Trying to pick a martial art, please help

I’d suggest Judo.

Given your self described weight and body image, and you wanting to have some fun, Judo is probably the best choice.

Someone might say that Jujitsu is better, but Judo has the advantage of allowing you to dispatch multiple opponents quicker and easier, and handles conventional weapon defence better than Jujitsu. In the Octagon, Jujitsu is always better, especially when dealing with one on one, no weapon fights.

You can also carry Judo through-out your life without having to do streches. It’s one of the few arts I learned in my late teens that I still can execute. No way can I do the kicks from Tae Kwon Do, or remember the details of Hapkido. But I can toss you across the room if you move on me… That’s helpful in itself…

And it’s not gay if you want to practice together, but you may find there are women in your class you may want to wrestle with. ;)

K

They won’t technically hurt you – they’ll just lock you into some hold that is slightly uncomfortable, but produces blinding pain if you try and move aggressively towards them. If you get nidans with senses of humor, they will softly say “why do you keep hurting yourself” while doing this.

I practiced shotokan in undergrad and aikido in grad school. I was in decent shape already, but shotokan gave me more of a secondary workout than aikido. Aikido helped my flexibility more, and it may provide a decent workout if you aren’t in shape.

Shotokan was a lot more competitive and testosterone-laden. I stuck with aikido longer than I did shotokan, because I agreed with its philosophy of harmony and because my fellow practitioners were more fun to hang out with than the intense shotokan guys.

Good god man, is that your idea of “not absolutely savage?” No, thanks for your input. But I’m too much of a wuss for those.[/quote]

Extra, I was a pretty hardcore mixed martial artist dude at one time, and I think aikido is definitely the best choice for you, at least to start. It’ll teach you some cool stuff, give you some relatively light workouts to start, and you’ll probably find it more interesting than boxing or something else relatively basic.

If you want to try something a little more strenous after a while (or initially), then I’d recommend one of the basic karate types, like shotokan or Goju — or Jujitsu, which is essentially aikido+. I would NOT recommend taikwando, or boxing, or muay Thai unless you get in good shape and find you want to explore more competitive sports more.

I stuck with aikido longer than I did shotokan, because I agreed with its philosophy of harmony and because my fellow practitioners were more fun to hang out with than the intense shotokan guys.

This is another good point that I failed to mention. Aikido, because of its overall philosophy of harmony and non-aggression, generally draws people who tend to be more forgiving to new students. You will definitely see less of the aggressive, violent, or highly competitive spirited people in an Aikido school. Of course, Aikido has its share of hardcore students and instructors, but the overall vibe tends to be less hyperactive.

There was a time when we would spar against a few Thai kickboxers, and our sensei would always joke. “Ah, I see there are barbarians at the gates…”

Here is a fine Aikido resource:

I know I shouldn’t… but I can’t resist.

Behold the Aikido fag! :D

An exhaustive source of information for anyone who wants to grapple with their sparring partner, over and over again.

Well, I can’t recommend my style if you want it easy. Like the guys above said Wu-Shu is demanding on the body,streching exc. I’d go with Akido or Hapkido. I got a friend that is doing Hapkido and loving it, but I honestly don’t know much about that style other than it seems to be a cross of TKD and Akido. I love watching the Akido guys.

I want one of that guys swords…that katana is beautiful.

I would recommend weapons training though. I love my Bo and Dao. Having a focus for individual training has increased all of my martial arts. I HAVE to ‘play’ with my Bo every day.

Sparring. I have to recommend it after you have the basics under your belt, if only to get used to controlling the fight or flight response. I’m not talking about BS point sparring, but free style. There are still rules, but it is about as close to the real thing as you can get, short of going to a bar and picking a fight. you have to try out your skills at full speed in a chaotic setting just to get a feel of the flow. I see so many MA’s that are almost robotic in thier motions. Step one…step two… Each combo should be one move, no thought just doing.

I’d suggest Judo.

I concur.

I have done Judo throughout most of my life, and I am still fairly competent even though I only do classes for a few weeks a year. If you ever need to defend yourself, it’s nigh impossible to take somebody down without a gun if they know Judo.

Good god man, is that your idea of “not absolutely savage?”

No, thanks for your input. But I’m too much of a wuss for those.[/quote]

Depends on how hard you train them really. Lots of places do boxing/MT training these days for fitness and self defence not just to get in the ring and fight full contact. BJJ is suprisingly relaxing, especially if you are doing it right. It also has a sporting and self defence aspect, as well as the more well known no holds barred/vale tudo.

