# Which Art for Strength and Fitness



## Curkz (Oct 21, 2009)

Hey guys, 

I've finally found a gym near me that teaches some more suitable arts to me and i am trying to determine what art to choose. I would like to be a lot fitter and stronger so i am thinking of doing the Muah Thai but they also offer Brazillian jui-jitsu which would benefit me if i ever was in a life or death situation with a bigger guy... or MMA 

So what do you guys think a 16 year old should do ? Mind you the only thing related to martial arts that i have done is a self defence expo... I aim to do krav maga when possible though  

Cheers Brenton


----------



## Bill Mattocks (Oct 21, 2009)

If I had my life to live over again, I'd spend more time working on flexibility as a young man, and less time on strength training.  Agility, flexibility, balance, and speed are things that will benefit you when you're older, if you gain them while you're young.  Strength can be created nearly anytime - some of the strongest power lifters are in their 40's and didn't start as young men. BJJ would appear to offer a lot of the above, but I am not a BJJ guy, so I don't know.

As far as fitness goes, aerobic workouts.


----------



## still learning (Oct 21, 2009)

Hello, You will find the hardest and most physcial sports is "wrestling"...our kids did wrestling in High School and even the football players would quit..because of the intensity of the training!

...Judo too....Ha, Ha...

All martial arts has many forms of strenght and fitness in them...even Tai Chi...is NOT easy to do

It is the intensity of which you can add into your training...
All physcial activties...any sports....will give you strength and fitness...

Because you cannot just do the classroom training and expect to be strong...?

It takes after school/classes to do more at HOME! ..the extra kicks,punching,push-ups...Bruce Lee train over 8 hours a day

The best always seeks more training and variety of excercise NO matter the sports....

Answer is NOT the art? ...it is YOU will determine your fitness...

Aloha, ..easiest is to do nothing....most rewarding is to go all out!

..it is like saying which is the best martial arts for running? ....one gotta just run!   for strenght/fitness..one just gotta excercise
Read : Combat Condition.by Matt Furey...great infos's


----------



## Omar B (Oct 21, 2009)

Curkz said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I've finally found a gym near me that teaches some more suitable arts to me and i am trying to determine what art to choose. I would like to be a lot fitter and stronger so i am thinking of doing the Muah Thai but they also offer Brazillian jui-jitsu *which would benefit me if i ever was in a life or death situation with a bigger guy... or MMA *
> 
> ...




Those are 2 completely different aims.  Self defense and sport are different animals, sport does not usually end in possible death, getting robbed or happen unawares.  You have to first decide if you want to learn the martial arts for self defence or for sport then proceed.


----------



## Curkz (Oct 21, 2009)

I want an art for sport but not on the competition based sport... I don't want to be using a walking stick in 20 years for doing muah thai sparring without gear...


----------



## Xue Sheng (Oct 21, 2009)

Not having the slightest idea where you are located and not knowing what schools are available to you and since you are talking Muay Thai, BJJ and MMA you might also want to look at Sanshou


----------



## Omar B (Oct 21, 2009)

Curkz said:


> I want an art for *sport but not on the competition based sport*... I don't want to be using a walking stick in 20 years for doing muah thai sparring without gear...



What are you trying to say here?  You want to learn a sport but not compete?  You do realize styles like MT though they look very good in the ring are tailored to that.  MT you don't train for multipe attackers, chokes, weapon defence, etc.  Why learn a sport you are not going to compete in?  Since you are not going to use it in the ring one would assume you would use it for self defense and there are many arts out there better suited for that.


----------



## TigerLove (Oct 21, 2009)

I think maybe best thing to do is separate martial arts training from strength training.

But, you have to put in much more time then.

You wil get some strength from any sport. But, if you want some special ads..

