The Casual Martial Artist 7 : Are Traditional Martial Arts Still Relevant?

Many people who grew up in the 60s, 70s, and 80s remember watching media featuring karate masters, ninjas, and kung fu monks jump kicking through the air. We were memorized by the almost supernatural abilities these martial artists seemed to possess, and no doubt watching these movies and TV shows inspired more than one child to beg his parents to sign him up for karate classes.

But things changed in the 90s as mixed martial arts and Brazilian jujitsu exploded onto the scene. All of a sudden the aforementioned ninja, karate masters, and kung fu monks lost their aura of mystique. Go to any martial arts forum or look through YouTube videos and you will probably find people claiming that if you aren't studying BJJ, boxing, or Muay Thai you are wasting your time. But is this really the case? Are traditional martial arts like karate, kung fu, and tae kwon do still worthwhile in a world where the competitive fighting scene is dominated by boxers and grapplers? That is the topic Al and Marcus will tackle today.