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How to Choose the Right Martial Art Style

How to Choose the Right Martial Art Style

No martial art style is better than the other; however, choosing one depends on your personal preference. Martial arts have many benefits for children and for adults alike. When you choose a style, the next step is to choose a martial art school or gym and the right trainer. Every martial art style is constructed with some specific goal. The forms we discuss here are for self-defense.

With the rising popularity for MMA, more people are shifting towards it. First, it doesn’t require a uniform, simply putting on your MMA shorts would do. Second, martial artists come from different disciplines and try and shift without any big problems. This is a combination of different martial arts hence the name mixed martial arts. Some martial arts are more effective than others when it comes to self-defense and protection. Today we would have a look at the best martial arts disciplines for self-defense. The list you see below is presented in no particular order.

The learning purposes

The purpose of learning martial arts matters a lot in the selection of your martial art style. So, first of all, you should be clear about what you aspire to learn. For instance, if your purpose is fitness then selecting criteria would be different than if you want to learn self-defense, or to become a professional martial artist. Self-defense is a completely different game of professional fighting. This article is written to list the best martial art styles for self-defense purposes. Let’s have a look at the disciplines now.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Two competitors have a fight in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a.k.a. BJJ is a ground-based martial arts style. BJJ is the martial art that promotes the idea of winning against a bigger stronger opponent. This happens by teaching you how to take leverage and take advantage of the body and situations. This is one of the best martial arts for shorter people and thus the reason for its popularity. But it effectively works for larger individuals too. It teaches chokeholds and joint locks but you would have to train in BJJ GI. If some gym allows you to train without it, it is not the right one.

Muay Thai

Two fighters have a competition in Muay Thai ring

Muay Thai a.k.a. art of eight limbs is also known as kickboxing. However, it is a slightly different form of Muay Thai. It is one of the best martial arts for self-defense as you learn to use your elbows, knees, kicks, punches as defense and offense tools. Apart from that, it teaches numerous clinching techniques which also come in handy. Making your body a moving weapon is good martial art for self-defense. No wonder why it is famous for its brutal and fatal blows!

MMA

A fighter in blue shorts is dominating in Mix Martial Arts competition

Mixed Martial Arts, short for MMA, recently rose in popularity thanks to some famous UFC fights. This art form was primarily developed and formed for self-defense. The fact that it combines different martial art techniques for defense and offense makes it one of the great ones. Including grappling, joint locks, chokes, standing and ground-based fighting techniques you have so much to learn. Thus, learning a better self-defense mechanism. It is also the most brutal martial art form. If you like to have an idea watch some UFC fights, and this is with the limitations and rules. Think of what you can do without those limitations.

Boxing

This Box match seems like over with knocking out

Boxing is also very famous, with most of the credit going to Hollywood movies like Rocky and Creed. Other than that, it is fairly popular and one of the ancient styles. In boxing, you would only use the hands for jabs and punches. There are no kicks, chokes or clinching. But the punches have the power to knock the opponent out. The feet are used to keep you moving increasing speed and ability to evade an attack. Boxing also improves your response and reflexed.

In the ring and even during training, you would, of course, use boxing gloves but in real life, there would be no gloves. This would make your punches even more brutal but at the same time, you are more likely to hurt your hands. In the end, our goal is to protect ourselves which would be done just fine. This is a standing fighting style. Real-life situations start in standing position and you would have a chance to end it there.

Wrestling

Two wrestling guys have a fight in the competition

It is one of those martial arts where the children have to be a little bit older for reasons that it has locks, pins, and takedowns that can hurt bad. It is one of the toughest sports kids to develop strong mental and physical strength. A nutritional and healthy diet, difficult takedowns, a healthy lifestyle, taking care of yourself and more wrestling teaches them many things.

Karate

Two karate guys are demonstrating some skills in their discipline

It is one of the favorite and most popular martial arts. Most kids want to learn karate after watching those Hollywood movies and it is one of the easiest martial arts for kids. Learning different punching, kicking, and striking techniques the physical and mental abilities enhances.

Krav Maga

This guy shows how to self-defense from someone who's attacking you

Just like MMA Krav Maga was also developed for self-defense. This style was developed by the Israeli army which they still use. Krav Maga is formed by combining the most effective techniques from different martial arts. Getting control over and disarming the opponent quickly and efficiently is the goal here. But only from a close range. Just because it focuses on disarming the opponent this is the best martial art for self-defense in real-life challenging MMA toe to toe. 

Which one should I learn?

This is a personal choice list of the best martial art disciplines for self-defense. If your favorite style was not included don’t worry. Just read the post as it may help you decide either you want to choose from this list or still go for your favorite one. In the end, it would be you defending yourself so choose carefully. Select one and go for it, don’t keep on wasting time deciding or frequently changing between styles.

Motivation can sometimes cause a problem but there are ways to stay motivated, have a look. We hope these insights will help in deciding which discipline you ought to pursue. While deciding you should be confident about what you want to learn it for. If you don’t want to learn it could be just a waste of time and money. Finding the school or gym, trainer, and proper teaching program is very important. Gear and protection are very important to keep yourself safe.