Introduction In an age when kids are all too likely to sit at home and play video games, the benefits of getting out there and learning something new at the same time as becoming fit and making new friends has never been clearer. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a brilliant way for children to socialize, improve their fitness and have fun. Here are Reasons Why Every Child Should Train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. 1. Bully Prevention A child who has experience in BJJ will be able to control an attacker and neutralize them in a realistic scenario. They will develop the ability to take an attacker to the ground and control them. They will also understand how to escape uncomfortable positions or avoid being pinned underneath a bigger and stronger attacker. Children with an understanding of how to defend themselves in a safe and controlled manner will have unrivaled levels of confidence. Martial arts is instructed with the idea that people should not go out and use their newly acquired skills unless it is absolutely required. Instead, the ideology behind Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is learning how to defend yourself from an attacker without having to punch, kick, or inflict damage on another person. For many reasons, punching and kicking is usually not an ideal option for self-defense. Firstly, striking in an uncontrolled situation where anything could happen. Even in a self-defense situation, striking is not always the preferred way to defend yourself. The preferred way to defend yourself should be to neutralize a situation and not cause damage while avoiding taking damage yourself. In this case, no one gets hurt. 2. Helps them socialize In this ever-changing world communicating digitally became normal part of our lives, as days go by this can be seen in children as well, instead of playing outside, our kids are more inclined to stay at home and talk or play with their peers via mobile devices. By training with other children of different ages, it is ensured that a child develops necessary social skills from their beginnings. These social skills will stay with a child through their education years and into their careers and will ensure that they enjoy success in many aspects of life. Rather than playing undertaking activities or hobbies that do not improve social skills, BJJ provides the opportunity for children to enjoy physical exercise at the same time as learning social skills with newly found friends. 3. Learning and Positive Mindset Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has a clear and well-defined progression structure for children. This system of progression teaches children that reward is gained through effort and an investment of time spent learning. For example, almost every move requires repetitive practice so that it could be used effectively, just like learning multiplication table or a text in homework, repeated practice makes it better. In this way BJJ encourages children to develop a growth mindset in any field they decide to pursue. 4. Improved Body Awareness and Coordination Brazilian Jiu jitsu is filled with techniques that develops flexibility, fine motor skills, balance and endurance. Learning and executing these techniques makes children stronger and more aware of their bodily movements. Moreover, these skills then spill over to other sports and activities in their lives and aids in making them more successful in learning new movements faster. Conclusion As shown Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Is beneficial to children for many reasons. Children can learn great problem-solving skills while also becoming more disciplined individuals. Children can meet lifelong friends while also learning to defend themselves and prevent altercations all together. Introduction In an age when kids are all too likely to sit at home and play video games, the benefits of getting out there and learning something new at the same time as becoming fit and making new friends has never been clearer. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a brilliant way for children to socialize, improve their fitness and have fun. Here are Reasons Why Every Child Should Train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. 