Martial Arts That Aren't Useless

[lacktheknack]

I've been told that Judo is fairly good, especially if you only use one Judo throw and run.

That said, I suck at... all of the martial arts, so don't trust my recommendations.

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

Jiu jitsu is taught by the US Army and is particularly effective. It's main focus is on grappling and ground fighting (Which is where most fights end up anyway).

Ahhh, right, so before I start this I do wanna say that Jiujitsu and especially the Gracie BJJ kind is a really effective martial art, but I heavily dispute the idea that most fights end up on the ground. MMA matches, yeah, because it's a very useful tactic in a one on one fight but in a street fight it's not all that desirable to go to the ground since a) concrete sucks to land on for anyone and b) the dude your fighting might have a friend around the corner or next to him or in general.

I'd still say OP should look into it since it'll help him get fitter and is constructive for self defence but ground-fighting in street is a last resort.

Added note: I like MMA for fitness and training but like Karate and TKD it's a sport so some of the rules can be blanked for self defence. And by default Karate, TKD or any style will be more helpful than Baseball training since you could throw more than a big right hook, I mean the lack of steroid abuse might hinder your power, but you'd still probably fare better.

 

[Aramis Night]

I like sword-fighting myself. Sure it's not as effective as an unarmed combat style when your unarmed, but I do think its cute when people come at me with a knife. When you grow accustomed to dodging a 3 ft. long razor coming your way, the site of a knife in the hand of some street person doesn't even quicken your pulse. Unless they have been trained in its use(you will know by the way they handle it), odds are good you'll have little trouble disarming them.

 

[Cerebrawl]

Ahhh, right, so before I start this I do wanna say that Jiujitsu and especially the Gracie BJJ kind is a really effective martial art, but I heavily dispute the idea that most fights end up on the ground. MMA matches, yeah, because it's a very useful tactic in a one on one fight but in a street fight it's not all that desirable to go to the ground since a) concrete sucks to land on for anyone and b) the dude your fighting might have a friend around the corner or next to him or in general.

I'd still say OP should look into it since it'll help him get fitter and is constructive for self defence but ground-fighting in street is a last resort.

Added note: I like MMA for fitness and training but like Karate and TKD it's a sport so some of the rules can be blanked for self defence. And by default Karate, TKD or any style will be more helpful than Baseball training since you could throw more than a big right hook, I mean the lack of steroid abuse might hinder your power, but you'd still probably fare better.

Yeah, you also might have trouble with broken glass on the ground...

As someone who's done over 10 years of jujutsu(a few variants, including a bit of BJJ), my go-to thing if the guy has a buddy nearby is probably throw->lock->break. As in break his arm, so you have one less opponent able to fight(it can also serve as distraction/intimidation, buddy might double-take when you break his friend's arm). Standing break can also be done in some situations, depends what he gives me to work with.

 

[The White Hunter]

The best martial art is to discharge your 870 within 10 metres.

Otherwise I find a big axe tends to solve it all.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I would vote Krav Maga for when you really want to break shit up in a fight. I would add for worst, its this guy that started Kiai martial arts. Who supposedly can beat people without touching them.....he really cant. lol. I feel sorry for him when all those students feed his delusions especially when he gets his arse kicked by an MMA fighter.lol

 

[RoonMian]

As other people have already said: If fitness is your goal, take boxing. You'll learn to jump rope properly and doing that alone for an hour will fuck you up thoroughly.

As for "practical application"... You mean beating the crap out of people? I'm sure you didn't mean that because you're a well adjusted human being. So I won't need to recommend modern military martial arts like Krav Maga, San Shou, German Ju-Jutsu or Russian Sambo. Those would be completely uninteresting for you >_>

Edit: As an amateur-ish boxer myself I have to add though that boxing has some problems in a bar fight or similar scenarios. What separates the hand techniques of boxing from other martial arts is how you stand. But the way you stand in boxing requires a lot of space in your pants, very light, thin-soled shoes and is comparatively wobbly (boxers don't need to stand firm like an oak tree because they don't kick). So if "real world" application is your goal and not athletic competition and/or fitness then boxing might not be the thing for you. You'll learn how to deck someone, sure. But to do that in a bar brawl other schools will teach that to you better than boxing.

 

[legend of duty]

I'd recommend just working out normally through swimming,hiking, or jogging. If you want to protect yourself just use a taser or a gun, if it fits within your morals. Deadly force is deadly force.

 

[Flutterguy]

Any exercise in self-discipline and control is useful.

If you want to get fit aim do whatever fits your lifestyle, but understand your diet is far more important.

 

[DementedSheep]

Well Hapkido is the one they recommend to people joining the army or police force. They might even teach in the army but I'm not 100% sure about that. It focuses on joint locks, throws and grappling.

