Whats you Favorite Martial Art and Why

Originally posted by hlesterjerome

Originally posted by _Heretic
size doesn't matter but for the case of reach

weight doesn't matter

Not always.

Sometimes smaller, lighter people find "leaping" styles easier. And taller, heavier people sometimes fine "rooting" styles easier.

I totally agree, I was only speaking from a self defense standpoint because that is how I interpreted his question.

IMHO street fighting is an art unto itself because there are fewer principles that matter, and pain is all that matters. This is why some arts based on their structure alone simply would not work unless one has mastered the art.

The Hawaiian art called Kajukenbo is my favorite street art. Four masters of other arts worked together to create it. They would go out to the streets and get into fights with street thugs to test their moves and then make changes to it if they felt the need. They finally polished up to what is now known as Kajukenbo.

reply to post by _Heretic


The most realistic, although technically not a martial art in itself, has definately got to be MMA fighting. Personally, I'm very interested in martial arts, always have been and always will.

The great thing about martial arts, is not only the arts themselves but their history and origins. Absolutely fantastic reading, its just so very interesting.

Alot of martial arts were actually invented as a means of protection because countries banned the use or ownership of firearms.

I used to practise Shotokan Karate, and I have boxed and trained in MMA before aswell. I have also done a little bit of Ju-jitsu.

For my favourite martial art? Well, thats quite a hard question as I like ALOT of different arts for varying reasons, however I would say as one of my favourite arts, it would have to be Ninjutsu, I made a thread talking about ninjas & ninjutsu in regards to being the ultimate survivalists.

Ninjutsu employs strikes, joint locks, choke holds, pressure point attacks and weapons training. I think it is a very "thorough" art.

I was also watching some Hapkido videos on youtube the other day, they were really impressive to watch and I like the theory behind Hapkido regarding its circular attack & defence principles. Hapkido also looks like a very complete system, however I'm unsure if it would work in a real life situation.

I have seen videos recently on martials arts I didn't even know existed such as Pradal Serey and Taekyeon. I highly recommend wathching the "Human Weapon" series on youtube.

I practised Wing Chun for just over a year...I should have kept at it as it was one of the most amazing things I had ever done....simple moves with great affects.....

reply to post by _Heretic


Thank you for mentioning the art of Kajukenbo! I had never heard of it before, it really is surprising the massive amount of martial arts out there and the varations in styles & techniques. Once again, thanks!

reply to post by _Heretic


Thank you for mentioning the art of Kajukenbo! I had never heard of it before, it really is surprising the massive amount of martial arts out there and the varations in styles & techniques. Once again, thanks!

One final thing I would like to mention is the US Marines fighting system called MCMAP;

en.wikipedia.org...

I found that very interesting and looks really practicable, I didn't know they spent so much emphasis on self defence, I suppose it does make sense though!

www.youtube.com...

Very interesting, enjoy!

I have a blackbelt in Kickboxing & have studied various other arts such as tae kwon do & Aikido. I have to say that for practicality kickboxing has to be my favourite martial art. Its simple & effective which is what you want when talking about self defence. For competition & tournament fighting i would have to say kickboxing also. Whilst it is simple & effective for anybody to use, the more advanced kickboxers take it to another level which shows flair & creativity. I was not a big fan of tae kwon do as it involves alot of repetition patterns & learning korean.

I suppose it depends what you want from a martial art.

reply to post by Briles


I agree that Kickboxing probably is a very useful martial art in self defence due to its powerful kicks and punches however the one thing (probably the most important) that kickboxing lacks is any sort of ground fighting.

Now, considering that around 80% of fights go to the ground I think this is a serious downfall. Anyone interested in martials for self defence should train in some of of ground fighting, or at least learn a few techniques from Brazilian Ju-Jitsu.

It's all well and good being able to punch and kick hard, but if someone on the streets, particulary something bigger and heavier than you gets you on the floor.... then its not going to be pretty basically.

Also, in regards to self defence, I think its very beneficial to learn joint locks. I know people say that in a true self defence scenario you wouldn't have the time to apply a complicated thumb lock etc - which maybe true.

However, the majority of most joint locks are quite simple when you know the technique and believe me they are very effective.

Lastly, I personally when im fighting place a lot of empasis on my opponents neck, if you can control their neck you can basically control their whole body.

The vast majority of people hate someone attacking their neck and because its fairly uncommon as opposed to being punched etc they tend to panick when you slap them in a choke hold which makes it that bit more effective for you.

