I've always wondered this about martial arts...help me out here...?

Question

I'd like for people who actually know what they're talking about to answer this for me: Are there certain levels of the arts? I mean, if you could measure the degree of difficulty from one type of martial arts to another which one or ones would be considered the easiest to learn (like for beginners) and which ones would require more discipline? Also, how many different types of martial arts are there? (an estimate will do fine)

Answer 1

There are nearly as many fighting styles as there are tribes of people... everyone has their own take on things and adds their own flavor to it....
As far as difficulty level, Karate is a good art for beginners since it does not include the use of weapons (Karate = empty fist)

I think Aikido is a difficult art because it requires great amounts of force delivered in a precise way, and also you must anticipate your opponents reaction for full effect, but I have heard other people say it is easy to learn. Any martial art you pursue seriously is going to require huge amounts of self discipline.
Here is a list of arts/styles I know of:

Karate
Judo
Ju Jitsu
Hapkido
Tai Chi (This one has many sub-disciplines)
Taikwando
Aikido
Gung Fu (Also many sub-disciplines)
Savate
Kendo (swords)


There are many others which I can't think of at the moment.
Here is a much more complete list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_martial_arts

Answer 2

There are hundreds of styles of martial arts.

All martial arts have levels of difficulty. A good instructor will teach you the easiest parts first and as you progress you will realize that you are learning more advanced levels.

As far as some arts being easier than others. I think that depends on the instructor. A good instructor will push you hard enough that the easy parts seem difficult yet possible. I have been to Tae Kwon Do schools that are push overs and some that are difficult. The same thing has happened with Ju Jitsu schools,

I would call around and see if you can take some free trial classes. If you can take a week, that would be good. Pick the one that seems best for you.

Be Blessed

Answer 3

It seems this question has been answered superficially. However, the history of martial arts would be beneficial to answer this question. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_arts
All martial arts are not necessarily easy, but if you find one you really like and practise it will be enjoyable and you will want to do it, which is key.

The first MAs would be pankration in Greece or jujitsu in Asia, which combined punching, kicking, grappling and chokes and joint locks. Some striking arts later developed, e.g. karate, tae kwon do and other, then judo, the sport form of jujitsu, purposely removed the strikes in the 1800s. Brazilian Jujitsu in the 1900s modified Jujitsu to be mainly ground based. An extremely abbreviated history in a nutshell go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_arts for a more indepth treatment, although lacking in the jujitsu and pankration areas.

Currently, BJJ and hybrid arts such as pancration, shooto, or shootfighting, or submission wrestling ala UFC would have to be considered the most effective martial arts. For striking Muay Tai, or Tai Kickboxing is very effective, as well as western boxing for handstrikes. An alternate won an early UFC with a few techniques a BJJ practitioner taught him the day before. So I guess you could say BJJ is somewhat easy to learn but there are hundreds if not thousands of variations of techniques and of course much practise is needed to truly become proficient, i.e. experts say 1,000 or more repititions are needed for muscle memory to be ingrained.

Here is a list of Martials Arts from all over the world, too many to count:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_martial_arts

Answer 4

The human body is hinged only one way and is capable of a large number but extremely limited number of movements, so in reality there is only one martial art having various flavors called styles. Each martial art aims to take a person from beginner to expert, with each instructor having varying levels of success according to their own knowledge and ability. TKW (sports version) tends to be a popular and relatively safe martial arts to learn and there is usually a school near wherever you live. If you stick with an instructor long enough and the instructor is sufficiently knowledgeable, you will likely learn about how the human body works most efficiently, and then every movement you make will become a "martial arts" movement.

Answer 5

Most traditional arts are created to take a beginner from a novice to a seasoned practitioner.
Traditional martial arts are not as physically demanding as one may think. This is physically demanding exercises needed to develop skills but nothing that is impossible for the average person to do with a little mental toughness. Most the traditional techniques should be simple and devoid of flare. In a real life situation you are more likely to respond with crude movements to eliminate extra thought and the chance for error. Think about it, someone is in your face attacking you; you are safer trying to do something simple like punch, elbow or kick. Not something complicated like jumpy spinny kicky.

There are some exceptions, extreme sport martial arts are most likely very physically demanding as they do flips, jumps and other entertaining moves. The people do these are usually as physically talented as gymnasts.

So you see a good martial art should not have techniques that involve extreme physical acts. Also, most styles will start you as a beginner and have a mapped out system of study.
One exception, I believe, is Jeet Koon Do is more for people that have already learned a base in another system. I think of it as a supplemental art to other arts. I feel that if a beginner trains in this first they will be very confused as Bruce's system without a system is quite complex. I have the book twice and it just seems disorganized as he is sampling his opinion of the best techniques from other systems.

When you are looking for a good training place do not place too much value in system. Instead be open minded and check out all the schools on hand. Please review other yahoo answers for this info. Some tips, never attend a school that makes you pay to be rank tested and never sign a contract.

