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The one that inspires and keeps you engaged.
Teacher>art
And the best martial art for self defense is track
Just pole vault up onto the roof of 7-eleven and those street bullies can’t get you
Depends on what you want out of it. Are you looking for exercise, self-defense skills, how to disable someone with practically no effort, looking to impress someone with some “ninja moves,” etc.?
When I was stationed in Japan 20 years ago, I found a martial arts course taught at our base’s gym. Ninpo Budo Tai Jitsu. I had never heard of it before, but they were offering a free month before you had to start paying for classes, so I figured I’d check it out.
Turns out, it’s not a self-defense course like I thought. It’s an assassination art. They said the goal was to kill your opponent as quickly as possible, before they had a chance to kill you. They made a point to say that we weren’t allowed to practice our training on each other or spar with each other, in case we accidentally killed someone.
Suffice to say, I dropped the course after my free month and signed up at a nearby Karate dojo. That was much more my style. It’s probably the most basic of martial arts. Gives you good exercise, some self-defense skills, and mental focus.
Definitely research different art forms and decide for yourself which works best for you. I’ve sampled a bunch over the years, but I think Aikido spoke to me personally now than any other form.
I’m sorry, I’m just laughing over the idea of some dude accidentally signing up for classes in assassination. I can believe it happened–but it’d also make a great story.
Make it so the guy is too timid to stop going (maybe because he was taking martial arts as a way to learn assertiveness) and you have a book or TV series about an accidental assassin.
There’s been some big changes in that style. The most extreme stuff got removed from the curriculum. I once got a look at a manual from the 70s, and yes - there was some disturbing eye stuff.
“That time I accidentally signed up for assassination classes”
Hmmm. that art name is cool, but I think I am with you on going for a more “general” art with karate do or Aikido.
Some arts are too specialized that you can’t enjoy or appreciate it for day-to-days.
Depends.
For self-defence, you can’t really go wrong with any serious martial art though krav maga is really effective against untrained combatants if you have to fight, but in other situations where you can flee, the 100M sprint is best to ensure your survival. Krav maga is otherwise not recommended because it teaches a lot of techniques (like eye gouges) that are illegal in MMA.
For MMA, it’s best to go with wrestling, judo or brazilian jiu jitsu as a grapping martial art, and muay thai (a superior Thai form of kickboxing) as a striking martial art. Boxing can work but you’ll be limited to just punches. Other martial arts are inferior for their own reasons.
The school of Anything Goes Martial Arts!
Plus side is actual strong techniques.
Downside is irresponsible teachers, dangerous teaching practices and literal body dismorphia.
Swordfighting, because it looks super cool.
HEMA is fun as hell, because you get to hit people with swords/staves/axes and not hold back.
HEMA can also be rather unfun, because people get to hit you with swords, and while the armor and helmets are good, they’re also expensive and don’t last forever. They also don’t cover everything, and don’t do much against wrestling moves.
But you get to hit people with swords
^ This
I’ve been doing long sword fencing/HEMA since the late 90’s. (Back when it was unnamed, then became HACA, etc…) I friggin love a good swordfight.
In all that time, I’ve only broken one finger bone; plus three or four knuckles; …and one time I got stabbed in the eye hard enough for the shinai to hit the back of my eye socket (wear your masks, kids!).
Would still do it all over again. 10/10 for fun.
The best self defense technique is only taught through one school. It has been referred to by different names over the millenia though. The crazy thing is, it is super simple and easy to pick up. Of course I’m referring to the ancient art of Run-fu (or Run Foo!). It has also been called Tae-Kwan-Go or Jiu-Sprintsu.
In all seriousness though, what are you hoping to gain? All around self defense? Exercise? Train for a street fight with “rules” (like spectators will stand you up the moment it goes to the ground)?
Joseph Joestar-ass school
nigerundayo, smokey!
If you could only be an expert in one and average at the rest, it’s wrestling because of the ability you would have to control your opponent. If I could pick a second it would be Mauy Thai as striking is obviously important
I have a black belt in a mixed martial art focused on self defense in the real world, of which one of the primary pillars is “never be on the ground”.
