Boxers are only trained to fight 1v1 with rules against a guy's who's going to follow the same rules. Then Covid happened. I'd throw in Muay Thai - kickboxing with knees and elbows. In a "fair" fight without weapons that is. For self defense I believe that a better way is having a series of drills you do consistently and as you get better at them you increase resistance/complexity (like going to more of a free sparring style where they attack with different moves) until it becomes muscle memory. Kickboxing will teach you how to deal with punches better, when transitioning from kyokushin i kickboxing I realized that my head movement First: self defense is not about beating someone up. 2: I don't know if it's relevant but I tried taekwondo a few years ago and really liked but the fact it's in a group made me stop after a month or two. However, I choose not to train in boxing because many other styles are better suited for self-defense or combat in general. For self defense I always recommend If you're serious about learning martial arts for self-defence then you need to dedicate time, lots of it, to multiple forms. And people with short stature benefit from jiu jistu much more than boxing. defense wins That is the value i learning self defense . it seems more practical (most fights in a real life/ street situations seem to mostly use hand punches), takes less time (less moves to learn), and, from what I have observed, people who do boxing have a high level of personal confidence. I’ll have to respectfully disagree. I also am broke so I will also take tips Kick boxing (especailly Muay Thai) is very good, if you are able to stand up, deal with multiple attackers and retain that mobility to avoid unknowns, like dicks with chairs, or unluckily placed curbs. Watch people fighting. 3 days a week of quality boxing instruction for 18 months will make very capable for self defense purposes. IDK if you're male or female, but if you happen to be female I suggest BJJ. Hot take - martial arts, boxing included, are not self defense. Getting fit always raises your self-defense level. If you want self defence or confidence knowing you can defend yourself I would go with BJJ or Muay Thai. No, its not absolutely necessary, but boxing is a good sport to base on hypothetical training. My nephews (7-8 years old) go to boxing classes, it's just about encouraging them to do something good and productive, they enjoy it, neither of them are there to learn how to defend themselves against adults, that'd be dumb, they are there to gain valuable experiences. This is your one-stop-shop for discussions, news, events, and local happenings in this sunny Southern California region. YES to teaching them real defense! I train out of Kai Zen MMA in Fairfax (They also have a few other locations - Falls Church, Vienna, Ashburn). This is the complete opposite for self defense. Boxing is great but it has a flaw. 6 months of Muay Thai, idk if someone starting from nothing would be confident or competent in their skills to defend themselves. Old bare-knuckle boxers did a number of things to prevent their fists from breaking. It's also a martial art, but it's more art than it is martial, because it has evolved around the use of equipment (ropes, gloves, the ring) and the rules that govern it (no kicking, no punching behind the head, no low blows, no holding, etc. You can't really go wrong with Muay Thai either though but it takes twice or thrice as long to get good at. thank u man, i thought that one combo would be better than other, in fact muay thai and bjj can give good options in a fight but i think that head movement, foot work, fast puchs and position from boxing and wrestling can provide good fundamentals and the enough defense in 1v1 even fast and powerful punchs from boxing can give u advantage against the average The average person can’t fight like they think they can. A continuous question that gets asked here is how practitioners of the sport feel about its application to self defense. First of all you guys can rank any martial art you want all the way from tai Predatory violence often can't be avoided, but you can decrease your attractiveness as a target with situational awareness, by hardening yourself as a target, and by knowing how to hit and not get hit. Boxing is a sport. ADMIN. Some friends and I were drunk recently, and a friend of mine punched me in jest, accidentally hitting me in the solar plexus. A good example is in the korean Martial Arts we use to throw round house kicks art when you learn to throw a street round house 45 degree into the ribs or into the legs followed up with some boxing it makes for some very potent self defense. Best combination for self defense is a need to live and the desire for violence. I was gasping for air for at least 20-30 seconds before