What martial arts do you think are jokes when it comes to self-defense?

Question

Not dogging anyone's style myself, but I want to know what people think about other styles. I'll appreciate the input.

Answer 1

any style that has flashy moves, as these might look cool but dont do any damage.

any style that depends on ground fighting to be effective. There may be an argument that most fights end up on the ground. that is due to people either taking them to the gorund or not knowing what theyre doing. if youre going to defend yourself in a dark alley, you probably don't want to roll around on broken bottles and rusty cans.

Any variations of a style that take the fighting part out. tai chi is effective. old people just doing tai chi to keep their joints from seizing up are not effective.

Any style where you fight for points is not effective. karate is effective. sport karate with pads that involves getting points for touching the other guy's pads with your gloves is not effective.

"self esteem" styles where you get a belt for punching the air and showing up for class are not effecive. your steet opponent isn't going to stroke your ego and make you feel good about your yellow belt that you got for paying your fees and showing up to class for 3 months. When i trained on a regular basis, self esteem was the result of training all month to get that kata correct or from throwing your opponent around, not something that was given to you when you walked in.

ninjutsu, as it is taught by phony ninja instructors across the US. that is a bunch of BS.

any style that pretends that they can make chi into rays or bombs or whatever else and throw it at the enemy. that is pretend. keep your chi flowing through your body where it belongs.

I belive that covers it pretty well.

Answer 2

you can't really answer that. McDojos aside and individual instructors every martial art came from a self defence discipline, so all have merits, because they worked. That said some ignore certain aspects. You've got to ask yourself exactly why you want to defend yourself over learning a martial art and why it's number one on your list. Do you live in a rough area, do you get in trouble a lot? A great deal of martial artists take up their disciplines because it gives lots of benefits, and self defence though one of them isn't always top of the list.

That said there are a couple that deliberately tone down or leave out certain aspects of fighting that may come up if you had to defend yourself. Some people argue that most street fights end up on the ground or grappling, so Judo and such would be more adept than say karate and taekwondo that focus more on striking. Aikido may be useful for single attackers but relies on them attacking first. Multiple opponents is taught by very few schools and then not realistically.

Personally I wouldn't "dog" anyone's style. My own is taekwondo which I've been doing about a year now. I recognise it is weak on holds and throws and that high kicks may be impractical in a street fight. But I'm not planning to get in any street fights and my style of ITF does focus heavily on blocks and hand strikes that are faster than the traditional kicks, so I wouldn't be helpless if anything happened.

Answer 3

I would have to say that the style that sucks is the one you either don't enjoy being part of, or don't bother to put effort into. Any style can be fun and rewarding if you put in the time and effort and it fits your tastes. I did Kempo myself and loved it. I don't see where Tai Chi really fits as a 'joke' when it comes to this question, a lot of it is more mental discipline and not a hardcore self-defense style as most people use it. Personally the only thing I ever used Kempo on was a punching bag and cement bricks (which is really a lot of fun) but so far...nothing has ever hit me back.

Hope it helps.

Answer 4

It depends. For example, defense against what? All of these arts developed before guns were invented, so none of them work against bullets.

Often also it depends on the class. Some classes will be oriented to teach you the culture, history, and fitness, using a martial art form, but won't really be oriented toward actual defense. There are even branches of the same martial art (for instance Aikido), one of which incorporates competetion to judge and improve skills, and another branches which bans competition as not being 'on the true path'.

And with Tai Chi, it is more of an exercise that in itself I don't think is meant for defense, but can be used to limber and stretch and develop a person so they could be better at, for example, Kung Fu or other arts.

Answer 5

I agree with what JBoy has stated. Essentially, any martial art that you aren't willing to use despite learning it is useless.

I would further go on to say that some martial arts are more like sports and train for competition rather than for self defense. Point sparring is notorious for this, since the participant is training in how not to hit, as to not cause much harm to the opponent.

Other than that, I would say that those who think Tai Chi Chuan is not a valid martial art obviously have never encountered somebody proficient in it. The reason it is trained slowly is due to the many health benefits discovered AFTER it was already a developed martial art. Along with that, there are no basic moves to it in which to train, thus, it is taught at a slow pace. Heck, the rough translation is "Grand Supreme Fist".

Also, to Sensei Rob, I don't know how many kung fu practitioners you have encountered or how proficient they were, but most Chinese martial arts (grouped collectively under the umbrella "kung fu" - I won't get into semantics) are complete systems that teach striking, in-fighting, grappling, ground fighting, short, long, and projectile weapons, and have been the basis for many other systems of martial arts. This in itself makes it ideal for street fighting, since you have many options at your disposal.
It seems to me the popularity of mixed martial arts has grown since there are so many systems that are not complete...

In closing, I will just say that different systems suit different people based on physique, attitude, and many other factors. There is no ultimate style over another, otherwise, we would all be practicing that one style. I have seen TKD guys beat the daylights out of BJJ guys, I have seen Ishin-Ryu guys get their a$$es handed to them by kung fu guys, I have seen Aikido guys tear apart Muy Thai guys, and I have seen several combinations of everything in between.

Does this prove the effectiveness of the system, or the effectiveness of the fighter using it?

