Martial Arts Styles Best for Self Defense
An image a person doing some moves in the mountains wearing a martial arts GI might come to your mind. While there are countless physical and mental health benefits of martial arts but the one that can be listed as number one regarding everyday life important is self-defense.
You never know when you are in a situation that is hard to get out of, which would just have been better if you know some self-defense techniques and how to handle yourself.
Today is about self-defense and here we have listed from top to bottom the best self-defense martial art styles. Every martial art is not the best when it comes to self-defense but there is no superior martial art. What a person better is how good they are at a specific martial art style. Let’s together have a look and get some insights.
Krav Maga
Krav Maga is one of the best self-defense and fitness workouts. It literally translates to battle contact and was developed for real-life battle situations like quickly disarming the opponent. The training includes intense workouts and drills consisting of punches, kicks, locks, chokes, and disarming an opponent of the fake weapons. Be ready to practice with rubber knives and guns.
In real life there are no rules and survival are everything. Thus, to survive you should be willing to do what it takes. This is what Krav Maga is about. Training the pressure point and groin kicks and punches, poking the eyes, and even breaking joints or bones is what makes this ultimate survival art. If you are ready to exercise all this then start now. But don’t look for some tournaments to take part in because there aren’t any for Krav Maga.
MMA
Initially the sport was just some people fighting a blood sport with an opponent. But with time and rise in its popularity it is a proper martial art style. MMA is short for mixed martial arts and this is exactly what it is, a mix of different martial art forms. Because you would have to learn different martial art styles, leaning MMA requires more time, money, and commitment than others.
The fact that MMA includes stand-up and ground-based fighting, teaches grappling, kicks, punches, chokes, and clinching improving flexibility, speed, strength, and power makes rank among the best self-defense art forms. Apart from that it makes a great workout due to its intense training. So, are you ready to take a challenge?
Wing Chun
Wing Chun is a Chinese martial art that was refined by Ip Man in Hong Kong. Its teachings are quick arm movements and strong legs that help to defeat an opponent. The initial training stages you will be focusing on visualization and maintaining a balance. As you progress you will be training rapid strikes, the famous fast continuous punches, and even fighting with weapons.
The progress here could be slow because you have to deeply understand and master previous stage to step onto the next one.
Muay Thai
Muay Thai is a stand-up martial art style from Thailand and includes many clinching, punching, and kicking techniques. It is called the art of eight limbs because you can use the fists, feet, knees, and elbows which makes eight of your bones. Muay Thai is really great martial art style for self-defense making your body the tool you need for defense. Because of the intense training it is also one of the best martial arts that make a good workout routine. Its popularity blew up with the Hollywood movies like kickboxer and Ong Bak.
BJJ
Every time I hear BJJ, I see Royce Gracie fighting in his white BJJ GI, and it wants me make join BJJ immediately. Royce Gracie, no doubt was born in a famous family, while you can say the partial reason of his popularity is Gracie family but the person is an ideal figure and has great talent.
BJJ is a martial art style with focuses on grappling with particular emphasis on ground based fighting. The self-dense works by putting the opponent in a hold that will either knock them out, dislocate the joint, or impose intense pain. The BJJ techniques started to acquire the fame they were worth when Royce Gracie dominate the early UFC tournaments.
BJJ has two types, one in which you wear a GI which is traditional BJJ and the other one is called No-GI and you don’t wear a BJJ GI in that. In No Gi you would wear a pair of shorts and a T-shirt or a rash guard. BJJ might seem like two people laying down on the mat but it works on the muscles you never have worked on plus it is extremely wearing on the body.
It is not the primary choice for self-defense, because you would first have to take the opponent to the ground. So, you might also want to learn some standing fighting techniques.
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Tae Kwon Do
What is it? Hailing from Korea, Tae Kwon Do is one of the broadest forms of study. Statistically speaking, it has more followers than any other martial art and it’s even an Olympic sport. Attacks include punches, kicks and throws.
Where you’ve seen it: It’s one of the most entertaining events at each summer Olympics. There are also probably plenty of gyms in your area that teach the techniques. The flying kicks make their way into may video games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, too.
The expectations
Most Tae Kwon Do programs include a wide variety of activities. You’ll do a lot of drills and a fair bit of sparring, but there are also other things like relaxation techniques, standard cardiovascular exercises and the ever-popular act of breaking crap like boards and bricks with your hands and feet.
Is it right for you? Because the programs can vary so much, it’s important to really check out the gym and observe a bit before committing. Since much of the sparring is done in full gear, there’s often a lot of stuff to buy. That means more protection for you, though. And because of its Olympic status, finding opportunities for competition shouldn’t be tough.
Judo
What is it? Hailing from Japan in the late 1800s, Judo concentrates on throws and chokes, almost totally lacking strikes of any kind. Other marital arts like Sambo and Jiu Jitsu are actually off-shoots of Judo.
Where you’ve seen it
Again, there are plenty of Judo elements in MMA. If you’ve ever seen the legendary Fedor Emilianenko fight, you’ve seen him use Judo and Sambo to dominate opponents (at least until recently). Also, like Tae Kwon Do, it’s an Olympic sport.
The expectations
If you want to hit people, this isn’t the place to be. The only time strikes are thrown are during kata or forms, which are pre-arranged fight scenarios designed to practice defending against strikes and show off the capabilities of Judo. You can also expect to get thrown on the ground.
A lot. In fact, it’s likely that every session, or at least most of them, will be spent practicing falling so it’ll hurt less when you get taken down.
Is it for you?
While it has lost some ground to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo is still extremely popular when it comes to competition. While there’s no striking, there’s still plenty of impact and if you’re in it for self-defense purposes, it’s more practical than BJJ. It’s a full-body workout, but your core and your grip will get the worst of it.
The idea of paying money so you can go get beaten up at some place might sound insane. This is what martial arts is but it is extremely beneficial. The benefits of marital arts go beyond just the physical fitness. In everyday life you would have to defend yourself and even your loved ones. But you cannot do that well enough if you are just fit.
No matter how much you ignore or deny, the only self-defense tool you will with you all the time is your body. Plus, most of the real-life situations are close combat.
