Beginer- I need some help picking a style

[LuMac]

Hey guys.. I'm new to this forum and I see there are some real experts here. I'm wondering if someone could answer a question for me. I'm looking to start training in a martial art for self-defence, I was assaulted by a drunken idiot a few years ago for no reason at all other than I must have looked like an easy target. Anywyas I've never forgotten that incident and vowed it would never happen again, so my question is, what is a good style to start learning and/or what style would be suited to my body type? I'm not very big, only about 5'-6" with a stocky build. Thanks for any advice.

[Angel_of_Pain]

I think that if you can find a good traditional Jiu Jitsu dojo go there, they will show you striking, takedown, ground work and submission. But what ever style you chose will be good cause it's better to train in something then doing nothing, you will know how to defend yourself and will be more sure in yourself.

[Martial Artist]

DO you live next ti Vancouver???

[KenJeet]

LuMac,

In my personal humble opinion, I suggest Ed Parker's American Kenpo. I am not talking your regular corner Kenpo School. One, you must make sure it is a true Ed Parker American Kenpo school with a verifiable lineage going back to a first generation student of Mr. Parker. The reason I recommend Ed Parker's American Kenpo is the following: I currently train in various systems, and in my opinion, Ed Parker's American Kenpo is the most complete and all inclusive "base" system. It provides you with a thorough knowledge of the science of motion and equips you with the correct mathematical, geometric, and physics principles to make your techniques and movements work. It also provides you with a whole bunch of techniques or what we commonly refer to as ideas against various attacks, primarily assault type attacks. Also, Mr. Parker was very dilligent and took the time to document as much of his system as possible before he passed away in 1990. I believe that this kind of information along with the proper instructor will give you a very thorough knowledge of the martial arts and provide you with arguably one of the best systems which fits into all other systems. To this day, I consider Kenpo my base art and from there flow into the different systems and ranges of fighting. In what are do you live? A good place to start your search would be to look into the AKKS (American Kenpo Karate Systems), CKF (Chinese Karate Federation....Is still American Kenpo but was named the CKF to give tribute to the primary origin of the system), or the WKKA (Worlwide Kenpo Karate Association). Any of these associations could direct you in the proper direction.

[Maxximus]

Just to start yourself off with good basic fighting skills and to toughen yourself up and gain the mentality needed to be a good fighter I think you should start up with boxing or muay thai.

[Oldskulbus]

I would have to disagree with KenJeet I have encountered many a Kenpo student that couldn’t make full use of their bodies because Kenpo doesn’t stress line work or sparing enough. Kenpo looks really good on paper but I feel that it has too many students that back up their style by saying “Ed Parker said so” and not really questioning why something works or putting it to the test.
I would recommend some style that has good joint locks as well as good striking skills. It is normally hard to find a style that does both, which is why most serious martial artists cross train (in Ju-jitsu and kick boxing for example). The most important thing is that you scope a school out and make sure that you feel comfortable with the teacher and the students. You want to ask an instructor if he does joint locks, if he does sparing, if he does ground work, and you should also ask what kind of experience the instructor has teaching and whom he has learned his skills from. You should think of it like you are interviewing someone for employment with you because in reality you are paying him or her for a service.
You should have an opportunity to come to a class and get a basic feel for the studio. Question the other students and ask them how they feel about the studio, the teacher, and how they feel about the other studios in town.
Most martial arts students drop out because they get bored with their training so you want to make sure that the teacher is satisfactory to your needs so the same thing doesn’t happen to you.

[PassiveGuy]

Boxing, easy to learn and effective.

[DIRE WOLF]

Well you might want to try Judo or BJJ and a good striking art like Muay Thai. There is lots of good martial arts out there. I would shop around and choose the one that suits you the best.

[phillyman]

Ive been having the same delima. The majority of people tell me if i can cross train. People suggest Brazilian jiujitsu and either thai boxing or even boxing or savate. Reason being is they train realisticaly. Your are either working with a parter or hitting pads for impact. Sparring is a definite. Ive been in and out of different martial arts. Ive studied Kenpo (ed parker system) and on paper it is good but its all about the training methods. First generation Kenpo guys prety much did a lot of full contact sparring which is a key that makes them good. Im only 5'7" tall and only weight 140 pounds. Im starting gracie jiu jitsu and may start savate. Let me know how it goes and what you decided on.

[LuMac]

Thanks a lot for all your advice guys. I'm thinking pretty hard about starting with Muay Thai and encorporating a grappling style too. I'll keep you posted on what happens.

[SweepEm]

Muay Thai sucks!







HA! just kidding.

Lu Mac

My advice on the whole decision process is that it's up to you to decide just what style you want. If you ask 10 dudes, you'll get 10 different answers. The best martial art for you is the one that you love to do, not one that one Muther likes or some one else likes this or that. It's good that you are looking at your body style since that will have some limitations to what you can do, but then again, there are always exceptions to the rule.
I would suggest that you first look at what is available and offered near you.
Yeah, you can want to get into, let's say, JKD and if there aren't any instructors within a two hour radius, you are screwed.
Most places will let you watch a class and most places will let you take a free lesson. that is the best way to see what style interests you.
Here in LA, there is just about every type of martial arts available and so you can pick and chose pretty carefully.
Ask a lot of questions of the instructor and also talk to the students. See the "attitude of the students" because they will have a lot of influence on how you learn and train. All it takes is a few jerks to mess up a class.

