Looking to get started with martial arts?

Well, don't expect a cakewalk.

There’s a lot to know about the ancient tradition that can reshape your entire life. It takes discipline, study, competitive spirit, and a whole lot of practice. The trick is finding the perfect style for you, and a sensei that drives you.

At Troomy, we pair these habits and disciplines with naturally powerful wellness to elevate your daily function and performance, creating impactful change over time to get the most out of every day you have ahead. Using organic ingredients and medicinal mushrooms, Troomy's six skews of mushroom-powered wellness can diversify and elevate the trials of working in a successful new practice of martial arts, regardless of what school or preparation methods you take.

Here are some tips on how to get started, what you should expect, and the different areas of martial arts to pursue.

Three Factors That Will Determine Your Experience with Martial Arts

1: Discipline and Expectations

Great martial artists don't become great overnight. Expecting to turn into a great fighter in a couple of months isn’t going to happen, and it’s going to give you a poor approach/set of expectations when learning martial arts. Setting the tone for what you expect to do with martial arts is going to be entirely up to you in how you discipline yourself. There are inherent disciplines to learn in martial arts, but at the end of the day, it comes down to you. 

Discipline is a game changer from the moment you get started and beyond. Your best bet at becoming consistent in martial arts is finding what makes you want to learn more, what drives you, and what will help keep you on track. That can be anything from:

• Setting attainable goals - Your goals can't be impossible, but also can't be easy. Set something reasonable that's challenging still. If you can't reach it, amend it into a step-by-step journey. If it becomes too easy, set your expectations higher.
• Building a personal relationship with your peers - An invaluable asset to your growth. This opens the door for pushing each other, friendly competition, and more comfort in your growth with martial arts as a discipline.
• Moves - Some are drawn in by extreme moves and want to learn to master them. Discipline is a great drive to keep make this a reality.
• Daily routine - Every day your daily routine impacts discipline in a massive way. For example, if you get used to waking up late on the third or fourth alarm, that'll carry over into other things you do like martial arts.

2: Balance, Relationship with Yourself

No, we’re not talking about holding crane stance for ten minutes (although that type of balance is important too). You’re going to need to balance your classes and sessions with your everyday life, prepare yourself well with nutrition and other factors to your energy, keep a sound relationship with your peers, and maintain a strong relationship with yourself

3: Sensei and the Style You Learn

Whether or not you're learning "wax on, wax off" or The Way of the Fist, the sensei you learn from shapes everything you’ll take away from the sport. If you’re seeking great change in yourself and becoming stronger emotionally, you’ll need to be able to connect with the way your sensei teaches lessons.  

For example, if you respond well to "tough love" teaching styles, you should seek out a sensei that has that same ideology. Of course, it's tough to find your ideal teacher in anything, but it's good to at least be aware of as you set out.

Same goes for the styles and schools of martial arts you pursue.

What Different Styles of Martial Arts are There?

Kung Fu

Kung Fu is a fantastic foundational form of martial arts to add to your routine today. Based and developed as a style in China, Kung Fu is great for learning martial arts as a beginner. You can practice this in limited fashion and still reap major benefits. Some forms of martial arts take several days a week of training to really create major growth for most athletes, and this isn’t one of those forms. For the most part, you can get a ton of experience and knowledge with only a session or two a week. 

Kung fu will prepare you with the basics, teach you defensive strategies, strikes for the hands and for the feet, rolls, forms, and more. You cannot go wrong learning Kung Fu. This a good place to start for mild competition as well, without the strain and stress that goes into building competitive fighting techniques.

Karate

You’ll probably know this one from the movies. Karate is a Japanese style that hones in on different striking techniques and primarily will be learned from the “standing” position. For the most part, you’ll learn a lot of different hand strikes with Karate and build practices on keeping yo

Overall, Karate is similar to Kung Fu in the skills you learn, but it takes a different approach in the approach of how you learn. Karate is a straight-ahead, aggressive, “strike first” approach, while Kung Fu is more reactive. Both of these can be fruitful depending on what you aim to get out of the experience of learning martial arts.

Jiu Jitsu

Jiu Jitsu isn’t as flashy as the others, but it’s an incredible foundation for groundwork and becoming experienced at neutralizing opponents with grappling techniques. Jiu Jitsu won’t teach you how to “strike first!” as Sensei Lawrence might, but it’ll keep the ground as an ally. Through Jiu Jitsu, you’ll learn how to defend yourself from takedowns, gain control from the ground, and establish elite stamina. There truly is nothing in the world like grappling conditioning, and you'll see it pay dividends if you're ever in a tough situation, or even just casually competing with friends.

Muay Thai

Muay Thai has risen in visibility with MMA and ultimate fighting competitions, but this style of martial arts has been prominent and relevant as a popular technique all over the world. Using primarily striking techniques using the entire body, including what most martial arts omit. This includes elbows, knees, and more damaging strikes from eight points of contact.

If you’re trying to get started with martial arts today, Muay Thai isn’t a bad place to start. However, it’s going to be just as rigorous with others while being a bit more fatiguing on the body. Once you have a foundational knowledge of katas in karate and kung fu forms, then it might be a better time to begin with Muay Thai.

Tai Chi

For harnessing your inner "chi," Tai Chi is a superior martial art for calming your body and gaining more body control. With a heightened focus on defense and powerful poses that strengthen your base as a martil artist, you’ll see Tai Chi start having an impact on all the other forms of martial arts you try, as well as how your body reacts to contact/pain. 

Tai Chi is a great series of exercises to get introduced to martial arts with.  It gives you strong footwork, breathing patterns, establishes the importance of defense, and more.

Using Medicinal Mushrooms and Nutrition to Power Better Performance

Leaning on Good Nutrition

When you get started with a new sport or anything demanding physically, you’re going to have to adjust your diet accordingly. That means adding more proteins, higher veggie content, better starches, etc. Having strong daily habits for your nutrition is crucial to your daily success.

If you’ve already started meal planning, do the same for martial arts. Keep it light ahead of your sessions and try to make sure you focus more on recovery rather than loading up with carbs or protein ahead of a session. 

Using Nootropics

Paired with good nutrition, nootropics are a great way to make learning martial arts simple. Nootropics are synthetic or natural blends that target natural benefits for getting your daily nutrients faster. On top of better nutrition, nootropics promote better sleep, improved brain health, higher focus, more energy, and a variety of other benefits. Luckily, it’s quick and easy to get started.

Try Troomy Nootropics with Your New Martial Arts Classes Today!

Get started with Troomy Nootropics today using our mushroom gummy blends. With our five primary blends, we use all-natural ingredients to boost your daily function and make your routine that much simpler. Additionally, we have a few blends like Focus, Boost, and Daily that might be the perfect pairing for trying martial arts. 

With caffeine-free, naturally powerful blends of medicinal mushroom support, starting your new tai chi or karate class can be all the more impactful on your overall wellness. Start with Boost, a high-impact, low-calorie route to better energy, fatigue regulation, and immune support daily.