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Considering the mechanized modern living in restricted indoor spaces, aggression and mental disorders among young people and adults and their negative consequences in Iran, in-depth studies of this issue are important. The purpose of this article is to understand the meaning of combat sports for Iranian athletes and to understand how it drives them to action. Following an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach, 17 male kickboxing and muay Thai athletes in the Kurdistan province in western Iran were surveyed through semi-structured interviews. Four main themes and 12 sub-themes were extracted from analyzing the experiences of the research participants: (1) Increasing existential capacity, (2) cultivating a moral personality, (3) enhancing one’s health and (4) improving one’s lifestyle. Our research suggests that, for these participants, kickboxing and muay Thai have a positive effect in many mental, social and moral dimensions of existence. Moreover, because of the potential positive impact on the individual behavior, these sports are also very effective in reducing societal problems such as hooliganism, destructiveness and vandalism, suicide, inappropriate lifestyle, decline of values and violence.

This study explored collegiate student-athletesˈ preferences of coaching leadership behaviours in strength and conditioning coaching, evaluating differences between the preferences of coaching leadership behaviours based on the level of competition. A total of 145 National Collegiate Athletic Association student-athletes (Division I = 77, Division II = 68), aged 18-25 years, with a mean = 3 (SD = ±1) strength and conditioning sessions per week, participated. Participants completed an electronic questionnaire involving the athletesˈ preference version of the Revised Leadership Scale for Strength and Conditioning. Summary statistics outlined that the most preferred behaviour was 'training and instruction', median = 4.5 (IQR = 1.0), whilst the least preferred was ˈautocraticˈ, median = 2.0 (IQR = 0.5). Similar results were observed for both Division I and II groups. No statistically significant differences were identified between groups. Effect sizes indicated that the magnitude of differences between groups was small, with the highest value for autocratic behaviour (d = 0.2). The observation of no statistically significant differences between Division I and Division II participants suggests how both levels of competition value similar positive coaching behaviours. This study sheds light on the preferences of coaching behaviours among student-athletes in strength and conditioning coaching. The findings underscore the importance of positive psychosocial behaviours such as training and instruction, positive feedback, situational considerations, and social support for different levels of competition and offer a foundation for further research to explore coaching leadership behaviours in strength and conditioning coaching.

To explore collegiate student-athletes? preferences of coaching leadership behaviours in strength and conditioning (SC) coaching and evaluate differences between the preferences of coaching leadership behaviours based on task dependence. Method a total of 145 National Collegiate Athletic Association student-athletes (independent sports athletes = 48, interdependent sports athletes = 97), aged 18-25 years, with a mean = 3 (SD = ±1) SC sessions per week, participated. Participants completed an electronic questionnaire involving the athletes? preference version of the Revised Leadership Scale for SC. Results summary statistics revealed that the most favoured behaviour was 'training and instruction', median = 4.5 (IQR = 1.0), while the least favoured was ?autocratic?, median = 2.0 (IQR = 0.5). Independent sports athletes preferred training and instruction more (median = 5.0, IQR = 0.6) than interdependent sports athletes (median = 4.5, IQR = 1.0). Interdependent sports athletes preferred social support more (median = 3.5, IQR = 1.0) than independent sports athletes (median = 3.0, IQR = 0.6). The observation of a marginal statistically significant difference for social support suggests task-dependence-based variations (p = 0.018). However, small effect sizes indicate that differences are not practically significant. Conclusion and recommendation: this study presents insights into the preferences of coaching leadership behaviours among student-athletes in SC coaching. It highlights key behaviours such as training and instruction, positive feedback, situational considerations, and social support. These findings inform coaching practice and provide a foundation for further research into coaching leadership behaviours in SC coaching.

