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"Not everything is as it seems, reveals Mr.Miyagi in The Karate Kid, about the trials andtribulations of training in unconventional ways.Twenty-eight years later, the sage-like advicestill reigns true.

o ully appreciate this lesson, you need to identiy what theconventional methods o training are. I running, walking, hiking,and cycling came to mind, you are on the right track, sometimesliterally. But, have you ever thought about the less conventional ftnessregimens like the martial arts?

Martial arts ocus on sel-deense training, character development, sel-confdence building and, yes, ftness.

Chances are youve seen martial arts on television, in movies and evenpassed by a dojo once on your way to work, but youve probably neverthought about the exercise benefts associated with martial arts. I you areinterested in improving your cardiovascular health, losing weight, buildingmuscle or improving your mood, then martial arts may be or you.

rain hard, eel good, never give up, in all aspects o lie, says SenseiJoe Angelisanti o ri-Star Karate in Mt Penn. You can apply that toanything. I think it especially applies or those who would like to seephysical benefts rom martial arts.

An improvement in cardiovascular health is probably the most importantbeneft associated with martial arts. Te best way to improve the status oyour cardiovascular system is by participating in activities that cause yourheart to work harder than normal. Tese activities can include cycling,

running, walking and martial arts. Research has proven that you should tryto achieve at least 30 minutes daily o cardiovascular exercise.

People are always trying to fnd a better way to lose weightwhile enjoying themselves. By participating in even justone hour o moderately intense martial arts, a person can

burn over 500 calories. As research has proven, one pound oat is equal to roughly 3,500 calories. So introducing a workoutthat burns calories, while moderating your diet, will help you on

the path to weight loss.

Martial arts can also help you build your bodys muscle mass. Youll burnmore calories per day with a higher muscle mass because your bodilymetabolic processes operate more eciently, and your body will becomemore defned and toned, which aids in increased agility. And who wouldnt

beneft rom being more graceul, quick and nimble?

In addition to being a great physical workout, martial arts is a healthymental workout. Martial arts are a great way to relieve stress, rustration

and boost happiness. Endorphins that are released in yourbody during physical activities are present in your body or upto our hours ater exercise. By regularly exercising, people canimprove their moods, almost instantaneously.

It all comes down to training your mind to push throughyour mental barriers, said Master Moyer, o Moyers Karate inShillington. You always have enough gas to go that little bitmore, but its your mind telling you that it cant.

Martial arts are not just a mens club anymore. Women andchildren can beneft rom them too. However, it hasnt alwaysbeen this way.

I had one o the frst women karate instructors, recalledHanshi Snyder, o East Coast Karate in West Lawn. It was almost tabooto have a woman who had earned her black belt.

According to Master Moyer, it wasnt until recently that women evenconsidered participating in martial arts.

Its not that they couldnt do it, said Master Moyer. I think its becauseit always seemed like such an intense sport, they were araid to try. But Imglad they fnally did.

MARTIAL ARTS'

Students at Master Moyers

By Adam Hoy

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While martial arts are great at promoting a healthy liestyle both physicallyand mentally, it also benefts women in a completely dierent way. Womenwho participate in martial arts, or any exercise routine, are more likely tohave higher sel-esteem and have a healthier image o themselves.

Tey are also better at protecting themselves. Young girls, who areconstantly being assaulted with images o perect bodies, would greatlybeneft rom martial arts, because o the improved sel-esteem benefts.

Dont think that women are the only ones beneftting rom martialarts; kids are also getting in on the action. Parents may be wary o the

suggestion, but martial arts do not promote violence, as some suggest.It is actually a great way or kids to learn respect, sel-discipline, andsocialization skills. Each class begins and ends with the kids bowing totheir instructor, expressing respect not only to their instructor but to all othe elders who have come beore them.

Tere are also tests every ewmonths or the kids to try andmove up in belt color. Testudents need to set goals andwork towards them as theyhope to move to the next color.

Its all set up in this hierarchy.You must move up the ladder

and achieve at each level, saidSensei Angelisanti.

