Doubt in Karate

[akmal06]

Hello!

I have troubling to choose the right martial arts for me.

I heard that "THERE IS NO BEST MARTIAL IN THIS WORLD, IT DEPENDS ON THE PERSON"

Once i heard that,

i join Karate in my university.

One day,

my friend show me the video of

Muay Thai Vs Karate

Muay Thai Vs Taekwondo

Muay Thai Vs KickBoxing

and most of the winner is Muay Thai fighter.

I starting to lose hope/enthusiams in Karate.

The question is:

Izit Muay Thai is the best martial arts?

How can u explain that there is no best martial art in the world, it depends a person?

I hope you guys can reply this.

Thank you!!

[Soheir]

Of course your friend shows you all those videos where Muay Thai always wins...?

You should, when watching such videos pay attention on the rules though. I'm not saying that that's it, but it does affect. About karate, what style? In TKD, also the style.....except, in TKD the fighting style is waay different than May Thai anyways. In kickboxing the rules....

Choosing the right martial art for one is not like that. The style does not make you a good fighter or anything else by itself. The thing is, you have to practice that style a long time to be a good fighter, and obviously there is no point on spending years on something you don't really want to train for any other reason but because you think it's going to make you a great fighter.

If you do like Muay Thai, you want to train that style, and you believe in it, then why not? But you should think your real reasons to practice that then.

Did you mean you've already started Karate? If you have been there only few times, you propably know if you don't like it and you want to take up something else?

Edited December 31, 2010 by Soheir

[sensei8]

The question is:

Izit Muay Thai is the best martial arts?

How can u explain that there is no best martial art in the world, it depends a person?

In a nutshell...

"Best", especially in the martial arts, imho, is nothing more than an illusion. Looking at the plethora of styles of the martial arts, the arts in themselves are solid across the board. Having said that, practitioners of the martial arts aren't cut out from a cookie sheet; we're different across the board.

Nonetheless, I win today, but tomorrow I lose. This doesn't make my style the best/worst nor does it make the other practitioners style the best/worst either. After all, I'm not fighting the style, I'm fighting the practitioner. Practitioners CAN lose, but the style, imho, can't be defeated. Why? Interpretation defaults actions. Why? The summation of "why" is to the summation of "because". Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. There's always someone better than me/you on any given day.

Not many have beaten [bLANK]. Perhaps the right person hasn't come forward yet for one reason or another. Again, even if the right person came forward and then lost, it was the practitioner who lost and not the style. Isn't that practitioner a representative of said style? And if he/she is, then the style isn't faulted. We are fallible beings, and in that, we can't win all of the time; it's unreasonable, it's wishful thinking.

The question would be better served if it was worded this way: What style of the martial arts is BEST FOR ME? That can only be truly answered by the one asking the question. Advise can be given, but the advise must be sound. Can one be perfectly honest with oneself? That's not easy to answer.

[DWx]

and most of the winner is Muay Thai fighter.

and you can find tons of videos where Muay Thai guys get beaten by other styles. Those sorts of videos are so dependant on the rules of the match and skill level of each fighter that they hardly ever represent each style fairly.

If you enjoy your Karate stick with it. Or if you think you'd enjoy Muay Thai more, change styles. You may even find something else you like better.

There is no best martial art although some are going to be better at certain things than others. You wouldn't train Taekwondo if you wanted to be awesome on the ground but you also wouldn't go into BJJ wanting to learn to kick. Some styles are also going to have an advantage over some other styles, but not all. Its like rock, paper, scissors; martial art X is better than Y but will get beaten by martial art Z who will get beaten by Y.

It really does come down to the individual though and different people are also going to be better suited for certain styles.

[Kuma]

Here's a video of a karate fighter beating several Muay Thai fighters:

It all boils down to how hard you train and the person, not the style. If you train your karate as hard as you can to maximize your fighting ability, you have the capability to win any fight.

[Adamo]

Everybody here has given you some great information to follow. They are playing devil's advocate which is something I always do myself. One thing I didn't read and I don't mean to step on toes. The reason why a lot of Muay Thai videos exist like that is simply the nature of training. It's a full contact martial art and it's very aggressive. It has no frills but gets the job done. A lot of karate schools are in a sad unfortunate state known as mcdojo. You don't see much of full contact karate anymore. This is all in general though. It can go both ways as well. Whatever karate school you attend, stay very skeptical and not in a rude way. Just keep an open mind but also do your own research and question things for your knowledge. Taking somebody elses information for fact in the marital arts world will get you in trouble. If your karate school is very active, up to date, and high standards it's going to give you something Muay Thai won't. That's defense against attacks such as a knife or gun.

So here's my recommendation...look at your local schools. Who can you afford? That's the first question. If you don't have the money, the option is out the window. Then ask to watch a class and meet the instructor. Do you like what you see? Ask to attend a free class or 2 and then make up your mind. Ask about their credentials as well. Can you find stuff about them on the internet?

Everybody is right, you can't really compare styles. You can only compare the people and their training. George St. Pierre originally did karate and stated that he is a karate practitioner at heart. Bet most people wouldn't say bad things about him...or Bas Rutten or Lyoto Machida.

[akmal06]

Thank you so much Sensei and Senior for the advices!

I really appreciate it!!

I will try master the art of Karate and also learn some great moves from other martial arts! GodWilling.

[Nevinyrral]

Train hard, and dont mind those videos your friend shows you. It all depends how much and how hard you train.

I can tell you what once happened to me: my friend with some bjj training was grappling with his friends during PE lesson in school, so I asked if I could join( I had then a little kung fu training) so he agreed and we began to wrestle( no strikes) and he couldnt seal any technicue he used, as I was quite flexible those day(not anymore). So it ended in draw.

SO you need to belive in yourself, and remember training is the one thing that wont betray you.

And check this video

[sperki]

Sensei8, that was a solid post!

akmal06, the other thing to consider is why you are training in the first place. If you want to kick butt in competition that's one thing. If the romanticism of traditional arts attracted you it's something else entirely. If you expect to use your training on the street it's an entirely different reason for studying a martial art. Each style, and even each instructor will have a different emphasis and some may match your goals better than others. With that in mind, it's not worth learning a martial art if you don't like it.

[Taiikuka]

You can't watch Videos of a type of Art and say hey that one always wins it must be best. Muay Thai gets it clocked cleaned a lot in the UFC by Jujitsu guys. Chuck Lindel who was light Heavyweight Champ did Karate and learned most of his Striking (For which he is known) from Kendo. I comes down to how hard you train and what you like to do. I have done many arts over the years. Jeet Kune Do imo the best for fighting in the street but the UFC has proved an entirly different animal for the art of JKD. Do I think it is the art that is the problem or just the fact that not enought people who practice it go into MMA with the same heart as the other arts. I would think it is the second option.

Think about how many schools in your area teach some of these arts. Then look at the teachers and find out which ones have watered it down to where you gain "black Belt" in 2 years and also have mixed in so many other arts to "make it better" For some that is ok for me I like traditional Training.