Can you recommend a martial art for fighting off scum?

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I live in my country's capital city but have to take the subway everyday to go to work or do whatever I have to do that day. Unfortunately the subways and buses are full of scum, pickpockets, perverts and all sorts of crazies. I've never been the sports guy so I don't have any muscle or anything and only weigh 60kg.

What's a good martial art if I want to take on a big thug or stop a pickpocket who just stole something from me?

Preferably a martial art which isn't considered a sport but has real practical use. I don't want to just learn self defence, I want to be able to attack as well (in the case of a pickpocket for example).

Any suggestions? I heard about Krav Maga but I'm told it's practiced by 1/3 jews all around the world and that they only teach jews which I'm not. I'm looking for something more obscure perhaps, something practiced by less people (not by millions of jews) so that less people will be able to counter it.

Also I have AS and OCD and I hate having too much physical contact.

Get a taser, or a nice solid whopping stick one might also see as a cane. Is it a crime to walk in public with a baseball bat, or hockey stick? Cricket bat, nice and flat, would look good strapped across ones back, yeah, with hockey mask in place... Or you could visit your nearest krav maga center and if you see a menorah in the room, tell them your not Jewish but you loved Ushpuzin, and nobody's perfect, right?

Tazers, bats and any object that could be used as a weapon are illegal.

Akido you don't have to be strong to do stuff. Just about using their force against them. But it is just self defense so I guess it isn't for you. I learned a little bit of mixed martial arts, the basic kicks and punchs I remember. Those don't involve too much phyiscal contact, and are fairly universal to any martial arts (except for akido).

What has worked great for me.. (especially in real-life self defense situations) is jiu-jitsu and Muay Thia(kickboxing) .. or "MMA"

I have to warn you that learning/practicing jiu jitsu is a very hands-on/having to touch people practice, but it is worth it..

With jiu jitsu you learn to "submit" people. This has proven very handy for me a few times because of getting into a fight I didn't want to be in, and just being able to surpass throwing/trading punches, and just chocking someone unconscious(or even just bending/tweaking one of their limbs so badly that they agree to stop fighting), and just walking away..

+1
or..

I'd rather do something really obscure and unexpected. A martial art not practiced by millions of people.

Something most people in MMA won't tell you/admit, is that pretty much every MMA tactic stims from Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee's practice/philosophy... Which is just a "style" of basically teaching everything, and using what works for you.

Why are you so concerned with it being obscure? A common thief is not going to know martial arts, they are just going to try to attack and use their brawn instead of thinking. If you know your martial art down pat then you won't need to worry about them countering, you will know the counter to the counter.

Unfortunately those take years to learn to be at all effective in any way. Tai chi is a great example, it's awesome, practical, etc, but most people never learn it far enough so it's just thought of as exercises for old folks. But real tai-chi has sword play and all kinds of stuff.

Unfortunately, life isn't like the movies, and the reason things are obscure is because they're hard/impractical.

For me personally, I took judo and liked it. It's pretty practical, it's not particularly "deadly" and there's no like magic pressure points that paralyze people or anything like that, but you can practice it full force against people without pads or anything, in that way, it's pretty practical. It's reasonably easy to find dojos that teach it. I at least remember how to fall well from judo as a kid, that and do some sweeps. Bruce Lee, though, he said of martial arts "the best fighter would be a boxer who could wrestle."

A good priority, too, is just getting stronger and looking more intimidating. Lift weights, and get bigger and stronger. Become more athletic in general. Bruce Lee, for example, even though he was Chinese, he didn't really like the martial art teaching from his own country, as it emphasized technique much too much over the actual body. Technique can take you far, but strength helps a ton. Imagine, for example, a figure skater who weighs 300 pounds. Sure, she might know the techniques to do stuff, but she's 300 pounds and can't do them. So Bruce Lee, anyway, he emphasized a lot on just making himself stronger. He started out doing more bodybuilding workouts, then isometrics (which are sorta cool, but again, not "magic" as they only build strength over like an inch or two range of motion) then compound weight exercises. For the compound exercises, most of those you find in the sports of powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting.

For me anyway, gaining some fighting confidence first was just doing some punching bag work. Find/make a punching bag/stand/whatever, and just practice at it, see what moves and it and what doesn't. Not a replacement for real sparring, but it at least gets the motions of punching and kicking and whatever. Then the weights will get you stronger, too. One big thing, if you make yourself bigger and stronger looking, people will be less likely to mess with you. A big thing is posture, if you carry yourself with a straight back and head up. Lifting weights and other working out will naturally give you some more muscle mass, too.

I'm a 5'0 ft girl.

I have learnt BJJ extensively and also a bit of MMA, some boxing, a little aikido. I can say without hesitation that the BJJ has gotten me out of more than one tight spot before, but is is almost always used defensively in a situation on the street. It's good because it's more about technique rather than brute strength which is why it's perfect for someone my size.

Not sure if it would be good for you if you want something offensive.

Last edited by Kjas on 17 Mar 2012, 6:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I myself am a practitioner of Krav Maga, I'm not Jewish nor is my teacher or as far as I am aware anybody else in my class.

Maybe its just the local school you talked to or just bad advice but Krav Maga can be taught to anyone. It is also excellent for helping you bring down bigger opponents and for disarming attackers and turning their weapons back on them. If you can get to a class I recommend it. Mine is at the end of the main road I live round the corner from, so it all depends on whether you can get there.

Try calling the cops. Better: don't carry valuables.



juujutsu rather than juudou.

And btw, check your local laws: pursuit and attack may make you liable for a crime as well.



Krav Maga is not taught exclusively to Jews, there's no reasonable basis for such a restriction.

Knowledge of an art doesn't make it automatically counterable. More than anything else in a combat situation, the things that *aren't* under your control are determining factors; you just want to get a handle on the stuff you can control. Most of that will be keeping aware of your surroundings while you're on the subway.

Last edited by AngelKnight on 18 Mar 2012, 4:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

What if I'm attacked by a Ninja?

But seriously for every 10 people I know about 8 or so have done some martial arts at some point in their life.



I'm pretty confused with all the Krav Maga organisations here in europe, which are legit? I don't know, there are like 5 different federations here!! !



As for not carrying valuables that's just stupid, not being able to wear something without fear is like not being free. I think if someone owns an expensive watch, suit, shoes or whatever he should be able to use them without fear of being robbed. This is Europe, not Africa, America or the Middle East.

I think there's good advice here.

Simply standing properly can be the thing that puts you out of the 'easy target' category.

Looking like you possess yourself and can handle yourself is something people pick up on instantly, consciously or unconsciously.

I practice Ki-Aikido, which could potentially be what you're after, OP.

Chin Na (joint locking).

You don't need to be strong or big to do this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goUvjxCW96Y[/youtube]

There are many individual techniques with this art depending on how your opponent/attacker grabs you or approaches you. I want to study this again.


Edit to add: This doesn't take as long to learn as most martial arts - it's actually part of Kung Fu, but is often taught separately.