Martial Arts/Body Training (3 Viewers)

[Karlmarx]

Hi BOS,
I'm looking to do a couple of martial arts after school (for later life), and i was wondering what everyone has done/wants to do. It's for personal protection, and self satisfaction. I was also a rower, so no challenge is too much, (incase you were thinking that).

How long does it take to develop useful skills? What martial arts do you do? What do you recommend and why? What martial arts would you mix? How much physical training would be required before i started to train? What level of fitness would you recommend?


Etc.


Thanks

 

[Tim035]

Boxing / kickboxing (NOT those boxercise classes they offer at most gyms)

You can learn the basic combos and footwork in 3 - 6 months, as well as build up enough cardio to begin sparring. For personal protection boxing ranks very high (possibly only rivaled by krav maga or other systems that encourage cheap shots), most martial arts are completely useless in a true self defense scenario, arguably judo would also be a good choice, however it would take a much longer period of times before you can confidently throw / disable an attacker that attempts to grab you.

The first thing to do is start building your cardio, everyone gasses out in their first couple of sessions, so reaching a level where you can jog at a decent pace for 30+ minutes, or skip for 5 minutes x 5 (1-2 min break in-between) is a good prerequisite.


In terms of MMA, a good grappling system like brazilian jiu jitsu mixes well with kickboxing to give you stand up and grappling game. Brazilian Jiu jitsu whilst effective in a controlled environment, isn't great for self defense, as you don't want to be putting you opponent in an arm-bar on the floor of a pub with broken glass etc. whilst his mates run over to stomp on your head. For self defense you want to hit hard and fast and escape.

 

[Neal Caffrey]

try roseville at night

 

[forward]

Alright Tim035 covered it pretty well but I'll offer my opinions anyway.

Boxing is probably best for all around fitness and getting you into shape as if the trainer is good he'll put you through hell in preparing for a fight. Sparring is a blast and you can really see your progress after awhile when the footwork and combinations start to come naturally. Pretty good for self-defense as if you can throw a hard punch somone may think twice about continuing the brawl, but still it's too different from the ring to be completely reliable in a fight (this applies to any martial art really).

Wrestling isn't big in Aus but if you get a good coach it's definately worth checking out. Lots of strategies and conditioning and techniques to learn. Very fun and if you get the chance to compete it's a great time. Also handy in self-defense cause if you take someone down on concrete hard chances are that could quickly put a stop to the fight.

I've got the most experience with wrestling and boxing, however in preparation for my first amateur MMA fight I've supplemented them with BJJ and muay thai to be more well rounded. Any option is good really, I'd say the deciding factor depends on what's close to you. Some boxing classes are really more group fitness ones and the trainer has no expectations for his students to compete (and that's fine depending on your goals).

 

[Neal Caffrey]

Alright Tim035 covered it pretty well but I'll offer my opinions anyway.

Boxing is probably best for all around fitness and getting you into shape as if the trainer is good he'll put you through hell in preparing for a fight. Sparring is a blast and you can really see your progress after awhile when the footwork and combinations start to come naturally. Pretty good for self-defense as if you can throw a hard punch somone may think twice about continuing the brawl, but still it's too different from the ring to be completely reliable in a fight (this applies to any martial art really).

Wrestling isn't big in Aus but if you get a good coach it's definately worth checking out. Lots of strategies and conditioning and techniques to learn. Very fun and if you get the chance to compete it's a great time. Also handy in self-defense cause if you take someone down on concrete hard chances are that could quickly put a stop to the fight.

I've got the most experience with wrestling and boxing, however in preparation for my first amateur MMA fight I've supplemented them with BJJ and muay thai to be more well rounded. Any option is good really, I'd say the deciding factor depends on what's close to you. Some boxing classes are really more group fitness ones and the trainer has no expectations for his students to compete (and that's fine depending on your goals).

no m8 come on think about this

you won't be wearing gloves all the time so boxing is out
also ou probs dont want to be rolling around on the ground so wrestlng is out

 

[forward]

Yep that's why I said it's too different to be really reliable in a fight.