1. Bully Prevention A child who has experience in BJJ will be able to control an attacker and neutralize them in a realistic scenario. They will develop the ability to take an attacker to the ground and control them. They will also understand how to escape uncomfortable positions or avoid being pinned underneath a bigger and stronger attacker. Children with an understanding of how to defend themselves in a safe and controlled manner will have unrivaled levels of confidence. Martial arts is instructed with the idea that people should not go out and use their newly acquired skills unless it is absolutely required. Instead, the ideology behind Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is learning how to defend yourself from an attacker without having to punch, kick, or inflict damage on another person. For many reasons, punching and kicking is usually not an ideal option for self-defense. Firstly, striking in an uncontrolled situation where anything could happen. Even in a self-defense situation, striking is not always the preferred way to defend yourself. The preferred way to defend yourself should be to neutralize a situation and not cause damage while avoiding taking damage yourself. In this case, no one gets hurt. 2. Helps them socialize In this ever-changing world communicating digitally became normal part of our lives, as days go by this can be seen in children as well, instead of playing outside, our kids are more inclined to stay at home and talk or play with their peers via mobile devices. By training with other children of different ages, it is ensured that a child develops necessary social skills from their beginnings. These social skills will stay with a child through their education years and into their careers and will ensure that they enjoy success in many aspects of life. Rather than playing undertaking activities or hobbies that do not improve social skills, BJJ provides the opportunity for children to enjoy physical exercise at the same time as learning social skills with newly found friends. 3. Learning and Positive Mindset Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has a clear and well-defined progression structure for children. This system … Read more

Compared to other martial arts, Brazilian Jiu jitsu( BJJ) distinguishes itself from multitude positions and techniques, which in result, might frustrate and infuriate beginner practitioner. And it is true, BJJ contains 6 primary positions, from which you have to work from bottom and top, as well as from left and right side. Add to that hundreds of different techniques from every position and you will understand complexity of this art. Therefore, following question occurs: how can we learn BJJ and get less frustrated? Answer lies in learning 6 primary positions. 6 Primary Positions of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu If you will look at any sparring or competition, you will see that people spend 90% of their time in following positions: 1a:  Full Guard: In full guard, bottom player encircles his legs around opponent and tries to defend himself, top player tries to get past his opponents legs to get to superior position. 1b: Open Guard In Open Guard, top player is standing while he is trying to get past the legs,bottom players goal is to sweep the opponent or defend the position. 1c: Half Guard In Half Guard, top player must constantly pressure the bottom one to completely get past of the opponents legs, bottom player, on the other hand, tries to sweep or gets back to the full guard. 2. Side Control In Side Control, top player managed to get past the legs,and now has better advantage to attack or transition to better position. During this time bottom player tries to escape and retain his guard. 3. Knee on the Belly Knee on the belly is long transition between Side Control and Mount (next position). Top player usually uses it to pin the opponent on the ground and safely transition to superior position. Bottom player tries to defend himself and tries to disrupt opponents actions. 4: მაუნთი (ანუ Mount) In Mount, top player managed to get into dominant position from which he can attack and create an opening for better position. Bottom player tries to defend himself while trying to sweep the opponent into less superior position. 5. Rear Mount In Rear Mount top player has total dominance over bottom player. 6. Turtle In turtle bottom player has defensive superiority and waits for good timing to attack, meanwhile top player tries to break the position to his favor. Positional hierarchy of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu For top and bottom players positions mentioned above have their advantages and disadvantages, it goes like this:                          Conclusion As you noticed, it is better to be in the top position, compared to bottom, however in the beginning try to learn following skills: 1. To understand in which position you are in: During sparring ask yourself a question: Which position am I in? What can I do from here? How can I go to my favorable position? 2. Always try to advance in positional hierarchy step by step : Guard—> Side Control—-> Knee on the Mount—–> Mount–>Rear Mount or Guard—> Side Control—->Mount—>Rear Mount რა თქმა უნდა ამ გადასვლებსაც თავისი შესაბამისი ტექნიკის სწავლა ჭირდება, მაგრამ ამას დროთა განმავლობაში ისწავლით, დასაწყისთვის კი ზემოთხსენებულ პუნქტებს მიაქციეთ ყურადღება. Of course you will need to know specific techniques for these transitions, and you will learn them during training, meanwhile focus on above mentioned skills. It will really reduce your frustration and will pave way for you to enjoy this awesome journey.

