Minimum amount of martial arts traing to improve self defense ability?

Question

How many days/weeks/months/years of martial arts training do you need to do to be significantly better in unarmed combat?
To put it another way, if I were to clone myself today, and have my clone just do all my normal activitites, while I go away and train in kung fu (or whatever), at what point would I be able to come back and easily beat my clone in a fight?

Answer 1

The key to your question is "easily beat my clone". Absolutely NO fight is easy....ever. No matter what amount of training you have there is still the off chance of a lucky punch, or a missed block..."Bobbing when you should have weaved" sort of thing. However, your real question is how long it takes you to get good, or good enough. As an instructor, I can tell you that in about 2-3 MONTHS (going to class 3 times a week for at least an hour), you should know and remember basic blocking, punching, and kicking techniques. Your timing will improve, your fitness level will improve, and your self confidence will improve because you will be able to see all the improvements. You are not Bruce Lee, but you have a LITTLE knowledge of BASIC techniques that your clone would not. That's a pretty serious edge in just 2-3 months.
However, to "easily beat my clone" it would take at least a year before those techniques you learn become second nature enough that they begin flowing without much thought. Somewhere between that 3 month period and being a year into training, you will have learned more advanced techniques, combinations, and you should have experience in a sparring ring, meaning you now have experience as well as techniques. At this point, your clone is in serious trouble. Given another year of training, most advanced techniques will be flowing easily, your experience in fighting is way more, and you should be much quicker with techniques than an "average Joe". AT this point, your clone is toast. A third year into training, and you should be at or NEAR Black Belt level in many styles. You should be very knowledgable about techniques and how to use them effectively singly and in combinations, your speed is MUCH greater than when you started and your focus is enough that you are striking small holes in an opponent's guard. Your movements are more fliud and relaxed, making you faster and more mobile. Your strength has risen due to better muscle tone, and you your techniques are more refined and produce more powerful results. However, you have also learned the philosophy behind martial arts and that fighting is not necessary to prove yourself...your clone and you go out and have a beer while discussing why HE needs Martial Arts training!
Hope this helps...
Sensei Cox

Answer 2

Even just one hour learning and practising a technique that the other guy doesn't know how to block, escape from or regain balance after will yeild an advantage. If that's what you mean by "significantly better".

If you train for longer in any martial art, you will learn that there is always someone bigger, stronger and more skilled than you and it's a tough job figuring out who's who until it's too late and you're lying bleeding to death because you picked the wrong fight.

It's much safer to learn techniques to verbally diffuse a potential fight, or better yet, spot trouble early on then be somewhere else when it does all kick off.

Cheers.

Answer 3

If you wanted to actually train in a martial art, and become good in a martial art, and win with that martial art in a street fight? The very nature of the idea is a bit far fetched, unless you have an amazing dojo. But even with an amazing dojo it would take years to actually be trained well enough to bring whatever martial art you are using to the street. Actually the best thing i ever found for actual real life scenario fighting was in a budo club, budo just means "martial way" and it's a mixed martial arts place, but it's not ufc competition style which is the main problem with taking martial arts to real life situations, if you are using karate, you start to think "karate" and expect karate, and they throw a haymaker and your outside block is a little too slow and a little too weak and you lose a tooth along with your conciousness. The guys at the budo club i go to teach only real life situational stuff, half of the learning you do there is what you make up, they teach you steps one and two, and to get to step five, you have to learn by using your partner. The first night i ever took it, they gave me a rubber knife, and said, "kill Matt." so i went to stab him, and he blocked me puched me in the face lightly disarmed me, and i stood there like an idiot. Well as it just so happened, matt was trained in chinese military knife fighting (what the hell?) and i still havn't asked him where he learned it. But since then it's been very diverse in hand to hand combat, i was fairly convinced before with all of my years of training that i would handly myself well in an actual fight, if it ever came to those extremes. It was true, i was very capable against these combat oriented individuals, but in the half a year i've been practicing with them, i am absolutely convinced that martial arts is the way to go, eventually it will come, but where some people say nine months of karate? your clone would kick your *** from watching too many cartoons, they're more violent. but yeah, find something real life oriented.

Answer 4

Take up Boxing - it is probably the simplest of the basic hand-based martial arts, yet highly effective as well. But make sure you do it in the context of a streetfighting, not going 12 rounds in a ring. If you can't get access to Boxing classes, the next best thing is to bulk up. I've been taking martial arts for some years now, and I'd say 50% of being a good fighter is having adequate training, technique, timing, & skill, but the other 50% is HEART, TOUGHNESS, raw strength & speed, and stamina.

Answer 5

To easily beat the clone, 4 hours a week for 2 years.

Answer 6

Well for one it depends on what type of martial arts you're looking in to. Karate and Capoeria are two different styles of martial arts that focus on two different methods of unarmed combat.
Also the rate of improvement differs from individual to individual. If you are dedicated and focused, you should see improvement with every passing day. You should feel significant difference after a years worth of training by the least.
Martial arts is a very difficult activity to pursue, but if you go at it long enough, it is very rewarding. Also remember that martial arts helps defend yourself, but it wont neccessarily mean you'll even with the fight.

Answer 7

"You need no martial arts training. Just become a dirty fighter (biting, eye gouging, etc)."

Go bite some coked-up HIV infected brute, then come back here and tell me how that worked for you.

If you take classes specifically geared towards practical self defense you can up your fighting ability in an hour or two, but you'll be extremely limited in your responses and far from maximally effective.

Taking an alternate course of action, you could increase your combative effectiveness via the "G.I. Joe" path. Know your enemy. That may sound philosophically abstract, but it's very true. You can learn how to protect yourself by being able to identify attackers and predict their motives and actions before they strike. Some basic knowledge of probable ways in which you might be attacked and being more aware of your surroundings can protect you better than being a martial arts god.

Answer 8

If you wish to discover ways to stop almost any violence the you will need to have this program of Bruce Perry, Patriot Self Defense , a program that you only will find it here https://tr.im/W3gOy
Patriot Self Defense can show you a highly powerful self-defense program that is been field-tested in properties, at government activities and on a few of the meanest roads on earth against the absolute most questionable, clever and dangerous criminal.
With Patriot Self Defense you may find out that is much simpler you then expected to protect your self since you never must be a specialist or have power, you only have to know how to do certain movements, simple movements but deathly.

Answer 9

I agree with the first guy's answer there are way too many factors to take into account. Mainly, your current mental & physical condition, work ethic, the art/style you learn, & who you're learning it from. In answer to your question though, if you can't fight then your clone can't fight either so anything that you learned and actually committed to memory would probably give you an edge barring a lucky punch or kick.

Answer 10

When I was training Okinawan style karate someone asked our Sensei that question and he said that by the time you are a brown belt (2 years or so of training) that you should have enough training to have the edge in a typical fight. He also went on to say that someone big dumb and mean with no formal training can often beat even black belts, and not to be too cocky.