Pankration

Pankration is the ancient Hellenic sport of free fighting, which was the most popular of the ancient Olympic games. The word ‘Pankration’ comes from the Greek words, Pan (all) and Kration (powers), or ‘All Powers Combat’. There were only two rules; no biting or eye gouging and victory came by knockout or submission. The Christians later abolished Pankration leaving behind only two elements of the contest, wrestling and boxing.

Today, the sport of modern Pankration has been revitalized and is practiced in various forms by different organizations around the world. A relatively new form of Pankration exists today, widely referred to as Ultimate Fighting. Modern Pankration, also known as Shootfighting, Vale Tudo, No-Holds Barred or Mixed Martial Arts challenges combatants in a contest of striking skills and submission grappling techniques. The combination of multiple disciplines and athletic ability determine the winner in Pankration fighting. It is both a departure from traditional martial arts and a return to the origin of contests of hand-to-hand combat.

Pankration techniques are based on reality, while more traditional martial arts are based on theory.

Boxing

Boxing, is a sport where two participants of similar weight attack each other with their fists only, in a series of three-minute rounds. In both Olympic and professional divisions, the combatants avoid their opponent's punches while trying to land punches of their own. Points are awarded for clean, solid blows to the legal area on the front of the opponent's body above the waistline, with hits to the head and torso being especially valuable. The fighter with the most points after the scheduled number of rounds is declared the winner. Victory may also be achieved if the opponent is knocked down and unable to get up before the referee counts to ten (Knock Out) or if the opponent is deemed too injured to continue ( Technical Knockout).

Kickboxing

The history of Kickboxing is a little complex and varies from country to country. American kickboxing became popular in the 1970’s and was a combination of full-contact karate and boxing. American kickboxing started with regular boxing rules and allowed kicks above the belt line.

Oriental kickboxing utilizes the same techniques (with some differences in application), as it’s American counterpart, but also allowed Knees, Elbows and kicks to the legs.

Traditionally, American kickboxing was called ‘Kickboxing’, and Oriental Kickboxing was called ‘Muay Thai’ in honor of the Thai fighters that dominated the oriental rules circuit. Now days, American Kickboxing closely resembles Muay Thai. The exceptions that knees are sometimes used and sometimes not, and elbows are used mainly in professional Muay Thai matches.

At AKA Martial Arts, we teach the same techniques used by both kickboxers and Muay Thai fighters, in an exciting and safe manner. We focus on proper techniques and conditioning for the recreational student up to the professional fighter.

 

Kid's Club

A unique Martial arts program that safely teaches the art of Pankration and Judo to kids ages 6-12. Pankration utilizes concepts of boxing, wrestling, kickboxing and submission wrestling, while demanding the values and discipline of traditional martial arts.

 

Judo

Judo originated in Japan in 1882 and literally means "the gentle way." Instead of punching or kicking, practitioners grapple and toss their opponents to the mat. Judo is an Olympic sport and a grappling martial art: Judo matches start in a standing position and can be won by throwing your opponent with speed, force and control. Judo matches can also be won on the ground by holding a controlling pin for 25 seconds or by causing your opponent to submit by use of choking or arm lock techniques. Judo develops strength, endurance, flexibility, balance, and self-discipline. Judo techniques which are used to win matches are also very effective in self defense.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting with the goal of gaining a dominant position and using joint-locks and chokeholds to force an opponent to submit. The art was based on early 20th century Kodokan Judo, which was itself then a recently-developed system (founded in 1882), based on multiple schools (or Ryu) of Japanese Jujutsu.

It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person using leverage and proper technique can successfully defend themselves against a bigger, stronger assailant. BJJ can be trained for self defense, sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition. Sparring (commonly referred to as 'rolling') and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition.