# The "best" self defense style (for Sylence) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 13, 1999, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576 "1999-10-13T18:29:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Glitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Glitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glitch)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576/21 "1999-10-15T20:40:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I agree with you on the focus of certain M.T being focused on the more kickboxing element. My experience wit5h it seems to be a more basis in the central fighting style of using the elbows and knees, working speed into the form. I dunno how other schools went about teaching but the person I learned from believed that you could not focus entirely on one form and that you must adapt based on your situation. And that is why it is useless to talk about style in the martial arts. That concept (adapting to the situation) is not unique in Muay Thai nor is it universal to Muay Thai. > [@](#): > > On another note, what are all the animal styles? I thought there were only seven but am not sure myself. Also, does kung fu only use the animal as basis for form or is there others? I am interested in learning about other forms. The animal kung fu (gung fu) is not the only type of kung fu. In fact, there are probably more types of kung fu than any other martial arts in the world (karate is undoubtedly second). Shaolin Wing Chun Hung Gar Are probably the three biggest types of kung fu. IIIRC, the animal forms are a subset of Shaolin. > [@](#): > > Oh, one other thing, what do you consider the most dangerous offensive (as in fighting) style No such thing. Style is meaningless. Almost every technique can be found in almost every style (although somewhat modified in some cases, and almost always different technique is taught at different levels). Therefore, the most “dangerous” style is the one which teach the other elements of fighting. Since styles are highly non-universal (schools of the same style are radically different) picking a style is practically impossible. If you were to force me to pick I would say probably the style used by the Navy Seals or some other such military commando organization. Of course, you would have to join the Navy Seal in order to learn that style in the manner in which they teach it, which again is the key (the manner not the style). * * * What more could you expect from somebody who lets people kick him to the head? ---
**Author:** ![Heath\_Doolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Heath\_Doolin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heath_Doolin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 1999, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576/22 "1999-10-16T00:27:00Z")
Interesting. I thought about that after the post on offensives and came up with the same conclusions. Thanks for your thoughts! 🙂 * * * ---
**Author:** ![Sylence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Sylence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylence)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 1999, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576/23 "1999-10-16T00:44:00Z")
Wow, a lot of neat discussion going on. Thank you all for your opinions. 🙂 On another note, I live in New Mexico, which really isn’t the best place to find esoteric schools of self defense. Where can I look? Thanks a lot! – Sylence * * * “The problem with reality is the lack of background music.” – Anon ---
**Author:** ![Glitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Glitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glitch)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 1999, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576/24 "1999-10-19T12:44:00Z")
Try: [http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U\_S\_\_States/New\_Mexico/Metropolitan\_Areas/Albuquerque\_Santa\_Fe\_Metro/](http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/New_Mexico/Metropolitan_Areas/Albuquerque_Santa_Fe_Metro/) Put “martial arts” in the business type. Of course, this is for Albuquerque/Santa Fe. If you live elsewhere in New Mexico [http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U\_S\_\_States/New\_Mexico/](http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/New_Mexico/) click on the city and then do the same. I love the Yahoo! Yellow Pages because it also looks for businesses by proximity as opposed to simply being in the “local” yellow pages. Best of luck! * * * What more could you expect from somebody who lets people kick him to the head? ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576/25 "1999-10-20T05:44:00Z")
Glitch, martial arts don’t interest me. That it would assume one is being attacked in order to learn them. I’m not paranoidal that Im going to be attacked. ---
**Author:** ![Glitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@Glitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glitch)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 1999, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576/26 "1999-10-19T18:02:00Z")
> [@](#): > > That it would assume one is being attacked in order to learn them. I’m not paranoidal that Im going to be attacked. That is most certainly a misconception about the martial arts and martial artists in general. I know some people who have taken up the martial arts after being beaten up in order to prevent future beatings. And yes, I do know some people who take the arts because they live in a state of paranoia (unfortunately, for them their paranoia will ultimately be their downfall since paranoia blinds the senses to reality which need to be attuned carefully to reality to be effective in self defense). However, most martial artists and people who take the martial arts do so for the following reasons: 1. Self Defense. The #1 reason. However, this shouldn’t be confused with paranoia. Taking precautions in life is not paranoia it is good sense (do you wear a seatbelt in your car? If so are you simply paranoid that you will run into somebody or somebody will run into you, or are you simply concerned that should something happen you won’t get flung through your windshield?). Taking an ostrich approach of crime is not out there or it will never happen to me is foolishness! Although people will give off signals of weakness that attract violent predators there are few people who conciously (sp) wish violent crime to happen to them any more than people wish cancer would befall them (Do you carry any health insurance for major surgery? Are you paranoid that some major illness will befall you, or simply concerned that you wouldn’t want to get stuck with a $100,000 bill to safe your life?)