If you are here, it is probably because you are an adult and want to learn martial arts, congratulations, you already made an important step.
As interpreted by an outside viewer, the martial arts can seem like a sport that can be practiced by only young people who have strong power and energy to put on it, but in the most of the case is not like this.
One important criterion that must be taken into consideration by adults that want to start to practice martial arts is the level of energy and effort that they are planning to put into it.
I speak about effort and energy because as almost all the jobs or whatever thing you are planning to accomplish, it needs effort, and as probably you already know more energy you put on it more, you will receive from it.
As an adult, I can imagine that your daily job or probably your family will keep you busy, and you will arrive at the end of your days with the minimum of energy.
For that reason, it is essential to choose the best martial arts for your lifestyle, and that at the same time can improve yourself and your future days.
If you are an adult and wonder to start martial art, I can guarantee that this is not a bad idea.
It is not a bad idea for a series of the reason that are:
- Martial arts will reduce your stress
- Will improve your coordination
- Martial art improve your healthy state
- Improvement of body shape and weight loss
- improves focus
- Improve Reflex
And the list can continue for many and many others reason, but is not the case, because, in this article, I want to focus on giving you my advice about the best martial arts to learn for adults.
So let’s go:
Best Martial Arts For Adults
10-MMA
I consider MMA the last option, (but not for the popularity, because the mma is almost overake the boxing) but for the following reasons:
- It is not easy
- Require a lot of training
- Not immediate result
- Not many adults in the gym
It is not easy
The MMA stands for mixed martial arts, and as the name suggests, is a mix of different martial arts.
By the nature of the sport, MMA requires hard training and a lot of time, imagine to practice four different martial arts in one, For a person that is going to start, if not a young people, can find himself in difficulty due to the amount of training that he/she has to perform.
Require a lot of training
As we said before, the MMA is the composition of the four main martial arts: boxing, Ju-Jitsu, judo, wrestling ( these must consider the main ones, but in general, the MMA fighters may have a different background, as muay Thai, karate and so on).
I’m not excluding the possibility that an adult person can achieve good results in MMA. I am only considering that the average adult is full of job and busy with his family, and the amount of training can be an huge obstacle to overtake.
if you are thinking if MMA Fighters Lift Heavy Weights, it is a very smart question, in fact if you intention will be to train in mma you have to know that the fighter of mma lift weights to maintain the muscle growing.
Not immediate result
Due to the different martial arts involving it, the MMA can be a difficult objective to see result in a short period, and mostly if you do not practice this mma at least 5 days a week.
Not many adults in the gym
If you start to practice at MMA gym, you will see that the gym’s average age is 26 years old.
This age average can be a problem for you as an adult because, during the training, you will always have to train against young people with more energy, and it can be very frustrating and not so easy to do for an adult that spends hours and hours of work on his job.
For these main reasons, I inserted MMA as my last option for an adult who would like to learn martial arts.
9-Muay-thai
The muay-Thai is a thailandese martial art that has had a significant influence worldwide in the last decades.
The muay-Thai has also expanded thanks to the adaption as a unique modality for MMA fighters, which find this martial art a powerful weapon to utilize during their match.
If you are an adult, I have to discourage you from starting to learn muay Thai.
The muay Thai can be categorized as an brutal combat sport as the MMA, because it requires a specific type of preparation and a very strong body.
The young people who will approach his first day of training on muay Thai are recommended to do conditional training to arrive with a better preparation level before starting the Thai muay training.
People are usually fascinated by the types of muay thai punches, and also by the incredible power of the kicks that we saw being launched in videos or during competitions.
For an adult, the practice of muay Thai is not recommended, and probably you will also make some difficult to find a place that will accept a person over 50 years old.
They usually do not accept the adults person cause the hard training’s nature and the effort that your body must sustain.
The muay Thai gym doesn’t want any problem regarding his fighter’s health, mostly because they know the potentially dangerous impact that the muay Thai can bring, especially for an older person.
Don’t feel like old age can be an obstacle because there are many other martial arts you can practice and obtain excellent results.
8-Kickboxing
Some of you probably already heard about that name; the kickboxing is a popular martial art, especially in the USA, a young person and older person can practice it.
Kickboxing can be an excellent martial art for an adult if paragoned to the martial art that we saw before.
If you are an adult who has time to dedicate to the gym, you can reach a long period of time good results without destroying effort.
Kickboxing utilizes either punch and kicks, as the name suggests.
It is considered one of the most efficient martial arts for self-defense, and if you want to improve it you just need a punching bag for kickboxing and in no time you will start to see improvement from all the part of your body and person, as well as from your reflex.
