Lots of people take up martial arts as a form of self-discipline. Others take them up for fitness reasons. But one of the most common reasons a person takes up martial arts is to improve on their self-defense.
When you know how to defend yourself in hostile situations, you’re able to navigate life a whole lot easier. Knowing that if a situation is about to get hairy you’ll be able to defend yourself and those around you gives you a level of confidence that can’t easily be put down.
But what is the best martial art for real-life scenarios? In this article, we’ll be going over just that!
What Is The Best Martial Art For Real-Life Scenarios?
There is no one martial art that is better than the other, but there are some martial arts that are more recommended for real-life situations.
A universal belief that all martial artists across all martial arts share are that you should never use your training outside of your class or the space that you train in unless it’s an emergency.
So if you do take up martial arts with the intention of using it outside of your training space, you can get yourself into trouble doing so.
If you’re in an extreme situation though and you have no choice but to use the martial art to defend yourself, that’s a bit different. Before you use your training though, make sure there are no other options available to you.
Each martial art (see also What Is The Most Powerful Martial Art?) offers something different when it comes to self-defense. We’ve compiled a list of five martial arts that we think are the best for real-life scenarios.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Kicking off this list is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). It is a martial art that focuses on ground grappling.
The reason Brazillian Jiu Jitsu is so good for real-life situations and self-defense is that almost every attack will end with you and your opponent being grappled to the ground.
Being grappled to the ground can be a really serious attack and can also be a matter of life or death. If your opponent grapples you in a certain way, you can end up being choked, beaten, or even killed.
If you know how to grapple and get yourself out of grapples though, you stand a better chance of evading injury.
When you understand even just the basics of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, you can neutralize your attacker and stop them from inflicting serious damage on you.
If you know what you’re doing and you’re trained in martial art, you can knock them unconscious or just keep them down until the proper authorities arrive.
Muay Thai
Muay Thai is a martial art that focuses on striking techniques that mainly involve the legs, elbows, and hands.
When you are trained in Muay Thai, you can deliver extremely powerful strikes and blows to your opponent, which can knock them to the ground almost instantly.
Muay Thai is good martial art to use in real-life situations because it can end a fight or attack early, rendering your opponent useless.
Stopping the fight before it’s even really started can help you decrease the risk of damage inflicted on you and keep your opponent at bay while you wait for the appropriate authorities to arrive.
This martial art is known to have one of the most accurate and powerful leg kicks among all martial arts, which can be devastating to an attacker.
MMA
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA for short) is a fighting style that adopts many moves and techniques from a variety of other martial arts such as Jui Jitsu, Boxing, Wrestling, Judo, and Muay Thai.
Because it adopts all of these different styles and martial arts, MMA is a very effective fighting style to know your way around.
You’ll be able to implement both ground and standing attacks and techniques, which means it can help you fend off an attacker in a lot of different situations.
Having a range of different techniques and styles of martial arts to work with will give you an advantage over an attacker because you’ll be prepared for almost any kind of attack or situation.
Boxing
Boxing is a classic martial art that teaches you how to block, dodge and counter any moves or strikes from your opponent.
Boxing teaches you how to avoid attacks and teaches you how to dodge efficiently. You learn how to move your head and your feet in a way that doesn’t compromise your balance.
Having the skills of boxing in your arsenal will help you in real-life situations because it teaches you how to dodge correctly.
If you have an attacker that is coming at you and trying to hit your face, boxing already teaches you how to avoid those attacks and how to take them.
Boxing is especially good when it comes to a standard fist fight.
Krav Maga
If you need to completely disable your attacker or opponent, Krav Maga is a great martial art to know your way around.
Krav Maga not only teaches you attacks against the groin, feet, and eyes of your opponent, which will disable them without issue, but it also teaches you how to defend yourself against weapons too.
Pretty much all other martial arts do not focus on self-defense against weapons, so this makes Krav Maga stand out a bit.
Lots of attacks in real-life situations include the use of firearms and knives, so if you know how to defend yourself against them, you’ll be in a better position to take down your opponent and avoid life-threatening injury.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a few different martial arts that are beneficial to real-life scenarios and situations.
Obviously, some martial arts are better than others in very particular situations, but even if you just know the basics of one of these listed, you can apply your skills and knowledge to any situation in which you feel that your life or wellbeing is threatened.
And remember, only use martial arts as a last resort. It isn’t good etiquette to use martial arts outside of training unless it’s an emergency.
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