If you’re very kind to this world then people think “You’re weak and you don’t fight back to protect yourself”.

Then people start pushing you and you eventually feel “you’re weak” but it isn’t the truth.

If you or one of your family members is in danger then of course you try to defend your family with Self-Defence. The force used in Self-defense is enough to protect yourself from being attacked, but it does not remain the same forever(empty verbal threat).

If the attacker has a weapon then Self-defense will not work because Self-defense can’t include great bodily harm to defend yourself.

Here comes “Martial Arts” with which you can become a professional martial artist. Nowadays practicing martial arts can benefit a person both mentally and physically.

Let me tell you, the learner of martial arts throughout the world is rapidly increasing and around 3.6 million people are now practicing martial arts this number will increase. Research published by IBIS world says 4.2% growth from the year 2012-2017 in martial arts.

The discipline of martial arts is continuously expanding and it attracts more people to learn martial arts.

A study that those who practice martial arts do better in their life and a report from the American Journal of Psychotherapy suggested that martial arts can act as a form of mental therapy.

Now if you want to learn how many types of martial arts are there then you’re in right place, we will also explain to you the effective martial arts that you can learn at your home.

There are 180+ types of martial arts that you can learn but we will cover 11 martial arts that you need to know about.

What Are Martial Arts

Martial arts have been used in combat practice since ancient times, it is practiced for many reasons such as self-defense, physical health, mental health, spiritual development, etc.

Martial arts are considered a huge culture all over the world and there are many types of styles that people learn, however, over time, martial arts also reached different countries and by going to many countries, its style, fighting, and kicking sense also changed.

And today there are more than 180 types of martial arts but all martial arts have the same goal “to physically defeat a person or to protect oneself from some physical danger”.

According to the report of IBIS World, 35% of martial artists open MMA classes as this industry is going to grow very fast in the coming years. In 2019, only in the USA, about 80,559 martial artists contributed $5 billion to the country’s GDP.

Let us tell you that martial arts are no longer just for self-defense, but martial arts are now used for their talent on the international stage and also as a sport.

Someone has rightly said that as knowledge spreads among the people, ignorance from the society and the development of the country also starts.

There are many martial artists in the world who are teaching people but even today many people dream of learning martial arts but their dreams never come true because there is no martial artist in their city or village, due to which there are no martial arts among people.

There is no proper knowledge of arts, nor do people know how many types of martial arts are there in the true sense and how to use them.

That’s why you need to read this full guide where I have explained 20 types of martial arts that you can learn.

How Many Types Of Martial Arts Are There Globally?

There are more than 180 types of martial arts and thousands of fighting styles. Fighting styles in most martial arts have become famous in Asia and many have also come from different countries around the world.

11 Types Of Martial Arts

Most of the martial arts that have become famous in the world originated from Asia and today there are more than 180 martial arts techniques that are spread all over the world, they can be learned by people of all ages for self-reliance and self-defense.

Today in this guide you will get to see martial arts with pictures so that it is easy for you to understand all its types, martial arts are being learned by young children because they are focusing more on self-reliance since childhood.

1. Judo

Judo was founded in 1882 by the famous Jigoro Kano of Japan, Judo is called the martial arts of Japan. It evolved from the jiu-old Jitsu method.

Judo is considered to be a very spectacular sport in which the physical skills and mental skills of a person being tested. Judo is such a method in which you can lift your opponent on your back without giving him a chance and throw him down, by doing this you can save yourself very easily from your opponent’s attack.

Let us tell you that Judo is played on a very large scale in the world and Judo is considered to be the second most popular sport after football.

Every year thousands of children and adults learn Judo and apply it in their life so that they can protect their families and people related to them from any attack.

All types of martial arts have one purpose, to make yourself so strong that no attacker can defeat you. The methods of judo and other martial arts are now used for self-defense, Who knows judo is seen in the eyes of respect in society because like the rest of the people, they are more disciplined and they follow the time very well.

2. Karate

Karate is a Japanese martial art that was brought to the world with the importance of defense, importance is given to how one can be defensive to counter any attack in Karate and how his body movement should be so that the attacker can be attacked on all four sides in order to defeat the attacker.

You may ask “What is the word “Karate” origin”? Kara means “empty” and “te” means “hand”, it means “karate” and refers to the art of fighting hand-to-hand without any weapons.

The purpose of traditional karate training is to improve fighting, mental, and moral aspects, and self-defense. For the first time in 1917, Karate was introduced in Japan by Gichin Funakoshi, at that time the general public of Japan and Crown Prince Hirohito greatly appreciated Karate and showed their interest in it and thought of spreading it all over Japan.

