Bonehead

Ok, so I'm interested in learning a martial art. As much for the self-defence as for the fitness side - but which one?

A friend recomends (excuse the spelling if wrong) tai kwan do. Apparently its a little bit of everything.

TK

mad555

iTrader: (1)

Kick Boxing/Muay Thai,I have trained in these for a few years and can recommend them.

Mrs WRX

Yep, i can agree with Kickboxing, the chinese style is more varied and incorporates Kung Fu, i have been doing Kickboxing for years and still love it.

LG John

My martial art here

Doesn't do a bit of everything, does a lot of everything

GC8

Join a boxing gym; thatll sort you out.

Simon

ScoobyDriverWannabe

Wing chun

P1Fanatic

If your mainly after self defense then Jiu Jitsu would be a good start.

Simon.

warrenm2

lol at jiu jitsu! wing chun all the way mate! (recently did some krav maga and its just a wing chun rip off). Any martial art that advocates kicks to the head I would give a miss too, legs are for standing on!

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Tae Kwon Do is not a bit of everything and not REALLY suited to self defense. It's primarily leg work - and you do develop a bloody good kick (I know this ) but not many martial arts aredesigned around self-defense whatever you might read.

There are some tho' - and Wing Chun can be one of them... up close and personal - but very destructive.

The one thing you do develop is self- confidence and this can be important, but I always ALWAYS heed the advice of one of my old tutors:

Best thing to do in a fight? Run Away.

The Zohan

I did Shotokan(sp) for a few years, got to greenbelt eventually. That was 20 years back.

also did judo when i was 10 or so as well

Found it rewarding, allowed me to focus on something else other than work/life and good a discipline.

gives me confidence day to day knowing i can 'look after myself' if needs be.

Most martial arts are similar (imho)

talizman

iTrader: (1)

If self defence is your primary goal then I'd say there are more appropriate choices than Taekwon-Do. i have practised ITF TKD for 16 years and know where my weaknesses are when it comes to SD.

If however, you wish to get fit, learn a fun martial art and learn a bit of self defence then go for TKD.

Since TKD consists mainly of kicking techniques, it won't serve as a be-all-and-end-all self defence. In fact not many martial arts could be defined as a perfect all round self defence system.

IMO, you must cross train to maximise self defence techniques. Brazillian Jui Jitsu coupled with a kicking/striking art such as TKD or Muay Thai would be a decent combination.

Luan Pra bang

I think it depends what suits you. spent a couple of years with wing chun and the style and teacher were very self defense based. Ultimately the core basics are all that you can reproduce under pressure and in wing chun its about keeping balanced punching hard fast and straight and controlling the centre line. I never studied ju jitsu but had a friend that did for a number of years and I can promise you that in a play fight ju jitsu is infinately more useful than any other martial art. Real fighting I'm sure its good as well as most fights turn into a wrestleing match after a few seconds anyway.


Doesn't matter what skill you have developing a hard accurate punch its what its all about becuase if you punch like a girl and it doesn't hurt people you will get your **** kicked sharpish.

Also crazy dave who is the hardest bloke/street fighter in town will probably always kick your **** becuase thats life some people are tougher than others Ten years of intensive training and I still won't be Steven Gerrard.

GC8

I was going to mention Crav Maga too (as well as boxing) but I assumed that no one would know what it was; but then, I dont really know what Win Chun is...

Simon

warrenm2

check out http://www.leungtingwingtsun.net/resources.html (US site) for general wing chun stuff and http://www.wtdefence.com/ for the UK people - Andrew and Kernspect are impressive to watch, and have done some training with Kerny as well, hes at such a differnet level its scary to feel......

FASTER MIKE!!

if you want to get fit and learn how to fight then muay thai, very arobic in exercise and not as many "moves" to learn as some martial arts but very effective. look out for film thats just come out called Ong Bak, all about thai boxing.

mike