Today we're going to be talking about the benefit of martial arts for women. Now, I think I'm uniquely lucky. We have quite a lot of women training with us at the moment. It's absolutely fantastic. And I think they all get what we're trying to do. And they're all of a similar kind of mindset. They're all open minded. They all work really hard, and they're all up for a challenge. So I just thought it would be really good to have a conversation here today with you guys and sort of think about what the benefits are or what my perception is. Having spoken to quite a few of the women who train with us, what my perception is of the benefits of martial arts for women. I think one of the things that I really kind of failed to appreciate when we started Red Dragons was the kind of community feel and the development of friendships.
Obviously, this is for men and children and everyone, you know, friendship is important. But the bonds that the ladies have created have been absolutely magic and really, really special. They go out and they socialise, not like some of us grumpy men. Well, the reason we don't go out as much is because it's left to me to organise, and therefore it doesn't tend to get done. But that's besides the point. Let's not talk about that. We'll talk about Sensi's lack of organisational ability later on. That's another blog, also another series of blogs. Anyway, I'm going to stop talking about this now. So, yes, the social element. All right. That's really important because everybody kind of gets to know each other. They're all of a similar mindset. I think these ladies that train with us, they're wonderful ladies, and they're all open minded. They're all embracing challenge, and they all have their own goals. They have their own ideas of what they want to achieve from martial arts. Some of them grade, most of them grade, in fact. And they all push themselves when they grade.
It's incredible. I mean, they've got no choice. They push themselves as much as everybody else pushes themselves. There's no difference there at all. But it's absolutely magic to see them kind of engaging in the process. So, yeah, we're going to look at various things now, and we're just going to talk a little bit more in depth about various kind of aspects of the benefits of martial arts.
Martial Arts Mums
So a lot of the ladies that we have training with us are mothers, and obviously they have children, and they spend a lot of time with their children and they talk all things children. And one of the things that the mums and the ladies have said is that they find it really kind of liberating to go from having regular conversations about children and talking to the children and working with the children and doing all things children to then coming into the dojo, stepping into the dojo shedding off that kind of mum label and becoming a kickboxer and punching lumps out of pads and kicking lumps out of pads and really pushing themselves and having Sensei really push them and outside their comfort zone. So there's something freeing about being able to kind of remove yourself, I think, from your convention, what you do every day, and being able to kind of separate that and push yourself and take out your frustrations and hit those pads and kick those pads and really get a good sweat on.
Yeah. So I think that's a real good benefit that kind of removing yourself from your everyday life just for an hour and really pushing yourself that's a really nice way.
Martial Arts for Fitness
Martial arts training is really good for getting you fit, for getting you strong and getting you flexible. Those are three really important things, especially the flexibility part. We really underestimate that, don't we? I mean, flexibility is something that when you've lost it, you really miss it. It can cause lots of pains and aches and things like that. So yeah, keeping yourself flexible is really important. And martial arts training is really good for that.
It also builds a really good type of muscle, that lean muscle. You look really fit and really strong. If you've been involved in martial arts for a long time and you take it seriously and you train regularly, not every day. I do. I train every day. I can't help it. But if you train regularly and you work really hard and you're consistent, then it builds really good muscle and you get that really definitive, almost martial arts body type, the kind of good fit, lean kind of body type.
So in conversation with the various women in our school, martial art school, they all talk about how they've got many things to do. You know, some of them are mothers, some of them have careers. They've all worked really hard. They're all focused on trying to be better than they were yesterday. They do a lot. They've got children, they've got other responsibilities. So they've got lots and lots and lots and lots to do in the day. They've got to kind of make things and get things happening and stuff like that. And sometimes it's really difficult to put in the fitness element and look after yourself. If you're really busy, we all find this.
If you're really busy, it's really difficult.
So having a martial arts class at a regular time is really good because it gives you something to work towards. And that's what of number of ladies have said, "that's mine, this is mine. I do this and I come here and everybody knows". And so not to call me, not to interrupt this time.
This is my class. I'm training now. Boom, it's done.
Which is really lovely.
Creating More Time for Fitness
One thing as well that's really exciting is many of our ladies, they start with one class a week, which I encourage. I think that's really important. Start with one class a week, and then they get bitten by the martial arts bug. And I will warn you, if you do get bitten by the martial arts bug, warning, it is a lifelong commitment. I've been doing it for 33 years now. I'm currently fifth Dan working towards my 6th in about six years. I've worked out that by the time I'm 91, when I'm 91, I will get my 10th out. So it's a lifelong commitment. I started when I was 17. So these ladies, they start with one class a week. They get bitten by the martial arts bug, and then it's two classes a week, then three classes a week, and then they find time to do some running because they need to get fitter, because they know that they've got increased demand in every grading that they do. So they're going to have to really push themselves. And they find that time. And it all kind of feeds in. They get fitter, they get more energy, they get stronger, they get more agile, and it's wonderful.
Mental Strength
It's amazing to see I've seen so many ladies just completely transform, not just physically, but mentally as well. I've seen some ladies just when they start really quiet, really shy, and as they progress through, they gain confidence and they see other people doing things that they think at the start, I couldn't do that, I couldn't do that. And then they get to do it and they do it and they see that and they see the success, so that develops confidence. So they start to take risks and they start to sort of take little groups and start talking in front of people and doing things that are so far outside the comfort zone.
I love that.
I think outside your comfort zone is always a really good place to be.
It's remarkable. So, yes, martial arts has such a wonderful range of benefits, not just for women, not just for children, but for men as well. Everybody so yeah, I'm going to conclude it there, guys but yeah, remember martial arts has so many benefits and it's just a great thing to be involved in. It's the community, it's the friendships, it's the feeling confident. It's getting fitter, it's getting stronger, it's getting more flexible physically and mentally.
Come join us at our Bristol school or check out our online kickboxing videos, and soon ... our Red Dragons Online Kickboxing Course!
See you all next time.