BEST Martial Arts

[DrunkMick]

The best martial art?
They all have their strengths and weaknesses.

The most practical?
Boxing, muay thai, brazilian jui jitsu, sambo, judo, and wrestling (does wrestling count?).

Careful about jumping into striking arts (boxing and muay thai), because repeated punching motions can be rough on your joints. When I first started boxing, it wasn't so much my hands (I've got really tough hands now that I mention it) and wrists were hurting, but my lifting program coupled with boxing (mostly hooks) and other intramural sports that required a throwing motion put a tremendous amount of strain on my rotator cuffs, specifically the left one.

Of course, it doesn't help that I'm primarily left handed but learned how to box orthodox, but hey.

 

[Skel]

"But keep something in mind. ANYONE who tells you a certain martial art reigns supreme, is someone with clouded judgement.
"

I believe there are better martial arts or fighting techniques that will eat up the others. Lets take kung fu for example. Kung Fu is great for excercise, but lets be realistic. Any profession fighter will tell you its basically useless against someone who knows what they are doing.

If you want something effective and very good for your cardio, i would check out Brazilian Jiu Jitzu , wrestling, boxing, or judo.

 

[Komodo]

Trust me when I tell you that systema is a great art maybe not the beat but very good allaround.It shows you the right way to use a knife and to defend against it.It's also good when facing multiple attackers.It was used in the russian specialforces and if it works for them than it has to be good.Just look at the u.f.c and other m.m.a events.Alot of guys use jiu-jtsu and sambo others use wrestling and shootfighting with good results.In the end I think you should cross-train.About Bruc Lees art I have to say that it's good but a little incomplete he did die prematurely so maybe he wasn't finish with jeet-kund-do.I don't think he would have fared well in todays fighting arena but I can be wrong.Just checkout the website www.russianmartialart.com

 

[Soshyopathe]

Originally posted by Komodo
It was used in the russian specialforces and if it works for them than it has to be good.

Did it work for them? Russian special forces no longer exist formally.

It's not the style, it's the school. I say it again, not the techniques, the teachers. Many McDojos around America are only happy with your money. They'll encourage you, make you pay for your belt test. They'll tell you why their style is the most effective.

Try to find an underground karate group that gets together in secret. They're everywhere, you just have to look and ask around. Find a teacher that makes you pay with blood and who will kick your arse if you F up.

Every style is effective because you make it effective for you. Whoever says Kung Fu or TKD isn't effective is a jackass. They've been around hundreds of years for a reason. Sure, the tiger system won't work for weak people, the snake system won't work for fatties, the cat system won't work for anyone. But you take what works for you and develop yourself.

Don't rely on the style. A good sensei is well-versed in many styles. He may have 7th dan Shotokon Karate, 5th dan judo, 3rd dan Hykaru Jiu Jitsu. So don't focus on a style, because when you get down to it, it's all karate. I'm not learning ****o-Ryu, I'm learning karate. I'm not learning Judo, I'm learning karate. That's how most underground groups work. No style, just fighting.

 

[Ice Cold]

Did it work for them? Russian special forces no longer exist formally.

Whaaaa

Since when? no spetsnaz anymore?

What about spetsgruppa alpha for one?

 

[BMW]

Find a teacher that makes you pay with blood and who will kick your arse if you F up

Ummm yeah that's exactly the purpose of martial arts.

 

[Soshyopathe]

The only way to learn my friend

 

[Kuen1]

I'm with Soshyopathe on this. There is so much junk out there that it's pathetic. I've met Karate and TKD guys who had been training for years and years who really sucked, and could not not apply their training. I saw a video of a of my instructors in Wing Chun when they went to a TKD joint and smacked the TEACHER around. They had been training in Wing Chun for 2 years, and the TKD instructor had been doing it for about 25! I've also seen some Shotokan (sp?) cats give my instructors cracked ribs. What's my point? It's the Man, not the system. It's the teacher, not the system.
Soshyopathe is on point in saying that an instructor should "make you pay." Maybe not with blood, but who WILL smack you around. I learned this lesson for myself, and can back up what Soshyopathe is saying. I trained under one guy who was easy going, and soft in his training methods and guess what...I became soft in my applications. I then trained under two other guys (same system) who would smack me all around the joint. If I was doing something wrong, they showed me by smacking me back a couple of feet rather than just tell me. It took ONE time of them doing that, and I did not make the same mistake again. Harsh? Nope. It taught me how to not make the same mistakes over and over again, how to toughen up, how to apply the techniques properly, how to generate the proper energy, how to move and strike with intent and purpose, and how to see the system as it was really meant to be. Anyways...just my little rant.

"Mcdojos" - LOL. So f'in true.

 

[felony]

Guys,
thanks for all the responses.

Right now i'm still searching for a decent boxing school.