About five years after the introduction of karate, Jano Kano, who is said to be the founder of the Japanese martial arts of Judo, invited the founder of karate to live with him and teach karate in his dojo.

The founder of Judo invited him because when Karate was introduced to the world, at that time people did not look at Karate with good eyes, so Jano Kano thought that the importance of Judo and Karate needed to be spread all over Japan, So he spread the importance of Judo and Karate to Japan as well as to the whole world.

With the support of Jano Kano, there was an increase in karate, and therefore in today’s time, four main styles of karate are taught in Japan, the establishment of these four karate styles was seen between 1928 and 1939.

All four are based on the same basic principles, although each style has different techniques. The names of the four different karate styles are Wado-ryu, Goju-ryu, Shito-Ryu, and Shotokan.

Karate mainly focuses on hand strikes, when you are attacked, the attacker does not think that you only know hand strikes, he attacks you with full force and in such a situation it is necessary that Along with hands, you also kick with your knees and feet, so karate also focuses on kicking with knees and feet so that you can save yourself in every situation.

3. Kung Fu

Kung Fu originated from a temple called Shaolin in China, each style of Kung Fu consists of hard and soft techniques that can be changed at any time during an attack. Within each style of kung fu, there are hundreds of techniques that focus on external development.

Generally, in Kung Fu, study, patience, ethics, and proper use of time are taught which makes any person different from the rest.

In fact, in 527 AD, a prince named Buddhist or Da Mo in China went to a temple for his religious education but there he saw that some monks were weak and in very bad condition and no one was helping them.

That’s why Da Mo prince thought of giving life force, he locked himself in a room for 9 years to give the right direction to the life of the monks, the result of his work was that of strength, vitality, and internal energy development exercises were born and this too came to be considered as the original martial arts.

Kung Fu got a historical status in China and it was learned by everyone from great scholars to political leaders learning Kung Fu became an essential part of life.

Since ancient times, it was considered necessary to learn Kung Fu in every household because it teaches different thinking and patience, humility, and morality in society.

Like other martial arts, Kung Fu has also been changed by going to many countries, in many countries its style has changed and in many countries it has been made more difficult.

Kung Fu is part of Chinese martial arts, which has many styles such as Long Fist, Eagle Claw, and Taiji Quan.

Let us tell you that many styles and methods and techniques are almost the same in Karate and Kung Fu, but it is considered easy to shift to another style very quickly during the attack in Kung Fu.

In today’s modern times, kung fu is also seen as other styles of martial arts, meaning self-defense, but this was not the purpose for creating kung fu, kung fu was created to practice physically and spiritually.

Moreover, by learning Kung Fu, a person not only becomes physically strong but also becomes mentally stable.

The most important thing about kung fu is that it does not depend on any kind of weapons, so kung fu became the most favorable and popular option for women in ancient times, Bruce Lee is considered the greatest king of the world of kung fu. Because through his films, he had taken Kung Fu to a different place in the eyes of the world.

4. Muay Thai

Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand, Muay Thai originated in the Sukhothai Kingdom in the 13th century, Muay Thai means “Thai Boxing” and was created for military use, although now the military as well as around the world Many people are also interested in learning it.

Muay Thai is slightly different from other martial arts because like boxing (2 points – fists) and karate (4 points – fists and feet) but Muay Thai uses 8 points like punches, Elbows, knees, and kicks.

In Thailand, it has been recognized as “Thai Boxing”, but as time progressed, many scholars added many parts to it, and by the 20th century, it came to be known as a modern combat sport, it is not only in Thailand Valki began to be played all over the world, it is called Thai martial arts.

However, in modern times, Thai boxing took inspiration from British boxing and also made rings and rules for boxing.

As the sport of Muay Thai progressed, many people began to participate in it, punching each other in the ring would also peel the hands of the boxers, due to which people started tying ropes (kard chuek) to their hands,

Then after this, the world started to modernize and the style of playing Muay Thai also started changing, now people also started wearing gloves in their hands so that they could avoid any injury to their hands.

Muay Thai is considered to be one of the more difficult martial arts, as it generally consists of attack, defense, and counter techniques that require a person to practice rigorously and relentlessly to learn how to drill their muscles over and over again.

5. Taekwondo

Taekwondo is considered to be one of the oldest martial arts in the world, which is said to be more than 2000 years ago, Taekwondo originated in Korea for the purpose of self-defense. Taekwondo is made up of 3 words called Tae (feet), Kwon (hand) and Do (the way).

