Choosing a Martial Art

[TheresaThoma]

I have some martial art and self defense training from college. Both were taught in the same class but the techniques are very different. Many of the techniques we learned as part of the martial art our instructors told us to never use in a self defense situation. Yes it may look cool to roundhouse kick someone but outside of controlled sparing it is highly impractical. There are much better ways to defend yourself and most of which can be taught rather quickly and easily. 

I do have to say it sounds like you have excellent instincts though and can think on your feet. That is the first step in any situation. 

If you do feel inclined towards the marital arts outside of self defense I highly suggest studying them. I loved being able to take my frustrations out on a kick pad but also the controlled almost dance-like precision of the forms. I wish I could find a school near me that teaches the same style I had been studying.

[marigold]

 the marital arts

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[Lilllabettt]

Krav Maga.  It's not a martial art. There is no artistry involved or honor observed. The goal is not to defeat / knock out the enemy, just do what it takes to get out alive. The IDF are trained on it. You're in Palestine right? Probably you can get the real thing.

[Winchester]

Krav Maga.  It's not a martial art. There is no artistry involved or honor observed. The goal is not to defeat / knock out the enemy, just do what it takes to get out alive. The IDF are trained on it. You're in Palestine right? Probably you can get the real thing.

​So what you're saying is that it's not dance lessons.

"I'm not talking about dance lessons. I'm talking about putting a brick through the other guy's windshield. I'm talking about taking it out and chopping it up."-Royal Tenenbaum

Edited May 15, 2015 by Winchester

[tinytherese]

When defending yourself, you also have to be careful not to use excessive force, because that can get you into legal trouble.

[PhuturePriest]

Krav Maga.  It's not a martial art. There is no artistry involved or honor observed. The goal is not to defeat / knock out the enemy, just do what it takes to get out alive. The IDF are trained on it. You're in Palestine right? Probably you can get the real thing.

​Four years later and still no one pays heed to what I say, even when I have years of extensive experience and knowledge on a particular subject for once.

Krav maga very often will get you into legal trouble, as using excessive force can land you in jail. Krav maga was designed for soldiers fighting for their lives, so the moves are inherently incredibly destructive and violent. Each move is made to maim and destroy with the ultimate goal of killing the other person. I've yet to see and learn a self-defense move by krav maga that didn't somehow break or dislocate something, which is not bad, but it's not fit for civilian use in 99% of situations, and I wouldn't recommend it for a person going against someone who is stronger than them in the first place. Krav maga is designed by soldiers, for soldiers, against other soldiers, not civilians. That's not to say nothing in krav maga is useful and relevant to us civvies, but by and large I would recommend against most of it in terms of practical use.

[Nihil Obstat]

​Four years later and still no one pays heed to what I say, even when I have years of extensive experience and knowledge on a particular subject for once.

Krav maga very often will get you into legal trouble, as using excessive force can land you in jail. Krav maga was designed for soldiers fighting for their lives, so the moves are inherently incredibly destructive and violent. Each move is made to maim and destroy with the ultimate goal of killing the other person. I've yet to see and learn a self-defense move by krav maga that didn't somehow break or dislocate something, which is not bad, but it's not fit for civilian use in 99% of situations, and I wouldn't recommend it for a person going against someone who is stronger than them in the first place. Krav maga is designed by soldiers, for soldiers, against other soldiers, not civilians. That's not to say nothing in krav maga is useful and relevant to us civvies, but by and large I would recommend against most of it in terms of practical use.

​If one, had time, I would recommend learning Krav Maga simply to internalize its principles, which obviously are pretty different from your average East Asian martial art.

IMO all martial arts are essentially the same, just different emphases and different philosophies. Some people will never move beyond the martial art they trained in, and so they will always stick to those (sometimes idiosyncratic) principles, like the stereotypical long Shotokan stance, or the very circular Goju movements, etc. But if you move past a single martial art and start internalizing and understanding the principles and philosophies of other disciplines you can start to see how all of those concepts can be applied in any martial art you care to try. In a sense you can mix and match.

[PhuturePriest]

​If one, had time, I would recommend learning Krav Maga simply to internalize its principles, which obviously are pretty different from your average East Asian martial art.

IMO all martial arts are essentially the same, just different emphases and different philosophies. Some people will never move beyond the martial art they trained in, and so they will always stick to those (sometimes idiosyncratic) principles, like the stereotypical long Shotokan stance, or the very circular Goju movements, etc. But if you move past a single martial art and start internalizing and understanding the principles and philosophies of other disciplines you can start to see how all of those concepts can be applied in any martial art you care to try. In a sense you can mix and match.

​I'm not focused specifically on Goju. I've learned many other things, including Filipino martial arts, Kung Fu, aikido, etc. Heck, I've got a brown belt in Okinawan Kenpo.

