Try it out for a week, most schools will let you do that. If you like what you see, you like the other students, and you like the instructor, then try it for 3 months and reevaluate then. I recommend trying many different martial arts. Just don't let them give you a hard sell and sign you into a 1 year contract! Whatever you do, don't choose just one martial art and do only it for the rest of your life!
Martial Arts
General Martial Arts discussion
I don’t know too much about that practice but if you prefer actual training with full contact and covering ground fighting then go judo or ju-jitsu. Otherwise you’re not practicing reality of protecting yourself in a fight
not sure jiu jitsu is what i'm into but will look into judo for sure, thank you!
What are you looking for in a martial art? If you actually want to learn how to defend yourself I wouldnt recommend it for example. It is however a beautiful art that demands skill and athleticism. I imagine that combining it with kickboxing for example would make you actually pretty dangerous. Maybe you just wanna do a fun sport that looks cool for which its probably great.
Thanks for the info.
It'd be ideal if I'm able to learn some skills to defend myself but I'm not looking to make this full time or spar as I have time constraints due to work and I've had previous concussions so I can't actually be kicked in the head (even with a helmet on).
Kickboxing might be what i'm looking for. Thank you!
You can do sparring, technique and self defense all without head trauma in bjj! Sparring is vital if you want to have actionable skills that hold up under pressure (i.e. the worst Moment of your life)
got it, thanks!
Why do you want to train martial arts? Without a goal it's hard to tell if TKD can be for you. Is it impressive? Athletic? Sure. For me personally I'm not a fan of the focus on kicks that is due to the WTF ruleset. Why? I like to also punch, grapple, throw, do weapon work etc. and even if self defense is totally not in my focus the high kicks, lack of a proper guard etc. are not for me.
I checked out a couple tkd dojangs. One seemed very focused on getting leg flexibility, another was very kid-focused, the third had a couple former Olympic athletes. They all practiced a mix of basics, forms, and sparring. It's generally not focused on getting you into an MMA match, but you'll definitely learn to kick and punch.
ok cool, thanks. the one i'm looking at says for the adult class they do basic teaching for stance, punching and kicking so I think that's pretty good for me.