Everything you need to know about martial arts!

actually it's not EVERYTHING you need to know, I dont cover martial arts training here, that'll have to wait for a different post

In the time I've been here I've seen a lot of people who are interested in/have asked questions about martial arts, and we all know the ladies love a man capable of defending himself and defending her, and they'll go crazy over a man who can do it with style . Any question you have about martial arts is likely to be answered here. Here's a lowdown on what you'll be learning.

First off, this post will be divided into 2 halves, A and B. A will cover striking and various striking arts and B will cover grappling and various grappling arts. There will also be a description describing striking and grappling and the importance of each. I know there are those of you who do not want to read this long post so if there's something in particular you want to find this will make it easier.

Here's a quick index so if there's somehting in particular you want to find it will be much easier.

A) striking: I-intro II-karate III-boxing IV- kung fu V- Tae kwon do VI: Vale Tudo VII: Kickboxing VIII: Jeet kune do

B) grappling: I-intro II-brazilian jujitsu III-jiu jitsu IV-ninjitsu V-Sambo VI-wrestling VII-shoot fighting.

A) Striking.

I. Intro: Little needs to be said about how important striking is in a fight. However, striking effectively is a different story. In the early days of Ultimate Fighting Championship, grapplers dominated, an average wrestler would make short work out of a 6th degree black belt in karate. For awhile, striking was thought to be worthless. But after awhile it made a resurgence as those who cross trained the two became dominant. A good striker that could defend against a grappler's attacks triumphed often over very skillful grapplers. Infact, some fighters today don't even train in submissions and wrestling, they are strikers that train only in reversals and takedown defense because they understand that there is a defense to every attack and so long as you know how to defend against them even the most effective of attacks can be countered.

Without further adieu, here is some info about the striking arts.

II. Karate: Karate is easily the world's most well known martial art and literally means "empty hand". As the world's most well known martial art, it has become a generic term for martial arts in general to many people. The practicioner of karate utilizes his stregnth and training to overcome his opponent. In karate, you don't necessarily have to be stronger than your opponent, but a level of stregnth is required to be an effective karateka. It also emphasises linear attacks for optimal offensive speed. Karate is divided in many different styles (which we're not gonna get into, that would take too much time).

Training in karate is separated into 3 different categories: Kihon-training w/o a partner (shadow boxing, kicking up and down a line, etf), Kata-set of offensive and defensive techniques practiced together in a sequence, and Kumite-sparring of several different levels, the highest being full contact.

Karate is effective against the common street scrapper for the simple fact that you're trained to fight and odds are he won't be, you're likely to be faster, able to hit harder, and more skilled than he is. Karate is also effective against other striking arts, such as tae kwon do, boxing, and kung fu. In a tournament, it is very rare for tae kwon do or kung fu to beat karate. Tae kwon do falls because karate has a stronger boxing system and you'll find out why it's rare for kung fu to triumph when we discuss that. Boxing does not teach how to defend against the kicks of karate and karate has a boxing base that can't match that of boxing, but can run with it.

However, karate is not very effective against grappling. Karate has lots of kicks which a grappler waits for to make his move. Karate also teaches virtually no defense agaisnt grappling, whereas in grappling you train diligently to defend against a striker (be it a common street scrapper or a skilled karateka). The grappler seeks to take the fight to the ground and in karate if you are on your back almost everything you've learned will be worthless. If you get on top, however, a flurry of strikes might be able to take out a grappler before he can stage a solid defense, so I would advise that if you take karate that you learn basic takedowns, reverals, and takedown defense to become a more complete fighter.

Perhaps the biggest problem of karate is that it does not address the question "how do you defeat a larger opponent?" That is the one question that was asked that spawned every martial art. Let's face it, unless you're very skilled, you won't have a prayer against a bigger, stronger, more aggressive opponent that has any idea what the hell he's doing. In no holds barred events the only karatekas that even put up a fight against the top tier fighters where the biggest strongest ones (or the ones that cross trained and learned more than karate). Some instructors intend to teach their students how to defeat a bigger, stronger opponent and seldom do they succeed, however, whether they mean to or not, the do often train them properly to effectively take on opponents who are the same size or smaller and quicker (and maybe an opponent that is slightly larger and marginally stronger).

Karate is also a solid base for cross training. One who becomes adept in karate and either judo or jujitsu becomes an effective fighter all around. There are many grappling arts which you can cross train with karate to make yourself a good striker and a good grappler.

There are 2 styles of karate which stand out from the rest: Chinese Kenpo and Kyokushinkai

Chinese Kenpo: Kenpo puts extra emphasis on the linear attacks and is based more on street wise self defense than traditional karate. Kenpo is a synthesis of traditional karate and traditional kung fu. It is based on rapid fire attacks in succession courtesy of the common street scrapper's wild flurries, but in kenpo it is done with technique. The basic idea behind kenpo is circular defense/linear offense.

