Choosing a MA?

Chucky the tree

right, need to pick a MA. Stuck though. I know this has beeen asked a million tinmes already, so sorry about that! but tough!

Looking for a MA that will improve mainly self defense, also a bit of fitness and flexibilty would be nice.


done a bit of research.

BJJ - seems to be alot of ground work which doesnt hugely interest me. I there alot of striking involved? ALso, whats the difference between BJJ and regular JJ, is there one?

Aikido - well there isnt any striking really in this aswell, what about hapkido? Its similiar and but more strike orientated isnt it? Is there proper sparring in both of these?

Kenpo- seen a few videos, seems alright but dont really trust them. There seems to be alot of styles, or they mostly fairly similiar? whats it like?

Muay thai - haha, i think i am far to much of a blouse to try this but stick it in anyway. It looks great, but fairly physically demanding. I know i probaly wouldnt be doing anything major for a a couple of months(guessing anyway, might be wrong) but still :eek: I would prefer to take something else up, and then move on to muay as i would feel a bit more confident.

The rest i have thought of are TKD, alot of kicking and striking yes? WIng chun is another i have heard about, but now very little. ANyone here do it or know something about it?

Open to all advice and suggestions, if theres a style i have left out that might suit me, let me know(No ned to suggest krav maga).

oh one more thing, competition - i have no interest in them, would most places expect me to enter them?

Thanks anyway.

Kevin_rc_ie

Sounds like TKD would suit you.

columok

For a small base level of fitness and flexibility any of the below arts would be grand.

As for self defence- if the martial art doesnt involve training against a resisting (fully and realistically) then it simply wont develop self defence skill.

BJJ - Yes
Aikido - No
Kenpo- No
Muay thai - Yes
TKD- A small amount. Not generally
WIng chun- No

You should consider Judo.

Chucky the tree

Is there much striking in judo? Does anyone train in 2 MA's? WOuld it be wise?

Tim_Murphy

Try a few out and see which one you like most! If you try a few you should be able to see pretty easily the differences in training methods from group to group. I personally don't think self defence is a great reason to go training but each to their own.
"Train for what you want; understand what you are training for; have fun!"

Tim_Murphy

Is there much striking in judo? Does anyone train in 2 MA's? WOuld it be wise?

There's no striking in Judo. Lot of people train in more than one MA. if they are functional MAs then it's generally not a problem as it will all fit together, eg Judo and BJJ. If they are non functional eg the traditional part of TKD and say Shotokan Karate then they won't mix well and it's only likely to confuse you.

Chucky the tree

problem is i have to many MA's to realisticly train in to see what i like. i have 5 or 6 possiblities, and i have been told you should give it a few weeks before deciding if the MA is for you.

If i could cut it down to 2 or r, possible 4 it would be easy.

thanks for the advice!

Naos

Do you want to strike or not?
Judo would be a good start for you by the sounds of it.

Also, no one is going to force you into competition. A lot of Martial Artists train for the flexibility and fitness, not for competition.

Chucky the tree

yea, would prefer something with striking.

columok

muay thai, boxing or MMA if you want something that is functional. Maybe full contact kickboxing??? Some schools (but very few) of TKD train a much more functional syllabus eg. Tim Murphy's lot in UL, NUIG Galway (under Mark Leonard) and I think Roper's peeps. Also Paul Moran in Newpark trains very functional Kung Fu. Not sure of who else in Dublin.

If you arent so concerned on your martial art working as self defence then you could go with standard Karate, Kenpo, Kung fu, Kickboxing schools.

Roper

Some good points of advice up there for you Chucky. I think what you decide to do is based mainly on what club you go to. I would disagree with some things the lads have said vis a vis TKD, as that is very dependent on where you go. Some good, some bad. There are bad clubs in every art though. My advice would be to find a club and coach that suit you best as opposed to finding the right combination of letters! (TKD,MMA,BJJ,WT,MT) If you like it, stay, if you don't, leave.
As regards striking arts, you have the list Colum put down as the main ones.
I'd get myself a good base striking art and then get a bit of ground to go along with it, so much the better. In fact if you can get both under one roof.... hmmm, now where would such a place be.....


What part of the world do you live in?

Oh and Colum:

and I think Roper's peeps

Roper be's his own peeps, and he rocks!

Chucky the tree

living in terenure. Near SBG, think i might givee that a try anyway.

Roper

Try it out. John's a nice bloke and you'll learn lots there as there's a great standard.

RedRaven

Chucky the tree wrote:

living in terenure. Near SBG, think i might givee that a try anyway.

Hey there, yep as the lads already said check them all out and do what suits you best, but if you decide to try thai you will like it lots of striking, oh and I will get to round kick you for the Man Utd jibe as your sig!!!:D Only kidding its very good, good luck with the choice after all it is yours!!!!

EPO_MAN

Try them all for a while.
One of the ones you rejected could surprise you -a good sensai/sifu could change you mind.

I'd recommend kickboxing or TDK.

