Not for me, but for my sister. She’s thinking of taking up a martial art. Other than a little bit of Judo when I was younger (I only remember one throw), I don’t have any experience with martial arts. I was hoping someone here has some advice I could give to her.
She wants something that she can use for defense, and improve flexibility. She plays other sports (soccer) so if there’s anything that could carry over and help her out in soccer then that would probably be what she’d want to take.
Well some martial arts are suited for different body types and also different philosophies so you should provide more details about your sister. How tall is she and how much does she weigh? Is she a passive person or aggressive? What is her primary objective in studying the martial arts?
For the average woman, I’d suggest ju jitsu or kali or wing chun or something along those lines. They’re best for light, quick people and don’t require an inordinate amount of time before the skills learned can be useful IRL. The deciding factor should be the instructor though. The instructor needs to be competent, have good teaching skills, and have a genuine interest in the student as a person and in helping the student to achieve her particular goals. Stay away from militant boot camp style instuctors who want to train your sister to be some uber ninja assassin[sup]tm[/sup].
There have been other threads on this in the past so a search would be suggested. You’ll get lots of comments but ignore anyone who tries to say one particular art is best.
Well, given that the team from the UK won the men’s sparring in Tae Kwon Do at the Seoul Olympics in spite of the fact that they were actually a soccer team, I’d say TKD might work pretty well. It’s very flexibility-oriented, emphasizes sparring and kicks, and is meant to be learned quickly.
She might also want to look into some basic self-defense courses at the local Y; most martil arts schools will teach you stuff that will work well in the long run, but if you want something that’ll work next week, go for a self-defense course.
I took Kempo this summer and thought it was pretty useful. We started with very basic self defense techniques like getting out of chokes, wrist grabs, and blocking punches, and then moved on to more advanced moves. I don’t have time to take lessons right now, but I’m still able to remember the basics pretty well, and I only took the class for about six weeks. My flexibility has improved, especially in my legs, and my balance is much better now. This improved my hacky sack because I could do multiple kicks without putting my leg down, so some of that might work for ball handling in soccer.
I’ll second breaknrun’s suggestion to decide based on the instructor. The instructor is much more important than the art.
Different martial arts have different physical requirements and different philosophies. In the long run, your sister is much more likely to stick with one art and excel if she chooses one that matches her own inherent style and philosophy. However, it’s very difficult to know what you’re like and what an art is like until you have some experience. For example, suppose you had never played any sport and you had to decide whether to join a baseball, soccer, football, or hockey team. It’s hard to know which one you’ll enjoy most, much less have talent for, until you’ve played them at least a little.
You should visit half a dozen alternatives and try to get a feel for the instructor and class atmosphere. Your sister will probably feel much more comfortable in some than others, and those are the ones you should select from. After a few months (or years) when she has at least a little exposure to the art, she could reevaluate.
I don’t advocate skipping around from school to school, art to art, but ultimately you’ll do much better when you find a home, and it’s hard to know what “home” is until you’ve lived in a few houses. I’ve trained with a lot of people who were very experienced in one art and then got exposed to another art (through a seminar, guest sifu, etc.) and suddenly found the new art just felt more natural. Instead of molding themselves into the first art, they could do the second much more reflexively. I’ve seen people move from Karate to Aikido and vice versa, so there’s no common “best” art.
[sub]<pitbait>Of course, the obvious answer is Wing Chun, whatever the question.</pitbait>[/sub]
Yuh-huh. Obvious. Of course. <smiles condesendingly while allowing others to go merrily on their deluded path. They will all come to know the tue Way, eventually.>
Definitely talk with the instructor and make sure your sister’s goals are addressed - most schools will let her observe a typical class to see if she’d be comfortable there.
My only personal experience is with TaeKwon Do, and I enjoyed it immensely, but it does involve a lot of hard twisting and might foil any attempts to acheive or maintain a thin waist. She might want to bring that sort of factor into any discussion with a potential instructor as well.
Well, I’ve taken a plethora of martial arts in my life, and I gotta say finding one that balances true self defence with a focus on flexibility is going to be tough. Most martial arts train you to be a fighter for other fighters. In other words, you are’nt quite as prepared for the choas that insues during a real assualt that tends to follow no reconizable pattern or rhythm. This is not as true when you reach the master level of the martial arts, but your sister probably is’nt looking to become a shaolin monk. On the other hand, pure self defense courses rarely tend to focus on staying flexible and fighting fit. These courses center themselves around techniques you can use at any stage of your life, and not just moves that you can only perform at your peak physical abilities. Hence, self defense courses are’nt meant to make you fit, but are meant to allow you to fight off an attacker even as a 60 year old man with rickets.
My advice would be to have your sister take a martial art that focuses on turning you into a fit fighter rather than worry about the self defense aspect. In these times, fights never last more than 20 seconds and armed robberies tend to be dangerous to fight off unless you’ve actually had experience fighting them off. Just tell your sister to go for either the throat, eyes, or groin when fighting off an attacker. I would say recommend something like Shoalin Kung Fu, or just wing chun. I’ve never seen an out-of-shape black belt in either of these martial arts and they really train your body to be a fighter’s body (i.e. throat and groin training, bone training, etc.).
Whatever you do, don’t let her take Tai Chi. I spent a year learning Tai Chi and it sucked. Tai Chi is for old people and Kung Fu masters. Its applications are’nt easily understood, and it’s boring.
The rest of your advice was pretty good, but you totally discredit yourself with this flamebait. Neither you nor the OP are well-served by such unfounded generalities.
Tai Chi Chuan is an excellent martial art if it’s taught by a martial artist. Most Tai Chi is taught as “dances with old people”, but that’s not a reflection of the art. Many instructors don’t know the martial applications and many students don’t care. However, done right, it’s extremely effective. I’ve studied some Tai Chi and I’ve had my butt kicked sparring with Tai Chi practitioners (which, in all humility, is no small feat).
Find yourself a serious Tai Chi sifu, and I guarantee you will be neither bored nor confused. You’ll end up a much better fighter regardless of your core art.