Answer 6

That is kind of a difficult question to answer. In some ways, yes, there are Martial Arts with different degrees of difficulty. My brother is in an art where he is likely to have his Black Belt in two years. It took me 5 years. But a Black Belt in his system is considered "basic" and in mine a Black Belt and permission is all it takes to teach.

Then there's the "how far can I go?" idea. There are some systems that have litterally hundreds of forms you have to learn before you're considered a master, but by the time you learn the first dozen or two, you're proficiant as any one else at the same level.

Then there's the precision vs. brute force aspect: which is harder, Tai Chi, which is slow and deleberate, or Karate, which is hard and fast? Each is difficult in its own way.

Answer 7

My personal, not so disinterested opinion, is that a combination of arts is best for all around training. My 2nd Don is in Tae Kwon Do, but I am also advanced in Chinese Boxing, and have studied with Judo artists. The thing to remember is that martial arts frequently developed to counter arts used in other areas, as is the case with Tae Kwon Do and Chinese Boxing. I think it improves you all around and gives you a better base to work from in self-defense. I would almost recommend moderate rank in two or three arts than mastery of one. Bruce Lee himself was know to be a proponent of taking what was useful from multiple arts and applying it - and it seemed to work for him!

Answer 8

every martial art has it's own difficulty level. for example, taekwondo has different colour belts. each colour represents the difficulty level, like a hierarchy. different martial arts have different focus on self defence. karate focuses on hands, taekwondo focuses on legs. i can't give you an estimate on the number of types of martial arts but to name a few, judo, aikido, jujitsu, taewondo, karate, muay thai and lots more.

Answer 9

Eh.... I wouldn't say there's a level in art.

There's many proof of this. For example in 2004 K-1 Max Grand Prix (biggest kick boxing tournament in world) buakaw, a young guy from Thailand was in the tournament. No one give him any chance because few other Thais lose all of tournaments that happen ever since K-1 Max started in 2001. buakaw did not only win the tournament but he made it look ridicously easy. He even beat two of top kick boxer who many consider unbeatable. He did it in amazing way, he use a lot of kicks and knees instead of hands like many fighters were.

In 2005 he lose in final after crack a bone in ankle.

This summer he came back, guess what? Now he's using his hands to knock everyone out.

He prove that no matter how good you look, you can always get better.

As for which one is easiest to learn, I really can't answer that question. Every martial arts have hard and easy to learn part. Personally for me, learning how to grapple was easiest. However I'm a much better strikers. I guess it all depend on you. However the real question would be "which one is easiest to help you learn how to fight effectively?" The answer would be any style that encourage full contact live and resistance sparrling. It's much easier to learn hands on and from experiece than try to act thing out then apply it in real world.

One that require most discpline probably would be Muay Thai, especially if you're fighting at Lumpinee stadium level. It's a very brutal sport with very high injury. Fighters there has been training since they were as young as 5 or 6 and they live at the camp, train two time a day, fight almost every week, and it's usually their only source to feed the family. So I would imagine they're very intimidating to fight and to beat them, you would have to be incredible good and have very good discpline. However that's only in Thailand. For rest of the world, it depend on where you're from but it's usually either boxing, wrestling, Muay Thai, or mixed martial arts.

Yes yes yes I know people will come around and say there's no spirit in those and those aren't martial arts. but let look at it this way, if they're not martial arts then what are they? martial arts is basically hands to hands combat whether it have any spirit involve or not. About discpline, those who compete in sport I listed above, they have to get up early to run, work out, then go training and the training usually last 2 to 4 hours, they have to watch what they eat to make weight, they have to keep their spirit up, they have to be able to push on really hard even if their body doesn't want to go on, and many more. Also fight at a event is no easy event, it's very scary. I have been there, I have seen people getting ready for fight, I have help people get ready for their fight, I have fought. It's a totally nervewrecking because if they lose terribly, they're basically throwing over 80 or more hours of their time and their instructor time away. Also it will make it harder for them to get their spirit up again and motivated for next fight. Now if this isn't discpline then what is it? Most martial artist are more worried about getting their next belt. Some may compete in point touramet or kata tournamet but that's whole different story. They usually train only a hour or two a day and doesn't need to put as much in as full contact sport. They have less to worry about, less risk, and they basically live a normal life with a hour or two of martial arts wedge in. They're more of a hobbyist than a fighter.

About how many differet types of martial arts there are, that's a extremely tough questions to answer. You can easily debate this with any very experienced martial artists for hours and never get a straight answer. Keep in mind everyone have different view on martial arts. Personally I would say there's probably around 300 to 500 different styles. However most of them are either dead, heavily watered down, or no longer effective. So I would say there's less 30 that are still around. My view on martial arts is any style that actually is effective in real world hands to hands combat. That mean being able to apply what you know to actually defend yourself successful. Here's a list of martial arts that I still conider alive:

Muay Thai, Savate, kick boxing, San Shou, Sanda, Kyokushin karate, Seido karate, few other karates, boxing, Sambo, brazil jiu jitsu, judo, Greco Roman, wrestling, japanese jiu jitsu, and few more.

Hope this answer some of your question.