Learning to Fight - The Best Martial Art for Beginners
Regulars around here will know how important I think it is for men to learn how to fight. It’s probably not something I need to convince you about. After all, what man doesn’t secretly fantasise about unleashing his inner warrior and kicking some ass?
But just in case you aren’t convinced, let’s run through some of the super awesome benefits you’ll get to experience:
Self-defence – the obvious one, learning to fight will better prepare you for all the dangerous scenarios you might end up in while living out your badass life.
Physical fitness – another obvious one, martial arts training is strenuous on the body and will get you in fantastic sharp insanely fast.
Mental toughness – when it comes to developing grit, there’s nothing quite as effective as getting the shit beaten out of you.
Good ol’fashioned testosterone boost – due to the physical and confronting nature of combat sports, training will lead to a boost in your testosterone levels, which in turn will make you even more badass in all the other areas of your life.
Confidence – training leads to becoming capable, and being capable makes you confident. It’s science.
But let’s address the elephant in the dojo – the question that any aspiring martial artist has had to face at some point on their journey… where should you start?
More specifically, which martial art should you learn? After all, there are practically a million options:
Karate
Boxing
Jujutsu
Tae Kwon Do
Krav Maga
Wrestling
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Kickboxing
Tai Chi
Aikido
Kung Fu
Kendo
Muay Thai
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)
Judo
Wing Chun
Sumo
Sambo
Seeing red
Capoeira
Jeet Kune Do
Each martial art has its own strengths, weaknesses, teaching styles, and level of popularity.
Fortunately, we can use the last one to really narrow down our options as there’s likely only going to be a certain number of gyms in your area. Most cities and larger towns will have somewhere to learn the more popular martial arts like boxing, but finding a place to learn capoeira could prove challenging.
An easy way to figure this out is to search for martial arts in your area on Google Maps. You’ll get an immediate idea for what gyms are nearby and can easily click through to their website to see what they teach.
Something worth mentioning at this point is the increasing popularity of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). It’s a martial arts style that blends together multiple other styles in the attempt to make something more practical and effective. For example, somebody who’s mixing martial arts might learn both boxing and wrestling and then practise using them in combination.
This is important because now that the UFC has exploded in popularity, there’s an MMA gym opening up on practically every street corner. These gyms offer classes in multiple styles and generally have more modern teaching methods than traditional martial arts schools.
For example, early on in my martial arts days, I spent some time learning Wing Chun (a form of kung fu) at a local school. Although I got a lot out of it – it was great for footwork – the teachers actively discouraged learning and experiencing other forms of martial arts, believing their own methods to be superior.
Fortunately, this kind of closed-mindedness is rare in MMA gyms, so they’re generally where I recommend.
Choosing Your Style
When it comes to choosing a style, only you have the answers.
This is because it depends totally on where your priorities lie. As I mentioned earlier, each style has its own strengths and weaknesses, so you’re best off choosing a martial art that has strengths which line up with what you’re hoping to get out of it.
So, have a think about what you’re prioritising here.
Is it about self-defence?
Are you inspired by Bruce Lee and his traditional eastern style?
Are you hoping to compete in MMA?
How do you feel about sparring/getting punched in the head?
Do you generally just want to look like a badass?
The point I’m making is that there are many different metrics, and only you can work out which are most important.
However, I made a promise in the headline and need to deliver. So, for the purposes of this article I’m going to pick a simple metric.
Which is the best martial art for beginners?
And when it comes to beginners, I think practicality is important. Just like with any skill, you want to see it working and being useful. Otherwise, it becomes hard to stick with it, especially when the learning process involves getting beaten up.
Luckily, when it comes to practicality, MMA has already answered the question for us.
The Four Kings
In the world of MMA, there are four martial arts styles that generally reign supreme. These are:
Boxing
Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing)
Wrestling
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)
Everyone knows what boxing is (if you don’t, please find a new home away from that rock you’ve been living under), but I’ll give a brief rundown of each of the others here. All of them could be considered the best martial art for beginners in their own way.
Muay Thai – a form of kickboxing from Thailand. As well as kicks and punches, Muay Thai practitioners learn to throw strikes with knees and elbows. It’s one of the most brutally effective martial arts there is.
Wrestling – no, not WWE/fake entertainment. Wrestling as a martial art is all about grappling with and taking your opponent down to the ground to control him.
BJJ – a grappling martial art like wrestling but with more of a focus on defeating opponents through choke holds and joint locks.
The best MMA fighters in the world are widely skilled at all four styles, although most do generally have a speciality – one style that they started with and have trained the most.
Ultimately, all four are good choices so it comes back down to the factors we spoke about above.
If you want to look like a badass, you can’t do much better than Muay Thai. However, if you want to reduce the risk of brain damage that comes with getting punched or kicked, both wrestling and BJJ are great options.
Don’t let the lack of striking fool you, they’re brutally difficult. A hard sparring session (or rolling, as it’s called in BJJ), will have you questioning all your life choices.
Now, if you backed me into a corner and forced me to pick the best martial art for beginners (how dare you), I’d suggest Muay Thai. It’s versatile, difficult, satisfying, and highly effective in both competition and real world scenarios.
Of course, if you’re interested in training multiple styles, that works too. Most MMA gyms will offer classes in all four of the styles above. You could do a few Muay Thai classes per week and then add in some grappling to make yourself a well-rounded menace.
Whatever you decide to go with, it’s worth diving in head first and giving a few different styles a try. You may find you enjoy the training of one style more than another, which will make the decision easy.
Now go, my badass apprentice. I’ll be expecting a shout out in your post-fight speech once you become UFC champion.