Is Karate being a good self defence a myth ?

Question

I am looking for a good self defence for my children but i notice that those hard men in Ultimate Fighting do not use any Karate .

Answer 1

It all depends on the karate school.

Answer 2

UFC is just 2 people trying to beat the c**p out of each other, and it mostly is just 2 guys wrestling on the floor. if ur kids know karate, they wont have to worry bout that because karate is all about stopping your opponent from attacking. also, you may want to look into wing-chun, its ideal for kids and was the martial art bruce lee originally studied. you cant get much harder than that, can ya?

Answer 3

Are you trying to make your children become ultimate fighters? Of course Karate is a great martial art. It all depends on how dedicated the students are.

But more importantly, Karate is a philosophy. Your children will not be taught how to fight. It is all about self-control and, when necessary, self-defence. Do not expect any kind of martial art teacher to teach your children how to be fighters. Good teachers just want to pass on the experience and knowledge.

Answer 4

tae kwon do  is the best !!!

Answer 5

If you try to teach them to fight, they will fight and get hurt.  

No matter how "hard" those men are on UFC, none of them can deflect a bullet.  They still bleed when the knife cuts them.  They are not hard enough to keep standing after someone comes up behind them with a baseball bat or a hammer.  And they will certainly be injured when they are busy trying to put a rear-naked choke on one guy while his two buddies are stomping on his head.

If you really want to teach your kids self defense, then teach them that the best way to avoid getting hit is to be at home having nice cup of tea while some idiot is starting a fight elsewhere.  Karateka train to fight so they never have to.

Answer 6

I'd suggest taking note of BUSHIDO and Rob B's answers,well said guys .

As for hard men you will find them in any major city not just in martial arts,as for Karate look up Mas Oyama as proof of Karate's effectiveness ,granted his time was over 50yrs ago but technique ,power and determination are valid attributes in any era ,not just in this modern time.

Best wishes :)***

Answer 7

I'm in MMA and I have a background in Karate but i also have skill in BJJ and Judo and Kick Boxing

Answer 8

Thumbs up for David N, Kajukenbo, Bushido, Rob B, and Zenlife. As for the majority of the other answers all I can say is if you have never trained it, don't knock it. I lose IQ points from reading answers such as yours.

I feel qualified to talk about karate after having trained it for almost 19 years.

Fact 1- There are people who's base style is in karate in the UFC. Chuck Liddel- Kenpo, GSP- Kyokoshin. However there are a variety of reasons why it is not more reperesented:

1) Many who take karate have no interest in competing. Ever think of that?

2) Most Americans now days have an "I want it now" attitude, and don't want to train karate because it does take a long time to get past the basics.

3) The goal of someone training for the UFC is to get them up to speed as fast as possible, and by it's very nature and the way it is taught, karate is not going to do that.

4) The UFC is a sport that is played under a certian ruleset. You cannot judge what works and doesn't on the street by it alone. How many times are you going to be attacked by a man wearing shorts, no shirt, a mouthpeice, and gloves? How many UFC fighters would hurt themselves becasue they don't know what contact is like wothout their wrists taped and their gloves on.

5) How many UFC fighters would know what to do if they were attacked by somebody with a knife? Most tarditional Okinawin schools train regurly for weapons defense.(Knife, bat, etc.)

Fact 2- There are many variations of karate. Yes some are trained more as sports, but most of these are the Japanese styles and many are hybred styles that were put together to make money by people who barely knew the basics. Okinawin karate has never been about anything but self defense. Here is an example of some Okinawin karate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE6wdyzk0...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WzS_lyHr...

This one shows that despite what gdrolfe thinks, karate is not simple whatsoever. It starts out with sound basic motion, but as you get more experienced, the movments get faster, stronger, and more in depth. i know gentlemen that have studied karate for over 30 years that are still learning new variations and better ways to do things from the simplist motions. Make sure you watch this one all the way through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oqmkG9_m...

Karate is designed to be learned in stages, with many of the more advanced motions being with held for a couple of reasons:

1) It gives the Senei a chance to gauge your charicter, and figure out if you are going to use it for the wrong reasons, before you are shown anything of real consiquence. How many MMA and Mauy Thai schools can say that?

2) Karate is designed to give you self defense, but it also meant to improve every facet of your life, through the hard training and discipline. No shortcuts in karate.

3) By moving slowly and building a good foundation, anything you do after that will be grounded in good basics.

The main goal of karate, strange as it sounds is not to fight. Part of the self defense aspect is building the confidence in yourself so that you do not have to protect your ego by street fighting. The main focus of what we train is not to "win" a fight, it is to defend ourselves if we are attacked, and do what is necessary to get out of the situation, and survive. Street fighting is not self defense.

I am not slamming Muay Thai, BJJ, Judo, MMA, or any other styles. I ahve a lot of respect for anyone that truly trains the martial arts, because to be good at any of them takes hard work, discipline, and dedication. I can garuntee you though that many who answered this question have never trained a day in tehir life, except to pop the top on another cold one and sit in their recliner watching the UFC.

I myself like watching the UFC, but I understand that it is a sport conducted under set rules and conditions, and in real self defense, those will not be there.

I also feel that depending on their ages, the best starting point for your children is probably Judo or Japanese Ju Jitsu. This will let them get up to speed on their self defense quicker, and also provide them with a way to subdue another of their age without too much damage. Karate does contain locks, chokes and throws, but it generally takes far longer to get to these in karate then it does in Judo or Ju Jitsu.

