What is the best martial art to take?

Question

I'm a pre-teen/teen girl and I want to start taking a martial art for self defense, but not really as a sport, so what should I take?

Answer 1

Krav-Maga if the things people and advertising says is true is great for self defense. I never tried it but it's suppose to focus on hurting you attacker as quick as possible and then getting out of there. They teach you to go after week spots such as the throat, the eyes or the crotch (Again I hear) It has grappling that focuses on getting back to your feet as opposed to submitting someone and it also claims to teach defense against such situations as 2 0n 1, Attacker with a knife or attacker with a gun. I take Brazilian jujitsu which when trained for self defense can be very effective. ( Honestly if you are a women and have no balls it's even better for self defense because you balls are sometime in a vulnerable area) It uses leverage and technique to over come strength but that will take time to learn. In jujitsu your goal is get to a good position where you are more dominant and then submit. Submitting someone is putting them in some kind of choke or joint lock where if you don't stop you will either break the joint or choke them to sleep or death. It can be very effective for sport or self defense but training for sport and self defense are really two different though similar things. If you combine jujitsu with boxing like i'm doing you will be an all around fighter in my and many other peoples opinions including UFC fighters and police

Answer 2

Krav Maga is considered one of the most effective street fighting martial arts there are.

Jiu-jitsu has proven worth and is very sound.

Karate and other traditional martial arts effectiveness vary HEAVILY on the school.  BE CAREFUL.

I have written a full and comprehensive article on choosing a martial art or school at my website.  Reference it and it will help you.  Link below.

Answer 3

There is no best martial art to take. It's all about the way you train and whether or not you are capable enough to put your training to the test in a real situation. In truth, there are some training methods that are more practical than others without one single doubt, but there is no such thing as a BEST martial art.

Martial = war

Art = self expression

This pretty much sums up the reason why there is no best martial art.

However, here are some training methods that are very practical and probably the most realistic (Straight to the point, without any b.s. or flowery movements) training methods you will find.

* Jeet Kune Do - there are so many reasons why this is practical and highly recommended that I just simply can't list all of the reasons here. Intercepting the opponent is the main focus here, but you learn all ranges of combat as well. It is not a style, a blend of random techniques from different arts, nor a fixed set of patterns, but it does have it's core techniques that go along with the philosophical principles of the art though. Some instructors include Eskrima (Filipino stick & knife fighting) into their routines (Some more than others).  

Some argue that MMA is Jeet Kune Do just because they go by the "cross training" theory, but what they do is NOT Jeet Kune Do. JKD involves much more than that, so lookout for false claims of MMA schools claiming to be teaching JKD, although there aren't very many doing this.

* Judo - The reason why it is practical is because you train with a resisting opponent and you are trained to yeild to the opponent's momentum and use it to your advantage (Throws). It lacks the deadlier techniques from Jujutsu though simply because it has turned into a safe way to train Jujutsu....................to put it shortly, but ya know the throws themself can be deadly and can serioudly injure or even kill someone if they are thrown on a surface such as pavement.

NOTE: Just in case you ever think about it, there is really no difference between Judo, Aikido, Aikijujutsu, Taijutsu, and Jujutsu, besides intention and the adding/removal of certain techniques. All of them go with the same basic goal of blending with the opponent's force and using it against him/her. In other words, they started from the same road, and ending up going in different directions, but they all reach the same destination in the end.

The only advantage Judo has over the others is that being as there are no maiming techniques, you can train in Judo full force with a resisting partner. In the others I just mentioned, the techniques are meant to cause more injury, so therefore you can't train with a resisting partner or they will....well, get seriously injured.. So being as they can't really resist, you really won't get the WHOLE feeling of a resisting attacker in the training like you will in Judo.  

* Krav Maga - The training is almost as real as it gets. They train realistic strikes, throws, environmental scenarios, fight or flight response training, realistic weapons defense, multiple attackers, vital targets. It's nasty, but I'm pretty sure it can't be too nasty, as they can't kill or injure each other too badly in training, but the whole idea of this art is TOTAL preperation for real-life encounters. Most training methods aren't as straight to the point as Krav Maga.

* Nippon Kempo - In training, they do traditional katas from Shito ryu Karate and Judo/Jujutsu, but the reason I say this one is because when they spar, they have full protected gear (BOGU), so they spar full contact (I mean FULL) and they cover all ranges of combat except for intercepting, trapping, and dirty tricks.

It is mainly a martial sport, but the bonus is that the full contact sparring will test out your skill as well as force you to find ways to work around the armour your opponent is wearing. Most arts don't offer this bonus in their training methods.

Nippon Kempo is not well known in the US, except the southwestern portions I think, so finding a school here will be tough.

