Or.. what martial art do you most prefer (for yourself I mean)?

I personally have no idea or any experience about martial arts, but those shaolin monks sure look pretty darn strong and fast.

Krav Maga is good yes, a combination of all martial arts for best defense if im correct...

martial arts like shaolin kung fu is only worth anything if you have been studying it since you were 5 years old...like they do...

If your looking for any self defense you will take "street fighting" style self defense classes, otherwise learning martial arts will take years and years before you can even begin to apply it correctly in a life/death situation..

my 2 cents anyway

Long distance running...

And keep a pair of very thick geeky looking glasses in your shirt pocket to pull the "You wouldn't hit a guy with....." routine

I don't think you can beat good old standard boxing..with a little Ju-jitsu thrown in for grappling fighting..

Anything else is just added for visual entertainment.

I studied Taekwondo and found the philosophy as well as the movements themselves to be fulfilling, challenging, beneficial.

I think the "best" martial art is the one that works for YOU. I dabbled with a few different styles, until one clicked. Seems a good thing also to consider one's motives and expectations for becoming involved in martial arts. They require committment and discipline and a lot of hard work. Now that I've crossed 50, I sure appreciate the flexibility I've managed to retain; I think it's been a good thing for me, and also think nearly any training would be better than none at all.

cheers

i think masters who've dedicated their lives to the internal martial arts of China are the deadliest men alive barehanded.

the "martials arts" are known as Xing Yi Quan, Taiji Quan (Tai Chi), and Bagua Zhang. Xing Yi Quan means "Mind's intent fist", Taiji Quan means "Supreme Ultimate fist" or "Heavenly Ultimate Fist". Bagua Zhang, the deadlist of all three, translate roughly into "Eight Trigram Palm".

When you become an initiate of the Taoist monks of Wudang Mountain, first you are taught Xing Yi, which is a form of chinese boxing based on destroying your opponent's center of balance. After 3 years of Xing Yi, a monk can learn TaijiQuan, which is based upon the concept of circular movement and self defense via redirection of opponent's energy and the utilization of your own energy / power. The entire body is turned into a Qi generator of sorts, the way you stand aligns the chakras, opens them. The power comes from the root (feet), through the waist which twists (Fa Jing) when striking. After learning Taiji, the student finally learns Bagua Zhang. Bagua, commonly referred to as the "art of overkill", is the final "style", even though style is a poor word to define this. It's more like a set of movements and principals you use on top of the skills you already know. Bagua is also based upon circular motion in all its' movements, but is also full of trickery and deceptive movements. To the the ignorant eye, two Bagua fighters might look like they are doing a dance before fighting; in reality they are circle walking each other and attempting to draw the other into an attack or find a vulnerability. All three styles mentioned utilize animal forms, such as the lion, monkey, dragon, etc ..

All 3 Internal Arts utilize "Qi" and Qi Kung techniques for Qi manifestation and use. Qi is the electrical power in your body for lack of a better, your own personal electro-magnetic energy. They all 3 utilize the entire body's full strength in every attack through the Fa Jing movement; Fa Jing is what Bruce Lee, or anyone for that matter, must utilize to pull off the "1 inch punch" correctly, because the sudden twisting of the waist, up into the shoulder from the feet in such a way utilizing the entire weight of your body and all of the muscle power; oddly hardly any brute force strength is needed. Just the Fa Jing can make even an unflexed arm hurt pretty bad on impact!

The 3 internal arts study heavily the body's acupuncture system, the meridians and pressure points all throughout the body. They are all named, and striking some can be quite dangerous or even deadly with enough force. The most dangerous points are around the upper side of the face, around the ear, and the upper side of the neck, below the ear, into the side of the brain stem. Some of these can cripple and kill, but are notoriously hard to pull off, because these spots are quite small. They also employ dirty tactics in fighting for their self preservation, such as eye-scraping and eye-gouging, toe stomping, ear-ripping, finger breaks, wrist breaks, thumb breaks, knee breaks, etc. The idea is to end the fight as fast as humanly possible.

All 3 style also incorportate Chinese Trapping and Grappling, known as "Chin Na" or "Qin Na" techniques. These are the equivalent of Aikido locks and breaks, and Jujitsu chokes and locks. Though most fighting occurs whilst standing, a good practitioner will become proficient in Qin Na techniques and train with Jujitsu floor fighters (MMA guys) to refine his grappling ability. This is the one weakness of all upright standing styles: Jujitsu. i'm sure you've seen UFC on TV: The winners are always the grapplers and wrestlers. They usually win by submitting a striker on the ground, because the striker does not train ground fighting.

Any martial artist who wants to be worth his salt MUST learn ground fighting, because Jujitsu / MMA is the most popular form of fighting right now.

It is becoming increasingly common for street fights involving street fighters to end on the ground in a submission or choke, just like UFC. So you must be prepared to defend against this.

