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Ask HN: which martial art to learn?

1 points by graderjs 4y ago

And what makes you say that?

inphovore 4y ago
Whichever is most available to you. Change arts often (give them at least three months, preferably a year.) Get into each their own styles and cultures. Each offers something worth learning, even if only as a contrast to other systems. What is your purpose? Kick boxing to kick anyone’s ass Boxing for good sportsmanship and how to throw a proper punch. Wing Chung for the little guy who wants to stand up to anyone. MMA if you’re ~25, peak fit, and want to be a tough bad ass. Capoeira for a great full body fitness and all round physical confidence. Any of the traditional styles if you’re also interested in a drastic lifestyle change. Start with fitness, work on form and technique, and find something that really suits you (and keep at it!) Boxing is the only art which teaches you how to hit from the start. Most others will have you doing forms and basic exercises for the first year (or more!)
- graderjs 4y ago
  Thank you, that's really informative!
adastra22 4y ago
Any traditional Japanese martial art (ko-ryu, existing before 1868). Martial arts which date at least that far back existed in a feudal era where the skills taught were actually used. Japan is rather unique in that time period is almost within living memory.
- graderjs 4y ago
  Good logic. I will investigate
  - adastra22 4y ago
    Alternatively Krav Maga, which is a modern martial art created by the Israeli Defense Force by mixing together various martial arts (mostly Japanese in origin) into a coherent system that is applicable to modern day battlefield and police usage.
    - graderjs 4y ago
      I tried this when I was in Dublin and Belfast. Really liked it. But my feeling is there's sort of a lot of shyster teachers in that space...I'm sure it's the same in everything, but it makes it hard to pick a good one beyond, "I like this guy". With the "traditional lineage" sort-of thing in "older martial arts" I feel more safe that folks have credibility...Could just be a perception, but you know what i mean? Feels safer. But I like krav maga. If I can find a good school here. But I also wanna branch out and try things I haven't before. I like your suggestion. :)
mtmail 4y ago
I would've answered the question on the tech downturn but now refreshing the page (to see if anybody else answered in the meantime) it's about martial arts. https://imgur.com/a/vTZjrxB https://imgur.com/a/vTZjrxB This makes me not invest time to answer thoughful questions from this user again.
- graderjs 4y ago
  I probably would have welcomed your answer! I'm sure it seemed like a betrayal to discover it changed completely, but rather than a huffy response and screenshot, if you'd truly cared or taken a minute to think before reacting, you could have always just emailed me your thoughts. Still a good question, but I would have changed how I worded it. Anyway, after 1 hour with zero votes, I thought...not enough engagement. You'll probably hate this, and I know it's a probably seems like a bad request / imperfect signalling but if you had upvoted it, I probably would have thought, well it's going somewhere. I'll edit it if I want to (and I can within the first 2 hours whenever I want)...from my point of view, why waste a slot on something that will not go anywhere? Anyway, stuff like this happens. It's unintentional, no malice on either side: get used to it; it's the internet; or adapt. Imperfect systems, structures, algorithms. Don't blame me--when you say that it sounds like you're blaming me--don't do that, I didn't do anything wrong. You could have waited until after the edit horizon. And if you'd regretted the chance to enlighten me with your point of view, you could have just emailed me. Regretted the chance to enlighten others? Write a blog post, and post it here. :)

1 points by graderjs 4y ago

And what makes you say that?

Whichever is most available to you. Change arts often (give them at least three months, preferably a year.) Get into each their own styles and cultures. Each offers something worth learning, even if only as a contrast to other systems. What is your purpose? Kick boxing to kick anyone’s ass Boxing for good sportsmanship and how to throw a proper punch. Wing Chung for the little guy who wants to stand up to anyone. MMA if you’re ~25, peak fit, and want to be a tough bad ass. Capoeira for a great full body fitness and all round physical confidence. Any of the traditional styles if you’re also interested in a drastic lifestyle change. Start with fitness, work on form and technique, and find something that really suits you (and keep at it!) Boxing is the only art which teaches you how to hit from the start. Most others will have you doing forms and basic exercises for the first year (or more!)

graderjs 4y ago
Thank you, that's really informative!

adastra22 4y ago

Any traditional Japanese martial art (ko-ryu, existing before 1868). Martial arts which date at least that far back existed in a feudal era where the skills taught were actually used. Japan is rather unique in that time period is almost within living memory.

graderjs 4y ago
Good logic. I will investigate
- adastra22 4y ago
  Alternatively Krav Maga, which is a modern martial art created by the Israeli Defense Force by mixing together various martial arts (mostly Japanese in origin) into a coherent system that is applicable to modern day battlefield and police usage.
  - graderjs 4y ago
    I tried this when I was in Dublin and Belfast. Really liked it. But my feeling is there's sort of a lot of shyster teachers in that space...I'm sure it's the same in everything, but it makes it hard to pick a good one beyond, "I like this guy". With the "traditional lineage" sort-of thing in "older martial arts" I feel more safe that folks have credibility...Could just be a perception, but you know what i mean? Feels safer. But I like krav maga. If I can find a good school here. But I also wanna branch out and try things I haven't before. I like your suggestion. :)

mtmail 4y ago

I would've answered the question on the tech downturn but now refreshing the page (to see if anybody else answered in the meantime) it's about martial arts. https://imgur.com/a/vTZjrxB https://imgur.com/a/vTZjrxB This makes me not invest time to answer thoughful questions from this user again.

graderjs 4y ago
I probably would have welcomed your answer! I'm sure it seemed like a betrayal to discover it changed completely, but rather than a huffy response and screenshot, if you'd truly cared or taken a minute to think before reacting, you could have always just emailed me your thoughts. Still a good question, but I would have changed how I worded it. Anyway, after 1 hour with zero votes, I thought...not enough engagement. You'll probably hate this, and I know it's a probably seems like a bad request / imperfect signalling but if you had upvoted it, I probably would have thought, well it's going somewhere. I'll edit it if I want to (and I can within the first 2 hours whenever I want)...from my point of view, why waste a slot on something that will not go anywhere? Anyway, stuff like this happens. It's unintentional, no malice on either side: get used to it; it's the internet; or adapt. Imperfect systems, structures, algorithms. Don't blame me--when you say that it sounds like you're blaming me--don't do that, I didn't do anything wrong. You could have waited until after the edit horizon. And if you'd regretted the chance to enlighten me with your point of view, you could have just emailed me. Regretted the chance to enlighten others? Write a blog post, and post it here. :)