Martial Arts Practitioners i have a question.

[Viking 0]

In terms of pracital uses where does Kung Fu stand? In your opinion which is the most useful style in real life?

I swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver
My God has a bigger dick than your god -George Carlin

[SkydivingNurse 0]

I practice Wing Chun. It's a pretty useful style. There aren't a whole lot of flashy hollywood kicks, no "let's spin round 360 degrees to do something" moves. I have never had to use it, which I am grateful for, so I can't tell you how well it would serve in a bar full of drunken idiots looking to get into trouble. You don't need to be super flexible or really strong to use it. It's also a fairly brutal style when it needs to be. I haven't studied any other styles, so I can't speak for how useful they would be.
(and just in case anyone is wondering, I studied with Sifu Dave Meadows in Norfolk, Virginia. His Sifu was Duncan Leung. Mr. Leung learned from Yip Man)

[bodypilot1 0]

No style is really useful in real life nowaday.
It's and art of the body and mind.
Fighting should only be use in need of defense, or when someone writes a check bigger than their ass can cash.

-

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[jkwon 0]

I studied Tae Kwon Do for a long while and got my black belts trained competed some more and did the whole jazz...To be honest with you the more I learned the less I was wanting to compete. It was more for the control. No matter what martial art you do they are all practical when you learn them well. You are a leathal force when you can mame someone with a single blow...but when are you ever going to do that. If you want something that will get you out of a bar fight learn to control the situation by being the bigger man and walking away from fights or breaking up a fight.

The great thing about martial arts is that you gain a lot of confidence being trained and this in hand leads to less fighting.

my .02

--joe
HISPA #69
The Best Band in the WORLD!!!
The new full length album "See What You Can Find"

[Viking 0]

Ok so which syles are more geared towards defense?

I swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver
My God has a bigger dick than your god -George Carlin

[ifics 0]

Wrestling skills with some sort of striking (Kick boxing, Muay Thai, boxing ect...) would probably have the best real life application.. I always go back to UFC because if you get into a 1 on 1 fight it will almost always end up like that..

Wrestling skills will be really effective if you know submissions.. So if you want the best defense some sort of submission wrestling would be a good start.. If you cant find a place that teaches that, Brazilian Jujitsu is just as good if not better...

[jkwon 0]

Try judo...It's an up close and personal martial art. If you get REALLY good at Tae Kwon Do you'd never let an opponent any closer than leg striking distance. Once the opponent closes this distance, Tae Kwon Do is some what useless if you are not highly skilled. That's when some other martial art like judo or any grappelling martial art comes into play.

Judo is a purely defensive martial art which relies on an opponent to strike in order to use his own offense against himself.

So if you can take both...TKD on Mondays and Wednesdays and Judo on Thursdays and Saturdays your pretty much set.

--joe
HISPA #69
The Best Band in the WORLD!!!
The new full length album "See What You Can Find"

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

I have heard some good things about Krav Maga, which is supposed to be some Israeli-origin practical self-defense combat "style." I think it is taught to their fighting forces. What I know of it is that it is supposed to be tailored to real-world fighting, and uses, in part, quick, fight-ending strikes. It even was mentioned in an episode of Malcolm In The Middle a few years ago, when his girlie-friend jabbed abusive brother Reese in the throat with her fingertips and totally disabled him. My brother is taking lessons in it on Nantucket, and from what little he's told me of it, he seems to like it. I plan to look into a school here in Palm Beach county.

-

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[bodypilot1 0]

Jujitsu would be the best for submission IMO.
To contain and overtake at any moment you see something may harm you.
-

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[Squeak 17]

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Ok so which syles are more geared towards defense?

For defence Akido works very well (watch Steven Segal).

For all round arse kicking to save your own arse, I lean towrds Thai fighting or Sicaran (Philipino fighting). they work very well in close quarters.

I've done Tae Kon Do, and a little kick boxing (Thai) but i tend to think that the better you can defend yourself in confined areas the better. Preferentially though I'd rather just walk away and ignore the dick. (IRL not always possible)

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[Tonto 1]

No System really works.

What works is the person involved believing they can acheive what is required in the moment dispite the risk involved.

I did 12 years of Judo at school, then about 10 years of Wing Chun, and now I'm doing Jow Ga.

In the middle somewhere, I started to fight. A lot. Then I worked as a bouncer, for years. If it's your 400th fight, you have the same edge that you have in the door with 400 dives more than a 1st jumper. No matter how strong, brave or talented, they're in a position which is somewhat alien to them. Sparing and competition fights are largely dances without music. You can only learn to fight by fighting when the outcome is uncertain, getting hurt, losing. We don't learn from our hits. We learn from our misses.

I prefer chinese styles to Japanese styles because of my body type, but any "art" or "system" is simply a way to improve ourselves physically and mentally. They all work and will improve your life without ever having to fight. If you want to learn to defend yourself, learn to use a small ball payne hammer, a knife and a gun. They work well when the chips are down.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[tunaplanet 0]

Kung Fu is on the weaker end along with Tae Kwon Do, Kempo and other primary kicking styles. They are extremely useless in a fight against an opponent that has any sort of grappling experience.

