Which martial art should I pursue?

[KT Samurai]

I have been wanting to devote myself to a martial art for a long time now. I'm lazy and I have a short attention span and I want martial arts to give me some discipline. I've already taken a few classes of both karate and tae kwon do but neither seemed to fit me terribly well. Either my classes were lacking, I was lacking, or some other factor came into play. I'm willing to retry either school.

My question is, as a complete newbie to martial arts in general, which one should I pursue? Are particular arts more attuned to certain body structures? I am 6'3" and weight around 170lbs, making me tall and lean (and, according to what I've read, a bad candidate for muay thai).

I would just like some advice from veterans and seasoned professionals on the matter. I'm sure it's entirely possible that there is no "right" one to choose, but I felt I should ask regardless. Thank you in advance for your responses.

Edited December 14, 2005 by KT Samurai

[Belasko]

Based on your physical description of yourself Tae Kwon Do or other art w/ a strong emphasis on kicking would be a good choice. As for the personality description you're going to have to just do a change within before a martial art will fully give you discipline. After all, if you don't go you don't achieve what you are trying for. Otherwise the primary recomendation is find a class that at least holds your attention and you find interesting. You'll probly hear from many on the board that TKD is a bad choice, and even more so ATA TKD. I have found that there are good schools there, and bad schools, but it also applies to all styles. Just shop around and try a few out before commiting. The other thing I would recomend is to give it a good year to year and a half before calling it quits. Many hit a slump before then, but regain interest once they're past it.

[KT Samurai]

Based on your physical description of yourself Tae Kwon Do or other art w/ a strong emphasis on kicking would be a good choice. As for the personality description you're going to have to just do a change within before a martial art will fully give you discipline. After all, if you don't go you don't achieve what you are trying for. Otherwise the primary recomendation is find a class that at least holds your attention and you find interesting. You'll probly hear from many on the board that TKD is a bad choice, and even more so ATA TKD. I have found that there are good schools there, and bad schools, but it also applies to all styles. Just shop around and try a few out before commiting. The other thing I would recomend is to give it a good year to year and a half before calling it quits. Many hit a slump before then, but regain interest once they're past it.

Tae Kwon Do made sense to me as well. The emphasis on kicks seemed to make long legs a little more useful. I had trouble with the stances, however, and struggled to stay in them the entire time I tried it out. I would always step into the more comfortable "L stance," and that got me trouble a few times.

Karate's stances seemed to fit better somehow and I'm not sure why. I've never been physically fit. but karate stances just felt more natural to me. My sensei at the time was enouraging, stating that if I wanted to get better all I had to do was keep showing up. I was deterred from it a little because I read that there was a lot of emphasis on upper body strength, something I lack. I had to move not long after taking karate up and haven't tried it since.

I'm not sure what to make of it.

[scottnshelly]

Find out what’s available in your area. Then watch a few classes, talk to the Instructor and some of the students. Most schools will also offer a free class or free week to see if it’s something that you would enjoy.

Also, try to think about some of the goals that you want to get from Martial Arts in addition to discipline. Any good Instructor should help your discipline.

After finding out what styles are available to you, let us know and we can give you a rundown of what each style entails.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when talking to Instructors:

• Duration of classes

• Number of classes per month

• Tuition

• Testing fees, testing schedule

• Style/lineage

• Class structure

When talking to students, ask about

• Length of time between belts

• Number of under-belts (belts below Black)

• Class structure

• Instructor interaction

• Instructor to student ratio

Good luck,

[KT Samurai]

Find out what’s available in your area. Then watch a few classes, talk to the Instructor and some of the students. Most schools will also offer a free class or free week to see if it’s something that you would enjoy.

Also, try to think about some of the goals that you want to get from Martial Arts in addition to discipline. Any good Instructor should help your discipline.

After finding out what styles are available to you, let us know and we can give you a rundown of what each style entails.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when talking to Instructors:

• Duration of classes

• Number of classes per month

• Tuition

• Testing fees, testing schedule

• Style/lineage

• Class structure

When talking to students, ask about

• Length of time between belts

• Number of under-belts (belts below Black)

• Class structure

• Instructor interaction

• Instructor to student ratio

Good luck,

This sounds logical. I'll give that a go.

However, since I'm still curious, what styles come to mind when you consider my body type besides Tae Kwon Do?

[DragonMike]

Could you be more specific? In your original poat you said that either you or the class was lacking. If you could give us a better idea of what did not seem to work then we might be able to give you better insight.

Basedon your body type I would suggest a Korean style such as Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do, or Hapkido.

And rember different schools have different "feels." So, if one TSD school doesn't feel right, it doesn't neccessarily mean the style isn't right for you.

[scottnshelly]

This sounds logical. I'll give that a go.

However, since I'm still curious, what styles come to mind when you consider my body type besides Tae Kwon Do?

There are many more factors to be considered than body type. I have seen people of nearly everybody type in nearly every art. The biggest factor should be your goal.

Are you into spiritual enlightenment? Do you want to punch someone in the face and get punched in the face? Do you want to roll around on the ground? Do you want to learn to swing a stick? Do you like the idea of jumping and kicking someone in the head?

What kind of pace are you looking for: fast and furious or slow and melodic? Do you want to spend hours working on the same thing (stances, kicks, punches, etc) or do you want to be constantly learning new material?

Most styles have characteristics, however, not every Instructor teaches the same. I have been to Tae Kwon Do schools that were very rigid and strict; while others were very fast paced and work-out-oriented.

[italian_guy]

scottnshelly gave you good advices... try as many school as you can.. your body and your mind will tell you which art is better for you.

Your body because it's not a matter only on body configuration but also on other factors (like flexibility, power etc.), see what your body like to do and you will feel more confortable in a art respect to others, for example I'm 6 ft tall with relatively long limbs (compared to people of my height) but I do not have much flexibility on legs or lower body in general so a korean MA or even a northern style kung fu would not be a good choice.

Aside of your body (and even more important) is your mind that matters... you should have confidence in your classmate and you should trust the teacher in order to succeed. You should also feel confortable with the level of contact that your school practices. The art should be adeguate for the goal you expect: you should determine if you do MA for self defence, for sport or for fitness and fun. The answer to this question points you to different arts.

In conclusion try as many as you can and pick what you like better, this is my advice.

[MartialArthur]

KT Samurai, don't worry that you are not "comfortable" in the stances. All new white belts in any art find things that they are not comfortable with. You are learning something new and not expected to be good at it yet.

Every martial art will take you out of your comfort zone.

[shogeri]

Do you like to run, or to play soccer?

Do you like to swim, or play football or basketball?

I liked doing sports than involved the hands, but my upper body did not give me what I felt was an adequate representation of hand to hand.

In my youth, I liked soccer, so I of course chose a kicking art. I was smaller, so strayed away from wrestling. In junior football, I was the fullback, because I could run. I even ran track my senior year.

Then as I got older, and less agile, or physically able to do all the fancy kicks (due to some injuries along the way), I chose more close fighting techniques.

I even enjoyed sewing and doing needlepoint (weird for a guy ~ I know), writing, drawing, etc.

Then I went onto more knees and elbow when my bursitis (shoulders) began to flair up more frequently.

Now I do light jujutsu, with elbow knees, and taijiquan, which in many (external) aspects is similar to wing chun in fighting philosophy (centerline, trapping, etc).

So I, like others have evolved, based upon my own physical limitations, my likes and dislikes, and my own personal goals that more or less fell into place along with whatever I was doing at the time.

You can expect this to happen as well.

Good luck and remember to focus on you, and do not buy into anything you are not sure about.