Answer 9

karate, like all martial arts, has situations that its better at resolving than others. unfortunately, many people become so into their art, that they fail to see its shortcomings. at your average karate dojo, what you learn is best for stopping your average wallet-snatcher or the schoolyard bully from pounding on you.  if you live somewhere a little more prone to violence, you might want to take a different art. most karate dojos focus on sport point-fighting, and one-on-one defense tactics. it focuses on stopping attack and seeking out attention. if applied correctly it can stop multiple attackers... and some dojos even teach basic weapon-defense methods. most also like to add in the self-control and self-confidence factor.

if you want something for the kids... its a good idea.  if you want something that is less aggressive and that focuses almost solely on self-defense try judo. if you want something for multiple attackers and more aggressive, try TKD.  i personally dont recommend jujitsu for self-defense. i believe that you should have a different base art before taking that.

let me know if this helped.

Answer 10

karate, kung fu and tae kwon do are perfect for children. do you want your children to know dangerous techniques and as a kid they dont know when and when not to fight. i would sugest kung fu i think its great for self defence and they will constantly be learning new things.

Answer 11

Karate is good self defense.  But there are better martial arts out there.  thats the reason why you don't see karate guys in the ufc.  Karate is however one of the best marketed  martial arts out there which is why its so popular.  I'd put the kids in Muay Thai

Answer 12

Nobody here knows much about MMA because they havent mentioned the fact that 2 of the best fighters in the UFC started their martial arts training in karate.

George st pierre has a karate background and so does lyoto machida just a few of the best fighters in the ufc and they are very good.Gsp is the current welterweight champ and one of the best in the world and lyoto machida is undefeated at light heavyweight because of his unique karate style.So yes karate would be a good choice to start with.

Answer 13

Karate is better than nothing. UFC fighters use "hard" martial arts like Muay Thai and Brazilian Jujitsu. I take Ninjutsu and I did see one fighter who used it and he won his fights. Karate is good for beginners. Another good beginner art is Tae Kwon Do. Once they get to black belt level and are proficient and can use the art efficiently, then they can move on to take another style. I myself take several martial arts at a time so it doesn't take a decade to master five martial arts.

Answer 14

If your looking for self deffense like situations your kids could actually get into to look into krav maga its a isreali martial art good for self deffense, and the training puts people in real life situations like being held on to by the arm and things like that.

Answer 15

Firstly, UFC have some of the most skilled Martial artists on the planet and are not simply "hard men". But as stated several times above this is in a controlled one-on-one environment.

It is also un true that they do not used Karate. No UFC fighter uses a single art anymore, but Karate is one of many used by some top fighters. GSP, Rich Franklin, Chuck Liddell among others all have a back ground in Karate. Most prominently Lyoto Machida uses his karate, he is undefeated and almost ever gets hit (check him out on youtube). It is however often the fighter that is successful and NOT the martial art.

When selecting a martial art for your children you should bare this in mind this: NO single martial art is a complete answer to self defence (no matter what the instructor says). In fact a person can study several martial arts for most of their life and they are only guaranteed one thing. That is they will be better equipped to defend themselves with their training than without it. It does not mean they will be able to defend them selves given ANY situation against any one opponent or multiple opponents (what you see in the movies is a pretty bad representation of real self defence).

The truth is any martial art you choose will be as suitable as the next, it will largely depend on the quality of teaching and your childs ability that will determine success. Make sure you select a club that teaches to first avoid fighting and only uses anything learnt as a LAST resort. As anyone getting into an uncontrolled situations on the street has a risk of injury (some times "win or lose").

Also if you select a striking art like Karate, Tae kwon do, kung fu, thai boxing, kick boxing etc also get them to learn and grappling art like Judo, Jujitsu, Brazilian Jujitsu etc. this way they will be training to fight standing and on the ground (fairly important, as many fight can take place in both areas). They don't have to do both at the same time in the same class, get them in to one first and then after a few years get them into another.

I would go with Thai boxing or karate or tae kwon do for standup and Judo or Brazilian Jujitsu (BJJ) for grappling. If you have a girl and only what her to learn one martial art I would go with BJJ. BJJ classes are HARD to come by in the UK but it would be well worth sourcing. Given the types of attack girls or women more commonly face IMO BJJ is the best single form of self defence. I teach karate but my little girl will be learning this and BJJ.

All the best!

PS sorry for the long answer but this is a broad and deep ever changing subject.

Answer 16

Those "hard men" in Ultimate Fighting aren't in martial arts,

they are in SHOW BUSINESS!

BIG difference between self defense and fighting to make money!

ANY martial art is good for self defense...

Provided you know it well enough to be able to use it in a high stress situation.

Answer 17

lady you crazy.

Answer 18

yes karate is good and the so called hard men you talk off are in a controlled situation.theres no refs,no ring and no medics on the street.

Answer 19

Take them to Self Defence Classes, they teach many techniques from various martial arts.  Including the dirty stuff, for street fighting.

Karate is too rigid and robotic in it's delivery.  Like all Martial Arts the techniques will work  if you stike first  but; then you could be the one charged by the police for assault or worse.

Remember, the techniques that are taught up to Black Belt are not for real fighting, they are simply to test the student's patience, and help them develop their fitness.  Only, after the student has reached black belt will they be taught proper fighting; including the killing techniques.  And, this can take up to ten years.

You will probably learn more in two weeks of Self Defence Classes than you will in 6 months of Karate Training.