Do you do martial arts?

[Pull My Finger]

Frankly all martial arts arent realistic for real world scenarios.

Yeah, learning how to punch people and protect your head sure ain't of any use when you get in a fight. Right.

[jbhasban]

Yeah, learning how to punch people and protect your head sure ain't of any use when you get in a fight. Right.

I am 29 and have never been in a fight that wasn't mma/wrestling/etc. Most people do not get into fights on a regular enough basis to make it worth the financial costs of learning how to deal with them. And if you do get in fights that often, I think taking a class on conflict resolution/avoidance would be a better investment.

[Tziva]

I do Filipino Martial Arts. I've only been doing it about a year so I'm probably not any "good" but I love it.

I don't subscribe to the whole "school X is better / more effective / whatever" philosophy (and I'm surprised if anyone still can with a straight face in an age where MMA is extremely popular) but I specifically sought out FMA despite not being Filipino because it had a lot of aspects and components to it that really really interested me more than other arts.

[King Shark]

I am 29 and have never been in a fight that wasn't mma/wrestling/etc. Most people do not get into fights on a regular enough basis to make it worth the financial costs of learning how to deal with them. And if you do get in fights that often, I think taking a class on conflict resolution/avoidance would be a better investment.

Different strokes for different folks. For me, it was required anyway due to work. My philosophy is that it is definitely better to have it and not need it. It's also a damn good work out, stress reliever, and confidence builder; so long as you don't run around like Ryu trying to hadoken everybody who looks at you funny.

Oh and to the topic: MCMAP, Krav Maga,and Muay Thai. A small bit of BJJ in there as well, but not extensive.

[Pull My Finger]

I am 29 and have never been in a fight that wasn't mma/wrestling/etc. Most people do not get into fights on a regular enough basis to make it worth the financial costs of learning how to deal with them. And if you do get in fights that often, I think taking a class on conflict resolution/avoidance would be a better investment.

That's not the point. You should obviously have some senseful reasons to practice martial arts, and paranoia of getting beat up somewhere isn't one of them.

The point is that in any discussion on martial arts, there will be some smartass who will come up and say that they're all unrealistic and can't help you in a "real fight" anyway. And those people should really try and get some perspective on things.

There's basic things about fighting that are universal and any decent martial arts system and/or school teaches them. It doesn't matter if you're doing Muay Thai, Boxing, Karate, Wing Tsun, Krav Maga, whatever. Chances are, they're gonna teach you how to throw a proper punch. They're gonna teach you how to protect your head, your groin, how to dodge blows. That's universal and basic stuff.

Now if it ever happens that you get caught up in a fight, would you rather have knowledge of that stuff or not?

[Tziva]

Frankly all martial arts arent realistic for real world scenarios. You are better off learning how to handle a gun and getting a gun permit. [etc]

There are millions of reasons to take martial arts, but no one is saying that saying that it's a cost effective solution to saving your money on the off chance you're mugged. You're arguing against a premise so ridiculous that no one but you is making it.

Martial arts do offer practical knowledge and experience of varying degrees. Is anyone saying that your black belt means if some drunk dude in a bar comes up and punches you at full strength that you're going to magical recover and karate chop him to death? No. Is it possible, maybe even likely, that some people oversell the real world utility of their art? Sure. But none of that translates to not practical in the real world.

There are useful techniques for defense, disarms, shielding yourself and escape that many or all arts teach. Your fight might not look like what you do in training and very little of it may be "your art" but those little techniques can be amazingly useful. Additionally some, like the FMA I am learning, train with very practical weapons like knives and even firearms. But even simple concepts like knowing which way to move to give yourself the advantage (not just for fighting back but also for escape) may not by realised to an unskilled person who is caught off guard by an aggressor but could be instilled as second nature in a person who trains. Grappling arts in particular are very useful because most fights end up on the ground eventually. Unlike throwing punches which everyone can do on some level, how to handle yourself on the ground is completely unintuitive if you've never learned; a person who has taken even one grappling class is going to have a huge advantage over a guy who is completely unfamiliar with how to ground fight.

But even if none of your particular "moves" or techniques prove useful for whatever reason, martial arts can teach a person to control fear, and a person crippled by fear and panic is useless while a person who can clear their mind and respond has the upper hand. That sort of mental training is useful not just in self defense situations but any kind of emergency.

Finally, avoiding fights and martial arts are not mutually exclusive. No one is getting into street fights over a couple bucks in their wallet; you're presenting a false scenario. It is unwise, even for the most skilled artist, to seek out fights or to participate in them when the situation could be handled non-violently. The people who train for real world application -- and again, there are zillions of other reasons why a person might approach MA besides that in the first place, so this whole argument may be based off people that don't even exist to begin with -- are not training so they can beat up a mugger and look cool, they are training for those rare situations in which one needs to defend their own or their family's lives not from people who want their watch but from people who want to injure or even kill them. Just because those situations are extremely rare doesn't make the knowledge impractical. It's better to know what to do and never have to do it then to be completely ignorant and caught off guard if it does occur.

[Beavis]

Meh, the big thing you really learn from martial arts that's applicable to street fights is what it feels like to be hit really hard and how to hit back without hurting yourself. Beyond that, the lack of rules and general chaos of street fighting really undercuts the utility of actual techniques.

On a side note, if you want to learn a really useful skill, figure out how not to end up on the ground and how to get back to your feet when you do. Ground fighting is incredibly dangerous. As much as people love to talk up the utility of grappling, it is relatively difficult to employ when your opponent is willing to eye gouge, bite, fish hook, manipulate fingers, etc and your situational awareness while rolling around on the floor drops to pretty much zero. A 3rd party can come up with a brick or rock to bash your skull in and you'll never see it coming.

[Deleted]

I did jiu-jitsu kai for a couple of years and I thought it was great fun. Eventhough it's about 5 years since I did it, some of the moves are still in the back of my head and I'd like to believe I would be able to defend myself to a certain degree were I to be assaulted.

I chose jiu-jitsu because I wanted a martial art that was versatile; grappling, throws, sparring, joint locks, kicks and all that. I was very pleased when I tried it out because it turned out to be exactly what I hoped it would. Jiu-jitsu had a great inpact on my self-esteem and on my health. I started out as an awkward slightly overweight teenager and grew alot from it.

[Kasierith]

I've taken Aikido for a number of years now, although I've never really gone for anything competitive. Getting something like a belt seems like a superfluous concept.