GIRL NEEDS HELPPPp PLEAE HELPP MEEE?

Question

im 17. ima girl. i am interested in taking kickboxing, tae kwon do, jui jitsu, judo, tai chi, dim mak and kung fu and jeetkune do and any other sorts of martial arts lessons. only im not sure which one i should choose, because due to my busy schedule i cant do all (obviously) i was wonderfin which one is most suitable for a girl to do especiall if im only 5 feet and dont weight much (110 pounds)
i want to learn how to fight like they do in the movies but also proitect myself...im not sure which one is the best.

Answer 1

kickboxing it's a for sure, but have you thought of capoeira? It would be PERFECT for you! I love it and it has everythign incluiding form all the things you want to do

Answer 2

Your best bet is to try out the class. If the class is worth anything you can at least observe the class first. The dedication of the students and the skill of the teacher and his/her ability to teach is key. That will probably take precedence over the art form. Movie martial arts are not real...a real fight doesn't go like that. Sorry.
For your size, Judo, ju jitsu would be fine. Depending upon the teacher, Tai chi can be good if taught as a fighting art (and that is what you want). Jeetkune do usually combines disciplines. If the instructor is good, then that would be good. Best of luck.

Answer 3

Since you're not big, go for brazilian jiu jitsu. It's a GREAT work out and you will have a lot of fun and opporunity to test out thing you learn pretty much everyday.

Muay Thai is also a very good style, most Thai fighters are small but they're known to deliver a nasty powerful blows.

If you want to be serious about martial arts, stay away from any gym that teach mystic stuff (Dim Mak, Kung Fu, Tai Chi) or sell you black belt. You need to find gym that spar/grapple hard, do live spar, pads work, bagwork, etc... If you end up stand in row and throw punch/kick at command, have to strap yourself in some weird suit of paddles before do non contact spar, etc... Then you better get out FAST!

So out of list you ask, the most realistic thing for you would be:
Muay Thai/kickboxing
juu jitsu
judo

You also may want to check out wrestling (yes your high school or college wrestling team!), Sambo, boxing, and few other styles.

Oh also stay away from any place that claim you don't need any power, strenght, or skill to be good fighter! A good gym would let you learn what you need on your own, they simply guide you and show you how to do thing and have you work on the technique.

Answer 4

Ok first off I have to repsond to one of the other answers on here. Kung Fu and Tai chi are not mystic arts, they are as serious as any of the other forms on here. Dim Mak is a technique and more of a movie misnomer than anything. Yes the Dim Mak exists, will you ever learn it, probably not. Why because that is something only known by a very select few individuals and they will only teach it again to a very select group of people. Now most Kung Fu or Tai chi classes will not have you sparring on your first night or for the most part on any subsequent night. The reason behind this is because they are going to spend a lot of time first teaching you the basics of the style to insure that when you do spar you understand the concepts behind what you are doing and that you are doing them properly to insure you don't hurt yourself.

If you ask me I would tell you to stay away from a school that will have you on the floor sparring within your first couple of weeks. There is no way you can learn what you need to learn to properly deliver punches, kicks, grapples or anything in such a short amount of time.

Do Kung Fu and Tai chi schools teach sparring and self defense of course they do but they are usually held on different nights or during later sessions than the main training session. Most forms of Kung fu and Tai chi have strikes, kicks,grappling and joint lock applications that are great for sparring, and defensive benefits. This is one of the great things about a true Kung Fu style is that you don't have to worry about studying a lot of different forms to pick different benefits. A person could study one style of Kung Fu their entire life and still not learn everything there was to master in the style. Does it hurt to study other forms, no not once you have a base understanding of your style so that you will not lose yourself in the two forms. A base understanding will probably take 2-3 years just to feel comfortable in the basics of the style.

Now with me saying that is no best martial art for a body style. That is something that your teacher will help you develop within the style showing you ways to use your size to gain advantage.

That being said I have to give some props to the chinese martial arts as most people on here seem to be leaning towards japanese and okinawan martial arts. Nothing wrong with them but it is also very hard to find and verify a good school as tae kwan do and karate schools tend to be a dime a dozen. Anyone that has studied a little bit and is very flexible can claim to be able to teach these arts. To find a true Kung fu school teacher is a little easier to decifer there are a number of things the teacher (SIfu) should be able to tell you.

1) If it is a proper Kung fu school the instructor should be referred to as Sifu.
2) They should be able to tell you their lineage and trace it back to the founding of the style.
3) They should be able to tell you if the style is northern (long attacks that cover a lot of distance) or southern (short tight stance work that stays in a relatively small area)
4) They should tell you if the form is hard (external) or soft (internal)
If the school cannot answer these questions or says that they teach all of the forms then walk away as they are not a traditional Kung Fu school


The final part of your question states you want to learn to fight like they do in the movies if you want to do that learn Wu Shu which is more theatrical and less practical than other forms of Kung Fu. A Wu Shu practioner will run across a stage to perform one high flying spin kick, though very showy this is not practical in a day to day situation.

Answer 5

Well, nothing in the movies is for real, ESPECIALLY the fighting. It is all choreographed out, and in a real fight or self defense situation, you can never count on your opponent being exactly where you want them to be, so there is no way to fight as in the movies for real.

