What would be the best fighting or self defence training to put my 15 yr. son in?

Question

He got assulted and I want him to be abel to defend him self

Answer 1

At 15 years old, he doesn't need to find a basic martial art, he needs to find an effective one...

MMA, Kickboxing, Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Krav Maga, Kajukenbo (not a very common one, but I must suggest it because that's my name:)

Answer 2

I would pick Judo and Taekwondo (actually, that's what I've picked for myself anyway).    You can take these out of Park and Rec centers, thereby saving your wallet.   Do Judo, TKD on different days of the week.  Actually, I take that last sentence back.  A 15 year old can handle it doing both on one day.  It just depends on the schedule and what not. But without a doubt, do both arts.  Do NOT do Brazilian Jujitsu, do Japanese Jujitsu.  As one contributor noted, UFC is not a real fight.  You son does not need to learn how to fight while laying on his back right now.

Also, your son may need to learn to be more aware of his surroundings.  What are the hows and whys of his assault?  Was he simply unlucky, or did he make an error and end up in the wrong place and/or with the wrong people?  The best form of self-defense is your lifestyle.  Kids tend to think violent people are cool or strong, rather than just violent.

If you pick Judo and Taekwondo, don't tell the people in those clubs you are cross-training.  There may be some purists there who will insist it is a bad idea and worry that a student who does both arts can get confused.  That is not true, because those arts are too different from each other to be confusing.  They do not interfere with each other.  In fact, they help each other.  In fact, that is how serious Asian Martial Artists---as in people who are not caucasian and have a family tradition of martial arts----train their children.  Their children know one main art and a secondary art.  Good Kung Fu schools offer several styles.  Some karate and tkd master black belts have brown or black belts in Judo, Jujitsu and/or Aikido themselves.

These guys write good books that can help with street smarts.  By any books by:

Peyton Quinn

Marc "The Animal" MacYoung

Gavin DeBecker

Answer 3

i would put him i Karate............ its the most basic form of alll martial arts meaning it is the groundwork fro all martial arts so good luck

Answer 4

I WOULD pick Judo or Taekowndo.

Judo is very good because teaches you how to use your opponents power against them. So even if he/she is much bigger than  you, then you can turn that force against them. This is from what I've heard, but I do take taekwondo ( for 4 years). I find it not only helpful, but very rewarding as well. It teaches you a lot, increases muscle, flexibility, balance, and speed. Taekwondo also has a pretty balanced focus: 60% feet, 40% hands.

Tips

1. Make sure that they don't just hand out belts. Before you test for a higher belt, you must at least wait 3 months to fully learn all the techniques properly. Oftentimes I go to taekwondo competitions and I see kids my belt level that are 3 feet shorter than me. And then they go ahead and fail miserably, because their instructors push them too quickly. They have poor technique and power, and don't really care.  I however, come home with gold. (not trying to brag here)

2. Encourage your son to go to tournaments. At competition, we have sparring (fighting) matches. I cry almost every time, even though we wear protective gear. However! it has toughened me up. My first tournament , i had to spar a giant of a girl. I lost. But now, i'm getting much better. They really do simulate real fights, but with better technique and less anger. This would be good for your son to toughen him up.

I highly recommend TKD (as you may have guessed). It will also build up your son's confidence.

Best of luck to your son! hope I helped. :)

Answer 5

boxing would help him to defene himself.one thing i have to say is that your son should chose the martial art because if he doesnt like it he wont do it again.and if likes the ma he could keep on doing which will make fit and happy and he will really be able to defend himself

Answer 6

Avoid karate and taekwondo.  There are way too many bad schools that teach those styles, and it would take him a year or more to see much self defense benefit at one of the good schools.  Go for muay thai, krav maga, or brazilian jujitsu.  All are popular right now so you should be able to find a school near you that teaches one.  His ability to defend himself will improve significantly in just a few weeks with any of these styles.  

He could also join his school's wrestling team fro excellent and free training and conditioning, or try out a youth boxing program, which are often very inexpensive.  

Almost every martial arts place offers free trial classes, so he should definitely take advantage of that policy and try out every school in your area.

