Video on the subject (about 2 and a half minutes) my experience is over 30 years of various martial arts and over 20 of violent jobs.
Submitted May 27, 2026 at 08:01AM by BaseMonkeySAMBO https://ift.tt/3SRNgC1
Video on the subject (about 2 and a half minutes) my experience is over 30 years of various martial arts and over 20 of violent jobs.
Old school roll of coins. I favor a roll of nickles. Sort of Viagra for the first.
I’m a complete beginner trying to figure out the best path when it comes to martial arts and self defense.
Originally I considered going straight into MMA because it seems like the most complete option since it covers both striking and grappling. However, a relative of mine who has some martial arts experience told me that MMA can sometimes teach you a little bit of everything without necessarily helping you build a deep foundation in the individual arts themselves. Because of that, I started looking more into training specific disciplines individually.
At first I narrowed things down to Muay Thai for striking, BJJ for grappling and ground defense, and eventually Krav Maga later on for more self defense oriented training. The more I researched though, the more I started hearing different opinions. Some people say Muay Thai is amazing for clinching, elbows, knees, kicks, and overall toughness, but that boxing or kickboxing tends to develop better punching and hand striking. Others say MMA already combines all of this anyway and is still the best overall route for real-world fighting.
What I’m mainly looking for is to become well rounded for self defense. I want to get good at striking with both my hands and feet, develop solid footwork and movement like boxing emphasizes, be able to defend myself on the ground if things ever go there, stay calm under pressure, and build confidence overall. I’m not looking to compete professionally or become some cage fighter, just want practical skills that actually work in real life.
I’d also like to learn things like defending against strikes, controlling distance, and improving my overall situational awareness and self defense skills, although I understand avoiding dangerous situations is always the best option.
For those of you with actual experience training:
If you were starting over as a complete beginner focused mainly on practical self defense, what route would you personally recommend and why?
Long story short I got robbed and was threatened with weapons. There's a hearing in a few months in my case. I'm the witness and the fucker who robbed me is the defendant.
You're kinda fucked in my country if there's evidence in court that you robbed someone with a weapon. I don't think he's going to go to jail, fine at most, but that's even worse probably lol.
My city is not big but also not that small, but I am 60% sure this guy and his friends passed by me in the city centre today.
He knows my name, most likely doesnt remember how I look, but I'm not sure, the group that I saw today was looking at me in a really fucking weird way. My adrenaline shot up and I was ready to start running.
Pretty much every time I go out into the city I keep scanning everything I see like I'm a cop. I know it's good practice to do shit like this and that prevention is the best self defense. But it's no way to live at all. This is my city, I was born here, some young cunts robbed me and threatened to kill me for no reason, and now I am afraid the guy wants to get some revenge or whatever the fuck. Especially after the court hearing but I will try to arrange it in a way that he won't see my face in court.
I dont have the time and money to invest in training. I work out and I run but I cant relax when Im outside. I feel like Im being hunted although nothing's happened to be fair.
Which is best martial arts in can use to defense for my my self
Kraf maga?
Or music thay?
Or there is some other option?