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It really depends on what you want to get out of it, if you want street defense then there is really nothing better that Jiu-Jitsu or Aikido. I like small circl

by kls 16y ago

It really depends on what you want to get out of it, if you want street defense then there is really nothing better that Jiu-Jitsu or Aikido. I like small circle Jiu-Jitsu out of all the Jiu-Jitsu disciplines, but it is hard to find schools. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a good art just keep in mind that it has been adapted over the years to focus on competing in MMA tournaments. As such it has eliminated a good deal of knowledge about small joint manipulation and breakage, which in a street fight is invaluable. There are others like small-circle that still retail small-joint along with weapons disarmament. For sport and limberness Taekwondo is a good choice, as well if you want to compete at some point but dont like the idea of getting pummeled, Taekwondo is the largest point sparing art. Point sparing is not fighting, it is a sport where you achieve points for landing a strike, it is fully padded and once a blow is landed the opponents reset and start over, it is similar to fencing. Just keep in mind, it does not prepare you to be a well rounded street fighter. Aikido is an awesome art that is very effective in street combat. You do not see it in UFC style fighting because it focuses on small joint breaks, pressure points and a good deal of stuff that is outlawed in the sport of MMA for obvious reasons. None the less it is extremely effective and can be deadly when mastered. It is also the art that takes the longest to achieve mastery. Kung Fu is very philosophical and is one of the oldest arts, some of it is not as practical as more contemporary arts but it has value in exercise and meditation. Honest opinion, I think that Judo, Kempo and most of the other arts are not well rounded enough to focus your time on. Jiu-Jitsu covers Judo and more, Boxing or Taekwondo or better striking arts than Kempo and its joint techniques are inferior to Aikido or Jiu-Jitsu. Most of the other Karate based arts kind of fall into the same trap, other arts have surpassed them. The only other ones I can think of are muay-thai which is a good boxing art, I think Taekwondo has better kicking form but muay-thai has better hand boxing and knees and elbow strikes. The other would be Jeet Kune Do which was Bruce Lees art and combination of disciplines. It was a very interesting art but the reality was that it was 1. unfinished and 2. all of the masters are deceased so the art has for all intents and purposes died. While Lee documented it, learning technique from a book never suffices for the real thing, and all of the masters today have learned from the reconstruction of techniques in the book.

nandemo 16y ago
The main reason Brazilian jiu-jitsu doesn't spend much time with small joint manipulation, striking and other such unpleasant techniques is because live sparring is an integral part of training. The focus is on techniques that you can apply to your sparring partners without injuring them. That is true even for the "old-style" Gracie school, which tends to focus primarily on jiu-jitsu as self-defense and "no-holds-barred fighting" (a.k.a. street fighting) rather than MMA or even BJJ competition. I think live sparring is one of great things about judo and BJJ.
- kls 16y ago
  Sure, I just wanted to note that BJJ, is an adaptation of the JJ art, and has a heavy focus on the techniques that are geared towards MMA competition. Therefore, some very effective techniques are not given the attention of some other forms or JJ or Akiedo. One I think of immediate is a isolated wrist flip a technique that results in the dislocation of the wrist, elbow and shoulder in a single technique, but cannot be applied in a manner that the opponent is afforded the ability to chose to submit, therefore it is not an applicable technique to MMA competition. There are a lot of these "instant" techniques that result in too much injury for it to be acceptable in MMA. My point is while BJJ or MMA are exceptionally good arts for defending ones self (some of the most contemporary) the competition aspect of the art has, like Taekwondo has caused a hyper-focus on certain techniques. Nothing wrong with it, just wanted the author to have full disclosure. You can have the utmost confidence defending yourself on BJJ knowledge, far more than say Taekwondo it is a well rounded art, and MMA competition is as close to the real thing as you can get without creating grievous harm to everyone who enters the ring. Like I said though, I just wanted to ensure he had all of the facts.

by kls 16y ago

nandemo 16y ago

The main reason Brazilian jiu-jitsu doesn't spend much time with small joint manipulation, striking and other such unpleasant techniques is because live sparring is an integral part of training. The focus is on techniques that you can apply to your sparring partners without injuring them. That is true even for the "old-style" Gracie school, which tends to focus primarily on jiu-jitsu as self-defense and "no-holds-barred fighting" (a.k.a. street fighting) rather than MMA or even BJJ competition. I think live sparring is one of great things about judo and BJJ.

kls 16y ago
Sure, I just wanted to note that BJJ, is an adaptation of the JJ art, and has a heavy focus on the techniques that are geared towards MMA competition. Therefore, some very effective techniques are not given the attention of some other forms or JJ or Akiedo. One I think of immediate is a isolated wrist flip a technique that results in the dislocation of the wrist, elbow and shoulder in a single technique, but cannot be applied in a manner that the opponent is afforded the ability to chose to submit, therefore it is not an applicable technique to MMA competition. There are a lot of these "instant" techniques that result in too much injury for it to be acceptable in MMA. My point is while BJJ or MMA are exceptionally good arts for defending ones self (some of the most contemporary) the competition aspect of the art has, like Taekwondo has caused a hyper-focus on certain techniques. Nothing wrong with it, just wanted the author to have full disclosure. You can have the utmost confidence defending yourself on BJJ knowledge, far more than say Taekwondo it is a well rounded art, and MMA competition is as close to the real thing as you can get without creating grievous harm to everyone who enters the ring. Like I said though, I just wanted to ensure he had all of the facts.