Best Self Defense Martial Art

There are a lot of martial arts masters out there proclaiming that their style is the best self defense martial art. This really bothers me because it is terribly misleading to most people. The truth is many martial arts can be taught in a way that is useful for self defense, but the vast majority of masters in most arts do not teach in a way that prepares a student for a self defense situation.

The “best self defense martial art” idea is a result of martial arts studio owners competing for customers by trying to make their style seem more applicable to today’s self defense needs. But when it really comes down to it the instructors and their teaching style make a style useful or not.

If you are searching for the best self defense martial art, don’t be fooled by advertising and outrageous promises by studio owners claiming their style is the ultimate style.

I have worked with masters from nearly a dozen different martial arts (some of them masters in several arts). What I have learned is that the master instructor’s attitude toward self defense and their own personal experiences have much more to do with the effectiveness of what they are teaching than the particular art they are teaching.

Here is what you really need to look for if you want to find the best self defense martial art:

First of all you need to find an instructor who has real world combat experience. For example try to find an instructor who has been in the military or worked in law enforcement. These guys know how to cut the crap and get right down to what you will need to know on the street. Experience as a bar bouncer is another great credential because bouncers deal with drunk a-holes trying to fight them all the time.

The best self defense martial art should be target focused.

This means that you want to find an instructor who focuses more on where to strike an attacker than how to strike an attacker. The technique of how to hit is important, but where to hit is even more important. Focusing on the where shows that the instructor has spent time actually using the techniques in real life, and not just practicing in the mirror.

Finally the best self defense martial art should emphasize sparring.

The best way to learn anything is to do it. Practicing punches in a mirror or in a class where everyone faces the instructor is not actually practicing punching (although this may be necessary to learn the basics). To really practice punching you need to be hitting a focus mitt held by someone who is moving around or sparring without focus mitts.

You may have notices that when I say ‘the best self defense martial art’ I have not been mentioning any art in particular. This is because as I explained above there are many martial arts that can be great for self defense, if the instructor is good. Here at fightfast.com we have instructors who are masters in Jeet kune do, Tai Chi, Krav Maga, Tae Kwon Do, Hwa Rang Sul, Thai Kick Boxing, Kung Fu San Soo, Lameco Eskrima, Pankration, Comhrac Bas, and several others. They are all top notch self defense instructors. The key is that they all fulfill the criteria described above.