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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Harold Mayo" data-source="post: 709530" data-attributes="member: 10361">Wow...huge thread.WHAT martial art you choose doesn't matter as much as the way the instructor teaches and runs the class.  You can have the best martial art IN THEORY but it will fall on its face when the practitioner hasn't been taught properly.The following applies for self-defense:If you want a martial art for self defense, you DO have to train hard(er) than what many martial arts classes do.  I don't care who has what philosophy about it, the fact of the matter is that you need to be able to take a hit and keep going.  PERIOD.  If you can't take a hit, you will lose a real fight (or heavy sparring).  If you aren't taking a martial art from someone who can and will teach YOU to GIVE a good hit to someone, then you will most likely lose in a real fight.  Katas and "street defenses" or "one step sparring" will not do you any good.  The reason that even an amateur boxer can beat most martial artists is that they train to throw a hard punch and to take a hard punch.  I haven't read every post on this thread, but if someone tells you otherwise, they don't know what they're talking about.  There is no mystical sense that comes from training lightly and then, out of the blue, all of a sudden, you become some legendary martial artist.  That's BS.  Excellence (or even some measure of ability) in fighting, like any physical skill, comes from training and repetition.For a general interest in martial arts:Anything is good.  Martial arts are fun to learn, even in those schools that don't teach real fighting skills.  The history is fun, the customs are fun...it's all good.  And most of the martial arts schools DO promote self-discipline and integrity (although there are some where the instructor is just an egotistical blow-hard).If you want to learn something for self-defense and want to go with a striking style, then be prepared for a little pain.If you want to get something that is effective but doesn't have you getting hit a lot, then try jiu-jitsu (of the Brazilian persuasion, if you can find it) or judo.In general, any school that teaches Jeet Kune Do will be decent (there are always exceptions, though).  Muay thai is a great art and is NOT purely a sport, though 95% of it is.  Boxing is, perhaps, the best and simplest of the striking arts and will get you in great shape, too.  It is a martial art, though many people might not classify it as such.Last words...If the school doesn't ever do FULL contact, then it doesn't teach effective self-defense, regardless of what anyone will tell you.</blockquote>

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