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Hey guys hopefully you can help me. I'm completely new to martial arts, been interested for a while, finally decided to take the plunge. Doing a little research, which by the way is hard as hell given all the personal bias, I'm having a little difficulty coming up with some answers to some questions. Also I post here because I believe my answer might be to simply mix styles. This is kind of a two part question.
Ultimately I'm looking for something that is as close to an all inclusive style as possible. Something that blends stand up fighting in all ranges and ground work. I've found the appeal of alot of styles but unless I miss my mark is lacking something in one place or another. Add to this my natural indecisiveness and you've got yourself a confused new guy thats looking at plenty of paths... but no idea which one to take.
First Part:
I do have some goals and thoughts in mind that perhaps you guys could interpret as what I might be looking for. First I don't expect to get into fights, but expecting doesn't mean won't. I might find myself getting threatened with a knife or a gun, or a beating. I need an art(s) that teaches me how to punch, kick, use elbows, knees, headbutts, joint manipulation, pressure points, takedowns, defense against weapons and all that because these things are useful I think because I don't know how to do any of these in the first place. Something versatile.
Second I'd like a martial art that teaches me some ground work simple enough.
Third something practical that can translate well to defending myself outside.
Fourth something that has good physical fitness and conditioning benefits while doing it.
Fifth though not quite as important having a competiton or sport aspect to it. It would simply be fun to do, a learning experience and a form of self discovery to see weak spots.
Yeah I know that self defense and sport don't go together and from what I read alot of things from a self defense class can't be used in sport and some things in sport won't be expected in self defense.
Here are the arts that I'm interested in , in one particular order. Some of my choices are whats in the area also.
1. BJJ or JJJ
2. Bando
3. Ninjutsu ( why is one you ask? There is a guy offering it free where I live now, whos actually the first rung of black sash and there is a school in Dallas, Tx that offers it that I might be moving to. It seems interesting the stuff thats taught which looks like survival stuff with a martial arts core.)
4. HKD
5. TKD
6. MMA? ( I have the Q-mark there because I see some MMA schools teach you a bunch of stuff all at once from different places so maybe that might be an answer?)
If you guys have any suggestions I'm definately open. Oh and no flame wars heh.
Second Part:
1. How do I tell a legitamate school?
2. When going to these schools I see some require contracts and such is this normal? Do all martial arts do this? What do these contracts invovle?
3. How often can I attend classes or show up or private lessons or just to work out. I'm sure this depends on the school but just curious to know from a personal point of view. I don't have alot of money so if I can get more for the money that has some considerable weight to it.
4. Anything else I need to consider.
Anyway thanks for reading this and if you can answer some of these questions I'd really appreciate it.
Ultimately I'm looking for something that is as close to an all inclusive style as possible. Something that blends stand up fighting in all ranges and ground work. I've found the appeal of alot of styles but unless I miss my mark is lacking something in one place or another. Add to this my natural indecisiveness and you've got yourself a confused new guy thats looking at plenty of paths... but no idea which one to take.
First Part:
I do have some goals and thoughts in mind that perhaps you guys could interpret as what I might be looking for. First I don't expect to get into fights, but expecting doesn't mean won't. I might find myself getting threatened with a knife or a gun, or a beating. I need an art(s) that teaches me how to punch, kick, use elbows, knees, headbutts, joint manipulation, pressure points, takedowns, defense against weapons and all that because these things are useful I think because I don't know how to do any of these in the first place. Something versatile.
Second I'd like a martial art that teaches me some ground work simple enough.
Third something practical that can translate well to defending myself outside.
Fourth something that has good physical fitness and conditioning benefits while doing it.
Fifth though not quite as important having a competiton or sport aspect to it. It would simply be fun to do, a learning experience and a form of self discovery to see weak spots.
Yeah I know that self defense and sport don't go together and from what I read alot of things from a self defense class can't be used in sport and some things in sport won't be expected in self defense.
Here are the arts that I'm interested in , in one particular order. Some of my choices are whats in the area also.
1. BJJ or JJJ
2. Bando
3. Ninjutsu ( why is one you ask? There is a guy offering it free where I live now, whos actually the first rung of black sash and there is a school in Dallas, Tx that offers it that I might be moving to. It seems interesting the stuff thats taught which looks like survival stuff with a martial arts core.)
4. HKD
5. TKD
6. MMA? ( I have the Q-mark there because I see some MMA schools teach you a bunch of stuff all at once from different places so maybe that might be an answer?)
If you guys have any suggestions I'm definately open. Oh and no flame wars heh.
Second Part:
1. How do I tell a legitamate school?
2. When going to these schools I see some require contracts and such is this normal? Do all martial arts do this? What do these contracts invovle?
3. How often can I attend classes or show up or private lessons or just to work out. I'm sure this depends on the school but just curious to know from a personal point of view. I don't have alot of money so if I can get more for the money that has some considerable weight to it.
4. Anything else I need to consider.
Anyway thanks for reading this and if you can answer some of these questions I'd really appreciate it.
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