The Easiest Martial Art to Learn for Self-Defense

[Gonzolo]

...Or perhaps Bart's "touch of death".

First time I've ever seen 7 posts in a row.

In any case, it's credible that just as Japanese styles can be traced to Chinese origins, Chinese styles can probably be traced to Indian origins. National pride, evolution of the styles and the sheer number of schools competing against each other to get the students at any given period tend to blur any stated fact in martial art history.

 

[tumor]

In any case, it's credible that just as Japanese styles can be traced to Chinese origins, Chinese styles can probably be traced to Indian origins.

Are you sure about origins of martial arts in India ? how come they don't practice any, now ?

 

[klusener]

plain answer, because most of us are plain lazy dumbasses, who are too interested in sucking money off poor people. you might think i am kidding, but it is nothing than the truth, i am telling you most of the people here barbarians or savages, this generation will probably be one of the worst in our history, our politicians are stupid also..

but yes some martial arts did have origins in India, i think i told this already, but yoga is the basis for many of these arts...

Edit: also, i think too many people got carried away with that senile old man, Gandhi's philosophy of non violence, that's another reason you don't find that many people trained in arts that you have to fight in.. Personally, i think it is nothing more than a pile of external waste.. I think Malcolm X Shabazz got it more right.. Be peaceful, Be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone;
but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.. Man, seriously, I love this guy, he is the best..

 

[tumor]

Oh yes, I forgot about Yoga.Thanks Kluesner.

 

[juvenal]

In mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions, I think a combination of boxing, muy-thai kickboxing, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu is what has shown to be most effective. If you go to an MMA school, that's typically the sort of training/classes they will offer.

One good thing about boxing is that (assuming it's a real class and not some BS) you will get hit hard in the body and the head. It will hurt. A lot. Sparring can be brutal, and it's a decent taste of what real combat would be like because your sparring partner will be trying to hurt you. There's no substitute for the real thing, though, but it's important to get as close as possible.

There was a funny segment on This American Life on public radio about a guy who took one of these self-defense classes. He thought he would be ready for a real-life situation, but then he got into one, and ended up slapping his accoster. It's here at http://www.thislife.org/ra/250.ram.

 

[Gonzolo]

Are you sure about origins of martial arts in India ? how come they don't practice any, now ?

No, I am not. Just saying it's credible. Karate as we know it is certainly Okinawan, but every style is basically a mixture of previous ones and they all evolve over hundreds of years. Bouddhism has origins in India, (then went through China and reached Japan) so I suspect martial arts may have followed closely.

I think Indians do have styles of there own these days, but there still hasn't been a Jigoro Kano or Bruce Lee type figure to popularize the Indian styles in the west yet. I have seen at least one of them on TV, I forget the name but it seemed pretty rough.

 

[Gonzolo]

boxing, muy-thai kickboxing, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu

Certainly a winning combination. Those muay-thai guys are animals, but I suspect they have a shorter life-span than Yoga people.

 

[Chrono]

go ahead search for it, the first result itself says martial arts in its title..

I've done my research and I see that you're right. Sorry for doubting you on that.

 

[Chrono]

Those muay-thai guys are animals

I concur with that. I almost fought one at a tournament and I'm so glad I didn't.

 

[KingNothing]

You guys know you can have two quotes in one post...right?

 

[NotaPhysicsMan]

Hmm, how come no one mentions Wing Chun kungfu. Just in the first week, I've learned six basic blocks, three low kicks, and one form. Now, we're simply building up these basics by adding punches, and faster movements, not to mention chi sau to develop sensitivity. This is mainly a close contact martial arts, and I don't think we'll ever have tournaments as in tae-kwon do (which I also took for a period of time and found it to be of little application-Heck, no one's going to do a spin kick in hand to hand combat) because of the, well techniques, including neck strikes, eye gouges, etc :).

 

[Grace]

I am a 100 lb female that is often alone and just got my gun permit. I plan on taking Karate lessons in February.

On another note, outside of the house, I think that all women (at least) should carry pepperspray. I carry it, but it's only secondary. I know if anyone ever f*ed with me, I'd go rabid. When the police got there they'd be like, "okay, we understand why you broke his nose and clawed his eyes out, but what's with the pepperspray up his dickhole?"

 

[Moonbear]

I am a 100 lb female that is often alone and just got my gun permit. I plan on taking Karate lessons in February.

