Tell me about your experience with martial arts

I practiced ninjutsu for one year at a scam dojo... it was worthless. Since then, the sensei has become a shaman influencer. :D

Then I trained in Krav Maga* for 3 years, and it was awesome. No more "it's too deadly to do at full speed" crap. I can recommend it to anyone. It keeps you in good condition and gives you confidence in yourself.

• Not a martial art, but a self-defense system

I started with Krav Maga and the cross training into other arts that is a part of Krav got me into BJJ. I’ve been doing for close to 10 years.

Martial arts has been life changing for me. Not just a great hobby, but an intense form of exercise and I get to socialize. I also don’t have to motivate myself to do it. I’m always excited to go to class, and if I show up I’ll put in the work. Compare this to hitting the bag at home and I never bother.

I would recommend Krav Maga to most anyone. The exception would be people who can’t and won’t be willing to put in work and hit things. It’s a very broadly acceptable art. Gym culture can be a bit brain washy and heavy handed with “you gotta be ready for anyone in any situation attacking you.” Krav is unmatched in terms of getting people up to speed in their ability, and you’ll feel the rewards of doing it after even just a few classes.

BJJ I would recommend to anyone who enjoys the idea of wrestling and can learn to be comfortable wrestling with sweaty people of random skill, style and body types. It has a steep learning curve to start out that can be overwhelming for some, but the art itself has a lot of depth. The wrestling after class is what it’s all about, and being able to spar at 100% without worry about getting concussed like a striking art is what really defines the art to me.

Archery qualifies as a martial art, but there are some cultures online that likes to twist it into something known as combat archery or to introduce ideas like instinctive shooting, which have the context of war and self defense, which then tends to lead into some weird shit like haphazard militias and rolling around with guns and gear. That's all over youtube, unfortunately.

So when I suggest that archery qualifies as a martial art, as one might call Kyudo a martial art, it's strictly in the context of breathing control, focus, form, a little bit of exercise, and meditation. I don't use that term when I'm talking about hunting, because hunting is shooting with the intent to kill an animal for the meat. Then you have historical archery, which is entirely fine for education, archeology, and appreciation.

Context is important.

Aside from that, I've done some judo but that does no favors for my bones at my age, so I stick with archery.

I've been doing jiu jitsu (BJJ) for about 4 years now. I go to a 6am class, usually about 3 times a week, which fits nicely into my schedule before work. I always feel great all morning on the days I go to class.

I recommend it to anyone that's interested. There are various ages participating, all the way up to some in their 50s.

Sparring is a fundamental aspect of training, but the culture is to accommodate the level of your opponent, so it rarely feels helpless, even against the top level practitioners.

Jujitsu was a big part of my life in my teens and twenties. Learning how to fall safely was very useful. I would recommend the basics to almost anyone. It was good to get some self defense basics. The cultural aspects were interesting. Practicing was fun and physical. It was a good community where I met interesting people. It was my first exposure to Zen or any kind of buddhism which is an interest I have followed up on over time.

I noticed that the people who did it over decades tended to acquire injuries and over the long term minor disability. I now have an unrelated medical condition and can't practice but I value the experience.

I do HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts). We use Longswords, Rapiers, Arming Swords & Bucklers, Daggers, Pole arms, and also grappling.

Been doing it in total about 1.5yrs but had a long break in between the first year and last 6 months.

It's quite good exercise when you also add in some training and full speed sparring. The added gear will make you sweat like mad. I've seen my muscles build back up especially in the legs and arms. You might not get buff doing it, but you will gain stamina and strength.

I attend classes at one of my local Schools, we learn Italian treatise, from Fiore and Capo Ferro. There are also German, British, and many other styles of fighting.

I would highly recommend anyone who might want to try it out to do so. Most schools are VERY welcoming places and really just want to pass on knowledge that was being forgotten to others.

Studied Shaolin Kung Fu for 3-4 years waaaaaay back in my youth.

Decades later, I still feel it improved my balance and situational awareness. I can still walk indoors in the dark without difficulty and can walk across a crowded dance floor without looking at anyone/anything or touching anyone.

I would recommend it for this reason only. You would have to make a dedicated study of it for years to decades for it to have "practical" application. If that's your goal you'd probably be better off taking up boxing and/or BJJ.

I trained in savate (AKA boxe française) for several years, long enough to qualify for green glove. (Savate ranks you by glove color--you don't actually change the color of your gloves, it's an administrative distinction.) Then the salle I was at shut down, so I took a break. I signed up with another salle long enough to requalify, then had to give it up permanently for life reasons. I tried practicing solo, but it was boring, as a lot of the exercises really need an opponent.