Taekwondo is a form of martial arts that involves jumping and flying kicks, using the legs and lower torso to kick, which helps to kick with great power. “Kwon” (hand) refers to the use of the hands to strike someone and the use of the upper body in the fight, including the hands, fingers, wrists, fists, and elbows.

All these techniques are mostly used for self-defense only, if a person wants to learn Taekwondo, then he has to work hard because this importance is given to the strength of hands and feet.

There are a few categories of martial arts that focus on both physical and mental skills, Taekwondo being the best of them all. That’s why “Do” means not only importance given to physical skills but also mentally skilled because if the mind remains focused then any big problem can be easily defeated.

Keeping these aspects in mind, a Taekwondo warrior is prepared and becomes capable of raising a loud voice against himself and the wrongdoings happening in society.

Like any other martial art, Taekwondo is also known as a sport, WTF (World Taekwondo Federation) which is also known as the 2nd martial art of Asia which is seen as a sport of the Olympics.

It is played on a very large scale in the world. There are many arts of martial arts that have made it to the Olympics and these sports are also played by people around the world today.

6. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

The main objective of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu martial arts is to control your opponent in such a way that he himself surrenders to you.

This martial art originated for the purpose of having full control over the front opponent by dropping him on the ground and for the purpose of harming his opponent, grip on your hands and your body should also be strong in order to have full control over someone by knocking them down otherwise your opponent will turn the whole game in a second and can also cause you dangerous injuries, that is why in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu the functioning and working of the human body are explained very deeply so that where to strike during the fight so that the front It becomes easy to understand if the opponent himself falls on the ground.

It has been proven by many martial arts and many combat sports that it is easier to control someone by pinning them down to the ground than it is to control them standing up.

To learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and become an expert in it, you need to work both physically and mentally, once you are physically and mentally fit, you can easily make your opponent surrender in any fight. Mental and physical fitness also plays a big role in your professional life, if you are mentally fit, then you have more social benefits than other people, and problem-solving skills also develop inside you, which gives you a different identity from society and a higher status.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is considered a bit difficult to learn because if you practice daily to learn it, you will not be able to learn, If you really want to learn these martial arts, then you will have to work hard every day and remove the pain and fear of injury from your mind, only then you will be able to become a good martial artist.

Many students who want to learn it are unable to control their fear and pain, nor do they know the technique to hold their opponent properly, That’s why Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is considered a bit difficult to learn which not everyone can learn.

7. Aikido

Of all the types of martial arts, it is considered to be the most dangerous art because everything is used in Aikido, hitting the front opponent with hands, feet, and fingers and also using weapons like knives, and swords.

The main reason for establishing Aikido was that if a person is caught in a conflict situation, he can fight his opponent with this martial art and protect himself.

Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, studied various parts of martial arts, including hand-to-hand combat in many martial arts and striking with many small weapons, then he set out to study all martial arts in depth in the 20th century.

Since Aikido was first introduced to the world, Aikido is a powerful form of martial arts that has been practiced for centuries in Japan and is best known for inflicting injury on the enemy.

Aikido’s founder Ueshiba said that out of all the martial arts in the world, Aikido should be considered different because all the types of martial arts are used as self-defense and not as a fighting style.

But Aikido is different from all those traditional martial arts because it is used as a fighting method. Let us tell you that Aikido is the most practiced martial art in the world, which is learned from small children to elders.

Most of the martial arts disciplines in Japan focus on strengthening the human being mentally and physically, discipline in martial arts, yoga, and mental understanding skills came from India and China, so martial arts are considered best in Japan.

It is very important in Aikido to understand how you keep your mind calm even with the sword in hand so that you do not attack anyone first.

8. Hapkido

It is taught in Hapkido by learning many parts of martial arts in order to defend oneself from any attacker’s attack.

Hapkido is a Korean martial art that focuses specifically on joint locks, throws, and kicking, it is considered quite different from martial arts Taekwondo because all the techniques are made for self-defense.

In other martial arts, the attacker is taught to attack and control him, but in Hapkido, the emphasis is on stopping the attacker’s attacks.

Hapkido is considered to be different from martial arts because in this the students are strengthened in one of the various forms of defense so that they can take steps to defend themselves and themselves with their skills.

Many attackers attack very quickly and many times we do not know how to defend ourselves by the time we figure out how to defend ourselves when it is too late, That’s why Hapkido emphasizes completely disabling any attack of the attacker and how to protect yourself from his attack.

Because of these qualities, Hapkido is popular all over the world and people use it to defend themselves.