I caught my breath. I know boxers have used long guard in boxing (think Foreman but Wrestlers have better takedowns and Take down defense. A very misunderstood system that draws on natural body mechanics and quick, no bs strikes. Yes to real boxing, but not avail in Nova (only fitness). P. It's sort of like a hipster mentality. life is not a movie where you go out fighting your opponent and dodging punches. The reason I want to choose boxing is because,. And bjj has the advantage that you know ground skills. besides looking cool to me. if you want to train for the sake of self defense, you should train self defense, or even mixed martial arts. muay thai is a very offense sport boxing is very defensive. But like me BJJ has a lot of different elements and you can basically incorporate wrestling and judo in your bjj stand up. No one martial art is going to prepare you for every situation, unless the art was designed specifically for real-life self defense. Boxing is the only martial art I've seen have success against multiple attackers. If you want to have immediate results I recommend a self defense specific course in the mean time through a local program or even online. I have a bit of a background in kicking martial arts (kung fu) and I've been getting into boxing now. I'd say try sparring, even if you don't want to compete or need the self defense. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Self-defense, or more succinctly, survival, is another matter. I am wondering should I go to an mma school thought by a qualified ex ufc fighter or should I do boxing training for self defense. The idea was that my sense of resistance in grappling will supplement my reflex Anyway here is the basic martial arts ranked by my opinion: 1 Muay Thai 2 MMA 3 Kickboxing 4 Boxing 5 Judo 6 Brazilian jiu jitsu 7 Karate 8 Krav Maga 9 Taekwondo 10 Jiu Jitsu 11 Kung Fu 12 Aikido. And I would be happy for them to compete in the amateur ranks as I have but perhaps would be more cautious with them doing it than I was with myself Boxing has a lot of strong advantages for self-defense, mostly related to footwork. You should RARELY ever take a self defense situation to the ground unless there is no other choice. Short of engaging in significant amounts of dedicated, scenario-based, weapon-centric force-on-force training, you're not even coming close to maximizing your ability to survive in "real life" against a dynamic BJJ or wrestling or sambo + a weapon art. For self defense the best thing would be getting better at reading your surroundings, staying aware, avoiding dangerous situations, and training yourself to survive that initial surprise onslaught that would be an assault or street fight. If those two twins fought who would win? I think for general sense of self confidence either will work, one Jan better than the other. Dont sleep on boxing its really all you need for striking against untrained people. Self defense for adult males are normally training to prevent avoidable violent acts in the street, like mugging or bar fights. With muay thai you already have the best striking arts covered. There are techniques from martial arts which will help you achieve the objectives of a self defense scenario; but a self defense curriculum starts from the top down - the objective and context dictates which techniques are likely to achieve the goal. -zero-joke-. No to TKD, karate, other kata focused arts. Now in my experience against the average Joe bjj takedowns are fine and you can always focus on thise if you're worried. As for Judo, it is a great sport that works for self-defense, but you could consider it as a more sport-oriented martial art. Ask Mike Tyson who broke his hand. BJJ focuses on ground grappling and defeating an opponent by using submissions. They punched with a vertical fist, which decreases the likelihood of breaking the fist. " In the FMA I teach we do bareknuckle body sparring sometimes just to focus on the changes with bareknuckle. It is stupid to punch in a fight especially if you intend to punch the head. If you gave someone 6 months in boxing vs Muay Thai, the 6 months of boxing would likely have some sense of defense, throw solid punches, maybe even be competent at sparring. Being able to land those in the clinch can give you a big advantage and your attacker a disadvantage. Striking in general have a higher chance of really hurting the attacker, if theres no evidence to prove that it’s self-defense, then you’d be in some DEEP SHIT by the law. The groundfighting instructionals that these KM masters put on YouTube are such a joke in terms of horrific bjj, as to be laughable if they weren’t actually telling BJJ is the best for self defense but Muay Thai is the best of the striking arts (kickboxing is fine too but Muay Thai is better because of the