Choosing a martial art for self defense and professional use of force.

First off I'll say that if you are just looking for a martial art for something to do, or if you avoid conflict like the plague like I do (outside of work at least), just about anywhere is a good place to start. There are many good instructors and styles out there and you're just going to have to do the research and see what works for you. I would suggest that you avoid contracts though as they can be expensive if you don't stick with it.

With that being said, I do have an opinion on things to look for in a martial art in relation to self defense and professional use of force. I'm going to have to cover this in two parts as I think that, as no single martial art has all the answers, no single martial art can adequately cover both subjects. This is why, in both cases, I recommend first finding a base art that will give you a good technical and conceptual understanding of the type of physical conflict you think you will most likely encounter, and secondly finding an instructor that you are comfortable learning from and with. The second is definitely the hardest to do and may take you a number of years and schools to find. You are going to have to do this on your own because so much of it is about personal experience and chemistry.

For the purposes of self defense, being a man or a woman will influence the technical syllabus of what you will want to look for, as the self defense situations that men and women find themselves in can be very different. Men, as a rule, will want to find an art that trains about a 70/30 split between stand up fighting (70%) and ground fighting (30%), while women will want to look for just the opposite (unless you can find a school that covers them both equally).

Stand up arts are those which will include good foot work (the ability to move effectively, or "stick and move"), strong striking ability (effective hand, foot/shin, knee, elbow, and headbutt techniques), and has a training methodology that allows you to get in "flight time" (realistic sparring).

In my mind there are only a couple of arts that do any this adequately. In no particular order they are: western Boxing, Muy Thai, Savat, Filipino arts (Kali [especially Inosanto Kali], Eskrima, Arnis, etc.) and Jeet Kune Do. Of these, I like Jeet Kune Do the best as it tends to combine elements of each of the others along with the superior theory and training methodology that Bruce Lee developed. I also like Filipino arts (I practice Kali along with my JKD) as it teaches how to use weapons and, as the saying goes, " you 're not an ape- use a tool" (yes, I know that in light of recent scientific research and observation this is not entirely accurate, but you get the point). Kali is also a good place to start because it is (relatively) low impact and tends to develop some crazy ass coordination which leads to a superior understanding of distance and timing. This, as any instructor worth his salt will tell you, is the basis for winning a fight (and, incidentally, most activities in life). After a Kali class, my brain tends to hurt more than my body because my brain has to fire an all cylinders to keep up.

For women looking for a martial art to train self defense, I think that Brazilian Ju-jitsu is where it's at because most of the self defense issues for a woman will face center around rape. In Brazilian Ju-Jitsu the two strongest position you can fight from are what are called the "mount" position (being on top of a person while straddling their torso), and the "guard" position (being on the ground, on your back, with your legs wrapped around the other person). Although the guard position can feel like a very awkward place to learn to fight from, this is where a potential rapist will probably be wanting to get a woman. Being comfortable with knowing how to move and fight effectively from this position can be critical.

Judo can also teach many, but not all, of the same skills that BJJ teaches, so if you cannot find a BJJ school in your area, Judo can be a more commonly found alternative.

If none of the above mentioned arts are available in your area, again, you can start anywhere. The important thing is to get you thinking in the right direction. As Bruce Lee said, "there is no superior martial art, only superior martial artists". The man knew what he was talking about.

For the purposes of this post specifically, and this blog in general, when I refer to "Professional use of Force" I will be talking about those skills used by Law enforcement and Private Security to apprehend criminals (often called "Defensive Tactics" or simply "arresting techniques"), as compared to those skills used by soldiers (generally referred to as military combatives) used in the battlefield arena.

With this in mind, finding a good grappling system is key because applying force professionally often, if not usually, means restricting someones freedom of movement and putting them into handcuffs. I like Judo, Brazilian Ju-jitsu, and western wrestling for this purpose. If you are young, still in high school, and think that you may want to go into a law enforcement or security oriented job, take advantage of your high school wrestling program. Generally it's free and you don't have to be good, you just have to have heart and want to learn. It will be invaluable experience. Otherwise look up Judo (kodokan) and BJJ. Either will serve you well. If neither is available in your area, consider a form of kung fu (look for the key words "chin na" and "shuai-chiao"), traditional Japanese Ju-jitsu, Aikido (although it may take a while to be able to apply what you learn in class to situations at work, I have had success with the a modified "Iriminage" technique and a number of wrist locks, but generally only after I have had people otherwise subdued), and one of my heroes, Marc "Animal" MacYoung, swears by Silat and Kuntao, although I have no experience with it personally.

The reason that I say that you should be looking for a base art is that, as I said before, no single art has all the answers and you will want to cross train. Also, most of the arts that I mentioned are at least somewhat competitive in nature and can miss the point in regard to the realities of self defense and professional use of force. In any case it will be important to develop a scenario training regiment to figure out what works and would be useful in real life, and what wouldn't work, because sparring is not the end all be all in regard to testing technique. In my opinion, sparring is, aside from teaching lessons in an experiential manner, just another scenario. If sparring is the only hands on training methodology you use, then sparring is the only scenario you're training for. In my experience, very few fights go down that way. I've pulled off techniques "on the street" that a sparring session does not set you up for. Use your imagination when developing scenarios. They can be fun and very rewarding!

Please let me know if this was help full to you or not.