Dec 3, 2019

5 Ways Martial Arts Can Improve Your Office Life

A person smiles while training Muay Thai at the old Juggernaut Fight Club

Many of you spend upwards of 40 hours per week at the workplace, and therefore you see our colleagues more often than you see friends and family.

That is exactly why you should nurture those relationships. As a matter of fact, because you spend so much time with these people in the office, it is in everyone’s best interests to have positive relationships with one another. This can increase productivity, as well as you emotional well-being.

Martial arts offers you many ways to become a better colleague so that you can have better interactions in the workplace.

Here are five ways martial arts can help make you a better work colleague and improve your office life.

#1 You Will Be Healthier

ONE Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee

At first glance, it appears that your physical health is purely a personal pursuit, but the benefits extend to all areas of your life. So how does it make you a better colleague?

For starters, it means you will actually be able to show up. Being active and fit helps you stay healthy. If you spend the day sitting at a desk with poor posture while building mechanical flaws into your anatomy, a night in the gym doing martial arts will help to correct your posture.

Without the physical activity, you are asking for chronic problems down the line, which could sideline you from work for long periods of time. If that were to happen, then you would be of no use to the team. And, as they say, teamwork makes the dream work.

ONE Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee maintains her physique and conditioning year-round, which makes her the best sparring partner to push her fellow teammates – Bruno “Puccibull” Pucci and ONE Lightweight World Champion Christian “The Warrior” Lee – at United MMA.

#2 You Will Be Less Stressed

Tarik Khbabez at ONE AGE OF DRAGONS

The endorphins released after a training session help to decrease your stress levels and keep you in good spirits. Just a little bit of time spent grappling, wrestling, or hitting the pads and bags will certainly instigate the release of these neurochemicals, with side effects such as euphoria, pain-relief, and a sense of well-being.

Instead of being irritable, quiet, or anxious, you will be more focused with a clearer head and a happier mind. You will be a much more pleasant person to interact with – and positivity spreads!

Martial arts gave Tarik “The Tank” Khbabez an outlet to channel his aggression. The Dutch-Morrocan found peace and committed towards a new goal of becoming the best light heavyweight in the world.

#3 You Will Take More Responsibility

Global-Citizen-Aung-La

When working as part of a team, it is easy for some to shun responsibility or pass the buck at every opportunity. Not only is this a negative and toxic characteristic, but it is also detrimental to your colleagues.

With martial arts, it is taking personal responsibility that will truly allow you flourish. Nobody else can do the rounds for you or repeat the new technique until you have it down. It will all come down to your own will, and when you do not improve or reach the next grade as soon as you thought, that lies solely on your shoulders.

Once you start accepting this in a single area of your life, you will embrace it in other areas, too. By shouldering your own portion of the responsibility when it is necessary, you will then look for practical ways to help other people.

ONE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion Aung La “The Burmese Python” N Sang is widely celebrated as a positive icon for his compatriots in Myanmar. He is not only a two-division ONE World Title holder, but he also supports causes like saving endangered species as a World Wildlife Fund ambassador.

#4 You Will Respect Others, Regardless Of Status

Danny Kingad

There is often a hierarchy in the workplace, from the presidents down to the management, the supervisors, the entry-level staff, and the interns. It is quite easy to get lost in this and forget that everyone is in this together.

Martial arts teaches you respect for your coaches. The best bosses and coaches who get the most out of their teams tend to motivate them and inspire them. They do not bring them down or make them feel like they are somehow lesser people.

In martial arts, the skinny teenager can submit you, or the older, unassuming lady could give you a kernel of advice that helps correct the technique you have been struggling with. Everybody has something to offer, and anyone can have a solution to a problem you might not have been able to previously think of. By respecting people and listening to them, everybody will benefit.

Team Lakay’s Danny “The King” Kingad was raised in martial arts surrounded by veterans and iconic figures in the sport. Under the influence of senior members, Kingad learned the value of respect and now serves as a mentor for the junior martial artists at the Baguio City gym.

#5 You Will Be More Confident

Zhang Chenglong

By practicing martial arts, you will be more confident and self-assured, but also used to humility and putting aside your ego. Confidence in martial arts stems from both your increase in physical ability, and the psychological lessons it teaches you.

When you know you can master a technique from scratch in the gym, you also know that you can apply the same process to your professional life. Because you are now more adept physically, things that would previously cause you to take a backseat no longer seem to have the same impact.

Additionally, you can carry yourself with conviction, which will help when you are presenting the project your team has been working on, and it will help you to be forthright in group discussions to help contribute ideas.

After a trying time in school and falling behind in grades, “Muay Thai Boy” Zhang Chenglong discovered martial arts and regained his confidence.