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The practice of martial arts forms can be a controversial topic. Whether you call them kata, poomsae\xa0(poomse), tul, patterns, routines, sequences, forms or something else, they're important to your development as a martial artist. Here are our top 10 reasons why they should be part of every martial artist's training.

On today's episode of Martial Arts Radio we discuss the top ten reasons for practicing forms. Here's the outline:

Forms have been around as long as martial arts has, so it's unlikely that their practice is a waste of time, for any style.

1. Forms build muscle memory for techniques.
2. Forms develop movement outside of the pressure of combat.
3. Forms are something you can practice on your own.
4. Forms add variety to our training.
5. They're fun, or at least can be.
6. Practicing forms helps develop physical aspects of martial arts.
7. They help with the development of non-physical aspects.
8. Forms make you think about what you're doing.
9. Forms provide unification within a school or a system.
10. Forms can prime central nervous systems conditioning and build stronger neural pathways.