Based on your requirements, I think you’d be better off with yoga than a martial art. If that’s too girly for you, then try to find tai chi. But aikido won’t do much for your level of fitness and judo is pretty competition-oriented.

I’ll go against the grain and recommend a striking art - take your pick, but like the others I’d suggest against TKD.

Striking arts like the various kenpos, karates and kung fus are a more dynamic workout than the aikido/judo/jujitsu stuff. I also find them more fun, personally, though in terms of self-defence I’d consider judo to be the best value (ease of learning, relevance, quality).

The other problem with striking arts is that there are so many bad schools, especially in the karate/kung fu line, that you really have to pick through them carefully.

Also, sparring is more fun with strikers.

Okay. :twisted: That being said, I’ve got a nidan in Yoshinkan Aikido, so I think I can chime in on the subject accordingly.

extrabags, everyone here seems to have given you pretty good advice. Aikido will give you a decent workout, and teach you some good self-defense skills. I noticed that’s an ASU school in your link so it might be a little softer, but that can vary from dojo to dojo.

As it’s an ASU school, there will be no competitions. People have been somewhat incorrect in stating there is no competition in Aikido. Shodokan or Tomiki style Aikido focuses much of their time on competition. It’s very similar to judo style randori. And no one, unless they are the aiki-fruity type, will frown on you for having trained at a Shodakan dojo.

Aikido dojos do tend to be the most freindly of all the martial arts. The underlying philosophy of the art encourages it. Not to mention it attracts rather open minded people. I’ve also found that it seems to attract more professionals and women than most other martial arts. The underlying philosophy of the art and, depending on what style of Aikido, the actually physicality of the classes can be…not too physically demanding, which make it appealing to both these groups.

If after a time you feel the need to move onto something else, judo would be an easy next step and provide you with solid training.

All that being said, Aikido is really good for self defense and for law enforcement who must control and defend. But it is horrible for fighting. Fighters will never over commit in a way that is necessary for Aikido to work well. I quit 2 years ago and switched over to Sambo (Russian judo/wrestling/jiu-jitsu) and MMA training because I’m a young, healthy, fit male (ie young and dumb) and am more interested in real fighting at this point in my life. Now, when I’m forty, I’ll probably want to head back to Aikido because I do agree with its philosophy and because if practised carefully, can be done well into old age.

But more important than any of this, and I’m suprised no one has said this yet, the NUMBER ONE MOST IMPORTANT THING to look for in a martial arts school is…the teacher. It’s more important for you to go look at a variety of schools and get a feeling for the head instructor at each one. Any school should allow you to watch a class. If they don’t, leave and never go back there. To get a good assessment of the instructor, look at the senior students (they’ve got the black belts on). Are the people encouraging? Does it look like the instructor pays attention to all students, regardless of rank? Does the school have an atmosphere of comrodery and good training? These things should be apparent, even at tough, ready-to-rumble MMA-type schools. Though it will probably take on a different form.

Anyway, good luck! Hope you find what you’re looking for.


LAND ROVER PERENTIE HISTORY

I’ll throw my two cents in as a non-martial artist but as a spouse with a daughter and wife in martial arts. If it is available in your area, check out Youn Why Ryu TKD. The schools are called Grandmaster Han’s Martial Arts. The system is based on TKD but integrates a wide variety of other martial arts in its system including karate, judo, weapons training, etc.

My wife reluctantly joined after my then 6 year old started and she really enjoys it. She is a 35 year old non-athlete and she is in better shape because of the training. She doesn’t feel intimidated or left behind because her jumping kicks aren’t five feet off the ground like the 20 year old guys in the class. She just went to an advanced class on Friday that included a segment on knifefighting (both offensive and defensive). She showed me a couple of moves and let’s just say I hope she doesn’t pull a blade on me anytime soon.

On the financial side, you get a uniform when you sign up for free with a small charge for some patches, but there is no contract. You pay on a month to month basis. They encourage you to buy the sparring equipment from them as they usually have lower prices than online martial arts stores and they get a % of their sales. Testing for belts is ususlly every two months until you reach the mid level belts then the testing periods stretch out.

Everyone we have met in the system has been very nice including Grandmaster Han. You can check out more details at:

I hope you find the marial arts class that fits your needs.

I think you should be a pirate ninja.

Dick Van Donk Ninjutsu @ ninjutsu.com. The Van Donk clan is the most feared and respected. Countless enemy ninjas have gotten Van Donked on the head.

“Ninja’s, I can’t stand them, they’re everywhere”

I used to know some Ninja’s. Scary guys, not scary coz of Supersekrit Ninja Powers, but scary coz they were all mad as fuck. They used to run around in the local woods, stalking dog walkers… in full ninja costume, tabi’s, the works.

