Best Martial Art for Self Defence? Any Recommendations?

I am looking to get into martial arts for self defence. I looked into typical ones like boxing and MMA, but I wondered if anyone recommends these for self defence, or would anyone recommend anything else?

Reply 1

miser

Martial arts aren't good for self defence. That said, some boxing, BJJ, strength training and running would cover your bases about as well as anything can.

Reply 2

KaneG

Original post by miser

Martial arts aren't good for self defence. That said, some boxing, BJJ, strength training and running would cover your bases about as well as anything can.

Absolute nonsense. You gave good suggestions but saying martial arts aren’t good for self defence is bull crap

Reply 3

username5613084

Original post by Stb1750

SYSTEMA is the most elite martial arts out there

Reply 4

KaneG

Original post by Stb1750

Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) is quite good. I done it for 4 years and enjoyed it throughly. There isn’t too much tradition in it which can get a bit annoying.

I’ll tell you honestly that I’ve forgotten 80% of the moves but I gave me a good base for my self defence wherein I wouldn’t be absolutely useless if in a fight.

Best self defence though is to avoid the fight by deescalation, you never know what your opponent may have under their waistband. Honour isn’t worth your life

Reply 5

miser

Original post by KaneG

Absolute nonsense. You gave good suggestions but saying martial arts aren’t good for self defence is bull crap

What's your reason for thinking they're good for self defence? Most martial arts, including the ones I mentioned, don't usually drill self defence scenarios. Self defence situations are quite far removed from what you find in a typical dojo or martial arts gym.

Reply 6

KaneG

Original post by miser

The are some martial arts good for self defence such as Thai Boxing which focuses very heavily on self defence and is quite realistic

Reply 7

Vertigo_descent

Krav maga is supposedly good for it and training for it is geared around self-defence scenarios from what I've read.

Reply 8

Surnia

Go to self-defence classes!

There's techniques you'll learn that have nothing to do with martial arts, but are useful to know.

Reply 9

miser

Original post by KaneG

The are some martial arts good for self defence such as Thai Boxing which focuses very heavily on self defence and is quite realistic

Thai boxing (muay thai) is an unarmed, 1-on-1 system with well defined rules (i.e., it's a sport). I agree it's "realistic", but in a very narrow sense. Training for self defence should involve multiple people, hidden weapons, confined spaces, escape strategies, threat awareness, etc.

Martial arts are ineffective at self defence because that's usually not a dojo or gym's goal, and there's only so much it's possible to do physically speaking. The element of surprise, advantage of numbers, weapons, size/strength advantage, etc., are all worth years of martial arts training. If a chav jumps you with a knife, there's no martial art in the world that will give you good odds.