Finding the perfect gifts or presents for your martial-arts-obsessed friends, kids or spouse can be a serious pain in the ass. Worry not, I have some suggestions that might help you out.
1. Workshops and classes
Martial artists care for their personal skill development. So naturally, working on those comes first. If you totally run out of ideas, you can always pay for their regular classes or book them a workshop with their favourite sifu or sensei.
A gift certificate or voucher is the easiest way to package a workshop or class. Many schools offer these, especially around Christmas. If they don’t you can create one on your own when you are design-savvy or simply use a template.
2. Workout gear or tools
An essential part of being prepared to fight (be it in a cage, harder sparring or in self-defense situations) is to keep your body in shape. Some martial artists only rely on their practice, but most of the work out too.
A jump rope (better a speed jump rope) is essential for boxing and kickboxing but will be helpful with most modern fighting sports. Even though traditional martial arts rarely use them, the strength, coordination and stamina they build are helpful for all martial arts practitioners.
A new contender in the ring is the Octomoves Flow Rope, which feels like a jump rope without jumping. It works the core, the back, the arms and the shoulders and has some similar techniques to traditional weapons like the rope dart or meteor hammer. If your friends are into flow exercises with any martial arts weapon, they will love this thing.
Almost all fighters can apply rubber bands in their training. Common ones are Resistance Bands or a Deuserband, which support numerous higher kicks and stretching exercises. The resistance bands can be used to work on your punches as well.
A kettlebell, which is simply a big weight with a handle, is also a very versatile tool. There are tons of exercises you can do with them, and there are hundreds of tutorials on Youtube to get started.
Got a friend who suffers from unnecessary body tension? Grab a Blackroll or another tool for fascia relief.
3. Books
A plethora of books would make a good gift for your fighter friends. This can be books about their preferred fighting style, about some fighting-related philosophy or about known martial artists.
Here are some recommendations:
- Musashi’s Dokkodo
- The Art of War
- Hagakure
- The Little Black Book of Violence or The Bloody Big Book of Violence
- The Anatomy of Martial Arts
- The Evolution of Martial Arts in Combat Sports
- The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s
4. Weapons or Fighting Gear
Many traditional martial arts use weapons like the staff, sticks or knives. There are also fancier ones like the chain whip, three-section staff or nunchucks. Find out which ones they want, before buying.
Boxing Gloves, Pads or a Heavy Bag might also be the right thing.
Also, if you have a specialised store in town where you can get good customer service, prefer this one over ordering from the internet.
5. Wall art
If nothing else seems to fit, you might want to consider some kind of poster. It can be a fantastic fighting image, a motivational quote or a combination of both.
Many options are available for the seeker of presents. Depending on your budget, you can go for a digital download to print at home, a framed museum-quality print or anything in between.
If you have additional ideas, meaning more Christmas presents for fighters, let us know in the comments.
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