Many martial arts systems have their own revered heroes, such as mythical founders and leaders of notable schools. The paper draws on ethnographic research conducted on The Blade Academy, an expanding historical European martial arts (HEMA) school in the United Kingdom. Among pedagogic strategies used by the lead instructors and their core followers are narratives about historic figures whose heroic beliefs and deeds should be respected and even emulated by practitioners. This article explores the case study of 12-13th century Norman-English knight William Marshal, who is used as a principal model for leadership, martial valour, economic success and moral activity by the lead instructor. We examine idealised models of chivalry that such modern martial artists aspire to follow despite them living within very different societies and value systems. We conclude by considering the merits of revisiting historical figures who might act as role models for modern teachers and their students.

Engaging in martial combat, whether for military, self-defence or cultivation purposes, is taken to sensitise practitioners towards existential issues which in turn enliven potential religio-spiritual experiences and awakenings. In this paper, we draw on Girard’s (1977) Violence and the Sacred, and in particular his proposition that, “religion shelters us from violence just as violence seeks shelter in religion” (Girard, [1977] 2005: 25) to examine sacralisation processes in the traditional martial arts with a particular focus on highlighting how violence, sacralised through sacred imagery, is used as a structuring force to instill dispositions that counter ubiquitous human tendencies towards unfettered violence and violent vengeance. We highlight the phenomenon and function of sacred imagery used in martial arts with very different cultural, ethnic, and spiritual influences, specifically: Japanese Karate, Korean Taekwondo, Brazilian Capoeira and Mexican Xilam. For authenticity, each section is written by an experienced scholar-practitioner of the art and combines literary, empirical, and biographical reflection. Despite these variations, we identify two modalities of sacred imagery use. The first is representational imagery used as sacred signifiers which embed the art in a tradition of sacred attachment. The second form of sacred imagery is metaphorical discourse which is designed to invoke creative visualisations aligning practitioners with idealised experiential states taken to have sacred (as well as practical) value in relation to combat. We conclude that the use of sacred imagery in these ways becomes part of an affective body pedagogy used by the traditionalist martial arts to transfer valued knowledge through the corporeal medium to offset and sacralise violent tendencies. It is qualified that in practice, this sacralisation process involves complex entanglements of the cultural origins, practitioner interpretation and the contemporary context of the martial art in question. The outcome is an evolving sacralisation process which rests in constant tension with the underlying problems initiated by the ubiquitous body-in-conflict problem and the propensity for violence and violent vengeance that the learning of combative skills might otherwise unleash in the body and onto society.

Xilam es un arte marcial moderno inspirado en las culturas guerreras mesoamericanas prehispánicas, especialmente en la cosmovisión azteca. Como sistema de desarrollo humano, Xilam pretende formar una joven generación de mexicanos dignos como guerreros modernos, orgullosos de su herencia y ascendencia indígena. Su filosofía también hace hincapié en la naturaleza étnica y cultural híbrida de México, mezclando influencias indígenas, europeas y asiáticas. Este artículo utiliza un enfoque crítico y poscolonial de la tesis posrevolucionaria La raza cósmica del filósofo mexicano José Vasconcelos para analizar los posibles significados filosóficos de prácticas concretas dentro del Xilam. Examinando datos de entrevistas y vídeos recogidos hacia el final de un proyecto etnográfico, se adopta el arte de escuchar para mostrar cómo Xilam reinterpreta la raza cósmica en el siglo XXI. Nuestra investigación encuentra paralelismos entre las ideas de los practicantes de Xilam y a la tesis de Vasconcelos. Destaca cómo la recuperación de las nociones filosóficas prehispánicas da lugar a formas “otras” de problematizar el racismo en México sin el mesianismo utópico de Vasconcelos. En este sentido, “remover la piel” (Dzilam) se presenta como una alternativa a “la raza cósmica”; “Diversópolis” como una alternativa a “Universópolis”.

