What type of martial art is best for self-defense classes (specifically for women)?

I%26#039;m a 20 year old female. I%26#039;m moving out on my own, and I%26#039;ll be living alone in an apartment complex. I%26#039;ll be working kinda late hours too. I have been wanting to learn some self-defense techniques for a while now, but I%26#039;m not sure where to start.





I have no past experience with Martial Arts. I have good kinetic skills, and I respect it as an %26quot;art%26quot; form. I could be known somewhat of a %26quot;girly girl%26quot; but I can become very driven and competitive (with myself). I would take this seriously with no doubt.





I also would like to get a heads up on what I might expect in basic training for the Marine Corps, as I will be on the Delayed Entry Program next fall. I believe this type is directed more towards complex combat/submission style, which isn%26#039;t my main focus as of now. But I wouldn%26#039;t mind learning anything that might put me a step ahead in boot camp next year.





So, for those who know.....


What would you recommend I get into?


How much would you expect classes to cost (average)?





Thanks =)

What type of martial art is best for self-defense classes (specifically for women)?
Congrats on your upcoming service.





First and foremost, with the information you just gave I would definately consider spending some time invested in getting a conceal and carry permit (if the state permits), and looking to carry a firearm in addition to self defense. Pepper Spray, Tazers, ASPs. etc are all great additions to have as well. What ever is legal and affordable for you.





Self Defense wise, I agree with the above poster about Judo (they have plenty of joint manipulation) and a large portion of military self defense techniques (Modern Army Combatitives and like) have a lot of Judo and BJJ at their base. Essentially they train MMA now, with a few more things added.





I would suggest Judo, MMA, BJJ, all of which are pretty female friendly now a days. Krav Maga classes are also really good but hard to find a good one. (One that truly teaches it, and isn%26#039;t some fitness trainer certified in it).





You want a heads up for bootcamp, Judo is great. Krav Maga is also great (taught to the Israeli Defense Force)Aikido, not so much, they do some small joint manipulation, but most of their training in throws and the like aren%26#039;t practical. The throws you learn in Boot Camp will be Judo and Greco Roman throws, sweeps, and reaps. The joint locks mostly Judo (with some BJJ and Sambo)The striking mostly Muay Thai. And some improvised weapons, utilizing your weapon and bayonet, and some nastiness that you will generally find in Krav Maga.





A good heads up would totally be MMA as an ideal, (but it is a lot to learn with each aspect if you don%26#039;t have a lot of time)Krav Maga (again a good school that actually spars and has resistance) Judo is also great, as 60 to 70 percent of the things you learn in the Marines will be Judo and BJJ based. (The strikes, again Muay Thai) and Muay Thai, or kickboxing.





If you are driven and competetive you can gain a lot out of those.





You can expect to pay abour 30-50 bucks a month for any of those, sometimes more depending on location and what is available, and quality of instruction. Anything over 100 is crazy.





Avoid any of the following:





Contracts, any place that has kids with black belts, any place where the instructor does not have a proven record easily verified record. (if he says he is 100-0 in pro fights he is most likely lying). Or any place that tells you what they do is too deadly to practice on each other, that it is only meant %26quot;for the streets%26quot;. Any place that has promotion fees for anything under black belt. Any place that teaches %26quot;Muy Tai%26quot; or other such mispellings and offers a belt system for it.





Also avoid any place that teaches %26quot;MMA%26quot; but the instructor has never fought, and has never taught or has any active fighter. (www.sherdog.com and http://fcfighter.brinkster.net/ can check records).





Also avoid anyone who has made up their own style or is a 10th degree master of something and isn%26#039;t 70+ years old.





Anything you find that will be enjoyable and not rip you off will help honestly, you will gain discipline, self confidence, and some useable techniques. Just avoid the McDojos, and any art that doesn%26#039;t spar, and you will be good to go.





Check out www.bullshido.com on their forum section, or their dojo reveiw, they have members all over the world, and more than likely can direct you to a quality place, or verify the credentials of anyone you come across.





Also avoid any place that doesn%26#039;t have a black belt teaching there. (You find this more with BJJ than anything, many brown, purple, and blue belts trying to charge people for teaching them BJJ, while you can gain a lot from them, you shouldn%26#039;t have to pay unless it is a steal).





