What is the best form of Martial arts?

Question

I'm in the TDK form now. But is there really a best? I mean look...
Tae Kwan Do: With its powerful kicks?
Capoeira: With its gymnastic flexability?
Karate: With its strong defence?
Judo and Ju jitsu: With its many take downs?
Kung Fu: With its grace and beauty?
Akido: With its pressure points?
Xtreme martial arts: With its flash and style?
Boxing: With its practical uses?
Is there a best kind? Or a best one for the user? Or Should one have a balance of all?

Answer 1

Is all a matter of opinion and what you really want from it. I intend to get back into Aikido as as much as I abhor violence I'd like to be able to stop anyone trying to attack me. They all have their positives for your body and fitness, whichever you are comfortable with and enjoy doing is best for you.

Answer 2

Wrestling would probably be the most foundational place for you to start. If you want to fight in a mixed martial arts venue, any more you need to take mixed martial arts - 15 might be a little early to start those classes. It's really all about finding a school that will push you. Here are some fighters and their styles. Tito Ortiz - Wrestling Chuck Liddell - Kenpo and Wrestling Randy Couture - Greco Roman Wrestling and Boxing Anderson Silva - Muay Thai, Boxing, Jiu Jitsu Rashad Evans - Wrestling Fedor Emelianenko - Judo and Sambo Georges St. Pierre - Karate, Judo, Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai, Brock Lesnar - Wrestling Mauricio Rua - Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu Frank Mir - Karate, Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai BJ Penn - Jiu Jitsu and Boxing Paul Buentello - Kick Boxing and Shoot Wrestling Mirko CroCop Flipovic - Kick Boxing Matt Hughes - Wrestling and Jiu Jitsu Lyoto Machida - Karate, Judo, Jiu Jitsu Rampage Jackson - Boxing, Wrestling Dan Henderson - Greco Roman Wrestling

Answer 3

I have studied many types of martial arts in my life and am in constant contact with people from almost everyone you can think of. I don’t think that any one style in particular is better, overall, but there are certain things that you should consider. The best practioners that I have met were studying styles that were compatible with their own health level, mentality, and temperament. It was as if their style was just an interesting way of organizing or an enhancing what their own typical response would have been anyway.

Someone who is really light and quick might want to do something like Wing Chun, but stay away from Judo. A person with a very calm demeanor may want to do Aikido or Tai-Chi as opposed to some of the more “aggressive” styles. That’s not to say that they can do other styles, but it tends to be an up-hill battle, just to study things that aren’t what you’re about.

Plus you have to know what you want to do with it and train to that end. If you just want to be a performer and compete in forms, that’s one thing and if you want to fight, that’s another. Just like any other tool, which one is best depends on what the job is. That is why a lot of people cross train in more than one discipline too.

Even where the style came from and where you are can play a factor. If the style was designed for people wearing light clothing and fighting on the beach; you might have a little trouble doing the same moves wearing a snowmobile suit, standing on an icy mountain.

Find a style that:

1. You can do.
2. Will help you accomplish your mission.
3. Is suitable for your surroundings/environment.

Answer 4

Now someone is starting to ask the right questions....

Here's my take on this subject. Beyond the names, origins, histories, etc. etc. there is but one martial art existing in the universal language of physical movement and energy dynamics. Every martial art that has a name holds a part of the truth.

It's like the old story about three blind men trying to describe an elephant. One, holds it's leg and says it like a tree, another touches its ear and says it's has wings, and another grasps its trunk and says it's like a snake. Each of the arts you mention, have in some way (when they are expressed correctly) captures part of the overall truth.

I think that was the point teachers like Bruce Lee have been trying to get across.

Answer 5

The best martial art is the one that understands each martial art has things to contribute, and that asking a loaded question like this on Yahoo answers should have you beaten and drug through the streets over and over until no more questions like this or "could Bruce Lee beat...." ever come up again.

-Matt

Answer 6

I liked how Jet Li answered this question in "Fearless" where he basically says that no one style is stronger or better than another. It's the individual who proves to be superior and that competition is simply a way of revealing our OWN personal weaknesses and not the styles.

Couple this with Bruce Lee's words of wisdom:
"Before I studied the art, a punch to me was just a punch, a kick was just a kick. After I'd studied the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick no longer a kick. Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch, a kick is just a kick."

Answer 7

I think that you will probably end up with the same answer
from just about everybody....

What is the best martial art? MINE!

Answer 8

Study mixed martial arts like the fighters in the UFC. A combination of boxing, wrestling, Muay thai, and jui jitsu. The most complete martial art.

Answer 9

You answered your own question. Each art brings some unique application that it emphasizes. You can do what Bruce Lee did and study them all. Take from them those techniques that work for you and discard the rest. You will become a jack-of-all trades, but a master of none.

Good luck to you.

Answer 10

No there isn't a "best" Martial Art, because they all have similar principles, just as shaman said, they all have come from one single truth. but they have been evolved from one another because of individuals who liked or disliked elements of the techniques they studied previously and "tweaked" them to better suit them, or combined disciplines to form a new one.

It's all about how well the individual trains and sticks with the training to become better.

But it's also up to the individual to cross train in other disciplines (if they wish) it's all up to the individual to do what they can in their training to find their discrepancies or weakpoints and build on them to better themselves.

crosstraining in other disciplines can also help to fill in those gaps to become a better, more well rounded fighter and individual.

being balanced in both your fighting technique and life is (in my mind, anyway) the true meaning of what Martial Arts is about.

Answer 11

to the people who said "jeet jun do" is the best, u ought to not even talk about bruce lee, first off, it's not a martial art, it is a philosophy ABOUT martial art.

"I have not invented a "new style," composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from "this" method or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see "ourselves". . . Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don't, and that is that. There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune-Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. Jeet Kune-Do is simply the direct expression of one's feelings with the minimum of movements and energy. The closer to the true way of Kung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is. Finally, a Jeet Kune Do man who says Jeet Kune Do is exclusively Jeet Kune Do is simply not with it. He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case anchored down to reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern and can move within its limits. He has not digested the simple fact that truth exists outside all molds; pattern and awareness is never exclusive. Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one's back.

– Bruce Lee "

he said it him self, it's not a new "style". it's a philosophy. it's just a way of saying in order to be an efficient fighter, u need to learn how to 1. Punch 2. Kick 3. Wrestle 4. Trap.

Getting back on the topic, i think there's no true best type of martial art. Like Bruce Lee said, u can't be a good fighter with only 1 type of style. u need to learn how to use all.

As for me i Box, TKD, Wrestle, HKD, and some degree of muay thai. All of those are very fun and exciting. But may i add, that if u gonna use TKD in real fighting *street fight*, u have to be SOOOOO good at it.. lol i mean i'm korean and i think TKD is a joke and nothing but a money business. thats why i'm going for more muay thai style. but then again Turkey k-1 fighter Serkan Yilmaz proves me wrong of that. Word of advice to all TKD fighters: if u gonna use tkd.. speed is all u can depend on.