Kenpo can also be cross trained with many of the same arts as karate. Around the U.S. there has been a recent surge of kenpo/shoot fighting schools. Kenpo has a reputation for being effective on the street and shoot fighting is street effective and adds an element of grappling, so naturally they are a fine combination. If you are into karate and have access to one of these schools, I strongly suggest you look into it.

Kyokushinkai Karate: Kyokushinkai karate is the most popular style of karate among professional no holds barred fighters and for good reason. Stressing hard physical training to maximize stregnth, speed, and endurance, The kyokushinkai practicioner can become a deadly weapon very quickly. In kyokushinkai, extra emphasis in kumite training is taken and the practicioner is fighting full contact very quickly. Realistic contact is stressed along with kumite training, so naturally kyokushinkai is very effective on the street. Another point I need to make about kyokushinkai karate is the emphasis placed on circular attacks along with linear attacks to form a happy median of speed, power, and unpredictability (after all, if all of your attacks are linear it is easy to figure out how to defend against your attacks). It doesn't take very long before the kyokushinkai practicioner is prepared to face serious confrontation. If you're looking into kickboxing, then kyokushinkai would make a fine base for you.

Kyokushinkai still teaches little about defeating a larger opponent, however, the practicioner of kyokushinkai has a good chance of being stronger than an opponent larger than himself.

Cross training kyokushinkai is a definite consideration. Kyokushinkai karate/jujitsu is a deadly combination that can create a fighter to be feared. Like traditional karate, there are many grappling arts that you can cross train with kyokushinkai to become an effective all around fighter.

III. Boxing: Western boxing is a very common form of fighting and has been around since the western world was first established. Not much really needs to be said about boxing except the obvious, a skilled boxer will always beat a common street scrapper because he is more well trained. Boxing is excellent for a cardio workout and good for self defense. But again the question arises, how does a boxer fare against a bigger opponent? Fairly well actually. Even though the opponent may be bigger, one with training in boxing is still likely to be stronger and definitely faster and have more stamina. But how does it fare against other arts? It depends really, with the proper street smarts, a skilled boxer will put up a fight against any practicioner of the striking arts, but without them he will not for he does not know how to defend against the kicks or how to fight close quarter. But one thing about boxing is that even with street smarts, he won't have much of a chance against a skilled grappler. If the boxer gets on his back he is virtually helpless unless he knows how to fight on the ground, but like the karateka, if he gets on top he can be potentially devastating assuming the person on bottom is not a skilled grappler, and even if he is the boxer might be able to devastate him before the grappler is able to stage a solid defense.

If you want to learn boxing then you don't necessarily have to cross train, for you'll be able to take on most people who face you, including those bigger than you. However, if you want to cross train boxing, there are several ways you can go. Boxing/judo or boxing/wrestling are both good. That way you'll have skill in grappling and you have a better chance of getting on top when the fight goes to the ground and if you're a boxer and you get on top your opponent had better be damn good at fighting from his back! There is another art you can cross train boxing with which I'll cover later, but basically boxing is a good art for just about anyone who's looking to get in shape and wants to have a good chance at defending himself against the random punk who messes with him.

IV. Kung Fu: I'm going to have to cut this short because there is WAY too much ground to cover here. I'll try to give an adequate description of it.

The first thing you have to be aware of is that the number of qualified kung fu instructors is severely limited. I stated before that in kumite tournaments kung fu practicioners often struggled against karatekas, this is largely in part to the fact that the kung fu practicioners are poorly trained. Of all martial arts in the world, none have as many instructors who claim that "my style is too deadly for the ring, you will never see me fight full contact" and 99% of the time that's bullsh1t (actually, it's more like 99.999999999999999% ). Many say that a simple thumb to the eye will take out even the strongest martial artists, but the strongest martial artists aren't stupid enough to let them get a thumb in their eye . Think about it, anyone who's seen a boxing match knows that it's hard enough to get a clean shot on someone's nose with your fist, so how about trying to find someone's eye with your thumb

Based on this alone, I would not advise you to take up kung fu unless you are willing to learn it on your own. Now on to the description

China was divided into two sub-races, the northern and the southern races. The northern chinese culture were generally taller and had longer legs than the southern race and made use of this by using long ranged attacks to keep the opponent at bay. Northern kung fu made heavy use of high kicks. Some examples of northern kung fu are northern praying mantis, long fist, and eagle claw.

The southern chinese were generally shorter and made use of it by emphasising close quarter rapid fire strikes and kicks mainly below the belt (knees, thighs, groins, and ankles for sweeps were the favorite targets of the southern kung fu practicioners). High kicks were leraned as well but used much more rarely. The southern styles also made use of a technique called "chin na". Chin na is the kung fu style of grappling. If you've ever seen in jackie chan movies the stuff he did on the wodden dummies with the prongs jolting out, that's an example of chin na. The southerns small size meant they would have a hard time keeping an opponent at bay so they made use of the ability to close the gap and initiate grappling. Some examples of southern chinese kung fu are Wing Chun, Hung Gar, Choy Li Fut, and White Crane.

All styles of kung fu make heavy use of circular motions for both offense and defense. Some, however, particularly the non shaolin styles (such as wing chun) tie in training in linear attacks as well.

