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Notes -
Anybody familiar with Systema? Looks like such a cool martial art.
I would recommend BBJ or Judo if you're older than 30 as a hobby. Martial arts for self defense are overrated, and should be treated as a last, and absolute final solution only used after you've ran and are literally being fighting for your life.
Grappling is easier on your body long term, and sparring is more fun (personal preference obviously).
I agree with the other posters that MMA has pretty much won the sports category of martial arts, and a lot of these other martial arts can't compare, but also it's a lot rougher on your body to actually practice.
Totally agree. Unless you’re in fairly regular training and hard full resistance sparring alongside a fairly heavy training program, you’ll be more likely to get into trouble with “self defense” than to get out of it. Not because the arts are bad, but because they cannot cover things that are likely to happen (weapons, especially guns, multiple attackers, obstacles, fighting on concrete), and because again most people don’t train seriously enough to pull off their moves in an emergency situation against a fully prepared opponent. It mostly leads (especially for women) to people not being weary enough to avoid sketchy situations and not being aware enough to notice that Theres danger around. Women are probably better off knowing less because if they start thinking they know self defense, they’ll be more likely to stay out too late, or go to bad neighborhoods, or get too drunk in public. Then they end up in a situation where they’re alone trying to defend themselves from a guy who has 120 pounds on them using a technique they practiced one time at the YMCA in a class taught by a black belt guy who hasn’t been in tournaments in 5 years and has never been in an actual fight. It will obviously fail, and the woman will be pretty much screwed at that point.
I think (to your point) self-defense stuff is probably really good from the perspective of "learning how to take a hit" but no sane martial arts program will let you practice some of the most effective offensive moves (for instance, biting and snapping fingers - which I would guess are probably even more effective than the famed crotch grab, particularly if you're dealing with a rape attempt). I met a guy who was in the deeply unfortunate position of being in a grappling fight against someone with a gun once and he won by biting, which convinced his assailant that it was no longer worth continuing his wicked endeavors that day.
If you're actually in a self-defense scenario, you should be trying your darndest to cheat in a way that will plausibly cripple someone. I don't train for this sort of thing, but if I did I'd hope that if I ever had to actually do something (in a self-defense situation specifically) I wouldn't let my wicked right hook or whatever get in the way of something smarter.
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