In a precarious occupation, martial arts instructors must be inspiring and build a shared philosophy. Drawing on Taijiquan and Capoeira, which have their philosophical or epistemological roots in Asia and Africa, this article explores core concepts that feature in students’ enculturation. These concepts are grounded in epistemologies contrasting with Papineau’s work on popular and elite sport, Knowing the Score. More specifically, the philosophical approach used builds upon Papineau’s chapters on focus, cheating and racism, although these martial practices are not grounded in the Judeo-Christian Western epistemologies underlying Papineau’s thinking. Indeed, one of the attractions for Western Capoeira and Taijiquan students is precisely their “strange” or exotic philosophical concepts driving specific pedagogical practices. Ethnographic fieldwork in Britain and written and oral accounts of embodied expertise are used to explore the practical uses of these non-Western epistemologies by teachers to build shared cultures for their students. Specifically, we examine the concepts of axé (life force) and malicia (artful trickery) in Capoeira, noting its contrast to Western ideas of energy and fair play. We then examine Taijiquan and the concepts of song (鬆 or “letting go”) and ting (听 or “focused listening”), considering the movement skill of systematic relaxation and the focus on specific components of human anatomy and body technique among adults unlearning embodied tension built throughout their lives. We close with considerations for projects examining the diverse, alternative southern, non-Western, and potentially decolonial and subaltern epistemologies in such martial activities.

Martial arts are concerned with continuous technical practice and refinement over a lifetime, while scholarship is ordinarily undertaken by active learners and experienced (occasionally veteran) practitioners. These martial arts scholar–practitioners tend to be positioned according to specific types, from a more distant (and sometimes critical) scholar with less combat acumen to an instructor keen to read and engage in collaborative research. This article introduces a typology of ten martial arts scholar–practitioner types: (1) Supportive Scholar; (2) Former Practitioner; (3) Practitioner on Stand-by; (4) Immersed Apprentice; (5) Budding Scholar–Practitioner; (6) Established Scholar–Practitioner; (7) Temporary Practitioner–Researcher; (8) Experimental Leader; (9) Inquisitive Teacher; and (10) Curious Practitioner. The types are examined using Capoeira, one of the most academically studied martial arts. Drawing on the Spannungsfeld—the “field of tension” between science and practice—we reveal the specific strengths and limitations of each type while illustrating the common transition between positions across a career or research project. Finally, we consider some practical solutions to mitigate the relative weaknesses and oversights of the specific types, including the ability to form teams of scholar–practitioners from different positions in academia and martial arts. We close with suggestions for empirical research to test and refine our methodological model.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the physical and mental health of older adults has been threatened. Promoting physical and mental health through physical activity has therefore become a strategy for healthy aging. In order to better understand the impact of the participation of older adults in physical activity, this paper selects different types of physical activity, and examines the relationship between them and subjective well-being through the analysis of the mediation effect of outdoor exercise environment and the regulating effect of exercise form. In this cross-sectional study, a questionnaire survey was conducted in mainland China. The main data come from 903 older adults in five urban areas in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The surveys were carried out using the Physical Activity Rating Scale, Newfoundland Subjective Well-Being Scale, Exercise Environment Scale, and Exercise Form Scale. SPSS was used for statistical analysis, linear regression analysis was adopted for processing data, and AMOS was used to establish a mediation model. The mediating variable is the outdoor exercise environment, and the moderating variable is exercise form; gender, age, education level, and monthly income were used as control variables. The study results showed that different physical activities (tai chi; health qigong; walking and jogging) were significantly, positively correlated with the subjective well-being of older adults (tai chi: R = 0.351, p

“Martial arts and combat sports” (MACS) are a myriad of systems of embodied movements and underlying philosophy and pedagogies. Due to the intrinsic complexity of MACS, they have the potential to both reshape practitioners’ selves and improve their wellbeing, as well as to hamper the pursuit of sustainable, healthy lifestyles. This article provides an interdisciplinary theoretical framework to critically approach both the “light” and the “dark” sides of martial pedagogies. The model we propose develops the Foucauldian notion of “the care of the self,” which has been considerably overlooked in martial arts scholarship. Furthermore, by viewing health as a goal for cultivation, this proposal places the situated practices linked to materiality and discourses at the centre of the theoretical and empirical analyses. The article thus takes into account the internal diversity and cross-institutional variance of martial pedagogies by allowing scholars to explore four forms of cultivation (self, shared, social, ecological) prompted on a day-to-day basis. To conclude, we discuss the main methodological implications for multimodal research arising from the framework in order to foster future inquiries.