On another note, outside of the house, I think that all women (at least) should carry pepperspray. I carry it, but it's only secondary. I know if anyone ever f*ed with me, I'd go rabid. When the police got there they'd be like, "okay, we understand why you broke his nose and clawed his eyes out, but what's with the pepperspray up his dickhole?"

I've organized a number of self-defense seminars for students, including ones presented by police and ones presented by martial arts teachers, and have a few relatives who are cops. If you're only 100 lbs, it will be pretty easy for an attacker to overpower you and turn that pepper spray on you, though better to chance they turn the pepper spray on you than the gun!

You can talk tough, but the reality is, when someone gets close enough to hold a knife or gun to you while demanding your wallet, you'll be lucky to fumble for the wallet while momentarily paralyzed by fear.

The best self-defense is awareness of surroundings. I, too, often find myself out walking alone at night when I leave the lab after midnight. I keep my eyes open, scanning my surroundings the entire time. If I see someone else, I keep my distance from them. I follow the path that I know has emergency call boxes along it, and stay close to the coroner's office entrance (guaranteed to have people around at night) so I know I can run up to that building and ring their bell if someone is following me.

Twice in my life I've been in situations where I felt I was in real danger. Once I was out walking and passed a group of teens, one person broke off from the group and started following me, and I heard his companions hollering after him "don't do it!" The alarm bells went off in my head. I was nervous, but kept my cool...crossed the street, headed in the direction of a street that was out of my way, but I knew had more pedestrian traffic that time of night, and had my hand on the knife in my pocket (I used to carry a small knife...nothing that would cause lethal injuries, just enough to inflict a good puncture wound to slow someone down, I figured just enough to go for a thigh so I could get away without them being able to chase me). I also looked back a few times, made eye contact as I was walking the other way, made sure I got a good look at the guy to give a description to cops if necessary. Anyway, he eventually broke off following me and returned to his companions...I'll never know if I imagined the threat or not, but I'm content to leave it at that.

The second time, I was actually out driving on an interstate. Some guy decided to start pacing my car. I don't know where he came from or what was running through his mind. On an interstate, it takes a little time for something like that to even register. But once I realized he really was pacing me (it registered when I pulled in between two trucks and instead of him passing in a clear lane, he stayed right alongside my car), I had a really bad feeling about what would happen if I pulled into a rest area or stopped for gas in the middle of nowhere. So, I waited for an exit with a lot of gas stations and restaurants, one where you know you're exiting onto a busy area with lots of people. Just to confirm my suspicions, I waited until the last possible moment to cut off onto the exit ramp, and sure enough, as soon as I hit the exit ramp, he followed. I chose the busiest gas station I saw, and pulled in alongside a couple of tough looking bikers (my experience has always been that bikers look tough, but are willing to lend help when needed). Watched that car that was following me pull in the drive for the gas station, slowly drive past, that guy looked straight at me as I decided to get out of the car and stand a bit closer to where the bikers were, and pulled back out toward the interstate. I got the license plate number off that car just in case.

In that second incident, I was far more certain that guy was up to something really bad than with that teen who was following me, but keeping aware of my surroundings and getting myself to a place with a group of people is what kept me safe, not carrying around pepper spray or learning to punch and kick and waiting for him to get close enough for me to need to use it. I'm certain that if someone tried putting me in the hospital, I'd be taking them with me, but I'd really rather not test that theory because I don't delude myself into thinking I'm strong enough to get away completely unscathed.

 

[Gonzolo]

I've heard of a woman defending herself with a taser. It was illegal to possesses one in her area, but when the cops found out, they let her keep it and didn't say a word. Not sure what were the exact circumstances. Sirens can also freak people out without harm. Between two people of equal skill, the bigger usually has the advantage, no matter what some martial artists may claim, so these devices aren't out of the question.

 

[DaVinci]

I just came to this thread and haven't read the whole thing... but wanted to second what Moonbear said. Being aware of your surroundings is the best defense. It should not be your only defense though.

I spent 5 years in the Marine Corps and am a karate instructor right now in American Kenpo. This one thing, awareness, is something I cannot stress enough.

You can be a 215 pound former Marine karate teacher (like myself) and get knocked out from behind in a heartbeat if you are not aware of your surroundings.

I am glad to see you got a gun permit. I have one as well and carry my gun everywhere I am legally aloud to do so (wish I could carry it to the University with me due to all the flaky stuff you see on the news but that is illegal in Florida). However, before you ever carry a gun on your person, you need to decide if you can pull that trigger. If you cannot, then that gun does you more harm then good. Also, never EVER pull it out unless you plan to pull that trigger. Too many times I hear people talk tough about having a gun and being able to protect themselves but talking about it and about to end someones life are different things. If you keep one thing in mind... it is the bad guy's death or yours... tht should make it easier on you. Have nightmares later about it... just be alive to have them!