After doing boxing for a while, i will prolly do kung fu (decent school here in melb) just so i have some experience with martial arts. Some is better than none, and its a personal goal of mind just to get a (worthwhile) black belt.

I know you guys may think this is lame, but i'm not really interested in which martial arts teacher can beat another one? I've got no intention of starting any fights or being in a fight. I'm not learning martial arts so that i can take a knife off someone or so i can kill some guy in a particular progression of fancy moves.

Having some martial arts experience may benefit me if i have to self defend which would be a nice bonus (i am now well aware of the importance of experience in fighting to put into practice any skills learnt) but that would be my last option before walking or running away!

Thanks,
felony.

 

[Nightwing]

Originally posted by felony
Guys,
thanks for all the responses.

Right now i'm still searching for a decent boxing school.

After doing boxing for a while, i will prolly do kung fu (decent school here in melb) just so i have some experience with martial arts. Some is better than none, and its a personal goal of mind just to get a (worthwhile) black belt.

I know you guys may think this is lame, but i'm not really interested in which martial arts teacher can beat another one? I've got no intention of starting any fights or being in a fight. I'm not learning martial arts so that i can take a knife off someone or so i can kill some guy in a particular progression of fancy moves.

Having some martial arts experience may benefit me if i have to self defend which would be a nice bonus (i am now well aware of the importance of experience in fighting to put into practice any skills learnt) but that would be my last option before walking or running away!

Thanks,
felony.

Good choice in choosing boxing first Felony, boxing will teach you the basic principle of stand-up fighting and how to move and block and evade punches. After you become proficient in that, it will make going into other "striking martial arts" like kung fu that much easier because you can integrate your boxing into your kung fu, karate, or whatever you decide to take.

But really try to include a ground fighting art in there as well like brazillian jiu jitsu to complement your stand up fighting. Just a year of that 3 times a week will make you very dangerous if you ever have to be in a confrontation. And with your boxing, you'll be deadly.

Ignore some of these flakes that posted that most fights end on the ground. In a real fight, there are no guarantees. If you can finish him standing up, do it. If you can end it on the ground, then do that. As I stated previously, be dangerous in any position.

 

[felony]

Good point nightwing, your experience and advice has been particularly helpful.

I'll keep you posted in my progress through boxing and let you know about teachers/ exercises etc that i go through which you may have an opinion about. I don't want to get stuck with some fake boxer who prefers teaching fat chicks those fashionable self defense boxing work out classes when they all jump around swinging arms wildly.


thanks again,
felony.

 

[Skel]

There is no supreme martial art, it depends on what YOU want to do. Are you really looking to kick someone ass? Are you doing it for self discipline or for a good cardio workout?

Kick ass=Kickboxing, boxing, Judo, Muay Thai and BJJ make a good mix. Dont forget about Tank abbots all out swing your arms brawl type of fight if your a fat **** technique. This hasnt been working for him however against the good fighters.

IM sure everyones opinion differs but I personally take
BJJ which is great for defense in situations where the fight winds up on the ground which it normally does. This is also a Great cardio workout.

 

[Soshyopathe]

My fights don't end up on the ground, only the opponent. I've heard so many BJJ guys say that 90% of fights hit the ground. Yeah, about every street fight goes down, but I've been able to stay on my feet. I'm pretty sure it all depends on what you want to do. A BJJ guy probably wants to get the guy on the ground because that's what he does well. But it's just as easy to keep the fight standing, if it means not letting them touch you, or applying a joint lock, or throwing, or grabbing that pretty little accupoint behind their ear.

The reason to be on the ground is when you are kneeling to take the wallet off his cold dead ass.

 

[Kuen1]

I'm just curious what BJJ etc teaches in regards to dealing with more than one opponent.

 

[Soshyopathe]

Originally posted by Kuen1
I'm just curious what BJJ etc teaches in regards to dealing with more than one opponent.

EXACTLY!

 

[Komodo]

Bjj is awesome anyone who is a hardcore fighter knows about the gracies and their history.The founding father of bjj once challanged an ex heavyweight champion to a fight right after he beat one of the founders of jiu-jitsu.But like you said every style has it´s weakness.About the russian specialforces they do exist
and if you would like more info just checkout the website i posted
some of their guys are teaching are specialforces people.

 

[Redg v2.0]

technique ain't sh1t without skill

 

[Thoroughbred]

How do you go about finding an underground school?

 

[Nightwing]

Originally posted by Thoroughbred
How do you go about finding an underground school?

If you know some guys who are martial artists, they'll tell you of some out there or of ones that existed in the past. Those type of schools are usually spread by others by word of mouth.

 

[joe21000]

So what's a poor guy to do. I took an introductory class of kickboxing and would continue if I could afford it. But it was $150 initial fee and $75 a month @ 3x per week. I did judo in the past and paid half that, I haven't found a good judo instructor since I moved and like others have said in this thread, add other skills to your fighting. If/when I find an underground fighting club I'm going find them.