There is more possibility that a gym specialized in kickboxing has a dedicated course for an adult person; of course, it will depend upon your city.
Have the practice of kickboxing a positive effect on an adult person?
Yes, kickboxing help to reduce stress, and at the same time, will help you to recover your body shape.
In the last years, the practice of kickboxing (light –kickboxing) is always more visible in all the gyms, where it is utilized at the end of the training, or also as a specific exercise to improve the cardio of the peoples.
Is kickboxing suitable for adults?
If you find an excellent kickboxing gym where they make kickboxing courses for adults, sign up; you will notice that the training you will do is not as hard as the others, but for what you need will be perfect.
Will not pass so much time from the early months of kickboxing where you will start to see a general improvement in all the aspects.
7- BOXING
I decide to insert on seven positions boxing, but it can be placed at the same level of kickboxing in reality.
Boxing is a legendary sport that had gained enormous fan numbers over the years all over the world.
If your dream was to become the new Muhammad Ali when you were young, and that dream was not possible, now it is time to make something that can bring you some gratitude.
Of course, considering your age, as an adult, you understand that becoming the new Ali is not possible, but you can start training on boxing without so much effort.
Boxing is a good fighting sport for an adult; it can be done at home, with some equipment and good instructions.
If you want to start at boxing, my advice is to find if, near your city, there is a gym where they make boxing course for adult check my 14 Tips for Beginners that Want to start Boxing.
And once you found a good boxing gym sign up and learn the basic technique, then you will evaluate if you have enough time to practice it and you like this new environment, continue to practice it; otherwise, you have learned a lot, and you can now utilize the technique at your home and when you will want.
6-karate
Karate is a deserving think to do if you are an adult and would like you to start a martial art.
I found many questions about the starting age and if an adult person can start karate.
Maybe this question is related to what people may think about that.
Usually, this is a martial art, where the parents sign-up their children ( in fact is part of my 7 best martial arts for kids: PROS & CONS) because they want to have more control and know the basics of self-defense.
But I can tell you that if you are an adult and want to start karate, you are most then welcome; karate can be practiced by any age, differently from the first three martial arts that we spoke about.
Karate is a soft martial art, but it will give you a lot if practiced with dedication and study.
If you are demotivated about the age, do not think about that; remember that age is only a number that can bring you serious obstacles in your life.
Start karate, and you will experience a significant improvement in your physical and mental aspect, you will improve self-control and reduce stress.
Karate is a good compromise between efficiency and difficulty; it is less efficient than other martial arts regarding self-defense but is more comfortable than the other martial arts described before.
5-WRESTLING
Wrestling is a popular martial art in the USA; it is estimated the total number of athletes that practice it is around 400.000 people.
But in these numbers, around 80% of young people who attend high school, people with an average age of 26-35, and a tiny almost not visible percentage of adults.
These numbers are primarily due to the effort and physical condition that wrestling requires.
It can be challenging to start wrestling at an advanced age because of the risks of injuring the back or micro fracture, and maybe you are also in doubt if is it your body type for wrestling?.
You don’t need to worry about your body type, just start it.
Anyway, in recent years, many adult people require the desire to start learning wrestling, and it is normal to find wrestling gyms that only train adult people.
If you are in an area where you can find a wrestling gym for adults, consider that you can sign-up, the only thing and the most important thing to take into consideration are the risks that you can encounter.
If you have some pain problem on the back or other types of pains, it is better to choose another martial art because the wrestling training or exercise can also bring you more pains if aligned for adults.
4-JUDO
Judo can be another possibility for an adult that wants to learn martial arts.
Judo is considered one of the most efficient self-defense martial arts, and for that reason, it covers number four of my top list of best martial arts for adults.
The primary purpose of judo is to throw or take down the opponent to the ground.
As an adult, if you want to start to learn judo, you have to consider it.
You have to think about yourself and your body and imagine if you can make this martial art or not.
To help you decide if judo is for you or not, you can go to a judo gym and ask if you can assist in some training section of the adult course.
If yuo are thinking Is Judo Good For Self Defense ? for sure you will have the answering on the video or during the pratice of it.
Before making this step, I recommend speaking with your doctor and evaluating if your body and your actual health state is enough to start judo.
If you cannot assist at some judo lesson for some reason, you can always watch some YouTube videos.
It is essential to watch in the presence or some video to have some ideas about what Is judo, what you will learn, and most importantly, make some self-evaluation if it is the case to start or not.
If you are in doubt about finding a judo gym on your country read : Where Judo Is The Most Popular In The World?