Oh, and regarding dojo’s make sure the one in question isnt on http://www.bullshido.net/

Check this guy out too Kung Fu Dude

I love the way the calmness, the pose, the shaolin scuttle and the direction changes translated into crazy flailing windmill like punches during the real fight.

The tide turns! Ok, a few more points:

  1. Out of curiousity (and don’t take this the wrong way :/), how long does it take to advance through the ranks of aikido? For instance, how long did it take you to get your nidan, Post-It? Just curious, forizzle.

  2. With regard to Tai Chi, I would love to learn it. I love the philosophy behind it, I love the way it works, I love the movements, and, as a Taoist, it’s a natural choice for me. The only problem is that I need something that will also give me real exercise, a bill the Tai Chi just doesn’t fit. And I have neither the time nor money to do both.

  3. By the same token, I’m not looking for something necessarily over-physical either. I’m a big wuss, basically, and I’m afraid of getting my ass beaten. I have to admit that Aikido really does seem to be a great middle ground.

  4. I know this is hard to answer, but what’s a good price range? I live in a suburb of Philadelphia, and I’m having a hard time finding comparison prices–is that $80/month fair? Anyone from this area know if that’s decent or not? Or just anyone from the suburbs of any large city?

  5. The thing that fascinates me about Kung Fu is the pursuit of knowledge aspect of it. There are just so many styles that it’s impossible to learn them all, and running around collecting them like Pokemon is something that appeals to me. But based on point number 3, perhaps I should stick to Jade Empire for that.

  6. A few months ago, I was in a car accident that left me with some back and neck pain. It’s mostly cleared up now with the help of physical therapy, but this occurred to me: would getting thrown down on an aikido mat be a bad idea? Would any martial art be a bad idea? Should I at least wait until my lawsuit is resolved?

7: DavidCPA: there does not appear to be one of those in my area.

If your trained properly you’ll be both physically and mentally confident enough not to make comments like that within short order ;)

How hard does this place spar? Theres full contact, semi, light, soft and that slow motion weenie rubbish some places do. Some traditional martial arts schools dont even spar at all but rely fully on kata’s instead.

  1. A few months ago, I was in a car accident that left me with some back and neck pain. It’s mostly cleared up now with the help of physical therapy, but this occurred to me: would getting thrown down on an aikido mat be a bad idea? Would any martial art be a bad idea? Should I at least wait until my lawsuit is resolved?

You dont get thrown down, as a student you must grab hold of your masters hand and hurl yourself head over foot across the room as he waves it about… at least thats what ive noticed in aikido demonstrations Ive seen.

Seriously though, speak to a specialist on that one. My (slight) back and neck problems cleared up once I put on some muscle and limbered up, but they werent accident related.

If your trained properly you’ll be both physically and mentally confident enough not to make comments like that within short order ;)

How hard does this place spar? Theres full contact, semi, light, soft and that slow motion weenie rubbish some places do. Some traditional martial arts schools dont even spar at all but rely fully on kata’s instead.[/quote]

Judging from what people have said in this thread, it’s not sparring, it’s taking turns pretending to attack someone and getting laid out. Aside from that, I have no idea.

But yes, I do expect that any martial art will make less of a wuss out of me in a relatively short time span. Which will also mean that if I do aikido for a little while and then decide I’d rather try something more competitive, my time won’t have been wasted.

As a general rule, yes. And, I might add, this is WAY more effective than the typical training you undergo with most other styles. In a typical dojo you practice techniques you will never use (e.g. hip punches, spinning back kicks, etc.). You practice these in isolation. You learn these skills without any context.

Then they say “Spar!” and you’re given headgear and gloves and you’re suddenly fighting in a fashion completely unrelated to your training.

Aikido’s method uses the tried and true learn-by-repetition. It eventually becomes second nature to perform X when Y situation presents itself. And the nature of the takedowns and holds generally means that there isn’t a fight, since if Y situation presents itself and you execute X, the fight is over. Contrast with a typical striking art of “dodge then counter” where the effectiveness of the counter is generally unknown (you might miss, they might dodge/block, it’s a glancing blow, you were weak about it, they have a very high pain tolerance, etc.)

I’ll have to throw into the discussion that all of my judo sparring has directly involved techniques I’ve practiced. If you don’t know the techniques properly you cannot get anything done on the mat.

Also, 80$ a month sounds extremely expensive to me. I’d consider that an above average fee for a semester’s worth of training, but I realise the market is different.