Which martial art is most effective for self defense?

Originally Posted by King Francis

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I'm kind of surprised no has yet mentioned pencak silat.
ya with its absence of head strikes and penchant for strange dancing manouveurs between attacks, it is ideal for any bar brawl.

Originally Posted by m@T

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ya with its absence of head strikes and penchant for strange dancing manouveurs between attacks, it is ideal for any bar brawl.

any good bar brawl will have atleast two 5 minute dance breaks. thats a FACT/1!!

Originally Posted by West24

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any good bar brawl will have atleast two 5 minute dance breaks. thats a FACT/1!!

Dance certainly breaks out in the middle of a fight in any self-respecting Bollywood movie.

Originally Posted by m@T

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ya with its absence of head strikes and penchant for strange dancing manouveurs between attacks, it is ideal for any bar brawl.

Um. What?

I'm guessing you've seen a few demonstrations of kembangan, in which an individual performs his silat artistically and set to music for the purpose of aesthetic appreciation. While practicing kembangan regularly does train your sense of timing, among other skills, it is very different from actual combative silat, which is not only pared down and "unpretty" but in which every attack is meant to be followed by another until the opponent is incapacitated.

Or maybe you're thinking of the pulut demonstrations of Malaysian silat as opposed to buah. I don't know.

As for the supposed absence of head strikes, this is just wrong. Silat is a complete system. But the different styles, of which there are hundreds, do have different emphases: nerve strikes, throws, etc.

Silat is not above dirty tricks to distract the opponent, and it has a penchant for found weapons. And practicioners are often most comfortable fighting in extremely close quarters in order to utilize their elbows, knees, and head. Rather ideal for the bar environment in a fight against the hypothetical drunken jackass and his friends.

Originally Posted by cyberserendepity

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Aikido is the most effective for self defense. I know basics of Aikido and It's very effective. Defense before offense, that's the key rule of Aikido.

I'd say that's true if you train Tomiko Aikido, and you like pre-emptively wrist-grabbing people who shake your hand. Other than that...

I'm going to echo that krav maga and muay thai are probably the best. However, I have some boxing and TKD, along with other hand to hand training I received as a police cadet. I'd call myself a scrappy guy

Originally Posted by odoreater

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Isn't this pretty much true of any martial art?

Generally it is, but I would say it's more so of aikido because of it's defensive nature and the non-violent philosophy often associated with it.

Don't forget that they wear skirts, and take turns being the submissive one.

Just pick one and stick with it. No matter which art you're profiecient at it, a fight outside dojo/ring would be unexpected situation and your instinct and relfex count more than the art itself. If I had to pick one, I would pick Mauy Tai, if you have time for another one then add Judo (or Aikido)

I had about 5 years of kickboxing training and then picked up Kung-Fu when my mom remarried to an instructor who was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall Of Fame (2003 Master - Chinese Arts)

I quickly learned (in backyard sparring) that a 5'2", 130lbs man in his 40's can whip the ass of a 6'3, 190lbs teenager in about 30 seconds... and about 20 of those seconds were spent on the ground.

I saw countless fights while working/DJing in bars over the last several years and the overwhelming majority of them wind up on the ground in a matter of seconds. Our best bouncer was a college kid who was a wrestling champ, he'd have a drunk asshole twice his size pinned to the floor before the other bouncers could even arrive to help.

My point is - whatever martial art you decide to choose, make sure that it covers ground-fighting extensively because in a real-life fight, the odds are that's where you are going to wind up.

well .. yes and no. I have seen bar/street fights are over in one or two punches. I am thinking that if a street fight was to go on more than 5 seconds, a guy who thinks he is physically stronger than his opponent will try to close space and take his opponent down to the ground even if he does not know ground fighting--I would fight on ground because I don't want to minimize taking hits from stand up fight. I have a friend who is an armature boxer and I saw him getting into bar fight one time. He knocked out a man with 3 combination of punches, no ground fighting was needed.

