Nashville Martial Arts Lessons: A Guide
Martial arts classes can help you build strength and stamina, improve your flexibility and coordination, and give you the confidence to defend yourself in all kinds of situations. Nashville has grown a lot recently, so there are many different styles to choose from now.
But before choosing a martial arts studio, it's important to ask yourself: "Why do I want to study this in the first place?"
Maybe you're looking for a new hobby, or you want to get in shape and learn self-defense. Maybe you have kids who are interested, and you want to support their development with excellent physical training and mindset coaching. Or perhaps you're a law enforcement professional or in the military, and are looking for professional development and ongoing training to keep your skills sharp and fresh.
There's 7 broad categories that different schools offering martial arts classes in Nashville will tend to focus on:
Self Defense
Family Focused
Sport Based
Law Enforcement and Military
Fitness
Personal Development
Spirituality
Why Look At All These types of Martial Arts schools?
Simple: getting clarity on what you're looking for will help you pick the right option from the different martial arts schools available. We put this guide together to help you decide what kind of martial arts classes make the most sense for you.
Martial Arts for Self Defense
If you're looking to learn how to defend yourself, then you'll want to look for a martial arts school that specializes in it. Classes are designed to teach you how to identify potential threats and how to respond to them effectively. You'll learn practical skills that you can use in real-world situations. Hopefully you'll never have to use them but as the saying goes, "it's better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war."
Self defense classes typically cover defensive techniques like deflection, escaping and evading grabs and strikes, counter-striking, kicking, joint locks, sweeps, throws, ground work, finishing moves, and defenses against different kinds of weapons. But the training goes a bit deeper, and you will also learn how to use your body and mind in the most effective way possible, including gaining the confidence to carry yourself differently and avoid fights altogether. Hapkido is an excellent system for this.
What about Women's Self Defense CLASS?
It's a sad reality that most attackers and criminals happen to be men and most victims happen to be women. In a world that isn't fair, it's crucial to give women every advantage possible so that if they find themselves in a bad situation, they can defend themselves and get away from the threat as quickly as possible. That's why we focus on key techniques in the Executive Martial Arts Women's Class: taking down larger attackers with sweeps and throws, breaking out of different holds and grabs, deflections, joint locks, special strikes and kicks, situational awareness, and a variety of other techniques that give women the upper hand in unexpected ways.
Family Focused Martial Arts
This type of training is geared towards getting the whole family involved. As we like to say, "a family that trains together, stays together". This can be a great way to bond with your kids and teach them discipline, focus, and respect.
Many Nashville martial arts schools have programs for different age groups, so that everyone can learn and grow together. Taekwondo and Karate as well as MMA schools that offer after-school programs are good examples of these kinds of schools, but it's also quite possible to teach kids Hapkido as young as 4 and 5 years old.
At Executive Martial Arts, we teach a very practical and down to earth style of Hapkido in our Kid's Class. We are squarely focused on developing each child into a confident, strong, well coordinated individual who understands the importance of focus, discipline and respect, and the school runs in a very traditional, old school format.
As a result of focusing on quality first, we have a 25+ year track record of producing some of Nashville's most excellent, highly trained students, many of whom started as children learning in a very traditional environment.
Can Families Train Together?
When the parents train at the same martial arts school as the kids, it becomes possible to work with the whole family to support everyone's development so that they can reach their fullest potential, both ion the mat and in life. Some schools offer this kind of integrated training and others don't, so it's best to ask each school directly about what they offer. At Executive Martial Arts, we have families who come in together for private lessons, but our public classes are separated into Kid's Class, Open Class, and Women's Class, for age and situation appropriate general instruction.
Sport Based Martial Arts
Martial arts is a great way to improve your fitness and flexibility, while also learning self-defense skills. Sports martial arts can also be a great way to develop balance, coordination, and explosive power - all of which are essential for success in many sports, not just mixed martial arts or Ju Jitsu, Muay Thai, or Kickboxing. There are many sport-based martial arts schools in the Nashville area, and many excellent schools for those who love sparring and competitions.
Can Martial Arts studios Help With Other Sports?
Yes, absolutely! Traditional martial arts helps to increase mental focus and discipline at the same time that it conditions the body to instantly recall precise movements under pressure. These are key components of success for any athlete, in many sports besides mixed martial arts. For one example among many, NFL legend Eddie George trains in traditional Swordsmanship and Hapkido, at Executive Martial Arts. The lessons of hard training on the mat directly apply to all sports, not just sport fighting.
Martial Arts Training for Law Enforcement and Military
Hapkido training is becoming increasingly popular for professional law enforcement and military personnel. The benefits of old school training go beyond simply learning how to defend oneself; it helps individuals to further develop their military discipline, increase their ability to focus in high threat situations, and improve their teamwork skills, all of which can make the difference between life and death in high threat environments. Some martial arts schools specialize in this kind of training, but it’s often taught privately.
