Most effective karate?

[Little Dragon]

Which style of karate do you guys believe is the most useful and effective on the streets?

[ramymensa]

The one you really know and have trained.

 

There are no wonder styles. If you train well and realistically and have a goos instructor and luck you'll be OK. This is the most uninspired kind of topic, sorry. There is no such thing as a perfect style and this topic will lead only to flame wars and stupid remarks, not to mention it's been discussed to death all these years. It disappears and then somebody brings it up, we say the same thing, we get tired and disapears again ... and so on.

 

Please don't take it personally, but the answer is obvious. TRAIN WELL and you'll be OK. Stop going after "dream " styles and get to work in the style you've chosen with a good instructor.

 

Effectiveness can be thought as a percentage of succesful ways of getting out of a situation. I get 100%, cause I never enterred a conflict situation. My style .. wthatever that is .. is perfect

 

Let's take it the other way .. you get a respected style and train like crazy, you get very good, high ranks and sweep the floor with all the people you meet. Stull you get your ..tt handed to you in a street fight after being hit with .. I don't know .. rock in the back of your head. You were walking calmly and someone practiced marksman on your head.. conclusion .. your style sucks. Of course you could have trained with Grnad master od grand masters of the X style and you'd have sensed the intention before the guy would even lift the rock from the ground Let's get serious.

 

Instead of trying to come with "most effective" style, we'd better try work some more in the class. When you're luck, well trained and strong, every style is the best. When you get whooped, it's you who sucks, not the sytle. My opinon

[vertigo]

- The one you really know and have trained.

 

- TRAIN WELL and you'll be OK.

 

Agreed, ramymensa. Very good thoughts on this subject.

[koryu]

I agree completely. All styles are effective, it just depends on who you are trained by, and how well you train. Avoid the popular "Black Belt Factory" (otherwise known as "McDojo") and you should be just fine.

[seersin]

Tha best style is tha one you work tha best and tha hardest at.

[Kempohands]

The one you really know and have trained.

 

There are no wonder styles. If you train well and realistically and have a goos instructor and luck you'll be OK. This is the most uninspired kind of topic, sorry. There is no such thing as a perfect style and this topic will lead only to flame wars and stupid remarks, not to mention it's been discussed to death all these years. It disappears and then somebody brings it up, we say the same thing, we get tired and disapears again ... and so on.

 

Please don't take it personally, but the answer is obvious. TRAIN WELL and you'll be OK. Stop going after "dream " styles and get to work in the style you've chosen with a good instructor.

 

Effectiveness can be thought as a percentage of succesful ways of getting out of a situation. I get 100%, cause I never enterred a conflict situation. My style .. wthatever that is .. is perfect

 

Let's take it the other way .. you get a respected style and train like crazy, you get very good, high ranks and sweep the floor with all the people you meet. Stull you get your ..tt handed to you in a street fight after being hit with .. I don't know .. rock in the back of your head. You were walking calmly and someone practiced marksman on your head.. conclusion .. your style sucks. Of course you could have trained with Grnad master od grand masters of the X style and you'd have sensed the intention before the guy would even lift the rock from the ground Let's get serious.

 

Instead of trying to come with "most effective" style, we'd better try work some more in the class. When you're luck, well trained and strong, every style is the best. When you get whooped, it's you who sucks, not the sytle. My opinon

Every new memeber at KF should be required to read that...great post. I agree 100%

[Krazy Carol]

Which style of karate do you guys believe is the most useful and effective on the streets?

 

The one that get's you home.

[username9]

ramymensa said it best I think.

 

As far as preparing yourself as best you can I think one should get to a decent grade in a well respected style...then look into broadening your horizons because no style teaches everything you might need to know....howevere if it teaches you everything you WANT to know....then fine!

[aefibird]

Great post ramy, well said.

 

There are no "wonder" styles or "magic" techniques - only "wonder students" who work hard to get the best out of what they are training in and have "magic instructors" who help them to achieve that best.

 

Still, there are a lot of people out there who think that "If I train with Master X" or "If I learn Style Y" that they're gonna be invincible and automatically superior to anyone else on 'the streets'.

 

We had a guy like that at my Wing Chun club a while back.

 

Before new students start, Sifu gives them a little talk about how Wing Chun is a very practical and accessible style, BUT that it won't turn you into Bruce Lee overnight - a WC practicioner has to work hard on their training if they want to be good (just like any other MAist).

 

So, this guy got the little chat from Sifu and started training with us, but ended up quitting in disgust after about a month because he could do moves like Jackie Chan. Now he keeps sending harassing emails to Sifu complaining that our Kwoon is a fraud and that we don't teach 'real' (whatever that is) Kung Fu. Sifu has threatened to report him to the police for harassment if he sends him one more email.

[Venrix]

Hi All,

 

I agree with the ethos of 'There is no wonder style'. However, I feel that simply saying, "train hard and any style is effective" is not quite true.

 

In particular, I would suggest there is a considerable difference in the efficiency of 'non-contact', 'semi-contact' and 'full-contact' styles.

 

That is - if you are looking for a style that is 'street effective' - then, one could pretty much assume that any 'no-contact' style will prove less than useful in a real life physical confrontation.

 

So, I would agree with: "There is no wonder style."

 

However, I would advise that no 'non- and semi- contact' martial artists are fooled into believing that 'kata' will win a fight for them.

 

This is the second time I've posted this quote today - but, once again - I think it's appropriate:

 

"You may train for a long, long time. But if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning karate is not very different from learning to dance. You will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of karate-do."

 

- GICHIN FUNAKOSHI (The 'Father' of Modern Karate).