A few very important things I've learned are these:

1) Martial arts are relative. There is no "best" martial art, only the best one for each person, and the best one for specific situations. 
2) To understand the principles of an art/system, look at its origins and what it was made for. Krav maga was made for war, Filipino martial arts were made for dueling, aikido made for self-defense, etc. 
3) Each style's strength is simultaneously its weakness. Karate's strength is that its ultimate focus is to make honorable, respectful, disciplined individuals. Consequently, its strength is that it focuses on the person and less on self-defense skills, therefore making much of what you and I learn impractical in an actual fight, which you alluded to in your example of deep stances and circular movements. Aikido's strength is that it's solely defensive, meaning it won't get you into legal trouble; its weakness is that it consequently doesn't teach people how to finish off their opponents, which sometimes you have to do. Krav maga's strength is that it is very aggressive and effective, which means you are very likely to win a fight. Its weakness is that it very often has an overkill mentality, and it's not reserved whatsoever. What I mean by that is, if someone were to throw a punch at me, my first reaction is to deflect, try to reason, and if needed, deflect again and then respond with a strike, preferably to their bicep so I can temporarily disable their arm and then leave the scene. From what I've seen in krav maga, their first reaction is to aggressively attack, which makes sense because of the origin of the fighting style. It makes sense in battle, but it doesn't translate well into most civilian situations.

However, if I can say anything in support of krav maga, their knife and gun self defense techniques are absolutely stellar and applicable for civilian use. I teach a lot of krav maga knife and gun techniques I've learned, and I've found them to be very practical. I just don't think much of their hand-to-hand self-defense techniques are applicable to civilians, because all of those techniques are incredibly aggressive and committed with an aggressive mindset. Each style has a certain mindset, and I very much prefer the aikido and karate mindsets of "I don't want to be here, and I'm going to get this done quickly and painlessly so I can run away at the first opportunity". From what I've seen (And I could be wrong, of course), the krav maga mindset is a lot more aggressive in nature. Which, again, is only to be expected given what krav maga was made for.

[Nihil Obstat]

But if you spent some decent time with Krav Maga you could also take that overkill mentality, apply it to the Aikido defensive mindset with, for instance, the well refined karateka straight punch... that is what I mean. You take everything you learn and make it work for you.

[PhuturePriest]

But if you spent some decent time with Krav Maga you could also take that overkill mentality, apply it to the Aikido defensive mindset with, for instance, the well refined karateka straight punch... that is what I mean. You take everything you learn and make it work for you.

​Certainly. You could take the skills and change the mindset, which is what I've done with the moves I've learned and found useful with Krav Maga. But I would certainly caution people to do this should they decide to learn Krav Maga, however, and caution them from fully embracing the aggressive Krav Maga mindset. 

[NadaTeTurbe]

I learned Krav Maga for my confidence, but I had to stop because 1) my health 2) It was full of facist and neonazis. And I am not speaking about very conservative people, I am speaking about nazis, swatiska-on-the-right-arm, death-to-the-jewish-on-the-left-arm, facist. My jewish roots did not feel safe :s I learnt after that Krav Maga was popular among facist group >_< 

[Nihil Obstat]

I learned Krav Maga for my confidence, but I had to stop because 1) my health 2) It was full of facist and neonazis. And I am not speaking about very conservative people, I am speaking about nazis, swatiska-on-the-right-arm, death-to-the-jewish-on-the-left-arm, facist. My jewish roots did not feel safe :s I learnt after that Krav Maga was popular among facist group >_< 

​While I had not thought of that before, it does not surprise me.

[marigold]

I learned Krav Maga for my confidence, but I had to stop because 1) my health 2) It was full of facist and neonazis. And I am not speaking about very conservative people, I am speaking about nazis, swatiska-on-the-right-arm, death-to-the-jewish-on-the-left-arm, facist. My jewish roots did not feel safe :s I learnt after that Krav Maga was popular among facist group >_< 

​Did they know it's of Israeli origin???

[NadaTeTurbe]

Don't expect them to think too much, first. I left when I heard "we will destroy them with their own weapon". So, if you're looking into learning krav maga, inquire well around you to see the reputation of the club. 

[Lilllabettt]

​Four years later and still no one pays heed to what I say, even when I have years of extensive experience and knowledge on a particular subject for once.

Krav maga very often will get you into legal trouble, as using excessive force can land you in jail. Krav maga was designed for soldiers fighting for their lives, so the moves are inherently incredibly destructive and violent. Each move is made to maim and destroy with the ultimate goal of killing the other person. I've yet to see and learn a self-defense move by krav maga that didn't somehow break or dislocate something, which is not bad, but it's not fit for civilian use in 99% of situations, and I wouldn't recommend it for a person going against someone who is stronger than them in the first place. Krav maga is designed by soldiers, for soldiers, against other soldiers, not civilians. That's not to say nothing in krav maga is useful and relevant to us civvies, but by and large I would recommend against most of it in terms of practical use.

​

You as a man might not be aware of this, so let me inform you:

Women fending off a sexual assault are fighting for their lives.

Beatitude told us how she used her wits to escape, wouldn't it be nice if she could use some incredibly destructive and violent moves to maim and destroy the creep who threatened her.

Maybe if menfolk lived in fear of getting their heads caved in by women there would be fewer pigs among them. Certainly women living in fear of rape and assault has made them, as a group, sweet and submissive.