In terms of benefits, it improved my balance, gave me a clearer sense of body dynamics, and was definitely good for my cardiovascular endurance. I would recommend it to beginners because there's a carefully-gradated hierarchy of skills you need to learn and test in at each level. That said, it's not really a popular art on the U.S. side of the Atlantic, so if you mention it in conversation you should expect anything from blank stares to jokes about baguette fencing.

I used to train weekly with some sports scientists at university and one of them recommended ITF Taekwondo. I started in my 20s and did it for a couple of years with my younger brother, made it as far as green tag (a step below green belt).

It's an excellent martial art if you can get a good instructor. My sports scientist friend studied under someone who put far too much emphasis on the sine wave motion of the body and it messed up her knees pretty badly, but the dojo we went to was under the leadership of a grandmaster and ran really well.

Eventually I moved away and unfortunately my new local dojo just isn't a good fit: huge class size, primarily all red/ blackbelts, fairly unstructured/ unfocused classes and they're 1.5 hours long. I felt like I worked a lot harder overall in my old 45 minute classes but the 1.5 hour ones were just too fatiguing. The tipping point was when the new instructor started talking about eye gouging as a self defense move, which is legitimate but 500% nothing to do with TKD.

I'd absolutely recommend trying it, it's a fantastic martial art. It will improve your fitness and co-ordination, you'll meet some lovely people and it will teach you how to really throw a good kick, but take the time to find a dojo that works for you.

I've done shorin-ryu karate for almost 10 years. I've been with the same teacher/dojo the whole time, and most of that time there were only 0-2 other adults. The past 1-2 years, more older kids/adults have joined which makes a big difference. The classes are big on drills/kata but low on freeform sparring, which does leave some gaps in my skillset that I'm aware of, but honestly too lazy to put in a lot of work to cover. I'm more of a "I'll do a couple classes on the weekends" sort of karate person and not a "karate is LIIIIFE" sort of person.

It's definitely done really well for my reaction speed, balance/stability, and general confidence. Self-defense is one of those things that I hope I never have to use, but also hope will be there if I need it. Like another commenter said, it's drilling movements a zillion times until it's muscle memory.

I'm still pretty out of shape but would certainly be even more so if I weren't doing karate. I'm just one of those people who doesn't enjoy physical activity. All the fitness people keep saying "just keep trying things and you'll find something you love to do and then will crave the exercise!".... noooooope. The social aspect of having a class and not wanting to disappoint my sensei or the kids I'm teaching do more to keep me going.

I have practiced Kendo for about 6 years or so.

I don't do any other exercise so it definitely helps me keep in shape. It also allows me to practice mental and physical discipline. I am an anxious person so I try to incorporate what I learn about relaxing under stressful environments and trying to keep my confidence when things go wrong in to my work life.

Kendo cannot be practiced alone so I attend a dojo with other kendoka. This has also given me a valuable source to develop friendships that I otherwise would not have.

As far as recommendation for a beginner, everyone is a beginner when first starting kendo. The footwork is weird, the etiquette is weird, and you'll be trying to coordinate muscles that you haven't ever coordinated together before. I would recommend trying it out and see if it's for you.

I'm at 12 years into Hapkido, the self defence version of Tae Kwon do. Have a 2nd degree black belt from both Korea and New Zealand. I live it as you are consistently learning new techniques, new understandings, and ways to apply them in new circumstances. I've noticed my confidence in most situations is much better, aggressive people don't faze me as much as previously. Unfortunately I have hip arthritis which inhibits a lot of movement at the moment, but once I've had a hip replacement I'm looking to extend my flexibility and balance.

I practiced a mixed style (elements of jujitsu, savate, karate, judo, and aikido). I have 2nd degree black belt. Practiced for ~15 years, 2-4 times per week. I haven’t done it in a long time. Conditioning and flexibility were great, self confidence was great. Many of the people were great. Unfortunately the culture of my dojo was a little toxic.

So, I need to preface this by saying I've been out of martial arts for.. nearly a decade now? I moved to a bigger city a while back for better economic opportunities and that mostly killed my participation in martial arts (there were some places I went occasionally) and then COVID ended that once-in-a-while visit as well.

Most of my experience is in Tang Soo Do - Korean style, broadly under the general umbrella of 'Karate'. Black belt, 1st Dan in that. Lesser time spent in: high school wrestling, Kendo, fencing, Aha Saki (African martial arts), and BJJ. I think that's all of them.

Total years in all the various things I've practiced is around 15+.

I was definitely in better physical shape when I was practicing, and it was absolutely great for my mental health - I loved practicing / teaching martial arts. It also taught me an incredibly useful life lesson: the ability to separate physical pain from emotional pain.

