What are the Major Martial Arts Styles?

by John Graden | Jan 22, 2023 | Martial Arts Children, Martial Arts for Children, martial arts schools, Program Pages

What’s the Best Martial Arts Style?

A style-based school typically says that in the title. Taekwondo, wing chung, kung fu, aikido, Shotokan. Okinawan, karate etc… There are a ton of different styles. What Are the Four Major Martial Arts Styles? And all these styles were developed in pretty much the four major Asian countries China, Japan, Okinawa, and Korea.

They all have their specialties. For instance, Koreans, tae kwon do is focused on kicking. Okinawan karate is typically a block and counter system while a Japanese style, like Shotokan, is straightforward and linear. From China, we get Kung Fu which is typically very circular and smooth. These systems were created in Asia decades, if not 100 years ago.

Who Created the Martial Arts Styles?

We don’t really know exactly who created each style. In many cases, often it was a scholar that had no experience or credentials in dealing with violent people on a daily basis like law enforcement.

When you join a traditional style-based school, you’re introduced to all of the legend and lore that go with it, so it’s exciting. You get indoctrinated into that style’s, traditional techniques, and in almost every case, they’re the exact opposite of what a student-centered school would teach.

The reason it takes so long to earn a black belt in a traditional school is that the curriculum is just so padded with complexity. That’s a style-centered school.

The Modern Approach to Learning Martial Arts

In contrast, a student-centered school takes the best of all the styles and brings them together to fit the student.

We’ve adapted the martial arts now, and now we’re, we’re molding it and calibrating it to the body size, the mental state, the maturity, physically and mentally, emotionally of the student so that they can get the most out of the martial arts fast.

We call it Empower Kickboxing, the martial art that you can master faster. And it’s true.

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What Is The Difference Between What We Teach And Krav Maga?

by John Graden | Dec 4, 2022 | Self-Defense

Orlando, FL–At Unity Martial Arts in Orlando, we teach COBRA Self-Defense and Krav Maga. Many people ask us “What’s the difference between krav maga and COBRA-Self-Defense?”

COBRA Self-Defense and Krav Maga Compared

COBRA Self-Defense and Krav Maga are viewed by many as the top of the self-defense training list, which is why this question comes up so often.

Either one can serve you well provided the instructors are highly trained and qualified, but there are some differences.

It’s helpful to understand that the words, “krav maga” translate to “contact combat” in Hebrew. So, any contact combat system can be described as Krav Maga.

Generally speaking, Krav Maga evolved from the 1950s as a system developed for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). There are distinctions between COBRA and Krav but for the average person, it boils down to this: Police officers physically engage criminals on a daily basis.

This means what works and what doesn’t work gets filtered through in real-time.

Our self-defense system is called, COBRA-Self-Defense. COBRA was developed from real-life Law Enforcement training and field experience. COBRA Self-Defense was created in 2002 by Chris Sutton. He literally created the system in his squad car between calls while simultaneously working as a full-time Police Officer and martial arts school owner.

Law Enforcement agencies continually enhance their skills and training based on what is most effective in real-world situations against criminals of all types.

COBRA Self-Defense continually upgrades and enhances its curriculum by attending and participating in Law Enforcement field training events such as active shooter response plans and on-duty patrol activities