[edit on 18/8/08 by Death_Kron]

Note: I didn’t plan to write this much but damn if I didn’t write a lot so pardon the length of this but I just couldn’t leave any of it out.

This is my view of the arts. It isn’t the right or only way as I don’t think there are limits at all, and I also firmly believe that the martial concepts will just continue to evolve. Therefore I will not say that one art is better than another because I think that is bunk. It is the person that performs the art and not the art itself, and people don’t have such limits. I do have personal opinions on what is better of course and that is why I think it is fun to discuss because I learn from it.

I will say that my preference is the older arts because I feel most of the western arts and even some of the eastern even miss out on the finer aspects that I appreciate more. My contention is that there are many systems and they all seem different but they are not. They are styles developed off a core set of ideologies, and in older times certain families saw these core ideologies and developed their own system based off them.

Even you or I can create our own art from these core principles.

Core Ideologies:

Yin and Yang, Breathing, Stance, Palms, Boxing, Chin Na, Ukemi, Mind

Yin and Yang – this is a very deep subject and the basis of religion so I will not go too deep into it. In regards to the arts yin is the soft side and when used in fighting it can be associated with diverting energy or just moving out of the way. Gravity is a good example of yin as it is a calm force that is ever present in a natural state. If someone throws their fist at you and you grab the arm and pull them in the very direction they are punching, it sends them flying…this is yin, you are not fighting the gravity but add to their own gravity and they cant contain it and they go off balance. Yang on the other hand is like lightning, it moves from the ground up against gravity, in other words it the guys punch is a yang style of fighting. It is the application of force to oppose and not to compliment.

Hard and soft arts are basically defined by how much yin or yang is applied in the art. All arts have some of both, but most predominate towards one or the other. The easiest way you can determine if it is hard or soft is to look at the stances. Hard styles have static stances most of the time while soft arts are more relaxed and fluid. Static stances tend to generate a lot of internal chi as a shield to blows while the relaxed ones allow for the externalization of chi as a weapon. It is a subtle difference though as being relaxed is common, it is the movements from the stance that allows you to tell. The use of tight tense muscles combined with force is hard style.

Breathing – this one is pretty basic as there is very few differences in how to breath in the arts. When I first started to learn about breathing it was a shock because I found out I had been breathing wrong my whole life, and it is a very difficult thing to correct because we do it without thought or focus. We tend to hold our breath when we exert ourselves, even when we sit down, bring a fork to our mouth, walk, and worse when we work out. The arts teach you to breath out when you exert force. The breath is very connected to the chi and it is very difficult to externalize chi unless you push a lot of air out of the body, the better you get, the less air you have to expel. This is one of the reasons you are taught to yell when striking in the arts.

..continued below

Stance – this is the dominating place power comes from. A good stance is immobile to force that is applied to the line the stance is on, in other words you can be in a stance that can’t be broken, but if one were to push you from another angle you are fully vulnerable to being knocked down. Every art and sport uses it to define the strength it takes to withstand the force of another. You can even use stances as an attack called a “check” by moving into someone stance and then tighten yours up and they go flying.

Most arts have stance exercises and thee are unlimited stances. There are stances that are even applied when you are on the ground. Some stances are so difficult you have to train the body for years before you can even find strength to withstand force while in it such as one legged stances. Kicks are a bad idea unless you have stance.

One of the primary methods of advancing a stance from hard to soft is called sinking, which also radically strengthens a hard stance. Imagine approaching a bathroom scale and using just one foot to try and exert pressure on the scale to see how much weight you can apply. When you put both feet on the scale and push down into the ground with both your feet, and the scale measures a higher weight, you are sinking.

By being able to do it consistently a 100 pound person can get on a scale and sink then hold it, and the scale will measure 110 pounds consistently (for instance). Someone good at sinking can stand in a normal posture with no stance, then sink and he is considerably harder to push over from any direction.

Palms – this is basically the posture the upper body is in while in a stance, striking or even in meditation. Some people confuse palm with the position of the hands, and yes that is part of it but the whole upper body is the palm. Iron palm and other hand training techniques are not palms although they contain palms. For instance in bagua there are 8 palms, each representing a certain posture. Each posture can be used in a yin or yang fashion and you can even use both, which is called the tai chi palm because it contains both yin and yang. Notice that Tai Chi Chuan is almost always using yin with one hand and yang with the other because this is the core of the system.

