Help me pick a martial art

[inferno]

everybody wants kungfuuuuu fighting

[PokerAmateur4]

Drunken boxing, seriously. It would be fun to try to learn, has obscure cred, is in pop culture, and you can kick peoples asses as you freak them the hell out.

[nicky g]

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If you want to get good at fighting then you have to choose Muay Thai, brazilian ju jitsu, or judo. If you want to learn something useless in a street fight learn karate, kung fu, or taekwando.

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Contraversial, but I generally agree.

Muay Thai is super simple. To do it properly involves sparring though which you may or may not be up for. I do a wuss version of it which involves never going to the full sparring classes [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img].

Judo is very cool, teaches you how to keep your balance/make it very difficult for people to knock you over or take you down, and all sorts of throws. Some of it is taught a bit impractically.

BJJ is cool but it is often taught purely in terms of fighting on the ground, which is pretty limited in self defence terms. Lots of MMA classes will teach you a more rounded sort of grappling including both BJJ and stand up wrtestling/take downs etc. Can generally spar it without much risk of getting hurt, unlike MT/boxing (Judo too although I hear back injuries can be a problem for older practictioners from getting thrown so much)

General advice would be that if you want to learn to fight well, do something that involves sparring with fairly unrestrictive rules (I don;t mean no holds barred underground matches, I'm looking more that the contrast between Muay Thai and TKD competition rules for example, ie something that doesn't privilege certain things just because they're flashy/stylish) .

[Pigslice]

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If you want to get good at fighting then you have to choose Muay Thai, brazilian ju jitsu, or judo. If you want to learn something useless in a street fight learn karate, kung fu, or taekwando.

[/ QUOTE ]

Contraversial, but I generally agree.

Muay Thai is super simple. To do it properly involves sparring though which you may or may not be up for. I do a wuss version of it which involves never going to the full sparring classes [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img].

Judo is very cool, teaches you how to keep your balance/make it very difficult for people to knock you over or take you down, and all sorts of throws. Some of it is taught a bit impractically.

BJJ is cool but it is often taught purely in terms of fighting on the ground, which is pretty limited in self defence terms. Lots of MMA classes will teach you a more rounded sort of grappling including both BJJ and stand up wrtestling/take downs etc. Can generally spar it without much risk of getting hurt, unlike MT/boxing (Judo too although I hear back injuries can be a problem for older practictioners from getting thrown so much)

General advice would be that if you want to learn to fight well, do something that involves sparring with fairly unrestrictive rules (I don;t mean no holds barred underground matches, I'm looking more that the contrast between Muay Thai and TKD competition rules for example, ie something that doesn't privilege certain things just because they're flashy/stylish) .

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Just speaking from a muay thai standpoint, it was pretty easy to learn after 4-5 classes

If you really want to become a fighter(which i dont think op really wanted to do) you have to have a mix of what martial arts you do

Also, in the muay thai class I go to we usually spar with shin pads/elbow pads and focus on technique so no one gets hurt

[nicky g]

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If you really want to become a fighter(which i dont think op really wanted to do) you have to have a mix of what martial arts you do

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If you want to become a amateur/pro fighter, definitely. You should be able to defend yourself against an unarmed opponent pretty well with just one of them though.

We wear gear too but if you spar reasonably hard (which I don't) you'll end up getting hurt eventually (nose/ribs/concussion etc). Probably not in any serious way.

[Double_A]

Jeet Kun Do. Can't go wrong with Bruce Lee's style of no style. It encompasses techniques that he thought were most effective from different fighting styles.

Mauy Thai is excellent if you want to learn how to defend yourself and get in great shape.

[Larry David]

Become a pro at Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and GG random people and steal their girlfriends.

[TexArcher]

Muay Thai, boxing, judo, sambo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

[tedtodd]

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My vote goes brazilian jiu jitsu. Really a ton of fun. At least the place I go to. I would suggest classes over private lessons.

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This is my vote. It won't help much against a gang of hoods, but one on one you'll dominate. Just look at what martial art wins all the UFC's- its mostly BJJ submission holds.

[DMBFan23]

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My vote goes brazilian jiu jitsu. Really a ton of fun. At least the place I go to. I would suggest classes over private lessons.

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This is my vote. It won't help much against a gang of hoods, but one on one you'll dominate. Just look at what martial art wins all the UFC's- its mostly BJJ submission holds.

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yeah that's cause no one is punching anyone in the nuts, biting anyone in the ear, or stabbing anyone with a broken bottle. good luck pulling guard in a bar fight. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

now, any trained martial artist will have an advantage in a street fight IMO, just not by directly applying all the specific moves he's learned...it would probably be more because he has a good sense of balance, momentum, generally better at avoiding punches/takedowns, etc. for instance, while you may never triangle choke someone in a bar fight, you may be more able to take them down, mount them, and make them bleed.