Martial Arts

[TheArtOfDoingNothing]

Okay...so a place near me that des bjj, muay Thai, boxing and mma would be a good place to join yes?

[Chronicler]

Try it out and see for yourself.

Everyone should not argue about styles. They're like guns; it's how you use it. Comes down to the individual him/herself. I say each style has something worthwhile to take from. I personally practice Tiger and Crane Kung Fu.

At my school we're taught to control a fight should it go down to the ground but never go down intentionally. In a street defense situation, you may subdue the guy you're fighting but don't forget his buddies on the side.

[Pitbullslove]

I use to do martial arts, at royal martial arts the instructor he does martial arts, mma, tak wendo, jujitsu.

[JC]

Originally Posted by keywee

It's all about what you want to be able to do. Muay Thai is great for delivering fast, physically damaging blows, and wearing a fighter down over time. Judo is good for getting someone to the ground, and BJJ is good for locking someone up while they're on the ground.

If what you want to do is go 5 rounds against a proffesionaly tranied MMA fighter, who will never let you get hold of any of his extremeties, then yes, Aikido is impractical, and muay thai and BJJ are the most effective.

If however, what you want to be able to do is neutralize a threat without causing them too much phsyical harm, then Aikido is perfectly fine for doing that.

If you're on the street and a drunken weight lifting baffoon decides he wants to have a go at you and your friend, being able to put him on the ground without damaging him too much and letting him know that you can break his wrist or arm if he wants to continue can sometimes be more beneficial than just being able to knock the guy unconscious with an elbow or knee to the head.

Tae Kwon Do on the other hand, involves complex, technical leg movements and is generally a less efficient and less effective form of fighting and self defence than other martial arts, and should probably be regarded as more of a sport than a practical form of fighting.

You have a good argument, and you are absolutely right in that grappling techniques would be great for such an example.
You are overlooking something , however.

Aikido is very ineffective. BJJ has proven to be a better style to learn than Aikido when dealing with grappling techniques. It's not only about ground combat, it teaches various standing locks, takedowns, and throws. After all, they gotta be able to get a fight to the ground in order to win it, don't they?

Aikido's training methods are the true question here, since last I heard, they don't let you engage in any sparring at all because the techniques are 'too dangerous'.
They don't apply their techniques against any worthwhile resistance.
What makes you think that what you can't even try out against someone resisting in a controlled environment (dojo) , will work against someone in the street that's out to hurt you?

[Asphalto]

I do Judo, keep that in mind while I praise it
Just kidding, Judo is as good as many other martial arts, so it's up to you!
First of all, think about whether you really enjoy martial arts or you wanna learn one just for self defence... I know you already said something about it, but you have to be sure about that!
If you really enjoy fighting, go for Muay Thai, Kickboxing or Boxing: there's a lot of contact, and really hard blows: you can also choose Judo or BJJ if you'd rather avoid blows, but you still wanna have "real fights".
If you're interested in self defence, Judo is also good for that, but of course Krav Maga should be your first option.
If, otherwise, you want to learn a martial art for the sake of it, a good idea could be Karate or, well, any martial art
I know, I just summed up what others already said, but JC said pretty much everything I could say... There are many other martial arts less known but very interesting: unluckly, there are few places where you can learn them properly...
You might wanna watch the documentary "Human Weapon", where many different martial arts are explained in detail (of course, it's a tv program, so don't expect to actually learn techniques, the explainations are just for giving you an idea)..
And, well, there's Google, there's Youtube: search for different martial arts on there, read something, watch some videos, and choose the ones you like most: search for gyms/dojos where you can learn them (usually, there's like a trial week where you can attend the lessons for free), and decide what you want to do
Don't start with MMA! MMA should be chosen once you're good at some other martial arts (at least one), so that you can build your own "fighting style" based on the martial art(s) you already know!

Avoid "mcDojos" (McDojo FAQ ) and good luck !

[chingchanchong]

capoeira
































jokes

actually capoeira can be effective if you're fighting against someone that's trained, its really the element of surprise with it that knocks off people that fight regularly. Of course its impractical also, but youll win a fight easily against untrained aggressors with it.

but yea, what the above posters said, MT/boxing and bjj are the most practical martials to use to defend yourself. There is a huge argument of whether MT or boxing is better, but I say that they're useful in given situations.

[chingchanchong]

Originally Posted by Bhenji

This. I have taken muay thai, BJJ, a month or two of MMA, and Krav Maga. I couldn't get enough. It is probably the most useful of any self defense system because it is just that, a defense system. It's not a martial art, there are no rules of engagement, it teaches you how to not just fight back, but to make sure that the guy trying to hurt you can't get back up and fight. I'f you're looking for a sure way to defend yourself on the street from fists, knives, bats, or even guns, then krav is where to go.

cool, u go to PG

[keywee]

Originally Posted by JC

You have a good argument, and you are absolutely right in that grappling techniques would be great for such an example.
You are overlooking something , however.

