Which is the best martial art for me?

[Scratch]

Hello, sorry if you get these questions all the time, but I was wondering what is the best martial arts for me to learn?

I am 19 yrs old, 6'2, 160 pounds, and I have no martial arts training of any kind. I've never even been in a fight. I want only one thing out of martial arts, and that's combat efficiency on the street. I want to be able to kick the crap out of 99.999% of the people I might encounter. I don't want to learn something like Tae Kwon Do because I've heard it's not really effective in real life, besides it takes several years to get good at it. Anyways, if anyone has any suggestions please post.

[mushinmaster]

You're a skinny bitch eh?

Yo wat up?

I'm 6' and I weigh 190 - every one says I need to put on weight!!

You're best bet is probably Muay Thai, you're probably ectomorph, and can do some serious shit with your legs. If you want to be kickass, you've gotta cross train. Muay thai is a perfect core art though. Later on, after a few years, take up some BJJ or something like that. Just make sure you go to a good gym/dojo/whatever, with a good teacher. Mediocrity sucks.

[SweepEm]

The best martial art is the one that you enjoy and will keep going back and be loyal to, training as much as you can.
Any martial art will teach you a lot and give you confidence.

But I think you may be approaching the whole martial art and self defense wrong as most do. If your instructor is truly an instructor that believes in their martial art, they will teach you to walk away from trouble, not to look to kick someone's ass.
If you are in a street situation where you cannot avoid it, then yes, to have martial arts training will help you defend yourself.
But to try to look for trouble is wrong, what every martial art should be teaching you.
Too many people go into martial arts so that they can pick on other people or to let out their aggression by fighting in a street situation.
You just never know if a person has a weapon like a knife or gun in a street situation. Guys going to look for trouble are ignorant about the potential dangers.
And also multiple attackers. You might think it's a one on one situation, but in the street, you never know who your opponent's friends are.
If you live in a big enough town, go and see how each potential school trains. Ask questions of the instructor and also the students. Most schools have a free class. If they try to get you to sign up on a contract right away, I would be cautious.

There is no one universally mighty martial art.
If you can, cross train with a ground martial art like BJJ or Judo and a stand up punch and kick like Muay Thai.

[JaredExtreme]

I agree with Sweep 'em. One of the few things I walked away with from my 3 years of McDojo Karate was to simply AVOID CONFRONTATIONS. This is achieved mainly through being aware of your surroundings and not putting yourself in compromising situations.

[Scratch]

Thanks for the replies people. I totally agree with you about avoiding confrontation. I would always try to walk away from a fight if possible. But I still want to learn to be an ass kicking machine, in case I ever have to protect myself/my girl/my family from some thugs. I've never even been in a fight before, and despite being pretty tall, I would probably get my ass kicked by almost anyone. It's not a reassuring feeling.

Anyways, thanks for the advice, I'm going to look into Muay Thai.

[Flash]

A wee bit late but...

Whatever you do, find a school where training is fun.

If it's fun, you'll stick to it and it'll become a part of your life. Everything else will follow.

Once you start thinking of it as 'work' or an 'obligation', it'll be harder to stick with it.

Of course, everyone has different ideas of what constitutes fun...most of my non-martial arts friends would consider what I do to be a sure sign of masochistic behaviour.

[fishr]

Sweep Em took the words out of my mouth!

Sweep Em touched up what I was thinking for the moment I read your post.

It does sound like your approaching the Martial Arts World in a negative way. There is no quick fix. What I mean there is no quick lesson(s) that you will learn to defend yourself if you absolutly must.

Most training takes years to progrees to become at the level you wish. So when you say Tae Kwon Do does didally and takes too long. Well I'm sorry there bro but this is a newsflash: All Martial Arts take years to progress in, which ever you choose.

Sweep is 100% correct. If you're looking to decide which is correct or feels right to you go to differnt schools or look them up online areas around you and give them calls and see what available. Sweep makes another good point. Cross training is excellent cause you learn different styles of fighting but its important to og back to your orginal roots.

As far as your weight goes, beefing up might help a little so you don't get thrown around like a rag doll but size is really only a state of mind. Lots of people in the MMA world have heard of the concept of Mind Over Matter and I believe its absolutly true and its good to profect it.

Sorry for the rambbling but think it over. Don't get into the Arts if your looking to show off and act like your a badass cause that's not what your training for. You should train ALWAYS to gain knowlage, self respect and to gain control; to walk way if you can and to learn the right time to DEFEND yourself if YOUR LIFE is at stake.

[Fighter]

Styles

If you just want some good styles to start off with heres some.

Muay Thai
Jeet Kune Do
Brazillian Ju-Jitsu
Wing Chun

If I was you Id cross train in all of the above just as a starting point.

[MinisterofDeath]

cross training in all those would not be too easy. many of those go against the strict concepts of Wing Chun. but you can put it together nicely in JKD frame of mind

[Fighter]

Precisely what I meant. Sorry for not clarrifying that. Take what works ditch what doesn't!

[Biker]

Fishr is quite correct on beefing up. Add some muscle to your body, you'd be amazed at the intimidation factor that it adds. I'm 6'1" and 240 lbs and rarely have any problems. When I do, the other guy backs down first. Funny thing is, I'm really not a bad ass, just bigger than most people. It won't take a whole lot of size to make a difference either, maybe 30 to 40 lbs.

The important thing is to not go looking for trouble. I've trained in Muay Thai for a bit and it started to go to my head. My then-girlfriend (now my wife) told me I was acting like a bully, that pretty much set me straight.

But if you do get in a fight, hit the first guy good and hard to let him know he's already lost and make a real mess of him on that first shot, too. That way any of his buddies will rethink what they are doing.

[Fighter]

Good strategy Biker.

I was wondering are you really a Biker? Ive never met a Biker that does MA. And it is good that your wife set you straight.... nobody likes a bully.

Remember that everybody......

[Biker]

Yes, I am a biker. Not your average biker, though.

[Fighter]

Thanks,

So Biker (and others) what MA would you reccomend Scratch ?.

But its not neccercary to beef up. BUT is better if you do especically at your height. Bruce lee was 5 foot 7 inches and 130 pounds and look what he can do!

[Jun-Fan Lee]

Also a little late..

Hi there,

I think it is important to start with a little bit technical lessons so i would recommend a combination. In my opinion Karate is a good technical martial art and Muay Thai is very powerfull.
When you have a good technic you be able to kick or punch harder instead of just punching around with brute force.. any foul can do that. So i recommend a combination of Karate and Muay Thai....

( sorry for my broken English.. i'm from the Netherlands )

Greetings!