Boxing – also called the pugilistic arts, and it looks as if it is simply striking with the hands all the various ways you can imagine. It is more than that because it is the core of most of the holistic practices in the arts. Acupuncture, acupressure, and Dim Mak are good examples of what is employed via the pugilistic art. You can use an accupoint for hurting as well as healing. The pugilistic art is about the physics of a punch as well as the location and the desired effect. IMHO this is the most deadly part of the core principles as the rest are supportive. Hurting with accupoints is a yang practice while healing with them is a yin application. Professional boxing is mean, and it uses these principles in a controlled setting. Most people think martial arts and boxing are separate, but I disagree.
Kicking is also part of the pugilistic arts in application.

Chin Na – this is simply grappling, locking, and throwing. There is a chin na forms for every part of the body. Finger, wrist, forearm, elbow, shoulder, neck, head, back, waist, leg, feet, and some that involve the whole body. Each of these categories has many many different applications in chin na. Squeezes are also a part of chin na and are really mean, and the accupoints are used almost always. Grab a hold of your love handles and give it a good squeeze and you will see what I mean. It’s really painful.

Ukemi – the art of falling down and getting up. Good for any art, necessary in some. Drunken boxing and sage monkey kung fu are really good examples of Ukemi as a combat art. Aikido, Ju-Jitsu, and judo (and others) teach it because it is necessary to perform the art safely.

...continued below

and my favorite...

Mind – anything philosophical that is a basis for an art or enhances an art is a mind art. Most people wouldn’t think there is mind kung fu, but Jeet Kune Do in my mind is more a philosophy than a separate art itself. Yet is it wicked and it changes an art once applied. Comba-Tai is another mind art which concentrates on strength, timing, agility, and resourcefulness (STAR) which can be applied to an art to change it as well. But of all the mind arts I think Satki is the coolest because it is a system of reading or transmitting intent. The body advertises a strike by the first shift of weight or lifting of an arm. Satki is more like telepathy which allows you to see beyond the body and predict an attack based on the intent of the attacker. Now I know it sounds weird but I a master of Satki can make you back up or away or even attempt to block a strike even though he makes no physical move to do so. Qigong, meditation, chi cultivation and manipulation are all parts of mind kung fu as well.

These are the core principles that I see making up the martial art world. If you see that I forgot one please post and correct me. If you know of some other core you yourself have experienced please please post it because I want to know it.

Edit: rephrase

[edit on 18-8-2008 by _Heretic]

my favorite fighting style comes from the most unlikely sensei you could ever imagine,the godfather of soul,the grandaddy of funk,the one,the only,JAMES BROWN.in the lyrics to ''the big payback''he says,''i dont know karate,but i know Ka-ra zay,a once unknown fighting style.thats right.james brown himself is the unlikely successor to this fighting style with its true history lost in obscurity and the fog of time.....the question is,if he was the master,then who was the student?who could it be........

You pretty much covered everything there,

The hard part is finding a school of an art which combine to give the student tutelage in all of the areas you listed. So many today are lacking in one way or another, which is actually where the term 'MMA', or 'mixed martial arts' comes from. It simply means mixing various arts together to create an overall better system for yourself.

Some styles emphasis on ground grappling, others in standing grappling, others in close range striking, others in longe range leg striking, some are good with close up grappling and striking, but have no real kicking above the waist. Something is always missing and therefore there is no complete art. Not even 'Jeet Kune Do', sorry Bruce Lee fans.

It just so happens that there's a popular trend in MMA sport circuit fighting that combines Muay Thai striking with Brazilian JuJitsu ground fighting / wrestling. But this is not the only effective combination, nor the only combination used. There's a really good guy in UFC right now, Lyoto Majida? Something like this? He uses Karate of all things for his striking foundation. He recently beat Tito Ortiz in what they said was Tito's last UFC fight.

Therefore, one can combine the Chinese arts of close range striking and close range grappling whilst standing prominent in the more 'complete' Chinese styles, and combine it with some mediocre ground fighting training, Jujitsu but that isn't the only one, and be all around just as good and effective in the MMA sport circuit as the guys using Muay Thay & BJJ. But this is because there are a plethora of locks, holds, and other grappling techniques (Chin-Na / Qin-Na) that can be applied in some ways to an on the floor, ground fighting situation. It is a different approach to things..

As for me, I personally practice Taiji (Tai Chi Chuan), Old Yang style (Yang Liu-Chan's form, not Yang Cheng-fu's) with a few elementary striking techniques from Hsing-I Chuan, or Xing-Yi as I call it. I hope to study Bagua Zhang one day, but I've only been doing Taiji for just under a year. Before this approx 7 years ago I studied Wing Chun for about a month then stopped. So I learned the fundamentals of the Chinese boxing but didn't go anywhere with it. Despite that, it allows me to fight even better up close to the opponent, which Taiji is good for anyways.