Now let's get into the use of kung fu against bigger opponents. Of all styles of martial arts, kung fu is the one built with the most emphasis to take on bigger opponents, and also multiple opponents. First, let's get into multiple opponents.

There is a saying that says "when an old man is able to take on multiple attackers, how can it be due to his stregnth?" These multiple attackers, however, must be very weak and unskilled. Any modernized kung fu practicioner will tell you that no man alive can defeat 2 skilled opponents. My old kung fu instructor said himself that 2 strong black belts in karate would make short work of bruce lee or any other great martial artist. In order to take on 2 skilled opponents, you yourself would have to be much much stronger and more skilled than both of them, any philosophy that states otherwise is unrealistic.

As for the larger opponent, the kung fu practicioner has a chance agaisnt him. A properly trained kung fu fighter will be able to hit harder than men who outweigh him by 30 lbs or more and will be much faster than him. Kung fu is also decent against grappling, for some styles of kung fu teach grappling (although only a little bit) because the practicioner of kung fu will be fast enough and smart enough to where he has a chance of being able to avoid a clinch or going to the ground and if his fists are fast enough he may be able to stop it altogether. However, when he goes to his back the kung fu practicioner will not fare well unless he has training in grappling.

Kung fu's effectiveness against various styles of fighting are so dependent on how well trained the student is and what style he uses that I'm not even gonna get into that since it would take you about as long to read all of it as it has taken you to read from the beginning up to this point . I will, however, get into a couple of specific styles.

Wing Chun: Wing Chun is a style created outside of the shaolin temple and henceforth, not based on animal movements. It makes heavy use of linear attacks and simultanious use of strikes and blocks. In wing chun, like most styles of kung fu, you seek to redirect the force of an opponent rather than meeting it head on and trying to overpower it. Wing chun was created primarily for street wise self defense and is effective against the common street scrapper and decently effective against the other striking arts. The focus of wing chun is realistic self defense and as such it is decent, however, there are unrealistic philosophies in wing chun and poorly thought out moves that you must be weary of. All in all, it is a good style to learn.

Hung Gar: Hung gar translated means "tiger crane". It combines movements from both styles of kung fu. It combines straight, circular, and angular movements and emphasises strong, sturdy stances. With the stregnth and stability of stances, the Hung Gar practicioner has efficiency of movement, especially in kicks. Hung gar, like wing chun, practices the redirection of an opponent's attacks, however, it also teaches the flat out overpowering of them. Hung gar is similar to wing chun in the fact that the practicioner seeks to learn realistic self defense, however, hung gar also has it's falicies. All in all, this is also a good style of kung fu to learn for street wise self defense.

Northern Praying Mantis: In the north, the taller chinamen took advantage of their height with this style of kung fu. Their main focus was the speed of their hands used to strike or control an opponent. Their long arms made it easier to grab an opponent and henceforth they practiced a style of close quarter fighting similar to chin na. Punches and kicks to all parts of the body, including nerve points, were also a large part of the northern praying matis practicioners training. This style is also somewhat effective for the street, it performs very well against the common street scrapper, especially if you are taller than they are.

San Da: Created for the chinese military in the first half of the 20th century, San Da is the most complete chinese martial art to date. San Da follows the basic principles of kung fu but makes it into a complete system of realistic bare knuckle combat. San da teaches everything, punches, kicks, close quarter striking, knees, elbows, grappling, submissions, weapon defense, etc. San da is easily the most street effective martial art china has ever produced. Any practicioner of kung fu would be wise to learn san da as well.
(take a note, some of you may be familiar with the "san shou" style of kickboxing, san da is similar, they do have their differences however. San shou was created as a sport, san da as a combat system).

The styles of kung fu can be cross trained very flexibly. Kung fu and jujitsu are similar arts and together they form the ultimate soft style. Kung fu/judo would produce similar results. Some even say that kung fu/sambo would be effective, which I wouldn't argue with since sambo is similar to jujitsu in some ways and brings an element of fighting on the ground to the kung fu practicioner.

V. Tae Kwon Do: Tae kwon do is among the world's most popular martial arts. Tkd stresses high kicks and jumping kicks, the training in tkd is to make one a powerful kicker. A part of training in tkd is "hyung" which is similar to the kata used in karate. Tae kwon do does have a boxing system, however, it is fairly weak, tae kwon do is mostly a kicking style. The tae kwon do practicioner uses the power of his kicks to overcome his opponent. Some instructors train you to defeat an opponent with one kick. Most however know that this is not realistic.

Many instructors of other martial arts believe that tae kwon do is a very unrealistic martial art as all of the high kicks and flying kicks aren't very useful in a real fight. This would not be the case if the tae kwon do instructors taught proper timing with kicks. I've taken tae kwon do under 3 different practicioners and none have taught how to effectively time your kicks, all they taught was how to kick with brute force. However, their claims of tkd's training of high kicks are still partially untrue. We all know that low kicks are very effective in a fight don't we? So doesn't it make sense that if you can throw a hard kick at head level that you can very easily throw a hard kick at knee level? The jumping kicks are also impractical on the street, practicing htem however does stregnthen your legs and if you can effectively perform jumping kicks it makes standing kicks that much easier.