! In fact, from your own admission you have had to defend yourself with the “I’m deaf” defense. 2. Exercise. Very common reason, and becoming more and more predominant with the rise of kickaerobics. 3. Spiritual enlightenment. Rare, and rarer still to find an instructor who does anything along these lines these days. Claiming martial artists are paranoid is patently false. In fact, thanks to the confidence that martial arts training gives to people, your typical martial artist who entered the arts for the right reason (the vast majority) is likely to be much more mentally adjusted towards fearing crime than somebody who knows they are little more than meat and bread to a violent criminal. Now, somebody completely ignorant of the martial arts may misinterpret a properly trained martial artist steps towards avoidance as being paranoia but that is the fault of the ignorant party and not the martial artist. Mind you this confidence can backfire if the martial artist believes they are indestructable, but that was covered sufficiently in another thread. P.s. - I recognize that there are goof balls out there who walk around the house in stance. These tend to be younger folk (a certain “me” comes to mind back in my younger days) who tend to do goof ball things anyway but in this case express their goofiness through the martial arts. * * * What more could you expect from somebody who lets people kick him to the head? ---
**Author:** ![Sylence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Sylence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylence)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 1999, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576/27 "1999-10-19T18:15:00Z")
Gah, three matches. Oh well, I’ll find something. And Handy, there is a big difference between caution and paranoia, as Glitch already pointed out. I don’t believe that my life is a total war zone with enemies lurking around every corner. I might live to be 98 without ever getting attacked. But if I AM attacked, I want to know how to take care of myself. And since I don’t carry a knife and my hunting rifle is locked in a gun safe at home, all I have left is hands. – Sylence – Sylence * * * “The problem with reality is the lack of background music.” – Anon ---
**Author:** ![Sylence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Sylence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylence)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 1999, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576/28 "1999-10-19T18:16:00Z")
The heck? I don’t think I typed my name twice. . . – Sylence * * * “The problem with reality is the lack of background music.” – Anon ---
**Author:** ![engineerboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@engineerboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineerboy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 1999, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576/29 "1999-10-19T21:17:00Z")
Sylence, I would actually recommend **against** carrying a knife; unless you plan on training to learn how to use it. Then, of course, you limit your martial options to at least maiming your opponent or killing them outright. Now, if you can deal with the moral and legal implications, then go for it. However, if you don’t train, and you simply carry a knife around thinking “well, since I have a knife, and I can cut a steak, then I can protect myself against a guy with a bat or a gun” (not unlike people who buy guns for home defense, and never learn to use them)… well, I’m sure you can see the fallacy in the above reasoning. A weapon that I particularly like for its ease of use, and its variety of aplications is the collapsible baton (or asp). In some areas they’re not legal to carry. But, they’re quick to deploy, they have decent reach, if you’re capable then you can do some pretty cool disarm/control maneuvers with them, and, if need be, you can administer quite the ass kicking (asps can take quite a lot of punishment) Anyway, my 2Pesos is don’t go carrying a knife for self defense. Good Luck Engineerboy * * * Masa Gatsu Agatsu Katsu Hayabi. True victory is victory over the self; Let that day arrive quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Sylence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Sylence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylence)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 1999, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576/30 "1999-10-19T21:27:00Z")
I’m not planning on it. I do have a small keychain knife, actually, but I sincerely doubt that I’d be able to get it out of my pocket in time to “greet” an attacker. – Sylence * * * “The problem with reality is the lack of background music.” – Anon ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576/31 "1999-10-20T16:38:00Z")
I got surrounded by cops in this little community when walking down the street sharpening my landscape knife. Must of been five of them. I told them after a few minutes if Im not under arrest, Im leaving & I did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-self-defense-style-for-sylence/9576.md?page=1)