Bartitsu oddly enough works very well for me, having a background of a few years in MMA I realy dug it.

Also, there is something to be said about straight up scrapping.

Okay second thread I'm posting on. Please don't shoot me if I step on anyone's toes but I have some input on this subject. I'd say the real question is really two questions.

How long are you willing to commit? and How fast do you want to be effective?

All statements hereafter are under the assumption that you can find a real school that teaches the following styles instead of a McDojo.

If you are looking for a quick fix then the more modern martial arts are what you're after. MMA being the leader with all it's component martial arts in second place. they will make you the most effective in the shortest period of time.

Traditional hard style Korean and Japanese arts like karate and tae kwon do will be your second tier. If you study them for 7-8 years they will be more effective than the previous styles. takes much longer to become proficient with them, but they have a higher potential than the more time/technique efficient martial arts from the previous tier.

Heavy military martial arts (I'm not talking about the sad American military training ... I went through that and it was a joke) old and new such as muay thai and krav will be your next step up. They are kinda a middle ground though. they are easier to get functional in that the previous tier oddly enough, but they take years of conditioning to really use correctly. This is very evident when you see anyone from outside Thailand try to fight anyone who grew up doing muay thai in Thailand in a muay thai match.

Soft Chinese arts are really the ultimate in martial arts .... if you started when you were 7-8 years old .... and are planning on training for 20-30 years at least. They will lose to almost all of the aforementioned martial arts on a time trained vs. time trained basis until they are mastered, but when they are mastered they cannot be beaten with any consistancy. Examples of martial arts in this category are wing chun, combat tai chi (there is debate as to whether yang or chen style tai chi is superior for combat) and bagua zhang (the original internal martial art that was based on the yin yang)

I'm no martial arts master or anything but I feel ninjutsu has a nice balance of lethality and evasiveness. It mostly focuses on the most effective ways to either render someone unconscious/dead and sneaking/escaping.

Ninjitsu is only taught in one place in the U.S. You'll have to look into Stephan K. Hayes' school in Dayton Ohio. The schools web-address is [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Please keep in mind this is not the ninjitsu you see in the movies. Actually NOTHING is like the ninjisu you see in the movies. Not only has the style itself been modified to fit a more culturally adequate comfort level (as so many other martial arts have broken with tradition to do), but it was never the mystical super-shadow warrior style it's made out to be. If you look into what little historical evidence there is regarding ninjas you'll find that they were almost like the precursors to modern secret agents. Yes they did sneak around in the dark ... but they were much more likely to be hiding in plain view among a crowd ... yeah they had cool gadgets and awesome fighting techniques ... but they were much more likely to just poison someone. They were very utilitarian, not just in the martial arts, but in all other aspects of espionage and assassination. You can think of them kinda like a "jack of all trades but master of few" type of scenario.

Practicality, reality, application, and evolution are what is necessary in a martial art.

Agreed

Ninjutsu seems useful simply because it's the closest to becoming a secret agent without joining a government agency. That sounds promising.

JohnDoe: check out the paper I wrote in this thread [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] . You might find it useful in your martial arts evaluations.

Government agents are nit ninja.

Seconded. "Secret agents" learn how to do secret stuff. Fighting-wise they're lucky to get a week or two of training on how to run away. The stuff Robert Redford does in the movie "SpyGame" is generically reflective of what actual people do, although in that movie he directs them all against the CIA.

Ninjutsu = crap, in my experience. Maybe with the right instructor it's good, but most of it is commercialized garbage and black belt factories, profiting off the ninja craze.

I want to disparage those who pump out
"martial artists" for profit ( not much profit )
but
children, raised in martial arts schools
tend to become fine adults


generally speaking.

Most "ninja masters" nowadays are hacks who teach you how to meditate (easy), how to walk quietly (easy), how to use inferior climbing equipment (moderate), and basic, women's-self-defense combat techniques with the occasional lesson on how to stab someone from behind (dangerous). And for some reason alot of them have blond hair and goatees. Unless you plan on discreetly poisoning drug dealers, using blowguns to stop drunk kids from driving, and carrying throwing knives/shiruken for personal defense ninjitsu is a pointless and expensive martial art to learn for RLSH work. Learn a striking system you are comfortable with, followed by a grappling class.

...and I'll put in another vote for Tai Chi - the pinnicle of redirection

I'd still love to see a Tai Chi practitioner vs Muay Thai. Blue Alpha, as someone who trains Muay Thai and BJJ, there is a weakness I have to admit, and thats the gap filled by a military martial art...the knife defenses, gun disarms, multiple attackers, weapons of opportunity, and other facets you will never train in a striking system designed for sport.

I'd love to see a Tai Chi practitioner vs Nemesis.

Blue Alpha, cool, it wasn't an attack, I was just adding to your prescribed regimen for martial arts for a RLSH. That's great you did, others need to as well.

Dogman, you and me both. None of the people I've known who have done soft arts have ever agreed to full contact sparring with me. I would genuinely love the opportunity.

what do you-all suggest for a beginner with little money
when you don't know their fitness level?