I did Tang Soo Do but the style I was taught was more for tournament and I basically considered it just exercise not self defence. My instructor even took care to point out that it isn't going to work in most real fights (assuming you even remember what you have been taught under stress) so you shouldn't get into situations thinking your a badass. Like hell I'm going to get a proper kick off in actual fight when people are probably going to just tackle you especially since I'm not likely to be the one throwing the first hit. You can if you really good but most people won't be. The actual self defence style which I did a little bit of is very different. A lot lower stance and less kicks and punches. More of a focuses on locks, knees and elbows.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

(I'm not sure if martial art is the broadest term, but basically, I'm just talking about any style of fighting.)

I want to get fit and I figured that I may as well learn a useful life skill while I do it, so naturally, I thought of learning a martial art. The only problem is, all the martial arts that I'm aware of (Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Tai Chi, Yoga, Sudoku, etc etc etc) seem to be about as useful in a real life fight as training in Baseball (or so I'm told).

So, my question to you is, do you know of any fighting styles that actually have a practical application.

In honour of the upcoming Brazil Soccer World Cup, which I'm sure we're all super excited about [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie], have some Capoeira.

A few people have already pointed this out, but if fitness is your goal, then be wary of just relying on Martial Arts. I've known people who did Martial Arts for years and were in atrocious shape. Even professional MMA fighters don't just spar, they have workout regiments and diets that they stick to as well.

But echoing some of the earlier thoughts here, if fitness is your goal, I'd stick with MMA or Boxing.

 

[tgbennett30]

If you want to get fit and better at defending yourself, gain confidence, project an aura of "I am not to be messed with," etc., then forget all the MA stuff and take up powerlifting.

I say this as a 31 year veteran of more MA training than you can shake a stick at. ;-)

If you must learn something where your primary goal is self-defense, learn to shoot and get a CCW.

If, however, you just want to have fun, get some exercise, gain a MILDLY useful skill * then something like Brazilian Jiujitsu is pretty solid. This applies to some more than others, but some are really bad about it - any art that does not involve training against someone who is trying their best to (A) avoid you and (B) hurt you back is a waste of time as far as actual self-defense. BJJ, judo, boxing, wrestling, etc. - all involve resisting opponents, which is what you need. Most forms of karate, taekwondo, and even krav maga do NOT involve live sparring (one- and three-step sparring does not count), and as such are worthless other than as aerobic exercise. But as others have said, it varies tremendously by school - some BJJ schools are competition only and teach you stuff that would get you stomped in a real fight, whereas others are more general and self-defense; some TKD schools may focus on "tip-tap" pad fighting, others may be brutally aggressive, etc..

Do not construe that to mean I am saying some arts' techniques are worthless - it is their training methodology that is suspect. A punch is a punch is a punch, whether it comes from Shotokan, tang soo do, krav maga, northern long fist kung fu, etc.

* = MA as self-defense is only mildly useful - a reasonably mature and intelligent person will very likely go their entire lives without a fight, esp. if they avoid bars and drunk people. It's better to avoid fights or else run. People with visions in their heads of taking out hordes of bad guys with deadly hand-to-hand skillz - that's fine in video games and movies, that's about it.

 

[RandV80]

The other one is ITF taekwondo. That's the one I do. It was developed for the south Korean military after world war 2 and is in essence heavily modified and updated karate. Taekwondo split into two different organisations that hate each other with a passion for petty political reasons - the whole affair is kind of embarrassing and sad - and while one of them (WTF) kept on changing and over time became more of a sport, the other (ITF) attempted to keep the original military style intact and is, as a result, arguably more useful in the street. ITF taekwondo is essentially a modern spin on karate. You've got your punches and your kicks, a handful of joint locks and quite a few defensive techniques. It's also fun to learn. Definitely worth trying.

ITF ended up being my main discipline growing up, and later on tried some WTF, an introduction to Capoeira and some bad ass ancient karate style in college, and later a Tae-Kwon-Do/Karate fusion. In tournaments I've also done a few kickboxing style single round matches. Let me outline the different styles according to their sparring/tournament rules:

WTF - it's the Taekwondo you see at the Olympics. No feet or hand protection, instead you wear a body pad with targets on it and a helmet. Focuses on quick kicks to 'tag' your opponent. Punching to the head is not allowed, which makes this a horrible style for actual self defense. Maybe you can take someone down with a few unexpected quick kicks, but this style doesn't train you very well to protect your head. To their credit though the chest padding you wear doesn't provide as much protection as you think it would.

Karate - You wear feet and hand padding, kicks & punches allowed above the waste. In a tournament, when a 'hit' appears to have scored, the referee stops you, you separate, and four judges one in each corner determine if there's a score. I believe it's always 1 point. Better than WTF for self defense, as in a real fight you don't stop.

ITF - Same setup as Karate, except tournament sparring is continuous. There will be 3 judges that try to count your 'score', and different hits count for different points. Like a kick to the body - 1 point, kick to the head - 2 points, jumping kick to the head - 3 points. Better again than the two above, but you're still trying more to 'tag' your opponent for a point, rather than actually hit to hurt. When I first started in sparring your told to keep your hits a foot away from the actual person, and as you improve & progress you get closer and closer. This builds exceptional control, but for actual self defense there's a danger of not being used to actually hitting someone to hurt.