My final through about judo for adults is that;
I recommend it for an adult with age around 43 until 55, if the gym makes adult lesson, train with people at the same age, and not make too much under stress your body.
3-JU JITSU
Finally, we arrive in my top 3 of the best martial arts for adults.
On the third place of my ranking, you find the jiu jitsu.
Jiu jitsu is a martial art where the main goal is to control your opponent on the ground; it is based on the principle to control the position while you are on the ground and finalize your opponent with submission.
Ju jitsu is considered one of the essential skills that MMA fighters have to own. His efficiency on the ground is mostly used to finalize the opponents with spectacular submissions.
I consider it one of my favorite martial arts for adults. But before starting bjj there are some things that you should know
As his principle suggests: It wants to be shown that smaller and weaker persons can succeed during a fight, using the proper distribution of force and weight and using the submissions.
Jujitsu has also been named the chess of martial arts because it needs tactics and a necessary thinking process to win a fight.
Training jiu-jitsu for adults
The training on jujitsu is focused, as said before, on your opponents’ ground control and on taking advantage of it.
As an adult that is going to start Ju Jitsu you will not find any differences with people of other age, because as we saw before, the main goal of jiu jitsu is to demonstrate that a weaker person can beat a strong and more powerful person if he/she use the correct technique as the many types of bjj choke avaible on that martial art.
Is ju jitsu a good martial art for an adult?
Yes, absolutely yes, jujitsu is very one of my favorite martial because it involves a lot of tactics, and strategy during the training section, and fight against the opponents, other benefits that the jiu jitsu bring to adults, is that it will improve either mental than physical condition.
If you want clearer ideas about these two latest martial arts you can take a look : What is the Difference Between Jiu-Jitsu and Judo?
2-AIKIDO
The second position on my list is the aikido.
The aikido is a modern Japanese martial art that has gained a lot of influence in the last years.
The point of strength of these martial art is their simplicity and tactics for self-defense.
I decide to insert the aikido as the second position for the best martial arts for an adult for some reason:
- Simplicity
- Efficiency
- Disponibility
Simplicity
The aikido can be Described as a simple martial art, it not require an impressive training or a perfect body shape, to make it well, for that reason many adults if not the major part of the gym of aikido, you will find person more older respect to others martial arts saw before.
Efficiency
The efficiency is another point in the favor of the aikido. Thanks to his technique developed during the years, they have resulted very efficiently during street fight or self-defense situations.
Disponibility
Due to his growing popularity the aikido is become a suitable martial arts, in the almost all the city all over the word.
Others considerations on the aikido
The aikido is a martial art that will make you feel good; you will find an excellent environment in general due to the participants’ average age.
If you decide to learn aikido, make sure that a coach is a qualified person by reading some gym review or assisting at the same lesson.
On the other hand there are some considerations to be made about aikido, such as for example Why is Aikido not used in MMA?
1-JEET Kune DO
First position for the jeet Kune do.
The jeet Kune doo is an amazing martial art; it was created by Bruce Lee, with the purpose to obtain a complete martial art for self-defense.
I consider the jeet Kune doo the best martial arts for adults because it is one of the most efficient martial arts in self-defense.
After an essential injury on his back, Bruce lee had created the jeet Kune doo when he was constrained to remain at home.
During that time, bruce lee studied all the martial arts, like boxing, judo, ju jitsu, and taking the most essential and efficient technique and creating the jeet Kune doo.
Bruce Lee has studied every aspect of self-defense, starting from position, stability, power, velocity, and integrating other sports as the fencing for improving fighters’ position, and velocity.
The training at a jeet Kune doo gym is not so hard; it is focused on the improvements of body shape, but most important in a few techniques but done in the best manner.
As one of the quotes of bruce lee mention,
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
The principle of jeet Kune do to train the essential punch kicks and submissions and then practice it in the best manner possible.
A final consideration on jeet Kune doo for adults
If you have the luck to stay near a gym where there is a jeet Kune doo gym, take it as primarily consideration respect to the other martial arts.
On the jeet Kune doo gyms you will find differents course divide by age, in the manner that the training is equal and you feel more comfortable training on it.
The jeet Kune doo is the best martial arts for self-defense, you will find enormous benefit on practice it, and you will be fascinated by the progress and efficiency that can bring to you.
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CONCLUSION
We arrive at the end of this article, where I made my rank for adults’ best martial arts.
For me, the best martial arts that you have to choose is the jeet kune doo, as you probably saw on the list.
The jeet Kune doo is the best choice for an adult because the training is not hard, the efficiency is at the maximum level, and you will find a different course for age, and much more.
If you have the possibility of a jeet Kune doo gym, go now and sign up, you will thank me in the future.