Which martial arts do you i should choose?

[Ruffryder88]

Hey guys,

I am a 19 male, who has a about 6 week off from uni, and want to finally start doing some martial ats lessons. I am a total begibber, however, and i am not sure sure which one is right for me, so i was hoping that if i list what im looking to get out of it, then some of you could help me:

1) Something which helps me in the real world. So i can defend myself against attackers and handle myself in fight situations. This is my main consideration. I dont care so much about how it looks, but how much it will help me in real world fight situations, self-defence.

2) Something which is not to kicking based. I am very inflexible and would prefer something which relys more on upper body techyniques, but i am not averse to kicking.

3) Something that is not to obscure. I live in the UK, where the number of martial schools is less, so something quite mainstream is preferable.

4) Something that will improve my strenght and stamina.

5) anything else u guys thing is necessary.

I appreciate any answers, thank you!

Regards,
Bob

[m.artist]

well since u don't like kicking, don't do taekwondo, as it is primarily based on kicks. hmm...wel wing chun might be good for you, maybe boxing, or jj. the only time jj would not be effective on the street is if it's 1 on 2 or more people. there is always jeet kune do, kenpo,muay thai(but it has kicks, but they aren't that high, that way they are more effective) there is kali, and escrima. it just kinda depends on what u can handle. i hoped that helped

[Ruffryder88]

Thanx m.artisit.

What about karate(shotokan?) and kickboxing? There are a lot of schools near me, so that would be good.
When i say i dont want one with kicks, i dont mean i want to do one where there is no kicking (i would just do boxing then), but one where you dont have to rely on kicks, and you can handle yourself with just your fists and upperbody.

Thanks for all the replys!

Regards,
Bob

[duma20012001]

try brazilian jiu jitsu...... easy to learn.......practical and it wont give u a false sense of hope on how good u really are........ Its a art that u will see lil guys making powerlifting gym rats scream for mercy by tapping out.

Boxing is good but once the real life fight clinches then your pretty much on your own.

I would say stay away from these karate type arts cause your going to end up with a false sense of self defense....most of the moves they teach you are worthless unless the guy stand motionless in the fight.....

Jiu jitsu will give u the same full speed ahead movement u will see in a regular streetfight. It teaches u to control the oposing force when he is coming at u with all he has.

[anthonyDAninja]

Ninjutsu is by far the best.

[m.artist]

the only thing bad about shotokan is they rely to heavily on katas and very deep stances that u wouldn't normally use in real situations. but shotokan does have a very deeps sense of honor & pride and any art taken seriously can be affective. simple as that. but some arts get effective quicker then others. but all arts are affective at one point or another
i wouldn't do kickboxing unless it was muay thai..
but that's just me

[Untouchable]

Hi,

If I where you I would do Muay Thai(Thai boxing) It's a great art I would say is one of the most complete striking arts systems there is. You use your whole body by using your fists, elbows, knees and feet to defend yourself also it has a great workout, its easy to learn, effective, and you learn how to fight from the "clinch" which is an great advantange in a fight. Or you could do boxing. Its easy to learn, it's effective, nothing fancy, you don't have to kick, you'll be able to defend yourself alot better than the average joe who doesn't train at all in a relatively short time and on top of it all you'll get a great workout. You can also try BJJ(brazilian jiujitsu) which has all of the same advantages that I mentioned boxing had, but against multiple attackers you have less chance of winning than if you're a boxer.

I practice boxing/BJJ and they're great, but in your case I would chose boxing, learn the basics, train alot, get a good stamina, get some fast, accurate and hard hitting hands and that should prepare you quite well in a short time to be able to succesfully defend yourself. There's nothing better than to shut down an oponent with a fast flurry of punches without having to go to the ground looking for a submission. that's why I practice boxing, I use it as my primary tool in a fight. If it doesn't work then I use my BJJ

[blade_cs]

Ninjutsu is by far the best.

Of course, since:

1. Ninjas are mammals.

2. Ninjas fight ALL the time.

3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

http://www.realultimatepower.net/

[Ruffryder88]

Thanx for all the replies guys, u've given m a lot to think about!

By the sounds of it, i think i like the sound of muy thai kickboxing. Am i right in assuming that it is like kickboxing but with some more grappling elements? This sounds about what i am looking for, something which mainly "straight, basic" puches and kicks, but with some more traditional martial techniques as well.

I've heard BBJ is primarily grappling based, hwich is not what i am looking for at all. I guess im looking for a boxing based art, with some martial arts thrown in.

Does it sound like muy thai is for me?

Regards,
Bob

[Tommy DeVito]

muay thai has no grappling elements instead of knees in in clinch. You can say that its kickboxing with knees and elbows.

I think you should do wing tsun. it has some grappling elements and it most of the time uses punches.

[shadowkiller]

They dont have any ground grappling but they teach you a lot about the stand up side of grappling. Clinching, its very usefull because it often happens in real fights. They teach you body mechanics and how to balance yourself to take your opponent off balance.

So my opinion is go for MT as well. But it depends on how much you are going to do it for the 6 months. 6 months is usefull but it wont really be that usefull unless you train at least 2-3 times a week.

[RapidAssault16]

Krav Maga seems very practical in your opinion. I haven't trained formally in Krav Maga, but after seeing and speaking to my buddies who do it I think it's the best system in your case. There is a heavy emphasis on real-world fighting and weapons tactics as well as kickass forms of physical conditioning. They intersperse both the conditioning and the combative tactics very well and they prove efficient in a real fight. For example, there's this one drill (which is a killer btw) in which you hit the focus mitts for 30 seconds, run to the opposite end of the room...do 10 push ups...then run back to the focus mitts, punching all-out for 30 secs...and running back and repeating. It's a tough drill. The gun disarms are probably some of the best I've seen (Next to Defendu anyway). Hope this helps.

[Serrada]

I agree do Muay Thai if available. And yes whatever art you do choose make sure it does full contact boxing or kick boxing. I did American Kenpo and Shotokan Karate for about seven years then I moved and started taking Wing Chun. At this Wing Chun they did full contact kickboxing. When I started and was doing the kickboxing I was getting beat by people with one years experience in this Wing Chun with no other martial art experience. I felt like my seven years of karate was wasted without the more realism of the full contact aspect. Most importantly I learned how to take a punch and react to it without getting scared or frustrated. I have now evolved to Filipino Martial Arts and submission wrestling. Good luck with whatever you do. Also, Krav Mega is a good art, but make sure you do some full contact so you don’t get a false since of security. Good luck.