What kind of martial art would be best for me? Any advice appreciated?

I've been considering picking one up but I don't know which one. I'm 17 years old, a male. I'm 6'2'' and thin- 140lbs. I have very good stamina, but I'm not very strong. I'm also not very aggressive (unless defending someone I care about). I know more factors into this kind of a decision, but, from what you can see, what kind of martial art would be good for me?What kind of martial art would be best for me? Any advice appreciated?
Based on your height, and thin statue, I would say a style of Taekwondo (but stay away from ATA - American Taekwondo Association). Your height and size will allow for you to have speed, especially with sparring. Forms in both WTF (World Taekwondo Federation) and ITF (International Taekwondo Federation) are not really deep in stances, so you do not have to be strong to do them.





I mentioned to stay away from ATA because they are in for the money, and really have no real life self-defense. I've never been able to see an ATA person who tries to compete against anyone outside their association to do well. They stick with closed tournaments and are very expensive.





G'luck with your training.





Ah, another thing, call around and see if you can watch a class or two, or even join in a free trial class. Beware of those who keep their doors closed to those wishing to watch.What kind of martial art would be best for me? Any advice appreciated?
well they only martial arts i could tell you to do is TKD( tae kwon do) because i am in that sport and i know wat you need to do, and you dont need to be the stonges nor the tallest all you got to do is learn from you intructor/master and you'll do fine. but if you dont like TKD for some reason well try something else.if you want 2 see fotos of my trainning just go 2 http://www.myspace.com/rosalesgoldentige鈥?/a> and maybe you'll wat you see. if you have any other questions about TKD e-mail me if you want.
You should look at http://njblackbeltacademy.com/site/view/46543_Home.pml
Muay Thai. :)





I almost have the same build as you (though I'm a girl), I have long limbs. Anyway, practicing the Art of Muay Thai helped me a lot. You don't have to be aggressive to be able o do this sport, you just have to be willing to learn.





Hope that helped. :)
It would help to tell us why you want to get into martial arts. There are five main focuses of martial arts:


1) Self-defense/professional use of force (in this area, martial arts is the most limited and least useful.) That would be arts like CQC and Krav Maga.


2) Sports. For this one, a few well-known examples would be judo, Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do.


3) Traditional. As a rule of thumb, arts that end in ';do'; - Hapkido, aikido- are usually traditional. (Jeet Kune Do is one exception to this.)


4) Spiritual/health. Typically the ';gentle'; arts, such as tai chi and ba-qua, would enter this category.


5) Demonstration. This is what made martial arts so well-known and popular; it's what you often see in movies. Typically, wushu and capoeria are excellent demonstration arts.





Most martial arts can be applied to all five focuses, but usually a school will emphasize only one (or maybe two). And some focuses are far more apparent in certain martial arts (for instance, krav maga was formed _specifically_ for hand-to-hand combat. And the majority of Tae Kwon Do schools are geared for competition).





Quite honestly, this is a decision you need to make for yourself. I know it's easier to just come to Yahoo! Answers and get a quick answer from the martial arts section; but in truth you are better off if you do your own research.





First, decide what you want out of martial arts and figure out which focus that falls in.


Narrow your search down to the specific martial arts that interest you. Youtube can help you out on this one; but keep in mind that many martial arts videos there are biased- basically ';My art is the best and everythine else is crap!'; Ignore that and decide for yourself which one is best for *you.*


Then research the schools in your area. Actually visit them, talk to the instructors, and see if you can view classes or take free trial lessons. That way you can compare teaching methods, prices, students, etc., and you will also be far more likely to end up in a school that has what you're looking for.





Good luck.
suggestions:





for striking: muay thai, boxing, kickboxing, sanshou, kyokushin and shidokan karate.





for grappling: judo, ju-jitsu, bjj, sambo, wrestling





good luck!
Ah! Long limbs.. just like me.


What I would suggest is that you start off with a striking art. The style itself doesn't matter (Except for ATA Tae Kwon Do... I've sparred against a couple of them...... blehhhhhh....: It's for money unfortunately [Not that the other associations aren't always for the art only, but ATA stands out a lot]), but I would suggest one of the following:


Tae Kwon Do- I mean goooooooddd Tae Kwon Do. It's the way of the hand and foot. A good school will teach you a very good introduction to striking, which is where I think you should start seeing as you have long limbs (Especially the legs [Unless you find a good 50/50 school.. Those are great too]).


The only cons about certain schools within this style are:


-That some schools leave hand striking unnoticed (Or they disregard it completely [Dial that concept in for ';Not good for self-defense';]).


-While some Tae Kwon Do styles dabble into some entry level grappling (With a few exceptions that are based on school, and not organzation): It usually isn't as sufficient as one would hope.


