I'm not certain, given your use case. As someone with a deep passion for martial arts (judo > Jiu Jitsu > Aikido > Tai Chi), I would say while they can be useful in certain situations (even tai chi chuan, which is certainly the most inner one). Self defense classes with actual teaching about fighting a guy with a knife/gun would be more suited, maybe.
this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
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Fighting seems cool in movies.
In real life, it's police, lawyers and prison.
There are few stupider life choices one could make other than fighting in public.
Getting to black sash in northern Shaolin is a personal challenge. It's great excercise, good community, gets me out of the house.
6 years in and 2 forms away from black. I'm almost there
Military, police, security and intelligence operatives train in it for a reason. You're right that it's not very practical or necessary for the average person. And for those who do need it, it's an option of absolute last resort and desperation. Running away, if possible, is the wiser choice. But, it can make the difference in a life or death situation. Someone who knows how to fight and has practice doing it has a big advantage over someone who doesn't.
Exercise: And if you find martial arts fun and a really good workout, more power to you. I think for many people, however, there are less injury-prone ways to get a good workout.
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Not like against a bear, mountain lion, or gorilla no
It's pretty useful for looking cool.
My two cents having practiced several.
Almost all of them are useful in that they are a form of physical activity. They can keep you in good shape, and can also help you develop discipline.
Many are more art than practical. Arts like krav maga or kali are more geared towards practical use (self defense).
There is also a thing you can generally think of as "energy" that arts may have that often trend to make them not very practical against arts outside of themselves. For example, if a wing chun practitioner attempts to trap with you, and you're a boxer, it just doesn't work. It's somewhat about range, but also the general "feel" of the art as well. JKD attempts to deal with this by teaching different arts that can be used within different ranges.
My one instructor also likened martial arts to technology, saying that they must evolve over time or just end up becoming ineffective for self defense.
The best thing to do in a situation, if you can, is to just escape. Your wallet is not worth your life.
I think it has applications, none of them involving a street fight or confrontation. I dodged a fist coming my way from a partner once. Most of the time I use it to take blows properly and redirect aggressive people with whom I work. I want to add with all of my knowledge, almost everything I know would be useless against someone much larger than me.
It's incredibly useful for fitness and overall health. It's also very useful for self defense. You will get hit way harder in the dojo than you ever will on the street, and learning to take a punch is a big part of fighting. I trained in martial arts for several years when I was younger. One time at a punk concert someone twice my size took a swing at my face, and I slipped the punch and knocked him out before I even realized I was in a fight. The training works. It's also great for self-confidence. Lastly, guns aren't as prevalent as you think they are.
Edit: if you want the training to be more about actual self defense and less about fitness and art, then be sure to pick a style that focuses on combat. Jeet Kun Do, MMA school, Brazilian Jujitsu, Kick Boxing, Western Boxing, and Western Wrestling are all very applicable in real fights. Shotokan Karate is okay in most fights, and better than ground focused styles like BJJ, wrestling, or MMA, against multiple opponents, but less effective against a single opponent. Although, you should really try running first if you have to fight multiple people at once, unless you're a badass through and through. I watched my 2nd degree Shotokan black belt friend knock 3 dudes out once in the span of about 2 seconds, but he has trained since he was like 6 years old and is a multiple time champion fighter. Most people can't do that.
no, if you want to hurt someone, a gun is better. If you don't want to hurt anyone, running away is better.
The board breaking is just a small grift to increase your confidence. When you start out the person holding the board does most of the work to break the board. It's several belts before the board start getting thick enough to put up a fight. All those boards are cut across the grain leaving short fibers that are able to snap.
You are training to dodge and block, Even redirect your opponent and use their actions against them. That's not nothing. A lot of places will tack on a little disarmament and self-defense or run a class with that is the primary goal, But honestly you don't want to use martial arts to try to take on someone with a gun or a knife unless it is absolutely necessary because there's a high chance you're going to get got.
Combat training is extremely useful, even play combat training, It puts you in a situation and has you react a certain way taking out some of the uncertainty and worry out of the situation. You start planning instead of reacting. But for the most part if somebody is threatening you with a gun or a knife you're better off not trying to take it off of them and beat them up.
