take muay thai. Once you get nice at that, then take boxing. A kick to the neck has to be one of the easiest ways to knock someone out. A knee to the ribs has to be one of the quickest ways to end a fight. And lemme tell you, elbows to the face has be the coolest way to f*ck someone up
Best ground: take wrestling. you can take bjj as well, but for practicality, wrestling has better takedowns, and you’ll learn all your chokes.
And honestly, if you get into street fights, you don’t want to stand there and have a martial arts duel, you wanna kick your assailant in the nuts, get him on the ground and stomp his face, then rinse and repeat on his buddies.
Btw, street fights are also a good way to get yourself killed. When you start taking whatever martial arts you choose, you’ll realize from training that getting into a street fight is one of the dumbest things you can do.
Muay that teaches you great hand skills. The difference between muay thai and traditional boxing, is the fact that there are kicks and knees in muay thai.
A muay thai boxer has to keep his hands at his temples at all times in order to block knock out kicks to the head, unlike traditional boxers, who don’t have to keep their hands as high because they dont have to worry about kicks.
Thai boxers also can’t do as much dancing and dodging as traditional boxers. If a thai boxer tries to duck a punch, he’s gonna get a knee to his face. If a thai boxer tries to back step out of an incoming punch, hes gonna back up into kicking range and get a knockout kick to the neck.
If a thai boxer tries to roll with a punch, he may end up looking at a follow up elbow. These three dodgin techniques are common for boxers and muay thai can neutralize them each. And a boxers hand skills doesn’t mean squat if hes caught in the clinch and doesnt know what to do.
I dunno if you have watched many muay thai fights, or events like K-1 fighting, but these guys are muay thai gods, and a majority of their fights end with punching knock outs.
I’m not knocking boxing, boxing will absolutely get you that explosive energy you need to make punches fly outta nowhere, but it has its flaws when up against other stand up styles. Thai boxing covers most of those flaws. So basically, if you train muay thai you will have GREAT hand skills.
I’m looking for a martial art that’s practical for self-defense. I want to defend myself effectively… ideally, I want to subdue an attacker but not be forced to seriously injure him or break any bodyparts.
I’m also looking for a martial arts to help keep me in shape as well as help motivate me in lifting. I just got done taking a Judo class for college credit and loved it for several reasons.
First, I’ve never been the physically aggressive type (I’m naturally happy-go-lucky and an even happier drunk) so it was nice to throw and to feel the thrill of being thrown. Second, sparring is a fun form of cardio - by the time I’m done I’m sweating my ass off and gasping for air… sorta like when I get done with my sprinting sessions. Third, I like Judo because I can actually compete in national competitions.
I hope that clarified where I’m coming from. Any help is much appreciated.
I liked Krav Maga. Most of it is based on a few simple moves and it has a nice mixture of striking, ground fighting, and dirty moves. Just make sure that you get a chance to do full contact sparring with guys who are bigger/better/stronger than you.
[quote]pienmash wrote:
systema and krav manga, tried systema, was top class, simple to learn and effective for street defence[/quote]
Have you done any research on RMAX? Scott Sonnon is in my opinion far superior to Vasiliev. Straight Blast Gym also has one of the best and easiest to learn fighting system I’ve seen.
Ok, after reading your last post, I really think it is necessary for you to get some full contact sparring. Anyone who you are going to be fighting with WILL be trying to hurt you(possibly in some really sadistic fashion too) and you can’t be afraid of hurting him.
to people that replied to my post, should you learn some form of ground fighting? OF COURSE, but this guy asked for ONE martial art, and in real world applications fights start on the feet, and people close into clinches almost instantly, and its usually out numberd. now i dont know what sort of fighting skills you have but if you are good at muay thai you can disable 4 guys that dont have any fighting training in a few seconds, the guy that clinches with you, you knee him in the face and hes out, then his buddies get some kicks, even a leg kick to an untrained person could break their leg, and at the very least they wouldnt be able to walk
if you learned a ground fighting art your going to get killed in a real world fight with more than one person, ever had a chair across your back or head? it doesnt feel very nice. if you get to the ground you stand up r ight away and dont be bound by any sort of rule set, you kick or knee them in the face if they are on the ground to keep them down.
but back to the poster if you like judo and want to take it, more power to you! you should be able to defend yourself against a much bigger opponent without too much problems. just walk/run away from multi opponent fights
oh and for the person that said getting in street fights is dumb? its one of the best ways to hone your fighting, no holds barred fights for survival tend to bring out elements of yourself you didnt know you had. id rather “spar” only with street fighting then be forced to do 30000 katas every day looking in a mirror or non full contact sparring with some guy in your dojo
I’ve done martial arts all my life and Krave is the most practical. No bullshit, plus you get to hit the bags alot. The Krava center they have in los angeles has a fight class with gear and everything. Really tough and rough class, but the best way to learn how to fight is to fight with some kind of contact.
If you want to miss with some of that Gracie stuff that’s good too. You can get really good in about a year. The only drawback is the training is really challenging. I didn’t like all the rolling around with some sweaty fat guy on me.
So my recomendation is Krava. If only they have “fight” classes at your center.
Krav Maga is an excellent martial art, however the form they teach to civilians isn’t the same as the type they teach to the israeli military and such. However, even with what they teach you at the civilian level it is an excellent martial art.