What you should do, is look for a qualified Self defense instructor, and learn those techniques. When you learn self defense or as the Army now calls it, COMBATIVES training, you will be more prone to success instead of worrying about stances and forms, and more prone to walking away from a confrontation in one piece and alive.

The first thing you should learn however in any style of MA or self defense is to walk away from the situation, if possible, you don't always have to fight.

But if you are forced to defend yourself, and you have no other choice, then you need to learn and remember to strike first and strike the hardest, and put them down, don't draw it out.

The longer they stay on their feet, and conscious the more of a chance they have of beating you. So stun them and stop them, with breaking something, or knocking them out cold FAST.

Of course there are the alternatives. If you live in a state that supports the right to carry concealed, and were over the age of 21, you could aquire a concealed carry permit, and the firearm to go along with it, as well as the proper training. Or maybe a stun gun or a taser, they do wonders on people as well.

Again, something that knocks them down first, or before they get near you, and well, if they plan on doing bodily harm to you, you need to act as swiftly as possible.


Regardless of how you plan and prepare to defend yourself or others, learn the laws to help protect yourself afterwards, and practice with the skills/tools you plan to use, the more you do this, the more they become second nature, and you just perform/use them when needed, and dont have to worry about forgetting or freezing when the problem arises.

Answer 6

if its a martial art for self defense i would go with kickboxing.. i'm 5 ft 125lbs and i study mma style fighting (which includes boxing, kickboxing, jkd trapping and submissions wrestling) i'm also devote tai chi chuan practicioner (it's my primary art) i also do krav maga (self defense system) and escrima (stick fighting).. it is hard to find the time to do everything, i guess that's why i'm up at 5 am to start my training.. but it's all worth it at the end of the day..

i wouldn't put much emphasis on fighting like they do in the movies, even though you have skilled martial artist in the movies(most of the time) it's all choreographed and stunted..

to learn something that will help you on the street as well as a martial art kickboxing is good.. although i've always recommended that any woman should take a self defense course, like krav maga, or r.a.t. or some other type of self defense system.. in those courses they teach different things than straight martial arts.. its a little more innovative in its approach.. you learn how to stop an attack and flee the scene, how to use natural reactions (like flinching when someone throws a punch at you) to combat an attack and open the lines of attack for you..

as a woman, a small woman for that matter, you have to face the facts that no matter how skilled you become in your art you will never be physically stronger than a man..

it's not my rule, it's god's rule..

so you learn to cheat, learn to use your enviroment to your advantage.. an attacker might be stronger than you but he's not stronger than gravity..

as for my tai chi chuan, yes it's a beautiful martial art (and it is a 'martial art' as many people misconceptions might tell you) and it's a brutal art at that.. it takes a while to learn, but once you do, it can be a great equalizer for people of our size and stature.. it's almost 80% shuay jiao, which is chinese grappling.. with hard throws and locks.. each stance has the option of being a strike, kick, lock or throw.. it's one of the oldest and most esquisit arts in the world, disguising it's brutality with a soft gentle exterior.. like i said it does take time to learn to use it as a martial art therefore i always recommend that you learn a form of self defense or an external art, like kickboxing/muay thai.. i'm not naive and i personally know that although i've been studying tai chi for a while i would have a better chance of survival in a life-death situation if i used my krav maga and kickboxing techniques..

hope this gives you an added insite.. if you have any questions i'm always around..

~*good luck*~

Answer 7

I would say jeet kune do. It focuses on more than just moves but the overall theory behind effective real world martial arts. Not just automated responses to real world situations.

Second you will never fight like in the movies. Fighting in movies is similar watching a complicated dance routine. That's why theres choreography. If you want something form driven and "flashy" try wing chun or the hard form of tai chi.

Answer 8

Movies are choreographed. Real fights are never that clean or glamorous.

Please look for a good school, not a good style. You will find many past questions on yahoo concerning the subject of finding a good school.

Suppose you go to a Jui jitsu school in your area because you heard it is a good art. ( and it is a good art I think) However the worst school in the nation just happens to be the one in your town. And you join it because it is a good art. You see what I mean? You will get nothing good from a bad school.
Look for a good school, not a good art.

Answer 9

Judo is great for people who are petite. You use the other person's body weight against them. You will learn how to throw people twice your size. My Mum was a brown belt. I learned a lot of the principles from her. Its amazing stuff.

Kung fu is also great. My college roomie was a small girl and had her black belt. It gave her not only strength, but grace and coordination a ballet dancer would envy.

Both of them take a lot of discipline and hard work, but both pay off in the end.

Answer 10

well pick something that suits you..research them... tae kwon do and kick boxing i took for 8 years and focus on strength and large muscle groups for fighting so maybe there not your cup of tea but dim mak and judo deal more with inertia and the enemy's force to beat them and throws and pressure points and technical stuff ... but deffinitely go to a few dojo's and ask about the different techniques and stuff to figure out what would suit you the best.... besides all of that though if your that small and want to be able to defend yourself carry a small knife and mase just to be save!

Answer 11

I think you'd be best served by finding someone who specifically teaches self-defense. Karate will teach you how to kick someone in the head. Self-Defense will teach you why that's one of the dumbest things you can possibly do when in a "real fight". And formalized martial arts studies probably won't teach you how to deal with somebody with a knife or a gun.

I learned self-defense from somebody who also teaches Brazilian JiuJitsu, but I don't think there's anything magical about that style. I just liked his attitude. =)