Good luck, hope that is of some help. Message me if you any questions, I will be happy to answer.
Reply:Tiff,





My suggestions would be either Judo or Aikido. Judo, sport judo, is full contact, with a side benefit: One learns to fall correctly, with little damage to body or ego. %26lt;g%26gt;





Aikido is the same as judo, with some joint-bending techniques added. Aikido will take longer to learn, but it is more useful (to my mind) on the street.





Either one will do.





Regards,





Gaucho (16 years as a prison cop with no permanent injuries.)
Reply:You%26#039;ve actually asked two questions. For personal Self Defense for a woman I would highly recommend Jeet Kun Do, the true martial art of Bruce Lee. I realize this style is not as popular as others, but I feel it is the most effective. Kali and Escrima, The Phillipino Arts, are effective too. I%26#039;m a little biased as I trained under Paul Vnuk in the early 80s. To this day I still remember certain techniques that are pratical and teachable to others. I%26#039;ve even taught my kids some basics.





As for your Marine Training, Brazilian Ju Jitsu would be the best. The grappling and submission moves are almost unstoppable, just watch any UFC show.





Good luck
Reply:Hi Tiff.





If you want to get purely into self-defense I personally recommend Japanese jujutsu. Something from the Daito Ryu would probably serve you best.





Japanese arts were developed by people of smaller stature. (The average Samurai was probably less than 5%26#039;6%26quot; and many famous jujutsu-ka are notably shorter.) This means techniques tend to work well for women and smaller men against larger opponents. They are based on knowing how the human body works, and doesn%26#039;t work, not on how strong or big you are.





Jujutsu, and we are talking about aikijujutsu if you want to be specific, is a self-defense art. That means: you target to hurt your opponent, there are NO rules, and your goal is to walk away - preferably unharmed.





I love judo and have played it for years, it comes from jujutsu, and there are similarities obviously. But judo is a sport with rules and is heavily clothing dependent in its current form. Aikido also comes from jujutsu. Like jujutsu and judo, aikido has self defense applications, but a large number of aikido-ka do not practice effective striking or active resistance by their opponents.





Jujutsu is a well-rounded art that includes striking and blocking, joint locking (or destruction on the street), throwing, choking, and grappling. It stresses being flexible in your thinking and adapting to the situation based on your abilities and strengths.





I think you would find this a valuable head start in boot camp.


Cost depends on where you live and what is available. Many schools teaching traditional Japanese martial arts are less expensive than kickboxing and TKD because they are not full time businesses. Many also avoid putting students on long-term contracts, another benefit for you.
Reply:I was in The U.S Army Special Forces 3rd S.O.G ..And my best advice to you is Krav Maga..Its perfect for you..The attacks are designed to be quick and effective...Judo is fine, but, do you really want to be rolling around with a 200 plus pound man?? Get in, do damage, and Get out..Thats my motto..Your choice.FYI, I currently take Brazillian Jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai and compete in cage fighting in California..My experience is real world..I roll with women and I feel theres no way in a real situation that grappling would be of a benifet to a woman..As a woman,your main concern should be to inflict damage and incapacitate your attacker and flee..This isnt about rules or points..This is about your life with just you and your attacker..Strike and flee..Grappling is great until his friends show up..Be smart,This is your life..Prison guards have back-up as do cops..You wont, give your-self the best chance at survival..Good luck and Sempre Fi!!
Reply:Brazillian Jiu Jitsu is the best self defense are for women, because most of the techniques practiced are from what is known as %26quot;the guard%26quot; which is the position you would be in in an attempted rape. I Finding a good instructor is vital, a good place to start would be the grappling forum of sherdog.net. have no idea about training in the marine corps.
Reply:Considering that you%26#039;ll be receiving MA training in the military, I%26#039;d strongly suggest Aikido as supplimentary training.





Why? Aikido is especially good for women in that many of its techniques are counters to arm/wrist grabs...techniques that many men find unhelpful in a self-defense situation, but are especially relevant to the sorts of attacks/assualts women most frequently face: men grabbing them and attempting to restrain them.





