Poll: Which martial arts club should I join? (Vote): Karate-do (Vote): Jiu Jitsu (Vote): Kendo (Vote): Tae Kwon Do (Vote): Kickboxing (Vote): Judo
At the moment I'm most interested in Kendo. I'm not too keen on grappling/holds and I know very little about all martial arts.
Of course I'll be going to demos/free sessions and trying it out myself, so I suppose this is just a space for people to argue over which is the best martial art (don't anyone dare say they're all equal, you fucking objective shithead bastard).
Jiu Jitsu definitely man. I don't know if you ever plan on being able to use what you've learned, but at least in a one on one, I think Jiu Jitsu has the most use. Almost every fight ends up on the ground at some point and you'll be a whiz there.
if u dont want to grabble dont do jiu jitsu or judo. from the ones listed id say go for kick boxing. its the least smug. you know that kendo is a sword thing? u will mostly be learning forms there i suspect. as for karate, a kind of kickboxing but much more formalized meaning you will learn katas and spend much time chopping the air. perhaps you would like to look into some chinese martial arts? In the end i would choose the MA where your local training-center is the best.
If you're not big on grappling, Jiu-Jitsu and Judo are out the window. For self-defense/fitness, kickboxing, karate, and tae kwon do are all good; whether or not you enjoy them will probably depend more on the individual dojo than the style itself.
I personally do karate and enjoy it a lot. In terms of practical self-defense, any martial art will give you a big edge over an untrained opponent; unless you're aiming to be a professional fighter then I think it's not about which style is "best" but rather which one you're most interested in.
I voted karate.
Aikido and Wushu are both awesome in different ways --- might want to consider those too.
I only listed those because they're the ones I found at the university society fair today.
What I am a bit curious about is whether height plays a big role in any of these (yes I know short people can play non-professional basketball well too, but I'm just wondering). I'm a bit below average height.
When I first started MMA, I hated grappling and just wanted to practice my standup the entire time. Then slowly I became addicted to submission wrestling. Sure it feels good to catch someone with a clean punch on the forehead or a kick in the ribs but nothing satisfied me more than to sink in a beautiful rear naked choke or triangle someone from mount/side control.
Now, (maybe because I've began training at a school with mainly Muay Thai fighters) I can't get enough of sparring again. Sure I still love grappling but I find myself being torn between the two all the time.
I would recommend calling up your local schools and asking if you can jump in on a class just to see if you'd like it. They might require a drop in fee but i wouldn't pay anything more than 10 dollars.
If you're still unsure on what kind of style you'd like to learn, just join a MMA school. You'll learn decent standup and probably a really good ground game (the case with most MMA schools). To learn good standup youll have to join a muay thai school or some kind of kickboxing class.
I honestly think Jiu Jitsu is the one height matters the least. At least I used to rape my brother when we both practiced 3 centuries ago and he was like 8 times my size.
On October 08 2008 08:16 Nytefish wrote: Monty Python is great.
I only listed those because they're the ones I found at the university society fair today.
What I am a bit curious about is whether height plays a big role in any of these (yes I know short people can play non-professional basketball well too, but I'm just wondering). I'm a bit below average height.
When I first started training, some big huge black guy ( like 6'4 and 240 lbs of solid muscle) went up to my instructor and said "damn youre pretty short man". My instructor the time was probably about 5'7 and around 205 lbs. My instructor looks at him, shoots, slams him to the mat, mounts him, gets up, and says, " were all this tall on the ground" while holding his hands about a foot apart. I thought it was one of most awesome things ever.
That being said, height doesnt play much of a role in wrestling or grappling but it definitely does in any standup fighting style. Mostly because it will be harder for your opponent to hit you and you'll likely have a longer reach than them.
edit: im about 5'9 and its considerably more difficult to spar vs people who are a few inches taller than me than to spar vs people who are the same height or shorter me.
edit 2: ...mostly because their jab can reach me from further away which makes a kind of barrier between us.
On October 08 2008 08:25 statix wrote: satisfied me more than to sink in a beautiful rear naked choke
Oh that's how you call it? The literal translation of how we call that in Brazil would be something like "lion killer"
btw how do you call that arm-lock from mount? We call it "american lock", I've always wondered how americans call it lol. Talking about this one: [/offtopic]
On October 08 2008 08:25 statix wrote: satisfied me more than to sink in a beautiful rear naked choke
Oh that's how you call it? The literal translation of how we call that in Brazil would be something like "lion killer"
btw how do you call that arm-lock from mount? We call it "american lock", I've always wondered how americans call it lol. Talking about this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcUjQUQ5ils [/offtopic]
thats an americana...it says it in the title hehe
ive never even heard of the "lion killer". id be so lost in brazil
EPT