As a rule of thumb 5 years of martial arts is equal to a knief. If the knief user gets 30 minutes of knief fight training that goes up to 10 years. you can train for years on a kneif. if you expect to be in a weabons free fight martial arts are better than nothing but you should be looking to not be in a fight, or if you must get yourself an advantage. If you worry about a gun fight than guns and training to use them is relatively cheap. Or as others say it isn't hard for most people to not get in a fight.
The media plays up gun violence but it isn't that common. You should worry about cars or cancer not guns.
This is a difficult question.
If you're a bouncer, then yeah, mixed martial arts is definitely useful (e..g., something like both muay thai and Brazilian juijitsu). For a typical person that's unlikely to ever need to defend their life, probably not.
As far as which martial art you should take, if you're going to take one... It depends on what you want. If you want a physical activity that doesn't have to be practical, then take up something like kyudo, kenjutsu, or aikido. If you want something that's practical, then look into juijitsu and things based more in grappling. If you seriously worry about getting into a confrontation with someone that's armed, then look up Shiv Works, and see what they have in your area.
A concealed carry permit can be useful, yes, but it's very, very situational, and requires practice. Moreover, ever single bullet you fire outside of a range has to be accounted for.
I second Cabbage. RUNNING will more reliably save your life than any amount of combat training. But also, situational awareness. Most incidents can be easily avoided simply by paying attention to what's around you and not putting yourself in that sketchy situation to begin with.
If you’re a bouncer, then yeah, mixed martial arts is definitely useful (e…g., something like both muay thai and Brazilian juijitsu). For a typical person that’s unlikely to ever need to defend their life, probably not.
NO.*
competition martial arts have rules. Rules that you abide by and train to follow. and inevetibably, training to fight inside these rules will invariably leave you open to certain kinds of attack, and to miss exploiting openings in the other guy. Yes. This includes MMA. You can tell that people in MMA follow these rules because nobody is biting the other dude's balls off. or twisting them off, or generally kicking to the groin. (groin strikes were originally allowed, but then banned in UFC, for example. Too many crushed testes)
and for the record, if it's you or them.... yeah. get nibbly. You also don't see people snapping necks or stomping skulls after a toss. It's very rare for any kind of combat sport organization to allow things that will, you know, kill their competitors.
If you want to train for self defense... train for self defense.
*Disclaimer: Muay Thai wasn't always a competition thing. the OG Muay Thai will absolutely fuck an asshole up. most martial arts were originally military training, and if you can get training on THAT, yeah, that'll be fine. in the US, you're never gonna see that, though.
Again. just to reiterate. You're best off not getting in the situation, and that's best avoided by maintaining awareness of what's around you. You're second-best off running the fuck away. Constructive Cowardice is nothing to be ashamed of- it will save your life. but, if it comes to it, and it's you or them, don't fight fair. Fair is how you die.
A bouncer isn't usually going to be fighting to survive; they're throwing some dude the fuck out of a venue, or subduing them until cops show up.
As far as my comment about Shiv Works - I stand by that 100%. Look them up. They train with bare hands, knives, and guns (firing non-lethal training munitions), and in awkward spaces (such as you might experience in a car jacking).
Any discipline that forces you to act while under pressure is going to improve your odds if you end up in a situation where fighting is your only real option. If you get sucked-punched on a subway, experience in e.g. boxing is going to be far, far better than nothing at all, despite the fact that boxing has rules. IDPA/USPSA will not, contrary to claims, get you kilt in da streets, because practice moving and shooting is better than not.
The idea that there's a real distinction between self-defense and martial arts in general is nonsense. If you're good in MMA, this is going to translate almost 1:1 to self defense. Here's the blunt truth: most of the people that are going to attack a person have a LOT of experience fighting. If you want to defend yourself, you're going to need to give yourself a lot of the same experiences, even if it's in a more controlled setting, and "self-defense" classes aren't going to do that.
And, BTW, I know a guy that teaches wu shu (Eagle Claw, I think?) that also works as a bouncer. He is very, very effective, and uses the things he teaches as a bouncer. He's small--like, 5'5", 150#--and he punches well above his weight.
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The groin strike rule was repealed for a time. BJJ still dominated.
I'm not a martial arts person. I couldn't care less. But it's weird how vigorously people will argue against what seems self evident in the closest things we have to a no holds barred setting.