Picking a new martial art

B

Boomdoggin

0
Figured this might be a good place to ask about this. I'm about to relocate, and I plan on picking up a new martial art when I reach my destination. I have some prior experience with this sort of thing, but I'm looking for other people's opinions on what style would be best for a person of my body type and goals.

I'm kindof a short guy, with a stocky upper body and a fairly thin lower body. I've been doing a lot of weightlifting with my lower body though, so I'm gradually bulking up down there. Despite my size, I'm not terribly nimble on my feet, so I'm looking for more of a passive style, where I won't be trying to hop circles around my opponent or kick at people's heads. The previous style I studies was Tae Kwondo, which is, in my opinion, more of a sport than an efficient fighting style. I have great core strength, and am very quick with my hands, but a lot of the kicks I've learned in this style are inefficient for me to perform due to my body type.

My foremost priority in studying a new style is learning how to do take-downs and grapple, both on my feet and on the floor. I hear that judo is excellent for this, so it's the style I'm considering foremost. I also hear that aikido is a good passive style that relies less on footwork and more on leverage and momentum, which I think might also be a good way to go for me. I'm also looking into both karate and kung fu; karate deals, I hear, with lots of below-the-belt kicks and also deals with grappling, and kung fu is another passive style like aikido.

Am I mistaken about the strengths and weaknesses of these styles? Does it make sense for me to study them given my body type? And are there any other styles I haven't mentioned that might be good for me to look into?
 
You might look into Hapkido, Kenpo, or any of the Filipino martial arts (Kali, Escrima, Silat). MMA would also be kinda what you're looking for.
 
Maybe juijitsu as well. Lots of MMA's have a background in that. You'll have to kind of research the area you're in and visit schools to see exactly what they teach, and make sure you find out how much of the take-downs and grappling they do in class, if that's what you want to focus on.
 
juijitsu is my suggestion. Althought i dont know much about the arts, i have always been entertained when walking pass a local juijitsu gym when they have class going on.
 
I would suggest the art i practice, it is called iaido, japanese art of drawing the sword out of the saya (scabbard) the nearest to hopping around is hasso (kneeling) unless your doing certain mai kata's that are maade for long grass or stealth cutting, it will be good for your upperbody and you get to use a katana or wakizashi, or in short giant razorblades unless you use and iaito, i personnaly use an iaito as there is alot less chance of losing a thumb, i can deffinately see the diffrence in my physical health from doing this.
 
I'm not really studying a fighting style for fitness purposes. All the fitness activities I do are designed to cross train for martial arts, so whatever style I use is going to be picked because of how practical it is. Although iaido sounds interesting, I doubt I'll be able to carry around a sword in everyday life :)
 
Aikido is great. Kaji Kenbo is a big grappling school. Really depends on where you're moving to. If you're not studying on the east or west coast, or in a major metropolitan area, the odds are you're not going to get as good instruction - just as a function of the number of low-class (or no-class) instructors who move to the midwest to rip people off.
 
I'm relocating to downtown Boston :) I'm pretty sure I'll have a number of options. And actually, I'm transfering into Boston University, and they have Judo, Kung Fu, Karate and fencing clubs, so if I'm tight on cash I could still work something for free.
 
well dude you'll have lots of choices, i'm going to belgium next summer to teach 2 sword niten ichi ryu in brussels as my club is the one of the only iaido schools that use 2 swords as well as learning one or knife attacking, unlike solid one sword katana's. i'm very lucky to have this oppertunity,
 
Bando (Burmese martial arts) = Elbow strikes, knee strikes, head butts, chokes, etc. Good stuff!

Or, Kyokushin karate (Dolph Lundgren does this)... Masutatsu Oyama (the founder) would break rocks from the river to strengthen his hands, punch tree trunks to condition his knuckles and train up to 12 hours a day!!! And, some of Mas Oyama's legendary exploits include fighting and killing over 50 bulls with his bare hands. His favorite party trick was to chop the horns off a bull with a single knife hand (shuto) strike. Most of the animals were killed with single punches to the body. In a promotional tour of the United States Mas Oyama took on all challengers, beating most within the first minute and many with a single punch.