Dont think I am pro-death and all about killing people. I am not. But I am one to say that if a criminal puts my or my families life in danger, then Florida State Law has granted me the provisions to protect our lives by taking his and I will darn sure do it.

Anyway, be aware of your surroundings at all times. From Moon Bears post, you can see that it has probably saved her life a few times over! That is the first step in any self defense... whether you have a finger nail file or a nuclear bomb... you have to know it is coming before you can do anything about it.

 

[Moonbear]

I just came to this thread and haven't read the whole thing... but wanted to second what Moonbear said. Being aware of your surroundings is the best defense. It should not be your only defense though.

Thanks for reinforcing that point. I also agree with your point, being aware of your surroundings isn't the ONLY thing, but anything else will do no good if you are caught off-guard. In my two examples, I was fortunate that just getting out to a more populated location and distancing myself was enough to avoid harm, but had either of those people continued to try to harm me despite my attempts to get myself out of those situations, having noticed them first gave me time to think through exactly what I'd do if they persisted so I wouldn't be defenseless or frozen with fear.

Though, there's another issue: nothing you carry is of any value if you can't get to it when you need it. The cops I've spoken to about self-defense always had the example of the women carrying pepper spray in their over-full purses who couldn't fish it out in time to use it, or having it out dangling on their keychain where the attacker saw it and knew to grab it before she saw him coming.

 

[ElectroPhysics]

I want to learn martial art, which is the easiest of them to have some ability to defend myself?

I'm Black Belt 4th Dan in TaeKwonDo. For the first five years I just did stamina making exercises and a lot of running. Then I concentrated on kicks and their balance :)

 

[tribdog]

I was standing in my yard one day, just flying my kite and minding my own business when some crazy lady drove by. her car antenna snagged my kite string, which got tangled around my wrist. She stopped at stop sign, and I just had time to jump in my truck. I raced after her, trying to keep the string from cutting off the circulation in my wrist. I only got free when she stopped at a gas station and the radio antenna lowered into the car. As I drove away she gave me a dirty look and went to stand over by a couple of mean looking bikers.

 

[KingNothing]

Hmm, how come no one mentions Wing Chun kungfu. Just in the first week, I've learned six basic blocks, three low kicks, and one form. Now, we're simply building up these basics by adding punches, and faster movements, not to mention chi sau to develop sensitivity. This is mainly a close contact martial arts, and I don't think we'll ever have tournaments as in tae-kwon do (which I also took for a period of time and found it to be of little application-Heck, no one's going to do a spin kick in hand to hand combat) because of the, well techniques, including neck strikes, eye gouges, etc :).

Any martial art can be learned fast. That doesn't make it good, and it usually makes the training incomplete. But for quick lessons it's fine. Tae-Kwon-Do and Karate are basically useless in real fighting. They involve way too elaborate moves, and from what I've seen prepare mostly for fighting other karate/TKD's.

Best self-defense against a guy is to kick him in the balls. Most people go down unless they've been conditioned to take it.

The biggest defensive mistake I see beginners make (speaking generally) is that they don't step or move far enouhg in dodging. The biggest offensive mistake I see is they tend to not capitalize on an opportunity. You should get at least 3 or 4 good hits in if they show a weakness, not just one.

 

[franznietzsche]

Best self-defense against a guy is to kick him in the balls. Most people go down unless they've been conditioned to take it.

Really bad idea.

All that will do is cause adrenaline levels to rise in response, and really piss him off. UNles you're dealing with a dumbass punk that isn't a real threat anyway. If you're dealing with anyone serious, do that and you'll justt piss em off.

Upwards palm strike to the nose, then the crotch shot.

 

[franznietzsche]

I was standing in my yard one day, just flying my kite and minding my own business when some crazy lady drove by. her car antenna snagged my kite string, which got tangled around my wrist. She stopped at stop sign, and I just had time to jump in my truck. I raced after her, trying to keep the string from cutting off the circulation in my wrist. I only got free when she stopped at a gas station and the radio antenna lowered into the car. As I drove away she gave me a dirty look and went to stand over by a couple of mean looking bikers.

How have you survived this long?

 

[Smurf]

Best self-defense against a guy is to kick him in the balls. Most people go down unless they've been conditioned to take it.