Martial arts organisations increasingly blend online and offline activity in order to cultivate specific qualities, skills and virtues. Students and instructors use blogs, chat fora, videos and podcasts to supplement their self- and shared cultivation, and this expanded with the COVID-19 lockdown in Britain. Martial arts schools have been closed and even disbanded while governments control people’s physical interactions through social distancing measures. This article draws on case studies of two British martial arts schools (Taijiquan and historical fencing) in order to examine how they have adapted to the lockdown. It offers these case studies to narrate the developments of how teachers and their localised communities have been creative during this moment of international crisis – from instructor-led online, live training sessions and lectures to student-led chat fora and movie nights for continued sociability and identity construction. In so doing, this article makes use of martial arts theories: Shared Cultivation (Jennings, 2010) and Martial Creation (Jennings, 2019) to explain how martial artists continue to develop through creative online endeavours and through their moving bodies within the confines of their homes. Finally, I argue that this creative martial arts cultivation during the COVID-19 pandemic might be extended to wider physical culture.

Purpose: Physical activity (PA) is considered essential for the treatment of morbid obesity and the optimization of bariatric surgery outcomes. The objective of this article was to identify the facilitators and barriers that bariatric patients perceived to do PA one year after finishing a PA programme for the promotion of a long-term active lifestyle. This objective was addressed from a socio-ecological and qualitative perspective. Methods: Nine patients (eight women and one man), aged between 31 and 59 years, participated in semi-structured interviews directly following the PA programme and one year after it. A content analysis was carried out to analyze the qualitative data. Results: Weight loss, improvement of physical fitness, perceived competence, and enjoyment were the main facilitators of PA. Complexes related to skin folds, osteoarthritis, perceived unfavourable weather conditions, lack of social support and economic resources, long workdays, lack of specific PA programmes, and other passive leisure preferences were the main barriers to participate in PA. Conclusions: Results highlight the important interplay between personal, social environmental, and physical environmental factors to explain (in)active behaviours of bariatric patients. The findings of this article could be useful for future research and interventions aimed at promoting PA in bariatric patients.

Kung Fu associations are often understood as ‘families’ forming broader ‘family trees’ or lineages operating across centuries of history as well as transcultural associations. In an effort contributing to interdisciplinary martial arts studies, this paper presents data from two qualitative studies of Western practitioners of traditionalist Chinese martial arts (TCMA) in both the West and Asia by a phenomenological psychologist and an anthropological sociologist. We assess the use of the term ‘Kung Fu family’, what it means to the practitioners and how it impacts on their practice and their relationships with other martial artists. We argue that the conceptual metaphor of family offers a sense of belonging and solidarity within a diverse community in terms of age, ethnicity, gender, religion and social class. Meanwhile, we explore the metaphor in terms of the micro-political power dynamics that accompany martial arts collectives. Overall, the ideal of family can illuminate how identity can transcend across time (‘generations’ of practitioners) and place (from and to cultures and contingents). It is thus a way of understanding the organisation, spread and transcendence of Chinese martial arts.

The 4th International Coaching Conference held at Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK, showcased a range of studies concerning pedagogy in martial arts (MA). They varied in regards to their underpinning discipline, theory and method, but were united by a concern for enhancing practice in both pedagogy (the science) and pedagogies (the objects of study). One theoretical talk advocated a study of individual practices (techniques of the body and their corresponding methods) via praxiography in relation for a balanced, critical health pedagogy examining the duality of ‘dark’ and ‘light’ aspects. This in turn was applied by an emerging study looking at rapid weight loss practices in Judo and other combat sports that is beginning to scrutinise policies in order to regular this problem. Meanwhile, an investigation into the mental toughness of Karate practitioners uncovered similarly alarming findings on extreme training methods among veteran Welsh Karateka, while another study of a British context of Savate and Capoeira shared ways of studying MA pedagogies in their total form through traditional approach to ethnography. Together, these papers exemplify the increasing corpus of knowledge on teaching and learning in MA that could support that of coaching alongside sport and body pedagogy.

