Since the dawn of time, physical combat has played a role in nearly every culture and civilization across the world. Differences in cultures and societies bring many different combat disciplines, commonly called martial arts, to the forefront.
Martial arts have been widely popularized by action movies featuring martial artists as heroes or villains. Perhaps the most popular is Bruce Lee, who led the wave of martial arts films in the West and created a fascination with the discipline.
Although there are many practitioners and places to learn martial arts, there is much misinformation concerning the martial arts. The following questions deal with many of the common misperceptions concerning martial arts, their purpose, types of martial arts, and how the martial arts apply in real world fighting situations.
Hopefully these questions and answers will help give beginniners and people interested in martial arts a more realistic view of what the martial arts are about and how they fit into the modern world.
What are Martial Arts?
In the loosest sense, the term "martial arts" essentially means "military arts," so any training system that prepares an individual for combat or self-defense is technically martial arts. The typical perception is that martial arts are fighting styles -- like karate or kung fu -- that originate from the Far East that can transform the smallest person into a deadly fighting machine.
Although these examples are martial arts, modern martial arts also include: boxing, grappling techniques, such as Brazillian jujitsu, and even the training that police officers receive, concerning how to use a pistol. Many traditional martial arts are not necessarily preparing a student for street fights, so much as it's teaching discipline and maintaining physical condition.
What is meant by "soft" and "hard" martial arts?
Soft and hard refer to the striking and blocking style utilized by a martial art. A soft style focuses on redirecting energy, especially your opponent's energy, to throw or put them off balance to strike or move into a better position. Soft styles teach students moves that require little energy and are easy to recover from or regain balance if they're blocked. Examples include aikido and ninjitsu.
Hard fighting styles, on the other hand, are centered more on offensive moves, rather than redirecting an opponent's energy or weight. The striking techniques in hard styles deliver a lot of power and some painful blocks. Hard striking means that a person can be knocked off-balance much easier, in comparison to soft styles. A few hard fighting styles are karate, tae kwon do, and muay thai.
What martial arts styles are best for self-defense in real settings?
Just about any martial art training will be beneficial in a street fight or confrontation compared to not having it, but certain disciplines are designed for actual combat.
Both hard and soft styles can work well for self-defense, but many people feel that hard styles are more effective since they teach you to strike first and strike hard, while soft styles are more technical and teach you to redirect your opponent's energy. Some martial arts styles that have street credit are: jujutsu, karate, muay thai, tae kwon do, and ninjutsu.
Ground fighting disciplines can also be very effective, especially if you want to neutralize a person, without leaving any marks or causing long-term damage. However, ground fighting is not a good option if you have to fight more than one person.
The biggest benefit of learning a martial art if you're in a street fight is that you practice fighting on a regular basis and, for most people, a street fight is their practice.
If martial arts instructors are so experienced, why would they want to avoid a fight?
Logically, there are more reasons to leave quietly than fight, even if you believe you have the upper hand. Unless you are in a controlled situation, you never know who you're up against and how far they are willing to go to win the fight.
People who pick a lot of fights typically gravitate towards extremes. Generally, they think they're really tough, that they have a lot of fight experience, or that they've picked up some dirty little tricks that will always turn the fight in their favor.
This may include cheap shots, but weapons are never out of the question -- not to mention, their friends could intervene at anytime. Even if you "win" a fight, you may end up in court over assault charges, especially if it is known that you practice martial arts.
What is the deadliest martial art?
Realistically, in a real fight, someone with no fight experience or training can kill someone. The human body is fragile and things can easily get out of hand. Many people believe that there are pressure points that can kill or disable someone with a light blow.
While there may be some truth to this, most deaths from fighting come from someone's head hitting concrete or getting stabbed. As far as martial arts that lend themselves to incapacitating people, many of the hard styles fall into this category, as does Brazillian jujitsu.
Brazillian jujitsu is a ground fighting technique and will teach you how to lock people in submission holds or choke them out. Muay thai is considered one of the most dangerous martial arts because it was designed to be used for combat.
However, several muay thai moves are not usually taught and are banned from use in competitions because they are moves that, if executed properly, will kill someone instantly.
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