Why Most Martial Arts Don't Work

An interesting article for anyone who's interested in Martial Arts or just likes action movies 😉

http://www.functionalselfdefense.org/martial-arts-dont-work

What do you think? What is your experience?

"The vast majority of martial arts will not work in self defense.

Many of them were not made for self defense in the first place, most provide no education in or understanding of real violence or how to prevent it, and a very large number of them utilize training methods that do not and cannot lead to real skills"

Thoughts?

One thing people forget is rules. Every sport has rules. Boxing, MMA, whatever. So for instance in boxing you can't punch a dude in the balls. In a street fight though people tend not to care about rules..so it can throw off your entire strategy because you learn to fight in ways that adhere to the rules of your sport.

In a street fight it's not as controlled..it can get hectic. It doesn't mean knowing a MA can never help, it does depend on the situation.

Can't read the article on my phone but yes, in general you shouldn't rely on martial arts to save your life in a real-world scenario, as most of them are not tailored to function in a fight that has no rules, nor are they tailored to suit differing body-types (such as a woman or a child's, for example).

Martial arts for self-defense is supposed to be a last resort. Any [serious] self-defense instructor will tell you that running is the best defense.

I remember a seminar I attended, where I was given a lecture by a former member of SAS, his best advice for self defense was to get a gun and learn to use it. Besides that I find the writer/owner of that website to be rather ... what shall we say... lacking. On his front page he advertise "Self defense for busy people" and "weapon use and defense" where the movie attached shows the exact faults he berates other martial arts for. But then again w/e, it's another of those "the other systems are fake and gay, only my system works" atleast as I see it.

Martial arts are ineffective against groups, or people with guns. Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, which is believed by many to be the most effective martial art, is tailored for 1-on-1 combat only. It's completely useless when fighting multiple opponents simultaneously, where martial arts that focus on striking (boxing, muay thai, karate, Shaolin kung fu, etc.) can prove to be much more effective. Nevertheless, if you are trapped in a corner and forced to defend yourself, guns are the most effective form of self-defense.

Krav maga is probably the best for fighting groups. Part of the training for Israeli spec ops is literally just fighting 6 or 7 people at once. Looks like a rabid wolverine.

Krav Maga and Silat are awesome for taking on multiple people. And to say martial arts don't work straight up is wrong. It's that you have to get good enough at your discipline to know how to use the moves in a real life situation.

Better to know martial arts than not know them (is my opinion on the OP question), just dont rely exclusively ON them. Fights are usually short, and very nasty.

Fleeing and shooting people in the back are the better self-defense methods. Martial Arts exist solely to get money from manga freaksp

I am going to second OV and KingD19 and say that Krav Maga is probably the most practical and efficient MA for self-defense.

LOL!!!!

WTF?!

Yeah, no, these guys are retarded.

People have defended against guys using chainsaws with Martial Arts irl, these guys are morons.

I can tell you I'd put my several years of Karate against some average joe on the street any day.

HOWEVER.

Fights are left to chance, its possible to self-train yourself without any help whatsoever.

Martial Arts will mean nothing if you don't know how to use it correctly.

Also, different martial arts specialize in different facets of fighting. Some are good at handling groups, others are made to take down people with weapons. There are even some that deal with instantly killing another person. Some are made to just beat the **** out of whoever gets in your way.

Theres no guarantee that learning Martial Arts will let you win every street fight, sometimes, things like weight, size, and height can play into a fight.

Also, anyone can knock anyone out.

If Big Show, John Cena, Floyd Mayweather, or Mike ****ing Tyson let you punch them as hard as you can in their face, they will feel it. You may even knock them down.

Some Martial Arts just help you strengthen your current arsenal, and instead of teaching you new "moves" like the Flash Kick, they teach you where to strike and how to strike.

There are even some Martial Arts that don't have striking whatsoever, just holds, and grapples.

Martial Arts does help you defend yourself, but it doesn't guarantee you'll ALWAYS be able to protect yourself against anyone you meet.

I wouldn't recommend going to your nearest ghetto and trying to punk out a gang of dudes just because you have a few years of Martial Arts experience, because you are most likely gonna get the shit kicked out of you, training or not.

The reason most MAists arent invincible vs non-MAist is honestly 3 fold

1.)physical limitations
2.)the removal of Kill moves
3.)mindset of the MAist

I blame movies for pushing one really big myth. When you PUNCH someone...only the person you hit gets hurt.

THAT IS A LIE!!!!

Boxing, wrestling, muy boran, aikido, and krav maga are disciplines that can help in a street fight.

Originally posted by Flyattractor
[b]I blame movies for pushing one really big myth. When you PUNCH someone...only the person you hit gets hurt.

THAT IS A LIE!!!! [/B]

Bas Rutten fought bare-handed in every one of his fights.

And i'll be you his hands hurt.

Originally posted by Jmanghan
Sometimes.

Bas Rutten fought bare-handed in every one of his fights.

Yeah, now go pull up some pics of him and take a close look at his hands.

Originally posted by Jmanghan
Sometimes.

Bas Rutten fought bare-handed in every one of his fights.

Except this one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ePXA5lbqk

and this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdjvG_qvBK4

and so on. (atleast in UFC)

In his other fights he uses palmstrikes (as I recall), the reason being that going around throwing punches to the face with no protection on your hands is a fine way to break them.

Exactly.
Boxing gloves developed as a way to protect the fighters' hands, not heads.