In THIS THREAD NinjaChick makes the following comment:
This got me to wondering… and if this is the wrong place, please move to the appropriate thread… what style of Martial Arts do you think is the best? In a real fight (Hand to hand combat) which style do you think would inherantly be the most advantageous and allow one the best odds of winning in a fight?
I would argue that if you have a master at any style going up against another master of a different style, the winner would be the one who doesn’t make a mistake and who can get in the first good blow.
Again, please move this if it’s not appropriate here. My intention is to debate if any one martial arts style is inherantly better than the rest.
You’ve read my argument… let the discussion begin!
Well, from what I’ve seen grappling is where most fights end up and are won. I’d have to say that a person who has knowledge of disabling chokes and joint locks such as a practitioner of Jiu-Jutsu would have the advantage.
A lot depends on the situation.
Many Asian martial arts are descended from times when swords and armor were the standard military items. Grappling in a group of sword weilding enemies is a recipe for a blade in the back.
As recently as the early 1900s there was little railroads in China. There were still active caravan guarding companies.
OTOH, some simple, effective strikes to crucial areas can be learned and executed w/o an “art” per se.
The larger the variety of techniques available within an art would, I suppose, make the art better. However, most people have neither the time nor inclination to learn an entire art, (and the fact that certain ones are too vast to be learned in their entirety by a single highly dedicated individual). I suppose that there’re ones that don’t have certain types of techniques, though.
If the parameters of the criteria are what’s best for an untrained individual who wants only a six month course it becomes more of question of the instructor as most arts don’t have specific, unchangeable curriculums.
Modern “martial arts” involve the use of night vision, communications, rifles, cluster bombs etc. These seem to be very, very effective.
Depends, really. Wrestling isn’t so much of a self-defense thing, it’s a sport. And I’m not talking sports entertainment, either. Jeet Kun Do is Bruce Lee’s attempt at a maximally efficient martial art, and it’s not bad. Neither is Gracie Ju-Jitsu.
On the other hand, god made man. Smith and Wesson made them equal.
also, i might add that the goal of wrestling is not to beat your opponent in a street fight. i know any number of wrestlers i could out-grapple and it’s only because i’m comfortable fighting on my back. get a wrestler on his back and he panics and doesn’t know what to do.
and as mentioned, striking is a great way to set up submission holds and wear your opponent down. and it’s something that wrestling lacks.
i have to say BJJ or one of the newer variants of it all the way. most of the more traditional artists just don’t know what to do in close quarters.
Akido is supposed to be the ‘perfect’ martial art. Unfortunately, I myself have never studied it nor fought against someone using it so I have no personal knowlege.
I’ve studied Kempo-Jitsu, which seems pretty balanced between striking and mat work (grappling and throwing). It emphasizes both. I’ve also studied Shuto-Kan and Shota-Kan, which are pretty much ‘hard’ styles, and they don’t seem as balanced to me, though still effective in some situations.
As for TKD…I’ve been unimpressed. I’ve spared many people using TKD, and found the style to be flashy but lacking real practicality in a combat situation. Many of the techniques look good, but when tried against someone who knows what they are doing, can seriously expose vital parts of your anatomy to attack. True, the level and skill of the practicioner varies, and perhaps I’ve simply never sparred/fought someone who is highly skilled. I’m not saying its a BAD art btw…I just don’t think its the ULTIMATE art is all. I’ll put Kempo-Jitsu up against it any day.
Disclaimer: While I havn’t practiced aikido, I have practiced jiu-jitsu and all my opinions about aikido comes from having discussed the difference between the two with an aikido instructor.
Aikido is a ‘soft’ martial art, where the practitioner accepts in attack and tries to steer the attacking force away without injuring the attacker or the attacked one. Granted, there are ways in aikido to disable an attacker (techniques are very similar to jiu-jitsu) but it is prefered to avoid hurting your attacker too much.
Jiu-jitsu (and most other martial arts) does not accept an attack, and will try to use the attacking power to cause as much damage as possible and to incapacitate the attacker and if the attacking force isn’t enough, additional force can be applied in the form of punches, kicks and nasty looking locks.
As for all out efficiency (I don’t like using the word best while talking about martial arts, because ‘best’ is decided of what you wish to accomplish with your training) I nominate Krav-Maga. It was ‘invented’ for the Israeli Army and is based on how people will react given a certain situation and it’s emphasis is on useability in real-life situation. Krav-maga focuses on quick, simple and very devastating attacks. A Krav-maga trained girl in Sweden was attacked and her response was to kick the man in the groin, this might seem obvious, but that’s the key to krav-maga, to take obvious things and turn them into the natural response.
I agree. I studied Shota-Kan for about 9 years…although its been a while since I have practiced it. I also took a TKD class at Penn State. Shota-Kan seems MUCH more practical to me. We learned a few spinning and jump kicks, but they were not to be used that often. The reason made sense to…why would you want to leave the ground or turn your back on your oponent unless you had to? We also did few kicks to the head. Why would you want to stand on one leg any longer then you had to? This makes sense to me.
TKD was the exact opposite. IT was a lot of high kicks that seem very weak and just not effective. Wasnt TKD developed to be a sport that was scored? Thats what I always though…
So, I don’t really know if Shota-Kan was the BEST, but I think it is better than TKD.
If you’re looking for competiton, then TKD is good since it is very popular.
If you’re looking for self-defense, then the “art” comes into play, since the individual has to pick and choose what works. You definately have to be balanced about it, though. I myself study 3 Korean arts in one class: TKD, Hapkido, and Kuk Sool. It takes a long time to advance, but I’m learning a lot which is good.
Why’s that? I only ask because when I wrestled for those many years I remember plenty of drills and techniques taught that taught us to get off our backs ASAP.
The problem with wrestling is, there are rules. I’ve done mat work with wrestlers before, and they have lots of good techniques…but they are worthless in a combat situation. As an example, one of the things wrestlers do is try NOT go get on their backs. They tend to want to get one their stomachs in fact when grappling on the floor. This is perhaps the worst possible thing you can do. The BEST thing you can do is get on your back with your legs wrapped around your opponent. From there you can control the fight and expend the least amount of effort doings so, while causing your opponent to expend the most. Basically your legs control the movement, and your hands can deflect any blows.
You are in an almost passive defense, but one you can counter attacks and initiate ones of your own. Now, if you are a wrestler, and you turn over so that your tummy is to the ground, the first thing thats gona happen is, you are going to take repeated blows to the back of the head that you can’t defend against (illegal in wrestling of course). Then someone is going to go for various (again, illegal in wrestling) locks which again you can’t defend against. And the problem is, wrestlers drill so hard that way, that they tend to fall back on this as reflex…which is not a good thing to someone schooled in actual mat work who knows what they are doing.
True, the level and skill of the practicioner varies, and perhaps I’ve simply never sparred/fought someone who is highly skilled. I’m not saying its a BAD art btw…I just don’t think its the ULTIMATE art is all. I’ll put Kempo-Jitsu up against it any day. 