Classes / solo: did both.

Tang Soo Do for a beginner? Sure, it's fine as an art to introduce beginners to.

I did martial arts from when I was young until several years ago. During the time I took different classes, and I can't remember them all.

One class was a combination of light cardio and self-defense. Most of these classes started with stretches and warmups, then basic exercises (punches and kicks) for cardio, then partner up and practice techniques for someone approaching you. The exercises and techniques would vary and sometimes get creative, but the classes were fairly straightforward.

One technique is: your partner grabs you, then you twist your wrists and put their arm into a lock. Another: your partner stabs forward with a plastic knife, then you deflect the stab, wrap your arm around theirs, and put your leg behind theirs to perform a takedown. There are techniques for overhead clubs, sucker punches, and more, and once you deflect the main attack you can mix and match. The point being muscle memory: ideally, when someone attacks you in the wild, you've practiced the technique so much you just instinctively do it.

Other classes involved sparring, and when I was really young they involved games and obstacle courses and such.

I'm glad I did it, it kept me active when I was younger and I can tell people I was a black belt. Is it useful today? Maybe. Obviously if someone is way stronger or I have bad reaction time or the person has a gun, the self-defense techniques aren't going to work; but I do have the muscle memory.

I haven't done it in years, but I used to study Tae Kwon Do as a kid. Ended up quitting on my green belt because I broke my pinkie, and I needed just one more stripe to get promoted but wasn't allowed to do that or even practice most of the other moves. By the time my finger healed, I'd gotten out of practice and couldn't remember the steps, and ended up quitting. Later I got a chance to practice again though with a martial arts club at my high school, and eventually I took a self-defense course in college that also used Tae Kwon Do as the base.

It's kind of funny how it's continually showed up in my life. I just tried, and looks like I still remember some of the kata. I enjoyed it, and hopefully some of the muscle memory will still be there if I ever get into trouble. Maybe I'll look up some videos of the kata to practice some on my own time.

• What do you practice?
  Taekwondo

• How long have you done it?
  I did 6 years when I was 17, but missed my blackbelt grading twice due to a clash on a very expensive holiday and then again having my first born. Then work got in the way, I moved home and it was not possible. I started at another club a few years after but it wasn't the same so I stopped. Now I'm 44 and I returned at the tail end of last year, starting again from a white belt and one of my sons who is 15 goes with me.

• How does it benefit you?
  Fitness. I've gone from 15s 6lbs to 13st 10lbs doing Taekwondo and CICO. I'm more flexible, stronger, more energy, etc. Although it's a lot bloody harder when you're over 2 decades older than when I first did it.

• Do you attend classes or practice solo?
  Classes. Once a week at the moment but it's not enough. I need to up to two at least but they're in the evenings and I have to fit them around a very hectic life.

• Would you recommend your martial art to a beginner?
  100%. Martial arts isn't for everyone, but everyone should give it a try. It helps with everything from concentration through to balance and surrounding awareness.

What do you practice?

Another kravist reporting in. I’m surprised and happy to see there are at least three of us here.

How long have you done it?

Over a year.

How does it benefit you?

I’m in my 40s. I do it with my family. It’s immensely practical in its approach. I love that it’s a no-BS approach to training someone to be violent in a self-defense context. It gives me a sense that I’m learning practical skills (we go pretty intense against a variety of scenarios). We incorporate firearms training into it as well as basic law enforcement applications so it’s constantly engaging.

Do you attend classes or practice solo?

Classes. Usually do 5 hours of training per week.

Would you recommend your martial art to a beginner?

Yes, but with Krav Maga you have to be choosey who you train with. Because it’s not a sport, there isn’t really a regulating body. People will talk about certain groups and lineages of teachers stemming from the founder but there is a divide between schools of thought of “traditional KM as it was originally taught” vs. “KM is a principle that is evolving”.

Also, a lot of schools that do KM are more fitness oriented, or don’t prepare you for the brutality, chaos and lethality of an actual “street” encounter. They also don’t teach you what to do if you go to the ground, which happens a lot in real encounter, so you need a school that’s willing to be well-rounded.

If anything, I feel confident in my abilities that I might have a fighting chance, and know enough about how dangerous altercations can be that I will do my darnedest to never get into one. Knives are scary a/f and there’s a high chance it’s going to be gg if you ever find yourself at the pointy side of one, training be damned.

I would highly recommend it though. One of the funnest and physically engaging things I’ve ever done.

Also, self-defense training in general can just be a cool experience. Extreme close quarters training (how to fight inside tight, confined spaces like a car or bathroom stall), knife vs. gun, etc. You’ll statistically never need it but it totally gets the brain and blood going (in a good way).