Top 10 martial arts for self-defense, plus an extra suggestion

[FBD]

Tai chi is aerobics for old people. That's what my Chinese friends told me back in college.

says people who have no clue! while a lot of it has devolved into that due to the longevity benefits, any real taiji person will tell you it is as deadly as you want to make it and any real taiji teacher will never separate the longevity stuff from the martial application, because the martial application ensures the correct posture and hence most longevity benefit - I've seen some amazingly fast taiji players - dont be fooled that since it is an internal martial art it doesnt mean its super effective - especially if the practitioner learns all 3 of the main chinese martial arts - taiji flows, bagua circles, xingyi (shing-ee) is straight-line. So for example if you've seen Jet Li's "The One" his main character is a bagua guy and the adversary is a xingyi guy. I think one of Jet Li's older movies is called tai chi master or something like that - its a good film, there you can actually see some martial applications of taiji.

I was taught off and on for 3 years in both a class and at the guy's house. I learned way more with just a heavy bag and him, versus a class environment. He'd always say - This is the proper form...and this is how it applies (meaning he'd alter something in the form) This was about 15 years ago (when I was in shape) and I still remember the warmups in class being worse than the repetitive form movements and the sparring

He was a lot like Bruce....economy of movement was everything. He hated Taekwondo and some aspects of karate and had noooo problem demonstrating why they sucked when someone brought it up

real world applications ftw

I'd like to learn Kung Fu, seems the more honorable and bad-ass

Also, quoting Neo and then beating the piss out of someone would be a dream come true

good intention, but kung fu is a generic term, bastardized from "gongfu" which literally means energy-time - so if you ask some random old chinese person what gongfu they practice, they could respond by saying "tending my garden." I'm not even sure what people mean exactly when they say "kung fu" like the 12 animal sports? (which I think is white crane)

[Acid Trip]

Gun first followed by Jiu-Jitsu. The biggest thing in a street fight is being in control and that is what Jiu-Jitsu is all about. I have a wrestling background and Jiu-Jitsu is all the shit they never let us do. An ankle pick gets opponent on the ground and then it's all over because that's my world.

I didn't pick Krav Maga because it's the art of inflicting as much pain as possible in the shortest amount of time. I'm trying to stop someone, not kill them.

[Muddy]

I didn't pick Krav Maga because it's the art of inflicting as much pain as possible in the shortest amount of time. I'm trying to stop someone, not kill them.

I was contemplating it's effectiveness in relation to avoiding law suits as well.

[FBD]

that's why you always need to be the defender, not the attacker - you get attacked, hey, I'm just defending myself and needed to neutralize the threat. and its not mindless 'revert to training' and fuck shit up needlessly, its take a rational assessment of the situation and determine the appropriate level of violence in response. almost always, the appropriate level is none. big difference in response to a drunk guy swinging at you at a public event and 3 hooded fkers jumping out from an alleyway as you walk by.

[DemonGeminiX]

says people who have no clue! while a lot of it has devolved into that due to the longevity benefits, any real taiji person will tell you it is as deadly as you want to make it and any real taiji teacher will never separate the longevity stuff from the martial application, because the martial application ensures the correct posture and hence most longevity benefit - I've seen some amazingly fast taiji players - dont be fooled that since it is an internal martial art it doesnt mean its super effective - especially if the practitioner learns all 3 of the main chinese martial arts - taiji flows, bagua circles, xingyi (shing-ee) is straight-line. So for example if you've seen Jet Li's "The One" his main character is a bagua guy and the adversary is a xingyi guy. I think one of Jet Li's older movies is called tai chi master or something like that - its a good film, there you can actually see some martial applications of taiji.

No offense, but I think Chinese people know more about the martial arts that come from their regions than you do. I'm taking their word over yours.

Aerobics for old people, dude.

[Acid Trip]

No offense, but I think Chinese people know more about the martial arts that come from their regions than you do. I'm taking their word over yours.

Aerobics for old people, dude.

No offense, but that's one of the worst arguments I've ever heard.