The 3rd Annual Martial Arts Studies Conference held at Cardiff University (11-13 July, 2017) was an eclectic collection of keynotes, papers, workshops, networking and social events. It connected PhD students, established professors and practitioner-instructors in university lecture rooms, public parks and music halls across three days of academic, social and physical activities. From historical studies of Chinese martial arts to the performance of Indian styles, it brought together scholars, practitioner-researchers and martial artists for a supportive, but also scholarly, gathering – one which was both thematically open but at the same united by an exploration of the communication of embodied research and knowledge. In sum, the conference demonstrated that martial arts studies, as a still young field, shows a wealth of promise, with emerging leaders, topics and debates that will stimulate future research, cross-continental collaboration and intercultural dialogue.

The dynamic relationships between “martial arts”, society and health remain unclear, particularly due to research that typically views health in a purely biomedical and compartmentalized way. Martial arts and combat sports (MACS) offer a diversity of disciplines with their own intended training outcomes and techne. The traditionalist Chinese martial arts (TCMAs), such as Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) and Wing Chun Kung Fu, stress health promotion/preservation, personal development and lifelong practice. Adopting a structurationist framework, this article explores the connections between three distinct philosophies of health and TCMAs, institutions spreading such discourse, and the personal narratives of transformation and self-cultivation through these embodied art forms. Taking a perspective starting from the practitioners themselves, I explore the interplay between discourse and narrative as applied in everyday British society. Following detailed qualitative analysis, “Western scientific”, “contemporary Daoist” and “New Age” health philosophies are identified as explored via three detailed, reflexive cases of long-term practitioner-instructors, their schools and documents that connect them to international exponents across time. This article thus contributes to sociological knowledge on MACS and health, while considering the connections between health philosophies, discourse and narrative.

In this article, we present a case study analysis of data gathered on the practice of the art of Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) in one UK context. Our interest in looking at this physical culture was in exploring if/how physical cultures of shared embodied experience and practice may help “sow the seeds of environmental awareness”. In so doing, we illustrate certain affinities between this interpretation of the art and Beck’s idea of a “cosmopolitan vision of ecology”. We present an analysis of documentary and interview data of one English Taijiquan organisation and how it currently promotes the idea of interconnectedness, wellbeing and an alternative meta-narrative for living through the practice of Taijiquan. We conclude that, while further research is needed, there is evidence that a cosmopolitan vision for ecology is emerging in physical cultures such as Taijiquan.

There are numerous ways to theorise about elements of civilisations and societies known as ‘body’, ‘movement’, or ‘physical’ cultures. Inspired by the late Henning Eichberg’s notions of multiple and continually shifting body cultures, this article explores his constant comparative (trialectic) approach via the Mexican martial art, exercise, and human development philosophy—Xilam. Situating Xilam within its historical and political context and within a triad of Mesoamerican, native, and modern martial arts, combat sports, and other physical cultures, I map this complexity through Eichberg’s triadic model of achievement, fitness, and experience sports. I then focus my analysis on the aspects of movement in space as seen in my ethnographic fieldwork in one branch of the Xilam school. Using a bare studio as the setting and my body as principle instrument, I provide an impressionist portrait of what it is like to train in Xilam within a communal dance hall (space) and typical class session of two hours (time) and to form and express warrior identity from it. This article displays the techniques; gestures and bodily symbols that encapsulate the essence of the Xilam body culture, calling for a way to theorise from not just from and on the body but also across body cultures.