clinch and elbows), but carry a gun/knife/pepper spray if you really wanna defend yourself. Moral of the story: be multi-faceted. Elbows and knees are excellent strikes for self defense. Maybe to Krav. Using BJJ for self defence should be your very last resort. All training should be done with 12 oz gloves for men above 150 pounds, and sparring should be done with at least 16 oz gloves. While there are parallels between self defense techniques and this sport, a lot of convolution is occurring between self defense and fighting and fighting is not discussed on the sub (which is why I bring this up). Striking martial arts like boxing have a good payout of skills, but you'll get very injured. Martial arts are systems of techniques. yeah the difficult balance is do you get CTE while training for a self defense situation that will likely never happen. I also don't have access to punching bag but I do have boxing gloves, MMA gloves and punch mitts (also a jumprope but no space to use it). Throwing a 2-3-2 on a person, is FAR different than throwing it on a person. As long as the attacker abides by sparring rules, you'll be just fine. Boxing is not for self defense. Self defense is a discipline as well as an exercise, so you will likely be well respected as you gain skill in fighting or martial arts. Ditch boxing. The style of training is just generally more rigorous than karate. Kick boxing is better to learn because that is a better way to weaken legs than body punches, and you maintain distance. Judo also teaches u to adapt to your opponent. KM is essentially a never-ending weekend self defense seminar. I think that boxing is a very limited fighting style but I will also admit that many boxing athletes (even novices) have considerable skills when it comes to punching, footwork, and dodging/parrying/blocking punches. If you hit someone wrong you could either kill them, break your hand, do nothing, knock them out, or just piss them off. You don't have to make it complex either. Im old now, live in a wealthy neighborhood, dont go out much at night to bars etc. If you are looking for a martial art with efficient self-defense you should probably start looking for at least one of this styles: Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling, BJJ, Judo, MMA. Your point about conditioning is excellent, and boxing is great cross-training once you know how to defend yourself adequately, but if you want to learn to defend yourself it's important to learn some practical techniques for each situation (punching, kicking, grappling upright, grappling on the floor). If you're used wearing gloves, you won't be able to punch correctly without breaking your hands and your distance will be a bit different. Thus, I think it would be appropriate for everyone to share their preferred martial arts, positive/negative experiences with different systems, and overall takeaway in the world of self-defense. S. Archived post. When opponents have passed the lines of defense the long and high guards offers and you are in each others range; I find that the Crazy Monkey defense works well for me, the first block setting up a counter or follow-up block, making good use of short-time openings. And a lot of that stuff you learned is thrown out the window when shit hits the fan. LtDanShrimpBoatMan. Yes, it’s probably one of the most effective ones for self defense, like Muay Thai. You get better at boxing faster, but MMA is better for one on one fights. Your hands would probably be fine as long as you avoid hitting a forehead. If we are talking about effectiveness as a self defense martial art, then boxing is probably more effective as it is easier to learn and get good at and has more specialization and focus. After all its a street fight nothing to really gain from fighting in the street. Mma vs boxing for self defense. Not to mention their footwork and defense is much better than muy thai. Boxing will teach you great evasive technique, and foot work. here in my place, kickboxing/ muaythai is way more expensive than boxing (like almost double the fee). Most self defense situations you will fight against 2 or more people. Share your experiences, ask questions, and connect with both locals and visitors alike. By all means restart it! Plus boxing is great because its easy and quick to learn, sure you are limited but your hands become literal weapons and you can end fights quick. I havent sparred striking regularly in around a year now. Hello does anyone recommend somewhere where I can learn boxing or self defense. So for those reasons, I'd go with boxing / wrestling. If I do decide to spar I should ALWAYS be working my defense, with my hands protecting my head, using my head movement, and using footwork Are there individuals on here that train boxing, but do not compete or spar? Do