One feat which has not been repeated is the 300 man kumite (fight). Mas Oyama faced 100 fresh opponents each day over three days in bare fist fights, winning many of the fights by knockout. Legend has it that after three days he ran out of opponents. This challenge continues today in the form of the 100 man kumite. This is the ultimate challenge for the dedicated karate-ka (student) and to date, relatively few have successfully completed the challenge. Akiyoshi Matsui, who at 31 years of age was Mas Oyama's appointed head of Kyokushin and succeeded him when Mas Oyama passed away in 1994, is one who has done the 100 man kumite, demonstrating his superb skill and commitment.

-Rip
 
My personal is that if you are not doing mma then you are outdated. The only exemptions are some breeds of jujitsu or grappling standup styles. Many judo schools offer boxing/kickboxing training to supplement the judo.
Likewise there are plenty of schools that label themselves karate or kickboxing but teach ground as well. You got to stand up and go to the ground. That is where it's at. Modern science in the evolution of combat dictates a full arsenal.

Any fun school should do that offers both but ask the teacher this question "If I can impress you, can you put me in the cage?"
If he can offer you a professional fight go for it. That man knows what combat is and what it takes to win. Even if you never want to go to the cage the people that know cage fighting are on a whole new level above the guys that charge a fortune to make you hold a horse stance for an hour while they talk about how their masters, masters,masters,masters,masters,masters master had to train and how lucky you are that things are easier now and yet you have not learned anything in two monthes because you spend every class doing the same kata you learned over a year ago and..... anyways, that all is obsolete. Good luck man
 
You basically got all the advice you need, but here is a good resource for martial arts:

russbo.com

It's founded in Shaolin kung fu but there is a plethora of info on all martial arts in the forums.
 
If you want the most deadly type of martial arts, I would pick muy tai. it is most formidable to anyone. Your size would work to your advantage making it easier to guard. If you have mid-sized ranged legs you would do fine with this.


Judo basicly is using peoples leverage to your advantage, so basicly it's more defensive. Iaido is awsome, but like you said, what good would it do you? {PS if you take any sword training skip kendo, it's in my opinion very useless}

Unless you want to be all flash and no power, take karate, it's technique is try to yell loud enough to scare to bajebus out of your oponent, this doesn't work to well if the guy your fighting is 6'2" and 220 lbs.

Ninjitsu and jujitsu and formidable fighting styles, they have a little more variety in way of fighting. Ninjitsu less so than jujitsu, as to be truely great at ninjitsu basicly you have to be trained from like five to be hyperflexible.

Thats my take on it, my cousin is a fanatic about martial arts, so I hear an ear full of it every day. Not that I mind I wish I could take part of martial arts. But I'm stuck with my own form of fighting style, I'm still perfecting it.
 
Actually, MT is more ring oriented or competitive. You won't find many MT schools out there that teach grappling. MT fighting doesn't allow grabbing and locking like for instance Wing Chun does. MT is however, a very formidable striking system and is probably something you should look out for if you're looking to improve your striking. There is a lot of legwork so watch out. I personally think anyone can learn to kick fast and hard (I'm not one of them at the moment) but it does make it harder to have different body types and if you're looking for a route with less of a learning curve then maybe you'll want to stay away from MT.

A good joint locking/hand coordinator is wing chun, if you're into that.

Also, a very destructive art is krav maga, but you'll never use it in a practice situation like judo, bjj, wing chun, etc. There is no sparring in krav maga (or there shouldn't be if you're compotent).
 
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AHHAHAHAHHAAHAHA

It took me like 3 sec to get that joke but lol...Even though I hated that movie I laughed at that scene with an honest vigor.
 
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