 

[Neal Caffrey]

oh yeah lol i didnt read the whole thing

 

[Neal Caffrey]

tl;dr your life

 

[Omie Jay]

for personal protection you should probably learn krav maga, or maybe escrima.

or maybe even ninjutsu, a friend of mine has been learning ninjutsu for the past 3 years, it's not all ninja shadows etc, they teach you skills to help survive/escape from modern day situations.

 

[Tofuu]

On the streets may judo could be a good art as asphalt hurts

 

[mrsajmon23]

Boxing- Gives you a solid, simple grounding in stand-up fighting.

Wing Chun- Powerful martial art, improves your flexibility, speed, reaction time, and you don't need size to defeat an opponent.

Jiu Jitsu- Solid style for ground work, the majority of fights end up on the ground. Also benficial for those moments of upright grappling.

Notable arts incl. Judo, Ninjitsu and Hapkido.​

 

[mrsajmon23]

no m8 come on think about this

you won't be wearing gloves all the time so boxing is out
also ou probs dont want to be rolling around on the ground so wrestlng is out

so you need to have gloves to be able to box someone on the street? GTFO moron.

most fights end up on the ground. The majority of people have no ground work so if you can take them to the ground you'll have the clear advantage.

 

[mrsajmon23]

Against a single attacker: many martial arts can be somewhat effective.
Against multiple attackers: basically krav maga is where you want to be - where the aim is to eliminate danger and escape the situation- not control or win it.

If you are the sort of person who keeps his cool in threatening situations, learning katas and disciplined moves MAY WORK in the real world.

But for most people, when adrenaline kicks in and thoughts go to dust, you want to have learnt a martial art that MODIFIES YOUR INSTINCT.
-> this is best learnt in a training zone that works in real time - ie. if you do boxing and just do bag work and drills you are far less equipped than if your boxing has substantial amounts of sparring in it.
-> if you are learning defence moves and the "attacker" is told to attack only in a certain way (even at higher belts/ranks training level), leave that place.
I had done knife defence training and felt confident I could stop most untrained attackers - until I trained against a "free attacker" (person has a training knife and their only objective is to hit you/kill you by whatever means). The truth is, a lot of these martial arts give you a false sense of confidence after you 'successfully disable a knife attacker' 100 times in a kata.
A krav maga instructor will still run from a knife attack even though he has a fucking good chance of killing the person - a good chance is still a life/death gamble.

Most wrestling/judo is excellent as an addition but imo you really need to learn the basic strikes/guard defence/footwork/evasion as a priority. If you get knocked out from first punch, your unconscious mind isn't going to win a ground fight anytime soon.

Do you even know what a Kata is?

Katas and forms develop memory and reflexes. In most martial arts they are the base from which you learn techniques, and are also used as spiritual tools.

You can't be serious if you think kata is meant for real lif situations or fighting in general.

 

[Karlmarx]

Judo sounds good for some serious Asphalt to face maneuvers.

Also considering like judo + Ju Jitsu.

Smack the attacker to the ground at full pelt, then lock him and beat the shit out of him 1v1.

If not a 1v1, do whatever necessary to knock out as many of them as possible
?

Thoughts plox.

Who has actually been in a street fight while using martial art skills?

LOL Bos is probably not the place to ask but muuuuh.

 

[badquinton304]

CQC it's real big boss.

 

[Phylo]

Without trying to associate this thread with the mma, if you want to learn some degree of self-protection i might suggest karate (surprised no one has said it). Even though you see most kids doing it, dont let that undermine the art, it can still be very effective in a street fight as it does to an extent teach self discipline and keeping a cool head.

If u want some self-satisfaction, then i recommend u do brazilian jiu jitsu, even though rolling around on the floor doesnt look that great, it is alot of fun after youve learned to do some basic submissions. And it is alot harder to get belts, some whitebelts take aslong as 2 years to get their blue belt. It is very good for fitness and builds up your core strength, and like they said before, most fights end up on the ground whether u like it or not, so you might aswell learn how to choke out an attacker rather than having to use ur fists.

ps. i practise abit of jiu jitsu on the side, and sometimes roll with my mates at the park, and i can tell u, i weigh 60kg and have submitted my mates who are twice my size and double my weight

 

[badquinton304]

Without trying to associate this thread with the mma, if you want to learn some degree of self-protection i might suggest karate (surprised no one has said it). Even though you see most kids doing it, dont let that undermine the art, it can still be very effective in a street fight as it does to an extent teach self discipline and keeping a cool head.