When it comes to strength and conditioning, many Grapplers especially BJJ practitioners still train like amateurs. I have trained many fighters; many are weak and don’t want to make commitment to strength training. I mean real strength work; heavy squatting, deadlifting and benching; triples, doubles or singles. They are not unlike other sport athletes that overdo the skill work and neglect the strength component. When they strength train it tends to be the metabolic cardiovascular type that actually zaps their strength. It makes you feel good-like you’re in shape but does nothing to improve your strength. BJJ fighters are the worst offenders; all they want to do is roll, roll, and roll. I get it; the skill work is extremely important but by gaining strength your skill ceiling is able reach higher levels. Given two athletes with similar skill levels, the stronger one will usually prevail. Ask Frank Mir. When he fought Brock Lesnar, he was the more superior technically skilled athlete but was severely overmatched in the strength department and lost. That is why he sought my help for the Cheick Kongo fight. He realized a deficiency in his game. Unfortunately I’m not sure he committed for the long haul after that fight. It all starts with strength. It is a confidence builder. When you know you are stronger than your opponent, it opens up your game plan. You spend less energy than your opponent; you get injured less and recover faster. If you want more work capacity or strength endurance, first increase your strength. Increase your power, first increase strength. Increase speed, first increase strength. The stronger you get, the more able you are to convert that strength to power and speed and endurance. Increasing strength to body-weight ratio improves quickness and the ability to change direction. I’m not saying don’t do functional exercises or metabolic training. They both have their place in your training tool box but you can only get so strong balancing on Bosu balls (is that Functional?). The basis of your offseason should be improving your strength in areas that will help correct your weaknesses. Increasing absolute strength in pulls, presses, and squats will correct a lot of weaknesses. I was hired to train the Azerbaijan National freestyle wrestling team before the Rio Olympics. They felt that they were superior technical wrestlers as compared to the USA but lacked the strength and conditioning that the USA wrestlers displayed. I was told to “build tanks”. So I implemented a block periodized strength program that focused on eccentric, isometric, and concentric muscle contractions that occur in a wrestling match. I then peaked them out with a power and speed contrasting program before the Olympics. The end result was 5 overall medals, more than any other country. If it wasn’t for an injury sustained by our heavyweight the week of the matches we would have won medals in all classes. 2 wrestlers on the podium he would 10-0 in training camp earlier in the year. Did we do some distance and metabolic conditioning? Yes we did. We also did sprints and agility drills. But the emphasis of the program was to get them stronger. We strength trained 4 days a week in the morning followed by wrestling in the afternoon. Training camps were typically 2 weeks long with 5 to 7 days in between camps some of the wrestlers were resistant at first; or their personal coaches were, but after wrestling in some preliminary competitions and feeling the strength improvement, they were sold as was the Russian coach that was in charge of the team. As we try to make training unique, cute, fun and entertaining but it all starts with the basics of improving strength first to improve sport performance. The outdated mindset of many combat athletes must change; strength training done properly will not slow you down, get you “bulky or tight”. It will do the opposite. I also believe the CrossFit methodology of training is wrong. It gets you to be great at performing about 70% of maximum. I was a World Champion Powerlifter and a 7 time competitor-2 time finalist in the ESPN WSM. I didn’t try to make my athletes be powerlifters or strongman. CrossFit is a sport. Not a performance enhancing program for athletes. Can some segments be used to help sport performance? Absolutely, just like powerlifts and Olympic lifts can be utilized, but to implement a wholesale CrossFit program for combat athletes is a mistake. But I see fighters training that way because they feel like it mimics the length and pace of a fight. They go to camp for 4 weeks or longer and strictly do round length simulation metabolic training and it depletes any strength work they have done previous to camp. All combat athletes at every age are worried about fatigue. The best way to combat fatigue is to perform at maximum intensity recover (intervals) and repeat. The stronger you become the higher the level of intensity of the interval. Maintaining strength during weight cut before the fight is also essential, all the more reason strength training should not cease during fight training camp. Training percentages used may have to be adjusted to accommodate the weight drop but low volume high intensity strength training will help to hold on to strength while bodyweight drops.All disciplines of mixed martial arts can benefit from improving strength. Ask yourself how much time are you devoting to the one aspect that will help raise the level of all the areas of your fight game? It’s not complicated, stick to the basics. Stick with developing strength. When it comes to strength and conditioning, many Grapplers especially BJJ practitioners still train like amateurs. I have trained many fighters; many are weak and don’t want to make commitment to strength training. I mean real strength work; heavy squatting, deadlifting and benching; triples, doubles or singles. They are not unlike other sport athletes that overdo the skill work and neglect the strength component. When they … Read more