Seriously, where did you get that Idea from? What kind of whimp ass pussies do you hang around that go down because they 'havn't been conditioned to take it', every 11 year who's been to a public school or has a sibling has been conditioned to take it!

And if they do 'go down' with one kick they're not a threat anyway and you don't need to get that ruthless.

 

[Smurf]

I am a 100 lb female that is often alone and just got my gun permit. I plan on taking Karate lessons in February.

Arn't you proud.

On another note, outside of the house, I think that all women (at least) should carry pepperspray. I carry it, but it's only secondary. I know if anyone ever f*ed with me, I'd go rabid. When the police got there they'd be like, "okay, we understand why you broke his nose and clawed his eyes out, but what's with the pepperspray up his dickhole?"

They let people like you carry guns?

 

[tribdog]

good thing you know martial arts Smurf, with this grumpy attitude you have lately you must be getting into lots of fights.

 

[franznietzsche]

Seriously, where did you get that Idea from? What kind of whimp ass pussies do you hang around that go down because they 'havn't been conditioned to take it', every 11 year who's been to a public school or has a sibling has been conditioned to take it!

And if they do 'go down' with one kick they're not a threat anyway and you don't need to get that ruthless.

Stop plagiarizing me please, lest i have to call SCO's lawyers on you.

*waits for irony to sink in*

 

[Anthony Shore]

You all should try Filipino Martial Arts which utilize combinations of grappling, punching, kicking, knife fighting (offensive and defensive) and use of short sticks both single and double stick methods. FMA was designed to be taught quickly so as to be effective from the first lesson. Ask Ferdinand Magellan who got his ass whopped by a bunch of natives with sticks and spears.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Learn this one, you won't see it in extreme fighting as its a free style form of Tai Jitsu, and is intended for only one purpose to beat your oponent as quickly as possible by any means necessary and that includes breaking arms, extending your fingers and jabbing someones throat so that they smash your windpipe, in fact there are less blocks as many moves blocks are simply designed to attack an attack and hopefully either cause maximum pain or break a limb, if you saw it performed it would probably resemble a fight in The Bourne Identity and as Tai Jitsu is taught by intelligence agencies that's pretty much what they're using, ie no style fighting.

Ninjitsu the FSM also approves

http://www.terra.es/personal/fjmoreno/taijitsu/iquesntj.htm

Within the Nihon Tai-Jitsu the practitioner chooses the answer that adapts more to its preferences, their capacity and its physical aptitudes. The training of different supposed from aggression, will give taijitsuka the capacity to make an answer, fast and effective, that could be simple or complex based on the situation in which the aggression takes place. The great technical fan that the Nihon Tai-Jitsu puts into the hands of its practitioners, will give the opportunity them to win in an unfortunate encounter. The advantage of the maximun energy, the knowledge of the techniques of strike and their use like opening and completion techniques , the use of locks, throws, take downs and chokes and the use of the displacements at the beginning of the defensive action, are principles that taijitsuka will apply with logic to construct of immediate form the defensive action.

The practitioner is free to choose the techniques that adapt more to their physical constitution or to his personal preferences and also he is free to incorporate to his technical repertoire, everything what he considers valid, whenever can be used within the fundamental principles of the system. He does not mean this that the Nihon Tai-Jitsu is an eclectic system, but simply, that does not limit its practitioners on the techniques that must use.

THE COMPETITION IN NIHON TAI-JITSU

Within theNihon Tai-Jitsu, the competition is not conceived like in other Martial Arts that nowadays have derived towards the sport. The fight competition in which a taijitsuka openly faces another one the objective to win him, is completely discarded within theNihon Tai-Jitsu, since it does not enter within his principles to use the knowledge that our Martial Art contributes to us, to use them like an aggressor. By the way, we thought so that it would be impossible to make this type of competition without limiting the techniques to apply, and as it has happened with other Martial Arts, since the use of all the technical resources of the Nihon Tai-Jitsu would imply without a doubt the injury of one of the competitors. For this reason the competition within the Nihon Tai-Jitsu is limited a technical competition where the competitors, who appear by pairs, make a technical and coordinated work on kata, randori prepared and technical applied.

In order to finish, the Nihon Tai-Jitsu is a martial art whose effectiveness is widely proven. It is used in the formation of the agents of diverse police bodies, and is ideal for all those people who wish be formed in the self-defense, although also it is possible to be trained simply to do a little of exercise, like relaxation activity, to make something "different" from the daily tasks or why not, to amuse themselves and to stimulate the technical creativity, looking for for example, a new scape to an attack or take hold.