Any martial art will give you renewed self confidence in being able to protect yourself in limited street situations. Some are more adaptable to practical applications and if that is your focus, you should look into that type of school, rather than a classical type of martial arts school.

There is no one great answer to your question.

[phillyman]

When you were attacked what happened did he grab you from behind did he sucker punch you, did he just start swinging like a crazy man. Im just curious as to how he attacked you thanks.

[KenJeet]

I believe that whatever decision you make will ultimately depend on what you want to learn martial arts for. I agree with everyone who has replied to your topic. However, we can not confuse NHB(No Holds Barred) effectiveness with a common street assault, although I admit that training in what I call primarily "Match Style" fighting systems makes you a very formidable opponent. We must keep in mind that when fighting on the street, there may be people who are bigger and tougher than you who would love to take the opportunity to over power you by exchanging blows until they knock you out. Having worked as a bouncer a few years back, I became privy to how most common fights begin and can tell you right now that the majoriy do involve two people saying okay let me show you what I've got and I want you to show me what you got. It rarely turns into a match style fight. Most fights that I have witnessed involve a close range encounter at a bar, club, etc., in which the guy either grabs you in a headlock, pushes you, tries the common John Wayne cross, bear hugs you from behind, puts you in a full nelson or tries to tackle you. These are all pretty common responses from the common Joe on the street. Although arts like Muay Thai, Boxing, etc., will make you a formidable fighter, you need a knowledge of effective close range attacks to vital points, locks, checks, buckles, as well as the knowledge to escape different kinds of attacks. Once again, I can not at all put down the effectiveness of arts such as Muay Thai and Boxing, I train in them myself. However, I think there first needs to be some kind of training in the different ways to defend, break holds, move into trapping range, strike vital points, and disrupt an opponents knowledge before you go out there and try to slug it out like the next guy.

[judo guy]

Hi Lumac,

Welcome to the forum.

My opinion for what its worth.

For most mano y mano encounters, nearly every martial art will be effective because the overwhelming majority of people don't know how to fight.

Also, your location is gonna be important to your decision. If you want to study bjj but you are 100 miles away from a school, it ain't likely you are gonna study long enough to become proficient.

Body shape and size isn't as important as doing something that you enjoy doing. Heck, there are tons of tall and lanky BJJ students as well as short and stocky. Same for judo and most MA's I imagine.

So here are some other things to consider in making your decision.

1) Is the school convenient in terms of location hours and costs?

2) Do you mind getting hit? If you do toss out the striking arts. Conversely if grappling makes you uncomfortable toss out BJJ, judo and wrestling.

3) How frustrated do you get? Some arts like judo take longer to see results than other arts.

Good luck in whatever decision you make.

Take care.

[kenpo-power]

Originally posted by Oldskulbus
I would have to disagree with KenJeet I have encountered many a Kenpo student that couldn’t make full use of their bodies because Kenpo doesn’t stress line work or sparing enough. Kenpo looks really good on paper but I feel that it has too many students that back up their style by saying “Ed Parker said so” and not really questioning why something works or putting it to the test.
I would recommend some style that has good joint locks as well as good striking skills. It is normally hard to find a style that does both, which is why most serious martial artists cross train (in Ju-jitsu and kick boxing for example). The most important thing is that you scope a school out and make sure that you feel comfortable with the teacher and the students. You want to ask an instructor if he does joint locks, if he does sparing, if he does ground work, and you should also ask what kind of experience the instructor has teaching and whom he has learned his skills from. You should think of it like you are interviewing someone for employment with you because in reality you are paying him or her for a service.
You should have an opportunity to come to a class and get a basic feel for the studio. Question the other students and ask them how they feel about the studio, the teacher, and how they feel about the other studios in town.
Most martial arts students drop out because they get bored with their training so you want to make sure that the teacher is satisfactory to your needs so the same thing doesn’t happen to you.

Kenpo does stress line work and sparring. Kenpo does look good on paper and in person. Just because some people don't understand how to use their bodies dosen't mean that the system is worthless. Also Kenpo students don't go around backing up their style by saying "Ed Parker said so". Kenpo does contain joint locking as well as striking, takedowns, joint breaks, eye gougeing, and so forth. I have to agree 100% with Kenjeet about what he had stated in his post. American Kenpo has a realistic approach to training, and it is a good system to master if you want to learn how to defend yourself. A student of American Kenpo learns how to defend themselves from a variety of positions and situations. There are defenses against punches, kicks, tackles, pushes, locks, headlocks, chokes, weapons, bearhugs, multiple attackers, etc... Oldskulbus, what system of kenpo did these people train under, was it Parker, Tracy's, Kara-Ho, Shorinji, kosho-ryu, or one of the other many systems using the name Kenpo. I know that everyone thinks that Grappling styles are the best and that they train more realistic, but it is what you want to get out of the training. Grappling isn't going to help you if you don't train properly. I guess what I am saying is that, choose a style that you want to learn. Don't let others push you into making a decision. All systems of martial arts will make someone a better fighter than before they started training. I am not saying that Kenpo is the best art out there, but neither is BJJ. Both have something to offer and they both also have there flaws.