There are so many of us who don’t know or don’t care about what items we should carry in our BJJ gear bags. We are always hitting the gym in a rush, forgetting to carry the basics. How many of us who go to the gym really pay attention to our gym bags? For me, it is just another bag with a towel and shampoo. In this post, we will be discussing a few must-have essentials that all BJJ gym bags should have. 1. A Bottle Of Water Carrying a bottle of water is so important yet so much compromised by many BJJ practitioners. Good hydration levels are incredibly vital when you are training. Therefore, instead of relying on the tap water or paying an extra dollar for bottled water at the gym, it is advisable to carry your own home/work-filled water bottle. And, don’t forget to keep taking on little sips from the bottle while you are training. 2. Rashguard Some BJJ gym will require all their members to wear a rashguard under their Gis. You can carry a rashguard and use it if you are into excessive heavy training. As it is made from polyester and spandex, it easily keeps you sweat free. When it dries quickly, it also provides a good relief. The use of antimicrobial technology restricts the growth of bacteria in the most effective way. There are different sizes available with flexible fitting options. Do carry a rashguard in your gym bag for heavy workouts. 3. Carry A First-Aid Your gym should have first-aid tools available on their premises; however, bringing your own basic first-aid materials will come in handy. You should carry antibacterial wipes, few bandages and pain relief medicines in your bag. Even joint braces can be considered in case if you are performing high-intensity exercises that put a lot of stress on joints. 4. Personal Hygiene Items Personal care items such as deodorant, travel-sized shampoo and soap, lip balm, baby or body wipes, and a moisturizer, should be carried in the bag at all times. You don’t want to face the disappointment of forgetting something that is essential to your workout. Most of the gyms offer you towels for rent, but it is better and cheaper to bring your own. Also, a feminine product should be stashed in the bag somewhere. 5. BJJ Gi This goes without saying, the Gi is the most important piece of equipememt… 6. Mouthguard Do not forget to carry a mouthguard if you are into other forms of workouts, a mouthguard is a protective gear that will prevent injuries while working out or training. 7. Tape In addition to this, you can carry Tape for fingers if you want to prevent finger injury. Tape for fingers also protects you from injury during a workout session. 8. Nail Clippers When grappling, nails should be trimmed at all times. Long nails means scratching your training partners and also breaking your own nail. 9. Carry A Post-Workout Supplement After your workout session is over, your muscles are in a worn-out state. Your objective now should be to create an anabolic environment for the carbohydrates and proteins to go straight into the muscles, and for that, you need to use insulin immediately post workout. The best are hgh supplement for athletes along with insulin produce great results together. Both create the best environment for IGF-1 production. Carry the Xtreme no best bodybuilding supplements in your gym bag, and follow the dosage as per recommendations mentioned on the cover. Drink plenty of water before taking the supplement post workout. Your BJJ gym bag should reflect your personality and personal goals. Here, we have listed only a few basic items that you must carry in the gym bag. However, the list is not comprehensive, and there are other items such as well fitted clothes, good shoes, and a good watch should also be kept in the bag. All these items will prove to be incredibly useful to any trainer who takes his or her training seriously. Repost BJJEE.com

Everybody was strategizing hard before the Olympics. And newaza was a huge factor playing into all that. Just check out the report Dr. Rhadi Ferguson and Christopher Round wrote for Kayla Harrisoncomparing aspects of her game (including newaza) to those of her potential opponents. Now the Japanese Olympic Judo coach and legendary player Kosei Inoue talked about the strategy applied for the Teddy Riner finale and more. Coach Inoue was aware of the players his teammates might encounter and directed them toward Conscious development. One might ask what is the point of it and to this question Kosei Inoue answered to a Japanese website nhk.or.jp: “In order to respond to the new judo incorporating ethnic martial arts around the world, we had adopted the practice to cultivate the ability to respond to a variety of martial arts such as performing a training camp of Okinawa sumo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In addition, the staff was invited to specialize in sports medicine, I had been honed by working the body making sure that there are no loses to foreign players over the Japanese traditional “be-all and end-all judo” approach. While responding to a new judo, philosophy of coach Inoue many believed their judo will lead to victory and it was felt throughout the interviews.” One of the goals was to overthrow the world’s strongest man – Teddy Riner.  