Help me pick a martial art

[diebitter]

Shinanju, AINC.

[_TKO_]

1. Kung Fu will improve your discipline.
2. Aikido has my vote. It's based around using your opponent's aggression to your advantage. At my former school, I loved watching this one 4'10" instructor take down her 6'5" tank of a husband.

[BCPVP]

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If you want to learn something useless in a street fight learn karate, kung fu, or taekwando.

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O Rly? (A bit long, but has some great clips)

UFC/Pride has made a lot of MA snobs out there...

[nicky g]

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If you want to learn something useless in a street fight learn karate, kung fu, or taekwando.

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O Rly? (A bit long, but has some great clips)

UFC/Pride has made a lot of MA snobs out there...

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Most knowledgeable MMA fans will give Kyokushin its props. Those guys are good because they spar properly with reasonable rules. Most people's criticisms of "karate" are that so many schools teach complete nonsense that involves learning endless forms and keeping your hands at your hips when not punching, but that's not to say they don;t realise there's good karate out there.

[donny0]

I go to ralph gracie bjj up in the Mission (he also has some locations in berkely, Mountain View, etc etc). Apparently it's considered teh best bjj in the bay area. Definetly worth checking out, its a hell of a work out

[Bulletproof Monk]

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Most knowledgeable MMA fans will give Kyokushin its props. Those guys are good because they spar properly with reasonable rules. Most people's criticisms of "karate" are that so many schools teach complete nonsense that involves learning endless forms and keeping your hands at your hips when not punching, but that's not to say they don;t realise there's good karate out there.

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There are definitely a lot of useless karate and kung-fu schools, the vast majority of them are. There are also some good ones. I think a lot of what's going on has to do with the fact that people go to "class" once a week and think they're learning to be some kind of badass. Also, schools are teaching little kids and housewives and tone down training for the sake of marketability. I also think that it has to do with the fact that there are a lot of guys spending like one year getting a black belt and then opening their own school when they're nowhere near ready and don't even really understand their own style well.

Meanwhile, people that open MMA schools have competed in full-contact and are genuine tough guys. People take BJJ or some other kinds of submission styles that are popular now tend to be people that enjoy the contact and training so regardless of the style itself, they tend to be better at it.

I'll also say, people who go on and on about how useless kata is really don't understand the purpose of kata. But I won't get into this because it would be a waste of breath.

[Shenlong]

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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.

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Umm, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Jeet Kun Do a mixing of a whole lot of other martial arts? And to do that, wouldn't you really have to know the other martial arts in the first place, and be able to take the moves that you thought were most effective, or fit your style the best?
I always thought the whole thing behind JKD is that you take the moves that fit YOU best, not just copy the style of Bruce Lee. Kinda defeats the point IMO.

Muay Thai is the shiznit though.

[BCPVP]

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If you want to learn something useless in a street fight learn karate, kung fu, or taekwando.

[/ QUOTE ]
O Rly? (A bit long, but has some great clips)

UFC/Pride has made a lot of MA snobs out there...

[/ QUOTE ]

Most knowledgeable MMA fans will give Kyokushin its props. Those guys are good because they spar properly with reasonable rules. Most people's criticisms of "karate" are that so many schools teach complete nonsense that involves learning endless forms and keeping your hands at your hips when not punching, but that's not to say they don;t realise there's good karate out there.

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The generalization was what I objected to. There is good karate and bad karate, good kung fu and bad kung fu, and good tkd and bad tkd. Telling someone who doesn't know much about martial arts that those three styles are useless is wrong.

[BCPVP]

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Umm, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Jeet Kun Do a mixing of a whole lot of other martial arts?

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Sort of. It's a mixing of techniques that work from other martial arts.

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And to do that, wouldn't you really have to know the other martial arts in the first place, and be able to take the moves that you thought were most effective, or fit your style the best?

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Not necessarily. You would have to at least observe (and probably take place sparring against) other styles to see what they do well and how to utilize that.

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I always thought the whole thing behind JKD is that you take the moves that fit YOU best, not just copy the style of Bruce Lee.

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Yes! Bruce was heavily influenced by Wing Chun so that's what his JKD looks like. Inosanto's was heavily influenced by kali/escrima.

[Shenlong]

Yeah, I didn't mean it to sound like you had to master other martial arts, but you'd definitely have to at least take place in some classes and figure out what you liked about it to help you with your style. I just figured that would make it a bit harder then other styles to learn because not only do you have to practice multiple types, you have to then meld them together into your own unique style, making it not so simple as other people are claiming it to be.