Are you struggling to choose the right martial arts program for your child?
If so, please know that you’re not alone.
Countless parents like yourself are daunted by all the punching, kicking, grabbing, and choking involved in most martial arts.
On one hand, you want to ensure the safety of your child. At the same time, you also want to encourage them to get out of their comfort zone, push their boundaries, and grow both physically and emotionally.
So choosing the right martial art is critical. However, there’s an overwhelming number of martial art styles out there and the number just keeps growing with all the local variations.
To help you make sense of all that chaos, today we will cover the martial art that’s one of the best for your child (if not the best).
Here’s Why Judo Should Be Your First Choice
Judo is a Japanese martial art with a perfect balance between protection and potential. It pushes your child to uncharted boundaries every single time, all while keeping them out of danger.
So without wasting any further time, let’s get into the 5 reasons:
1. PHYSICAL FITNESS
Let’s start with the obvious one.
Judo will engage all the major muscles in your child’s body, which in turn promotes all sorts of physical fitness. From strength to agility to stamina, you will notice a considerable improvement in each department — every single week.
Apart from all that, you’ll also notice a significant improvement in your child’s hand grip within a few weeks. Tough exercises like pull ups will be a piece of cake before you know it.
With all of these combined, your child will get enough physical activity to live a happy and healthy life.
2. DISCIPLINE
Judo is a continuous test of body and mind.
The only way someone can progress is by building discipline as sturdy as steel. With that being said, any good dojo knows the importance of pushing a child hard enough to inspire but not so much as to discourage them.
Under the right guidance, your child will develop the skills to control any impulsive behavior, and think of the long term instead. You’ll also find your child being more respectful towards people around them.
3. CONCENTRATION AND FOCUS
Pins, chokes, armlocks — all of these situations require intense focus and concentration to overcome.
As your child will face these challenges regularly, they will slowly but surely build the ability to get into the zone and think clearly, even under extreme pressure.
Not just that, but your child will also build their problem solving skills as each lock is a mentally stimulating puzzle. And that puzzle gets more and more complex as they face more skilled opponents.
Perhaps the best part is that these skills are not just limited to judo, but also extend to other areas of your child’s life. For example, studying, taking care of their hygiene, doing chores at home, etc.
4. SOCIAL SKILLS
The great thing about judo is that it’s highly dependant on working with a partner.
It’s a sport of peer interaction where growth and progress depends entirely on the ability to work with others with the class as a unit, especially under pressure.
As kids interact with their training partners across a variety of scenarios, they develop social skills to handle each situation with respect and grace.
5. SELF-DEFENCE
We’ve saved this one for last as it’s perhaps the most important benefit of any martial art.
Bullying is a major problem in every culture in the world. What’s even worse is that many kids feel ashamed to get their parents involved, and hence they suffer silently in a buildup of childhood trauma.
We believe Judo is a great equalizer in situations like this because it equips children with the skills to defend themselves. Even more importantly, it allows them to stay calm because they know they’re not in danger.
While it might seem like this will lead to violent behavior in your child, the facts actually prove the contrary.
As your child develops the discipline, fitness, and skill to defend themselves, they will avoid violence because they hold the power to incapacitate their opponent at any time.
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