/mag/ FAQ

FAQ:

>hi /mag/, I'm short/lanky/long arms/short arms/blah blah, which MA is good for me?

You don't pick martial arts by body-type, in the same way you don't pick lifts by body-type. A boxer's jab and cross-counter is a timeless maneuver, and will work for a six foot four guy as well as it works for a manlet. That being said, a taller guy with longer reach will find striking MAs like Muay Thai or kickboxing to his advantage, and a shorter guy grappling arts like wrestling or BJJ.


>guys, I wanna start [x martial art], but I'm too fat/skinny. How much should I bulk up/lose weight?

Don't. While lifting and cardio will obviously prepare you for your art of choice, they are not necessary prerequisites, and your training in physical  conditioning during class should get you into right shape. Obviously the fitter you are, the easier you'll find training, but putting it off in order to reach some nebulous fitness goal is just plain dumb, in my opinion.


>I'm poor and/or lazy. I don't wanna go to a gym, I want to train at home. Can I?

While there are great instructional books that cover a wide range of topics in fighting, training at home is often an exercise in futility as you will certainly be getting poor training, due to the fact that your trainer (yourself) is clueless on the subject. While videos on basic boxing or whatever MAY (and I say "may") help your fighting ability (if currently you don't have any), you will almost certainly be drilling poor habits into yourself which may take months to correct once you get proper training. You will also lack the aid of a partner for proper sparring, which as mentioned is critical to success at martial arts. If you are reading this, you have access to a computer and an internet connection, which means you aren't dirt poor, or so poor that you can't afford at least a boxing gym (UKbros especially, they're dirt cheap over here). If you MUST train from home then at least use mirrors to check your form and film it and upload videos to here, so we can make fun of you (ahem, help you). But again, take every opportunity to train at a gym/dojo.


>alright, I'm going to a gym to train for the first time. What should I bring, what should I expect?

The bare necessities for your first session will be some sports clothes, ideally reasonably tight/fitted, a mouthguard (though you shouldn't need it for your first time), a bottle of water (which you will definitely need for your first time), and a smile on your face. At the end of your first session you should ask the coach about what to wear, and he'll fill you in on any details. Be wary of any gyms where you have to buy their overpiced gear in order to train. Most gear can be purchased on eBay, without loss of quality. As a general rule places that use kicks generally require shorts, grappling schools need tight compression clothes, and karate/taekwondo type places will need a gi. For Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo you will also need a gi, but it will be thicker and expensive due to the stress placed on it during training.


>How expensive should training be?

There is no general rule of thumb for this, so post the numbers and what you're getting and we'll tell you if it's crazy or not.


>guys, a lot of you are shitting on martial arts like Kung Fu and Wing Tsun. I showed this thread to my instructor, Ping Chong Nong, and he's pissed. What's your beef?

The main problem with some martial arts (such as these esoteric Asian ones) are that they often suffer from the issues listed above in the "what to be wary of" section of the OP. The martial arts picked out in the "proven effective etc." list are not arbitrary, but have rather been chosen based on their effectiveness in street fights and live competition. When the UFC (a fighting competition allowing kicks, knees, fists, etc.) first began, a lot of Eastern martial artists - kung fu, wing chun, etc. came down to fight and prove themselves, and got btfo. Any time a Wing Chun guy, ninjutsu guy, etc. would come down to fight a boxer they would get destroyed. Or picked up by a wrestler and ragdolled. Point is, their arts and methods of training were shown to be ineffective and subpar. This isn't because of an evil conspiracy, but simply because a lot of MAs like Kung Fu have been more about physical self-improvement and performance art than actual fighting, with proponents like Bruce Lee and movies muddying public perception and causing them to be perceived as these highly effective styles of fighting, which is not the case. If you do kung-fu and compete successfully in the pro or amateur circuit against kickboxers or mixed martial artists, you have my apologies. Until then, if you want to use your legs and hands to fuck people up, do Muay Thai.


>b-but here's a video of a Chunner beating up a boxer, I swear on me m-

Nope, that's not a Wing Chun guy and that's not a boxer. Any "style vs. style" videos on YouTube (that aren't by Lawrence Kenshin) are most likely two retards who just watched some clips and decided to fight, and not an actual indicator of those style's proficiencies. Sorry.


>all you faggots are talking about "Mooy Tai" and "ka-ra-tay", psht. My art, B.R.E.A.K, lets me KILL AND MAIM people with my bare hands in seconds. Where are your moves now, fancy boy?

If you do a martial art that has a 2edgy name, is led by a ponytailed guy in camo pants and is advertised with words like "realistic" and "brutal", two things are bound to be true. One, you're doing an RBSD (reality based self defence) art, and two, you'd get stomped in an actual fight in the street.
A lot of reality based self defense courses are marketed to and touted by the types who, while understanding that fancy twirly arts arts like Capoeira and no-contact karate aren't actual viable for self defence, haven't made the leap to the good ones yet and are currently stuck with something they believe is effective, but actually isn't. The problem with such arts are the same as with those Eastern ones mentioned above, with classes often having no physical conditioning and a lot of choreography. What do I mean by choreography? For a martial arts move (whether it be a punch, kick or a throw) to be effective, it has to be pressure tested. What I mean by this is that it has to be applied in a stressful, live combat situation (i.e. sparring) where you have to perform this move at full speed against a resisting opponent, who is also trying to use it on you (or something similar) at the same time. A trained boxer has, during sparring, bag hitting, etc. thrown the jab-cross-hook combo about a million times. This means that in a street-fight, a boxer would be able to do that to someone fighting him with his eyes closed. Do you think that someone who has never used such a move against a heavy bag, let alone a resisting opponent during practice would be able to do the same? No, they'd break their fingers trying to eye-gouge or whatever and get stomped. Spend a year training your left hook at boxing (which will hit 100%) is a far better use of your time than "training" nonsense Jason Bourne moves which have never even been used in a fight. This leaves the RBSD course to offer you the run of the mill punches, kicks and throws, which simply means that you'd be doing a watered-down style of MMA. So you might as well and go do proper MMA, right?


>but I found this Krav Maga school where we spar, and train properly and everything!!!

Fine, I believe you. There are some good Krav schools which train how to get out of more street-fight based grapples and holds (e.g. full nelson, masterlock, hammerlock) which are more likely to be used by an untrained attacker. They also spar, and do physical conditioning. They train small joint manipulations (attacking finger and toes) and joint strikes which are illegal in MMA. Okay, good. If you're confident that your school meets the criteria listed and is actually improving your ability to defend yourself, then by all means, go right ahead. But know that these are murky, untested waters, and a Thai elbow to the temple will end a guy much quicker than any nut-shots or eye-gouges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OytmS4KCoEw


>Alright, since we're on the topic, which martial arts should I avoid?

Look, I'm not your dad. If you want to go and pretend to be Steven Seagal doing aikido or something, go right ahead. The list provided in the OP is a great summary of proven, combat tested martial arts. If you want to learn how to fight, compete, defend yourself against bullies, whatever, pick one or two of those arts and go right ahead. If you want to experiment, that's okay, just know that you most likely won't be getting quality training. If you really want to go and experiment in random, esoteric MAs then I at least advise you to get some training in the quality ones first, so you know what to look for in a quality art.