Anyone into martial arts?

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That toughness doesn't help much if someone punches you in the groin because you did a high kick, or if they grab you by the neck because you're not trained to protect it.

It's not about "super secret ultra death technique." It's about comprehensiveness. Sports martial arts are not comprehensive. The techniques taught are only useful if your opponent is following the rules of the sport. Boxing is only useful in a fight against another boxer. A boxer who faces someone trained in striking and grappling will be defeated fairly quickly. The reason why kung fus are superior is not because of "super secret ultra death techniques" (mostly because they don't actually exist, and no good kung fu would teach them if they did), it's because they're comprehensive. Fighters are not bound by rules of a sport (such as choking or groin strikes in Muay Thai), so the techniques developed are useful against every fighter, not just ones following a similar set of rules. Muay Thai fights are pretty, but if they went up against anyone that's learned in comprehensive martial arts (who don't go seeking fights like Muay Thai fighters do), they would lose quickly. They're just not prepared for the kind of attacks and counters that a martial artist trained comprehensively will use.

As far as them surpassing kung fus in strength? Kung fu means, essentially, methods for training strength.

Have you actually studied kung fus? At all? Do you even know about deflection vs. blocking?

Well, in my karate dojo we learn to fight multiple attackers, which I don't tend to see in BJJ training. Just sayin'... immediately going to the ground and getting your arms and legs all tangled in another dude's is a good way to get pounded in the head by you attacker's friend with a baseball bat.

BJJ seems like a very effective way to fight one person though.

As for the OP: Tai chi, Aikido, karate, iaido, etc. are all lovely ideas, but imo your choice should ultimately be about the quality of instructors in your area. Go to the different schools, watch classes and talk to instructors. I'm sure you'll find that one place/teacher suits you better than the others.

Muay Thai rocks! I have been training in it for a few months and I want to continue. Yes it is a "sport". But so is MMA, boxing etc.

Of course someone can always kick you in the groin. Someone can have a knife or a gun and then it is game over regardless of whether or not you know Muay Thai, MMA, or a traditional martial art. Thats life. You can't ever be invincible.

That being said in Muay Thai, you are using your legs/shins alot for blocking as well. Training in this would significantly help your chances of blocking a cheap kick to your groin.

At my gym you can start sparring very quickly for MT. So already I was thrust into sparring with people. It was very scary and unreal at first. I was very very timid. But I have loosened up a bit, and let myself block and absorb some hits to my face and body, and I feel like I am getting over my fear of getting hit. Once you learn to "cover up" and protect yourself (which you will learn VERY quickly in Muay Thai), getting hit just isn't as scary as it used to be. That blinding punch just won't be that scary anymore, because you how to take the pain and reduce the impact.

Traditional martial arts I believe are very conservative with letting students spar and want you to train for a long time before you earn the "right to spar".

There are pluses and minuses of both traditional arts and Sport arts. Muay Thai is itself a sport version of a more lethal style that is used by the Thai military which at that point isn't a sport at all.

I did 2 and a half years of korean swordmanship and a semester of taekwondo. I particularly liked the first because there was no contact at all or only "choreographic" contact (too dangerous otherwise) between people, so I could take my own time to learn stuff. Like in most traditional martial arts there were precise rules to learn and follow, and also a bit of meditation/relaxation/breathing techniques on top of the "action".

Being part of the dojang greatly improved my self-esteem (there are specific goals to achieve, for instance) and my social skills, since I was seeing the same small group of people once or twice a week, there was not too much talking, and the atmosphere was quite laid back (like, who cares how I look if everyone is sweating and yelling and wearing the same thing). It was obviously great to release stress and anger.

I like that word "bandy" and had forgotten about it. I'm going to use it today.

As for martial arts, Tung So Do was mine. I enjoyed it.

I didn't particularly care for bowing to the Korean flag, but it really didn't bother me.

I've been practising Jiu-Jitsu since I was 8. It was, and still is, the only thing that can really get me out of the house. I love it because as far as hand to hand combat goes it is wonderfully minimalistic(I freak out at touching) most moves require you to only grab someone's clothing or move their hand. It's solely self defence though, nothing we learn is practical in attacking, well...maybe some. If you're clever.

