Which martial arts style would you suggest?

[TheAverageBear]

I'm looking into taking martial arts classes, but I want to take the right one for me. Which class do you take, and what makes it so good?

 

[kokoro]

the one with the better instructor, what good is the style if the instructor cant teach.


There is no best style.
They will all work as long as you train right and have a good instructor.

Your size, body type and sex have nothing to do with the style you want to choose. People that think that your size and body type determine the style know little to nothing about martial arts

Most people will tell you there style is the best or they heard such and such is a great style,
The style is not important, what matters is how good your instructor is and how you train. The style is secondary, they all have there pro's and con's there are no superior styles.
If you have an instructor that can’t teach you how to fight, regardless of the style, what good would it do you?

Choose a school with a good instructor in the end that’s all that matters, that and how you train.
Its the person that has the ability to fight not the style

 

[MrWolfWolfington]

I would suggest finding a good instructor because when you are looking for schools its better to find the best instruction. The style is secondary. There are plenty of styles to choose from, but what good is a style if it has a bad instructor? You should take a look at whats around in your area. Visit the schools, and talk to the instructors. See which one you like more. Many schools offer trial classes so you can see what its like before you sign up.

My style is Kenpo Karate, and renzoku jiu jitsu. They are fun, but to each his own.

 

[Frankthetank1]

One that is close to your home, that you can take as often as possible, under a good instructor.

Check out martial art schools in your area, try at least one class and then decide.

 

[Emzii]

I don't think the style really matters. What does matter is the club you attend and how good the instructors are. Go and watch a few clubs and observe how they run. Look for:

1. Good behaviour
2. Not too many young black belts
3. Respect between everyone there
4. Students calling their instuctor sensei
5. People putting effort in
6. Not ridiculously high prices
7. Clubs that charge nightly and do not charge in advance

 

[Ymarsakar]

I take classes based upon what I want to learn, do, and improve on. So I chose Tim Larkin's system because I wanted immediate solutions to high level threats. Aikido because lethal force was of limited utility when it came to anti-social or social situations, thus aikido's non-lethal approach is a nice supplement, and as a bonus aikido's (sub-branch=aikibujutsu from http://www.shinkendo.com/) hybrid locks and throws were something I was already conceptually familiar with from Larkin's training methodology. More complicated and at times rather unrealistic in terms of application, but I expected such complexity when learning non-lethal holds and locks. I could always go back to my backup, that I was familiar with, if the complicated technique refuses to work. As I tell people, killing and maiming and crippling humans is rather easy in comparison to trying to make them submit or stop fighting without harming em.

In general, if you want to learn throwing first, take judo. If you want to wrestle and be on the ground, while still taking a Japanese derived joint lock system, BJJ. For a more balanced experience between striking, locking, and throwing, Japanese JJ. For kicking, TKD. For striking, boxing, muay thai, and karate. For striking with some grappling, karate and kung fu.


If you are completely inexperienced, just attend a bunch of classes as an observer and see what looks interesting to you. It is standard protocol to ask to observe or attend trial lessons, without making a commitment, in the American martial arts community. My experience is that people usually find a liking for one of the 3 main types of fighting skill sets: striking, joint locks, and throwing. Aikido is a hybrid of joint locks with throws often times in the technique, with striking much less emphasized. This is why Aikido is hard for pure beginners to understand. Striking is generally accepted as more natural for new people to comprehend. Throwing is the most complicated because you need an experienced partner to learn it, with joint locks somewhere in the middle. TKD emphases leg strikes, but less on hand strikes for WTF. ITF is a bit more balanced there.

The dojo quality and instructor ratio to student, is very important yes. But right now, you should first find what you are interested in, then pare it down and prioritize it based upon quality/cost. Your time is limited and you can't take everything at once, so optimally you want something you have an "interest" for, an attraction for, and it is high quality training.