for you?

Choosing a martial art is a highly personal choice. The first question you should ask yourself is this: “What do I want to get from a martial art?”

Maybe the traditional side of martial arts interests you and you want to develop yourself mentally?

Or is it the combat that motivates you and you'd like to take part in competition? Or perhaps it's the aspects linked to health and well-being?

Or quite simply, you just want to improve yourself physically

These are just a few examples, but they should help you order your thoughts. Here's our first piece of advice: try to identify your main motivation for participating in a martial art.

If we compare judo and karate combat, one very clear difference is immediately visible. In judo hits are not allowed, whilst this is allowed in karate. This key difference will help us make our initial distinction between the different styles. The disciplines with hits will be more focused on strikes whilst grappling disciplines will focus on holds, throws, and submissions.

Added to this is the option of working with traditional and non-traditional weapons for some martial arts, whilst others make weapons their speciality and are focused exclusively on their use.

Some disciplines also allow you to combine strikes, grappling, and the use of weapons.

This is also a personal choice.

This is a non-exhaustive list and some choices in terms of classification may be disputed, however, it should give you a better idea of the most common styles. Do an internet search or look at the sites of the various federations to find out more:

- Choosing a club is also key. A club should have an atmosphere you enjoy and will make a big difference to your motivation when going to lessons. Don't be shy about visiting beforehand and attending several lessons before signing up. Most clubs offer one or several trial session(s), it would be a shame not to take advantage of that!

- You also need a good teacher if you want to progress. Find out about their qualifications/experience and make sure you talk to them at the end of a lesson to see if you get a good feel from them. Again, the trial lesson is an excellent way to make up your own mind. 

- The location of the club and class times are also important factors. If it's difficult for you to get to lessons, this risks quickly reducing your motivation, even if the martial art you've chosen seems to be the right one for you.

The cost of the yearly fee could also be key to your choice.