I’ve been enrolled in Taekwon Do for quite awhile now and have heard that many of its techniques are useless. What would be the best martial art to take? Also, I’m interested in Hapkido. Is it any effective?
Thanks–Matt
Funny you should ask:
Right now at a Forum near you (but not this one) they are discussing similar issues here:
http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/001436.html
Also known as Martial arts for the really real world
Tom~
Looking back,the one that I should have used was the art of running like hell
I heartily recommend tracking down The Master Ki No Li and learning the art of Tae Kwon Leep.
If not that, than try to find a school that teaches Llap Goch. The precepts of LLap Goch are simple. The best defense is a good offense. The best offense is surprise. The art of Llap Goch involves striking your attacker before he even thinks of attacking you. If you can manage this, you will be unstoppable.
http://www.madpoet.com
Clerks - Just because they serve you doesn’t mean they like you.
I believe many watered-down, sports oriented martial arts schools practice Tae Kyor Dough.
Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. How, exactly, do you know who is your attacker if your attacker does not yet know that he wants to attack you? I guess you could just walk down the street smacking everybody you see, you know, just in case…
ReservoirDog, that’s why it’s an art. Otherwise it would be assault and battery. (Thanks for the laugh, Mad Poet!)
BOOT TO THE HEAD!
I’ll preface my comment by saying that this is hardly basis for scientific fact.
If you have watched any of the no holds barred UFC “toughman” contests, it seems that an overwhelming majority of them are won by the Gracie family and other students of Brazilian Jujitsu.
“My Accountz Reeceevable Posse don’t call me Tha Troubleshoota for nothin’. Suckas think I be chillin’, but I gots to represent at all times, 'cuz ain’t nobody else reeceeve accountz right but ME.” --Herbert Kornfeld
Not to be wishy-washy or anything, but there is no one true best martial art for all people. So much depends on your personal traits: physical size, strength, and dexterity, dedication, time available, purpose (are you looking for defense, focus, or to kick ass in tournaments?), etc.
That being said, I very much recommend the style Jackie Chan used in Drunken Master 2, but only if you have access to a large amount of industrial alcohol. If not, try to learn Ogre’s style from Tekken 3, if you can grow a snake for an arm and breath fire while flying.
Just for kicks, this is my first post on this message board. I’m now a Teeming Million. But not officially, so I’m only a Seeming Million right now. But according to my username, I’m a Dreaming Million. And I certainly have a secret plan, so I’m also a Scheming Million.
The worldwide art known as street fighting is probably the best. That’s where you use everything you know and anything at hand to subdue your opponent.
The lessons are free, but the practices sessions are a real bitch.
But seriously folks…good ol’ boxing would get my vote. You not only learn how to deliver, slip, and take a punch, but you also get lots of full-contact practice where you learn what it’s like to actually get hit by someone with evil intent…and how to get past that.
the art of tae-bo with billy blanks is good…
Never criticize a person until you walk a mile in their shoes… this way when you do criticize them you’ll be a mile away… oh… and you’ll have free shoes. :o)
Funny you should mention that, boxing. Two of my high school friends, one a boxer (Golden Gloves), the other a karate expert (For a kid), were always argueing about which method would be most effective in a fight. The karate kid kept bugging the boxer kid for a fight till the boxer finally agreed to met him off-campus. Well, the boxer simply kicked the karate guy’s ass. But good. He was bigger and stronger, but karate was supposed to take care of that. No, they didn’t remain friends.
Of course this one fight doesn’t prove anything, but fighting rarely does. 
Peace,
mangeorge
I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
And
I know what I want to know
Mangeorge, 2000
What’s the best of the martial arts? Ecky-thump, of course.
I think machine gunning is a pretty effective one, though sniping has it’s benefits. Camoflage and infiltration are useful. Jet piloting is pretty cool and fun, if you can take the gees.
So, does anyone know anything about Hapkido? That’s what I’m interested in. Also, I want to take martial arts mainly for defense. So what would be the best martial art for me?