you get shit for this? Is there anything else I am missing to make sure I don't develop brain damage when I start boxing. Honestly whats most important about self defense is situational awareness. iv gotten into a few altercations at school… Most styles of martial arts will have a self defence element, muay thai being useful for legit pure bludgeoning. So you’ll probably get locked up. Many fitness instructors did not start out fit. Yes, Boxing, MT, and kickboxing are all obviously very useful in a fight. Boxing's speed training, footwork, and live drilling/sparring are pretty much paramount to the sport. ADMIN MOD. canontan. Being able to run for 20 minutes straight, being able to do 20 push-ups in a row, and 10 pull-ups, or chin-ups is good. theres not kickboxing and muay thai gyms in my area unless i wanna travel 40 minutes with added traffic. Boxing will definitely help with the last one. true. Learning boxing (self-defense, not just fitness) on a budget I'm a college student in Washington and would really like to get started with boxing for personal reasons. Nothing is particularly good for self defense if you don't spar. If you still have spare time, learn a grappling art as supplement, wrestling, Sambo, Glima, Judo etc BJJ is kinda icky in self defense because you don't want to roll around on the street on the hard cement floor, with possibly broken bottles around or dirty syringes etc Boxing is best. I dont have any muscles and flinch anytime someone waves their hand near my direction. Bjj will have more answers for surviving on the ground and subs. That's a big reason. Say you train like this for a couple of years. But there’s no grappling involved. In the specific context of self-defense, knowing that almost no combatant you encounter will have significant training, judo's 80:20 ratio of takedowns:groundwork makes more sense than BJJ's ratio of 10:90 or 5:95. Im a woman so this isnt like funny haha sigma man I need to learn how to defend myself and be strong. There are some boxing coaches that will work with you if you should decide to do kickboxing they The problem with self-defense is that you really can't learn it anywhere. Kyokushin will teach you far better techniques and I personally prefer the karate snap kicks (teeps and round house) over the kickboxing/muay Thai versions. He'll be a kick boxer with a boxing base. Aikido technically has ways of dealing with being held at knifepoint or gunpoint, but a beginner won't learn these, and there are very effective things a beginner can learn from a dedicated course. If your out right attacked then no shit go off fight… If its avoidable then why not avoid the fight. Boxing is better because you can also really mess someone up, but most importantly you can use it to keep your distance to get help. Their striking fundamentals I’ve seen are fine, but footwork, the crucial element of boxing, is an afterthought. ). Long Guard in Boxing/Self Defense. First choice should be striking + good footwork to escape (Boxing/Muay Thai), second should be stand up grappling to get your opponent on the ground while you continue standing (Muay Thai clinch, Judo, Greco-Roman wrestling). I've naturally started using more long guard tactics instead of head movement even when there are no kicks involved, unlike in muay thai. At that age, The brain is not mature enough to aquire anything specific from MA training. You can keep moving, which is often vital. 10 votes, 16 comments. I can tell you from experience - the best defense is to: Not let anyone know your business - if good comes to you, they'll envy you, if hardship befalls you, they'll think you're vulnerable, and in both cases, they'll target you One of my frequent criticisms of FMA is that the empty hand training is often lacking and an art like boxing is needed to build a base level of attributes but some of the "dirty boxing" components can offer some options for a more self defense focused boxing game, the problem is a lot of the dirty boxing guys lack solid boxing foundation so you They can't learn anything martial before 7 years old, as they can't yet understand ethics, self defense or combat sport techniques. Boxing is slightly more important in current mma high level meta due to synergywith wrestling. If "offense is the best defense" is your doctrine, then I guess it is good for self defense. Award. Especially back kicks and high roundhouse kicks. Muay Thai teaches long guards, leg kicks, clinching, parrying, kneeing, and elbows which are more effective at disabling an opponent to run away. Bare knuckle boxing is a thing, after all. Training in boxing will reap benefits that could be useful in a street fight such as the ability to slip a punch or maintaining balance when pushed around. A solid leg kick or three can disable a would-be attacker. Welcome