What is the best martial art/self-defense?

I hear Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Krav Maga are superior.

Kajukenbo

Kaje bunshin jutsu

the art of shooting someone in the kneecap

Sexy Commando

Hokuto Shinken

akuma no fruit

jeet kune do

it allowed bruce lee to get 252 perfects in his career.

the Crazy. When you're crazy, all sensation is lost, and adds a psychological avantage against your enemies.

drunken master - it comes naturally to some of us

Useful:

Vale Tudo/MMA
Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu
Muay Thai
Kickboxing
Boxing

good old anything goes street fighting is still by far the best

>>12

I think you'll find that 9 times out of 10 you're also practicing the 'drunken master' style though.  Pure street fighting is pretty rare.

Ninpo Taijutsu

If you need self-defence, then just run away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6REjJxoHgY

shaolin shoalin shoalin

>>16

How do I find real Shaolin?  Not this fake crap they sell everywhere.

from the nearby asian grocery at two for the price of one

Muay Thai all the way

The ancient style of prehispanic martial art known as Los chingadazos.

HOW DO I DID SHOALNI?

haha ur stupid peepl! my karate sensei is the best in the world u know and karate is the best in the world!!

>>8
That's a philosophy that stresses a mentality of "whatever works".

Jun Fan Gung Fu accompanying, however...

>>1

Buy a handgun.

end

VS. 1

1. spit on your enemy and kick his ball
2. and beat him to death
3. repeat step 1. until he bleed to death
4. grab all his belongin
5. PROFIT

More than 1

1. Throw rocks at them
2. Run to your uncle and aunti in bel-air

>>24

Buy and handgun, and then pray that you'll never be in a situation where

1) You don't have time to reach down and pull it out
2) You enter an altercation in a location guns are not allowed
3) You enter an altercation where you don't want to end up shooting someone
4) You enter an altercation at a point in time when you don't have the gun on you
5) You have to pull your fat lazy ass off of the couch and do something that requires effort

Sigh. Each poster lacks basic understanding of martial arts. Jeet Kune Do worked for Bruce Lee, it was his own personal style. Jeet Kune Do is more of a mental thing than a physical moveset, though it has suggestions for that too. There is no 'best fighting style'. Each style that exists was created by someone else for their own thoughts and body. In other words: they made it for them. Anything you learn you must alter in order to suit you. Design your own style, or in the end you are destined to lose. That is why Bruce Lee was so successful, he engineered his own style. My suggestion for doing this is to remember the basic structures of combat, grappling, ground fighting, punching, kicking, dodging, countering, deflecting, multiple enemies. I would suggest cannibalizing things from Krav Maga, Brazillian Jujitsu, read the Tao of Jeet Kune Do, Personally I like Taijutsu, though that's me. Just cannibalize other arts and make your own suited to yourself. Otherwise...

I know, I just want to know more on various ones I can incorporate into my broader spectrum of stuff.

>>27

I generally agree, however I would warn you a bit on that mindset. While it is certainly true each person has to create their own personal best martial arts, that does not mean that picking up 3 or 4 styles right away is the best long-run path. There are many things that a style can teach you that require 4, 6, 10, or 15 years of practicing before the concepts can be understood. Someone who skips from one martial art to the next in an attempt to "soak up" as much as possible is going to miss out on many of these things.

Even Bruce Lee, who eventually found his own style, practiced under one single martial art for 17 years (or around there) before moving on to learn another and form the seeds of Jeet Kun Do (which he spent his whole life developing, up to his death). If you really, really want to make your 'perfect' style, you can't spend even a few years on a single martial art and expect to know enough to do so.

All in all, the advice I would give is:
If you don't want to devote a significant number of years to martial arts and just want to quickly learn a great way to defend yourself (and get into great shape), do what >>27 suggested and "cannibalize" everything you can.

If you want to follow in the footsteps of Bruce Lee or something some such and become your "perfect martial artist", find a single martial arts school and study under that for a handfull of years until you feel you understand all the concepts of motion underlying within the system. Then, wait another year or so to refine everything.

I would personally suggest finding a style that was pretty open minded and not caught up thinking that it is better than everything else. Then, maybe after 6 years, add on something a bit different on the side (grappling, weapons, kickboxing, whatever), and start to incorperate what you learn there into your primary style. Etc.

No matter what you are thinking of doing, I can say that by far the most important thing - far more important than style or anything else, by far, is to find a good instructor with a history in the martial art. Too many martial artists become instructors nowdays before they learn the depths of their systems, and their students are lacking because of it. Seriously, tour through several dozen schools, a good instructor will make all the difference.

Track team.  If they have a gun or knife, you should be running away.  If it is a large group of people, you can run away.  If it is one person who is more powerful than you, you can run away.  No style is going to be able to help you in every situation if you choose to stay and fight.


PS

BJJ is overrated

If you're in a more urgent situation, learning hand-to-had combat is simple and effective for average people. You can find some reading material on it and practice, or consider military training.

I was in the military and they didn't teach shit.  Hand to hand was a 6 hour demonstration that left no room for practice or repetition.

Some private organization that teaches an equivelent to military hand to hand would be cool. 

muay thai rules most

muay thai + grappling style rules all.

>>34

Muay thai and grappling are sports

You follow rules, restrictions, and limitations

You want to learn real martial arts? Don't take up a sport

One handed stroke. On your wiener

Cantina Ryu is the most effective system of combat.

Kendo is fun.

>>28 Second.

kage bunshin no jutsu