goolsbee

sorry, I started in one and then saw the other

I need to get into shape and martial arts is the way I want to do it. I get bored with things with no mental side--bike, treadmill, etc. What are the best martial arts styles if your main goal is to get a good workout on a regular basis? I went to see an Aikido class and really liked it but even the intermediate class didn't seem to involve a lot of aerobic activity. The caveats/background: I am tall and skinny and quite inflexible (high kicks will be a problem). I don't care about learning to be a good street fighter or about enterring competitions. Any thoughts on what would be good ones? (Aikido, Judo, Karate, Taekwondo, Hapkido, Jiujitsu, Kickboxing, Kung Fu/Wing Chun/WuShu, etc?) Any help would be much appreciated.

I am new to MA and living in a big city so I can choose any style. My doc says I need to find a good aerobic activity that I find interesting so as to stick with it. So I am looking for a style. It doesn't need to be effective for street fighting or anything like that, just mentally challenging and good exercise. The only other things are that I am tall & skinny and not very flexible at all so those TKD-type kicks to the head are pretty tough for me to do. I went to an Aikido class and liked it but there didn't seem to be much sustained aerobic activity. Does that change as you get more advanced? Choices are Aikido, Karate, Judo, Jiujitsu, kung fu/wing chun/wu shu, Taekwondo, Hapkido or anything else. How would you rank them strictly on exercise and how flexible do you need to be for them?