Taekwondo vs karate vs judo vs aikido vs jujitsu.
Which is the best martial art for kids to learn for self defence?
Hi,
I think I am best qualified to answer here. I have more than 45 years of experience in the martial arts; namely karate, judo, muay thai and aikido. I've competed and I have also been an instructor for years (London, SG and Tokyo,...when I was posted to these places as an expatriate).
If you are serious about self defense, please do not get hood winked by some fantasy about you being some bad ass fighter or superwoman by learning any of the arts mentioned above. Your first step to self defense would be to get fit. You need to be strong, fast and have good endurance. Running would be a good start but it should not be just jogging but sprinting. Why fight when you can just run away fast. Also, why fight when you can just surrender your wallet. That should be your first primary tool in any self defense situation. It is also probably the only tool you will ever need for most situation. However if you want to supplement this to ensure that you can fight when you have no choice, please be realistic that you will get hurt and that you must also be prepared to hurt the other party. Now if you want to learn some martial arts which would allow you some level of competency for self defence,..I would advice the following....
a) Striking Arts (Boxing, Kyokushin Karate, Muay Thai)
This should be your first over the grappling arts like Brazilian Jujutsu and Judo. It is quick and easier for you to gain some minimum competency fast. Notice, I excluded TKD. For self defense applications, you need to spar hard during practice, not some aerobic exercise. TKD is more of a sport nowadays especially the ones taught in Singapore. While they do spar, it is more of a point based system where higher points are awarded for kicks to the head and less so for punches or other techniques. Kicks to the legs are disallowed. They also tend to stop a fight once a point is scored. However in real street defense you want to avoid using high kicks and use more low kicks, plus your attacker is not going to stop after landing one hit on you. You need to participate in a style which makes you punch and/or kick the hardest, where you main aim is to knockout your opponent or force him or her to surrender. Hard physical contact is required as you need to condition yourself to do so (eg amateurs can fracture their hands when they throw hard punch in a street fight.) plus you also need to condition yourself to withstand getting hit. Please note too that there are different schools/types of Karate. Most of these are like TKD where the emphasis is more sports and cultural-spiritual development. Sparring is a non contact a or semi-contact points system depending on the school you belong too (eg Gojuryu, Shotokan, Shitoryu etc). Kyokushin karate is different. It is hardcore and sparring is done full contact without the use of any protective gear or gloves (think Muay Thai without gloves). You win a sparring match when you knock your opponent out for minimum 10 seconds (ie. he is unconscious or on the ground) once or you knock your opponent out twice for 5 seconds each. Forget about Krav Maga in Singapore, except for Sascha Soliano who knows his stuff and was also a champion boxer, most others are not worth it. There are no real hard realistic sparring. They will always tell you that their moves are too dangerous (true if you are kicking to the groin or gouging eyes) but if you do not spar hard you do not get a feel of what real fighting is like. By the way the other arts like Karate also teach eye gouging and groin sparring etc but don't use these for their sparring session for safety reasons.
b) Grappling Arts (ie Brazilian Jujutsu, Judo)
The rule of thumb is you do not want to be on the ground in a street fight. Firstly it is very dangerous to you if you have multiple opponents or if your opponent has a weapon like a knife. However, it will complement your striking skills especially if you have a single opponent who is unarmed. These arts also teaches you how to counter arm locks, wrist locks, chokes etc better than the ones taught by the striking arts, in my opinion.
On Aikido, forget about it. It needs to be complemented by a striking art to be useful, and even then.... it will take many many years to reach a minimum level of competency required for practical self defense. What you see Steven Seagal do in the movies are all choreographed.
If you have the money, I would advise you to join a fighting gym like Evolve MMA or Fightworks. They have good instructors for both the striking and grappling arts but don't come cheap vs learning Muay Thai or Karate at the PAP community center. Alternatively, you can also join a full time Muay Thai camp for 3 weeks in Phuket. You will probably reach a level of competency equivalent to 2-3 years what others learn on the weekend in Singapore.
Lastly,...remember! Run and surrender your wallet. You do not need to fight!
