Which martial art is the quickest and easiest to learn?

If you’re reading this, then the chances are you’re wanting to learn an effective martial art…and fast. In this case, you’ve come to the right place and here is a guide on what is the quickest and easiest martial art to learn. Imagine you have 3-6 months to try and learn as much as possible before a fight, or for self defense. This is why you’re here.

One thing that should be noted is that just because certain martial arts are easier to learn than others, it doesn’t make them any less valuable. Similarly, there’s a big difference between learning a martial art and mastering one. As we shall prove, anyone can learn the basics of a martial art, but to become truly proficient in one you have to put the time in which takes years and lots of consistent training.

With this said, there are certain martial arts that are quicker to learn compared to others. Perhaps the best example of a quick and effective martial art to learn is boxing. Yes, boxing has been around for centuries and for good reason. Unlike certain other martial arts, boxing has stood the test of time and is still as effective today as it ever has been. Of course, you’ll still have to put the work in but here’s why learning boxing can be quick and relatively easy to learn.

Boxing is natural compared to other martial arts

If ever you’ve trained something like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or Judo, then a lot of the movements may feel counterintuitive. Typically, you’ll need to spend a lot of time learning these moves which is possibly why the drop out rate is so high in these two martial arts. This means that the first 3-6 months in these arts can feel like you’re not progressing at all. This differs significantly to boxing which doesn’t really use unnatural movements and you won’t have to do any weird warm ups which use unusual body parts that you’re not used to activating.

In this sense, boxing can feel natural. In short, humans have been boxing since the beginning of time, but they haven’t been doing certain other martial arts (at least effectively) until quite recently. This is possibly the reason to why boxing can feel so natural for beginners. Therefore, you may learn things quicker in the earlier days of boxing compared to the earlier days of other martial arts. This not only improves your technique in a short amount of time but makes you more likely to stick around.

Boxing doesn’t require flexibility or athleticism

Similar to learning bizarre, dynamic movements in other martial arts – boxing techniques don’t require anything crazy in terms of flexibility or athleticism. For example, you won’t need to learn a spinning kick that takes years to do and needs great flexibility to pull off. In terms of grappling, you won’t need to learn any fancy submissions either.

This is where boxing excels and is the reason why older people can still work and improve their technique. If ever you’ve trained at a boxing gym, you’ll probably see at least one old timer who looks old and weak but has impeccable technique. This is because the fundamentals of boxing can be taught to anyone and don’t require super athletic or conditioned practitioners.

It should be noted that if you want to, you can still improve your strength and conditioning in relation to boxing exercises. One example of this could be using a medicine ball to improve your core and make your muscles stronger. However, the point is this isn’t always necessary as a beginner and unlike other martial arts such as Karate and Kung Fu, there’s more emphasis on technique and skill than conditioning in the early stages of training.

Boxing is basic on the face of it

As mentioned previously, if you want then you can delve deep into the finer workings of boxing. This includes both strength and conditioning, and techniques. The beauty of being a boxing beginner though is that you can just focus on the basics and still quickly improve if you choose to do so.

When it comes to the fundamentals though, this is where boxing excels. This is because boxing has a less is more approach which is great if you want to learn something and improve quickly. Put another way, imagine sinking years of training into something like Aikido. This would simply not hold up in a fight against someone with basic boxing skills. In other words, after just 6 months or so of training boxing, you should be able to use those skills to handle a lot of street self defense situations.

Regarding many other martial arts, this simply isn’t the case. This is where boxing truly comes into its own and proves its worth. Of course, if you want to go deeper then that’s up to you – but for newbies, learning boxing is great for simple but effective progress and combat skills.

Boxing will naturally improve your cardio which is great for fighting

An often overlooked part of fighting is cardio. Sometimes fighters may be winning in MMA, boxing, or grappling matches then they run out of energy and gas out. One of the benefits of training boxing is that your cardio will skyrocket as a result. If you’ve ever trained boxing then you’ll know this. Whether it’s sparring, pad work, or rope – boxing will improve your cardio hugely. As a result, you will be able to last longer in fights and tough situations.

Whilst this isn’t a martial arts skill, it is nonetheless a valuable weapon to have in your arsenal. This is also true with other martial arts, but arguably boxing is the king of cardio where martial arts is concerned. You could argue that wrestling also demands similar levels of cardio but is done in a grappling environment. Long story short though, boxing will naturally improve your cardio which can be the difference between winning and losing during a fight.

Conclusion

Overall, boxing is a great martial art to learn in general. However, if you need to learn how to fight fast – then very few martial arts out there will rival boxing in terms of what it can bring to the table. What’s great about learning boxing is that if you just want to learn the basics then you can quit after a few months and have some valuable skills forever. However, if you want to learn more and really devote more time to it and make even more improvements then that is also possible as well.
For those wanting to learn more about the sweet science of boxing, check out this book by the legendary Joe Frazier