The link between martial arts and fitness
Many martial arts schools claim that studying their art is a great way to get fit, lose weight, and improve health. In reality, however, the relationship between martial arts and fitness/health is a little more complicated.
Using the martial arts to get fit and healthy
To be perfectly blunt, if you're a fat slob whose main exercise for the past year or 10 has been opening a bag of chips while operating a TV remote control, then yes, starting a martial art will probably get you much more fit than you are now. But so would any number of other physical activities, such as taking long walks, joining a health club, yoga, hiking, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Of course, as with beginning any other physical regimen, if you're that out of shape, see a doctor first, and take it easy in the beginning.
I firmly believe that physical activity is always a good thing, and going to karate class three times a week is better than sitting in front of the idiot box every night after you come home from a desk job. But the fact of the matter is that a martial-arts class is designed to teach you techniques, strategies, and their applications. Now, it's true that at some ethically sketchy schools, students - even the senior ones - end up doing calisthenics during 80 percent of the class. They'll get into decent shape that way, but they won't really be learning a martial art. (Side note: Schools like this structure their classes this way in order to slow their students' progress in the actual art; this way, students will be forced to attend a greater number of classes to achieve skill and the teacher can milk his students for more money. In some cases, teachers train their students this way simply because they don't have very much to teach, and need to hide this fact by exhausting the students so much that they don't have the energy to learn. A good teacher will simply tell you that he expects you to exercise and get in shape on your own time.)
At a decent school, most students spend their class time slowly learning techniques, then increasing their speed. They do reflex and coordination drills, and finally, they do maybe 10 minutes or so of sparring. From a fitness standpoint, even if you're studying an art that is very physical (boxing, grappling, or some kickboxing style, for instance), 10 minutes is not very much actual exercise time. In cases like these, while you need to be extremely fit in order to excel, simply going to class is probably not going to get you into that kind of shape. (And if you're doing a soft, internal art such as Taijiquan or Aikido - forget about it. After the first few months of training, you'll be able to go through class without breaking a sweat or even breathing hard.)
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