How can I choose the right martial art (for me) to study?

Question

I'm interested in learning self-defense techniques, but I don't kno where to start. I've heard that there are many different styles and that each style is right for a different type of person. Can anyone give a detailed description of as many styles as possible and tell for what type of person (bulky, quick, tall, short) each style is best for?

Answer 1

I have studied almost a half dozen different Arts over the years and for the last 10 it's been Kenpo. The Art of Kenpo Karate has some of the most devastating self defense techniques. Try youtube.com and enter Kenpo demos or even your favorite search engine.

(77)

Answer 2

there is no body or sex specific ma.what you need to take into account is distance,cost and availability.try one if you don't like it do a different one.try a few and pick the one that is most suitable.
A good well rounded style would be freestyle Karate.You will learn stand up,ground,grappling and weapons.What a lot of people don't understand is that freestyle Karate is about practical street defence not who can kick the highest or punch a pad the hardest.It's definitely not a sport martial art like TKD or BJJ.The motto of my style is the best of everything in progression.Basically that means we don't care where the technique comes from we improve it and integrate it into our style while still maintaining tradition as do most freestyle Karate's.
The hardest thing is finding a good experienced instructor.I would recommend Bushi Kai or Zen Do Kai, but if your not in Australia or New Zealand you may have some difficulty finding some one who teaches these styles.These styles also usually have separate classes available to everyone in Muay Thai and BJJ/Submission/Shoot wrestling.If you can't find one of these i would suggest Kempo or Enshin or another freestyle Karate.
WALL>just fyi-muay thai does have grappling in it and the basics may be easy and quick to learn.but if you want to master it, it's a lot of work and takes a long time.when you get right up in the ranks it also involves weapons which most ppl don't know.

Answer 3

It depends on what kind of training you want to do, n its not specific to body shape/size etc. I do kickboxing and its not full of long limbed people like jimmy said it should be, it is a very mixed class.

I think you should first look at what classes are available in your area and then go watch a few and see which one looks like your kinda of martial art and the one that interests you the most.
And like others have said be careful of the ones that only care about the belts. Sometimes it better off not doing gradings all the time and actually learning to become good at the techniques you know than learning too many.

Answer 4

It sounds like you are looking for free answers to something that can save your life. Don´t you think you should invest a little in yourself?

Self Defense has to answer some very important qualities:

It must work for the majority of people.

It must be something that is not depending on incredible athletic ability

It must be something that cannot take years or even months to learn.

It must not be confused with sport fighting (this is where the MMA guys and most everyone else will lead you astray)

It must be ready for a woman that weighs 65 kilos and has to protect against a man of 100 kilos.

It must be something that can be learned with gross motos units (which is how you will respond under stress).

It must be something that has proved itself in war or under attacks.

I know of one art that fits all of this and has the testimonals to prove it (since 1994 when it becmae open to the public) and that is Comhrac Bas. Try it out. What you do might save your life or that of your loved ones.

Answer 5

I have several suggestions that seemed to work for me and some other people I know. ENJOY!

1. Just pull out your phone book and call away! I know that sounds weird, but hear me out. Look up several martial arts schools that look interesting and call them. Ask them if you could sit and observe the class that you would be placed in if you were to join. If they will not allow you I suggest not going to that school.

2. Go to your local library and check out as many martial arts books as you possibly can! Read up on each one and see which one would more likely suit you.

3. Internet search different martial arts websites and check out the people performing the techniques. Take note.

4. Or you could just check this website out though: www.ataonline.com. This is the website to the American Taekwondo Association. This style specializes in taekwondo, but includes weapons training, Xtreme Martial Arts, some ground fighting, some Krav Maga, and street self-defense.

Answer 6

Martial Arts are generally striking or grappling. Here is a brief summary:

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.

Choose a style that appeals to you from a temperment/personality standpoint & 1 where there is a good instructor in your area. The instructor is far more important than the style.

