Anyone on here do one? I've been thinking about taking one up for a while, but am still hesitating, so I would like someone to tell me why I should.

Karate? Judo? Tae Kwon Do? King Fu? What do you do and why? What do you like/not like about it?

kickboxing (modern karate)

Like: the discipline, training, fitness, confidence

Dislike: being lamped

Training for blue belt currently, then brown, then black.

There's a european karate champion lurking on here somewhere.

TKD 3rd dan here my advice – go to classes, try them out, pick the one with the atmosphere you like the best. Style is irrespective (unless you have specific goals) it's about having fun and being interested.

Done Judo since I was a nipper.

Tried Karate 1st but bored easily. 1st thing I learnt in Judo was how to throw somebody on the ground and then sit on them. V useful as a small boy.

As above training and discipline were really useful as a child. Now I just do it for a wee bit of fitness, still enjoy it and love showing others new/old techniques. Being thrown around hurts a lot when you learn as an adult by all accounts though.

Dislike some competition judo can be very dull to watch though I promise it's much more exciting when you are the 1 fighting.

Try something aimed at real world (ie after the pub) self defence. Most martial arts seem to be Westernised sport versions of an art form only truly understandable by Orientals.

Elaborate techniques may have their place, but for us gaijin it is better to know how to stop a situation as soon as poss.

Actually the best bet is to avoid a situation, but that's another ball-game.

It all depends what you want out of it. If you purely want to learn to fight, then you should look at a proper contact art, like Thai Boxing, which is absolutely brutal. Tae Kwon Do is just a sport, and I've got a blackbelt in it, so I should know. If you fancy something more aesthetic, look at kung fu, but you'll struggle to find a good teacher who really knows what they are doing. Karate can be good if you do proper application of techniques. But, like most things, it's all down to the teacher. You can choose an art that may not be very applicable in the street, but find a really good teacher who can show you to use it properly. Or you can do the deadliest art in the world, and find a 'teacher' who doesn't know what he's talking about. And, like anything, you need to practice. I've done loads of different styles with loads of different people over the years, and as a police officer, have had a fair few fights, and seen a lot more. That's why thai boxing is so good – there aren't a lot of techniques, and you do them over and over and over again. I'll be taking my little boy to Tae Kwon Do as soon as he's five, as I do really enjoy it, and I think that the belt system is good inspiration and discipline. But I'll punch bags repeatedly in the week in my spare time, to practice doing it for real. The best thing you can do is research – ask around, watch a few lessons, and see what suits what you want. If you're not enjoying it, no matter what it is, you won't learn.

^ as above. Our instructor has a backroung in thai, and we learn what we need to learn for gradings….then spend the rest of the time learning what actually works.

Best move for most situations…a nice sharp elbow, then run 8)

I have a mate who has a black belt in TKD (in both associations) and he also reckons the mighty elbow is all you need in the real world…

+1 the elbow

Elbows are good, but difficult to perfect. Also you are taught the right elbow, but no-one axpects the left!

Also you are taught the right elbow, but no-one axpects the left!

No one ever expects the middle one 😯

Go for it, what have you got to lose…

Find a good well respected club local to you and then go and speak to the instuctors, you'll get a feel for how the club is, speak to some of the students, you'll find 99% of people at martial arts clubs are good people and will happily speak to you and give their opinion. Can be rather intimidating though. Might be good to join the club with a friend so you can learn together and have someone you know there. IMO it is much more rewarding than a gym as you are learning stuff and it is like a personal trainer every lesson.

As to what martial art to try there is so many its hard to decide, all will improve your fitness and confidence in some way it just depends what you want to do with it and what you want to learn about. Thai boxing is IMO the one to do if you think you can take it, they are some hard bast***s. Then you have all the different types of jujitsu which are very very successful but will be a whole different style of learning/teaching.

FWIW I've competed at amatuer and professional level in kickboxing and loved every minute of it, haven't been able to do anything this year due to work and injury taking up too much blinkin time but do intend to go back next year when I get fully healthy again. One of my old coach's was a former Dutch national Thai boxing champion and you might as well have tatooed HARD on his forehead!! Great guy and a fantastic coach though.

Some good advice here. Must admit I disagree with the statement that TKD is just a 'sport' it really depends on your style and your instructor. You have semi and full contact, and yes, since the olympics the full wtf contact stuff seems to be 'point scoring' but believe me when I used to spar (at international level) there were plenty of wins by knockout. I've trained plenty of different styles and would say they all have their personal merits.