[edit on 8/18/2008 by runetang]

can you tell me what a mma gym is? jsut out of curiousity, were is the main areas of the weak spots on the body and were are the areas to instantly kill? and why cant material arts be used in a real fight?. Thanks

Martial arts are nothing more than a bunch of dancers they prance about and think they can fight but every time you see one in a real street fight they get completely thrashed.

Waste of time don't fall for it and if you do take it up never fool yourself into thinking you can fight you really can't and will end up looking silly nevermind the beating you will take.

Seriously if you want to learn how to fight that is the wrong way to go about it sad but true.

I practiced Judo for around seven years, while I agree it is more of a sport than a martial art I have found it very useful in defending myself. My grandad ran his own Judo club and now my dad has taken over. I competed all over the UK while I still practiced it and it really kept me in great shape so im probably being a little biased in saying its my favourite one . Ive been thinking of trying something else, maybe Muay-Thai, has anyone ever practiced this?

]post by _Heretic[/url]


I think I understand why you call yourself 'deathpoet'.

Not to go of topic here just replying to my friend heretic,
i call myself death poet because i write about my experiances which have mostly been about death and how angery i am towards people.

reply to post by Shamanator



could you tell me what the best way is then and advice on fightin techniques? i have this like natural defense thing, is it normal to have your own material art made up by your own brain?


Also, could anyone please answer me were my strengh comes from like my full out engery. For example if i smashed a car window it don't even hurt me and it only takes one hit and how i can break wood and brick without even competing for martial arts?. How come i can pick up 22 stone when i am only 10 stone?. can someone answer me that please?

[edit on 18-8-2008 by deathpoet69]

[edit on 18-8-2008 by deathpoet69]

Originally posted by Shamanator
Martial arts are nothing more than a bunch of dancers they prance about and think they can fight but every time you see one in a real street fight they get completely thrashed.

Your opinon is unfortunate, it sounds like you've never experienced a true talented martial artist of a particular martial art that is most effective in a street fight situation.

Unfortunately, alot of people learn a little bit of a style, then go around thinking theyre so bad ass, and when they get into a fight they try to use and rely on predetermined movements and attacks, and thus get beat down. You can't fight in a real fight or as you call it a street fight in a typical orthodox martial art fashion. You have to apply the martial art principles and fundamentals, along with the person's extensive training for years and years to the point of instinct to be able to use martial arts in a street fight.

But they are many people who've trained dilligently for years, some are masters and some are still students, but nevertheless, they exist and will kick any street fighter's butt, with the exception of maybe Kimbo Slice? Lol. They are just rare and you do not see them fight because true talented martial artists do not feel the need to show off their techniques in any way. They try to avoid the fight in any way possible, and if it becomes unavoidable, then they drop the guy with the most effective technique for the situation. Against someone bigger/stronger, gouging/scraping his eye(s) and/or kicking/punching the enemy's groin. Hey, it works and gets the fight over as quickly as possible. On the otherhand, a JuJitsu practitioner would likely try to take the fight to the ground, which usually happens anyway, and then put his arm or leg into a lock which could become a break if he chose to apply that much pressure. Or he could just make the guy give up. Or he would just choke the guy out. You can choke the guy out and make him give up from a standing lock (wrist/fingers/elbow/shoulder lock) with many Chinese martial arts, but they admittedly lack in on-the-floor fighting.

In short (long actually, hehe), true talented martial artists very rarely, if ever, find themselves in a "real" street fight situation, due to their humbleness and desire to avoid confrontation or hurting someone. And if you do see it, you'll never know the guy was a martial artist, because he surely won't be advertising it. Anyone who advertises that they know this art or that art immediately prior to a street fight is a newb who is insecure about the lck of real knowledge and skill he has for a real fighting situation. He never trained for it .. and he gets his butt kicked. But to say these clowns represent all traditional martial arts and are the best practitioners of them is disrespectful to any true martial artist, regardless of skill level and school.

(PS: Unrelated but, we should be able to downrank someone by a star instead of just being able to add a star. Even if the person has no stars, you could put them into a -1 etc.)

[edit on 8/18/2008 by runetang]

thats very interesting comment, it dose take alot years to implement martial arts in a proper fight. So can someone answer my question please if thats ok?