Can someone help me choose a martial art style to learn?

I'm having trouble picking a martial art that I want to learn. Here are my goals and thoughts on what I want out of it.

I've always had a fear of walking on city streets. I'd like that fear to be completely gone after training. I also want something I can use as self defense but I also would like to compete in it. I'm athletic already so I don't have a health and fitness reason for learning. I also don't mind full contact and/or disciplines with more pain involved with learning. I'm six foot 2, 180 lbs (on my way to a goal weight of 200). I've got long legs and a long arm span.

Anyone have any good ideas? Thanks for the help in advance.

Capoeira!

Tae Kwon Do looks the coolest I think.

Dragon Ball Z.

It sounds like you want something practical rather than flashy, and I've heard that most martial arts really aren't that practical.

Belt fighting. It's the sport for real men. Also, nobody fucks with a dude that has a belt.

I'm not the local expert at all, but from my limited experience Judo or BJJ would fit. Both are contact sports with plenty self defense applications. Judo might be more practical as a throw leaves you less vulnerable than a sub, but then again training in this discipline usually generates more injuries than BJJ.

If striking is more your thing (and your range would take a greater advantage out of it), I'd suggest Muay Thai or Kyokushin Karate. You'll have to deal with katas and kihons with the latter though, and they will inevitably slow down your self-defense progress. On the other hand, Muay Thai is a victim of the UFC phenomenon which resulted in the multiplication of McDojos, be careful about that. Your best bet is to observe classes in different schools and see which sensei seems the most competent and sympathetic. All four have a decent competitive scene in most urban areas. Good luck!

EDIT: There are other viable arts, such as Western Boxing, but make sure it has ALIVE training (drills or sparring with half to full resistance). Kungfu, Aikido and Shotokan Karate usually won't provide you useful, practical training in that regard.

Boxing...duh. Or like a jiu jitsu, the main thing is you want one that places super emphasis on actual real honest to god sparring. You already started of by wanting to pick a martial arts style so you might be in for a shock as to what actually works on a guy coming at you.

Or join a sport like football or wrestling if you go to high school (or maybe a college?) that gets you with a guy doing the right sort of strength training to to get your body to hurt people.

Boxing...duh.

@TooWalrus said:

@Doctorchimp said:

Boxing...duh.

Yep, you need to be able to dodge blows, and punch dudes in the face real good. ...course, I've only been in one fight in my life, so my view on this shit is probably all wrong.

More experience than most people.

But really it's cause all boxing gyms throw you in with a guy at least once a day...and it's an actual fist fight....where people are telling you how to actually punch.

@DriveupLife said:

I've always had a fear of walking on city streets.

I'm six foot 2, 180 lbs (on my way to a goal weight of 200). I've got long legs and a long arm span.

Shao Khan: "Don't make me laugh!"

Look for a place that teaches boxing where you are allowed to spar every so often. A close second would be Brazilian Jiu-jutsu or Hapkido (depending on the teacher) if you want something practical.

I myself am a black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do and i'd highly recommend it. You learn the martial art as it should be learned: for self-defense. It's a very versatile martial art that allows room for variation and changing of techniques.

If you want to avoid trouble you should try things other than martial arts. You'd be better off avoiding dark alleys, avoiding wandering in the dark, etc.

It all seems nifty in a martial arts class, you can seem to be doing pretty well and even think to have a chance out there on the streets. But when the robber pulls out a gun or a knife, the fight is over. You lose.

I'd buy a gun if I were you.

If anyone knows the martial arts matt damon used in the bourne series

I would pick that...maybe

@DriveupLife: If you have a fear of not being able to defend yourself when walking around and don't mind if the martial art you learn isn't flashy then I would suggest Krav Maga. It is fairly widespread at this point so you should be able to find an instructor and it drops the whole fluidity and beauty of other historic martial arts and substitutes it with pure brutal efficiency. It will get you in shape if you aren't already too. If you can't find that I would at least look into a UFC style workout like Tapout ...it may not be a martial art but it will teach you some quick and simple ways to overpower someone if they aren't trained in some sort of self-defense and it will also get you in shape. Otherwise...buy a gun if your state doesn't have extremely rigid laws on concealed carry and just mentally prepare yourself for the situations in which you might be forced to use it.

Dux Ryu Ninjitsu.

I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do as well. It was great and I loved my time with it. I learned a lot of valuable stuff, but in the end, if I got into a fight none of that stuff is going to go matter. Its swinging fists soon as it's on. Sure I will take the discipline and power that I learned from it into thought when fighting, but in most cases I feel like no one is going to let you get into my stances and and fully chamber kicks and punches or block the way we do normally.