If you just want to punch the crap out of someone (which appears to be what people assume you want when you say you want to learn martial arts) Thai boxing is brutal, as it JKD, but to be honest you can't really top just going to a boxing club and getting in some serious practise.

As I suggested it really depends what you want to get out of training. If it is just fun, try out the classes (often for free) pick a class where you like the instructor and people. You won't go wrong

Why not look closer to home?

The most successful martial art is a well aimed volley from 100 yards. English archers mastered this centuries ago 🙂

For a non discharge martial art, It's hard to beat a British infantryman with a bayonet affixed to his rifle. This technique was used successfully against all oriental martial artists in the days of the British Empire. 🙂

(Tongue firmly in cheek)

KRAV MAGA check it out I love it.

A guy I work with is one of the main wingchun guys in the world…he seems pretty hard.

I wouldn't really call Thai Boxing brutal unless it is done in a completely uncontrolled environment. I did Thai Boxing (Muay Thai) for over 10 years and found it to be a good workout and is effective for self defence but not brutal, that gives a bad image to an enjoyable sport.

Try a few different clubs/styles and you will find one that works for you.

how about ju jitsu. a good allrounder with throws holds chokes and locks with punching and kicking plus some dirty tricks.

graham

agree with a lot that has been written above. i think you need to find a class you enjoy as your first priority. that is if you ve just decided to take up a martial art for the sake of learning one. however if you have a particular reason i n mind i would suggest;

fitness = mma/boxing
sport = kick boxing/ tkd
style and flexibility = kung fu / wushu
fighting = krav maga

i know i missed some but this is just IMHO. i do kung fu and enjoy it very much.it`s improved my fitness, strength, co ordination and flexibility. plus my confidence.

I do Thai boxing and it's the best sport (IMO) for giving a cardio workout similar to MTB riding so I guess it will help with your riding if nothing 🙂

Where does aikido fit in the fun/fighting range?

Karate is the sport for the thinker 😆 I've been studying Wado Ryu for 22 yrs now and love every moment of both the traditional and sport (fighting) side of it.(British title holder too George :wink:)

Try a couple of classes, ask around, not all clubs are good and some forms of martial arts are not always suited to what you want out of studying one and finally cost, some are more expensive than others.

Judo,Karate,TKD, are the most popular.

Comes down to you I guess. I tried quite a few as have been mentioned above, Karate, Judo, Ju Jitsu, TKD but I spent most of my time doing Thai Boxing. It really is incredibly brutal. I got leathered quite a few times in the ring. Serves you well for street fighting mind.

Nowadays I prefer the getthefuckoutathere brand of martial art.

Krav maga is a good technique to learn if you want to lear how to really defend yourself in a real fight – It's very defensive and involves getting away from a lot of things rather than staying in there pummelling away (and getting pummelled yourself!). The emphasis is on a quick devastating technique allowing you to get away. It depends on what you want to do – Learn a martial art for sport or to actually defend yourself.

The average streetfight fight lasts about 7 seconds during which time 15 techniques will be exchanged (usually unskilled) and the strikes in the first 3 seconds will be the deciders.

Judo is good too – look at how many real fights you see on CCTV/Youtube etc.

Unskilled fighters usually end up grappling on the deck. Judo and Krav are suited to this.

On the other hand my kids do TKD and their instructor is a total demon. The skill of a real fighter is in their movement, speed and agility.

Any martial art (if trained properly) will have an emphasis on movement, and is worthwhile.

I did 9yrs of Wado Ryu and Tang Soo Do (briefly Aikido).

With hindsight (and my son to be) it would be Aikido and more importantly- boxing. Not for fighting. TBH unless your young trying to be flexible when your older will be a ball- ache and as such you'll never get the form/kicks right.

I'm a 1st dan in Ju Jitsu (Japanese not Brazilian). I love it as we do punching, kicking, throwing, strikes, well pretty much a bit of everything. Plenty out there though, go to some classes and have a go and enjoy yourself.

TenMen – Member

Tae Kwon Do is just a sport, and I've got a blackbelt in it, so I should know.

not true.

to clarify WTF tkd (world taekwondo federation) is purely a sport centred around competition sparring.

on the other hand ITF tkd (international taekwondo federation) is a proper martial art with tenants, patterns (tul) self defence and sparring.

