Am going to join the Army Rangers, want to get a head start on hand-to-hand,any idea of what I should take up?

Question

I turned 15 a couple months ago, and have pretty much no expierience in any form of combat. I am really interested in become an Army Ranger, and then Special Forces, so I want to get a head start on hand-to-hand combat?

Any suggestions on what I should take up? I was thinking of Muay Thai..,

Answer 1

try krav maga, it's the israeli military art, same thing with kali in the philippines, and silat of indonesia

Answer 2

judo for both the throw and submission moves.

silat for knife fighting.

Special army force near my town in Colorado trained in Silat for knife fighting at my friend's school.

Judo is great to fight charging enemy and you will benefit much from it's submission moves too.

Answer 3

Try Krav Maga since it's an israeli military art. Also, Korean Hapkido is good too and is taught to the police. Bujinkan would be great if you can find a dojo and is very effective. You shouldnt try Muay Thai since it's a ring sport and probably not suited in the streets or in a life threatening fight situation. You should look for mainly a multi discipline art  that has striking, grappling, ground fighting, pressure points, and joint manipulation. Arts like Jeet Kune Do, Krav Maga, Bujinkan, Hapkido, Kajukenbo, HwaRangDo, and some others would be best for you. Krav Maga would better prepare for the military since it was developed for the military unlike arts like Kajukenbo and Jeet Kune Do where it was developed for street defense. However, most Krav Maga schools are for civilian defense so I guess this wouldn't really matter all too much. Also, filipino martial arts like arnis or escrima would work well too and the use of a stick is a lot more valuable than you would think even in the military.

Answer 4

I'd suggest Krav Maga.  In a real life situation, you'd want to learn something where you can take a guy out quickly.  Muay Thai wouldn't be bad, but a lot of techniques are in the clinch, which is where you don't want to be in a street fight.  Anything where you have to get in close with the guy (Jiu Jitsu, clinching, ect.) wouldn't be the smartest thing to so since a guy could be armed and just stab you while you're trying to lock on a choke or something.  Krav Maga and similar styles are about disarming and neutralizing an enemy quickly while putting yourself in minimal danger.

Answer 5

Krav Maga is good, but the stuff taught in many civilian courses tends to be watered down and dragged out to make a business out of it, though, since you've got a few years, it might not be a bad intro.

Bujinkan Shihan Phil Legare does a program called Shinken Taijutsu that's a super-simplified, quick and dirty introduction to Taijutsu for defense and CQB situations. I'll like his site below. Right now, the system's level 1 is broken down into about a half dozen modules which are taught over a couple weekends, and involves escapes from grabs and chokes, unarmed edged weapon defense, unarmed firearms defense, unarmed stick defense, multiple attacker situations, ground fighting, and some other stuff. You do not need to be a Bujinkan member to take the ST courses, apparently, since some of the people attending the last seminar weren't. It's great stuff and a good look at CQB type fighting.

Of course, army combatives. Systema or combat sambo have been used by military. Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu has been taught and used by military (we have many military and special forces guys from around the world). Silat is another good choice.

I don't want to knock BJJ or Muay Thai, but I want to point out two things. First, a lot of Muay Thai is going to be using hard strikes that are going to rely on mobility (something I encourage you to try carrying 80 pounds of gear). Second, do you want to get tied up on the ground choking out a tango with his buddies patrolling the area with automatic weapons wondering why he didn't respond to the last patrol check?

BJJ was designed as a sport, built upon Kodokan Judo. Muay Thai was, at one time, an art used in national defense. Now it's mostly taught as a sport, and the guys who use it end up with bad arthritis at young ages. Careers for Muay Thai fighters in thailand are generally finished by the time they're 30.

When you're looking at what to study, examine fighters using it -- how are they open when they attack? Is he prepared for another attacker? How much energy is he using? Could he do this weighed down with a bunch of gear? How much noise did he make / attention did he draw?

