[Teedub]

I'd say boxing or Muay Thai are great foundations. For confidence too. That Burmese style looks good, but there aren't any dojos that teach it in Manchester, maybe only London. So that rules it out for me. I've boxed on and off for 13 years, since I was 14. It's great and nothing gets you up to speed like sparring. I think they must be the fittest athletes in the world. 3 minutes when you aren't used to it, hell, even 2 minutes are absolutely hellish. You get knackered just from the adrenaline.

Throw in some submission fighting like BJJ or some wrestling, train for a few years and you'd be able to handle yourself against 99% of people in a one on one situation. Including guys bigger, taller, stronger etc.

[Carlos100]

(06-01-2011 11:25 PM)Rockstar Wrote:  

Here are the 5 that matter. The rest are basically garbage/ineffective.

Brazilian jiu jitsu. Muay Thai. Boxing. Wrestling. Submission wrestling (catch-as-catch-can aka shoot wrestling.) Watch ufc 1-10 and you'll see style vs. style". The best Kung fu and karate guys were brought in and go DEMOLISHED by 175 lb brazilian jiu jitsu blue belt named "Royce Gracie". Maybe you heard of him.

Honorable mention goes to Kyokushin Karate for their hardcore training and sparring. The rest are seriously worthless UNLESS you are already a legit street fighter and athletic. The philosophy shit and kata are just made to take the learning longer and the process of taking your money more effective, and longer.

I will second this. I did Enshin Karate (a Kyokushin offshoot) for one year and Judo and BJJ off and on for another year. I have been in one self-defense situation:

A guy was harassing a woman on the bus in L.A. and I told him to stop. When I looked away he socked me in the side of the face, but not hard enough to cause much damage. Because of all the time I had spent in full contact sparring in the Karate dojo, I wasn't scared, I just stared him down and asked the bus driver to call the police. He ran off at the next stop. He wanted me to fight him or run away and didn't know what to do when I didn't react the way he thought I would.

Studying a martial art does help with your confidence. I understand better now how the fighting sciences work, so if I'm in a situation I can better decide how I would handle it if the shite hits the fan. This gives me a more confident demeanor in public. I think you need to be comfortable with both stand-up and ground style of fighting, and both a grappling and striking discipline.

IMO, most martial arts don't provide enough calorie-burning exercise to help you lose weight. You need to combine your MA training with weightlifting and cardio. Or, train full time in an MMA gym. The intense, 30-minute randori sessions we did in Judo and BJJ did help me lose weight, but I was still running and lifting.

[el conquistador]

I'm training in shoot wrestling these days. Very cool stuff.

[Afarang]

do what you enjoy, I have do BJJ/Wrestling and Muay Thai. All are great.

Find one you enjoy and are passionate about then go with that one

[jamaicabound]

Interesting thread ive als9 been looking to get into martial arts. I used to box back in hs but that was before all the mma stuff. Im leaning towards kravmaga or bjj. Ive heard many people say a grappler will beat a striker everytime not sure if all would agree with that but thats got me leaning towards bjj

[whoishe]

As 34 years old weak guy I've recently (early March) started taking judo classes, it's first time for me ever to do any fight sports. It's an amateur adults group, so pace isn't professional crazy, but it's enough I guess and there is a lot of experienced blue-brown belts, who knows some great tricks. At the moment I think I am doing well with learning break falls and simple throws, but ground fighting will look like a mystery for me for many months more. Trying to go 3 times per week, hopefully my body can take it.

My lack of any significant strength is quite depressing though, not a surprise of course when you spend majority of your adult life in front of computer and hate going to gym. In a few days I will also start attending "Functional strength" practices, which should work nicely in combination with judo.

[sandman24]

(04-21-2014 12:35 AM)Carlos100 Wrote:  

IMO, most martial arts don't provide enough calorie-burning exercise to help you lose weight. You need to combine your MA training with weightlifting and cardio. Or, train full time in an MMA gym. The intense, 30-minute randori sessions we did in Judo and BJJ did help me lose weight, but I was still running and lifting.

Go train Muay Thai and tell me you don't burn calories. Power Kicking drills take a lot out of you (hell even speed drills).

