I live in Niagara Falls and have 4 different styles of schools I can choose from. I can only pick one though. The choices are Goju Ryu Karate Boxing Classical Kung Fu and TKD Please I need to know which one of these styles can help me the most with sparring and actual self defence.
Is that all there is in your city or are you limited for another reason? Forget self defence because everyone thinks their martial art is great for self defence and almost everyone is wrong. Karate, Kung Fu and TKD schools tend to have similar training methodologies and the differences between them are largely superficial (unless the Kung Fu includes weapons training). They're the kind of styles that fit neatly into people's lives, are kind to beginners and normally have sensible progression from beginner to advanced. They'll place a fair emphasis on forms, which some people enjoy and others don't. Other than the occasional pulled muscle, you're not likely to end up badly injured as a result of training. Boxing will almost certainly have the toughest training and the greatest use of sparring from light to heavy contact. The downside is you'll get bashed around a bit, which some people don't like. And obviously they only deal with fists, so there isn't the same variety of techniques - but boxers have the best hands of any martial art, so the specialism is well used.
I would do any of them. I'd train Muay Thai with these guys: http://www.thaiboxingniagara.com/ assuming you're on the Ontario side of the falls.
I would go to each one and check them each out. Many schools have free trial classes. It isn't just about the style, it is about the teachers, the environment, the school.......... Ask them what defines tehir idea of self defense training. Then come back to MAP and read up on threads on self defense to see which ones- if any- actually teach self defense. Make sure to watch and'/ or participate in their sparring to see what it is like.
Personally I'd be pressed to choose between Goju Ryu and Boxing. I have hilarious experiences with Kung Fu practitioners placed in a actual fight outside of their own style. TKD would be dependent on the federation they are a part of. If they were ITF, I would give them a shot. With a certain amount of competency ITF TKD, Goju Ryu, and Boxing are applicable to self defense situations. A for sure choice would be boxing though.
As a Goju practitioner myself, I'd obviously be inclined to lean in that direction, but that doesn't mean to say that the Goju school near you, will be able to offer you what you are looking for. As is often the case, whether an art will be Sport, reality based or overtly traditional, will be solely dependent on the individual School, so only a little investigating on your part, will tell you if the club will be suitable or not. Regards, Travess
Check them all out and see what you think then; most places will offer a free lesson so you can see what you think. If you haven't done MA before then I'd say you don't really know what you're after at the moment. At any rate, judging a school just from the name of the MA is impossible.
Take TKD. Like any MA it can't make you a better fighter and it won't teach you self defence but it will give you the tools to do the job if you so wish to use them as with any MA. Of course i am am a biased TKD'er Baza
Firstly forget training for self defence. You need very few skills, physical skills for pragmatic self protection. Once you are familiar with the rituals of violence then Threat & Awareness, Target hardening, verbal & physical de-escalation will help you avoid most situation before they get physical. If they do, most times a pre-emptive strike is the order of the day, so once you have a good punch, as well as the non physical skill I just listed, you have most bases coved. the problem, particularly with MA's and Men is they always like of mass street brawl when they think of self defence, ask yourself how likely this is to happen if you have Threat & awareness skills, target hardening skills and take a sensible healthy view of your own safety. So don't; train for SD, instead train for fun, health, and interest. Personally i would go for goju-ryu. Boxing is great, don't get me wrong, but are you rally going to spend 10 20 years just punching? It would get boring fast. Something like Goju ryu has many more facets and is more varied, which is more likely to be more interesting to study. Also, remember, the best martial art for you is the one you enjoy the most, becasue if you enjoy it more you are more likely to stick with it and therefore get good at it. try them all out, and then make a decision.
WHAAAAAAAAT?! Wash your mouth out with soap! @ startup - personally from my experiences I would lean towards Goju Ryu karate (as long as they push the supplementary train often called "Hojo Undo", sometimes "Kigu Undo" in class) or boxing. But that's the thing, that's from my experience. My experiences, like the rest of the MAPpers, are not yours. How do you know if you'll like any of them if you don't try them? My advice would be to pop down, have a look at them and see how you feel about them. You never know, you could surprise yourself.
boxing... ask most of the guys/girls here who have far more experience who they would least like to fight, any art that has a solid core of just a few moves and hasn't been changed much throughout the years is going to be more effective. I took/took san shou kickboxing (which is very similar to kickboxing) and felt it was more effective than other arts would be. I chose it because there were no boxing gyms local enough to me and the instructor where I go is very good. I just think that more simple arts are more effective.