Grapplers rule the fights with BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) being the absolute best. BJJ is a grappling style focusing 99% on submissions (choke holds, arm bars, knee bars, key locks, etc...). It is hands down the most effcient style of fighting.

Take a look back at some of the early NHB/MMA fights, particularly the UFCs and PRIDE's. You'll find grapplers win almost every one of those fights where styles such as Kempo, Tae Kwon Do and Kung Fu rate very poorly.

There is a man named Keith Hackney. He was a Kempo stylist. He entered the UFCs and did ok against non-grapplers. Then when he had to square up against them (Royce Gracie and others) he got destroyed. Later he admitted in an interview that he wished he would have taken all the time he used learning Kempo and lhad learned BJJ instead. Hackney did learn grappling and now (or used to last I heard) teaches a hybrid grappling style.

No matter how good you are at a kicking style it is impossible to prevent someone from taking you to the ground. Take a look at Royce Gracie in some UFC highlights. He takes men down without blinking. And once the fight hits the ground it is over.

BJJ is so useful compared to other styles it has what is commonly referred to in the martial arts world as the 7-1 rule. That means for every year you take of BJJ you would be as skilled in a fight as someone that took 7 years in another style.

If you're interested let me know and I'll hook you up with some BJJ stylists out in California.

Forty-two

[JackC 0]

After many years of Judo and Sil Lum Kune Kung Fu, and plenty of rough boozers, I can say that Tonto is 100% correct.

[Tonto 1]

You know little about Kung Fu if you beleive it's a primary kicking style.

All fights end up on the floor.

Having said that, grappling is useless against multiples. While you hold the one, the other could strangle you with their shoelaces. Royce Gracie is not a "quick" winner, dispite being undisputed master of his domain.

"No rules" fighting competitions are full of rules. No biting of cheeks, ears, noses, throats or other wobbly bits. No ripping off of ears, eye gouging, single hand throat crushes. No snapping of individually pried off fingers, throwing people from heights or into a nearby fire. No drowning. etc, etc.

When you really fight - those are all open options - and you're an idiot not to use them. I try not to fight - but if I do, I'm trying to permanently maim or kill the person who has chosen to fight me ASAP using whatever tools are available to me. I don't care if it's in a bar, at the bonfire or in the traffic. Fighting is not a game, and if forced into submission you are relying on your attackers goodwill to survive.. which is questionable, since they just attacked you.

Ask yourself -

What will I fight for?
What will I kill for?
What will I die for?

If your answers to all three questions are not the same, don't fight. The truth is that if you choose to fight you may no longer be able to control the outcome of that fight.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[pajarito 0]

When I was in Kosovo, I was privileged to study under a Greek Grand Champion for a short while and he taught my team a combination of both Aikijutsu (much more violent predecessor to Aikido with its flowing movements, joint locks, and throws) and Jujitsu (with its grappling techniques). I think those have deadly real-world practicality. Unless you learn how to handle yourself when the fight goes to the ground, you're probably going to get your ass kicked. All those pretty high-flying kicks breaking boards are just that......pretty. You'd better be lightening fast and accurate if you're going to make those count.

[skydived19006 4]

I would also agree that the grappling techniques (Ahkedo, Hopkedo, (spelling) etc.) would be the most beneficial in real life. These techniques can be used for submission, or to really hurt someone, fold their arm back at the elbow and you’ll take a lot of steam out of em.
Really, I unless you’re a bouncer or something, if you’re needing to “defend” yourself often my guess would be that you may be the problem.
I believe that learning a martial art is excellent for children as well. Obviously not so they can go to school and kick ass, but to learn discipline, and to have the confidence to know that they don’t have to fight!

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

[gmanpilot 0]

Quote

"No rules" fighting competitions are full of rules. No biting of cheeks, ears, noses, throats or other wobbly bits. No ripping off of ears, eye gouging, single hand throat crushes. No snapping of individually pried off fingers, throwing people from heights or into a nearby fire. No drowning. etc, etc.

Tonto seems to be right here. If you want to survive a violent encounter, you have to be mentallly willing to, at a minimum, permanently injure your enemy. It's all about training. I never knew you could rip off someone's ear until I was trained to do it. Never had cause to do it though, I'll bet it hurts like a mofo. With respect to a school, I would look for one that teaches a mixture of the most effective techniques from multiple styles.

_________________________________________
-There's always free cheese in a mouse trap.

[beowulf 1]

A big part of Royce Gracie not being real fast in UFC is because he is fighting people that are in top form in their respective arts. It is unlikely to find many of them in street fights. I would definitely put money on Royce over the average street fighter. It would go alot quicker then the fights in the UFC.


When I took Brazilian style Jui Jitsu one of the things done to practice was having 4 of the best students line up and all of the rest would take turns trying to put one of them into a submission hold. It kept going like that for about 10 min. things went pretty quickly.

It doesn't take very long to get someone to pass out from a choke hold done properly. One student was very tenacious and occaisonally would refuse to tap out and would fight a choke hold a second too long and pass out. Not recommended. The instructor was not too happy.

