Martial arts are systems of codified practices and traditions of training for combat. Today, martial arts are studied for various reasons including combat skills, sport, fitness, defense, self-cultivation, mental discipline, and building self-confidence.

Today, martial arts are studied for various reasons including combat skills, fitness, self-defense, sport, self-cultivation (meditation), mental discipline, character development and building self-confidence.

Worldwide there is a great diversity of martial arts. Broadly speaking, martial arts share a common goal: to defeat a person physically or to defend oneself from physical threat. In many martial arts, training goes beyond fighting to include personal, mental, and spiritual development.

A practitioner of martial arts is referred to as a martial artist.

The native peoples of North America had their own martial training which started at childhood. Many Native American men considered themselves warriors and trained to use the bows, knives, blowguns, spears, and warclubs.

Capoeira, with roots in Africa, is a martial art originating in Brazil that involves a high degree of flexibility and endurance. It consists of kicks and sweeps, although modern Capoeira has incorporated punches and arm strikes.

Each martial art has its own history and goals.

Taekwondo is a modern Korean martial sport, with literal meaning “the way of the hand and foot”. Along with Judo, one of only two Asian martial arts to make it into the Olympic Games.