Despite all this, however, tkd is not a realistic style of self defense. High kicks can be devastating, but your odds of hitting with one are not as high as the instructors try to make you think. Fortunately, most of the instructors have realized this and modified the traditional style of tkd into a more street effective art.

The first question we have to ask is this, how well does tkd perform against a larger opponent? If you can land a solid kick you might be able to take him out quickly, however, unless you are very skilled, you prolly will not fare too well. A skilled boxer would also make short work of a tkd practicioner if he knows how to jam kicks because once he jams the kick he's in close and has leverage on you and he's gonna knock you flat out. If you're fighting against a boxer who has no clue about jamming kicks however then you will have a better chance. But there is one thing about tkd, forget about fighting a skilled grappler, you won't stand a chance.

"wow, tkd really sucks", you may be saying. But before you make any assumptions, let's take a look at cross training.

tkd/boxing will give you a VERY strong base for kickboxing. At a recent kumite tournament a black belt in tkd who was also 6-0 as an amateur boxer defeated a military soldier who held a 6th degree black belt in kenpo and it looked like the tkd practicioner could have won that fight any day. Even better if you learn tkd/boxing to get a solid kickboxing base and cross train that with wrestling or jujitsu, then you'll have a strong base in every dimension of fighting.

VI. Vale Tudo: Are you the rough and tumble type? Like to throw down and just tear your opponent to pieces? Then vale tudo is a gift to you from god.

Vale tudo is a brazilian style of fighting similar to street scrapping, but done with form. The vale tudo practicioner overwhelms his opponent with sheer ferocity and uses any weapons available to him, ball shots, eye gouges, stomping on the toes, biting, whatever. The vale tudo practicioner understands that on the street there are no rules and restricting yourself to some code of honor only does one thing, it opens you up to weaknesses and lessens your effectiveness as a fighter.

In vale tudo you will learn punching, kicking, wrestling, and submissions. In vale tudo they say "screw the linear/circular philosophy bullsh1t". You just fight, plain and simple.

Vale tudo is street effective because basically it's street fighting. There's a reason why vale tudo's most famous practicioner (Marco Ruas) is called king of the streets.

Practicioners of vale tudo fare well against larger opponents due to their ferocity and aggressiveness, in no holds barred competition vale tudo fighters have beaten opponents who outweigh them by up to 50 lbs.

Vale tudo is good against any style of fighting. It really has no weaknesses except for the fact that it as a style is not overwhelming to any other style. A vale tudo practicioner can defeat a practicioner of any other art, but they can also fall to a practicioner of any other art. However, because of it's modern sophistication, it is rare for vale tudo to be beaten by most traditional arts.

VII. Kickboxing: Having been originally called "full contact karate", kickboxing got it's name after it strayed from this style when kickboxing was mostly made up of tkd, hapkido, or tang soo do practicioners who learned boxing and boxers who learned how to kick. There were still many practicioners of karate in kickboxing, but the difference b/w a kickboxing fight and a karate match quickly became apparent.

Like boxing, kickboxing will give you an excellent cardio workout and like the boxer, the kickboxer trains on the heavy bag and does heavy sparring. But unlike the boxer, the kickboxer utilizes kicking as a powerful weapon and powerful indeed, taking a full powered kick from a strong kickboxer pretty much means lights out.

If it's straight striking you're looking for, you can't go wrong with kickboxing, it's the best option available to you because it emphasises striking in it's purest form. Like the vale tudo practicioner, the kickboxer doesn't care about angular/circular/linear attacks, he just fights and does so to win. When the fight goes to the ground if the kickboxer is on top, he can be devastating because of his boxing skills, henceforth kickboxing/wrestling is a natural combination.

The kickboxer, like the vale tudoer, is capable of defeating a larger opponent with his ferocity and aggressiveness. Like the boxer, he will have most opponents beat when it comes to endurance. The one thing about kickboxing is that it teaches literally no grappling or grappling defense. That's where cross training comes in.

Kickboxing's real stregnth is in cross training. Because it is so effective in striking, combining it with a strong grappling art makes you a very powerful all around fighter if you get good at both. Kickboxing/BJJ is an awesome combo often seen in no holds barred events. Kickboxing/wrestling, as mentioned before, is also a very strong combo. Kickboxing/shootfighting provides you with more ways to defeat an opponent than you'll know what to do with. Kickboxing/sambo is a popular combination in Russia often seen in russian no holds barred tournaments and for good reason.

Muay Thai: Muay thai is a style of kickboxing that originated in thailand. Muay thai is a style of kickboxing with no rules (not literally, but it's brutal and allows more than other full contact events). In muay thai, use of fists, kicks, forearms, knees, elbows, and shins are utilized. In thailand, muay thai practicionres kick trees with their bare shins to toughen up. Some people believe that as far as raw stregnth goes, muay thai is the world's strongest martial art.