Combat Hapkido is imo one of the best martial arts out there. It is relatively new but once you’re proficient at it you’ll be able to disable someone in a matter of seconds. The entire system is based around the idea that in a real life situation, you shouldn’t give your opponent time. Therefore, it teaches you how to distract, disable and (if need be - you are positive that this person is trying to kill you etc) kill within 8 seconds. The white belt curriculum is kind of boring, but once you get into the higher belts you begin to see how truly effective this martial art is. They also teach you how to fight with weapons, and fight against modern weapons. The concepts are based off of leverages and the human anatomy just like many of the other practical martial arts. Just as a means to show how credible it is, it’s taught to certain branches of the military.
Sento, Wing Chun, Muay Thai and some of the other martial arts mentioned here are also pretty excellent. In my opinion, if you are going to take one martial art - take combat hapkido, sento, krav maga or wing chun. If you have the time to take multiple martial arts, and are really interested in it -take an excellent striking martial art like Muay Thai, and compliment it with a grappling martial art like bbj or a martial art that manipulates the anatomy like aikido.
[quote]Magarhe wrote:
buddhabellybum wrote:
Hey Guys,
I want to start learning a martial art for several reasons: gives me motivation to train, I’ll have competitions to take part in, and in case I get into any scraps, I can defend myself.
I’m thinking either Judo or Jiu-Jitsu - they seem to be the most popular and they spend a lot of time sparring. I love the philosophy behind Aikido but it seems impractical for me to learn a martial art that has no sparring whatsoever.
before you go train at a school make sure to observe a class, see how they train, see if they actually spar with their techniques and ask them how much they spar, if you are looking for an art for self defense i would probably reccommend muay thai and maybe some bjj to give you some strategy if you ever go to the ground.
Judo is excellent for self defense, but remember to observe the class and IMO stay away from most traditional arts, I have done Choy Li Fut, wing chun, aikido, taekwondo, and even hapkido at my taekwondo school and from my experience most of the time and money i spent learning these arts was a waste of time. A list of arts that i would reccomend:
Muay thai
BJJ
Judo
boxing
kyokhusin karate
you get the point and also if you have a straight blast gym in your area that would be your best bet at any effective self defense training.
Lots of good replies but here’s my opinion.I would suggest boxing first because unlike most martial arts, you are getting hit from day one. I don’t care how hard you can hit,chances are you will get smacked (ever been sucker punched?).
So you’d better be able to shake off a shot. As far as kicks go, I wouldn’t kick any higher than groin level on the street.It leaves you off balance and wide open. Muay Thai leg kicks work wonders especially when directed at the knee.
Knee and elbow strikes are effective for close range standup grappling. I agree that you should stay off the ground in a street fight but if you find yourself in that position,you’d better have some grappling techniques in your arsenal.
Some training in stick and knife combatives would serve you well. Sorry that I couldn’t come up with “one” art but crosstraining is the key here.
krav maga isnt a martial art, its a self denfese system, and they are basically survive at all costs sorta attacks, a krav maga expert against someone like a muay thai or bjj or judo expert would get taken out really fast, they try to cover alot of different things in krav maga, and you end up learning a bit of everything, by no means is it even near military level
and even if it was, military personel get destroyed in one on one hand to hand fights with experienced martial artists ( that train in a decent art) i know chuck liddel and someone else teaches the american army some hand to hand fighting
anyways i still suggest muay thai, or boxxing or some other form of striking if you are going to pick only one art
if you have time to learn two everntually pick up wrestling or bjj or some ground fighting to balance yourself off
some places actually teach “MMA” which they hit on a bit of a bunch of arts and round you off really well, if you can find a place like that aruond your parts youll learn all sorts of striking moves and take downs and defences and ground fighting
[quote]john-lennon wrote:
oh and for the person that said getting in street fights is dumb? its one of the best ways to hone your fighting, no holds barred fights for survival tend to bring out elements of yourself you didnt know you had. id rather “spar” only with street fighting then be forced to do 30000 katas every day looking in a mirror or non full contact sparring with some guy in your dojo[/quote]
My question is, are you still going to think this AFTER you get stabbed in the leg and abdomen, or beat into hospitalization by about 3 guys?
street fighting is the most real fighting there is, and will hone your skills, if you know how to fight half decently you can disarm some drunk with a knife, its not really hard, most people weild knives like they are swords and leavethemselves wide open and off balance.
and whats to say that some guy doesnt try to mug you with a knife? or comes up and stabs you for no reason? you should have fought in situations like those before so you know how to react and not freakout
I like what this staff sergeant says about hand-to-hand combat training.
Staff Sergeant Matt Larsen, Instructor 4th Ranger Training Battalion:
“Face it, people in america want to learn to be in the Kung-Fu movies. You’ve got people all over the United States today, who are training in systems that they think area absolutely real. For instance you have people training in knife fighting, all over the country. Now what do you the odds are: He’s got a knife, I’ve got a knife, we both know we have knives and we’re fighting. In real life it’s not west-side story. It’s not really what happens. If I’ve gotta knife, I’m never gonna let him know. If he’s gotta knife and I don’t… I’m probably going to leave. So. you know, to back up to reality, you’ve got to know what’s a winnable situation and what’s not.”
You can always defend yourself on your feet, everyone can punch, but on the ground if your clueless, it’s a becomes a matter of seconds. I’m no fight expert or anything, but in a one-on-one real fight I would go for a ground and pound.