I like the move where he pretty much dislocates or breaks his arm if he goes through with the attack and then throws him by the same arm, ouch

 

[whatta]

which is the easiest of them to have some ability to defend myself?

a gun.

p.s.: never mind 10 characters padding

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

a gun.

p.s.: never mind 10 characters padding

Uzi 9mm or Ak 47, maybe a few grenades, a rocket launcher and drive a tank; better still get some cs gas and flash grenades, then introduce some toxin into the air butulinus maybe? After donning gas masks, or a mini nuke? Then you don't need martial arts gun I work in a hospital and I've never even seen a GSW, thank God for ridiculously restrictive gun law is all I can say now knife wounds maybe. Or fist wounds most commonly.

 

[radou]

Uzi 9mm or Ak 47, maybe a few grenades, a rocket launcher and drive a tank; better still get some cs gas and flash grenades, then introduce some toxin into the air butulinus maybe? After donning gas masks, or a mini nuke?

You know that from personal experience or..?

Kidding. Anyway, I like the thing Moonbear said in a previous post here, that lesson 1 in self-defence is prevention through awareness. Although, there are situations where one cannot prevent getting into trouble so easy. Running is also a useful form of self defence. If you're alone, of course, and if you're able to (i.e. not surrounded).

 

[whatta]

you don't need martial arts gun

wrong, you DO need to know how to use it, or else they will simply take it out of your hands.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

wrong, you DO need to know how to use it, or else they will simply take it out of your hands.

I was being ironic just a joke , Taking a gun out with you is fine in the US, but the point was just don't have a gun culture in the first place, sort of a joking mocking of the US, then you don't have the ludicrously high death rates in major cities .

But of course this is a breach of the bannana right and the lemon curd ammendment and besides your culture is ingrained so there's nothing you can do about it, accept carry a gun and most importantly as you say, learn how to use it, in fact if you don't don't know how to use it safely and properly, don't carry a gun. Carry a can of mace instead.

 

[big man]

There have been some pretty interesting fighting styles mentioned here that I've never heard of before. I appreciate good martial arts, but to tell you the honest I don't think that I'd want to choose anything like karate or muay thai if I was wanting to do a martial art. I'd want to do something that deals extensively with grappling and close quarter fighting. I just think that this would be the most realistic and most useful thing to learn.

Something that I've noticed a lot (especially on the internet) is that many people think that if they become a professional in a martial art they will be able to defend/take on anything. Some people even think that they can beat someone who has 40-50 kg on them. I mean if you take Jet Li in Fearless as an example. There is no way in hell that he'd win in a fight against that incredibly huge guy (they fight in a boxing ring). It'd be like hitting a wall pretty much and he wouldn't necessarily be as incredibly slow as he was in the movie. But after seeing that movie and many others like it, people believe that it is possible. Just amazes me really...

 

[Born2Perform]

Some people even think that they can beat someone who has 40-50 kg on them. I mean if you take Jet Li in Fearless as an example. There is no way in hell that he'd win in a fight against that incredibly huge guy (they fight in a boxing ring). It'd be like hitting a wall pretty much and he wouldn't necessarily be as incredibly slow as he was in the movie.

don't forget non ortodox methods; articular levers at the fingers, strikes on eyes, fractures of the ankles, atemi at the jugular if you can reach his neck

 

[7foldsofpaper]

90% of Martial Arts has to do with the master. Most people think Kung Fu is impracticle, and then some say Jujitsu isn't, then there are people who think Tae Kwon Do isn't. The problem is, the person who is teaching the student.

Now I have done a few martial arts, I have been a practictioner of both Thai Boxing and Tae Kwon Do for 7 years now and I have found some very awesome teachers. They showed me practicability, the physics behind it. Where to hit with maximum damage for maximum results, and used it on many occasions in Tournaments ( Sunshine Games, U.S Open, Cape Coral Martial Arts Institute ). All I am saying is that in Martial Arts there is a lot of garbage, but there is a lot of very nice techniques that do some wicked things. And if you guys don't believe in Dim Bok, knife hand strike someone ( Fingers first ) in the jugular.

Fight Science and Human Wrecking Ball have proved a lot of the theories and myths about Martial Arts. These people DO break bricks and concrete that is not weakened, not prestressed, without any fancy techniques, but pure brutal strength.

Because they were taught, and learned not from 'The Best' but from people who knew what they were talking about.