Like kickboxing, muay thai has a lot of cross training potential. Muay thai with a strong grappling art is deadly. Muay thai/bjj is a deadly combo that has shown dominance in no holds barred competition.

VIII. Jeet Kune Do: Jeet kune do is a modernized art (which isn't actually an art) that branched form wing chun. It was created by Bruce Lee. According to Lee, jkd is not a style nor an art, it is merely a form of self defence/fighting.

Jkd utilizes all weapons available to the practicioner, including grappling (although jkd does not have a very effective grappling system). Bruce Lee had originally practiced Wing Chun, but when he made jkd he just said "screw these bullsh1t flicky kicks, screw the whole circular/linear philosophy, screw the human biomechanics, I'm gonna teach people how to fight". Bruce lee utilized power in kicking and his style has absolutely nothing to do with animal movements which removes the flicky kicks and punches.

When Bruce made jkd he threw in a little bit of everything, boxing, kickboxing, mauy thai, savate (french kickboxing where the combatants wear shoes while fighting), judo, wrestling, kung fu, etc. His intentions were for it to be a complete system of self defense.

Jkd emphasises the south paw stance (where your strong side is forward). His philosophy is this, the front side is going to do most of the attacking so why not have the side that will do the most attacking forward? This philosophy is not without flaw, however. The philosophy behind fighting with strong side back is to set your opponent up for the big attack with the rear fist/kick. As for which is actually better is debateable, but south paw was Lee's preference.

Basically, what Bruce did is take kung fu and remove what he saw as the flaws and added stuff in to make it a complete art. He didn't do a perfect job, but he did establish an effective system of self defense.

Jkd vs. a bigger opponent is kind of questionable. Bruce invented jkd to be a street fighting system and due to this you still have to be stronger and faster than your opponent in order to overcome him, however, a properly trained jkd practicioner should be quite strong and quite fast.

I'd like to point out that those who say bruce lee proved that size does not matter have no idea what they're talking about. Bruce proved nothing of the sort, he proved that you can be smaller than an opponent and still be stronger than him. But a skilled large opponent will always defeat a skilled small opponent because the big guy has the advantage in leverage.

Jeet kune do does not fare well against strong grappling arts. It does have a grappling system, but it is primitave and weaker than what we have today.

jkd on the surface seems like a strong art, but it's main weakness is that it adds nothing as far as cross training goes because it puts no emphasis on anything. It covers everything, but nothing it covers is particularly strong so it wont add much to a secondary art that you practice.

All in all jkd is a street effective martial art, but if you're looking into competition then look elsewhere

IX. Conclusion: That's all for the striking arts. There is some ground that has yet to be covered but with this you have everything you need to know. There are other arts, but I've covered all of the major ones. Now on to grappling.

B) Grappling

I. Intro: For the longest time, people thought that who was the better fighter was determined by who could punch and kick the hardest and the fastest. It was thought that a black belt in karate could defeat even the best of grapplers. It was all about punches and kicks according to most people. However, one event completely changed this. In the ultimate fighting championship you saw left and right practicioners of karate, tkd, kung fu, kickboxers, etc. Everyone thought that the traditional arts would dominate, but one man came forth anmed Royce Gracie, 4th degree black belt in brazilian jiu jitsu (bjj). Seeing how small this man was and how his style was grappling, few people gave him a chance. But when the fights started not only did Royce beat everyone that came his way, he totally embarrased them! At 6ft and 176 lbs, he was the smallest man in the tournament, however, becuase of his grapplign skills, not one man in the octagon could touch him. Even a 260lb greco roman wrestler with nearly 100 championship titles couldn't stop this man! Everyone was amazed by his skill, and so came the revolution in martial arts.

It has been proven that grappling is every bit as important in a fight as punching and kicking. Those of you who are stuck on the traditional martial arts have to wake up and realize this, it's been proven thousands of times in the past decade. Anything goes in a fight, why walk in with only half of the strategy? For example, why walk into a kickboxing match if you can't kick? Why fight muay thai if you don't know how to use knees and elbows? It's stupid, it makes no sense, so why fight no holds barred if you dont know how to grapple?

I have friends who want to fight in ufc that say they're not big fans of grappling. Well, I just hope they know that if they're not fans of grappling, then I guess they're not big fans of winnign either!

I'm not saying a good striker can't beat a good grappler, but I am saying that a good striker that knows how to grapple will make short work of one that doesn't, just like a kickboxer that can kick will make short work of one that can't. It's obvious.

Now, on to the styles.

II. Brazilian jiujitsu (bjj): Quite possibly the single most powerful martial art that has ever existed, bjj is the most dominant art ever to grace no holds barred competition. Royce Gracie (whom isn't even the best practicioner of bjj, mind you) fought against the world's best karateka's, kickboxers, and wrestlers and beat every one of them, which is especially extraordinary since he was smaller than every one of his opponents!

Bjj, as you should already know do to me talking about it earlier, is a grappling art. Grappling, for those who don't know, means literally "sieze and control". Chokes, joint locks, close quarter fighting, and ground fighting make up grappling. In bjj, most of the fighting is done on the ground.

