Which ones are good? Im watching bond and think what he does is cool…

I’m watching star trek and thinking of enlisting in the federation.

Im watching bond and think what he does is cool…

You’ll find that what he’s doing is called acting.

If you want to learn a martial art I would suggest muay thai, although you probably won’t see James Bond doing much of that.

Aikido is awesome because Steven seagull does.

He once got attacked by fifty ninjas and he belly banged them into next week.

Can’t remember what Bond does in QoS, but would guess it’s similar to this stuff if the director wanted it to bear any resemblance to real special forces stuff. Brutal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_Maga

slainte ➡ rob

Define good?

MMA has highlighted that pure martial arts are relatively inneffective in a real scrap. obvious exceptions are BJj and Muay Thai, though even Muay Thai has its limitations.

Oh, and the stuff you see in movies is large horse manure

Depends entirely on what you want to achieve. If self-defence is your primary aim, you could do a lot worse than judo. If you want a martial art that is extremely capable in real fight scenarios, then Wing Chung (or Wing Tsung and variations – Bruce Lee’s original martial art) is very fast and extremely effective. If you want something with grace and elegance then the “old” Shaolin forms of Kung-Fu like the Crane and Dragon forms can be quite beautiful to watch and execute. If you want to learn how to harness your body’s natural energy flows and be more attune to the rhythms of life then T’ai Chi and Pak Mai would be more appropriate. If you want to kick things really hard and smash bricks then look at Shotokan Karate. Assassinate people in the dead of night and then disappearing without a trace is your thing? Then you may wish to consider Ninjitsu (if indeed it actually exists). The list is endless. Any art studied seriously over time will engender huge benefits in terms of physical and mental well-being, self-confidence, success with the opposite sex (or same if that’s your bag) etc etc. James Bond is a pussy by the way.

Always fancied a bit of escrima, but never got round to trying it apart from a one day seminar. Do practice tomiki style aikido though and highly recommend it as it’s not purely self defense but also has a sport element if you wanna compete.

Kung Fu is good, obv. An authentic style taught by someone credentialed can’t be beat for putting the art in martial art. Makes you see the truth in the saying that some people are just better at movement than others.

Slight drawback is that it’s a sort of bogus style to be using in extremis – the flapping lower crane block doesn’t really get the job done in a punch up.

imo is to try a few and find one that you like. A lot can also depend on the instructor wether you find it enjoyable or not.

Been doing Taekwondo now for a couple of months (which has pointed out that cycling and martail arts are not the best of bedfellows, with having hamstrings measured in nanometres due to cycling) do a couple of the formal structured classes a week, but have a friday night mash up, which is free sparring for 90 minutes.
Apart from being thoroughly knackering , having the shite kicked out of you by all the higher grades for 5 mins at a time has shown me all little sneaky ways of getting the fast kicks and punches in.

Any martial art is only as good as the instruction.

Fancy the krav maga…sounds suitably nuts! Local. Class on a friday, I’m gonna check it out

A lot can also depend on the instructor wether you find it enjoyable or not.

Good point.

My daughter does Karate and one of her Sensei who has acquired 7 black belts (which can be meaningless) in different martial arts over the years, said the best martial art by far is either a quick pair of legs, or don’t be put yourself into the situation where you need to use martial arts 😉

MMA has shown nothing other than which SPORT is better within the defined rules.
Almost any martial art will help you in a ‘self defence’ scenario. They will also all teach the same thing

1 – avoid the situation
2 – run away
3 – if you have to, hit once, hard, violently and as soon as the attacker is within striking distance
4 – run away.

Going to ground and pound outside the local KFC is going to get you one thing. A bunch of little bar stewards stamping on your face.

If you’re serious about wanting to start one, decide what you want out of it, then find one that fits with the right instructors.

I’d also say that to become reasonably competent in one will take quite a while. My first black belt took 5 years, training 3/4 times a week.

I’m watching the Jubilee Concert and thinking of marrying a mad bint with a false leg.

A lad at school did aikido, as a demo one lunch time 4 of us tried to wrestle him. He put us all in te ground very quickly, it was really impressive I thought as I laid on the grass looking up at the sky.

1 – avoid the situation
2 – run away
3 – if you have to, hit once, hard, violently and as soon as the attacker is within striking distance
4 – run away.

That’s all well and good but SPECTRE agents don’t give up that easily.

A fast car helps though.

MMA has highlighted that pure martial arts are relatively inneffective in a real scrap. obvious exceptions are BJj and Muay Thai, though even Muay Thai has its limitations.

True if you are both expert fighters. In reality in a”street” fight if you are very good at any martial art[or boxing] it will help you in a fight and if you are not very good it wont help you much.
Pick one and get a good teacher.

Black belt in 5 years is quick, though these days you can get Dan grades from some clubs in under 3 if that is what you want. Clubs after your money will try to put you through grades rapidly as they make a lot of profit from gradings. Personally I held of my Dan grade for a long time so I could compete in a lower cat. I,ve been teaching nearly 15 years now, but I do it for fun and take no payment.

Try lots out and see what you like, I have several black belts in different styles but by far my favourite is cdk tkd (wtf) mainly due to the quality and attitude of the senior Dan grades.

Any martial art is only as good as the instruction

This.

