J, they ALL have something to offer. You, and you alone dictate how effective your style will be.
Find yourself a knowledgeable and personable tutor; someone who’s in it for the sake of the art. That’ll make or break your experience.
DI
This is not a subject I know much about. Though when I was looking around for info on Judo I came across this site and it seems pretty good.
Might help if you don’t know it already
I just wanted to read about them and what each one promotes, i.e. close combat, kicking over hitting, grappling, pressure points, etc. That way I could narrow it down and not waste my time with a style that I don’t like.
Oh, and just cuz you said so, you are one crazy motha asian!!
JWright what is that you are trying to accomplish in martial arts? Do want to be in a movie or do want to learn how to fight or defend yourself. I think that is the best way to approach this if you want to fight try mauy tai,BBJ ect.
now, if you want to be in the movies you need more fun stuff like Wushu, Capeida(sp) take-kwan do ect. I know you probably know this.
Also a lot instructors now of these days do teach hybrids of diffrent martial arts combine with one of them being the main focus or martial art. Ask the instructor on what they teach,
Doesn’t Kempo Karate include the punch and kicks and what not plus grappling and throws?
I’ve got a book sitting here called the martial arts encyclopedia which is a good reference for different martial arts. I would recommend that you head down to your local library and see if they’ve got a copy of it.
Other than that just pick up the yellow pages and ask to go down and watch some classes, like Patricia said, if they won’t let you watch forget about them. Some clubs make it out like it’s a big secret they can’t let you in on but it’s a load of crap. . .
I personally think that if all you want to do is learn to kick some ass take either Judo or wrestling and boxing. Nothing will make you as dangerous as quickly as that combo.
Remember too, like Mud Dog said to pic something that works for you. If you’re not willing to break someone’s arm don’t bother learning. If you’re not willing to hit someone don’t bother learning. Make certain to pick something that works for your body too. If you’re short and stocky then Judo and wrestling will work very well for you, if you can’t touch your toes you might want to forget about high kicks (which personally I think are useless anyway but. . .)
Hope that didn’t muddy the waters too much. . .
STU
Naw Stu, that made sense. I’m fairly flexible, i.e. palms almost all the way on the floor with legs straight. I do want to learn how to kick serious ass, but I want it to be a disciplined ass whoopin. I hope that made sense. I like the discipline of martial arts, with the ass whooping skills of judo, grappling, boxing and muay thai. This is why I think I’m going to do a hybrid, as you suggested Stu.
if you want to learn how to fight some sort of submission fighting (brazilian jiu jitsu, russian sambo, even jdo, or something similar) plus a striking art (muay thai, some style of kickboxing, etc.) is a good combination.
if you want to learn and have fun, then anything’s probably fine.
as people have suggested, go to some places you think you might be interested in and watch. or better yet, take a free class. nearly any respectable place will let you take a trial class.
I tried a few sesions of Aikido around a year ago, didn’t like it much. What I was looking for was an art with a quick leanring curve and with applications in the real world (being able to defend myself, and to be able to beat someone as badly as I want). A few months ago I started Muay Thai Kickboxing, and this fills the desire perfectly. Kicking, punching, knees and elbows are all used.
I do wish it had more sparring, so I can learn to box properly, but this may be my specific gym.
It just gets more and more fun as I learn more and become more competant and powerful.
Hope this helps somewhat.
Bruce Lee left Wing Chun before he’d learned half of it - perhaps IF he’d stayed with it and IF he were alive today he’d be a formiddable master - but what use are IFs?
Wong Shun Leung could always beat him easily but how many people have heard of him?
If you are lucky enough to have the chance to take Hapkido, (since the studios are hard to find) I would say go for it. The art is very well rounded and there is a wide range of things you would learn.
The kicking and punching make it seem a lot like Karate or Taekwondo.
