What is the best style of martial arts? I know very little about the various styles, and what I do know comes mainly from Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li.
Lee's Jeet Kun Do seem's like it makes the most sense to me as it deals with changing one's fighting style to capitalize on one's apponent's weaknesses, but that's just me.
Any knowledged martial artists have an opinion?
If you wanted to enter MMA it is best to mix styles like Ju-jitsu (submission) and muay thai (striking). Judo can be interesting as well. Karate and akido aren't that great.
I earned a black belt in Tang Soo Do quite a few years ago and I can tell you from experience that it is a completely worthless martial art. Tang Soo and many other martial arts are primarily filled with kids who don't have the athletic ability for any other sport. I worked fairly hard at it while I was doing it, but I certainly didn't have to. The organization will move you along in the ranks as long as you're paying all the fees.
It was pretty pathetic really. There was a complete lack of any real physical element to it. A guy I knew in high school did Jeet Kun Do, and they practiced five days a week and did hard core conditioning. They treated it like a sport and took it every bit as seriously as I took track. In Tang Soo, we were required to attend one class a week and the most physically demanding thing that we did was warming up with a few jumping jacks, push-ups, and sit-ups. We'd go to tournaments and I'd see tons of 7 and 8 year old black belts. There were masters who couldn't defend themselves from the average high school punk (just to clarify, master in this context doesn't mean a guy over 40).
I'd recommend Jeet Kun Do if you have a school in your area. If I decided that I wanted to do martial arts again, that's what I'd do.
Krav Maga
If you want something that's pretty, do Tae Kwon Do.
If you want something that wins, do Jiu Jitsu.
everybody loves jiu-jitsu, but with a good take down defense from a grappling/wrestling background, and a boxing/striking focus, the whole jiu-jitsu deal is moot. grappling and striking baby, ends it before submissions come to fruition.
Wrestlers constantly get tooled in the UFC. It is inferior to Jiu-jitsu. Royce Gracie oftened went on his back intentionally and still had people tapping. I'll take Jiu-jitsu over wrestling any day. You still need striking ability though.
This chick can kick your ass:
Actually collegiate wrestlers actually kick ass in the UFC. And will probably continue to do so. Off the top of my head. Courture, Liddell, Hughes, Faber.
Yeah, but those guys aren't just wrestlers anymore. There are far more jiu-jitsu experts in the UFC. Hughes was tooled by GSP last time. Liddell and Courture are good fighters but Liddell has also had great training in martial arts... not that it helped him against Rampage. I always wanted to see Liddell face off against Anderson Silva... I'd put my money on the The Spider.
IDF wrote:
Krav Maga
don't get too focused on one thing.
monkey and white crane experts would exploit krav maga very much.
krav maga is good but not the best. thats not a put down.
acrobatic?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWz6ve9TpsQ
be mindful-
the right blow to the head would be all thats required. To some degree all you need to know for that is boxing.
are you going to demolish your opponent in one blow?
are you going to fly through the air, acrobatically?
are you going to grapple and strangle your opponent?
are you going to just shoot them? run away? slice them?
some things make more sense than others. The best style is whichever fits you and allows you the most development, but at the same time you must include practical usage. What will you need and when will you need it?
There are some styles of Kung Fu where a master just looking at you can disable you to some degree. Do you know that? Do you realize what kind of power that is? Whats best is a hard thing to say.
Judo has the most participants in the world. But all martial arts are good for kids, it teaches humility and discipline.
You would really need to explain how you define "best" in order to determine which style would fit the bill.
Do you mean being able to protect yourself? Offense-oriented (like MMA)? Developing discipline and self control?
There are many styles for a reason. Each has it strengths and weaknesses.
For one on one street fighting, it's mma. Watch the UFC and what styles do you see? Any karate? Any kung fu or any of that?
Nope, it's Muay Thai and BJJ with some wrestlling thrown in, which you usually get with a good BJJ coach any way.
All fights start on your feet so you want to know how to defend, punch and kick. The best BJJ in the world ins't going to help you if you get knocked out cold before you get a chance to take somebody down.
A lot of fights do go to the ground, so you need some good BJJ to use if it gets there. Hopefully, your Muay Thai will allow you to pummel someone on your feet, but they may have some wrrestling skills and get to you before you can hit them. That is where your BJJ will prevail.