Bjj is the most popular art in no holds barred events. Often used as a primary art or a secondary art to a kickboxer, bjj has dominated opponents of every sort. It is successful becuase mastery of it provides you with so many ways to defeat an opponent and so many ways to counter what an opponent does.

There is one thing about bjj that really stands out from the other arts, I've already mentioned it. Bjj is by far the best art out there to overcome a bigger, stronger foe. Here's the philosophy behind it, you weigh 170 lbs and your friend weighs 215 lbs. Underwater, you weigh the same, and this also applies to the ground. His stregnth advantage may come into play but applying bjj usually puts him in a situation where it's your whole body against his torso, you do the math .

Bjj is great for cross training. Kickboxers and muay thai kickboxers have made great use out of it. Vale tudo/bjj is also popular among brazilian fighters and very effective. Any strong striking art forms a powerful combo with bjj.

Bjj is also excellent against other martial arts because really there isn't anything that counters it. A skilled bjj practicioner can beat anyone. Now that's not to say that he is unbeatable, I've seen some truly great bjj practicioners get down right embarrased in no holds barred events. But a great bjj practicioner, with all of his weapons and ways to defend against an opponents attacks, has the potential to defeat masters of every style.

III. Traditional jiu jitsu: Believe it or not, there is actually a lot of difference b/w traditional jujitsu and bjj. Bjj is mostly ground fighting but some divisions of jiujitsu don't stress ground fighting at all.

Jiujitsu was practiced by the samurai as means of defeating the armed warrior. A strong jiu jitsu practicioner was capable of disarming a samurai or a ninja. He was also great at fighting with his bare fists, as he had many weapons available to him including punches, kicks, open handed strikes, and submissions. It's main emphasis is close quarter fighting.

Jiu jitsu as a grapplign art is effective against most styles of fighting, however, it is dominant over none. Take karate as an example. Jiujitsu does have a grappling system that karate has little defense over, however, karate has a stronger striking system and will overcome jiu jitsu sometimes. Jiu jitsu against other grappling arts is questionable. Sambo or bjj have weaker striking systems than traditional jiu jitsu, but much stronger grappling systems. If the jiu jitsu practicioner trains hard in strikes he may be able to win but it's still questionable.

Jiu jitsu is effective agaisnt a larger opponent. Odds are he wont' know how to defend against your grappling skills and if the fight goes to the ground you should outstrike him fairly easily.

Jiu jitsu can save your life in certain situations. For example, a jiu jitsu practicioner can disarm a man holding a gun or knife to him better than most other styles.

Jiu jitsu was the first of the "complete" martial arts. We now know that first isn't always best, but a modernized style of jiu jitsu can be deadly both on the street and in competition.

Judo: Judo is not exactly a subdivision of jujitsu, but I place it here under jujitsu because it derived from it. Judo encompasses throws, ground grappling, and chokes/joint locks. Judo, like kung fu, has the objective of redirecting an opponent's force rather than facing it head on. Judo was founded in the late 19th century because jujitsu was very dangerous to practice so judo was invented to be safely practiced, yet still combat effective. A skilled judoka can take on an opponent larger than himself and judo is great for cross training with a strong striking art.

IV. Ninjitsu: During an era of oppression and espionage, a group of peasants had fled japan into 2 islands, koga and iga, where they had plotted to overthrow the samurai. In doing so, the art of ninjitsu was created.

Ninjitsu is an art that combines everything into one. The ninjas of feudal japan practiced every martial art there was at the time, which included kung fu, jujitsu, wrestling, and many nameless styles of fighting. In doing so they had achieved a level of stregnth and stamina far beyond that of what anyone had thought possible for a group of peasants. Even the samurai looked over their shoulder once they recieved news of the ninjas.

The ninja can fight in many ways. He trains to defeat an opponent with speed and accuracy. He is good at striking with his hands in many ways, a strong kicker, excellent at takedowns, and good with submissions. As far as submissions go, the ninja works to complete it as fast as possible, often catching the opponent off guard so he can apply one immediately when taking an opponent down or even while he's taking him down.

A ninja may have some trouble defeating a larger opponent, as many of the techniques require you to be physically superior to your opponent. However, ninja training can make you stronger than opponents who are larger than you.

Ninjitsu is a weak art to cross training because liek jkd, it won't add a super strong striking system to a grappling art nor will it add a super strong grappling system to a striking art.

Ninjitsu is strong against arts that don't teach how to defend against grappling and can defeat practicioners of such arts very quickly, however, one who can defend against grappling will give him some trouble since he looks for the immediate finish which is harder to execute than the slow, fluid attacks of an art like bjj. A strong practicioner of bjj is almost a shoe in to beat a ninja due to the bjjer's superior submission defense which will screw the ninja, the ninja does however have a chance of out striking a bjj practicioner.

V. Sambo: Sambo was created by the russian military during the depression as means of overcoming the soldiers when hand to hand combat was initiated. It later became recognized as a fighting art and became by far russia's most widely practiced art.