I think that two times weight lifting would be solid. One training chest, triceps, shoulders, legs. Other training back, biceps, shoulders, legs. If you are going to gain strength through weights, some things must be done. First, you must serve your muscles with some proteins so they can grow properly (why - google hyperthropia). Also, you must really put some weights on - muscle won't get stronger if there is no reason for it. And so on..

If you choose that way, best way to sucess in gym is to listen and ask your trainer - i don't know much people who sucessed with weights on their own.

If you have no any experience with weights, then real weights are to much for you. Do every second day 3 series of pushups and squats (reps: max), and after one month visit gym.

Hope this helps, cheers.


----------



## still learning (Oct 21, 2009)

Curkz said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I've finally found a gym near me that teaches some more suitable arts to me and i am trying to determine what art to choose. I would like to be a lot fitter and stronger so i am thinking of doing the Muah Thai but they also offer Brazillian jui-jitsu which would benefit me if i ever was in a life or death situation with a bigger guy... or MMA
> 
> ...


 
Hello, Read "Combat Conditions" by Matt Fuey.....you will find physcial fitness is NOT about weight lifting only...

Best to get the book and read it for yourself...it explains it well!

Aloha,


----------



## Omar B (Oct 22, 2009)

I think this comes back to him having to really identify his goals in concrete terms then proceed from there.  Just about any martial art you take will get you fit and strong (if you put the work in), you'll also learn how to fight, after all, a style is just a framework.  It's how this framework fits in with your value judgments as to what is important to you and the goals you have identified that really matters.  

Sport, or self defense or self improvement through fitness?  All styles hit these criteria, but it's how much they lean to one area or another.  I do Seido, it's a hard style that came out of Kyokushin so it's pretty rough and ring ready, but our grandmaster's value judgments pushed it more towards the Zen Buddhism side, it's still a hard style, still ring ready too, but it's major bent is toward self improvement through discipline as Buddhist philosophy.  See how that works?  You've gotta identify what you want and go from there.


----------



## terryl965 (Oct 22, 2009)

First of asking people which art is a bad call, you have to wiegh the pro's and con's for yourself. You need to write down what it is you really want from your trainign and go from there, also you need to see if the art you are interested in is tought by someone that really knows what they are doing. Last thing is to try a few classes and make sure it is what you expected.


----------



## Em MacIntosh (Oct 22, 2009)

Wrestling (jiu jitsu etc.) is an intense isometric exercises in its own right wheras striking tends to rely more speed supported by proper bone alignment and kinesthesiology.


----------



## xfighter88 (Dec 18, 2009)

Grapplers tend to be freakishly strong. Jiu-jitsu especially brazilian jiu-jitsu is great because it teaches you sumbissions as well as some wrestling. High shcool wrestling will get you strong and in sick shape and do it all for free. 

That being said both of those martial arts are sport driven. I am a purple belt in BJJ and I would not use it for self defense unless you are only fighting one person which is hardly ever the case. Even then I would break the limb stand up kick him and run away. I would not stay on the ground with him til the cops got there. If you look big and strong it is very unlikly you will be attack by only one guy. It is no fun to tackle a guy just to have his buddy stomp on your face while you do an arm bar. 

Krav is great for self defense. But really almost any martial art will teach you what you need for self defense to some extent. It isn't hard to block a haymaker and kick a guy in the nuts. Follow that up with a knee and elbow. Finish with a arm break if it is just you and him. Easy peasy. You can learn how to do that in an hour.

Go into martial arts for self defense but stay there for the fitness and skill/sport.

If you do go with wrestling or BJJ make sure to learn at least some basic boxing, muay thai, karate, or tkd. Standup fighting from my experience works better for self defense. If I get taken down I do what I can to improve my position and get back up.


----------



## blindsage (Dec 19, 2009)

If you're really looking for strength and fitness in an art, it's hard to beat Capoeira, seriously.  Despite the blah, blah, blah crap you hear about it not being useful for actual fighting it can be very effective if trained well, but you would probably want to find an Angola instructor as opposed to a Regional one.


----------

