which martial art to choose?

[tsdtony]

Tkd is not a slefdefince maybe at one time but not anymore it is a sport karate.If you want selfdefince take something much less sport orantated.Pluse no way in you know what did bjj guy take a man down thean let him when he taped to pull out a wepon i just think that is a joke.Kung fu is a good selfdefince as long as your willing to put in the time

[JusticeZero]

Tkd is not a slefdefince...

That's probably going to get the post removed as offensive..

Pluse no way in you know what did bjj guy take a man down thean let him when he taped to pull out a wepon i just think that is a joke.

Say again? I can't parse that sentence at all. The JJ guy took down the attacker, who tapped, they both stood up again like they do in the training hall, and the crook proceeded to break the frame with a weapon. Capoeira at it's finest, imo, which is why I remember the story. The point was that your habits in training will stick with you. One of the people I trained with recounted an early fight he got in relatively early in his training in his youth. Theybasically squared off, then the MAist unloaded his full arsenal into the other guy, who just froze up as a bunch of kicks and punches flew at him and stopped an inch away from him. Then he stepped up and beat up on the MAist, who then realized that his sparring training had just worked against him. How you train is how you fight; this is one reason I get so upset at the girls in the class who won't throw a kick through me.

[dragon29]

Well, it really depends what your looking for.

if you want a workout, i think that TKD is a great choice for you. however, my view on it was that it was more sport-like than other martial art.

If you want good self defense skills, then karate is a good choice. also, i have friends who did hapkido and really enjoyed it.

[shukokai2000]

If you want a traditional form i suggest and recommend the disciplin " shukokai "

[odsouza]

hi guys

thanks for all the advice. i just enrolled in the shotokan karate school as it is the closest to my place. will let u guys know how it goes. the instructor also told me that he can teach kung - fu .

how do i check his credentials? the karate training is recognised by a national association but i dont know how the kung fu training works out.

thanks

[ninjanurse]

Congratulations...a good choice! As far as credentials go you can check with the association itself and he should be forth coming with the information about kung fu-I say just ask.

[Sam]

Good luck with your trianing - hope you enjoy it.

[judoguy]

*shrugs* I've heard success stories of self defense with TKD. It's important to realistically assess the vulnerabilities you have and be on guard against any bad habits you might be getting from your training (turning one's back on opponents, locking out punches to make them more visible to judges, etc.. there was a news story someone posted somewhere once about a BJJ stylist taking down a criminal once - the criminal tapped out, the BJJ guy stood up and let him go, the criminal pulled out a weapon and put the BJJ guy down.)

In any case, most people can gain all the self defense they realistically need pretty quickly; most attackers on the street won't be highly skilled and a show of resistance will drive the majority of attackers, who want easy prey, away.

I heard this story. It actually went like this. The bjj guy got the takedown, armbarred the crook and actually SNAPPED his elbow. The bjj guy got up thinking the fight was over and the crook picked up a metal pole with his right hand and beat the living hell out of the bjj guy. It turned out that the bjj guy snapped his LEFT elbow but the crook was right handed. Burt Richardson told that story. The point was that you always have to follow up on your attack, and yes... You fight like you train.

[ItalianMuayThai]

Shotokan

[Menjo]

I would Shotokan, it can be boring and tedious and not as flashy as tkd but...

Edited June 1, 2007 by Menjo