Sambo is a synthesis of greco-roman wrestling and jujitsu. It is primarily a grappling style, but it does teach some punches and kicks. The sambist trains hard in wrestling and submissions. Little needs to be said about the art however, cuz you know what jujitsu is and once you read about wrestling you'll know what sambo is

Sambo is effective against a larger opponent for the same reason bjj is, you'll often find yourself in situations where you've got your whole body against only a part of his.

Sambo will devastate a striking art that does not teach defense against grappling, however, one that does teach defense agaisnt grappling will give the sambist some trouble. If you put sambo vs. another strong grappling art like bjj or shoot fighting, it's anybody's game.

VI. Wrestling: Wrestling for the longest time was not even considered a fighting art, however, once it had a chance to prove it's effectiveness in events such as ufc, critics had begun to shut up about it.

Wrestling focuses on overbearing your opponent and getting him on the ground. Infact, almost all of wrestling operates from the ground. Wrestling will teach tackles, low takedowns, throws, and slams. Once on the ground, the wrestler can operate in many different ways. He prefers to be on top but can fight effectively on bottom.

This is the basis of wrestling, the above describes every style of wrestling but from there they have their differences. I'll get into one well known style of wrestling in a minute.

Wrestling a bigger guy can be rough, especially since a man's instinct gives him the natural ability to wrestle to a certain degree, but one who trains in wrestling will grow strong and get a cardio workout. A skilled wrestler is not something to be scoffed at, contrary to popular belief. A wrestler will run all over a martial artist who has no training in grappling. However, a strong grappling art like sambo or bjj will give it a hell of a run. A strong striker that has trained against wrestling will also give the wrestler a lot of trouble, especially if the wrestler does not know submissions.

Wrestling has a lot of potential for cross training. A skilled kickboxer/wrestler will be a tough opponent for anybody. Mark Coleman, a no holds barred vet, is a master of greco roman wrestling and has trained in kickboxing and free style striking and some say he is the best ground and pounder of all time.

Greco roman wrestling: Greco roman is a style of wrestling that teaches you how to submit opponents along with taking them to the ground. It is a strenuous style, but when mastered it can be deadly. Ankle laces and chokes are the favorite submissions of the greco roman wrestler. In the ancient days, greco roman wrestling went on until one man was dead, the other often walked away crippled, sometimes for life. So needless to say, training in an art like this will make you one tough mother fvcker!

VII. Shoot fighting: A very new martial art that made it's debut in early no holds barred events by Ken Shamrock. Shammy was muscly, but still, every opponet he fought (except for royce gracie and a couple of low class fighters from the early days of ufc) were bigger than him, and despite this he holds the titles of superfight champion of ufc 6 and is the 3 time king of pancrase (an event similar to ufc).

Shoot fighting is a synthesis of muay thai kickboxing, wrestling, and submissions. It gets it's name from it's most common form of takedown, the shoot, where you simply spear for your opponents legs and drive forward until he is on the ground. The person trains in shoot fighting according to which of these interests him most. There are shoot fighters who's main concern is striking, hence he trains hard in muay thai, and others are more concerned with grappling so they train in wrestling and submissions harder. The flexibility in shoot fighting removes the need for cross training, however, you could throw in an art like vale tudo for a super aggressive touch to an already aggressive style.

Shoot fighting is an effective style to one who trains hard enough because the shoot fighter can stand up with a strong striker and go to the ground with a strong grappler, and he can out strike most grapplers and out grapple most strikers.

Shoot fighting is very street effective and great for taking on opponents larger than yourself as you train for stregnth. A skilled shoot fighter should be able to defeat a larger opponent very easily unless the larger opponent is also very skilled, even so, the smaller opponent can win due to the flexibility of his style.

The weakness of shootfighting is the amount of time and dedication it takes to master it. It is very hard because it's techniques are very tough to master, combine that with trying to keep up with the training in muay thai and you'll be hard pressed to remain a balanced fighter. Henceforth, a shootfighter is often a weak striker, however, they make up for it with superior grapplign skills and if you train hard enough, you can master both.



There you have it, your martial arts should have been answered right here. Man, I was planning on making a post on martial arts training, but after writing all that I dunno about it anymore!

Wow, this is very throrough. I have always wanted to learn martial arts and I am glad I read this thread. I fell under the category of people who believed that master strikers could defeat anyone.

Do you know a site that can help someone find a place to train? I'm not in a big city, so I assume my choices would be very limited, but as you said many times the trainer's skill varies greatly and if I do choose to invest time and money I want to be learning from someone good.

Great thread. Very nice. =] All i can ask is if u can make some things for other fighting styles out there, such as Tai-Chi, Hapkido, just to name a few.

Wow, incredible post. Nicely done.

That was really really good. That helped me to put together a lot of stuff I'd read about on the web but wasn't too sure how it all fit together in the big picture.

Thanks for posting that!!!!

Originally posted by DX_Flyer
Great thread. Very nice. =] All i can ask is if u can make some things for other fighting styles out there, such as Tai-Chi, Hapkido, just to name a few.