Aikido is very ineffective. BJJ has proven to be a better style to learn than Aikido when dealing with grappling techniques. It's not only about ground combat, it teaches various standing locks, takedowns, and throws. After all, they gotta be able to get a fight to the ground in order to win it, don't they?

Aikido's training methods are the true question here, since last I heard, they don't let you engage in any sparring at all because the techniques are 'too dangerous'.
They don't apply their techniques against any worthwhile resistance.
What makes you think that what you can't even try out against someone resisting in a controlled environment (dojo) , will work against someone in the street that's out to hurt you?

Yeah, I pretty much agree with everything you're saying.

Aikido isn't entirely ineffective but it does take a long time for it to become effective. Partly because it's hard to practise the complicated potentially bone breaking techniques against opponents who are resisting, and also because of Aikido's tendancy to focus on avoiding all bodily harm, even at the cost of effectiveness, efficiency and ease of execution.

And +1 to everything Asphalto said.

And I havn't actually heard that much about Krav Maga, but it does look like a pretty good style for learning self defense.

[aliliaquat]

struggle is the meaning of life ...

[caliux]

When I was younger, I was practicing Aikido, but all is fake about Aikido, it doesn't help you, but the armony and peace there helps a lot, you should try judo or taekwondo

[GoldStreet]

i've trained and several styles and every one is practical . seeing how something can be used and when is what it's all about . in any martial arts , you are taught the techniques but it's up to you to decide when to use them . even if you know the right technique , if you can't execute it properly then it's pointless . find a martial arts that emphasizes your personal strengths , don't just find one that's generally good . it's all about being comfortable and efficient in martial arts . and i have fought with a couple aikido practitioners , it's not completely impractical as some say .

[Alison2000]

I do kickboxing and I love it!

[Bruce_889]

There are many games in all over the world and martial arts is one of them this game is very difficult and contrasted game.

[endgame]

boxing is the most practical for street defense. anyone can learn it, it can be learned quickly but can be trained to complexity.it also has a strong following and you will get lots of experience sparring. you can also enter competition, and will be in fantastic shape. boxing gyms are also everywhere.
kickboxing is great as well(what i trained) if you want to learn to kick in addition to your hands, but dont count on using it in a street fight above the knees. krav maga and judo are excellent as well. judo throws are deadly, stand up grappling and locks are extremely useful. while krav maga teaches weapon defense.

you never want to kick in a street fight and wont be able to efficiently due to people usually wearing pants. or someone catching your kick and giving you a beatdown. you also never want to go to the ground in a street fight either, people dont fight fair. expect boots to the jaw and friends to jump in. most martial arts taught dont have enough real world application and focus more on the tradition. this is because they have become more watered down throughout the ages because sparring these martial arts it would be common that participants were killed using these moves.

but the best advice is to learn to recognize danger and stay away. and to run very fast.

[dire]

Originally Posted by endgame

...you never want to kick in a street fight and wont be able to efficiently due to people usually wearing pants. or someone catching your kick and giving you a beatdown. you also never want to go to the ground in a street fight either, people dont fight fair. expect boots to the jaw and friends to jump in. most martial arts taught dont have enough real world application and focus more on the tradition. this is because they have become more watered down throughout the ages because sparring these martial arts it would be common that participants were killed using these moves.

but the best advice is to learn to recognize danger and stay away. and to run very fast.

If you're going to street fight, I recommend finding someone to teach you arnis de mano or any other martial art that starts you off with a weapon.

As far as kicking efficiently, I can kick someone in the face if I'm wearing jeans. I just have to break the jeans to do it. Part of learning self defense is learning to be prepared, and part of being prepared is dressing for the occassion.

If you want a taste of martial arts, you might want to see if your local community college has any courses on them (they'll be under PE). Once you figure out if you like it, and what you want out of it, the instructor there can recommend someone to you.

There are a lot of bad martial arts teachers out there, and some of them spend a lot of money on advertisements. Don't train with the guy who will train you to break boards with your face. Ask around, talk to real martial artists and see who they recommend. The art matters a lot less than the teacher.

As far as capoeira goes, finding a bunch of friends that like to do kung fu dancing goes a long way towards self defense by itself. For the rest, capoeira is very different from oriental martial arts, and mixing the two practically guarantees that someone will get hurt.

> Tang Soo Do Mi Guk Kwan here (plus a smattering of other arts). By green belt, you should be able to kick someone in the face. By red belt, you should be able to do it twice.