How young can a person be to start Martial Arts?

Question

How young can a person be to start Martial Arts?

Answer 1

Probably as soon as they can walk and talk. Even though most children don't know exactly what their doing at that age, it will help them a lot in the future.

Answer 2

55 lbs. (normally at least 6 1/2) for Mixed Martial Arts, so maybe slightly younger for wrestling, boxing, karate. I think it's probably good to only learn one or two disciplines until they are seven. Karate and Judo seem most kid oriented and have great character building qualities and start a solid platform for self defense and discipline. MMA is very challenging and complex and requires  physical conditioning so I would wait to see success and interest in one martial art before introducing others, especially MMA.

Answer 3

well, i had a friend that started Martial arts when he was 4. And now hes almost to a black belt in karate. the sooner u start..the faster and easier its going to be, no matter what martial art.

Answer 4

If you are in Junior High or High School you can start by joining the wrestling team.  In addition to joining the wrestling team you can start training in like boxing as well.  Many kids start wrestling as early as 5 years old, I started at 12, but at 14 my pre-army training started, so wrestling took a back seat.

If you don''t have the money to start at a martial arts school there may be some programs offered through local continuing education or the Police Athletic League in your area, most PAL's teach boxing.

The city I live in has a Judo club that meets 3 times a week and charges $30 a month, it is a program, given at a city facility, your city or town may have something similar.

There are many ways to start, wrestling is a good start and it's free.  In my city we have Karate at the YMCA, Boxing at the PAL and one other place (I forget).  For many years our YMCA had both Jiu Jitsu and Karate  until the Jiu Jitsu instructor passed on from  this mortal coil.

Find out what is available and make your choices from there, don't just knee jerk to a martial arts school, explore all the alternatives.  Wrestling is a good base as is boxing, even if money isn't an issue.

Answer 5

Any age, the better martial arts (those that deal with defending from attackers with weapons and those that are more effective in real life situations) will require the student to be a certain age, usually between 16 and 18.

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EDIT

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Be aware that there are martial arts out there that are useless in terms of real life situations and basically just a sport eg. Tae Kwon Do, because of its emphasis on high kicks it leaves the user very open to attacks to the groin and inner thighs which are very tender areas.

Answer 6

I have taught children as young as age 5. The classes have to be no longer than 30 minutes because at this age they loose interest very quickly and start getting distracted or whiney.For some reason, girls have more self discipline than the boys at this age. I don't expect too much of them at this age, just that they listen and try to do their best.

Answer 7

At my club, you can start when you are 5 years old. You can't get insurance before that age without paying a lot of money.

Answer 8

Well it depends how early you would like them to start :)

In Martial Arts you can start as young as 5 years old and all the way up to 100 years old.  Just remember its NEVER to late to start something new, just go for it :)

Answer 9

I feel that as soon as a child can walk, he or she can begin to be trained in the basics of martial arts. Even though the chlid does not know right off the bat what he is being taught, muscle memory is being created. Understanding will come in time. I have a son on the way, and look foward to being his first instructor in self defense, as my father was to me.