The meaning of self-defense is understood by a person when a person is trapped in such a situation where no one else can help him even if he wants to, then the person does not fail to do everything possible to save himself, but if only self-defense or stopping the attacker does not help many times, sometimes the situation becomes so bad that questions arise on your life and death and you become obsessed with saving yourself at all costs and in this condition Hapkido will help you a lot.

Because in this, not only is it taught to stop the attacker, but it is also taught to attack with full force in the situation of life and death and to hurt the attacker badly.

When the questions of life and death start arising in a person’s head, then whether it is a human being or an animal, everyone fights wholeheartedly for his life because life is given once and we try our best to save it, so you should learn martial arts. There should be very good knowledge which keeps you and your family safe from any danger.

9. Krav Maga

There are many types of martial arts, including Krav Maga, it is a part of self-defense that was created by the Israel Defense Forces for the training of their military soldiers,

Krav Maga emphasizes hand-to-hand combat for self-defense. There is only one purpose for making any martial arts in the world, and that is to control the opponent in front and to protect oneself, in this Krav Maga there are also aggressive counter-attacks and fighting styles, which are used for self-defense and to protect the enemies.

Krav maga was designed in such a way that military soldiers have less time and they have to fight against enemies, that is why in krav maga hand to hands, kicks, punches, and elbows are rarely used for self-defense. Time can also be learned.

Krav Maga was created by Lmi Lichtenfeld, who fought against the Nazis so that Lichtenfeld and thousands of others could enter the then-developed new country of Israel and make a living, by the end of the war he taught thousands of soldiers Krav Maga and give training and today it has become an essential part of the Defense Force in Israel.

Krav Maga is hand-to-hand fighting martial arts but it can also be dangerous, there are some practices in Krav Maga that do not advance the martial arts sport and its tradition, therefore many practices of Krav Maga are considered illegal.

10. Mixed Martial Arts

As its name is mixed martial arts, it is made using different fighting styles and self-defense techniques of different forms of martial arts, it is a powerful form of all martial arts, which includes hand, foot, and all types of attacks.

The ability to perform is present which makes it more effective than any other traditional martial arts.

Mixed Martial Arts is known to be more of a sport than self-defense where one opponent tries to dominate the other using all the fighting styles of Mixed Martial Arts, Mixed Martial Arts has many fighting styles, and self Defense methods are used, however, during the game, the players use these to ground their opponent and may also use their own techniques different from the martial arts.

Modern-day mixed martial arts are considered an unknown version of ancient martial arts because they do not follow as many rules.

Hybrid martial arts and mixed martial arts are considered to be different from each other as hybrid martial arts are a combination of different disciplines and fighting styles while mixed martial arts are a mixed version of all types of martial arts in which anything is used to defeat the opponent.

There are five types of martial artists known as MMA(Mixed Martial Arts) Kenichi Shirahama, Ryuto Asamiya, Sho Kano, Kajima Satomi, and Isshinsai Ogata. These five players have developed their own fighting styles and different techniques during the game. Has done it and today is famous as MMA Fighter all over the world.

11. Tai Chi

Tai Chi was created in the 15th century by a retired warrior named Chen Wangting and who lived in Henan province of China, it is also a part of various forms of martial arts, although now people Tai Chi is only slow motion body exercise and know as Health and Meditation, this was not always the case, how time has changed, people have left behind its original form, with the help of Tai Chi, the attacker can be broken in one stroke and the fight can be stopped, but nowadays people are using it for some other reason.

Chen Wanging’s family still believes that in order to learn Tai Chi you have to go through a lot of pain and then become a Tai Chi warrior. In today’s time, martial artists describe Tai Chi as a soft art and for this reason, there are hardly any Tai Chi warriors left in the United States today, because people have completely forgotten its true form and people now see it as just soft art. Art is visible which gives benefits in meditation and health.

Although Tai Chi is really a slow-motion exercise, it is very effective and people started calling it a soft art without knowing its benefits. Tai Chi is taught at a slow pace so that the physical structure of the students can be developed properly because by learning at a slow pace, the body structure becomes strong like iron, which never happens in any other martial art.

The slower the process in martial arts, the more profound its effect on the body and society is considered to be, that’s why people don’t understand Tai chi because no one wants to spend that much time.

Many students take 10 to 20 years to learn Tai Chi, but they do not understand the secret of the inner mind, to know the secret of the inner mind, you have to concentrate on one place.

You feel so much power that you can never get from any other work. For this reason, there are very few students who study Tai Chi today because in this you have to calm the mind and concentrate, which sounds very easy to hear but is more difficult to do.

What are the benefits of Martial Arts?

