Is a grappling or striking discipline more effective for self-defense?

Question

I would think grappling b/c of the submission holds but is striking more effective?

Answer 1

Think about it:

Grappling: involves more prolonged contact than striking. The longer you are in contact with a person, the greater the chance of something nasty happening. One well-delivered strike will end a confrontation in a matter of seconds (or less).

Answer 2

Why do I keep doing this? lol.

There are people with good answers, and people who have never been in anything more than a school yard fight for answers.

Of course a mixture of both is what you want, so that no matter where the situation ends up you have an answer for it.

Make no mistake, just about every REAL fight ends up in a clinch or on the ground, no one stays at a distance and boxes with you.

"The art of the knockout"? Unless you are a boxer or kickboxer and train, spar, and competete a lot, chances are you aren't going to get a "one shot knock out" hell even if you are trained, the whole one punch knock out doesn't happen that often. And as long as you are out there trading blows with a guy, he is hitting you too, and you yourself are taking damage.

However, if you have him wrapped up and under control, you can quickly end a situation with little to no injury. The effectiveness of this is apparent in the fact that Law Enforcement heavily utilizes grappling techniques. Not only does it manage and control a person, but it limits the potential for taking damage.

While I don't beleive there is a catch all, being balanced is good. Being able to punch your way into a clinch, throw some knees, take a guy down and put him out from there makes you a more complete fighter.

Don't buy any hype from any place/martial art that supposedly "takes the best from Judo, boxing, etc" and incorporates into one art. Those are never truly effective because what may have been effective in judo for one person, is not an effective technique for another.

Best thing in my opinion is to get balanced by studying different disciplines. Take some grappling, take some boxing,kickboxing, or muay thai, and take some traditional striking arts to round it all out.

Just my two cents...

Answer 3

To echo Judomofo's answer, there is no single answer or style that is the 'best for self defense'. That's why there are so many martial arts out there. The important thing to remember is that there are essentially 5 ranges of combat:

1. Extreme Long Range - projectile weapons
2. Long Range - long weapons (baseball bat, pool cue, etc.)
3. Short Range - kicks, punches
4. Close Range - knees, elbows
5. Grappling Range

There's not much you can do about the first one, but you need to be aware of the others because your opponent will almost assuredly be aware of whichever one you aren't prepared for. The weakness of grappling is that you have to cross through each of the other four ranges to get there. If your opponent allows you to get there, then your set, but if he has a weapon or throws a knee or elbow on your way in, you could be in trouble.

It's probably unrealistic to expect to master all five ranges. Your best bet is to choose the one that best suits your physical attributes and concentrate on that while learning at least a couple of attack/defense techniques in the other ranges for those situations where you can't avoid it.

I trained at a school where we would hold classes in the parking lot and have people come out from between cars and behind buildings. The scenarios were 'realistic' but still not real. We had to adapt to the fact that you can't do a jump spinning back kick between two parked cars, but the danger element still wasn't there. You can train for years, but if you never get attacked by surprise, you don't know how you will react.

Good luck!

Answer 4

depends.

You actually need both.

However if you look at the tables, they have turned against grappling again and lean towards strikers with a grappling background, you don't have to be helio gracie to beat a pure grappler.

A pure grappler vs a pure striker my moneys on the grappler.

A pure grappler vs a striker with some grappling knowledge (enough to get back up to his feet or defend the takedown and some subs) my moneys on the striker.

A grappler with striking skills vs. a striker with grappling skills, well that just depends on who they are and how they trained and may the best one win.

That is for fighting, but the simple truth is that for self-defence neither one is more effective than weapons training in a knife, jutte (something concealable) or getting a ccw permit and learning to carry and use a firearm. Unarmed mas are a usefull back up, but reality is that even an untrained person with a knife is a deadly threat to even the greatest martial artist, who will be at a severe disadvantage against a weapon even with all his training.

Answer 5

You don't want to get close enough to wrestle/grapple- but if it does happen, say if someone literally jumps you- you need to know how to get out of it. I'm in Shotokan karate( which is mostly strikes); and am lucky enough to have a Sensei who has experience in ground fighting . If you go for a style that only does grappling; you'll be pretty limited. I'd say, take a look at different clubs/dojos and see what they offer. You might find a teacher who has training in more than one style.

Answer 6

It depends on the situation. If someone is trying to choke you from behind striking is ineffective and if an attacker is 3 feet away grappling won't work. In my opinion you have to be well versed in all phases of fighting from striking, clinch to ground in order to be effective on the street because there are so many unpredictable situations.

Answer 7

The answer is both. All forms of self defense are effective if used properly. Look, if you really want to be sure, just learn both. If you don't have the knowledge about either one, just stay out of trouble. Seek the knowledge, train in both and be confident that you can execute your techniques. Either one could be the deciding factor in a fight. Never let your guard down by assuming one is better than the other. There is no such thing as a bad Style/Art. The deciding factor is and always will be the individual.

Answer 8

Both are good in their own way.

Grappling:
Pos:
-Can end a fight fast by breaking opponent's bones or choke them out fast.
-Very slim chance of someone who isn't experienced in grappling to out grapple you and beat you by luck.
-Size usually doesn't mean a thing on ground.

Con:
-enviroment can be your worse enemies.

Striking:
Pos:
-Easier to run away if necreassay

Con:
-Size play huge factor no matter how skilled you're.
-Opponent can win by lucky strike

Yes people will say someone will come and kick you while you're down. But people can walk up behind you and hit you or whatever when you're striking. Basically whole things about multi opponents are totally bs! No matter how good you are at either, if you have to fight against more than one person, you're putting yourself in a really bad situtation.

Answer 9

alright think about it if u r wrestling a guy and his friends think that he's lossing they r going 2 start stomping ur head in ... not a good idea 2 wrestle in a street fight by the way the guy might also bite u (dieases) and do stuff that u might not learn 2 defend in wrestling... striking there is no real way u can get cheated if u throw a kick in a fight and it land 2 the head most likely the guy is out ... or he doesn't want 2 fight anymore. but the best way 2 learn how 2 fight is 2 fight (cagefighting,street fighting, and freestyle fighting r good ways 2 get the skills and conditioning u need 2 b a good fighter... good luck.

Answer 10

They each have advantages & disadvantages. Briefly:

Striking: Tae Kwon Do. Karate, Shaolin boxing
Good: Can handle multiple attackers, can engage at long range, enables you to be pro active when necessary.
Not so good: Ground, hard to control an attacker without inflicting serious injury.

Grappling: Hapkido, Judo, etc.
Good: effective in close, good on the ground, can control an attacker without inflicting serious injury.
Not so Good: Not good at long range, you must wait for the attacker to make the 1st move. Not effective against multiple attackers.