This is a perfect lead-in for my comment. Different fighting styles have different strengths and weaknesses, but what’s important is that YOU DON’T FIGHT THE STYLE, YOU FIGHT THE FIGHTER. Yes, boxers tend to be better fighters than martial arts people at large, but that’s not because boxing is a better way. It’s because boxers train by doing. How many boxers of any quality train once a week for an hour class? Not damn many. Boxers train and train and train, day after day. THAT is what makes them better fighters.
A kickboxer with equivalent skill, build, and experience would likely beat a boxer handily, simply because he doesn’t restrict himself only to use of his hands. A military unarmed combat specialist would likely beat either of them easily, not because they learn “secret techniques”, but for 2 reasons: they aren’t restricted to a sport with rules and a referee, and because they TRAIN to do the job.
In kickboxing, muay Thai boxers tend to dominate the sport not because they have superior techniques (the Thai round kick used to be superior, but everybody saw that and incorporated it), but because of their training methods.
But all things considered, all things being equal, some sort of style that a)incorporates both striking and grappling techniques, b) doesn’t limit itself to sporting rules, and c) whose practitioners train HARD would be the ideal. The closest I’ve seen so far would probably be the Gracie and other forms of ju-jitsu (jiu-jutsu, whatever one of the hundreds of different spellings you prefer). 50 or 100 years ago, I would have said ninjutsu, but the people who practice that now have abandoned the concept of doing whatever it takes to do the job effectively, and have fallen into the mold of memorizing forms and trying to maintain the “purity” of the art.
Yeah, you say “what about jeet kune do?” but Bruce Lee said himself that it’s not an art. It’s a training method that involves learning as much as you can and discarding what doesn’t work for you personally, and refining what does. It’s not a style.
So there you have my $.02.
Joe Cool
How will I laugh tomorrow,
When I can’t even smile today?
Well, maybe, but a good boxer wouldn’t allow someone the advantage of kicking at long distance. In my view, a boxer, when given the added advantage of kicking/grabbing/gouging/no-holds-barred fighting would have a distinct advantage.
But I’m prejudiced. I boxed since I was 16 and boxed in the Army. I then took Tae Kwan Do. As a white belt, I could handle my Tae Kwan Do instructors “handily” depending on whether the rules were suspended or not.
It’s true that “you fight as you train.” If you don’t actually fight, and I mean try to literally knock the other guy’s block off, then you’re mainly just practicing choreography…and that ain’t all that helpful.
If you really want to learn to “fight,” and you don’t mind going to work with black eyes and an aching rib cage, then boxing is the way to go.
Or, find a dojo that incorporates plenty of full-contact sparring. Anything less isn’t really preparatory, IMHO.
That’s exactly my point. there isn’t anything special about boxing as such. The only thing special about it is the way they train. If tae kwon do students trained the way muay Thai boxers and American boxers (meaning the american style, not the nationality) train, then who knows who would win? But they would be much more dangerous individuals.
As to a boxer no longer restricted to rules, you do fight as you train. Since you train to punch and slip, then that’s all you will do for the most part. Anything you have to think about is not an effective thing to do in a real fight. That’s the reason you train–so you can react, not waste time thinking, “ok, he’s swinging at me…I think I’ll slip to the right and counter with a left to the body…” you just do it.
That’s the reason I say a kickboxer (with the same strenuous training as a boxer–that is essential to the example!) would win. He’s already accustomed to throwing full power kicks, punches, knee & elbow hits, etc. I wasn’t disparaging boxing itself. On the contrary, boxers train the way I wish all martial artists would train.
And we are in 100% agreement that anything less than full power training is not good enough to prepare you for a real fight. That’s the reason I rarely get hurt anymore. a few years of getting hit by guys who know how to hit really makes a bump on the head feel like nothing.
Amen.
Just a side note…do you remember the first time your instincts came together just right, you slipped under the right cross, shuffled your stance, and landed the world’s most perfect left hook flush on your opponent’s jaw? (or whatever the equivalent in whichever martial art) You see your opponent stagger and his eyes glaze, and for just a moment, you feel omnipotent.
Of course, two days later, you get knocked on your ass by someone two weight classes lighter than you. An instant humility re-fill.