to /r/orangecounty, the Reddit community for all things related to Orange County, California. They would benefit much more from swimming, gymnastics and sensory activities. And boxing is probably one of the best art forms for personal self defense atleast against unarmed attackers. On the other hand jujitsu/ grappling is the best to subdue attackers. You have a small target to hit to incapacitate someone (the chin/temple) and your hands are not wrapped or in gloves. You are probably right about most self-defense videos, but if you hit the solar plexus correctly, it really is pretty debilitating. Second neither boxing or kickboxing are going to teach you self defense, they might teach you how to fight, but in a self defense situation there are no rules. 5. 4. Worked both for MMA and in "da streetz". Do some stretching, run, and do push-ups, and chin-ups, or pull-ups. People may draw weapons. Use 8 oz gloves for pads and bags and 12–16 oz gloves for sparring if you're a man under 100 pounds. I think muay Thai is great and would also be pretty effective but personally I think boxing has better foot work and defensive head movement etc. No amount of preparation, or breadth of technique and styles, is going to make a person ready for every possible dangerous situation where martial arts is even remotely viable. From there you can branch out and make specific considerations for the "street. The first goal if you ever end up in a fight is to run away. Two significant factors for self-defense for an adult male are Situational Awareness and De-escalation. Boxing is a rule bound sport, not a self defense program. Most people pick these up much more quickly in boxing than they do in karate. With Boxing you learn proper stances, head movement, how to hit and more importantly how to get hit, footwork and movement. These are the non-technical or non-physical parts that your wife mentioned. 9% of people you see walking around. Snoo-82170. If you're looking for something specifically self-defence based, try looking at American Kenpo. I think judo teaches you more. Traditional karate in a modern setting does not teach self defense quickly, and I say this as someone who is nearing my shodan test. My main gripe for boxing self defense would be your hands. Track is the best discipline for self defence. Also, from my perspective, wearing jeans or your everyday clothing will impede or restrict you from throwing kicks/ knees, but most of the time your arms will have less restrictions. Also if you ever wanted to knock out 2 or 3 guys in 5 seconds boxing is People rave about boxing as this great art for striking and self defense and it seems to have so many holes in it, that I can't believe people actually think it's good for a street fight. Reply reply. A decent striking martial art is essential, Muay Thai/Boxing/Kick Boxing, etc. For UFC or controlled environment - yeah BJJ has the edge. The thing is, kickboxing is a sport. Preferably you would have at least a couple of sanctioned bouts in that time. Boxing is great for self defense. 1. That make it really formidable in a real world scenario as you put it. And while BJJ is extremely effective it takes time to learn to use effectively and getting use to the positioning and you’re asking about the fastest to learn. I try to keep an open but pragmatic mind when the discussion involves self-defense, and this should be universally true for all of you. My risk of needing self defense is very low so I mainly only train grappling. That being said, self defense is an objective. Judo is probably more useful than bjj in streets or self defense. boxing is also more widespread. Too early for MMA, must have at least 1 or 2 arts first. These are the styles that combine a good selfe-defence use, a good popularity that makes easy to find a good gym to train them almost everywhere and usually The best answer would be a little bit of everything. But yeah Boxing for self defense Pros- Due to the relative simplicity of the system, it can be learnt quickly and competence in a few weeks, generally a good coach can get you ready to jump into the ring in three months and you don't have to fight unless you want to Fitness will skyrocket, can be done solely for fitness too. S: I hope it's in the good subreddit. the movement and defense of boxing is so much better then muay thai for the street. After 6 months, with your build, you would be able to beat 99. So I can get some taste of a real Resistance and various body types. We all have unique mindsets, background experiences, and physiques. There's also a lot of conceptual carryover between judo and boxing. I've read that the best way to get started is by finding a coach, but at local gyms private sessions run me ~$70 per hour, which is difficult for me financially. Street fights are dirty. Now, if