I do jujutsu (non bjj) and it's it's fitness isn't too good (sorry sensai - isn't as important as I'd like it to be).
If i had a class I'd have them running hills and climbing trees etc...till they were pooped and then train them. But that's me!

I do kickboxing too which has a savage amount of fitness involved.

dlofnep

Do you want to learn how to defend yourself or do you want to learn ballet? Don't be put off because something is physically demanding. It's something you need to do. As far as BJJ goes, it may not hugely interest you but if you want to learn how to defend yourself, study BJJ.

It is also a good idea to study multiple martial arts. Not any of them got it right - Look are any MMA orientated gym and you should be fine. They cover all important aspects of self defense even if it's trained for a limited rules enviroment.

EPO_MAN

dlofnep wrote:

Do you want to learn how to defend yourself or do you want to learn ballet? Don't be put off because something is physically demanding. It's something you need to do. As far as BJJ goes, it may not hugely interest you but if you want to learn how to defend yourself, study BJJ.

It is also a good idea to study multiple martial arts. Not any of them got it right - Look are any MMA orientated gym and you should be fine. They cover all important aspects of self defense even if it's trained for a limited rules enviroment.

you must be MMA's PR guy!

Kevin_rc_ie

Nah I still reckon he should do TKD, he's obviously got the striking buzz going on.

PhoenixRising

dlofnep wrote:

Do you want to learn how to defend yourself or do you want to learn ballet?

What happened to...

dlofnep wrote:

I know this place has been swarming with mixed martial artists and guys who train in a resistance emphasised situation. I'm wondering if in the last few months if you guys have felt ridiculed by some of us because we might question an art you train and It's not really fair of us. I'm pretty sure I've done it in the past too.

I think we should all try to stop the ridicule on here from now on in regards to what martial art we study. I think it's only fair that we respect each other's respective art, even if we don't agree with it's methods or potential.

...from your 'reconciliation' thread?

Roper

dlofnep wrote:

It is also a good idea to study multiple martial arts. Not any of them got it right - Look are any MMA orientated gym and you should be fine. They cover all important aspects of self defense even if it's trained for a limited rules enviroment.

Whhhoooooshhh!!! Broad sweeping statement.

I don't think you can generally account for every gym or system, even MMA, when it comes to self defense.

dlofnep

Roper wrote:

I don't think you can generally account for every gym or system, even MMA, when it comes to self defense.

Out of all the single arts, I have yet to seem one that is a complete system. Which is why I believe MMA orientated gyms to be the best for self defense.

bandraoi

Why don't you try two very different MA's to start with say Judo and either Karate or Tae Kwon Do.

From there you can decide whether to look at the Aikido/BJJ/JJ/Judo end of things or the Karate/TKD/Muai Thai end of things.

dlofnep

He's trying to learn something to help his self defense. Tae Kwon Do or karate will not help that.

Tim_Murphy

I know of plenty of TKD clubs that would help someone for self defence.

Roper

dlofnep wrote:

He's trying to learn something to help his self defense. Tae Kwon Do or karate will not help that.

Hmmm, I think I'd like a list of the TKD and Karate clubs you've trained in Dlofnep. That's a bold statement.

PhoenixRising

dlofnep wrote:

Tae Kwon Do or karate will not help that.

I think he forgot to add 'in my opinion' to that statement.

dlofnep

Waterford TKD. I studied TKD for years. Quit when I was about 14. I was near my blue belt. I'm not trying to look down upon any art, not at all but I didn't feel ever in my training of TKD that it would help me even remotely in defending myself. When we sparred, it was very light contact. I think a sport orientated setup like that can't do much for your self defense.

Infact, I remember when I was younger this guy used to always start **** with me after school every day for no reason, just because I was always a small guy. One day I tried out my tae kwon do on him and got my face stomped on. So no, it wasn't a bold statement - It's reality. Something I went through.

A year after studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu I got a thump in the face on a night out, clinched with the guy, took him down and held him at bay. I felt 100 times more confident. So there you have it.

Roper

Don't make me say anecdotal evidence.
So you went to a light contact TKD school? Does that mean that all TKD schools are the same? Also, myth no.1 is that heavy sparring makes a good fighter, not always. It's more clever sparring. But that's another topic.

Your experience might be similar to a great many people around, but there are countless others who train TKD and have quite the opposite. My old school had no less than about ten doormen training there regularly, it sure as heck helped them, but then that's anecdotal evidence so...

I'm glad BJJ has worked for you in that way, but you know what, I'm sure it's failed people in SD situations too. There are good and bad schools in every art, style, system. Your original statement is still a broad, uninformed one IMO.

dlofnep

My statement is based on my own personal experiences. Don't take it personal.

Roper

Thats fair enough. But you didn't say that originally. I have personal experience defending myself with TKD, and my opinions reflect that, but I can still recognise there are poor methods of training, just as I can recognise the shortcomings.

I didn't take it personally, I took it as a sweeping statement which required clarification. You've clarified.