-It's not accurate to say that one style is better than another, but a lot of Tae Kwon Do schools have a serious problem with the concept of money and competitions. If you find a good traditional school, however, you should be ok.


-Many schools these days don't do bag training as much as they should. If you decide on this art, you might want to invest in one if your school isn't heavily involved in it, and add it to your training (More strength in your strike).


-Many schools don't have great sparring elements as well.


Another one:


Muay Thai kickboxing. It's one of the most intense (Let us stress the intense) striking arts. You already have stamina down, but the style would do a lot for your strength. It's heavily based on sparring, and that kind of training is great for self-defense situations and competition.


The only cons I can think of (These are actually pros and cons depending on how you interpret them) are:


-Muay Thai has less than 100 moves. Practicality and simplicity aren't synonymous, but depending on how that numbers plays out for you: You might want to try something else (Hell... you could cross train that with another style really :p).


-Muay Thai has a spirtual and ';Respect'; side to it, but your training is geared towards time in the ring (Which does not imply that Muay Thai isn't great for self-defense... it works well for that).


Karate- Karate in itself is a very straightforward striking style. Many styles teach some grappling (I'll talk about that later down the line). There's a whole lot of hybrid styles with a whole lot of training in all fighting ranges (Shorinjiryu Karate combines concepts from many arts for example), or intense strike training (Seidokan and kyokushin for example).


The only con here (And this is a con with any style):


Some styles don't teach sparring at all. Sparring (Or something similar) is very important in the development of skills for self-defense situations. That is not style dependent either. Adapting to opponents that fight differently each time is very essential.


As for Chinese arts: There's 1000s of them. I personally think they are all good, but again: Try to find a good school, and hopefully you will find one that does sparring.


As for grappling.


I want you, after a few years of training, to think about what type of fighting range you think you have the best ability in.


It's not that you should ignore other ranges, but you should choose to train that range well, but train the other ranges so you can be prepared for attacks within them.


If you decide that striking is your thing, I would suggest that you cross-train (Directly join a grappling/throwing art), start early with a good hybrid style ^_^ (Chun Kuk Do, Kajukenbo, kyuki-do, hybrid styles of Karate, kuk sool won, San Shou, Bujinkan, et cetera...), or at least learn some grappling. These days, a lot of people know the weakenesses of having one approach (While not being able to defend against another apporach), and the ability to fight on all ranges is always a good idea.


That isn't to say you have to go to the nearest BJJ gym and get all the way up to 4th degree black belt (I mean you could, but that's your choice :p), but it might be a good idea to learn some grappling in the case that your attacker/opponent is trying to use it against you. Even if you don't like it: It's a good idea to train in some to be ready.


My suggestions here would be:


Hapkido- Hapkido is an eclectic Korean Martial Art that combines striking that has a sort of Karate feel, with joint-locking, joint-manipulation, throwing, and some entry level ground fighting. Some contend that it's aikijujutsu and tae kwon do/Karate (The striking is very mixed in itself) mixed.


The only con: It's not the best for direct ground-fighting, but a good shoulder-throw need not be followed up by anything if you've slammed hard enough.


Judo- The famous throwing art of Japan. Striking is mostly done in forms, but the sparring is stricly throws and some entry-level grapples. The throwing elements are great (Many styles that include throwing take most of their throws from this art).


I also just recently heard from one Judoka that the style has a sort of system where promotions are truly at the discretion of the person in charge, and how well one is doing. Getting to a high level in this style from a good school would mean you should definitely be fierce.


Jujutsu/Brazilian Jujutsu- Of course we have to include this. :p


Jujutsu was the art that the samurai practiced. It has very good elements in throwing/grappling. The striking doesn't suck or anything, but the throwing/grappling has greater emphasis in this style. Japanese styles of jujutsu tend to be somewhat balanced all-arounders.


BJJ is arguably one of the most intense ground fighting arts in existence. There's little to no striking in the art, but the ground fighting is intense, as well as immense. BJJ, just like Judo, also has a big emphasis on the concept of ability determining promotion. In other words: If you find a good school, recieving a black belt would mean you have been through a lot.


Sambo- A Russian Martial art that has a sort of Judo/Jujutsu feel to it. It has striking, but the grappling is what usually stands out. This is another art where promotion is dependent on ability.


Now I based this on the assumption that you are doing this for fighting ability (For competition and self-defense as well) mostly. I've only taken a few of what I've included. In most of these styles, I'm aware of the spiritual and mental side of things in most of these styles (All except for a few have at least some focus on it), but there's many styles that I have not listed that are probably better in regards to this (Not that the ones I have mentioned suck at it). It might be a good idea to tell us why you want to begin training.


Good luck.
what are your choices in the area?