What does "Classic Kung Fu" Mean Here is a 'partial list' of all the things that could fall under that heading Bafaquan (八法拳) - Eight method Baguazhang (八卦掌; Bagua Zhang) - Eight trigrams palm Bājíquán (八極拳) - Eight extreme fists Bak Mei (白眉拳) - White Eyebrow Chāquán (查拳) - Cha Fist Changquan (長拳) - Long Fist Chuōjiǎo (戳腳) - Poking Feet Choy gar (蔡家拳) - Choi Family style Choi Li Fut (蔡李佛; Càilǐfó) Ditangquan (地躺拳) - Ground-Prone Fist, Ground Tumbling Boxing Duan Quan (短拳) - Short Range Boxing Emeiquan (峨嵋拳) - Emei Fist Fanzi (翻子拳) - Overturning Fist, Tumbling Boxing Five Ancestors (五祖拳) - Wuzuquan or Ngo Cho Kun Five Animals (五形) Fujian White Crane (福建白鶴拳) - also known as Bai He Quan (白鶴拳) Fu Jow Pai (虎爪派) - Tiger Claw System Fut Gar (佛家)- Buddhist Palm Gouquan (狗拳) - Dog Fist Hakka Kuen (客家拳) - Hakka Boxing Hap Ga (俠家) Houquan (猴拳) - Monkey Fist Drunken Monkey (醉猴) Hei hu quan (黑虎拳) - Black Tiger Fist Huaquan (華拳) - China Fist Hung Fut (洪佛) - Hung and Buddha style kung fu Hung Ga (洪家拳; also known as Hung Kuen) Jing Wu Men (精武門) - Jing Wu, a famous school founded in Shanghai that teaches several different styles. Jow-Ga Kung Fu (周家) - Jow family style Lai Tung Pai - Shaolin Style that mixes long and short fist Lama Pai (喇嘛派) Lau Gar Leopard Kung Fu (豹拳) Li Gar (李家) - Li Family or Lee Family style Liuhebafa (六合八法; Liu He Ba Fa) - Six Harmonies, Eight Methods or Water Boxing Longquan (龙拳) - Dragon Fist Luohan Quan (羅漢拳) Arhat Boxing, Loh Han Kuen Meihuaquan (梅花拳) - Plum Blossom Fist Mian Quan (棉花拳擊) - Cotton Boxing Mizongyi (迷蹤拳; Mízōngquán) - Lost Track Fist (also known as My Jong Law Horn; 迷蹤羅漢拳) Mok Gar (莫家拳) Mok family style Nam Pai Chuan (南北拳) - North South Fist Nanquan (南拳) - Southern Fist Ng Ga Kuen - Five Family/Five Animal style (Hung, Mok, Li, Choy, Fut) Northern Praying Mantis (北派螳螂拳) Northern Shaolin (北少林) - Bei Shaolin Pào Chuí (炮捶) - Cannon Fist, Sanhaung Paochui Piguaquan (劈掛拳) - Chop-Hitch Fist, Axe-hitch boxing Shaolin Kung Fu (少林拳) - Shaolin Fist Shequan (蛇拳) - Snake Fist Shuai jiao (摔跤; Shuaijiao) - Chinese and Mongolian styles of wrestling Southern Praying Mantis (南派螳螂拳) Chow Gar (周家)- Chow Style Southern Praying Mantis T'ai chi ch'uan (太極拳 Taijiquan) - Supreme Ultimate fist Chen-style t'ai chi ch'uan Yang-style t'ai chi ch'uan Wu (Hao)-style t'ai chi ch'uan Wu-style t'ai chi ch'uan Sun-style t'ai chi ch'uan Tán Tuǐ (彈腿/譚腿) - Springing legs style Tibetan White Crane (白鶴派) Tien Shan Pai (天山派) Tongbeiquan (通背拳) - Through-the-Back Fist Wing Chun (詠春 or 永春) Wing Tsun (詠春) Wudang chuan (武當拳) Xingyiquan (形意拳; Hsing-i Chuan) - Form-Intent Fist Yau Kung Moon (软功門) - Flexible-Power Style Yingzhaoquan (鷹爪拳) - Eagle Claw Fist Yuejiaquan (岳家拳) - Yue family Fist/Boxing Yiquan (意拳; I Ch'uan) - Mind Boxing Zi Ran Men (自然门) - Natural Boxing or "fist of nature" Zui Quan (醉拳) - Drunk Fist
Physical conditioning - Boxing Learning to hit people - Boxing Learning what it's like to be hit - Boxing Learning how to avoid being hit - Boxing Tactics and strategy - Boxing Boxing has it, i reckon...
Boxing used to contain throws and ground fighting (hence you see those old time boxers with low guard similar to karate). http://iainabernethy.co.uk/content/james-figg-and-evolution-boxing
