What is the best self defense martial art?

Question

I am new to martial arts. I am very interested and I learn very fast. I am athletic, in good physical shape, and I am 6`2 / 170 lbs. I have heard of an art called Aikido. Is that good for me? If not what is the best for me. **I am under 20 years old as well.

I will most likely be entering the military in a few years as well. What arts do they use?

Thanks for the help!

An Added Note: I will most likely be entering the Marines and from there who knows.

Answer 1

It really doesn't matter what martial art you take up, all will teach you something valuable and any true art will be able to work with you no matter what your physical stature or limitations.

The most important thing is not the style/discipline, it's finding an instructor/s you trust, a group of students you actually look forward to training with, and a program that fits within your financial and schedule limitations.

Check out the schools in the area you’re are in - irrespective of the style. Talk with the instructor/s and students. Observe a few classes and talk with the students. Take some time and I’m sure you'll instinctively know which one is right for you. That will be the one where you like the instructor, like the students, and can’t wait to start attending.

You will spend a lot of time with the instructor and students you choose now, so getting that right is much more important than finding a school that teaches a discipline someone on this forum has suggested to you. Everyone is drawn to different disciplines for a variety of reasons and no-one but you can determine what those factors are. Thus, you have to do some leg work by checking out the schools in your area and finding the instructor whom you want to become your mentor and guide, at least at the beginning of your journey.

Good Luck

Ken C
9th Dan HapMoosaKi-Do
8th Dan TaeKwon-Do
7th Dan YongChul-Do

Answer 2

Classical Okinawan Martial Arts.

Answer 3

You need to find someone that trains in tacticle or military self defense or self defense techniques in general. Martial Arts are great for getting into shape and learning breathing and relaxation techiniques, but believe me most of those techniques will go out the window when you are confronted.

You will be learning most of this stuff in the military. Maybe you could start building up your stimina now- running and lifting weights for strength.

Answer 4

While there is no "best", some arts are more geared toward certain aspects of fighting then others. Here is a list of styles that you may want to look into.

Kajukenbo - streetfighting
CHA 3 Kenpo -streetfighting
Muay Thai / Muay Boran - stand up
Kyokushin Karate - stand up
Judo - grappling
Brazilian Jujitsu - grappling
Kali, Arnis, Escrima - weapons
Silat - weapons

Answer 5

Aikido is a good martial art for anyone, especially as a base for other martial arts. Yoshinkan is the best style in my opinion because it focuses on the development of center-line power and concentrated power. Aikido is about 100% control over your opponent through joint manipulation and power redirection.

Contrary to popular belief aikido does have strikes but they are mainly used as a distraction or to occupy and opponents free hand with blocking (or KO-ing them if they don't). The founder of aikido said himself that "atemi (strikes) make up about 90% of a fight." Aikido was originally taught to already trained martial artists so he didn't have to worry about teaching them striking.

In the military they have their own hand to hand combat system, in the marine corps it's called MCMAP, basically a combination of judo, jujutsu (not BJJ, that stuff doesn't work in real combat, tough break), karate, kung fu, boxing, wrestling, and rifle combat.
However if you are talking about the Canadian Military (or lack hereof) they don't do much hand to hand combat for a variety of reasons, 1 being not enough instructors, 2 being that as my friend who is a major in the army said, you always have a weapon, you lose your rifle you go to the pistol, you lose the pistol you go to the knife, you lose that and you're F##ked!

Peace (oh the irony)

Answer 6

Krav Maga is a good choice for self defense. It was developed in Israel and adopted by Israeli Security Forces (a good choice since you may join the military). It is all about immediately neutralizing threats with devastating techniques/combinations.

Knowing what branch of the military you want to join would help a little in determining what skills you should work on. Two that will be universally useful are marksmanship (with a variety of small arms) and gunsmithing (to familiarize yourself with the inner workings of firearms and how to troubleshoot them).
Whatever branch you're interested in just type it in your search engine and you'll be able to see other things you may want to work on before you enter.

Good luck!!

Answer 7

Now we can talk.
Field orienteering is a military art to learn.
Tracking and Observation techniques.
Map making, and layout plannning.
Small weapons including bladed, soft, and pole.
Firearms small caliber, and field bore.
Field explosives, and the use of powder , liquid and plastics.
Diving and underwater observation techniques.
Hand to Hand, and Weapon to weapon skills.
This changes each year as we progress in our skills. San Soo back in the late 90's then BJJ, now a mix of who knows what. Krav Maga is around to be seen as are so many. What works is what the military wants, period.
Various ways of repelling techniques and various conditions.
These are all refined arts now. And a part of war arts.
The better we get, the better we can kick the cr.. outa whom we need to in Iraq and afgani. I love the military.

Answer 8

jujitsu or aikido for close quarter stuff. anything involving a bladed or sharp weapon then TKD excels as you can use your feet rather than your hands to dis-arm (unless you are very quick i would advise against using the hands in a knife attack-knives and other bladed weapons can move astonishingly fast in the hands of someone trained in their use). if trapped in a confined space then the elbow and knee strikes of muai thai are a must. even the good old fashioned head-butt (surprisingly not taught in most schools-i teach it) will bring surprising results if applied correctly . the US army employs aikido and jujitsu in it's training curriculum. here in the UK the army has good old pugilism (boxing). so go explore.

Answer 9

The quality and frequency of your training will far outweigh the style you train in.
Do yourself a favor, find a good school, not a good style.
never sign a contract, never pay for rank testing.
Always take free classes and check out all the schools in your area. Look for a clean school with respectable people.

Answer 10

first off, you need to ask yourself what are you taking martial arts for? if its for self defence like what i am taking it for take something that is practical for street self defence. i currently take jiu jitsu from one instructor and muai thai kickboxing from another and i incorporate that into my own training. If you want to take martial arts for recreation, try Tae Kwon Do or judo. Karate and kung fu are also great martail arts for self defence.