Martial Art Suggestions

Are you talking about going to a dojo and trying them out and taking lessons? I would visit different places in the area and see if they offer a free class or two. My oldest is in karate and it is nothing like you described-it is punch, kick , jab, technique, etc. Once they reach a certain belt then they can spar (its optional) but where our son goes they teach them to fight with control (aka hit as hard as you want to be hit). Some places are high in to sales-they just want to churn out the black belts. Find something that you are comfortable with. If I could afford it I would go and take classes to in a heartbeat.

Good luck!

We are a family of black-belts (with the exception of me...I'm just a little yellow belt)...it's an AWESOME workout! We train in Tae Kwon Do. I have to be careful with my knee, but as long as your instructors know of any injuries/weaknesses, you'll be just fine...go for it!!

I agree with looking around and trying them out. Some forms are more intense than others. I took Tae kwon do for years and loved it. We actually didn't do sparring in the beginning and wore protective equipment. If you are looking for just the fitness, maybe check out classes in kickboxing (the ones where it is cardio or you just hit pads and not each other)

I train in Muay Thai and Krav Maga. It's really not that dangerous. I mean, yes, people can and do get hurt but when we train it's in a controlled environment and we go "easy" on each other. When we spar we having on sparring gear- shins, ribs, and head are all protected. Give it a shot! I think you'll love it. You'll gain confidence, have fun, make new friends, and burn tons of calories!! Good luck!

I train in Muay Thai and Krav Maga. It's really not that dangerous. I mean, yes, people can and do get hurt but when we train it's in a controlled environment and we go "easy" on each other. When we spar we having on sparring gear- shins, ribs, and head are all protected. Give it a shot! I think you'll love it. You'll gain confidence, have fun, make new friends, and burn tons of calories!! Good luck!

I also recommend Krav Maga....typically a Krav Maga center will have fitness classes as well...so if you want to relax and not be so aggressive one day, you can relax with a punching bag class or a full body fitness class. Krav Maga will work you out plus teach you practical defense.

Krav is very loosely based on Muay Thai, so I dont know why you would study both...but I guess if you have time.

I'll give a really brief run down on the most popular martial arts, but as others have said: The studio/dojo is probably a lot more important than the actual art being studied. If you don't like the studio, the instructor, or the other students you won't have fun; no matter how cool you find the material.

Karate/Tae Kwon Do: These two are different in history, but very similar in practice. Punches, kicks, blocks: you do mostly very straight, direct movements. This is what people talk about when they reference a "hard" style. There's still an element of redirecting force and using opponent's movement against them, but it's much less pronounced than in other styles, and typically considered "advanced" training. You'll spend a lot of time memorizing "katas" or "poomse" (one is the Japanese word, the other Korean), which are a series of movements strung together creating a sort of dance where you act out one side of an imaginary fight. You'll also do technique drills where you practice specific types of movements over and over again, short two person katas where you "fight" another student in a scripted sequence, self defense drills, etc. There are different "styles" of both karate and TKD, but the subtle nuances are more than I can give in a short paragraph. Most of the above applies to pretty much any style of either art.

Akido: A Japanese art that focuses heavily on throws, locks, joint breaks, and similar. You learn striking techniques, but they aren't the focus. This is the quintessential "soft" style. It makes heavy use of momentum, force redirection, and opponent's body movements. I've only ever studied it at a beginner level personally, but I learned a lot that compliments and supplements my "hard" style experience. My understanding is that in at least some schools the black belt test involves first working out to complete exhaustion, so you have very little strength left, then demonstrating techniques with fresh opponents. Thus proving that you don't need a lot of power to do the techniques. Classes are (at least at the early levels) mostly spent on two person drills, falling drills, and learning techniques. In my personal opinion, this is the best art to learn if you're really into the "defense" aspects of martial arts. It's highly effective at defending yourself from attacks, and relies much less that "hard" styles on you being stronger or faster than your attacker.

Judo: Is like Akido in theory, but it's a sport. More so than any other martial art (except maybe Kendo), it's trained entirely as a sport. There's sport aspects to most martial arts, but they're primarily practical. Judo is the opposite. Any practical aspect is purely secondary. I've never studied it personally, so I can't give you much of an idea what classes are like. Techniques concentrate on throws and wrestling type moves.

Kung Fu: Is a difficult one to describe. It refers to a whole gamut of Chinese martial arts that can be as hard style as karate, as soft style as Akido, or anything in between. Mostly it's in between. Usually it's a compromise of sorts between hard an soft, with strikes and blocks being taught at the same time as locks and breaks. Emphasis is often on a natural flow in movement and one of Kung Fu's more famous aspects is the so called "animal forms". Like Katas, forms are a scripted series of movements simulating half of a fight. Animal forms attempt to bring the style or spirit of a particular animal into play, with claw strikes in a tiger forms, jumps and wide arm movements in a bird forms, etc. Not every Kung Fu style uses them, but lots do. The school I studied at did, and it definitely made forms training more interesting and fun.

Jujitsu or Brazillian Jujitsu: Like Karate and TKD, these are different, but similar enough to group together. Very direct and practical martial arts, almost the opposite of the rule bound Judo (which is amusing because as the similar names indicate, Judo came from Jujitsu). Jujitsu is a hard/soft style that focuses on doing the most damage in the most effective way based on your opponent and his/her skills. The best way I can think of to describe it is MMA. Jujitsu has a lots of throws and drops, a lot of locks and breaks, a fair number of strikes and is generally kind of brutal.

There's more of course, but this should cover the major choices available most places. I've personally studied Akido, Tae Kwon Do, a style of Kung Fu, Kendo, and a style of Karate. So if anyone has more details on Judo, or Jujitsu; my descriptions there are mostly second hand or outside observation.

simple, Shotokan Karate, learn to throw a fireball and dragon punch your oppoent's into next week, plus, chicks dig hurrican kicks.

You're welcome.