Are you looking for self defence? Or sport?

Muay Thai or BJJ arent meant to help you for the former. After time MT will give you the ability to look after yourself…assuming the other guy doesn’t fight ‘outside the rules’. BJJ is not a self defence art…it’s a sport primarily.

I’ve done wing chun in the past which possibly teaches some effective self defence, but it’s flawed in many aspects. Bruce Lee did do it, but he didn’t do it long enough to understand more advanced application, and he was quite derisory about it.

Krav Maga is apparently effective, I’ve never done it, but I’ve read their marketing. The benefit here is they teach you to defend yourself against people who fight ‘outside the rules’.

If you choose tai kwon do, choose a school that teaches what your after…many classes teach ‘Olympic’ style which is purely sport based” but may touch on self defence, a more traditional school would teach more applicable self defence techniques.

Traditional martial arts and sport based martial arts take time before you will be able to effectively or confidentially defend your self. However, things like krav maga will teach you things you can use pretty much straight away. Which is nice but sometimes unwise, as you end up more confident than your actual ability.

I’ve done Muay Thai and BJJ, but havent been for ages due to work pressures…if you’re near Limehouse in London I can recommend a very good gym that’ll teach both (plus ‘MMA’ techniques).

BJJ is not a self defence art…it’s a sport primarily

I’ll remind my opponent of that tomorrow night just before i try and break his arm or choke him unconscious…

If your goal is choking people unconscious or breaking people’s arms I would suggest that you shouldn’t be doing it!

Always a joy dealing with beginners who spaz and think that ripping your arm off is the goal!

bjj is very effective one on one, but wait till his mate comes round the corner and kicks your head in whilst your rolling around.

Just thought it should be said

A friend of mine ended up with a face like a balloon when he was 17/18, he was attacked by a guy, got him on the ground only for the other guys girlfriend to repeatedly kick him in the face.

Don’t get me wrong…I love a bit of BJJ and it’s incredibly effective in MMA competitions.

Anyone else disappointed in this thread? I thought it said MARITAL arts.

When I was 17 I was on the receiving end of what is known as a sectarian beating. I gave as good as I got, but was seriously outnumbered. Not long after, I began training under Billy Murray (world champ at the time – late 80s) in Tai jitsu. For 6 months, twice a week i’d give him money and twice a week he’d beat me black and blue. I’d rather fight that gang again than have Mr Murray kick me in the thigh 😀 Them ninja men are HARD!

I’ve been doing Kuk Sool for a few years – did judo when I was a kid, but the thing I like about Kuk Sool is it’s a mix of everything – punching, kicking, throws, joint techniques, weapons, the lot. Helps to have a very good instructor and class, though…

Anyone else disappointed in this thread?

Yes me. I thought it was going to be about how we could all become more like our film heroes. Instead it ended up as an argument over fighting techniques which someone licensed to kill would never waste their time doing. Deeply disappointing.

bjj is very effective one on one, but wait till his mate comes round the corner and kicks your head in whilst your rolling around.
Just thought it should be said

this is very true, but nothing will prepare you for multiple attackers as they dont form an orderly queue like they do in the movies!

Forget training at a club. Go out every Friday and Saturday and pick fights. Start with hipsters and work your way up to special forces folk on a night out.

You’ll soon get the hang of it.

Agreed, hence the running away comments.

The last thing I’d ever do, would be get into a ground fight outside the local Yates’. It’s not that BJJ isn’t effective, one on one I can’t think of much better, but just waiting for the mates to pile in and kick seven shades of shit out of you whilst you lie on the floor doesn’t sound like a healthy pass time.

The other none movie thing is that a good hard punch to the jaw and you’ll not be carrying on as if it was a mosquito bite, it’s amazing how much a hard punch hurts!

I did Shotokan Karate when I was younger, then a bit of jui jitsu (japanese), now after a 16 or so year break I have started karate again, been going for about 9 months and up to green belt again (6th Kyu). (classes are free and grading is £3 so not moneymaking). Totally loving it, lost over a stone, fittest I have ever been.

And before anyone comes along and slates karate for not being effective, I dont do “sport” karate which to me is lame other than for fitness, I do traditional karate, but with a focus on modern practical applications of the kata & techniques. I.e. real stuff that works, not the bunkai/applications you see the japanese masters showing on you tube, this is all nonsense. We drill MMA techniques/muay Thai combos/ground fighting as well as traditional Hojo undo and conditioning.

Having a good instructor helps a lot though.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYoF01OfrbA&feature=related[/video]

Done Judo since I was a nipper and still doing it at 39.

Used it a couple of times when I was younger ie a teenager for self defence which consisted of throwing somebody on the floor followed by legging it. Useful in those pre fight bits where somebody is pushing you and if somebody really comes at you especially if you practise the kata as well as learning the techniques and free fighting.

Knowing how hard it is to fight off 4-6 juniors trying to tackle you when playing at end of class gives you an indication of how important it would be to leg it if you were outnumbered.

If you want self defence then try Krav Maga, done a few sessions and it is quite effective though I didn’t See how it’s would be fun long term.

If you want to do a sport then try several. Most class will have spare gi to lend you until you decide it’s the 1 for you. I tried Karate 1st and didn’t get on with the class.