it was someone who has been training in karate intensively and for a long time, karate does I would absolutely want them to learn boxing or another martial art for confidence, health, self defense etc. But street fights are chaotic, ugly affairs that often devolve into several people in a frenzy kicking a downed person in the head and ribs. Those joints are tougher than the hands, they have a lot of power, and if you get stuck in close quarters they are more effective. The gym I train at had (and still does have) multiple high ranking fighters, national/european/world champs. Self defense is hit hard to neutralize and run. . Once it goes to the ground it is only 1-1 fight. BUT my training on muay Thai doesn't go out the window because I've drilled it every single practice for hundreds or thousands of hours with actual real sparring. Punching range also puts you in danger of clinch Judo teaches u to fall properly. •. . Also, any punches to the head were always precise, none of the spray and pray you might see today, to avoid hitting hard targets, and they rarely ever punched the head full Muay thai beats boxing in kick boxing matches. Boxing isn't designed for self defense but ironically it's arguably the most effective MA for unarmed fighting on the street. It makes you improve in ways that training in the gym cannot. I trained primarily in a reality-based self defense system where people would say that most people are untrained so a high level of skills isn’t required for self defense. my bf's personal trainer used to be severely obese and lost 280 pounds during his fitness journey. But Muay Thai opens up options that boxing doesn’t have. Muay Thai is more effective in self defense if those are the only two options. For training and sparring, men who weigh between 100 and 150 pounds can utilize gloves that weigh 10 or 16 ounces. Self defense: People willing to fight you are not average people. A&M boxing kidding died off in 2019-2020, big disagreements between a coach and the club president at the time were both tried to get folks in the club to pick sides. Almost all fights go to the ground. A grappling and clinch/ground fighting style, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is great, various wrestling, sambo, etc. So grapling is good for nothing. Also, adding a knife into most of the arts mentioned (bjj, MMA, boxing, wrestling) would make them much less effective. For example MMA and sport heavily biases bjj and ground fighting. In my personal opinion boxing is more important for da streetz. In MMA, or for self defense, the head movement of boxing makes a ton of sense because a) the range is different due to takedowns and b) the head movement can feint a takedown into a punch or on the other hand it can lure people into thinking you’re just moving your head and you can use it to level change for a takedown. Training first to fight in order to defend yourself is a failure to understand the realities of self defense. The other trains at a boxing gym without sparring but lots of padwork, parnet drills, bag work etc. A solid foundation in western boxing is the best starting point. Seriously can't over state what this guy said. Have some goals, too. But because it's so mainstream people dismiss it and go looking for some 'traditional deadly secret art' that looks cool. I trained Boxing basics, then my idea was to solo-train relying mainly on Heavy Bag, Reflex Bar, Double End Bag, Reflex Ball, Tennis Ball, and Shadow Boxing (no mitts, sparring, or more coaching). Use of Boxing for self defense. But, in the likely event someone tackles you, you are fucked if you don't know how to fight on the ground. Very possibly moreso than most boxing gyms or aikido dojo out there. I feel as though grappling is not ideal in the street and can’t really kick with jeans on anyways so boxing might get better correlation to self defense in a street scenario. Real, effective self defense is about situational awareness, de-escalation, conflict resolution skills, good cardio to get away when those things don't work, and dead last It’s been dead for a few years now. In modern schools where the instructor has to reach a wider audience, the first several kyu levels are in teaching the strict, rigid movements that people generally think of when they think of karate (along with other, also useful things, I should hope). In America most street fights with men are really shitty boxing. I think Muay Thai offers more tools than boxing. 3. I found this take pretty interesting from the Talk Jitsu podcast. this dude doesn’t take into consideration is boxing in my view is much better for self defense then muay thai because of DEFENSE boxing teaches you how to take a punch gets you comfortable taking punches and learning how to counter. jt mn qc qy ne of mq sh xt lb