Any kind of physical fitness in the world will always benefit you, physical fitness makes our body very strong and mental stress also reduces and our focus on work becomes even more.

Whether it is martial arts or boxing, you have to show a lot of agility in all these types of physical fitness, due to which our body also produces more energy, which makes our body parts stronger and we fall sick very less.

Now let us tell you about the benefits of doing martial arts, if you learn martial arts then it has only benefits because in this all the cells from your body to the brain work, and our body also gets energy.

As much as it is important to know about the types of martial arts, it is important to know about the benefits of martial arts, because whatever we are learning, we must know how it affects our body because it has 2 benefits.

Firstly, you start understanding your body better and secondly, you become capable of understanding your opponent’s weakness very well.

1. Mental Health

Mental health is definitely affected in any physical fitness, which can sometimes be fatal without knowledge, martial arts strengthen brain cells and you are more focused on achieving any work.

There are many types of martial arts that are designed with specific mental development in mind, Tai Chi being the best example. Martial arts not only improve your physical fitness but also instills confidence in you which helps you to stand out from the rest.

Even if we do not talk about fitness, martial arts can make our life easier because it teaches us self-defense techniques that can save us in any bad time.

2. Stress Relief

Martial arts are also very helpful in reducing physical and mental stress from our body, martial arts activate Endorphins in our body, this is a substance that reduces stress by activating inside the body and helps the body to function better.

If you remain confident and focused in anything, then you can get control over your mind and you can also get control over your thoughts, due to which you also understand the value of your time. A person who is mentally focused does not face any difficulty in taking many decisions in life.

3. Weight Loss

The biggest advantage of martial arts or any other type of physical fitness is that the excess fat present in the body is destroyed and the calories are also reduced which reduces the weight of the body.

Many people are very worried about their weight, they do a lot of diet plans but can never exercise and the person who never does physical exercise can never be fit because, martial arts or any kind of physical fitness, the whole body works, due to which calories are burnt a lot and the body starts working smoothly and the weight is reduced.

The number of calories and weight that can be reduced by martial arts cannot be done by any other physical fitness, in physical fitness you give 2 or 3 weeks but the same work is done in martial arts in a few days which makes the weight loss very fast.

It does not matter in martial arts whether you are male or female, no matter what age you are, you can easily reduce the stress and weight of life by learning martial arts.

4. Better Mood

Nowadays, our lifestyle has become so bad that we never feel relaxed or good, there is work pressure and family drama going on in every way, from which a person can never get out.

But in this martial arts can play an important role because we all want to wake up in the morning in a good mood and also want to sleep at night in a good mood. Martial arts training releases endorphins which bring positive energy to our body and it also calms our mind.

Endorphins are released during martial arts training and these can stay in the body for up to 4 hours after training, giving us a relaxed and good feel for a long time.

5. Reflex and Coordination

Be it from the coordination body or from our work, it is very important in every field. If we do not have any attachment towards martial arts or any work, then no matter how much someone tells us its benefits, we never do that because our mind is not able to coordinate towards martial arts.

There are many drills in martial arts that are specially designed for coordination, it makes our mind and body work better which is ultimately necessary for a better life. Even if we do not talk about martial arts, it is very important to do any kind of physical fitness, our body gets energy from physical fitness only.

Wrap-Up On Types Of Martial Arts

There are still many people in the world who consider only karate or boxing as martial arts and they still feel that martial arts are learned only for fighting or fighting or to hurt someone, so today It was necessary to know what are the types of martial arts because in Japan or China and United States, even today martial arts have to be learned in school or college and children are very fond of learning it, but there are many countries in Asia and Europe where martial Arts are seen only as fighting, in which the aim is to hurt someone.

As in today’s best post, we told you what are the types of martial arts and what are the benefits of martial arts, you must have got an idea today that how important it is in life.

Even today many people all over the world and children studying in many schools and colleges are not able to take the right decisions for their lives and many people take advantage of this and misuse children.

Children do not speak to anyone, but if once there is fear in their mind about something, then they cannot live their life properly and their trust is also broken with all people, but if your children or you yourself know martial arts well, then you can easily fight any big challenge for yourself and at the same time can be a shield of protection for others.

Someone has rightly said that when life and death dominate a person, then his mind can go to any extent to save himself, and for this reason, due to the wrong deeds being done with children and elders in today’s time, many schools are trained in martial arts, so that we can at least be able to protect ourselves.

There are many benefits of learning martial arts, however, as time progressed, as martial arts reached every corner of the world, many changes were also seen in it, although the curiosity to learn it never diminished, all the martial arts in the world to date have been made only for self-defense.

FAQ On Martial Arts