Answer 6

Kyokushin Karate, or any style of fighting where there are minimum of rules and maximum contact.

Answer 7

Judo.  It's what I use to pin younger people who have just gotten out of boot camp.  

Since you have 3 years to prepare, I'd do Judo and a striking art like karate, tkd, tsd.   MMA I'd say do after you have some Judo in you.

Answer 8

Defendo CQB. Look it up.

Answer 9

Mix of Muay Thai/Jiu Jitsu is a really good choice.

Also you might want to get into going to a shooting range and get use to firing weapons if you already havent.

Maybe with your dad or whatever parental figure.

Also eat healthy and keep your cardio up, Rangers arent fun and games-You will be doing a LOT of running to get in, so keep in shape.

Answer 10

Not to sound crappy, but honestly there are way better things you can do to prepare for Ranger or Special Forces then Martial Arts. I am wondering if you talked to a recruiter about your options, you still have a year or two to think about it seriously.First off, it takes time to get into Ranger school, and even longer to get into a Ranger battaltion.

You can negotiate with your recruiter to see if they can include an automatic slot into Ranger school upon completetion of Basic and Airborne school  in your contract. But entering straight out of high school, you will spend some time in Combat arms (Infantry, Cavalry, etc) prior to going to Ranger school and so on. However it is not unheard of for people to have it in their contract to go straight from basic to Airborne, then to Ranger.

The ABSOLUTE best thing you can do is get into serious shape. Forget what art to learn, because Rangers/Army/Special Forces do so very little hand to hand, that you aren't really getting a "head start".

However if you do want a head start hand to hand wise, forget d**n near everything they tell you and look at MMA. The U.S. Army now uses a system called Modern Army Combatives. Which is essentially MMA, in fact they have competetions that as you progress through the ranking structure ends up in MMA style competetions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stat...

So any of the MMA based arts, or MMA itself.

But MORE IMPORTANT to any of that would be your ability to run, ruck, and shoot. You have 3 good years to prepare, I would be prepared for a Special Forces or Army Ranger preliminary tryout just coming in.

It is typically:

50+ Pushups in 2 minutes

60+ sit ups in 2 minutes

5 Mile run in uniform in under 40 minutes

6 Chin ups.

12 Mile Ruck in 3 hours 15 minutes.

Now for the entry test for Special Forces is similar but also includes a 1000 meter swim in uniform. Also you are not able to do Special Forces until you are E-4p meaning promotable.(meaning enough time in grade at E4 to be able to be promoted.

If you can manage going into Basic being able to do 70 or so pushups in 2 mins., 70 to 80 sit ups in 2 mins, and be able to make a 12 minute or less 2 mile run. Ideally be able to run 5 miles in 40 minutes or so. The rucking you can take care of on your own, if you start working on carry loaded backpacks on hikes.

Honestly, Shooting on your own will really help. However there are fundamentals that the Army will do to help it. If you can pick up a .22 rifle or similar .223, and start practicing shooting it also will go a long way in making you more prepared for the Rangers or Special Forces.

So Reader's Digest, cardio conditioning is WAY more important. If you want a headstart on H2H, the Army uses it's own system, that is based heavily on MMA, with some Kali/Arnis elements.

So if you are serious, you need to spend a ton more time doing conditioning then doing a dojo.

Hope that helps...

Feel free to message me if I can be of any help.

Answer 11

Krav Maga and Kali would be excellent choices in my opinion. Remember this, if you are a member of the Special Forces and you must use hand to hand combat, then something went wrong. Remember most of the time, Rangers carry 80 to 120 pound rucks when they go out in the field.

Kali would be a good choice because it focuses on weapon attacks. You focus on using stick and knife, and work on disarms as well. Regular hand to hand combat might be out of the question for an elite soldier to use in combat, however, using a knife or dagger is a more distinct possibility.

Taking any martial art will toughen you up. A physically challenging art like Muay Thai will help you to push yourself to your physical limit. Good luck.