Answer 7

San Soo;
real name is Choy Li Fut San Shao Wu Shu
Based in techniques, but lacks Randori
effective but as all has holes

BJJ;
Based in Randori
But lacks good stand up skills,
not good for more than 1 attacker.
effective as all but has holes

Shim Gum Do;
Great for perfection
Lacks needed ground work
effective as all but has holes

Submission Freestyle;
Great for the teenager just starting out
as high shool wrestling is awesome leading to great fighters

Tai Chi;
Can't be beat for health
Pushing hands has never worked in a fight yet that has been recorded against a good fighter.
Question if it is effective as a way of combat.

Tae Kwon Do;
Sport Hwrang Do

Hwrang Do;
The best of the Korean war arts in my opinion
but I have limited knowledge in Korean arts other than I have liked all I have seen overall.
Lacks Newaza, ground work.
Has holes as all

Newaza;
mat work of Judo
effective but no stand up

Wing Chun;
Kung Fu Wu Shu style based on a Nun's redention of Shaolin Kung Fu
Very fast boxing style but lacks ground
effective but has holes

Kempo; Shaolin Boxing
lacks ground work,
effective but has holes

Hisardut; ( Krav Maga )
Isralei Commando combat
Lethal as hell but lacks ground skills.
has holes

Hikuta;
Very good for Mutata
In fact I heard they like the names said together :)
Hikuta Mutata (you can also sing it! )
This was the way of Simba
son of Mu Shu Mufasa
The body wrapping techniques cannot be beat,
and they are great builders.
After you go thru the Citrus colors you can master how to " Walk Like An Egyptian" ( you also can sing this! )

Aikido;
excellent art if you put in the time. Sword play is real and cool as are the leverages, etc. But has no ground skills and very little boxing.
has holes as all

Western Boxing;
Creates dynamite fighters
No ground skills
has holes

Kenpo;
Way of the Fist
Fast kick punch style, effective.
Lacks ground skills.
has holes

There are so many arts, just that modern times have led to an arena that everyone can meet and compete. Judge for yourself.

This is why you want to learn Mixed Martial Arts
no one way has it all ( and if they say they do they are lying )
and no one way is better
just a few stand out better under certain conditions
Get a good ground base first.
Then get a boxing.
You'll be a well rounded fighter then.
Remember a Black Belt can only be as good as the Black Belt whom ranked them.
Most of the combat arts that you see being actually used today are great, and all are MMA one way or the other.
Never fall trap to anyones claim that their style has it all, impossible and not the best qualified teacher in all the various situations.
For ground work, go to a ground style trainer. The fighters are experienced on the ground. for stand up, go to a stand up style trainer. You will train with seasoned pros in their arena this way, so as to better focus your study.

Answer 8

The problem that many people don't realize is that there ISN"T a Martial Art that is a "best fit" for people with physical characteristics (height, weight, body type, gender, etc.), ANYONE can study ANY type of Martial Art they want to sudy.

No one here can tell you which Martial Art is going to fit you best, only YOU can make that decision for yourself. Every person that studies a Martial Art has to figure that out for themselves and how it can benefit them.

Studying Martial Arts is about personal choice of which discipline YOU want to study, there isn't a "best" Martial Art. Only YOU can make the decision about which one is best for YOU and what you want to get out of studying Martial arts for your personal benefit.

The discipline you may wind up studying DOESN'T MATTER because there is NO discipline that is better than another, because they ALL have their strengths AND weaknesses

when people ask "what's a good Martial Art for me to learn?" or “what’s the “best” Martial Art to learn” 2 major problems arise:

1st: these questions just beg for the majority of people here to start blurting out names of disciplines that are probably not even available in your area.

2nd: Just because they recommend a Martial Art that they may (or worse MAY NOT) have studied and it just happened to become THEIR favorite Martial Art because they’re interested in studying it or it worked for them** doesn't mean that it's going to work for you or that you’ll find it interesting.

The only thing you can do is RESEARCH. find out what schools are available to you locally by looking in the phone book or on an internet search engine.

Second, if you can find at least 3 schools that interest you, watch a few classes at each one and decide which one out of those 3 schools that interested you the most.