Originally Posted by BrettChaotix

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I had about 5 years of kickboxing training and then picked up Kung-Fu when my mom remarried to an instructor who was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall Of Fame (2003 Master - Chinese Arts)

I quickly learned (in backyard sparring) that a 5'2", 130lbs man in his 40's can whip the ass of a 6'3, 190lbs teenager in about 30 seconds... and about 20 of those seconds were spent on the ground.

I saw countless fights while working/DJing in bars over the last several years and the overwhelming majority of them wind up on the ground in a matter of seconds. Our best bouncer was a college kid who was a wrestling champ, he'd have a drunk asshole twice his size pinned to the floor before the other bouncers could even arrive to help.

My point is - whatever martial art you decide to choose, make sure that it covers ground-fighting extensively because in a real-life fight, the odds are that's where you are going to wind up.

Originally Posted by BrettChaotix

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I had about 5 years of kickboxing training and then picked up Kung-Fu when my mom remarried to an instructor who was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall Of Fame (2003 Master - Chinese Arts)

I quickly learned (in backyard sparring) that a 5'2", 130lbs man in his 40's can whip the ass of a 6'3, 190lbs teenager in about 30 seconds... and about 20 of those seconds were spent on the ground.

I saw countless fights while working/DJing in bars over the last several years and the overwhelming majority of them wind up on the ground in a matter of seconds. Our best bouncer was a college kid who was a wrestling champ, he'd have a drunk asshole twice his size pinned to the floor before the other bouncers could even arrive to help.

My point is - whatever martial art you decide to choose, make sure that it covers ground-fighting extensively because in a real-life fight, the odds are that's where you are going to wind up.
Makes sense to me.

I've boxed a little and have friends who have done a bit of wrestling. Without a doubt, any of my wrestling friends would have little trouble kicking my butt. (Unless I managed to out run them -- maybe put all that road-work to use!)

Originally Posted by BrettChaotix

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I had about 5 years of kickboxing training and then picked up Kung-Fu when my mom remarried to an instructor who was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall Of Fame (2003 Master - Chinese Arts)

I quickly learned (in backyard sparring) that a 5'2", 130lbs man in his 40's can whip the ass of a 6'3, 190lbs teenager in about 30 seconds... and about 20 of those seconds were spent on the ground.

I saw countless fights while working/DJing in bars over the last several years and the overwhelming majority of them wind up on the ground in a matter of seconds. Our best bouncer was a college kid who was a wrestling champ, he'd have a drunk asshole twice his size pinned to the floor before the other bouncers could even arrive to help.

My point is - whatever martial art you decide to choose, make sure that it covers ground-fighting extensively because in a real-life fight, the odds are that's where you are going to wind up.

You really don't want to take a fight to the ground in a self defense situation, It's a very hard position to keep track of everyone else and the last thing you want is the guys friends to come over and start kicking you. In many places it's not exactly safe either in terms of glass being on the ground or other potential dangers. It's also a pretty crappy place to be if the guy pulls a knife.

A lot of people say most fights go to the ground but really the fights that go to the ground are those between people who don't know how to fight (typically stupid bar fights between two drunk guys), those between bouncers/cops and someone else because they typically have backup to watch their back (and their trained to take someone down to cuff them) and between a trained wrestler (ground fighter) and someone else because that's where the wrestler want to be.

The best thing you can learn from ground fighting in terms of self defense is how to get up off of the ground if your taken there.

Originally Posted by MilanoStyle

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Just pick one and stick with it. No matter which art you're profiecient at it, a fight outside dojo/ring would be unexpected situation and your instinct and relfex count more than the art itself. If I had to pick one, I would pick Mauy Tai, if you have time for another one then add Judo (or Aikido)

I don't know about this. I think there are a lot of arts out there that foster a false sense of self-confidence in people that they are going to do well in a fight, when they have trained with nothing but willing partners using techniques that wouldn't work with a resisting opponent.

Originally Posted by odoreater

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I don't know about this. I think there are a lot of arts out there that foster a false sense of self-confidence in people that they are going to do well in a fight, when they have trained with nothing but willing partners using techniques that wouldn't work with a resisting opponent.

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