Answer 7

I agree with katana172. I have this to add however. You muist be certain they are qualified instructors and not McDojo wannabe's. Besides that keep in mind what Bruce Lee said about physical fitness. "You think a figth is one blow, one kick? Until you can string together combinations without even thinking about it, until you can learn to move, to endure, hire a bodyguard or lead a less aggressive life." He is speaking about both the physical fitness and the t4echnique in martial arts. He also said something along the lines of, technique is important but without the strength (explosive) ,power , conditioning (anaerobic)  and speed to apply this technique, it is useless. What he meant was you can learn yto punch good , but if it doesn't hurt than what is it for, you can be strong and have perfect technique but if your opponent, a boxer perhaps, is dancing around  and using his hand speed, footqwork,, and defensive body movement (bob and weave) than he will throw perfect strikes and attempt grapples while his opponenet is ducking striking and dancing out of range. To use the boxer anaology once more, lets say he has speed and power as wella s technique. He might be able to tag his oppponent in the first few seconds, but lets say the guy has an iron chin or else he just misses becaseu if the adrenaline and less experience as a figther, what than. Will your son punh himslef out leaving an opportunity for even a smaller, weaker opponent to drag him down and choke him out while he gasps to catch his breath?  IF your son wants to learn tofigth the best thing to do is get physically fit. He should learn basi c strikes and than apply them to a heavy bag training power, accuracy, and conditioning. He can pinpoint these attrubutes in differant workouts. Like he can load up and punch, or just go at it, or actively imahgine an opponent and "fight" him. In any case,get him Ross Enamait's manuals, Infinite Intensity, Never Gymless and Full Throttle Conditioning. USe this for physical training and have him pick the school he most likes. Remember however to tell him to polish the basics, adn niot spend too much on fancy and exotic movements. If he can use the basics of his art with blinding speed and power that is a million times better than trying a funky block that you've only practised a hundred times, when his safety is on the line. Other than taht something like Krav Maga, Hapkido, JKD orsomething that deals with modern day combat situations shoudl be taught. Situations like fighting people that would be giants compared to ancient chinese and japanese and also that have guns and like to fight in groups. The best physical technique I can think of in terms of slef defens enad martial conditioning is sprints. Run as fats as you can away from the threat.  Please get him the Ross Enamait books. They are the absolute best. If he trains technique he will need the physical attributes to apply them and Ross is the only one I can reccomend to get him in tip top shape. Just see how fast he can do 50 burpees (bodyweight exercise) and you will see what I mean. Oh and just to let you know, I don't believe he even needs martial arts. I would say get really ,really strong and learn to hit very hard. After that don't figth unless you are really defending yourself (not your pride) or someone in trouble. You don't see many powerlifters or strongman competititrs getting picked on. Not saying he needs to do that. If your son builds strength and power he will be confident, fit and will not be bullied. If he is than , with the proper strengty training, he will simply subdue opponent or crack them so hard on the jaw they will think they just met the business end of a sledge hammer.  You can also get strong without bulking up, look at gymnasts, they are insanely strong. Once again Ross will help your son with his fitness needs.

Go here : http://rosstraining.com/ also for examples of men who built tremendous strength without un-needed mass look at Bruce Lee ,rock climbers, olympic lifters like Pyros Dimas, olympic gymnasts and old time strongmen at :  http://sandowplus.co.uk/ .

Answer 8

Take him along to look at different martial arts taught in your area.

PICK THE ONE THAT HE LIKES!

The one that he likes is the one that he will be most willing to stick with, learn, practice and master.

Just make sure that it is a good school with a GOOD TEACHER.  (Not a McDojo)

Answer 9

tae kwon do is really popular and most people i know run through that and they enjoy doing it....skip the karate.  good luck with it all

Answer 10

If I were to answer like most of these peopleon here, except for the top contributers and a few others, I would recomend the style I take or what I have seen in the UFC, which is what most people who have never trained automaticly think of. The fact is that almost any martial art will teach you good self defense if taught right .

In fact we have some wrong answers here already. Andrea B could not be further fom the truth when she says karate is the most basic art. Okinawin karate is eextrordenarily deep, and takes a very long time to get past the basics, it is that in depth.

then of course you have the MMA answer. I am sorry, but no matter how much they wish it to be, fighting in a ring with rules and a ref is not the same as fighting to survive on the street. Too many UFC nutgrabbers do not realize the difference between a street fight and self defense, and should not be answering these questions.

However I am not going to tell you what you should have him take. My advice is:

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.

Good luck!

Answer 11

I like what was said by Katana172 & David N.  I would add, make sure the choice is his.   If possible have him try a few lessons with several schools before making a decision.

Answer 12

MMA. mixed martial arts. its the best, if you have heard of the UFC, thats mma.

Answer 13

You need to put in a good school with a legit teacher, not a 'McDojo'. Check out the history of the teacher to make sure he is for real. Taekwondo is more about flash and kicking than power. Kickboxing is no good either. TRUST me, I know from experience.  If your son fights someone from a real martial art like karate, aikido, or  hapkido, or any bully who has beaten up many people, he will get his *** kicked. The martial art he takes need to have a FULL contact sparring class (with protective gear obviously) that allows blows to the head. I spar this way and I have become WAY better at fighting. A black belt in any legitimate art will be able to win almost any fight within reason. However, the best defense for him will be to avoid the assailant and walk away from fights.

Answer 14

Hm, assaulted, he needs a confidence boosting martial art more than a powerful one, right now, I would advise maybe Wing Tsun, it has some very good techniques for defending yourself, efficient and effective. If you can't find a school for that, look for Jeet Kune Do, Keysi, or MMA, all of those are effective, and definetely powerful. He may feel a little weak in Karate surrounded by Adults and people with higher belt rankings in Karate or Taekwondo, but I've noticed that Wing Tsun usually has some smaller classes, with less ranking, although some use the sash ranking method. That may make him feel better about himself and feel more confident in his own skills, confidence is still key right now.

Answer 15

id recommend karate, because while learning self defense, your child would also learn disipline, and also gain a real boost in confidence.