To be honest, I have never used martial arts in an actual fight. I prefer a straight punch from the shoulder or a choke hold and grabbing their hair and banging their head if I'm in an actual fight. If I'm attacked, I don't do any of that stuff I'm taught. I totally surprise you (like I did that one mugger) and jump up on you, seriously ON you, with my legs around your waist, arms around your neck and bite you HARD on the ear. That was instinct and I was never taught it, I just do it, and it works so much better than the wax on wax off type of stuff.

YOu have to start punching them hard in the head after a second or so of ear biting and also dont let go of the ear till the cops come.

I liked Tang So Do because of the swords.

I do shotokan karate and I like it very much, I had troubles at first because of my bad coordination but now I enjoy it. We do a lot of punch and kick training which I find very stress-relieving and it has proven itself effective. Precision is important in some situations (kata) but the techniques are, in my opinion, instinctive and easy to remember in case of a real fight.
I suppose there isn't a better or worse kind of martial art, much depends on who practices it and if you're looking for something not too hard and with meditation I would suggest tai chi too.

Nah, Jiu-jitsu isn't about punching. At least not a lot. It's more about taking a punch, moving it and yourself just a little and getting your attacker on the floor, or into the wall or any variation thereof.

Eight years of Brazilian Jiujitsu and Judo, and a bit less Muay Thai, boxing and wrestling to round it out, as well as TKD when I was a kid. Also trained a bit of Krav Maga, Shotokan, and MCMAP over the years, but not formally (just working out with acquaintances who were well versed in those arts). Honestly, if I were to suggest just one art to do, I'd go with jiujitsu, just because it's the most practical for self defense (with Muay Thai being a close second). Krav Maga has the best moves for pure self-defense IMO, but since sparring isn't emphasized to the extent it is in jiujitsu, it doesn't become instinct the way jiujitsu does. And to whoever brought up that jiujitsu doesn't teach about fighting more than one attacker and karate does, a) plenty of jiujitsu schools will discuss tactics for fighting more than one person, and b) whatever your karate school teaches you, it's not worth much if you can't fight on the ground. It doesn't matter whether you're fighting one person or four, odds are, somebody's going to try to, and probably succeed in tackling you, because that's instinct for people who don't have any real training (probably upwards of 95% of all people). Honestly, your best bet is to try to run or find a weapon, but at least with jiujitsu, you know how to get out of a bad situation on the ground and get back on your feet, rather then getting stomped while one guy holds you down. Somewhat relevant clip:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyXERDeMbKI[/youtube]

Also, to the person who brought up that Muai Thai is a sport, yes, it is. And that's why it's more effective than traditional martial arts. Martial arts with a sport aspect (boxing, wrestling, BJJ, Judo, Muay Thai, etc.) tend to be better for self defense than TMAs because in the former, the moves they learn in a session are practiced against a moving resisting opponent, so it actually becomes instinct. I remember reading Bruce Lee's "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do," and he said something to the effect of "a man trained in boxing and wrestling for one year can easily beat a traditional martial artist with twenty years experience" (I'm probably butchering the quote, as it's been a long time since I read it, but the essence remains the same), and the reason why is that the boxer/wrestlers technique actually becomes instinct.

I did MMA for a while, specifically focusing on the Filipino arts such as Kali and Panantukan, but also including Muay Thai, Jeet Kun Do and some BJJ groundfighting. Of all of them, I thought the weapons based Filipino styles to be the most practical, and their unarmed fighting technique was sufficiently unsportsmanlike to pass muster with me. What particularly impressed me was the focus on concrete elements like limb destruction vs pain compliance or other "squishier" goals; if I've gone hand to hand with someone I want them unable to further attack me, not just thinking it would be a bad idea. At my dojo we sparred practically from day one, and the weapons based arts were included from the very beginning, both of which impressed me enough to join up after sitting in at a few sessions.

Note that I do carry a gun and knife on my persona at all times, so hand to hand fighting was always pretty far down my priority list in a pure self defense situation, but I liked the exercise and knowing that I wasn't defenseless in an unlikely situation featuring multiple mechanical failures.