However the Japan selection fell short of that goal but cross training more than paid off. Japan won 12 medals at Rio in Judo, 3 gold ones, 1 silver and 8 bronze. This is the largest number of judo medals Japan has won at a single Olympics. Japan’s dominance wavered during the London Olympic games – at that point the Japan’s men failed to win a gold medal in any weight division. After that Kosei Inoue took over the coaching position with a lot of bravado: “No matter what you do, whether it’s your daily job or (athletic) competitions, you carry pressure on your shoulders. I think it’s the same for everyone else,” Inoue said in an exclusive interview with The Japan Times at his office at Tokai University, where he serves as an associate professor at the Department of Physical Education. “For me, it’s a position with the Japanese national team, but whether it’s heavy pressure, struggle or pleasure, I’ve made up my mind to deal with it.” Kosei didn’t mince words: Various factors contributed to our losses,” he said. “You can roughly divide them into mental, technical and physical matters. But you can’t pinpoint one particular reason.” “The world is progressing fast. You’ve got to be aware of it,” Inoue said. “Japan’s judo has been trying to do things its own way, as if Japan was the be-all and end-all of everything.” “Judo, when we refer to it in Chinese characters, that’s what started in Japan,” Inoue said. “But when it’s written as j-u-d-o, in English, it’s a complex sport that derives from other martial arts. For instance, it’s sambo in Russia, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Brazil. So it’s complex judo versus our judo.”

Physical upbringing is as important as educational for our children. It is vital not only for their physical health , but also will teach them to socialize, develop discipline, teamwork skills and empathy. Coach plays huge role in development of our children. So it is very important to choose the right coach.Coach will be a person to whom children will look up to, watch him and develop moral values accordingly. Naturally it is very important to choose the right person for this job.So, how do you determine if the coach is the right one for your child? Ask around This is obviously first thing that we all do when choosing anything. Asking around helps us narrow down our search drastically. It is important to know if other parents are satisfied with the coach’s approach to the children, are their children happy around him and if they enjoy it, do they have any improvement is the field they practice as well as in their life, did they make friends, are children getting injured too often. So, after asking around you decided to take your child to a certain coach. But of course it doesn’t end here. Information about the coach It is important to know the qualification of the coach, which include his/her experience as a practitioner and as a coach and achievements. This information will show you if the coach is professional and capable of bestowing his knowledge to your child. For every martial art there is some kind of indicator of experience that will show you the level of knowledge of the coach. Most of the martial arts have their own hierarchy of belts and black belt is usually one of the high ranks. If it is any other kind of sports coach, you should ask about their achievements in competitions. Most of the legitimate coaches won’t have any problem if you ask them the color of their belt and/or achievements in competitions, nevertheless don’t forget to ask politely. Another delicate matter you should take in consideration is if the coach knows how to give first aid. Most of us don’t give a thought about it, but aside from winning, we want our children to be healthy. Of course, we shouldn’t expect from coach to do paramedics job, but he/she should know how to do CPR, how to act in case of broken bone or head injury etc. So don’t be shy and ask away. Teaching ability is another important matter. Being able to practice certain sport and teaching it are two different things. One way to find this out is attending introductory classes. Another indicator is more subjective. Teaching style depends on your personal preference. Some coaches are more nurturing and others more regimented. In case if you want your child to compete, you might want to find out if the coach had participated in competitions, whether it is encouraged and supported at the academy/club, also what are the records of the students. Keep in mind, training with world champion doesn’t mean your child will become one. As we have mentioned above, there is no direct correlation between being a champion and being a good teacher. Ask your child’s opinion Opinion of your child is very important overall and it will affect his/her progression in any kind of extracurricular activities. No matter what coaching style is implemented, coach should always keep friendly and family-like environment. Coach must manage to keep this rivalry healthy; children should be able to understand that by training together they are making each other stronger, so if they injure their teammate, they will actually damage their progress. In the end, happiness of your child is what matters the most, so their opinion matters a lot.