* Brazilian Jiujitsu - The main focus here is ground survival and it can work in the ring as well as on the street, however, on the street or "outside the ring" to put it in a better way, you don't want to go to the ground with your opponent. You want to knock your opponent on the ground and remain on your feet. However, this training can help you if you are ever unwillingly taken to the ground though, so it can come in handy whether you have to use it or not.

* Boxing/Kickboxing/Muay Thai - Although they are sports and lack in other ranges of combat such as grappling, weaponry, and multiple attacker training, these methods represents how people fight in reality (Meaning people don't use reverse punches and such on the street. People use basic punches and low kicks/stomps). You fight and train with actively resisting opponents who is throwing punches and kicks at you similar to the way someone would do outside the ring, although the average attacker may not be that skilled.

* Ninjutsu (Preserverance techniques, not the art of spying like most people think) - Besides the tons of controversy with Ninjutsu, there are alot of things in it's methods that can save your life. Ninjutsu isn't a fixed set of patterns contrary to what most believe, but it's core combat art Taijutsu (body techniques) is useful for learning how to use the body to evade the  opponent's attacks. The environmental survival training can help too, although I'm not sure if all Ninjutsu schools teach it. I'm also not sure if the strikes and throws are trained realistically or not, that's something you would have to find out on your own if you choose to.

Wish you the best.

Answer 4

Sakura has a good point. Try Ninjutsu. I've never heard of Ninpoden. I would recommend real Ninjutsu (Bujinkan Ninjutsu). It's made of 9 ryuha (schools) of authentic Ninjutsu and is over 2000 years old. It's one of the last complete martial arts and teaches strikes, kicks, throw, ground fighting, bone breaking, joint manipulation, weapons (swords, nunchucks, shuriken, bo staff, etc.), pressure points, and many many lethal techniques. Fighting in competitions using this art is illegal and can have you kick out of the Bujinkan organization. It's a very dangerous martial art. If you learn it, you must NEVER use it unless it's a life or death situation.

Answer 5

mma (mixed martial arts).

Answer 6

All martial arts are powerful if you take them seriously it's is funny that you underestimate them. Sure there are weaknesses to all of the them but if know your art intimately you can protect against those flaws. Have you ever fought a master in karate, ninjitus, jujitsu if not you can't really say that you know there true weakness. But I will let you in on a big secret the biggest weakness in any style is you>

Now I can go on all day with this but i have better thing to do.

But I will say that I don't recognize MMA  as a real art because they just take away from real arts who have worked for years to prefect their style to have someone steal the soul of the art.

That why they have laws to protect such activities in music,

movies,software industry.

Plus any true master of there own art  could beat any one of those guys on TV.. mma is commercial if you can't see that your sleeping.

there are many moves and techniques that are illegal  UFC.

I Suggest kail  tirada tirsia kali silat.

almost every thing you find in all of those styles are in kali.

from weapons to empty hands grappling breaking bones,sneaky attacks that even mma fighters would never see coming wing chun like movements. this martial art is affective if not why did Bruce lee put about 65 percent of it into jkd. When span try to take over all of the Philippines they couldn't because these fierce warriors couldn't be stopped. Even the U.S.  had a really hard time fighting against these warriors. where do you think the you nick name rubber necks come from. It's a Marian nick name. why was the 45cal invented ?

In the long run who you think is going to last longer in a knife fight//all respects to all the styles out there//

Answer 7

JKA Shotokan a traditional  karate  

Answer 8

there is no best martial art its all about you and  how u adapt to a certain style

try Ju-Jitsu  see if its for you great for self defense

annd then try others to see which one best fits you as a person

good luck x

Answer 9

Japanese Jiu-jitsu.

Best wishes :)***

Answer 10

I would look for a jujitsu school(not brazilian, but japanese) to learn self defense. I like jujitsu because it uses more leverage and off balancing techniques than most other styles.  this is good for someone small(women) defending themselves against someone bigger(man).

Hope I helped.

Answer 11

If you are looking for pure training, no BS, no uniforms, look up krav maga.

Deadliest martial art in the world

Answer 12

You could try ninjitsu!  There might be ninpiden dojos in your area.  I took lessons for awhile.  Self defense and not a sport!  

Answer 13

if u want to take up a martial art for self defence try either juijutsu or ninjutsu however if u are thinking of ninjutsu make sure its either bujinkan or genbukan school others are just bs as for krav maga or however u spell it it may be a good style idk but the ppl iv seen think there comandos and act like typical 10 year olds with an army phase ninjutsu is a fairly easy style to learn it covers weaponry hand to hand techniques and other things juijutsu focuses on hand to hand some defence against weapons idk too much about it but for me ninjutsu is a very good art to learn as it isnt focused on competition or other useless things.

good luck and even if u dont take up either of those arts i hope u find wat ur looking for