Just because someone is Chinese doesn't mean they know diddly squat about martial arts. That would be like saying I automatically know more about American football than someone who is from another country. After all, it's AMERICAN football. How could they possibly know more than me when they aren't American?

[Hal-9000]

Gun first followed by Jiu-Jitsu. The biggest thing in a street fight is being in control and that is what Jiu-Jitsu is all about. I have a wrestling background and Jiu-Jitsu is all the shit they never let us do. An ankle pick gets opponent on the ground and then it's all over because that's my world.

I didn't pick Krav Maga because it's the art of inflicting as much pain as possible in the shortest amount of time. I'm trying to stop someone, not kill them.

I'm not good at grappling... unless I'm really angry...

I'll do anything not to end up on the ground. If you took me down, I'd probably just squirm and cry and pee my pants until you let me up

[Hal-9000]

that's why you always need to be the defender, not the attacker - you get attacked, hey, I'm just defending myself and needed to neutralize the threat. and its not mindless 'revert to training' and fuck shit up needlessly, its take a rational assessment of the situation and determine the appropriate level of violence in response. almost always, the appropriate level is none. big difference in response to a drunk guy swinging at you at a public event and 3 hooded fkers jumping out from an alleyway as you walk by.

My guy taught me the respect up/respect down thing. Just because a guy is 60 and less than 6 feet tall doesn't make him a pushover in a fight.I learned that the hard way during a New Year's eve fight in the late 80's Guy was about 5'4'' and we ended up all over a front lawn...me blocking punches with my face primarily throughout most of the fight Damn I was drunk....have never fallen down so much while fighting someone He was trained...I was hammered.

[Muddy]

My guy taught me the respect up/respect down thing. Just because a guy is 60 and less than 6 feet tall doesn't make him a pushover in a fight.I learned that the hard way during a New Year's eve fight in the late 80's Guy was about 5'4'' and we ended up all over a front lawn...me blocking punches with my face primarily throughout most of the fight Damn I was drunk....have never fallen down so much while fighting someone He was trained...I was hammered.

Why do you get into so many fights Mr. Norris?

[Hal-9000]

Why do you get into so many fights Mr. Norris?

The New Years one was when I lived in Banff.....had drank 12 supercans of beer, went to another place to party with a bottle of rye, walked in to witness a guy closed-fist punch a girl in the face. I knew the girl so my comment was - YOU TOUGH GUY! OUTSIDE NOW!

he was a tough guy

next?

[Muddy]

I just dont see all the trouble you do.. I never get in fights..

[Hal-9000]

it's a long story dude....most times people tell me I was justified...

lots of fights when I was younger, decided to take some self defense (to calm the fuck down ) not so many fights in the past 20 years of my life.Last fight I had was in the park behind my house that night the drunk dude was smacking his g/f about 4 years ago now...it wasn't much of a fight.



I guess to answer I'll use a real world scenario - Like FBD says you analyze the situation. I'm not out to save the world. But if I saw you and your wife + kids out walking and some guy came up and threw you or a family member to the ground, I couldn't just walk by, even if we've never met.... My conscience is greater than my level of fear, which has gotten me into trouble the odd time.


I grew up with a bunch of single guys who went to bars for years....you think I'm a ruffian? You should have seen a couple of my buddies I often heard ' He's looking at me!!! ' and then it was on......

[Muddy]

I try to diffuse the situation with a group hug...

[PorkChopSandwiches]

I just dont see all the trouble you do.. I never get in fights..

Me either, I'm in large drunken crowds a lot to, somehow I never get into a fight. I have a drunk buddy on the other hand that gets his ass whooped at least once a year. Therefor Hal has a drinking problem

[Hal-9000]

I was with the bro in law walking downtown from the Stampede....one hobo was literally smacking the shit out of another, guy on the ground was done.

I said to bro in law - Hey, lets go prevent that dude from getting killed. His response - Not our fight hal, keep walking.


He's the tiger claw guy and for some reason his reaction has always perplexed me. Homeless guy could have been killed for all we know..