The wrist and joint locks are very similar to Aikido. Its many throwing techniques cause it to look like Judo. Grappling and escapes appear similar to Jujutsu. Traditional weapon techniques look similar to Kobudo. Hapkido includes all these different techniques in the single art because it is a self-defense martial art. -
*Techniques practiced in hapkido:
Joint locks
Throws
Kick catches
Chokes
Sweeps and take downs
Kicking and striking
Circular blocks
Pressure points and skin grabs
Falls
Meditation
Traditional weapons techniques
Offensive and defensive techniques practiced in various situations- standing, sitting, jumping and laying
I took Hapkido for 4 years and I’m glad I did. Now that I am getting into Law Enforcement I realize that everything I learned back in the day could actually be used if I were to get into trouble. Without a doubt I would take Hapkido again if I had the chance, but unfortunately the nearest studio for me is 50 miles away. 
just curious…
being formidable in wing chun means…what?
It means you can beat on a wooden dummy with regularity.
I’m getting in a little late on this thread, but wanted to chime in. If you have a chance and there’s a studio in your area, check out a Korean style called Kuk Sool Wan. It encompasses many of the elements that have been mentioned here. Very fun and effective martial art. Lots of internal work as well as external.
oop, sorry, misspelled:
Kuk Sool Won
JWright -
First, I think you recognize that to be effective, you must train standing, clinching and grappling. From what I’ve seen, this should draw extensively from Muay Thai, Boxing, Wrestling (Greco & Freestyle) and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Watch some Pride FC and UFC, see what works and interests you, and find out what is available in your area. There are schools that teach a well rounded style.
I would stay away from anything that emphasizes katas and tradition MORE than contact sparring and real world effectiveness. JKD is about throwing out that which does not work.
Muay Thai, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu jitsu. Chose between those three or train all of them at once. You will be a bad-ass soon. Fancy techniques are useless and do not work, as you will eventually learn when sparring full contact.
Hapkido, Aikido, wushu and most other artform are beautiful to watch but mostly ineffective. Check the early U.F.C and see the results for yourself. It doesn’t get any more simpler then that.
Good luck!!
Sakuraba - I love the UFC and Pride fighting and K-1!! It’s so cool to watch the clash of different styles.
I don’t really care to learn weapons form, but I think it would be just an added bonus. If the school that I like doesn’t teach it, then I don’t really care. I’m much more interested in learning to fight and grapple rather than learn the swan or crane styles (just an example)
This is great. Any more martial artists out there?
sorry, but ive read just about everything there is to read about bruce lee, and bruce lee was the epitome of master. i mean have we ever seen anyone that has come close to bruce lees speed and power, no, not even close. people say, he would get beat in a ufc event, i ask you, to rent “enter the dragon” and watch the very very beginning of it. where bruce made the guy tap, yes tap, this was the very first sight of a guy tapping out. bruce made the guy tap on the ground in an arm bar. bruce never had any intentions of rolling around on the ground for an hour in some stupid wrestling match. bruce did things that were truly remarkable, ever hear of the one inch punch, where he would put his fist only one inch from a person, and could knock the guy of his feet. this may sound made up, but it was well documented to be true. the guy trained with those electrode machines were he would put electrodes on his body and stimulate the muscles with one of those machines. nobody ever did that before. his hands were so strong, he could do two finger pushups with one hand. if you think its easy, just try it. by the way, in the movies when he used to make a fist and you could hear his knuckles snapping, he could actually do that, his fingers and forearms were so strong. remember, he was a master and teacher long before he ever made a movie.
I own Enter the Dragon. It’s a movie. Most of the shit in movies is fake. I do believe Bruce Lee’s one inch punch was great, and so was his 3 inch punch, but so fucking what. He didn’t knock people off their feet, he basically knocked them into a chair or made them lose their balance. I’ve watched the A&E biography that includes this punch, and it shows a guy getting knocked into a chair, sitting in the chair incorrectly, then falling to the ground. Knocking someone off their feet entails their feet coming off the ground before their tail hits.
Please do not post on this thread again. You have ruined it for me.