What do you reckon?
Wing chun?
Krav Magra?
Boxing?
Tai Chi?

Although USA and Canada can have guns, other countries wont have the luxury of having these to defend ourselves with. Assuming someone starts training now, which is the best to learn to protect our famillies and pets?

Muy Thai. Plain and simple.

Chop suey.. Other countries can have edged weapons right?


Deebo

Street fighting. You're gonna have to have no mercy or no "pride" in winning the fight. If you have to bite the guy or jab your fingers in his eye sockets then that's what you're going to have to do. Almost any street fight involves idiots throwing huge haymakers or tackling you. If I were to pick, it would be some sort of judo/jeet kune do hybrid. You're going to be fighting close quarters and with judo, you will learn do use the opponents clothes for leverage.

Tai Ping
Hoo Flung Dung
Chin Pan Ze

To name a few.

No one style is complete. IMO BJJ is the most effective art for one on one combat compared to singular styles. Disagree? Watch the early UFCs.

However in street fighting situations I'd take a Judo guy over a BJJ guy any day. Toss someone on their head and even if the fight isn't one on one his buddies might think twice before they step in.

Stand up arts are great but if the guy is a good grappler you better knock him out on the way in or your done.

Mixing styles is the only way to be a complete fighter, you need enough wrestling to stay off your back, enough Jits to avoid being submitted and enough standup to make the other guy respect your hands.

How about we all make an oath to take care of each other ? oppose to fighting our neighbors like TPTB want us to do

No martial art is better than another, they are the same. The only thing different is the person who is practicing and how good they are. It's no different than what gun is best, it is all based on the individual not the calibur or range of a gun.

357

ar15

baseball bat

Basically the techniques used commonly in Mixed Martial Arts.

Muay Thai, Boxing, Wrestling, Jiu Jitsu. Anything else is just bonus IMO.

Krav Maga or anything the SEALS train is relevant to combat you may face in a real situation and in a life or death situation. Also weapon disarming is excellent to know.

Kendo or Kali - Although a weapons based martial arts they make use of staffs or sticks which can be formed out of anything.

Judo or Aikido - Very close counters can be easily manipulated with a good toss, trip or take down.

And learn as much joint manipulation and submission techniques, escapes, reversals,sweeps etc because you aren't always gonna have someone relative size or strength to yourself so having a strong bottom position is crucial if someone larger is going to mount you (sounds dirty i know)

finally my kind of thread!

as someone who practices martial arts I can safely say no one style is good enough. with the exception being..

JEET KUNE DO, but it takes the best of the martial arts and combines them into one style (no style)

you can keep any attacker at a perfect distance, they could never hit you if your face is always 1 centimetre away from their fist. it's an exact science and takes awhile to learn but it is extremely handy.

the counters you learn are incredible. the moment your attacker lunges at you, you can strike in their moment of attack at their moment of vulnerability.

you learn to act like water, when they attack you can detract and morph into a movement that allows you to strike, and when you strike you strike like a raging river, just flowing right into the movement.

theres no limitation in jeet kune do except which you place on yourself.

thats my personal opinion. but I can lead you towards more traditional arts.

Muy thai has it's advantages such as elbows and knees
wing chun with it's energetic kicks
taekwondo with it's high kicks and side

but really you can learn the best from each of those styles and create your own.

another interesting way to learn is to play mortal kombat/tekken/street fighter and study each characters style against each others. mortal kombat armageddon is the ultimate game for this. they have over 30+ styles and you can watch them interact with each other. it's really interesting, can take the best from each one and never really have a definable style that your opponent can defeat.

Originally posted by yourmaker


another interesting way to learn is to play mortal kombat/tekken/street fighter and study each characters style against each others. mortal kombat armageddon is the ultimate game for this. they have over 30+ styles and you can watch them interact with each other. it's really interesting, can take the best from each one and never really have a definable style that your opponent can defeat.

Seriously??

Many choices!
Being most familiar(classes, study and husband's training from his class experience, etc) with Kung Fu; I'd suggest Wing Chun, Jeet Kune Do...if you're to pick Ta Chi Chuan, use the Wu form as it's more meant for "fighting" as opposed to exercise and slow movement, but is about defense. I suggest the first two over the last.

Akido, which I'd say is beneficial, disarm, fight multi opponents, etc.

Savate(French) and Krav Maga(Isralia), may be good for some as it's military.

Nin Jitsu, helps with wilderness survival, etc.

Muay Thai I agree on also, to know Muay Thai is to know against(many people train with it)

Also, depends on the enemy, of whose causing the SHTF. Be familiar with their style if any, or similar. May be best to customize to what you can access, even participate in, etc, as there is a martial art for everyone.