Training in this way can also help to improve one's cardiovascular health and increase strength and endurance. For the Nashville based law enforcement and military personnel that train with us, and who are required to be in good physical shape to do their jobs, martial arts provides a valuable and highly relevant workout.
More traditional and ancient aspects of the training, such as meditations and work with traditional weapons systems, can also help individuals to develop a sense of self-confidence and inner calm that can be useful in difficult situations as well as special techniques that transfer to more modern scenarios.
Can This Count Towards Professional Career Development?
As more professionals recognize the benefits of martial arts lessons, more people are asking about this as part of their career development. That's why Executive Martial Arts offers special discounts for LEO and military members. To apply for this status, click HERE and fill out the form.
Martial Arts for Fitness
Martial arts can be a great way to mix up your workout while learning self-defense at the same time. Many Nashville martial arts schools offer cardio kickboxing and other fitness-based classes that will help you get in shape and stay fit. Each school tends to have its own particular conditioning exercises and routines, designed to strengthen and support the students as they go through the curriculum and acquire new skill sets that often require physical abilities that have to be learned first.
For example, in Aikido and Hapkido, rolling, flipping, and falling correctly is core to practicing and mastering techniques with partners, and mixed martial arts has a lot of cardio in it. There are also very particular plyometric exercises and kicking drills in traditional old school Hapkido that create power in the core and in the legs. This power transfers directly into highly leveraged joint locks, sweeps, and throws. The effect of all this work is that the student becomes much stronger in specific areas of their body in ways that they would not normally develop with standard cardio or strength training.
Does Martial Arts Replace the Gym?
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: It's really best to do both, but the more one progresses in a martial arts school, the easier it will be to make progress working out at the gym, and vice versa. But remember: if something starts to feel too easy, that's a clear sign that it's time to push harder, go for longer, increase the resistance or weights, and check in with your teacher on your progress to make adjustments that continue to challenge you so you never rest on your laurels.
Martial Arts for Personal Development
Martial arts is often only seen as a way to develop physical skills and strength. However, martial arts can also be a powerful tool for personal development. The discipline of martial arts helps to instill values such as respect, self-control, perseverance, confidence, and self-esteem.
Martial artists learn to set goals and work hard to achieve them. They also learn to control their emotions and stay calm in the face of adversity. As a result, martial arts can be a highly effective way to promote personal growth and development side by side with physical techniques and skill sets.
The Martial Arts Mindset
Martial arts is not only about techniques and forms, but also about developing the correct mindset. This means that students must be disciplined and focused in their training, as well as respectful of their instructors and fellow students.
Martial arts can trace its origins back to ancient lineages, which means that there is a great deal of history and tradition associated with the art. This can make it difficult for new students to understand all of the different concepts and principles involved. However, once they have mastered the basics, they will find that martial arts can be an extremely rewarding experience. Traditional martial arts schools in Nashville that teach Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Hapkido, Kumdo, Kendo, and Aikido, are all excellent options for integrating personal development into martial arts.
Martial Arts for Spiritual Growth
Some martial arts are less concerned with fighting and more concerned with spiritual outcomes. Even though they normally base this on practical techniques, the ideal outcome is not always "destroying" an opponent, or winning a fight, but instead, creating harmony and balance by neutralizing an attack with superior technique and then making the choice to subdue the attacker with the least amount of damage possible.
It goes further than what happens physically. In this type of training, the very concept of an attacker and a defender becomes a metaphor for life, in which the active and passive energies of interpersonal relationships and of Nature itself are represented by the movements on the mat.
The most successful outcome of this kind of training is a form of spiritual enlightenment, which is usually tied in to a spiritual tradition or path that goes hand and hand with the Art. Aikido and Hapkido are well known examples of this.
Picking The Best Martial Arts School IN NASHVILLE, TN
As we've discovered, martial arts is a great way to get in shape, learn self-defense, and develop discipline and focus. There are 7 broad categories to choose from, so you can find the one that best suits your needs.
Some schools bundle these categories, and offer more than just one "lane" to work in. If you're looking for a school that's truly comprehensive, with highly personalized instruction and a convenient location just 10 minutes from downtown Nashville, click HERE to book a complimentary trial lesson at Executive Martial Arts.
At Executive Martial Arts, we teach a self-defense focused curriculum that has a world class combination of traditional lineages. This core foundation is taught to our Kid's Class, Women's Class, and Open Class, but we also offer personalized private instruction covering Kendo / Kumdo, military combatives for law enforcement personnel, and courses in special weapons systems and tactics applicable to all levels of the military and law enforcement.
The effect of having access to this level of training is felt by every student in their personal development, when they commit, show up, stick with it, and internalize the teachings.
If that's what you're looking for, you've found the right place for world class training and we look forward to seeing you on the mat!