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Thanks, and thanks to those of you who have responded.

As for tai chi and hapkido, I didn't include them because I said I'm going over the MAJOR arts. Hapkido is not among them, I cover the main arts in certain countries and hapkido is not Korea's main art. I also didn't cover it because it is so similar to tkd, just that it has sort of a kung fu feel with it, not a big difference.

Tai Chi is a style of kung fu, read the description of kung fu and combine it with yoga and you have tai chi No, but seriously, tai chi is not a widely practiced art and half the people who do practice it do it for a yoga type spiritual thing rather than as a martial art.

And on a side note for those of you who are in question of something on this thread, feel free to add your input, if it means argueing with me then that's fine. Don't think that if you dont' know as muhc about martial arts as me that you don't have the right to challenge what I say, someone who still thinks karate and mauy thai are the same thing has just as much right to question me as a 10 year UFC vet.

HOWEVER! I do have one condition to this, argueing on this thread will be CONSTRUCTIVE. I don't want some punk drama queen coming on here and flaming me because he's so hung up on his baised opinions that me speaking my mind offends his pathetic little AFC ego, so if you're similar to the kind of person I just described then stay the hell away from this thread!

Ah, i see. I was about to take tai-chi when I realized that it wasnt really for me. So I took sign up for tae kwan do at a nearby place. Its quite small though but Im starting tomorrow so I'll let u guys know of my 1st experience at it. Reading up on your thread helped me narrow my choices and I chose TKD.

NTF TKD

I don't know anywhere near as much about martial arts as you, but just thought I'd add my 2 cents. I used to (read: USED TO, it's recently gone to hell) be in the NTF (National Tae Kwon Do Federation) (Canada only) headed by Mr. Wilfred Ho (in Sherwood Park/Edmonton, Alberta) and found that he taught a fair bit of grappling. I've since quit because what he teaches is useless on the street, he doesn't teach any timing or anything against an unwilling target. Just thought I'd say that some of the instructors of the styles you say don't have any grappling, have added some grappling in to compensate. In a usual class we'd do 25 min warmup, 25 min patterns, 30 min technique, 30 min sparring, 10 min grappling. That was a while ago so it may have changed since then, but I imagine other instructors have added/modified to compensate for their art's failings. (just wish he woulda done timing and overcoming someone who's resisting)

DX, definitely let us know how TKD goes.

As for Sexual Thing, maybe I could get your input. I've always been athletic but never a fighter. I weight train and cardio, so I'm in pretty good shape. I would like to take up a martial art (just one, at least for now). I'm 6'3, 190. Primarily I want to be able to defend myself, but also I have a lot of jackass friends who like to get in fights, and I'd like to be able to help bail them out. Mostly in bars or places like that. Any suggestions for a MA for me to take up? If I eventually cross-train, what could I cross-train with? Any input would be appreciated.

I'd like to take up Ninjitsu or Brazilian Jiujitsu. Where would one find trainers in such arts?

Originally posted by Soshyopathe
www.martialartsregistry.com

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Nice link. Thanks!

Has anyone here taken Ninjutsu or Brazilian Jiujitsu? Experiences? Tips?

Hrm. The only Ninjutsu training center is in Tulare, California which around 200 miles away from me. I did find a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training center which is only 18 miles away. When I have the time, I'll look into it.

I was in Taekwondo back in the day, but because I kept beating up all the kids in kindergarten and terrorizing the swingsets, my parents took my out of it. I don't know of anyone who's received 27 referrals in kindergarten.

Wow, nice thread.

Hey, great post sexualthing.

I'm a shaolin fanatic, I think it's the greatest thing since masturbating, so I'd like to argue a point for it. You said it isn't a great grappling art, but if you've been around any shaolin masters, you know not to get in close, because if you do, it often means paralysis or death. If you are close enough for them to strike or grab a chi point, it's over.

We have 2 of the world's greatest martial artists right here in Lexington Kentucky: Sin Thé and Hiang Thé. I've read Sin's books, and I'd honestly be afraid to get within 20 feet of the guy. He could kill you in one strike with a blindfold on, no hyperbole. If you ever try to shoot in or spear a shaolin master, you wouldn't even get your shoulder to him.

Of course, these guys are the .01% of Kung Fu masters that you brought up. They are absolutely too deadly to compete. Just showing that the art doesn't need a lot of intensive grappling to be effective against grappling.

For those of u that care -

I just got back from my first tae kwon do class and I must say, it was alot more than I expected. We stretched for 15 min, then moved onto kicking for another 20 min. After that, 15 min of acrobatic things, then 20 min of hand techniques, followed by 5 min wrap up. It was a great experience as the master was a great guy. I would like to reach ITU black belt and see from there.

[Sexual Thing]
Please shorten your signature. It's way too long. I noticed you never mentioned anything about discipline and the things you learn for your mind and conscious.

Discipline is the most important thing to learn in any self-defense art so I'm told my mom. She is a third degree black belt in Judo from the Philippines.