[Carlos100]

(04-24-2014 02:28 PM)sandman24 Wrote:  

(04-21-2014 12:35 AM)Carlos100 Wrote:  

IMO, most martial arts don't provide enough calorie-burning exercise to help you lose weight. You need to combine your MA training with weightlifting and cardio. Or, train full time in an MMA gym. The intense, 30-minute randori sessions we did in Judo and BJJ did help me lose weight, but I was still running and lifting.

Go train Muay Thai and tell me you don't burn calories. Power Kicking drills take a lot out of you (hell even speed drills).

I agree with you that Muay Thai is better at burning calories than many other styles. One of the problems with karate and tae kwan do is that you spend a lot of time standing around while the instructor explains and demonstrates a technique. Styles like Muay Thai, boxing, judo, and BJJ are much more active.

[deuce]

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=103225

Pat McNamara on the best martial art: "As often as I get asked to recommend a handgun, I will get asked what I believe to be the most effective fighting style. Uh, I'm not sure that there is one. A sociopath with zero training in martial arts can probably tear the walls down on a Black Belt with no balls. Cunning, strategy, tactical deception and audacity will win the day over how well you can punch the air or break a board.

Professional fighters are extremely devoted. Most are born with athleticism and dedicate years to their craft. Even a professional fighter will default back to primal skills and lose style points in a street fight where there is no information about your opponent, no specific start time, no set venue and no rules!

Styles are numerous. Most fighters and fans of fighting are passionate about a certain style. For instance, jiu jitzu proponents will tell you that 95% of all street fights end on the ground, which is bullshit by the way, so ground fighting should be studied as your primary means of self defense.
I agree that jiu jitzu is an effective style of fighting especially while it teaches that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger assailant by using leverage and proper technique—most notably by applying joint-locks and chokeholds to defeat the other person. However, approximately 100% of fights start on ones feet. If you intentionally take matters to the ground, you are relinquishing your number one defense mechanism as a human being which is mobility and mobility equals survivability.

Decades ago I dabbled in Taekwondo which is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. I then moved on to Muay Thai while working in Thailand. Muay Thai is a combat sport from Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This vicious closed quarter style of fighting sold me when I got my ass handed to me by a 140 pound oriental guy.
Years later, I got my ass handed to me again but this time in a boxing ring. Just when I thought I was invincible, I got dropped by a left hook. Back to the basics I went.

Since this is an emotional topic, I will preface this next bit by stating that this is my opinion. I am just one guy who loves fighting with lots of opinions and here is one of them;

If you want true bang for the buck , join a boxing gym. Boxing skills will build a sound foundation on which all other styles of fighting can set.
Lateral movement, non-telegraphic motion, zone awareness, spontaneity, fear management are all skills one learns from boxing. You will learn quickly how to throw straight and accurate punches in bunches with devastating effect.

We are not all born with rhythm and athleticism and those are things that cannot be taught. You can however, learn to manage and compartmentalize anxiety. You can become aware of your safety or reactionary zone. You can also learn how to take a punch and how to throw an effective blow without broadcasting it. These can all be learned fairly quickly when being taught by an experienced boxing coach.

If you learn and practice through practical application, the most basic of boxing moves, you will know more than most of the thugs on the street. These moves work well from a non-aggressive stance. Being non-aggressive is of huge tactical importance. You can either escalate aggressive behavior or deescalate it depending on your demeanor. You want to change the tempo to act in your favor. You may even win the day through psychological operations and tactical deception.

There are plenty who will argue that I am dead wrong. Understandable! Fighting and styles is an emotional topic. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. If we are attacked with surprise and violence of action, no amount of training can save us. We can mitigate the surprise by exercising a little situational awareness.
It is simple tactics. Action versus reaction. If you are aware, you are acting. If you are switched off and have no situational awareness, you are one step behind and will at some point in time, fall into a predator's web."

[Saweeep]

A good kickboxing/MT workout normally burns about 600 calories per hour according to everything I have read.

If doing pad work with a trainer and you want to make it even more intense do Thai-style round breaks; sit-ups, pushups, BW squats etc.