Kickboxing - Basically you just pound on each other with basic kicks and punches until one of you get tired or knocked out. This will get you up to speed for self defense quickest and likely the best fitness, but honestly I found it kinda... dull. I mean even if they aren't very practical or useful in actual self defense, some of the more advanced/high flying kicks can be fun. There's no room for them in kickboxing/MMA though.

Rather than there being a 'best' martial arts though I'm more of the opinion that different martial arts suit different people. And even then so much depends on the school/instructor. The worst ones are overcrowded money farms that rush people through belts because you pay more money for the promotion test and to get the belt I saw this at the WTF school I attended. In my ITF school testing was much more challenging and one on one, we had plenty of space and had sparring every weak. On the more modern MMA style side, you probably need to watch for places that try to sign you up for a year, but then have dangerous training/sparring that's likely to leave you injured and unable to show up.

Talking about different styles though, one thing I've never understood is why modern MMA doesn't incorporate the side kick. In ITF this is the first kick you learn alongside the front kick, and it's basically you're bread and butter. It can be quick, versatile, and powerful. Anytime we went to mixed style tournaments we'd usually dominate with it. It also happened to be Bruce Lee's favourite kick.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

Boxing and wrestling (free style or collegiate) will get you in super shape and have you capable of knocking people out, preventing them for taking you down and taking them down to beat them senseless if you want to. Jiu-Jitsui and kickboxing are also good.

Basically combine real striking with real grappling and you can fight anywhere. A good MMA gym will allow you to practice all the required disciplines.

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

Edit: As an amateur-ish boxer myself I have to add though that boxing has some problems in a bar fight or similar scenarios. What separates the hand techniques of boxing from other martial arts is how you stand. But the way you stand in boxing requires a lot of space in your pants, very light, thin-soled shoes and is comparatively wobbly (boxers don't need to stand firm like an oak tree because they don't kick). So if "real world" application is your goal and not athletic competition and/or fitness then boxing might not be the thing for you. You'll learn how to deck someone, sure. But to do that in a bar brawl other schools will teach that to you better than boxing.

Clothing is the bane of most traditional martial artists too, kicking in skinny jeans is freakin impossible

But as an actual question, something I never got, Boxers always emphasise the light footwork and staying as mobile as possible, but doesn't that make it harder to launch power-shots since that requires hip/knee/weight rotations, is there like a balance I've never spotted (coming at this from a Kung Fu/MMA background where we do balls of the feet balance but that's for launching kicks, I'm curious if Boxing had a different approach)

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

There is one I can't remember the name of, but it was in Recess. A french martial art that seems very practical.

I think there's a practical form of martial art from england. Not sure what it's called but it's old.

I think Savate and Bartitsu are the ones you're thinking of. Savate is french kickboxing (where headshot kicks score the most points so, y'know, thats how they roll) and Bartitsu is a weird beast of gentlemanly combat where you have savage beatings administered with an elegant mahogany cane.

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

Talking about different styles though, one thing I've never understood is why modern MMA doesn't incorporate the side kick. In ITF this is the first kick you learn alongside the front kick, and it's basically you're bread and butter. It can be quick, versatile, and powerful. Anytime we went to mixed style tournaments we'd usually dominate with it. It also happened to be Bruce Lee's favourite kick.

It's getting more popular recently, since it's the Thai Round kicks natural predator a lot of people seem to be incorporating it into their styles now. Can't say why it wasn't prevalent before, that ones got me stumped.

 

[Pharsalus]

Has OP even been in a fight, or taken courses in any of this stuff? How can you say most martial arts are unless you fight for a living? How bout you just plan on not fighting people mmmkay.

 

[White Lightning]

If you want to get fit just work out, martial arts aren't all that effective in a street fight anyways. Most fights are won by the guy who swung first. Just sucker punch someone if they're getting in your face.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Has OP even been in a fight, or taken courses in any of this stuff? How can you say most martial arts are unless you fight for a living? How bout you just plan on not fighting people mmmkay.

He was asking because a lot of martial arts, as they are modernly taught, are useless. You'd be hard pressed to find a legitimate karate school in most parts of the United States - the majority are tournament schools, where they teach you a lot of things that will get your booty beaten on a street. A lot of martial arts suffer from this.

Of course, if you heads to Asia, things change.

Generally speaking, there are 'good' martial arts for fighting. By good, most people mean 'easily accessible fighting styles.' Jui Jitsu is a good one not because its superior to 'true' karate, per se, but because its one of the most common taught in the US at real self defence schools. Krav Maga is another good one because it just about has no other use then to mess people up. It's pretty much 'dirty murder fighting 101.'

EDIT: Jui Jitsu is also pretty good because a lot of people have spent a lot of time distilling it down to its basics for exactly what the OP is asking for - simple self defense you don't have to spend a life time mastering.