A forum member Dual_XP_Jedi made a good post about various styles a while back -
Styles
Tae Kwando
Okay i studied this art primarily because my friend was doing it and i wanted to use my 6 foot frame better at range. Having studied it beyond green (only graded so far then got fed up with the stupid mini belts) i can say the following;
Its a system of kicking and punching which is deeply flawed. Its really a sport, its not good for combat and its not good for the street. It has some lovely kicks but anyone who knows fighting will tell you instantly you would not kick about the groin in the street - thus most moves it teaches = dangerous to try in a combat environment.
Its good for flexibility and fitness but thats it. It has deep flaws in terms of blocking technique and also sparring does not allow many correct responses thus encourages ppl to think the moves are more effective than they are. EG cannot block a kick with your elbow or knee and cannot counter a leg clash with a butt, elbow or punch.
Conclusion : Dont bother its simply too flawed and dependant on foot speed with little real street value.
Kick Boxing
This is completely dependant on the four improper basics. This means it relies on what a style should not - it uses speed, strength, height, range. Two of those you are born with - poor core elements to rely on.
Its all about developing your speed and strength and using powerful kicks and punches to get your opponent to be too damaged to continue. Very little finesse in the art and have of the moves will get you in court on GBH. Poor street use in terms of bouncing and being able to control a situation. Also relies on quite long combat times.
Hardcore versions of this rely on your killing the nerves in your legs off - conditioning them. Note that also kick boxing had SERIOUS issues with boxers beating them in their own competitions so had to introduce a min no. of kicks per round rule. For this reason i regard this art as basic and flawed - how can a sole puncher beat kick boxing world champs otherwise?
Conclusion : Kick boxers are consistently beaten by boxers and JJ styles.
Kung Fu
My knowledge of this art is quite basic but i studied it to see what gains it could give me as a double black belt - what better moves / systems did it have?
It is a good art, it teaches good sparring, decent effective kicks nothing too flashy and the blocks are okay - not as good as JJ tho. It doesnt rely too much on the four basics and is suitable for smaller people. Its weapons are done earlier than black as i recall as well.
Conclusion : One of the better styles with not many weaknesses
Jitsu variants
The Compliant Art in every way. This system uses the core weaknesses of the body against your opponent no matter his strength or height or weight. Its excellent for smaller ppl as your lower centre of gravity works for you.
It uses excellent open and closed hand striking like ridge hands, web strikes, knuckle punches, chops etc to weaken your opponent for a throw into submission move. Its based on a 2 second encounter time - show me another art which can end the conflict in two seconds flat!
Tai Jitsu relies more on boxing and throwing than the purer JJ which relies on the kicks to sensible area's such as knee cap, groin, stomach as the weakener.
It will teach you left and right handed throwing by black and multiple person attack defenses using the opponents to shield you using the throws - by green you will competent enough to handle any attacker bar a specialist and by black you will be comfortable with two attackers.
The best thing about JJ is the blocking system, move and block never relies on the block, some VERY heavy blocks which can snap the arm etc. Good use of the knees and elbows also.
Typical encounter - Block, stun / weakener, throw into lock / choke / strangle / paralysing point.
Although sparring does exist and competitions the training more than gets you ready for multi style competitions, ground wrestling at end of each session makes it very good for brawls.
Conclusion : The best art i have studied and its way of flowing moves into each other gives you myriads of possible moves, it has no weakness i can see.
Its best point is the range of response you can just lock him up with no strikes to control him, you can inflict heavy pain no marks using pressure points, you can throw him, you can heavily strike him. Very good at anti weapon moves and is used by SWAT teams etc.
Does not rely on any physical attribute, brillant for women.
Karate
Various styles here from Shoto, Seidokhan to Wado Ryu etc.
If its a long stance reliant art its useless but its getting a lot more modern and good school with good teachers encourage street effectiveness.
Seidokhan in particular has good sparring and good range of attacking options. All i will say is the blocks are slightly worse than kung fu and 20% worse than JJ. No throws make it less effective but it does use hocks - tripping moves.
Shotokhan i found long stance based and ineffective
Wado Ryu having fought them i would rate similar to Seidokhan, good system just not the best there is.
Conclusion : Need a good teacher and school, its not much use as a doorman and reasonable on the street.
Overall Conclusion
I personally sought to find the best from each style and evaluate them against my style. I found ju jitsu practically impossible to beat, the blocks are world class to the stage no one could really hit me when i learned new styles without knowing their attack moves.This held up in full contact also.
No style should rely on those four cores of height, strength, speed, reach. a lot of them do - thus they are useless for women, small blokes and heavy people, you will get murdered in sparring and competitions cause you cannot get taller, get a longer fighting range etc.
Its important to have a range of response in terms of legally and in terms of your own philosophy the number of times i have used good pain moves which cause no damage to control abusive drunks is numerous. This is far superior to kicking them in the head and probably falling over cause you are drunk Mr Tae Kwando Also a throw is a far better way to disable someone rather than prolonged combat on the street, it also hurts to land on concrete with a dropped knee going into you
Thread -
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17302140&page=1&pp=30&highlight=martial+arts
