Combat Sports, or Martial Arts, are a broad group of sports that focus on the use of fighting techniques to defeat an opponent in a formal competition setting. Although the underlying fighting skills are similar across modalities, specific rules and conditions are created to minimize permanent or fatal physical damage for all participants.
These rules include matching athletes by height and weight to create a level playing field, and by creating categories such as age or gender to remove dimorphic disparities in physique [1, 2].
In addition to these governing rules, most of the individual sport modalities within the Combat Sports category have their own set of unique techniques and philosophies. Examples of these modalities include boxing (the “Sweet Science” of punching), Muay Thai (“The Art of Eight Limbs”), judo (which emphasizes throwing and grappling techniques) and wrestling (a cornerstone of modern MMA and Olympic competition).
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Athletes in these sports train very hard, often training multiple times a day, with the goal of being in top physical condition for competitions. Athletes also spend much time training in sparring sessions where they practice fighting techniques against fellow athletes. These factors make these sports very arduous, both physically and psychologically. However, a number of studies have demonstrated that children who engage in structured combat sports (such as judo and karate) have superior locomotor and manipulative skill as well as improved gross motor proficiency when compared to those who do not participate in these activities.
