Martial arts

[Jinx]

I feel as if I've made a thread about this before, but here I am again!

I've been considering doing martial arts for both exercise and stress relief. I was wondering if anyone here has done martial arts and has any suggestions on which style I should do?

[Mo-Nercy]

The only thing that would come close would be that I did fencing over the course of two years in high school. It was fun, but because we didn't really have a coach and the private schools we were competing against were far better resourced, we lost a lot (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it ). It was quite disheartening and a real waste of a Saturday afternoon. Practice was a smurfing ball though.

I found it was good for my concentration and I suppose it might've been good stress relief - if there was anything for 14-15 year old me to be stressed over.

I don't really know enough about various martial arts (outside of what I've seen in video games ) to recommend any. I think you should go for one that genuinely interests you though, not just whatever happens to be the deadliest, coolest or most exotic sounding.
Maybe you can try this quiz?

[Quindiana Jones]

I would absolutely recommend any martial art to anybody. I did Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts, and I was in great shape, super confident in myself, and just all-round having a wonderful time in life. For practical purposes, those two will give you everything you need to successfully defend yourself from the most common types of attacker, which is a nice thing to know.

Any martial is an excellent idea, however. Boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, tae kwon do... doesn't matter. Just try a few different ones and find a group you enjoy.

MMA, BJJ and Muay Thai are my top three for being the most fun and the most practical, though.

[Shorty]

Love kickboxing. I've only ever done fitness kickboxing, so I'm not sure how it differs from martial arts. This is the one thing I've taken a class for and it was a lot of fun.

[Mirage]

Doesn't really matter which style you go for when it's just for exercise and stress relief. What's more important is that you get along with the people you practice with, and that the practices are well organized and by people who have an all right grasp of how physical exercise works.

Personally, I did kyokushin karate for like 3 years.

[KentaRawr!]

I studied some form of Karate for a little while and some BJJ! It was fun, and generally felt super rewarding. =) I did Yoga for a little while, too, and I enjoyed that quite a bit! Not that it's a martial art, but it's something I'd recommend for the same reasons.

[Mirage]

If you're sort of interested in the actual martial parts of the arts, you should seek a place where they actually do full or light contact sparring regularly.

[Slothy]

If you want to learn for self-defense then nothing tops Krav Maga, but Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and kick boxing can all be useful as well. Just for exercise and stress relief pretty much anything will work. Just make sure you don't bother with anything if the teacher strikes you as an idiot.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Many places will let you take one or two trial classes to see how you like the atmosphere as well. So why not try them all first, if they'll let you?

I took Kuk Sool Won for many years because I enjoyed the balance of striking, forms, grappling, and weapons training it offered. I don't think it's as practical as something like BJJ, but it was good exercise and I certainly learned a lot about the human body.

[Alive-Cat]

Wu-Tang Style!

[Bubba]

I did shukokai karate for 6 years and managed to get to 1st Dan grade by the time I was 17. Unfortunately I couldn't carry on because I left home at 18 because my step-dad was a knob and had to move to central Manchester. I never really found a club that I liked there so I ended up just stopping.

I highly recommend any form of martial arts though. It does keep you super fit and it's a great social experience. Any of the ones mentioned will be great as long as you have good people to train with and (obviously) competent instructors.

I miss a lot of the guys and gals from my old club. This thread got me a litle sentimental so I did a quick Google search of my old club... I didn't even know they had a website! Though I suppose it was 13 years ago that I left. I had a quick scroll down through the black belt hall of fame and there I am! Forever immortalised on the internet!

photo.jpeg

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I just poked around and found a Kuk Sool Won place near where I live. Maybe one day I'll go out there and see what it's like. They do offer Saturday classes.

[Jess]

I used to do karate as a kid. It was great fun, and it also teaches you a lot of discipline. My sensei was a cool guy.

[Madame Adequate]

Did some kickboxing in High School as one of the general after-school activities (mostly sports) they had for us. It was pretty fun, but it wasn't intensive enough for it to really make much difference or give much skill. I still understand at least the theory behind throwing a decent punch and stuff though.

My boy Michael was doing the classes with me and he smurfed his knee up with some kick, and it bothered him for years. It still might, I'll have to ask him next time I see him. I wasn't about to go alone because smurfing around with my best friend was the only thing that made school tolerable, so we just skived off and went to my place to play videogames whenever we were meant to be in class.

[Shiny]

Wu-Tang Style!

Ain't nothin' to smurf with.