New To The Site And Martial Arts

[Zapatista]

Okay, so I go to a community college (until the spring term is over, so May) and they offer some martial arts for gym classes. Here is the list of what they offer: Aikido, Hapkido, Judo, Jujutsu and Karate. Now I'd like to take one of those because it's cheaper than going to an actual dojo and it gives me a taste to see if I like it.

So my question is, which art should I choose?

I was originally looking for an art that is just striking (such as Karate) since I didn't like the thought of rolling around with sweaty people but I've gotten past that, so I'm willing to do either striking or grappling. I'm also doing this more for self-defense rather than for sport, so that kinda eliminates Judo.

Also, more about me, I'm 6' 3" about 255 lbs. and it isn't mostly muscle, so I need an art that will allow me to do a lot of stuff even though I'm not in the best shape.

As for my martial arts background, I did Kum Do for about 4 months before giving it up because I didn't really see a use to it.

Looking at each art, I kinda want to do Hapkido. It seems to offer everything I want and the college I plan to transfer to (Northern Illinois University) has a Hapkido "club" that does belt testing and works on techniques with a man who is a black belt in Hapkido and is supposedly good at teaching.

So my questions are a.) out of the arts I listed available to me which would be your preference that would fit my situation? b.) Is Hapkido a good art for a beginner learning for self-defense?

Thanks for your time.

[pineapple]

All arts have something good to offer, however from your statements, I would say that hapkido would be an excellent choice for your desires.

[ravenzoom]

I believe you are seriously underestimating Judo as a self defense martial art. Yes it is sports-based, but so is Muay Thai, so is boxing, so is wrestling, etc. and they are all effective for the street as is Judo. When making your choice don't cross out sports based martial arts because you believe they are innefective for self defense, that would be a huge mistake from your part.

[orion82698]

I believe you are seriously underestimating Judo as a self defense martial art. Yes it is sports-based, but so is Muay Thai, so is boxing, so is wrestling, etc. and they are all effective for the street as is Judo. When making your choice don't cross out sports based martial arts because you believe they are innefective for self defense, that would be a huge mistake from your part.

I agree!

Take a free lesson at every class. You will find more than one to your liking. I'm sure everyone on here would love to cross train, but there is also a money issue, as well as time to pratice both arts.

Good luck, and welcome to the forum!

[Zapatista]

I believe you are seriously underestimating Judo as a self defense martial art. Yes it is sports-based, but so is Muay Thai, so is boxing, so is wrestling, etc. and they are all effective for the street as is Judo. When making your choice don't cross out sports based martial arts because you believe they are innefective for self defense, that would be a huge mistake from your part.

You have a point. But another reason that I'm crossing out Judo is that the class is about 15 weeks long and we meet once a week. Now I went to a Judo dojo and observed a class and talked with the instructors and they said that you need to learn how to fall correctly before you can get into any Judo and in fact they teach Danzan Ryu Jujutsu for about 6 months before you can get into Judo. My point being, in order to learn how to throw you need to know how to fall and from my understanding, learning to fall correctly can take awhile and we have at most 15 classes at 1 hour and 15 minutes and I would think at least half of them would be about falling. Or they would skip throwing altogether and just work on ground work, in which case I would just do Jujutsu.

And yes, I'm aware there is throwing in Hapkido and we would have to learn to fall correctly there too, but there is more standing skills than just throwing so they could teach us the striking and pressure points along with the ground work.

I admit, I dismissed Judo at first as just being a sport, but I read what others had to say about it and my mind changed. It's just that I don't have the time to learn to fall correctly.

[orion82698]

I believe you are seriously underestimating Judo as a self defense martial art. Yes it is sports-based, but so is Muay Thai, so is boxing, so is wrestling, etc. and they are all effective for the street as is Judo. When making your choice don't cross out sports based martial arts because you believe they are innefective for self defense, that would be a huge mistake from your part.

You have a point. But another reason that I'm crossing out Judo is that the class is about 15 weeks long and we meet once a week. Now I went to a Judo dojo and observed a class and talked with the instructors and they said that you need to learn how to fall correctly before you can get into any Judo and in fact they teach Danzan Ryu Jujutsu for about 6 months before you can get into Judo. My point being, in order to learn how to throw you need to know how to fall and from my understanding, learning to fall correctly can take awhile and we have at most 15 classes at 1 hour and 15 minutes and I would think at least half of them would be about falling. Or they would skip throwing altogether and just work on ground work, in which case I would just do Jujutsu.

And yes, I'm aware there is throwing in Hapkido and we would have to learn to fall correctly there too, but there is more standing skills than just throwing so they could teach us the striking and pressure points along with the ground work.

I admit, I dismissed Judo at first as just being a sport, but I read what others had to say about it and my mind changed. It's just that I don't have the time to learn to fall correctly.

You should cross Aikido off your list too then. You will need to learn "the walk" before you get into it (this involves learning how to fall and other things that relate to Aikido). Either way, you will not be able to jump into any school/dojo/class wherever it is, and expect to be Bruce Lee over night. Kicking, punching, blocking.... all requires conditioning, stretching, weight training if you want to kick higher, faster and more accurately. Cardio is a big factor in the striking and ground arts. Learning to fall I would think is much easier than any of those, but probably just as hard.