We had a week after testing that was probably my favorite week, you came in for classes in your normal clothes and learned what to do in cases like walking down sketchy streets. My instructor made it a point to say its not going to be like here where you are with your friends so people will hold back. That was pretty cool and gave us a better sense of what might go down in a real fight.

Even if you know how to fight, I still see fear as a good thing. You're liable to do extremely stupid shit if you fear nothing.

I started taking Aikido and after having taken a few others I have to say this is by far my favorite.

Drunk fistfight brawl style!

Keysi, then you can fight like Batman from Nolan's films. It's also a self defense martial art.

Self-defense and martial arts don't necessarily go together.

If you prioritize self-defense, I would go for something efficient like Krav Maga or just plain boxing. I'm no expert, but I think judo could be a good choice also, considering it's all about taking advantage of your opponents momentum, which can be good against brawlers who would just lunge at you. Muay Thai could also work considering the prominent use of knees which are pretty easy to get a hit with and can do a lot of damage.

Otherwise, if you're just looking for self-discipline or whatever else martial arts can teach you, I would probably go Tae Kwon Do, cause it looks cool! You learn to do crazy kicks. It's mostly flourish, but it's impressive.

Edit: I want to emphasize that I don't practice any martial arts. I had a yellow belt in karate when I was like 8, and I forgot what little I had learned.

@Revolver said:

If anyone knows the martial arts matt damon used in the bourne series

I would pick that...maybe

It's a Filipino Martial Art, and, maybe I got this wrong, but it's actually a weapons martial art. I find it awkward because he doesn't use any weapons other than the stuff he picks up.

@Revolver said:

If anyone knows the martial arts matt damon used in the bourne series

I would pick that...maybe

Kali.

Just learn to run and you can escape any trouble. Stopping to fight is likely to end up causing more hurt than it prevents.

Just a heads up. Tae Kwon Do is the Dane Cook of Martial Arts.

If you want something just for fun, take Karate or Taekkondo.

If you're serious about self defense, take Krav Maga.

/thread

@DriveupLife: Fuck martial arts, just kick them in the genital triangle!

If you're afraid to walk the streets, maybe move to a better city first. Beyond that, you could simply train MMA as it'll both be useful and competitive.

@Demoskinos: That seems very ineffective....

Just go to your local gym and usually they have boxing classes. I have never seen a martial artist fight outside of the art but a buddy of mine boxes and I witnessed a fight he was in. He fucked the other guy up but was able to take a good amount of punches and kicks. He's a big guy so I don't know how much that was from boxing or just being strong. I think boxing is more of how a real fight would go but again I don't know a lot on the subject. What I do know is AVOID ALL FIGHTS WHENEVER YOU CAN!!! As a guy who carry's a pocket knife everywhere, I know that you will have no idea if the guy you're fighting has a knife. I get self defense but really, if he doesn't have a gun, take the first chance you get to book it.

I took Taekwondo for about 5 belts and stripes, shoto ryu karate for a few stripes and Kung Fu for a few sashes. All told I have about 7-8 years of adult martial arts experience, with two of those disciplines happening concurrently.

What kind of martial art you want to pick depends on a few things, in my opinion.

1) your body type

2) your level of dedication

3) your intended results

4) your propensity to get bored.

Taekwondo is one of the most popular and cheapest martial arts available because of how easy it is. It's extremely geometric and easy to learn and practice. (the geometric thing will make sense once you start learning an art). With the way you describe your body type, this is a perfect art for you. TKD emphasizes leg work more than anything, and as a result, long legged practitioners will often have an advantage. i had a stubby roomate, one time, though, who took thsi art for a number of years only to realize it was useless to him because of his body type. He literally couldn't touch his toes let alone kick someone above the knee.

Shoto Ryu karate was an unconventional martial art that was much more holistic and practical than TKD. Karate is an art that will build serious, practical martial arts skills into you that will last your entire life and help you in literally every single thing you do for the rest of your life. The problem is that it's not very flashy and gets boring fairly quickly.

Kung Fu is, by far, my favorite martial art and the art I would reccomend anyone take. The problem is that it's far less common than any other art I know of and tends to be the most expensive take. It's one of the most holistic martial arts I know of and as a result, almost anyone can learn and benefit from it. The downside is that it requires you to be in the best shape of any art I know of. We would spend a half hour during every class just doing stances, which can be painful and boring. One, the cross sit, is literally the stance Chun Li takes in her ducking animation for SF3. Think about doing that in like 3 minute intervals for 10 minutes, every other day. Ugh. But learning the forms is an absolutely blast and you feel like you're really doing an art, not just learning to fight. Kung Fu also integrates the most fun weapons I know of such as nunchaku and chinese sword. Kung Fu teaches you a variety of strikes that goes way beyond what you learn in other arts. Seriously I learned about 10x the number of strikes in Kung Fu than I did in TKD or Karate. And in an actual fight, the number of strikes you are comfortable with makes all the difference.

