Use these 4 tips to improve your matches!

It's not about being big.

The old phrase "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" can be true in martial arts. Sports like jiujitsu are often built around the premise that your opponent's weight and momentum can quickly be turned on them. That's why it's not always about being the bigger or stronger one, but the one who can utilize leverage and martial arts principles.

Understand that winning a sparring match isn't about being big or small, it's about having the stronger presence of mind. Your beliefs and skills will be more important than your body weight; the more advanced your skills, the more you'll be able to maximize your own.

Enhance your strikes.

Putting the force of your body weight behind your strikes will add more power to your moves, catching your sparring opponent off-guard and letting them know you're not to be trifled with. An amateur will punch with his hand - a professional will punch from his shoulder. You will seem to gain strength and power out of nowhere if you can properly leverage your body weight.

Take advantage of your opponent's weight.

Taking advantage of your knowledge of body weight means you should be able to use that knowledge on your opponent. For example, you can grab their hand, but it's more powerful to grab the area that controls more weight - the wrist. The more control you have over your opponent's weight, the less power they'll be able to muster to fight back. It's important to understand how to use your own weight so that you know how to keep an opponent off balance.

Staying grounded.

When defending, it's important that you don't lose your cool and forget to keep balanced and grounded. It's much harder to attack someone who has strong footing than someone who is distracted and off their guard. Try to stay balanced as much as possible - oftentimes the person with the best balance wins the sparring match.

Photo Credits: parhessiastes

Originally posted 2009-08-19 03:09:31.

Make Martial Arts your Hobby.

Martial arts definitely fit the mold of this type of hobby, but simply saying that you take up "martial arts" doesn't tell you enough. So let's take a look at the different aspects of martial arts, in addition to the different styles and disciplines the martial arts contain, and we'll see if martial arts is the ideal hobby for you.

Getting out of the house - for some people, having an excuse simply to break up the monotony of the Wednesday blues is a good enough reason to take a once-a-week martial arts class. Whether you're taking kickboxing, karate, or mixed martial arts lesson, getting out of the house and meeting other like-minded, active people is a great way to add some flavor to your week. For other people, taking up martial arts is not reason enough to go out of your way, which is why you'll want to find a discipline that actually appeals to you.

Getting in shape - if you're a little more intense about the kind of experience you want to have, and even want to lose weight and tone up, then more martial arts lessons should be on the menu. Involved sports like boxing can be quite the workout and will work muscles you didn't know you had. The best part? The more often you engage in your hobby and solidify your skills, the better in shape you'll be. What you get out of it is what you'll put into it, so if you want to get out of the house and get in shape, martial arts is a great way to do it.

Plus, when you have that "martial arts" body, you'll be glad to tell them all about your fun hobby when you're on a first date.

Adding discipline to your life - if nothing else, martial arts help you to have discipline in your life. It's easy to get out the XBox and load up a game of Madden NFL, but if you really want to have discipline with your hobbies, it helps to go somewhere, meet someone who will teach you the new discipline, and do these things on a regular basis. Does martial arts fit the bill?

What do you think?

Photo Credits: UNC - CFC - USFK

Originally posted 2009-11-24 03:08:03.