The Benefits of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Brazilian jiu jitsu, one of the most popular martial arts and sports in the world, is more than what people perceive it to be. What it is, is a way for people to change their life as it can have some of the biggest impacts in the way that people, in a better way.     Physical Benefits of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu :   When talk to students training in Brazilian jiu jitsu and ask them what benefits it offers, some of the most common answers is that they “lost so much weight”, “my body’s a lot more flexible now” and other similar responses. There is the fact that with Brazilian jiu jitsu, there will be undeniable significant changes in your body. Days and weeks after practicing Brazilian jiu jitsu, you will see your body physically changing. Your training will have you see amazing improvements in your overall health being the result of your training.  Exercising is almost always associated with looking good. The fact is that people always want to look in a certain way and with that you rarely hear people say that they work out to lower their cholesterol, right? Almost always you will hear that people exercise to shed weight and look good. But with Brazilian jiu jitsu, it’s not only the losing weight that makes it appealing. More so, it is the improved health, the positive changes to your overall well-being that makes it truly worthwhile. But apart from losing weight and other health benefits, Brazilian jiu jitsu teaches you how your body can be used as one unit. Brazilian jiu jitsu teaches you with incredible body awareness with mobility and strength following. As you train more and more, significant improvements in your strength and increase in the number of your lifts. During your drills and techniques, you will see great improvement in your mobility and you’ll be able to move your hips a lot better. Brazilian jiu jitsu has simply many physical benefits to offer you, both within and outside of your body.     The Mental Benefits   More than the physical benefits, Brazilian jiu jitsu also has mental benefits that are often overlooked. People have to know that in training and learning the techniques in Brazilian jiu jitus, the mental activity required is as much as the physical. With Brazilian jiu jitsu, you study the technique and then you learn to apply it. Learning how to apply the technique is often the most challenging part in training. In this sport, patience is important with learning the techniques and drills. On that note, if you are the type of person that easily gets frustrated and quit, then this isn’t likely your sport. Brazilian jiu jitsu is not easy at first but if you quit, you will never learn. Stopping simply because it is hard then you will never be able to reach the top. That’s what Brazilian jiu jitsu teaches those who practice the sports.   Additionally, this sport is a great way for you to “stress out” and allowing you to let out the pent up emotions which could have impact in your health. It may seem that Brazilian jiu jitsu is just a simple sport or martial arts but it isn’t. It’s also a way for people to deal with the stress in life and remain healthy despite it.   Conclusion   Brazilian jiu jitsu academies has almost every type of person you can think of – doctors, lawyers, students, law enforcement, businessmen and women, and more. Every day they walk into the gym for the same reason – to get better at BJJ. These same people walk into the academy every day and improve their health, learning ability, and stress levels.  This is what Brazilian jiu jitsu lifestyle is all about.  