Answer 6

Good name by the way but,,,, TO be honest and to the other people you dont fight in tai chi, hope that makes u smarter.

Taekwondoe - they going to kick me like the olympics? lol

Akkido- i would like you to block all my attacks what a joke seriously akkido is one of the most crap i have ever seen

Krav Maga- someone said this in a post and it looked sooo dumb, its almost pure logic fighting. so if someone says they take this that means that they have a good workout once in awhile.

American Karate - its all for competition just like TKD, what a joke

Ninjitsu - if we are using weapons then its ok, but other than that u get waisted. flipping is total bullcrap, most of you havnt seen what happends to a person who get shoved in mid air.but if we are actually bringing weapons to a fight i might as well bring a shotty.

Sumo - Completly sport if u say you sumo wrestle i dont think u can win fights any better for sure.

Alot of bull crap martial arts for real self defense. no offense to these martial arts except American Karate i still dont believe in that garbage, its pretty much looking at Taekwondoe and muay thai magazines and combining what you found in 1 hour. i could make american karate class easy. watch i can get u started,

Hammer kick , upper elbow going up, lower elbow going down, right kiayea!!!! punch, left kiYAHH!! , stomach kick, right and left elbow, teach them all the throws i can figure out from 10 secound videos of the internet. The jab that i can figure. right knee left knee. open hand punches, karate chops lol, and teach them "proper form" so much b.s u can make, if everyone read that in america i would get sued for shutting %98 of the american dojos down only %2 survived because of loyal students. If u are a black belt in american karate i am sorry about the 3 days u waisted earning that but i truly have no respect for you fighting then a healthy bum off the street. sorry,, it probably took 2 years instead of 3 days to earn that, still i dont even respect the time u spent, i respect people i see in the gym more than... all of u who take this and are wanting a workout out of what u are doing. Come on seriously this is like teaching u how to put a hamburger on a bun with your elbow. Hope u liked it because now u should go spend your money on more important things instead of spending a few G's a year on this crap, what a joke. If u take this and weigh the same as me and want to fight me, go ahead ill show you what you should have taken lol.

Hope u get the idea of why some are actually useless for self defense

Answer 7

i think people have to be a little more realistic when it comes to what they want out of the art.. a lot of people take karate and tkd thinking they'll learn how to kick some crack..

but what the instructors fail to tell them is that it takes at least a year to become proficient in the art, well enough to use it in a self defense situation...

therefore i put the fault on the instructor not on the art..

and for the people who dog taijiquan.. it's a gross misconception to say that taijiquan is just for exercise and stretching, do your homework before commenting on something that's foreign to you.... in fact taijiquan is the third oldest martial art in the world..... preceded by suay jou and hsing-i.....

i'm a taijiquan practioner and although it takes an while to begin to use it combatively, those soft, meditative, flowing movements as it turns out disquise what is probably one of the most brutal and just plain mean martial arts in the world... it's actually a very cruel and just intentionally brutal arts, and i come from a combative kickboxing and grappling background.. at least in grappling the person gives you a chance to tap, in taijiquan its like here's your elbow, swipe, now it's gone... no chances... it's awesome once you get into the combative end!

however i'm realistic and for someone who wants to learn self defense and not take 10 years to do it, i'd suggest kickboxing, boxing, krav maga, or the rat system.. taijiquan is more of a martial art than a combative defense...

that's just my opinion... ; )

Answer 8

It seems to me the worst main art for actual self defense is Kung-Fu. It's a beautiful art and very hard to learn, but has been changed too much down through the years to be practicle anymore.
Some people are saying Tai-Chi, it's not a combat art at all and shouldn't be put in this group. Tai-Chi is for excerxise and stretching. It's used to get blood flowing to all parts of your body for health reasons, and in that it is very effective.
Tae-Kwon-Do is not very effective either. It relise too much on fancy kicking and not enough of punches and locks. In a real fight, my feet are not leaving the ground!
I like Karate and Judo for the first stage (standing) of a street fight, If you can't get control of the situation while standing, and you should, the I would say Brazilian Ju-Jitsu for grappling.

Answer 9

Any americanized or converted martial art. They are of for staying fit but more for sports tahn killing which unfortunatly everyone forgets is the art of the martial. Americanized kick boxing, or the Kararte schools that are a mixture of karate and taekwando. IE karate-doe. Sorry but shotokan karate can not be made stronger by taking its most effective punching skills and replacing them with weak taekwan-do kicks. not that taekwan-do doesn't have strong kicks. Instructors tend to make it easier in return taking away the stronger more advnced and mixign it making it crap. It took me years to get to a third degree(not belt system) and i see these people getting there brown belt in 3 years or less. Thats retarded and heinous. Its all american bullshido.

Answer 10

Hey man,

If you want a really great number of opinions on this by people who are into the arts than join this forum and check it out. It is not heavily moderated so you get some pretty hilarious opinions. But also ther are good opinions by skilled practitioners and so I say give this a whirl. I don't really think any martial arts are bad. It is usually the person who is doing it who is a joke

The Site is Called: Bullshido! American Ju- Jitsu!

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=77




http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=77