Te biggest beneft rommartial arts may actually be orkids who suer rom attention-defcit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD). Teir sel-controland concentration skills arebeing developed with martialarts, which may be an addedbeneft or school or home.

Te best way to decide whichtype o martial art is or youis to do research-lots and lotso research, explains Hanshi

Snyder. Te ollowing list o tips is compiled rom martial arts instructorsthroughout Berks County.

Decide on a budget. Depending on the martial art you choose, there couldbe a signifcant investment or equipment. Its up to you. Remember, itshard to pursue anything eectively i you cannot aord the necessary toolsor equipment or training.

Whats your goal? Do you want to learn martial arts or the art itsel, ordo you want to add a new exercise to your regimen? You will be able tonarrow your ocus on one or two dierent styles once youve determineyour exercise or ftness goals. We arent looking or people to be BruceLee, thats not what we are about, joked Sensei Angelisanti.

Choose the style that best suits you. I youre interested in ull-bodytraining, then you may want to pursue judo. Defned as the gentle way,judo ocuses on sel-deense, as opposed to aggressive fghting. Te basicso judo are all about throwing your opponent by using dierent disarmingtechniques. I you are interested in spicing up your workout, then kungu may be or you. Kung u is categorized by hard and sot techniques.Te hard techniques ocus on striking and kicking while the sot ocuseson balance and ground attacks. Perhaps karate? It diers rom kung u byocusing on blows with hands and eet.

Tere are only so manydierent ways you can punchand kick someone, saysMaster Moyer. It all comesdown to your approach andthat is where all the dierentstyles come into martial arts.

Determine where yourlimitations lie. I you have asmall build, a martial art

that employs striking maynot be or you. I you areolder or less able to movearound, then Chinesemartial arts may not be oryou. However, some Chinesestyles are all about thetechnique, so they rely less onyour height and weight.

People come up to me andsay that they have knee or back issues all the time, says Sensei Angelisanti.I try my best to help them learn how to move around their problems.

Which teaching style do you preer? Does this instructors teaching style

suit your personality or does it just seem abrasive? Tere are many dierentstyles with many dierent instructors. I you dont mesh well with one,there are plenty o others to try.

Examine the instructors credentials. Visit and watch a class, said GeorgeDillman, a 10th degree black belt in the discipline o ryuku kempokarate and Berks County native. Ask yoursel, is this something I cansee mysel doing? Watch the instructor. Are they on the oor, hands on,demonstrating and instructing, or are they letting someone less qualifeddo the instructing. I a school isnt willing to let you watch a class or two,it is a red ag.

You will need to devote a healthy amount o time to your art. Most martialarts have exercises or you to practice at home, which means they dontwant you only practicing in class.

We arent running Mc-MartialArts to get the kids in and out so that theirparents can brag to their riends, assured Sensei Angelisanti. Its justnot what we are about.You can read this article and may understand the terms, but you willnever appreciate and understand it all i you dont experience it frsthand,says Sensei Angelisanti. Martial arts are good or everyone. It improvesyour lie skills, physical ftness and attitude in all aspect o your lie.

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the technique to deeat enemies. It uses a variety o grappling techniqueswhile using weapons. Te idea behind the technique is to use an attackersenergy against him, rather than opposing it. Jujutsu encourages the ideathat a smaller, weaker individual can successully deend himsel against anattacker who is both bigger and stronger by using leverage, among othertechniques. It is very prominent in mixed martial arts today.

JudoMeaning gentle way, is a Japanese martial art and Olympic sport. Te

sport uses throws, takedowns, grappling, joint locking and strangleholds.Strikes and thrusts rom hands, eet or weapons are not allowed in judocompetitions. Judo has become popular worldwide and has spawnedoshoots, such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Brazilian jiu-jitsuIs a martial art, combat sport, and a sel-deense system that uses grapplingand ground fghting. It encourages the idea that a smaller, weakerindividual can successully deend himsel against an attacker who is bothbigger and stronger by using leverage and proper technique usually byapplying joint-locks and chokeholds to deeat the attacker.

