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What martial art should one learn?

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  • Personally I find the thought of fighting in hand-to-hand combat even if it is a scrap to be something to be discouraged, but I still learn so that I can prevent these fights from happening. "The art of a cunning warrior is fighting without fighting." (Gorin no Sho - Miyamoto Musashi) I have been training in the martial arts for nearly 12 years in Kendo, Aikido, Kung-fu, Ju-jitsu, Tai Chi Quan, Muay Thai, and applying principles from Jeet Kune Do. Even though I have learned much from each of these styles, I still see a flaw in them all, THEY HURT PEOPLE, not just the recipient of your hard earned skills, but the practitioner as well. There is a level of respect for these arts that have been neglected, most of them were created to harm, maim, cripple, or kill an opponent. There is much respect there for the people who are willing to teach these arts.

    My only suggestion to you is find an Aikido dojo near to you, that has a decent lineage. Now the reason why being is that due to the overwhelming severity of most modern martial arts and their implicit belief that harming an individual in such a way that they cannot recover is in some ways barbaric. For instance Krav Maga and Jujitsu are both designed to not only immobilize, but potentially cripple or kill your opponent by taking the first advantage in combat, surprise or initiative. Aikido in its wisdom and construction has all of its tactics based upon the element of a reaction, not an initiative. For instance Aikido when applied correctly primarily utilizes your opponents force that is applied, against him/herself, through the control and manipulation of balance and the center of gravity ("Its all in the hips!"). Aikido is a passive art, but an effective one, other styles that follow that similar pattern are Tai Chi Quan, and the primary applications of Jeet Kune Do, there are others, but I am unable to dig through my reading materials right now. The most important thing about Aikido is its principal of immobilizing or neutralizing an attack so it hurts neither party, even if one has a weapon or not. I have worked with individuals in Aikido classes that are over 40 and have previous experience with other styles that not only enjoy learning this more, but also find it less taxing on your physical being in general. I highly recommend this. If you would like to have a more in-depth discussion about it let me know.
  • I still see a flaw in them all, THEY HURT PEOPLE, not just the recipient of your hard earned skills, but the practitioner as well.
    My Hapkido instructor was also a lawyer. He constantly reminded us of the legal ramification of actually getting in a fight. Aside from tournaments, any martial art should teach you to avoid a fight. Not only should they teach you to avoid a fight, the instructor should go out of their way to teach you how to avoid a fight.

    The indecent I mentioned above didn't involve injury to anyone. Somehow I managed to piss a guy off while driving. When we got to a stoplight he walked up to my car, I saw him coming, he said some thing I replied he threw a punch, I trapped his arm. He didn't hit me, and I locked his wrist and rolled his arm so his shoulder was locked as well. He was stuck. He could not retreat or attack. I suggested to him that retreat might be his best option. I let him go and he went back to his car.

    Aikido does have a philosophy of peace, and nonaggression. As I said earlier, pick an art on the merits of the art. What do you like striking, grappling, competition? If you just want to learn "Self Defense" I think Krav Maga may be a good choice, from what I understand of the art. It seems to have very little philosophy or fluff and is focused on hand to hand combat training.
  • I would agree there is no best martial art. If you take a martial art do so for the enjoyment of learning the art. Chances are you will never need to use what you learn unless you choose to compete.
    Ah, the sweet smell of bullshido in the afternoon.
  • Ah, the sweet smell of bullshido in the afternoon.
    Please explain.
  • Ah, the sweet smell of bullshido in the afternoon.
    Please explain. I'd really like to study "the best martial art".

    If you are talking about MMA being "The Best Martial Art" that's like saying "The car is be best automobile ever made." There are some cars that are worthless and other that would make good arguments for that statement. Mixed Martial Arts are not the best martial art, it isn't even an "art". Mixed Martial Arts is a style of training, where you study multiple martial arts. The first wide dissemination of this theory was in Jeet Kun Do. Bruce Lee was amazing because he trained hard and took the best tools, for him, from the arts he studied. When you choose an art body type makes a huge difference in the type of art you should study. If you are light and quick a striking art may fit you far better than a grappling art. If you are stocky and have a low center of gravity wrestling and judo might work best. Even if you go to a school where they train MMA that doesn't mean it will work for you.

    I'm tall, I have a long reach, I have long legs. I can throw a fast kicks. If I can stand up and take my opponents legs out from under him there is no point in going to the ground. Most MMA practitioners I've talked to talk about taking the fight to the ground. They think in the competition grappling frame of mind. So what happens when you take the guy to the ground and his buddy walks over and kicks you in the head?
  • Another problem is that you can't really judge a style if you don't know shit about martial arts. They just see someone do some fancy moves and go "awesome".
    Something all martial arts have in common is an insanely high skill cap. So if someone is interested in martial arts, I would advise them to pick a random dojo (style doesn't matter), see whether they get along well with the group (that's really important) and simply start training. Once you've started, you should of course keep your eyes open to what other styles or people from different dojos do. I started with karate, then we moved, so I switched to taekwondo. I've been doing that for a few years (got my green belt yesterday), and recently, I started judo as an addition, and I rather like it.
  • "So if someone is interested in martial arts, I would advise them to pick a random dojo (style doesn't matter), see whether they get along well with the group (that's really important) and simply start training."
    There is a problem with just picking a "random" dojo, and am_dragon seems to have this point cornered, you cannot judge how things will go with any martial art unless you know yourself. By knowing yourself, you'll have an idea of your body type and the types of things your body is capable of, specifically during training. In training in any martial art you run the risk of harming yourself if you are not built for it.

    Yes, getting along with your training partners is a good thing, you should also look for something that will benefit you not just physically, but mentally as well. You can learn any art all you want, and you can become physically proficient in it, but when it comes down to it and you don't know how to handle a situation by any other means than to just react, you have failed. There are some dojos with instructors that have inherited distinct knowledge from their predecessors about how to cope with situations without resorting to the base physical aspect of your style. The spiritual end if you will. Finding an instructor who is willing to pass on this knowledge is worth more than any sum of money can buy.
  • edited December 2007
    I'm not saying you should pick a random one and stay there forever. But knowing nothing, you gotta start with something.
    And about the "built for it" thing: I see very tall and slim people in judo and very small and heavy people in taekwondo. The person I'm thinking about in the taekwondo case has the 7th dan. A problem might be if you start taekwondo with a hip problem or something like that. If you're generally healthy, you can pick up any style you like.
    Martial arts come with the risk of serious injury. But that has nothing to do with whether you're tall and slender or built like Gimli. Also, people won't hurt you too much if you're fresh meat.
    And, after all, all I really wanted to say was: If you want to get into it, don't think too much about it, get off the couch and start doing something.

    While the spiritual end is important, I don't think it is something one should specifically look for when having never done martial arts before. If you can just walk into a dojo and say whether the training is good or bad, you're already beyond getting into it.

    To me, martial arts is also about finding your own way and perspective. That's why they end in "do", and that's what makes them arts. And you don't get on the way if you think too much about the first step being perfect. That's why I said you should start immediately with doing something, but keep your mind open for new impulses.
    Post edited by merry_minstrel on
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