Which art to start?

[binski20]

I am new to the forums and am just restarting my interest in martial arts after a few years absence. 5 years ago I took a year of Tkd and a year ago I took some boxing. I would like to develop some good self defense skills and have narrowed it down to these three which are available to me ( no BJJ is available) . Those three are mauy thai, boxing and judo. Karate and Taekwondo are also available, but I feel the would not produce the same results. Any advice, tips, comments on this? MY initial thought was to box for awhile to learn some basics, but perhaps muay thai is the better way to go?

[ceasarx]

I would strongly suggest Judo or M.T . And either way go to both for a preview and make an educated decison. Judo is good self defense but it has to be developed and picked through to see what is practical. M.T. Is a good system but it is very impacting and hard on the body .regardless look at both and choose wich one is right for you

[binski20]

Thanks for the reply, I'll look into both of them. Does boxing have alot of GOOD merit, enough worth taking and then adding muay thai to it, or would muay thai contain much of the same benefits?

[ceasarx]

If you take MT you wont need boxing but boxing a bad thing. If you are going to cross train take Judo and MT or Judo and Boxing. I know someone that crossed Judo and Boxing and he is a dangerous man. He can roll throw and strike and learned to throw short range power punches from the groud.

[terry]

Originally posted by binski20
Thanks for the reply, I'll look into both of them. Does boxing have alot of GOOD merit, enough worth taking and then adding muay thai to it, or would muay thai contain much of the same benefits?

Boxing is an awesome art in an of itself. Let me throw out a slightly advanced and unabashedly Muay Thai slanted answer to this question in the hopes that it benefits somebody out there. Quote from the forward by Ajarn Chai Sirisute to "Muay Thai: A Living Legacy". The overall book was written by Kat Prayukvong and Lesley Junlakan.

"The training methods for Muay Thai differ from camp to camp, from gym to gym, and people often comment that this particular camp is especially strong on kicking techniques, that camp for punching and so on. There may well be some truth in this, but I also believe that your proficiency in using any particular Muay Thai weapon depends on yourself as much as anything else. To those of you who want to become really strong in Muay Thai, I would really like to recommend that you try to emulate the great boxers of a slightly earlier age. For kicking look at Apidaet Sit-Halin; try to use knees like Diesel Noi; take Daenchai Yondaragit as your model for elbows; and Samart Payak-arun, who also was great at movement and famed for his keen observation of his opponent, is the best teacher of punching. Finally, for the general way of holding your body, of dodging and avoiding your opponent, take Adun Srisotorn and Sirimongkon Luksiripat as your role models. Learning from these great, great past masters is, I'm convinced, the best way to polish your own skills."

Regards,

Terry

[conach]

I am new to the forums and am just restarting my interest in martial arts after a few years absence. 5 years ago I took a year of Tkd and a year ago I took some boxing. I would like to develop some good self defense skills and have narrowed it down to these three which are available to me ( no BJJ is available) . Those three are mauy thai, boxing and judo. Karate and Taekwondo are also available, but I feel the would not produce the same results. Any advice, tips, comments on this? MY initial thought was to box for awhile to learn some basics, but perhaps muay thai is the better way to go?

My case is very similar to yours. Due to watching UFCs and MMA Tourneys, I reconsidered training again, after a long time out of the dojo. I have done Traditional Karate (Shotokan and Goju-Ryu) and Kyokushinkai Karate. I dropped out of the traditional ones due to boredom, point fighting and boring senseis. In the case of Kyokushinkai, I felt better, the classes were hard and the combats more realistic. I've seen many K-1 fighters that do Kyokushinkai and they kick ass. I have considered going back to Kyoku, but a co-worker told me that his brother teaches Kickboxing and that if I wanted to check it out. I am also going to train BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) somewhere in the near future.

You have the same case as me. In your case, u have no BJJ, which I have. But u have Muay Thai, and I don't (kinda funny, huh). I am from Venezuela, and there's not a wide range of Martial Arts to choose from. After many advices from the people in this forum, my search narrowed to either Kyokushinkai Karate or Kickboxing and BJJ. Also, forum friend Crash Stitches recommended me to consider Judo for its techniques (particularly throws) to make a good package. Some even adviced me to take TKD or some other art for a short period (3 to 6 months) to learn more techniques.

My advice to you is to go check out the Muay Thai classes. MT will make u hard in a short period. If you are willing to receive an overhaul of punches, kicks and knees, go for MT, cause u will have excellent stand-up skills in the long run. Boxing is a great choice. You can even begin to move your hands, get hard and then make the move to MT to get kicking ability. Judo is also great for cross training, it can give u throws, submissions and its a great art if u don't have the possibility of BJJ. I would really consider Boxing before jumping to MT. There's MT practitioners here, so u might get more experienced opinions shortly.

Later...