20+ years of martial arts experience here and there’s some terrible advice in here. Any martial art that doesn’t have an active competition scene is garbage in terms of self defense. This includes krav maga, aikido, most types of kung fu (except sanda and shuai jiou). I spent half of those 20 years doing aikido and hapkido, and they were largely useless.
In the competitive martial arts, wrestling, judo, Brazilian Jiujitsu, Muay Thai, and boxing are the gold standards. Most MMA is a combination of those four and definitely the most effective. I don’t like getting punched in the face so I stick with jiujitsu (brown belt). Karate is hit or miss, but some styles like kyokushin are really good.
I’ve been talking about self defense effectiveness. If you just want to get in shape, then pretty much anything that makes you sweat is going to work for that. Just don’t do krav expecting to be a killer, no matter how much camo your instructor wears.
What would you say are the best martial arts for a performer to learn? I’ve been wanting to pick up one or two just to borrow for my repertoires. The ideal is something that is flashy and “ok” for self defense (even if not the best).
Tae kwon do kicks are flashy and can look cool if done well. I think wushu looks amazing even if it’s more dance than martial art. Judo throws look cool too AND it’s very effective.
20+ years of martial arts experience here and there’s some terrible advice in here. Any martial art that doesn’t have an active competition scene is garbage in terms of self defense. This includes krav maga, aikido, most types of kung fu (except sanda and shuai jiou). I spent half of those 20 years doing aikido and hapkido, and they were largely useless.
In the competitive martial arts, wrestling, judo, Brazilian Jiujitsu, Muay Thai, and boxing are the gold standards. Most MMA is a combination of those four and definitely the most effective. I don’t like getting punched in the face so I stick with jiujitsu (brown belt). Karate is hit or miss, but some styles like kyokushin are really good.
I’ve been talking about self defense effectiveness. If you just want to get in shape, then pretty much anything that makes you sweat is going to work for that. Just don’t do krav expecting to be a killer, no matter how much camo your instructor wears.
What would you say are the best martial arts for a performer to learn? I’ve been wanting to pick up one or two just to borrow for my repertoires. The ideal is something that is flashy and “ok” for self defense (even if not the best).
Tae kwon do kicks are flashy and can look cool if done well. I think wushu looks amazing even if it’s more dance than martial art. Judo throws look cool too AND it’s very effective.
Tae kwon do kicks are flashy and can look cool if done well. I think wushu looks amazing even if it’s more dance than martial art.
Tae kwon do kicks are flashy and can look cool if done well. I think wushu looks amazing even if it’s more dance than martial art.