Martial arts are sports and self-defense techniques that were once used in the Far East by warriors under the philosophical influence of Bodhidharma, the Indian priest of the 6th century, who founded Zen Buddhism.

Nowadays martial arts consist of nearly 180 disciplines which become competitive sports as well as a form of physical expression.

Whether in one in the other of those numerous disciplines, harmony between body and spirit is always an essential element to develop the qualities required to practice martial arts ("martial" comes from the name of the Latin God of War "Mars").

Sports martial arts are practiced with bare hands or with a weapon. Bare hands disciplines include two of the most popular martial arts : Kung Fu (Chinese boxing) or Aikido (which in Japanese means' path through the communion of mind "), which seeks to eliminate the duality between body and mind and allows you to defend yourself against almost all kinds of weapons (except arrows, there is a limit to everything).

Kendo or Japanese fencing, however, is practiced with a bamboo sword and "Kyudo" with a asymmetric bamboo or fiberglass bow.
Martial arts allow among other thing to learn courtesy and respect for the opponent and mastering its fighting techniques also helps to remove the aggressivness in order to control its own fighting spirit.

Narve Læret, a karateka hold a world record for breaking the most concrete blocks in one minute : 700 in Datça, (Turkey), on 14 November 2008.