Now, I'd say the second best striking style is definitely Muay Thai. Combined with Jujitsu it is deadly .. probably better than even the internal arts, simply because you can become proficient in this quickly, where as the internal arts takes years and years to master. 3 months of training can make someone with no fighting experience into a proficient Muay Thai striker and Jujitsu submission fighter, basically your archetypical MMA / UFC fighter.

[edit on 6/17/2008 by runetang]

Have to agree with the above posters

Krav Maga

Thats what I got my whole family in.

Trained in Just Jitsu and various boxing styles for many years. but Krav Maga I would say is about the best..todays fights have no rules and the biggest mistake anyone can make ..is to hold back !!

I agree with the above posts that Krav Maga is a very effective martial art as like people have said, not only does it teach the techniques required to defend yourself but has an emphasis on situational awareness, it is possible to avoid fights, confrontations etc by staying switched on to your surroundings (not always possible however)

I think the most effective system for self defence is a combination of different martial arts. It is a clever idea to take the best techniques that work for you out of different martial arts then combine them, like you have created your own personal style.

At the end of the day though, remeber no martial art in the world is going to protect you from a bullet, or a bottle to the back of your head when your not watching. Stay alert, use common sense, and trust your instinct!

Iaido, the art of drawing a sword, striking an opponent, removing your opponent's blood from the blade, and returning the sword to its sheath — all accomplished in a matter of seconds, starting from and returning to a kneeling position.

More than anything, Iaido teaches you a profound connection to the present, such that there is no hesitation nor superfluous thought given to your actions. No fear. No regret. The ultimate objective is to achieve whole-body muscle memory, so the body springs to action, performs the required defense, and returns to rest -- basically without your even thinking about it.

It's an incredibly dangerous art that hones your reflexes to a very fine edge. You'll never be taken by surprise, that's for sure.

[edit on 6/17/2008 by Doc Velocity]

I have been doing martial arts for 15 years now, and i would say that a mixture of martial arts styles is the best. Mixed martial arts. Not in the aspect of UFC because I actually despise the testosterone and stupidity of not only the fighters but the message it tries to send to people (but that’s another topic). I mean get to know a wide range of styles, mixing from tae kwon do, krav maga, ju-jitsu, judo, moo duk kwon, shotokan, grappling, tang su do, etc...

There is no one single style/form that is the best style. It’s a mixture of the style's that were you are able to cover all aspect of martial arts. Martial arts are 3 dimensional. You have out far, in close, and on the ground. Most styles will only cover one of those dimensions (sometimes two at most), but to be well rounded martial artist, it is wise to cover all dimensions. So that's why I say cover a wide range of arts.

e.g.
Tae Kwon Do - Out far
Ju-Jitsu - In close
Grappling - on the ground
Tang Su Do - Out far & In close
Judo - In close
Wrestling - In close (but mostly on the ground)

of course with most f the traditional styles (tae kwon do, shotokan, so forth) you will not only practice the defensive part of the sport, but the spiritual or physical meditation as well which are the form's/kata's.

Kata's/Form's are no more than the ABC's to the movements of martial arts. They also serve as a means to physical meditation. You are able to loose all though and just go with the flow of the movements and not thinking about anything else.

What I would say to do, is look at each style choose which one appeals to you the most and do it, or at least try it to for awhile. The only way you know which one is for you, is by doing it.

Krav Maga, hands down the most practical fighting system in the world.

It cuts straight through the B.S. and teaches you how to not just defend yourself, but how to survive in a life and death struggle. No fancy Bruce Lee kicks or neat katas to perform, but if you want to learn how to put your enemy in a world of hurt, the Israelis have it down pat.

Good old fashioned Marine Corps line training isnt bad either, very similar, lots of practical, real world self defense without all the other junk. Muay Tai would be another good choice. Steer clear of TKD or anything along those lines, applying tae kwon do in a street fight is next to impossible and could get you seriously hurt.

Originally posted by Jazzyguy
Or.. what martial art do you most prefer (for yourself I mean)?

I personally have no idea or any experience about martial arts, but those shaolin monks sure look pretty darn strong and fast.

ny son took karate lessons for 9 years, achieved black belt after testing took place in vancouver. the style is goju-ryu. they bring masters from japan to vancouver once a year for testing. even after testing, the students do not receive their official certification until a year later. at that time they check in with the local sensai to make sure the student did not use his black belt in an improper or unethical way that would embarrass goju-ryu. upon confirmation from local sensai, the certification is sent to student (all written in japanese). it is only then that the student is recognized. they teach a number of offensive and defensive skills as well as weapons training. also the student is evualuated on teaching less experienced students at the brown belt level. the student cannot achieve a black belt until they can show integrity, skill, and patience, in teaching. it has help his self-esteem and school work and now he is going to collage in california. by the way...he only had to use it once at school, for which he was not punished due to witnesses coming forward and telling the principle it was self-defense, and he was never bothered again, nor even participated in any type of fight at school, because he walked away from other situations and nobody would challange him directly.

[edit on 17-6-2008 by jimmyx]