Martial arts come in a wide variety of guises. There are striking arts, throwing arts, grappling arts, and martial arts that combine two or more focuses in its curriculum (albeit with a greater focus on one over the others).
Martial Arts for Self Defense
With so much variety, how does one choose which art to study and train in? That would depend on your goals. However, if your goal is self defense against predators, then the following top 10 list will help you choose:
- Ki Chuan Do. The way of the Spirit Fist. KI CHUAN DO, or “Guided Chaos”, as it is sometimes referred to is a very efficient art that combines World War Two combatives with the ease and grace of movement that would come from the inherent movement principles in the soft style martial arts.
“KEECH“, as it is affectionately called by its practitioners is an art that was birthed within recent times, and its creator is still alive today. Grandmaster John Perkins is a former police officer.
“Keech“ is also spiced up with Native American ground-fighting. There are no patterns to memorize, no techniques, just free-flowing movements and strikes to the most vulnerable areas of your opponent’s body (eyes, throat, nose, chin, scrotum etc.). Since the foundation is WWII combatives, it is relatively easy to learn and become functionally adept at it within a short time.
- Muay Thai. Thai kickboxing is a striking art that teaches you how to use many of your body weapons. These body weapons consist of fists, elbows, feet, knees, head. In addition to being efficient to learn, the practice of sparring which is an integral part of this art trains its practitioners in timing, footwork, how to give and receive blows, and speed.
Any form of kickboxing would have a similar degree of efficiency and devastation.
- Judo. Judo is an art that emphasizes throws, though it includes some ground-fighting as well. Judo is also a relatively recent creation. Judo was developed by Jigaro Kano. It was intended to be easy to learn, a sort of streamlined Jiu-jitsu.
- Japanese Jiu-Jitsu itself. The father of Judo and Aikido is an almost complete art. It includes throws and ground fighting and some rudimentary striking.
- Combat Systema. Combat Systema is a recent creation derived from Systema (a Russian Martial Art). It has many of the benefits of Systema as a fighting art without the intricate life-enhancing drills of self-exploration and self-improvement. It is purely a self-defends art focused on combat.
Now, if you have the time and the inclination, delving deep into the fathomless waters of full Systema can only be of benefit.
All martial arts have their individual beauty and degree of usefulness in a fight. Nonetheless, I feel that these five are of the most usefulness in a life or death situation. This is only my humble opinion… at the moment. Please take it with a grain of salt. My opinion on this subject could change completely in the future, but only time can tell.