Wrestling has been around for an estimated 15,000 years, and throughout its longevity, it has remained a top combat sport. Given its popularity, many fans wonder how it measures up to other forms of martial arts.
Is Wrestling the Best Martial Art?
Wrestling is the best martial art. The level of technique in wrestling translates well to any other type of martial art, and it is highly recommended for those seeking careers in mixed martial arts.
There are minor details that set wrestling apart from other martial arts and make it stand out as the superior style. Let’s look a little more closely at those reasons.
Why Is Wrestling the Best Martial Art?
Wrestling is the best martial art because it translates so effortlessly to any other martial art. It teaches the true foundations of fighting, and it helps with a lot of the mental aspects that go into fighting.
Whether it’s a career in MMA or another discipline, wrestling has been proven to get athletes ready for just about any combat sport. Let’s take a closer look at why this is the case.
Wrestling Provides Effortless Transitioning to Other Disciplines
Wrestling takedowns are the most effective way of bringing an opponent to the mat, which is a huge part of learning to fight in MMA. Others may train for years to learn single or double leg takedowns, but wrestlers learn these moves early on.
Many well-known MMA fighters have a history in wrestling and claimed that it made their MMA journey easier. Some of the most well-known and successful MMA fighters come from wrestling backgrounds, including Brock Lesnar, Daniel Cormier, and Chuck Liddell.
Wrestling Teaches the True Foundations of Fighting
Fast-paced takedowns are an important part of any martial arts style, and wrestling teaches competitors how to do it effectively and quickly. That quickness can get you far in any martial arts style while coming in handy for self-defense as well.
An important part of any fighting style is being light on your feet and ready for anything. Wrestling focuses heavily on these aspects, including teaching wrestlers to be quick and make their moves count.
Wrestling also helps teach the art of escape and not leaving yourself vulnerable, which is one of the most important parts of self-defense. Wrestling focuses on reading your opponent and understanding that vulnerability can cost you.
Mental Aspects of Attack and Defense Are Taught in Wrestling
There is much more to fighting than just knowing amazing moves. Wrestling teaches many mental aspects like watching your opponent carefully and reading their body language to attempt to predict their next move.
Reading body language is a great trait to have in all fighting and many aspects of life. In a stressful situation, overthinking can cost you time and even your life.
Wrestling teaches a mental toughness that can carry over into other parts of your life.
Is Wrestling Better than BJJ?
Wrestling is better than Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) in a few different aspects. Wrestling focuses on conditioning, strength, and cardio, while Jiu-Jitsu focuses on slowing down and guarding. Wrestling focuses more on takedowns and moves that can translate better to self-defense.
Cardio in wrestling is much more intense than other martial art disciplines.
Most of the wrestling training is making sure that a wrestler is well conditioned and in good cardio shape. While Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a good form of exercise, wrestling is much better for making sure you are fit.
Compared to BJJ, wrestling is more fast-paced. Much of Jiu-Jitsu concerns fighting to submit to your opponent, which means that much of the fight is spent trying to find a way out of submissions.
Wrestling is different.
While submissions can get you a win, you can pin your opponent as well. So, many wrestlers spend their time trying to get the upper hand with quick, explosive movements.
Takedowns are another part of wrestling that adds to its superiority.
Learning how to properly do a takedown can translate very well to self-defense and real-world fighting. Wrestling teaches many life-saving techniques that can get you out of real trouble, while BJJ focuses more on submitting someone else.
Is Wrestling Better than Karate?
When it comes to martial arts, wrestling is better than karate for many reasons. While karate focuses on the self, wrestling teaches valuable contact and self-defense lessons that you don’t get from karate.
Karate is a combat sport, but that’s not all it’s good for.
A large part of karate training is learning to become more emotionally healthy and channeling emotions through physicality. Although that is helpful to many people, channeling emotions into moves is not vital for survival, nor does it translate well to other disciplines.
Also, Karate does not translate well to self-defense, especially if you are at a disadvantage with strength or height, because it teaches offensive kicking and punching rather than tackling or weight shifting.
While this can be useful in certain situations, you will need to be quite strong to hit someone hard enough to knock them unconscious or get to safety.
Wrestling tends to focus on takedowns and getting the upper hand in any combat situation, as well as a lot of conditioning. While karate will certainly help you build muscles, the main focus is your mind rather than your body.
This can be useful for your emotional health, but wrestling will prepare you more for combat situations.
Is Wrestling Better than Boxing?
While wrestling and boxing are similar in many ways, wrestling is better than boxing. Like wrestling, boxing can help with self-defense and transfer to many other disciplines easily, but wrestling still provides the most cardio, discipline, and all-around best use of the entire body to fight.
Because boxing focuses on hits and quick movements, it is a good way to learn self-defense.
Wrestling is still better for self-defense because the kicks and fast takedowns can hinder someone quickly without risking much harm to you.
Boxing doesn’t provide the all-around workout that wrestling does. Sure, it can make you strong, but it doesn’t translate directly to cardio and body conditioning. Boxers tend to be in great shape, but wrestlers are notoriously in better shape because of their demanding discipline.
Overall, wrestling is the best martial art. Not only does it translate better to each discipline, but it also teaches a lot of helpful self-defense techniques. While every discipline is worthwhile, wrestling is the best for all-around training and physicality.
Interested in Wrestling? Check Out My Recommendations
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