I know MMA is the popular thing right now, but I hate the "bro-ishness" of it. I want to learn an art and the things that go along with it like breathing techniques, biology, healing techniques, balance techniques, etc. I don't just want to puch a tire for 30 minutes pretending it's some guys face.

But, to each his own, I guess.

@GoodKn1ght said:

@Demoskinos: That seems very ineffective....

Just go to your local gym and usually they have boxing classes. I have never seen a martial artist fight outside of the art but a buddy of mine boxes and I witnessed a fight he was in. He fucked the other guy up but was able to take a good amount of punches and kicks. He's a big guy so I don't know how much that was from boxing or just being strong. I think boxing is more of how a real fight would go but again I don't know a lot on the subject.

That's the single most important benefit of marital arts. Learning to take hits and to think wile taking hits. There have been a number of situations I've run into since being a martial artist like choking or even potentially drowning that I have averted just because my brain has been trained to think through panic mode. Instead of going "gah! choking! breath! agh!" my brain goes "huh. I can't breath. Interseting. Let's stop everything and figure out how to fix this."

CQC

I just watched Ip Man 2 so clearly it has to be Wing Chun.

Training Brazilian jiu-jitsu is the toughest, most humbling experience I've ever had. I can't recommend it enough. No punching and kicking though - only choking out and breaking your opponents shit.

But no matter what martial art you end up choosing and how good you get at it, don't get in street fights.

Jiu Jitsu or Muay Thai

Uechi Ryu is pretty great if you want something practical. It's not flashy, but it will teach you how to take a punch (after intense conditioning) and you'll know how to drop someone very quickly. It isn't very common though.

I started taking classes in Wrestling, BJJ at the start of the year and just started Thai. I'm loving it and it's a great way to meet new people. I feel a little bit more confident but would still try to avoid a fight. But the way you describe yourself your the last dude I'd wanna pick a fight with!

They're likely to have a weapon if we're talking city streets here. Unless there's a martial art that allows you to dodge bullets, I recommend investing in an EDC (spyderco paramilitary is great) or a CCW (learn how to use it). Closing the distance between yourself and an attacker is a lot more difficult than you think, especially if they're armed. Your attacker isn't just going to stand still and wait for you to grab his weapon, especially if he/she is in a group of people. It only takes one guy with a knife/firearm to remove you from the equation.

I can see a martial art being practical in a bar fight or a school, but out in the real world during a mugging...

If it hasn't been mentioned, Gun Kata

There's really only one move you need to know if you get mugged, the 'Give him your damn wallet' technique. It's much cheaper and more effective than, say, a funeral.

As far as competition stuff goes, I've done judo for a long time, and it's really a ton of fun. Especially compared to stuff like jujitsu (which has a lot of MMA baggage these days), judo seems to approach the whole martial arts thing from more of a sports angle than a self-defense/combat angle (although I'd imagine this varies by instructor), and in most cases it's easier on you too. It's pretty amazing once you get good at it too, as you can drop somebody much larger than you with almost no physical effort (I'm 6'8, and have had women a foot and a half shorter than me throw me!).

Also worth considering is that one martial art where you stop attackers by shouting at them. Used to see commercials for it on TV years back, was pretty funny.

I'm biased towards Judo or Goshindo, but that's just because I practiced it for a number of years... Honestly, if you want to win a fist fight, boxing or Krav Maga is probably the way to go. But if it's purely for self defence, I'd say getting a weapon is way more important. Also easier, cheaper and less time consuming. :P

Crappo Bappo

Depending on the school, Aikido can be extremely effective. My school was ADAMANT about real world application against multiple opponents. Granted the training was using wooden weapons. But out of experience with an unarmed mugger, neutralizing the immediate threat is most important, and a throw is all it took for me to get away.

@Demoskinos said:

Capoeira!

Tha Truth

@DriveupLife said:

I'm having trouble picking a martial art that I want to learn. Here are my goals and thoughts on what I want out of it.

I've always had a fear of walking on city streets. I'd like that fear to be completely gone after training. I also want something I can use as self defense but I also would like to compete in it. I'm athletic already so I don't have a health and fitness reason for learning. I also don't mind full contact and/or disciplines with more pain involved with learning. I'm six foot 2, 180 lbs (on my way to a goal weight of 200). I've got long legs and a long arm span.

Anyone have any good ideas? Thanks for the help in advance.

Get in To Muay Thai