[youtube]Of_JQTOsVMw[/youtube]

 

[Phylo]

To repeat - many traditional martial arts places (can i say dojo or does this offend?) focus on teaching specific responses to specific attacks (and used the word kata - which is completely accurate, even if it means something mystical to you) - it is choreography. It is useful in a fight against someone of the same art. Like hell it isn't taught as a "fighting technique". Maybe not at all places - but at aikido, ju jitsu - first class : "Ok, I will teach you how to defend against an opponent that punches you" "KATA ONE" - begin choreography lesson.

If you go to one of those places that helps you balance your chi with kata - well i can't help you. We live in different worlds.

Yes I am using 'kata' a bit flippantly but not without reason.
Kata mostly develops reflexes to a specific movement - but, and I have seen first hand, a black belt tae kwon do student go to dog scraps in a street fight. He began with his technique, but ultimately ended as an animal in sinking sand, moving much quicker than his thoughts - his trained, complicated moves were not effective against an unpredictable opponent in a life or death situation (granted he won, but size and fitness were at his advantage).
IMO, he would have won the fight with his current skills in less than 5 seconds if he was better mentally prepared for such a circumstance.

edit: I think it's also important to distinguish "sparring with mates" to a real street fight. When sparring with mates, survival instinct doesn't kick in.

In bjj, many fighters dont mind being on their back (full/half guard), but in a street fight, theres absolutely no way your going to get on ur back and let that person dominate u like an animal. The most dangerous opponents are the ones that dont know what theyre doing. They wont tap out, because they wont know what ur doing, whether ur trained or not, in a streetfight, instinct kicks in and and u just wanna kill or run away from that person.

 

[mrsajmon23]

To repeat - many traditional martial arts places (can i say dojo or does this offend?) focus on teaching specific responses to specific attacks (and used the word kata - which is completely accurate, even if it means something mystical to you) - it is choreography. It is useful in a fight against someone of the same art. Like hell it isn't taught as a "fighting technique". Maybe not at all places - but at aikido, ju jitsu - first class : "Ok, I will teach you how to defend against an opponent that punches you" "KATA ONE" - begin choreography lesson.

If you go to one of those places that helps you balance your chi with kata - well i can't help you. We live in different worlds.

Yes I am using 'kata' a bit flippantly but not without reason.
Kata mostly develops reflexes to a specific movement - but, and I have seen first hand, a black belt tae kwon do student go to dog scraps in a street fight. He began with his technique, but ultimately ended as an animal in sinking sand, moving much quicker than his thoughts - his trained, complicated moves were not effective against an unpredictable opponent in a life or death situation (granted he won, but size and fitness were at his advantage).
IMO, he would have won the fight with his current skills in less than 5 seconds if he was better mentally prepared for such a circumstance.

edit: I think it's also important to distinguish "sparring with mates" to a real street fight. When sparring with mates, survival instinct doesn't kick in.

I totall understand what you are saying, (and apologise for seeming abit rude lol).

I think the most important thing is to distinguish real dojos and "McDojos".

Unfortunately, there has been a mass increase in martial art schools which teach "choreography". They've ruined the reputations of real martial arts schools.

 

[forward]

Unfortunately there's no real martial art that's going to be an incredible asset in a street fight.

Because there's probably two likely situations you'll find yourself in if it comes to fighting...

a) the guy is bigger than you. And yeah people say size doesn't matter but really it does, in a brawl if the dude is a lot heavier than you and you take a punch it's not looking good no matter how much judo or bjj training you have.

b) the guy has friends with him, in which case you're pretty much fucked and best to just get out of there

disregarding if he has a knife etc.. So basically the only option where having martial arts training would come in very handy is if the would be attacker is alone and smaller than you.

imo train for the rush of getting into the ring and sparring/competing, not for personal protection.