If Aikido isn%26#039;t available, go for Judo.
Reply:There are several factors to consider:





1. What martial arts schools are in your area? I would go visit them in person and, if you like what you see, set up an appointment to talk to the head instructor and ask questions about how well suited that particular school is as far as helping you meet your goals.





2. How much time and effort are you willing to put into training? Do you want a short but intensive period of training where you will learn as much self-defense skills as possible in as short a time as possible? Or are you willing to train longer in order to learn as a more comprehensive system of self-defense and more?





3. What is your particular body type? Your physical strengths and weaknesses?





If you don%26#039;t want to invest a whole lot of time in training, and want some practical skills that will help you deal with both the physical and emotional aspects of self-defense, I would suggest you check out one of the programs that provides full impact self-defense training for women, using padded assailants.





There are a lot of other self-defense seminars available for women, with a wide variance in quality. I would check them out carefully before hand to make sure that they offer realistic and practical training.





If you are willing to invest more time in training, a traditional martial art, taught at a woman-friendly school, can be an excellent choice, but I would supplement that with some other self-defense training as well.





When picking a particular style of martial art, it%26#039;s important to be realistic about your size, strengths, weaknesses, etc. While it is important to learn to defend yourself from the ground, a ground-fighting system may not be the way to go. Too many of them involve taking the fight to the ground --- something a woman, especially a smallish woman, would be unwise to do. There is a difference between training to defend oneself should the fight go to the ground, versus taking the fight to the ground as the main fighting strategy.





Make sure that you will learn to defend yourself well from a stand-up position. If anyone is going to go to the ground during a fight, I prefer that it be my assailant and not me.





Find out what the particular fighting strategy of any prospective style is. Will it suit you? Wing Chun, for example, is said to have been developed by a woman, and a number of women say that the fighting strategy is well suited to them.





Sometimes women are attracted to styles that involve a lot of kicking. However, flashy high kicks are not really suited for practical self-defense. If I%26#039;m going to kick someone in the head, first I%26#039;m going to make sure that he%26#039;s no longer standing upright.





Traditional martial arts sometimes get a bum rap from the self-defense community. Yes, martial arts training is not a quick fix. Some schools are inadequate in their self-defense training. But there are many valuable benefits to good martial arts training: increased situational awareness, improved focus, greater self-confidence, etc. Good training in karate, for example, will turn you into a %26quot;hard target%26quot; as opposed to an easy target for predators. You will develop physical, mental, and emotional stamina. You will learn how to fight --- how to take a punch as well as to throw one. You will learn how to use your entire body, and you will learn how to attack an assailant at his most vulnerable points.





Think about what you really want out of training. Set some concrete goals. Then do your homework. The links below are a good place to get started.





Good luck!
Reply:Simple: Any Martial Art where they practice FULL CONTACT AND FULL FORCE SPARRING, WITH AS LITTLE PROTECTIVE PADDING AS POSSIBLE. You have to practice defending yourself against someone who is 100% trying beat you up.





Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo allow you to practice fighting someone with little to no injury. Unlike martial arts that encourage striking (which is a difficult thing to master, especially for a female), BJJ relies on technique and leverage to allow a smaller person to defend herself against a bigger person. You learn technique, then practice it with FULL CONTACT sparring at the end of class. BJJ is all about grappling and wrestling and feeling comfortable fighting against someone on the ground.
Reply:Russ32579 is right..Judo,Akido,and Jiu Jitsu are about closing the gap,meaning getting close to your attacker,Krav Maga is about creating distance..Its about survival not points,and its the method of the Isreali Commandos..Be smart girlfriend.What if you on a stairway? Are you going to wrestle with some crazy rapist? Rapes occure in all kinds of places..Men by nature are stronger then women,if you dont pull off the judo throw or jiu-jitsu technique,then your screwed.Krav Maga teaches strikes to the throat,groin and eyes..Real life skills that will allow you to NOT be raped..Listen to the Special Forces guy..He sounds like he knows what he%26#039;s talking about.
Reply:Krav Maga would be perfect for you.


I am proud of you for the Marines.Good luck%26amp;Godspeed my sister.