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Set Martial Arts

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Set Martial Arts

Advice for a beginner in Martial Arts?

I am going to soon start martial arts… When I graduate high school I am going to move somewhere with a great program and go to college and train. Is there any advice for a martial art to start with to teach me to basics and princaples but at the same time is useful enough to set me up for later, advanced arts.

Depends on what you want.

If you want an emphasis on the psycholigical and spiritual aspects of martial arts or you want to learn “cool looking moves” like you see in the movies, then look toward traditional martial art forms like Aikido, Wing Chun, Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do, etc. These styles are great for your physical and mental well-being and if trained consistently will keep you agile and in great shape. However, despite what many on this site will have you believe, most traditional martial art forms are not realistic for fighting or self defense.

Check out www.bullshido.net for more info on the pros and cons of different art forms.

If all you care about is learning to fight and defending yourself I suggest Kickboxing/boxing, Jiu Jitsu (don’t ignore the ground game), and/or wrestling. These styles are much more effective in real life fighting situations because they require you to practice against live resisting opponents, that’s the only way to be sure you are able to execute the techniques against someone who is trying to hurt you for real. Keep in mind however, that if you chose to get serious in one of these art forms you will get hurt! If you’re squeamish than it’s not for you.

It all depends on what you want, hope that helps!

Edit:

Hey Adam, the guy who called me an idiot a few posts down. What do you suggest people do against multiple attackers? I’ll bet you would just bust out some Chuck Norris and spinning crescent kick all your attackers in the head and then finish them off with the “touch of death”.

You are obviously completely ignorant with regards to the “real life” combat effectiveness of various systems of martial arts and have no business answering questions or giving your opinion in a martial arts forum. Go back to your fantasy world of Jackie Chan movies and anime, leave the real fighting to the big boys.

Now for the rebuttal:

You can’t learn how to defend yourself with choreographed moves, life is not a kata. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with learning katas, just saying that they are not very helpful in learning real life self defense. I know this from experience. I studied TKD for several years and learned many katas, unfortunately we didn’t do much sparring and no groundwork. When I started college I joined an MMA school because it was the closest thing available, I learned quickly that I did not know how to fight.

The only way to learn how to fight is to practice live and full contact. There’s no way around it, it’s just like anything else, you learn by doing it. You wouldn’t expect a boxer to become pro by punching a bag and shadow boxing. I don’t understand why people think they can train forms and practice against non-resisting opponents and automatically kick someone’s ass. Do they think, “when the time comes I will magically know how to defend myself because I have practiced these movements on someone who just stood there and let me hit him”. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.

As for weapons attacks, I mentioned in a previous post that Krav Maga is a good style for learning how to defend yourself from knife, gun, or blunt object attacks. However, this system alone is inadequate because many of its other attacks are too dangerous to be practiced on a live resisting opponent. If you can’t practice them live then you don’t know if they work.

As far as multiple attackers, first I suggest running if you can. If you must stay and fight than I stand firmly by my previous answer, train kickboxing/boxing, wrestling, and Jiu Jitsu. There is no great way to train for this, just learn how to fight. The crap you see in the movies does not exist. You’re not going to knock people out one by one with flying spin moves and pitter patter strikes.

I apologize if I have offended any of the traditional martial artists on here, except for Adam, you can go fight a real kickboxer and see what happens.

And sorry for hijacking your thread, Tyler. I just couldn’t hold back.