| To add to what some of the others said, go for Muay Thai. It is a very hard hitting style that has a ton of practical use. Over the years I've taken a lot of different martial arts as I believe its best to have exposure to different styles (personally taken chi lin chuan fa kung fu, kenpo, little bit of muay thai, and a little bit of jujitsu and aikido). I was also a bouncer my entire time in college so I have seen a lot of fights, brawls, and unfortunately had to participate in a few as well. I would keep the following things in mind when choosing to become well-rounded and being able to defend yourself, as these are things I noticed over the years.
1. Dont train extensively in ground fighting. While jujitsu and such look great on tv, I cant recall one fight I ever saw break out in years of bouncing where there was a 1 on 1 situation. While I did take a few months worth of ground fighting to give myself a comfort zone against the random street brawler if the fight ended up there, practical experience has shown me that grappling one guy is going to get you a beer bottle or a steel tipped boot to the head from one of his buddy/buddies. You don't want to ever end up on the ground in most real life situations outside of a ring, and remember that people will use eye gouging and all the other shit you cant get away with on tv when you're tied up with somebody. It's good to learn some of those basic techniques though, so you can be able to take care of yourself should you ever get tackled, pulled to the ground etc.
2. This should be number one, but Im too lazy to move things around. Find a good school. Do some research and find out what other students thought, how they were treated, how large the class size was, and more importantly what other people in the field think of the instructors. I will echo what the poster above me said, stay away from Tae Kwon Do unless you can find a really good reputable school. It's not a bad martial art per se, but especially in the states it has evolved more into an art based around winning points for Olympic style fighting (which is lame imo). The fight doesn't stop when you win a point out in the real world, and I've absolutely wrecked some of the guys I sparred with due to kung fu's close range striking with some of the muay thai elbow and knee strikes. TKD is far too range dependent and a good , quick opponent (even untrained) will adapt and move in close if they see you trying to repeatedly kick them.
I wish I didn't have to move away from the great muay thai teacher where I lived before, I was really starting to get good technique and power and would have loved to learn more. Lastly, let me emphasize this point. A lot of imported martial arts schools here were created for the purpose of making money first and foremost, not teaching, so keep this in mind if you are in the states. When I started in my kung fu class I didnt have a lot of money back then, and my instructor offered to teach me for free for just helping to keep the dojo clean, which pretty much told me right off the bat that he was in this for the right reasons.
3. Focus on what you're naturally good at, and work on improving what you are not. Sounds like basic common sense, but some people waste potential by trying to be perfect in everything, and not really pushing their natural talent when they are naturally amazing kickers or strikers respectively. We are not all built the same way, and that makes some people just lucky.
4. Know your limits. Don't ever be afraid to haul ass if you are simply outmatched, outnumbered, or if your life is in imminent danger. That doesn't make you a coward, it just makes you smart.
5. Don't abuse the knowledge you gain. I always liked the aikido philosophy for this, and if you know you have control of the situation, beating someone to a pulp goes against what martial arts is all about in my humble opinion. Only use the force necessary for the situation, think about how you could permanently affect someones entire life by overuse of force. Some people do stupid things, such as drinking too much and just making a bad mistake, so try and keep that in mind. I see a lot of people getting into martial arts for the wrong reasons nowadays.
I might be biased, but I think all the arts have good things to offer. I got a lot of great technique from karate and its more linear striking, added a ton of power with kung fu and its circular movements (which naturally generates more power), nice joint locking techniques from akido and my kung fu chin na, and nice close range striking techniques from the limited muay thai I took. I really cherish all of those things I learned. Learning to combine the best of different arts is what I really feel makes you a complete fighter. All arts have something to offer, just try and keep an open mind and good luck in your search! |