Its already been said, but if you fancy doing a martial art, think why you fancy it.

Modern fighting arts and martial arts are rather different animals. I simplify, but if you fancy standing in lines in pyjamas being shouted at and learning ancient Chinese words for techniques, chose one of the more traditional and well known arts like karate, kung-fu, ju-jitsu or TKD. Most of these tend to focus on discipline, control and respect. Its generally takes longer to be proficient to a point where they might be useful for self defence.

Fighting arts are generally much more informal, strip away much of the 'higher' aspirations of traditional arts and focus on efficacy of techniques.

Ontop of that, possibly the most important factor is to find an instructor that knows their onions.

(5 years JKD, Thai boxing and Kali, plus childhood dabbling in TKD and karate)

I did savate for a while, was really good for getting flexible and improved quite a bit on general fitness. Seems to be a bit unusual but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

For self defence, boxing is tops. I box as an amateur welterweight and it's really handy for tight spots in t'pub. Have recently tried cage fighting and bare knuckle boxing while I was working in Brisbane. Bare knuckle is pretty brutal.

Prof – I've trained TKD (chung do kwan style) for the last 15yrs which is a WTF style and it contains all the elements of a true martial art – people are very wrong to say it's just a sport, it is only in the last 5 years or so have I seen the advent of some 'sport only' instructors, and personnaly think they are doing the style a bit of a disservice. Believe me we still train poomse, self defence, one/two/three step and destruction every week. Sparring is actually given less emphasis unless the students have a competition coming up they want to train for.

We have many instructors, like myself, who also hold dans in other martial arts and use those to supplement our sessions (for instance I trained judo for 4 years to learn to throw properly)

The best style I found for close up self defense was definitely wing chung I really enjoyed it, and it was very different to TKD as a style. They work great together imo.

Gojo Ryu, I like it.

As a few people have said, try a few differing classes and styles and see which one you like best.

I did kyokushin karate when I was at school. Knocked it on the head just before I was due to go for the brown belt.
kinda fell out of love with it when I saw a kid a year or so older than me who was the clubs top black belt get belted about by some other kid who did a bit of boxing. Synchronised fighting that looks good with set pieces .. not much good when your facing somebody who practices punching to the head.

Judo seems a much better self-defence compared to the more macho sounding karate style martial arts..

I'm a 1st dan in Ju Jitsu

I read that as Jew Jitsu. 'Throwing Jews around'?!!

I started boxing this year. Good old fashioned boxing, quite simple (suits me), less disciplined and more finess based than skill based (at my level anyway)

i thought this was about painting your wife

Aikido as with all serious martial arts is a big commitment. Might take you 5 years to get to a point where what you're learning will be of any use in a self defense situation, but it will be useful in lots of other areas of your life, not least learning how to fall/roll properly. I was lucky enough to have a good Sensei who created a great atmosphere in the club. Look for a club which has some direct lineage + on going link with Hombu dojo in Japan. I trained for many years within the BAF which is rigorous but very "party line" + the chief instructor in the UK is difficult to learn from. There are lots of good clubs out there + Aikido students come in all shapes sizes + agaes (My Sensei trained into his late 70's right up until his death). Style is less important than a supportive club + instructor who is both genuine, still learning + a good teacher. Definately worth searching around.

meehaja, Im going to start in the NY. Not for self-defence (I dont need it nor never will).

For stress relief and fitness.

Hate the gym- soo bloody dull.

My choice is yoshinkan aikido and I'll be taking my first dan in May. My advice would be two fold. As mentioned above, decide what you actually want from it. Do you want to training for trainings sake with the traditional values or do you want to learn to beat people up (or somewhere inbetween)? The other thing and to my mind, the most important, where do you want to train?

The reason I've ended up with aikido is simply because it was the best dojo I could find in the area and this comment is totally independant from the art itself. Obviously, I've now chosen aikido and can rave about why it's such a great choice and it you want those comments, I'll happily give them but the bottom line is; I train at a friendly place with good people. The sensei is keen to pass on all that he knows when you're ready for it and there are no egos getting in the way of training. It's got almost nothing to do with the art I study. My dojo is a great on that studies aikido. If you choose aikido on the basis of what I've said, you could end up getting injured by a bunch of egotistical morons or you could end up with one of the best dojos around. Basically, it's about people rather than martial arts.

Where abouts in the country are you?

Where abouts in the country are you?

South Wales