Third, the next thing you should do is find out if they have some trial classes (up to a weeks worth to help you make a decision, hopefully without being hassled to join or sign a contract to join the class), and if you find that you like the school, then enroll in the class.

You just need to find a Martial Arts School that will provide a safe, friendly, "family like" environment for you and that the instructor(s) are going to help you become the best Martial Artist that you can become.

What matters is that you feel comfortable in the classes (and like the classes) and feel comfortable that the instructor (and the instructor's TEACHING style and not the discipline itself) can properly teach you self defense without the "smoke and mirrors" mystery BS.

the real problem is finding a school that IS NOT a "McDojo's" or "belt factory" school, because these schools will basically "give" you a belt rank as long as your paying their monthly fees or contracts which are usually pretty outrageous.

these are a few tips on how to avoid these kinds of schools:

These schools usually do a lot of boasting; particularly about how soon their students make their 1st degree black belts, promising that as a student you’ll be making your black belt in about a year’s time (the average should be between 4 to 5 years or better) which often means that they have a high student turnout rate. This is a Red Flag

A prime example of this: having several "young black belts" that're usually 9 or 10 yr old kids, which should be a rare thing to see unless the child started learning the discipline when they were 4 yrs old (some schools don't allow children as young as 4yrs old to participate due to insurance concerns)

They may also try to get you to commit to (by signing) a contract, usually one that's 6 months long or more or try to get you to pay down a large sum of money for that kind of time period. This is a BIG red flag

Also, don’t be fooled by these schools telling you about how many tournaments or competitions their students have entered and placed in or won a trophy, which is NOT a necessity in Martial Arts. Tournaments/competitions can be good to test your own skills at point sparring but again, it’s not necessary because they are the LEAST important aspect to concern yourself with in Martial Arts.


good luck in finding a place to train.

Answer 9

Here are a list of styles and what they specialize in, I take all of these so I know .

Shaolin Eagle Claw (Ying Jow Pai) - Very lethal, simple and effective and has its share of advanced techniques. Good acrobatics. Easy to break into in a surprise attack. Good speed. Extremely lethal Grappling, Decent agility

Drunken Kung Fu (Zui Quan)- If your goal is to learn to fight quick this is not for you. This art is near useless until you get very good at it. But when you do it is one of the best arts for dodging, ground fighting, counterstriking, and tricking your oponent into opening his defenses. Almost infinate room for advancement, no blocking relies only on dodging. Doesnt take to long to get into the style but it isnt good at surprise attacks

Monkey Kung Fu- Another hard to get good at style. Good defense , good agility, alright ground fighting, good acrobatic attacks (although their usfulness is debatable) very confusing for the oponent , no counterstriking really, it mainly relys on mind games, vicouse grappling and close quarters fighting, alright blocking, Not the best style however to get surprise attacked in

Tiger Claw Kung Fu- Deadly striking techniques but when your new at it your likely to hurt yourself, not to many kicks, decent blocks, no dodging, alright counterstriking, very simple acrobatic kicks, no grappling, very vicous and quick at takedowns. Easy to break into quickly, but not to impressive on the ground. Also no trickery of the oponent

Jujitsu- I can't claim to know alot about jujitsu because all the jujitsu I've been taught has been ground grappling but its ground grappling is without a doubt top notch.

Muy Thai- Without a doubt the quickest style to learn. But that doesnt mean its the easiest. It's a very simplistic style but it makes up for that in grueling training. Extremely strong strikes. No grappling, good dodging , good blocking. Very easy to break into. Although it is a simple style it is also very complicated because of the simplicity. It has its own way of being complicated

Try looking into the style that matches your attributes.
Also before you go anywhere remember that the art is only as good as the teacher and yourself. Look into who your learning from. Make sure they spar preferably with not much saftey gear. Check out how well your teacher was trained what tounaments hes been to what awards hes won. Do all this and you will most likely find yourself a good teacher and school. Then it will be up to you to make sure you become a good martial artist

Answer 10

Here is a simple way of doing this ; go to wikipedia.com and type in martial arts, you should get a list of martial arts by country so the list is quite long. then simply click on a name and find out more about the art.