Mixed martial arts

Also knows as MMA, is a ull-contact combat sport thatallows striking and grappling techniques, both standingand on the ground, rom an assortment o other combatsports. Unlike the other styles o fghting, this orm omartial arts can be traced back to the ancient Olympics.Te sport o Pankration was the frst documentedunarmed fghting style. In the 1900s there was a surgeo mixed-style fghting contests that emerged throughoutEurope and Japan. In 1993, the Ultimate FightingChampionship (UFC) was created. It implementednew rules and regulations that made the previous mixedmartial arts competitions signifcantly saer.

Tang Soo DoIs a Korean style that combines several dierent orms o martial arts.Literally translated, the word ang means ang Dynasty o China,which reects the shared cultural background between China and Korea.Soo means hand, but implies fst, punch, strike, or deense, etc. "Domeans way o lie or art. So, ang Soo Do means the Korean classicalmartial art which was inuenced by the ang method o martial art.One o the most amous students o ang Soo Do is Chuck Norris, whointroduced America to this art.

HapkidoDeveloped in Korea, is considered an eclectic martial art . Because it usesjoint locks, mixed martial arts, kicks, punches and other striking attacks,hapkido is considered a orm o sel-deense. Weapons are also sometimesused in training, including a sword, rope, nunchaku, cane, short stick, andstas, which vary depending on the particular hapkido fghting tradition.It uses long and close-range fghting techniques, utilizing jumping kicksand percussive hand strikes at longer ranges and pressure point strikes,joint locks, or throws at closer distances. Hapkido emphasizes circularmotion, non-resisting movements, and control o the opponent.

KenpoAlso known as kempo, uses multiple martial arts that developed in Hawaii.Te style is a mixture o Ryukyuan martial arts, Chinese martial arts,Japanese martial arts as well as other inuences. In the United States,kenpo is oten reerred to as kenpo karate. It uses a mix o Chinese circularmovements and hard linear movements, becoming a sel-deense system.

Martial Arts 101

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ccording to DojoLocator.com, the top ten types o martial arts inBerks County are karate, taekwondo, kick boxing, jujutsu, tangsoo do, mixed martial arts, kung u, hapkido, kenpo/kempo, and

Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Fitness Berksthought the list lacked a very popularmartial art, and Olympic avorite, so we threw an eleventh spot or, youguessed it, judo.

KarateDeveloped in Okinawa, Japan, employs punching, kicking, knee andelbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knie-hands. In somestyles, grappling, locks, restraints, throws, and vital point strikes are alsotaught.

TaekwondoDeveloped in Korea, involves the use o the legs and eet. It combinescombat techniques, sel-deense, sport, exercise, and, in some cases,

meditation and philosophy. wo main styles make up taekwondo;traditional and sport. raditional reers to classic taekwondo, which wasdeveloped by the South Korean military during the 1950s and into the60s. Sport taekwondo is the more recognizable o the two, and the oneyou saw i you watched the Olympics this year.

KickboxingIs exactly what it sounds like, boxing with your eet. It originated in Japanduring the 1960s when a Japanese karate expert traveled to Tailand anddiscovered Tai boxing. He removed elbow strikes that were allowed inTai boxing and combined it with karate. Te United States were quick toadopt kickboxing, however they also removed knee strikes.

Chinese martial artsMore popularly know as kung u, is the umbrella term or a numbero fghting styles developed in China. Each o these fghting styles arecategorized into amilies, sects and schools using similar characteristics.Kung u has several sub-styles, which are categorized by geographiclocation. Shaolin is one o the most common sub-styles o kung u, whichis practiced in northern China. Kung u can be identifed by its uidmovements, which can be seen in the flm, Crouching iger, HiddenDragon.

JujutsuAlso known as jujitsu or jiu-jitsu, was developed in eudal Japan sometimebetween the late 1180s and early 1600s. Samurai were the frst to use

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