I know this from experience. I had a lot of run ins for some reason or another. It just seemed that every time I turned around, someone was messing with me. I wear glasses and balding and several people I know said I look like a total geek when I drive, so maybe that's it.
Whatever the reason, I got messed with a lot and got tired of it. I enrolled in a mma class and grew by leaps and bounds within months. It doesn't take much to be way ahead of the average punk you'll meet on the street.
Six months after taking my first class, I was on my way to Subway and some guy pulled in front of me. All I did was look over at him when I swerved around him. I didn't say a word, make a gesture, nothing.
He followed me to Subway and jumped out of his truck, asking me if I had a problem. I said, "Man, I'm just here to get a sandwich."
He again said, "If you have a problem, we can deal with it right here."
I again tried to defuse the situation and said, "Man, I said I'm just here to get a sandwich. You seem to have a problem since you are the one who followed me here."
At that time he tried to close the distance and I reacted the way I was trained. I threw a straight left, a right and followed it with a push kick to his mid section. He went down and I mounted him. I threw a couple of punches and an elbow that opened a nice gash on his forehead. I said, "You want more?" and was going to armbar him until his arm snapped and he said, "No, let me up. I'm sorry, man!"
So, I let him up and kept away enough to react in case he moved on me again. He jumped in his truck and drove off.
I tell you, it was a nice feelling. I don't start fights and your coach will instill that in you, but it sure is nice knowing you can protect yourself and have the confidence to stand up to punks.
hey wrote:
Yeah, but those guys aren't just wrestlers anymore. There are far more jiu-jitsu experts in the UFC. Hughes was tooled by GSP last time. Liddell and Courture are good fighters but Liddell has also had great training in martial arts... not that it helped him against Rampage. I always wanted to see Liddell face off against Anderson Silva... I'd put my money on the The Spider.
Won't happen. Different weight classes.
If you're constantly getting into physical altercations, the problem isn't others, the problem is YOU.
I've got an above-average smartass mouth on me, and I've never gotten into a physical fight with a stranger (friends and teammates - yes. Strangers - no)
It's like playing a musical instrument: talent counts imo. All of the forms can be done effectively if not beautifully by some people, just as some people can get beautiful sounds and tones from cheap instruments and others could get dullness from a Stradivarius. I studied Tai Chi for years, and even though I go very stretchy and limber and balanced than I formerly was, I was limited to my basic reflexes and body/mind. Probably too many people think that studying one or more of the forms is going to confer great self-defense skills--well, I mean it does, but not to that extent for many.
Carry a baseball bat, too.
First, I never got in to a physical altercation until that jerk at Subway tried to do something stupd. Maybe you haven't because you run your mouth and people are afraid to say anything back. Or maybe you're afraid to back up your big, bad mouth.
Tell me what I did in these situations:
1. I'm pulling out of a parking spot at a drug store. A guy is walking to his car, looking at his jug of protein he just bought and not paying attention. I stopped and lightly honked my horn to let him know he was about to walk in to my car and he said, "G-damn buddy, what's your fing problem?!"
Being the insecure, untrained weasel I was, I just drove off.
2. I'm walking in a cross walk with a green light. A guy comes against the red light, starts to turn on red and NEARLY hits me. I instinctively looked at him as I jumped out of the way, but did nothing else and kept walking.
He turned the corner, stopped, got out of his car and told me I need to learn how to walk across a street.
Being the insecure, untrained weasel I was, I said, "Sorry." and kept walking.
3. I'm walking with my girlfriend in the mall. Some guy is sitting and says, "nice ass. What's that nice ass doing with you?"
Being the insecure, untrained wimp that I was, I kept walking.
Now I ask you again, what did I do in each of those circumstances to deserve to be messed with?
hey wrote:
Wrestlers constantly get tooled in the UFC. It is inferior to Jiu-jitsu. Royce Gracie oftened went on his back intentionally and still had people tapping. I'll take Jiu-jitsu over wrestling any day. You still need striking ability though.
Those pathetic fighters in UFC wouldn´t survive a match against a world class wrestler like Karelin or a boxer. Can you imagine Tyson in his prime without thick boxing gloves? He would only need one punch against a clown like Gracie. Karelin even competed in strongman competitions. He would have broken their necks just as easy as I can break a pencil.