[happythoughts 0]

Over the years, I have taken - Shotokan (Jap hard style), Goju (Jap hard/soft), Kung Fu, Aikido, Tae Kwon Do. I have a brown belt in 3 styles, so I have a diverse experience.

Aikido/Kung Fu - it was taught to me in an impractical fashion from the standpoint of fighting. People rarely fight in that fashion.
Grappling styles - most other styles teach how to break grappling holds.

Tae Kwon Do - probably best for a guy with your height, 80% leg techniques. At brown-belt, TKD also teaches knife defense/attack.

I have did tournament karate competitions in college and was on teams. Tourney martial arts and tv stuff with rules is different from bar fights, but it will teach you to get over the butterflies and fear of being hit.

Bar fights are all about mental attitude. The willingness to really injure someone. I taught women's self-defense. The hardest hurdle to overcome was to make them stop being nice.

[crzjp20 0]

i have to say akido and shotokan.

shoto is a style that does not emphasize kicks but blocks and what not. it is more in the hands and arms then in the legs.

Akido is alot og breaks and grappling and is taught to alot og cops, and marines.

bottom line is though, martial arts has taught me to defend myself yeah, but it has taught me to avoid the situation and just walk away more than anything else. There has onl;y been one isntance where i had to use my training( a guy broke into my dorm room to come after my roommate which was not there) and the akido really took over. the guy ended up in jail with a couple broken ribs.

so ether way they all have their ups and downs but it is a matter of finding what you are good at. I am a small guy who has short legs so stuff with my hands is great thats why i diid good in both akido and shotokan...

anyways.... i got to go to work.

--------------------------------------------------
Fear is not a confession of weakness, it is an oportunity for courage.

[happythoughts 0]

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i have to say akido and shotokan.

shoto is a style that does not emphasize kicks but blocks and what not. it is more in the hands and arms then in the legs.

I agree. Shotokan is about 50% hands, 50% feet.
There isn't many showy types of kicks. Jap. styles tend to be direct and forceful.

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bottom line is though, martial arts has taught me to defend myself yeah, but it has taught me to avoid the situation and just walk away more than anything else.

That is so true. If you are in a situation, your attitude and presentation can get you out of a lot of stuff. It hurts less to not fight, if possible.

Viking is pretty tall. A style with a lot of kicks is in his favor.

[outrager 6]

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In terms of pracital uses where does Kung Fu stand? In your opinion which is the most useful style in real life?

In my rather short experience, any no-contact or point sparring school will be very limited. I have done 3 years of Shorin-ryu and while a beautiful art, it isn't very useful in a real fight (at least as it is tought these days).

The closest to "practical uses" is probably Mixed Martial Arts crowd. Most MMA fighters usualy belong to either grappling (mainly Brazilian Jujitsu) camp, or full-contact stand-up styles (Muay Thai, Kyokushinkai and its spinoffs). Either will advocate "obvious advantages" of their approach, but the best ones are training in both. Combining Muay Thai and BJJ is probably the best practical mix.

I switched to Enshin karate (a spinoff from Kyokushinkai with lots of grabs and some throws added). Its stand-up part isn't far from what MT teaches, plus grabs, moving into blind spots and throws. Enshin lacks grappling on the ground, intentionaly i believe - its founder practiced Judo a lot and keeps it as a separate piece.

Now i wish i never did no-contact stuff, had to unlearn a lot of bad habbits and myths.

Kung Fu is a very wide term, it can be all over the place. Unless it is tought as a full-contact fight-to-kill art it will not help much with self-defence.

There is another point i now believe in strongly: any style that stays "ancient" or "traditional" and does not constantly develop is bound to fall behind and die. All sports have advanced so much just in the last, say, 50 years that rigidly sticking with "centuries proven" system is like fighting a modern war with a bow and arrows.

bsbd!

Yuri.

[Luv2Fall 0]

Grappling one-on-one only - hands down. It's nothing for a one-on-one encounter to go to the ground. Two or more attackers, you're gonna get your ass handed to you unless your trained in some type striking "art" in a lot of cases......don't let anyone tell you any differently. How fast can you run lol. I was engage to my wife who witnessed this.......I was jumped by three guys outside a 7-11 about 2:30 in the morning on Jefferson Davis Hwy in Richmond, VA. after having closed down a bar (for once I was glad I wasn't drunk).......I won't about to go to the ground....and I didn't.......pricks got what they deserved......well two of them anyway. Anyone here familiar with JD Hwy can tell you.....it's not a nice place lol.

Don't restrict yourself in studying "arts" styles/systems........definately grappling for 1-on-1 encounters.........striking arts for multiple assholes. It goes without saying, the ultimate victory would be able to walk away or avoid if at all possible.......if not................

BTW, these days, it doesn't hurt to pack (legally) either...........I do.

EDITED TO ADD:

The JD 7-11 incident could have been avoided entirely if I hadn't been so immature and kept my mouth shut.

[TheAnvil 0]

What exactly are YOU looking to get out of a martial art?

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[beowulf 1]

Right down the road from where I work is a Ninja school. You could try that.
Here is their website. www.artofcombat.com
When I first noticed I couldn't stop laughing. Never went in there to check it out. Who knows maybe they really know what they are doing?