Self Defence

[Typhoon]

I ve been doing muy thai for a about a year now and I find that its not to my liking. I want to learn a martial art that is very good for self defence but is also physically requaring ( not like hapkido or some other arts which say that strength doenst matter or speed) I have been leaning towards studying TKD in my school. Most of you are gonna say TKD sux and isnt usefull in the streets but my instructor knows this being an ex bouncer and a bodyguard he teaches self defence techniques in his classes and tries to stay away from forms and all tournament techniqes to just score point although he still does teach them he tries to spend as much time possible on defending and sparing a lot for the streets. Would this be a good thing for me to learn or should I just learn something like hapkido which is all self defence?

What does "physically requaring" mean? I am not trying to be funny.

And why don't you like Thai? It has got to be one of the best sports systems that can take itself into the streets.

[Typhoon]

well by physicaly requaring I mean is it makes me more flexible and its a good work out I am very into sports so beign in top physical shape is important to me. And the reason I dont like Thai is:
1. It has only two kicks now some poeple argue thats all you need but i disagree. At least teach me how to do a back round house and a proper side kick!
2. There is only so much you can learn in it. As soon as you are done with the basics there is no more you can learn. All that is left to do is fight in the ring. And I dont want to jsut limit my slef to just these moves I want to learn more although competing is fun I want to go on and grow.

Why not combine it with a grappling art, like BJJ or Judo? One will compliment the other, and you will be a more all round martial artist.

Many go for Jeet Kune Do (JKD) which involves many styles, including weapons. It is so diverse that I challenge anyone to ever totally master it.

Good luck.

[Typhoon]

yeah that is what I want to do eventually but for now i want to add more kicks the two kicks that they teach us are great but I mean they are still only TWO kicks. I am pretty good at kicking high and doing different kicks since I am good at them I want to learn how to do them properly to get the most of them.

[ryanhall]

1. It has only two kicks now some poeple argue thats all you need but i disagree. At least teach me how to do a back round house and a proper side kick!
2. There is only so much you can learn in it. As soon as you are done with the basics there is no more you can learn. All that is left to do is fight in the ring. And I dont want to jsut limit my slef to just these moves I want to learn more although competing is fun I want to go on and grow

If a bouncer would teach you a back roundhouse (a.k.a. spinning heel kick), I would be very surprised. Fancy stuff gets invented when people get bored with martial arts. Sticking to the basics is definitely the best course for self defense. If you think that studying Muay Thai for a year allows you to come even close to mastering its use, then you have another thing coming. You don't need to learn more moves to grow. Just ask a western boxer--they have 5 main punches, and they train it for a lifetime. To paraphrase Bruce Lee, it is not the daily addition, but daily subtraction that is growth. Just adding techniques for the sake of adding techniques is niether helpful or particularly intelligent.

[Kingston]

fancy stuff has one good purpose........to keep you creative, and not "afraid" to use "creative moves" in a real fight. (or any fight)

[crouton]

i think you should look into vee arnis jitsu. its a self defense based system and its in new york, which is pretty close to you. professor david james does realistic street self defense (a back round house is not street self defense). also, the classes are a real workout. professor is an extremely energetic person and always works the class hard. there is a seminar at the school on march 2nd, you should come and check it out.

Originally posted by Kingston
fancy stuff has one good purpose........to keep you creative, and not "afraid" to use "creative moves" in a real fight. (or any fight)

No offence, but I think you should NOT try to be creative in a real fight. Stick to the brutal basics and then run like hell.

Just my two cents.

[JIMI]

Run like hell? OMG LMFAO!!!!! If you are gonna run like hell, then why take any martial arts at all? Most sincere seekers of martial arts want to have some type of combat knowledge so that they can take a stand and have some integrity in themselves.

[Grape_Ape]

I think what he meant was to get them out of the fight and then get the hell out of there.

It all depends if you want to defend your life or boost your ego.

[JIMI]

I agree that the first thing a martial artist needs to learn is humility. However a martial artist should never allow himself to become a victim, or run in fear for that matter. Now im not trying to say that you should be quick to bash a sh!t talker or something like that, but there are situations that i believe that you should stand up for yourself.

[jcolvin]

Originally posted by Typhoon
I ve been doing muy thai for a about a year now and I find that its not to my liking. I want to learn a martial art that is very good for self defence but is also physically requaring ( not like hapkido or some other arts which say that strength doenst matter or speed) I have been leaning towards studying TKD in my school. Most of you are gonna say TKD sux and isnt usefull in the streets but my instructor knows this being an ex bouncer and a bodyguard he teaches self defence techniques in his classes and tries to stay away from forms and all tournament techniqes to just score point although he still does teach them he tries to spend as much time possible on defending and sparing a lot for the streets. Would this be a good thing for me to learn or should I just learn something like hapkido which is all self defence?

If Muy Thai is not producing what you are looking for then you should switch. However, before you blame the art maybe you should step back and evaluate how you are approaching it. For instance, are you looking for Muy Thai to be something it is not? Are you truly evaluating it for it's worth? As far as learning. That can never be a bad thing, but you take each situation for what it is and not try to remake into what you want it to be.

[JIMI]

Or are you a pussy and cant handle the hardest workouts in the martial arts world?