Learning self-defense is not only for adults. In fact, many parents encourage their children to learn basic moves at a young age. There are many schools which offer formal training in self-defense. Some offer weekend classes while others offer after-school classes. Self-defense training offers more than just developing the skill that your child could use in case they are put into a situation where they have to defend themselves. There are many other benefits your child could enjoy during training. The foremost benefit of self-defense training is that it helps improve the overall health and wellness of your child. Physical activities during training encourage movement of the entire body which in turns helps avoid obesity which is common among young children. It also helps improve their stamina to endure other strenuous physical activities they may encounter at home or at school. Also, these activities can help develop flexibility and coordination of the body and mind. Self-confidence and self-control are also among the benefits of self-defense training. In training school, your child will be taught not to use their skill to aggressively start a fight but to use it to defend themselves. And that will teach your child about self-control which is an important part of a positive character. If your child lacks confidence because of constant bullying in school, their confidence can also improve with self-defense training knowing that they can now defend themselves against bullies. Many parents also see great improvement on their child’s behavior and personality after several sessions of self-defense training. As your child trains, he will know the importance of concentration and focus to avoid getting punched or kicked. With improved concentration and focus, your child could use these new improvements to perform better in school because they can now concentrate more in listening to their teacher. Other known benefits of learning self-defense among children are improved self-esteem, improved attitude toward other people especially the weaker ones, and improved attitude against challenges. Also, children who are skilled in self-defense become natural leaders in their school as they gain the trust and confidence of their fellow students. As a result, they also become more mature and able to know about responsibility at an early age. With the widespread bullying in many schools, self-defense training is gaining in popularity nowadays. And while the purpose of many parents is for their children to develop confidence in facing their bullies, training offers their children many other benefits. There are different ways on how you could introduce self-defense to young children. One way is through self-defense coloring pages. So instead of buying Disney’s Frozen coloring pages or Skylanders coloring pages which are quite popular nowadays, why not buy coloring pages that teach basic self-defense moves? They may not be very common but you can find them in many bookstores. These coloring pages could teach even toddlers some basic moves to defend themselves against attackers so that when they enroll in formal training, they will already be familiar with some of those moves. Your gender makes no difference; knowing how to defend yourself is incredibly important. Self-defense training, also called functional defense training, is an important undertaking for anyone in today’s society. Knowing how to defend yourself comes with many benefits. Here are just five benefits that you’ll experience by taking a self-defense course: 1.Safety The obvious benefit of self-defense training is your personal safety. By joining a self-defense class or signing up for private lessons will ensure that you understand how to defend yourself. The basics of functional defense training will teach you how to not only defend yourself, but to disable any attacker that comes your way. The goal of self-defense training is not to teach you how to permanently injure someone, but how to give yourself enough space to retreat safely. 2.Self-Confidence When you are trained in the art of self-defense, your self-confidence will increase tenfold. You’ll learn to be more aware of your surroundings, and you’ll understand how to prepare yourself for the unexpected no matter where you are. When you feel self-confident, you appear stronger. When you appear stronger, you are less likely to be the victim of an attacker. Walking with your head up, your shoulders back and with a purpose is often enough to dissuade a potential attack. 3.Exercise If you’ve been looking for a way to add more exercise to your life, functional defense training is a perfect option. The training will help to build strength and endurance while it tones your muscles and improves your balance. While you can receive these benefits from many different types of exercise, none other will provide you with the ability to protect yourself. After just a few weeks of self-defense training, your flexibility will be increased as will your lung capacity. 4.Social Interaction It’s rare that a self-defense class is made up of one kind of specific person. Taking a class will allow you to interact with people of different ages and walks of life. If you have been looking for a way to meet new people and make new friends, taking a class is a fantastic way to do both of those things. When you take a class with people, you already have at least one thing in common. You can use that commonality as a spring board for new relationships. 5.Health Once you begin to exercise on a regular basis, your muscle tone will improve. More than muscle tone, you’ll gain better overall health. Your heart will get stronger, you’ll have more energy during the day, and you’ll sleep better at night. You will experience a drop in blood pressure, a lowering of your cholesterol levels, and you may even lose weight. Once you start to feel the benefits of your improved health, you may look for other changes that you can make in order to live a healthier life. The benefits of learning how to defend yourself are many. From overall health to a newfound self-confidence, functional defense training can improve many aspects of your life. Look for a class held locally; you’ll … Read more