What is a Good Marial Art to learn for Self-Protection?

Question

Hello, i have been think about learning martial art because one of my friend suggested me to. The problem is i do not know where to look for a school or rather what kind of martial to take. Any advise would be helpful.

Here are some characteristics about myself:

Height: 6 foot 1

Age: 16

Weight: 160 Pounds

Flexibility: Never Trained

Answer 1

take full contact kick boxing, its good

i went there from 16 to 18 now i stoped because of work

im 6'4 and 180 pounds when i started i was 6'2 and 150 pounds, i was really uncoordinated , but it helped me a lot im really fast now, and it feels good feeling so quick

Answer 2

You should try BJJ great for Ground Fighting and the most people are not trained for it or you can choose MMA it's mix of the most arts

The most peoples train Karate at the beginning

Answer 3

I love katana's answer. how ever this is what i feel is best for self defence. if you really truely want to defende yourself first do selfdefence classes at the Y or the collage. then do martial arts. it will take about a year at a good martial art school before you learn to defend yourself. if you do self defence first then it will take a couple of months then you can add he fun stuff to mix with the brutal stuff

Answer 4

a powerful combo is muy thai and bjj it works for me.

Answer 5

In answer to your question any of them as long as you are taught well and train it correctly. Don't worry about strength and flexibility, because these will improve with training.   People on here will generally tell you either the style they train, or the ones that are just UFC fans anbd don't train will tell you the prevelent styles in the UFC, not realizing the streets are a lot different then the ring. I am not saying they will not work, just many schools that teach them never touch on multiple attackers, or attackers with weapons. I know people will say that the odds of this are great, but I figure they are about the same as you being attacked by a BJJ black belt.

Here is what I suggest you do:

1) Make a list of all of the schools and classes availible in your area.(that's the problem with people recomending styles, not everything is taught everywhere)

2) Go here www.bulshido.com. They have an excellent list on what to avoid and what to look for in a good school, regardless of style. You could also do a search on here, as there are many good questions and answers about finding a good school.

3) Visit all of the schools/styles that have an interest to you and watch a few classes, and maybe even participate if they have free trial classes.

4) Figure out which school is the best according to the list you have, and the questions you will ask of the instructor, and if it fullfills what you are looking for.

The fact is that if you are not willing to do this, you are probably not going to have the drive to stick with any style for long.

Answer 6

Okay you need to become really flexible especially depending on what kind of martial arts you do. For self defense would suggest some sort of grappling martial art such as bjj. Or a martial arts that can redirect  your opponents force such as akkido. It's a very good martial art. TKD is not the best martial arts for deffense because it relys on a lot of kick, but if you rely on punches boxing is a good thing to take but kicking in a real fight takes alot of skill.

Answer 7

jeet kune do or krav maga

Answer 8

BJJ and definetily Karate