Wrestling is excellent for subduing a single opponent, but is not suited for dealing with multiple attackers. You can be the world’s greatest wrestler and perfectly lock your opponent out, but it doesn’t help you when his buddy comes and kicks you in the back of your head.
We assume that in any self defense encounter you will need to defend yourself against more than one person.
As a former wrestler who also did some kung fu, I mostly agree. The only styles I’d generally have more trouble with (against someone of comparable skill) are ones where they focus on grappling ,throws, and floor moves. Especially jujitsu, but also judo and aikido.
You would destroy a high level aikido black belt. Wrestling (and BJJ/judo) is way more effective. Speaking as a low level aikido black belt.
What’s you definition of “best” in this context? For serious, real-world ass kicking, I’d look into Krav Maga… but most of us aren’t mercenaries. If you’re looking for something more well rounded, FunkyMonk and qyron seem to have better suggestions.
I nearly searched “FunkyMonk, martial art” after reading your comment.
I don’t consider it “real” martial arts but I learned MCMAP in the Marine Corps and a lot of those skills are very relevant for self defense and quickly disabling an opponent. The tan belt stuff isn’t great but if you go up in belts you learn a lot more and it gets really fun if you’re into it.
MMA. It’s interesting to go back and watch early UFC fights. The fighters back then specialized in one style so you would see these crazy matches like Tae-Kwon-Do versus a sumo wrestler or something. I remember a boxer going up against a BJJ fighter and getting his ass handed to him. There were some really lopsided matches with BJJ fighters or wrestlers.
Back then, they didn’t wear gloves and it was billed as “no holds barred”. I think the only rules were no biting or eye gouging. The matches were bonkers. There was one where some little dude was fighting a big guy and basically punched him in the balls like 20 times until he couldn’t stand.
Over the first couple dozen events, you can see the styles start to blend into what became modern MMA. The wrestlers were taking up boxing. The strikers were learning some ground skills. It was several events in when a boxer was demonstrating an ability to evade BJJ takedowns with a sprawl move.
Early MMA fights are the only thing I can think of where you can witness the evolution of a new martial art that’s practical and combat-tested. You see weaknesses in styles and fighters who respond by adding a new move. You see what works and then other fighters start copying. Eventually, it blends together into modern MMA.
Your first mention seems to indicate the BJJ fighters won when matched with boxers.
But later you say wrestlers took up boxing, and that boxers demonstrated the about to avoid BJJ takedowns.
Am I reading that wrong? What was the typical outcome in BJJ vs boxer?
The BJJ fighters beat the shit out of boxers. The first PPV event was insanity. It was like the Street Fighter video game in real life. It was a one day tournament where they kept fighting until there was a champion. Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock were the only guys who could really do well against any other fighting style. Jim Brown was doing color commentary and was at a complete loss for words during the fight where some little karate dude repeatedly bashed his opponent’s balls. It was absolute insanity.
Gracie was basically unbeatable and Shamrock was always in contention too. I think he won once or twice in the early years. Nobody knew how to deal with them because they would take opponents down and beat them on the ground. But I remember this one boxer dude came back a couple years later with a sprawl move. That was the first time I ever saw it in UFC. He was avoiding takedowns and getting strikes in. Most fighters were doing it not long after and the fighting really started to evolve. Then it became a mix of striking, takedowns and ground game. Even the BJJ and wrestling guys were forced to evolve.
What is best? Best for physical exercise? Best for real world fighting?
I got weinie arms and Tae Kwon Do was mostly kicking so I enjoyed it for that and just the stretching and general exercize.
There are no “best” martial arts. What you will find is that each martial art style has some kind of figurehead who can demonstrate how effective it is, but in reality it’s the fighter not the style that’s effective.
For the physical fitness, Muay Thai.
It is also effective for a self defense context, if the trainer teaches non-sport Muay Thai. Muay Thai is essentially street fighting.
For self control and development of balance, speed and coordenation, try Aikido.
