Last Updated on September 15, 2020 by
Martial arts is an amazing art to be involved with. It is filled with artistry, beauty, and mysticism because of its history in various cultures around the world. Martial arts have been glamorized for years in Hollywood with such movies as The Last Of The Samurai with Tom Cruise, Quinton Terantino’s infamous Kill Bill trilogy, Bloodsport with Jean-Claude Van Damme , and actors like Chuck Norris, Steven Segal, and of course, Bruce Lee. There are so many different types of martial arts that it can be hard to decide which one to start practicing, let alone finding out which style is the best self defense martial art. It all looks glamorous on television, but faced with a real live situation, which styles would come out on top?
I practiced Matsubayashi Shorin-Ryu Karate for 10 years and absolutely loved it (I found a really cool old picture I thought I’d sneak in here. I’m the one with the dark hair). It was a hard-style of karate that emphasized kata and exact motion and movements. The commitment it takes to stick with a particular martial art can seem daunting, but it becomes part of who you are as a person. This article may shed some light on some of the best martial arts for self defense, but then you will need to take the time and dedication to learn them throughout the years. Think of it as part of your everyday prepping routine.
Let’s go ahead and dive into some details and history of the top five best martial arts for self defense. And please know that these top five choices are my opinion on the martial arts experience I have had over the years. If you were to talk to someone else, they might give you an entirely different list of their top five martial arts. So please remember this is all subjective, and based on opinion.
Eskrima
Eskrima, also known as Arnis or Kali, can be one of the best, most practical martial arts to use that would be very useful in a confrontation. Filippino Martial Arts (FMA) is essentially the umbrella in which all three of these terms fall under. FMA is the practice of using sticks, knives, bladed weapons and improvised weapons to attack assailants. “Stick-fighting” is a more practical application that allows you to create a weapon from essentially anywhere if you find yourself out on the open road (think of how much time Rick Grimes and his clan spent out on the road in The Walking Dead). By breaking someones hands or injuring them badly with your sticks, , pipes, or even knives, you would render your assailant helpless and could quickly bring him or her to their knees or disarm them.
The term Eskrima derives from the Spanish word “esgrimir” which means to wield or fight with weapons. Anytime you can have a weapon in your hand, as opposed to having nothing, you will have the upper hand (unless someone has a gun or you are not skilled at getting the gun away from an aggressor). Having the skill level to pick up anything resembling a stick, possibly even a crowbar, a piece of rebar, etc. will greatly increase your chances of survival if you are ever confronted with gangs trying to steal food, hurt your family, or anything else that could put you in a threatening situation.
Origins Of Eskrima
There are three different variations of this Philippino martial art. Eskrima, which is originated in the central part of the Philippines and came from the Spanish term “esgrima”, which means “fencing.” Then in the southern part of the nation you came upon “Kali” which is referred to as “movement of hand” in the native dialect of Cebuano. The three different names are typically used interchangeably throughout the martial arts community.
The Spanish originally were introduced to this martial art during the colonial days (between 1521- 1898) of the Philippines. It gained extreme popularity but was banned in 1596 and ultimately forbidden by 1764 because it was considered too dangerous. Because of the Spanish trying to keep down part of the Filipino’s cultural heritage, the name “Arnis” developed later to try to keep the cultural martial art preserved. After the ban in 1764, Eskrima had been incorporated into the religious aspects of the culture as more of a dance, instead of a martial art, in order to try to keep it alive.
What’s interesting to note is that Arnis also involves some grappling techniques, open hand-to-hand combat techniques, and join locks. As you will see below, another top pick for self defense below grappling as well.
Why Is Eskrima Good For Self Defense?
There’s an amazing and thrilling survival book that you should read if you get the chance called, The Disaster Diaries: One Man’s Quest To Learn Everything Necessary To Survive The Apocalypse, by Sam Sheridan. In Sheridan’s book he talks enthusiastically about Eskrima and how he would recommend it as his martial art of choice for surviving the apocalypse. The art originated from the Philippines, but has a few different forms, as mentioned earlier, but all refer to weapons, including stick-fighting.
In the book Sheridan describes how the great masters of Eskrima would challenge their young students and beat them quickly by “closing the line.” He states that “Line means a direct line between my weapon and you- your head, your legs, whatever my target is. Whoever has line has the offensive initiative. They have the option to throw a shot that will land before the counterattack will land.” He finishes by explaining that “closing the line implies much more than simply blocking one particular strike. You don’t just close the line, you take the line.”
In simpler terms, what Sheridan is basically telling us is that in one motion, not only can you block a punch or a swing with a pipe from an aggressor, you can also take the upper hand and take a shot at the opponent that can injure the opponent and drop them to the ground. Having the ability to manipulate weapons is a fantastic skill to have, especially if you know how to fight with a knife, which can be a very effective skill when left to fend off the bad guys.
Brazilian Jujitsu
Brazilian Jujitsu is a martial art that focuses on grappling or ground fighting. Having the ability to take your opponent quickly to the ground and subdue them would be a powerful skill against an assailant out on the open road. Brazilian Jujitsu was actually developed out of the Japanese style of Kodokan Jujitsu, but the Gracie family took it and developed it into an additional Brazilian style of Jujitsu that we know and love today.
What I love about Brazilian jujitsu is at the core of its art lies that principal that a smaller, weaker person can overtake a much larger, stronger opponent by applying joint locks, headlocks, and choke holds. If you can get someone to the ground, you can subdue them from that point.
Origins
The first Brazilian Jujitsu (BJJ) school was opened in Brazil in 1925 by a man named Geo Omori. It’s interesting because at this point Mr. Omori ended up teaching many Japanese students at the time. One of the those students was Mitsuyo Maeda, who ultimately attracted the interest of Carlos Gracie, son of Gastao Gracie, later down the road. Maeda ultimately took Carlos in as a student in which later Carlos passed on those skills to his brothers.
The Gracie family are the ones who popularized and brought Brazilian Jujitsu to the United States in 1972 by Carley Gracie. Once in the states, Royce Gracie won several of the first Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) competitions, beating out other expert martial artists.
Why Is Brazilian Jujitsu Good For Self Defense?
Brazilian Jujitsu is a very practical martial art in that if you can quickly bring the opponent to the ground, you can employ very simple choke holds, headlocks, and other techniques to easily immobilize the aggressor. It originated out of practicality, which I personally appreciate about it, and doesn’t have all of the fancy flying kicks like Taekwondo, for example.
Brazilian Jujitsu is so effective that is widely taught to police forces due to the fact that many times fights can end up on the ground. Officers are encouraged to grapple and stop the assailant by wrestling them to the ground, instead of pulling out there gun.
What’s nice about Brazilian Jujitsu is there are three different variations or methods of training in the art form, all based on practical applications. The first is called Self Defense Training. This type of training emphasizes the ability of fighting standing up, then bringing the opponent to the ground, as well as defending yourself against weapons such as knives, guns, or clubs.
The second type is called Street-Defense Training. This is essentially just as it sounds – taking a student and teaching them how to fight in a street environment. It’s more of the “anything goes” scenario, but with some technical structure to it. It will teach students how to take down someone with striking capabilities, bring them to the ground, then control them to finish them off with some type of submission.
The third type is referred to as Sport Tournament Training. This is the safest way to learn Jujitsu as there are rules, and the students mainly fight in tournaments wearing a traditional gi. This would essentially be the fun way to learn and dabble in the sport, although many practitioners live a full lifestyle of tournament fighting and training.
As you can see, Brazilian Jujitsu is a very practical way of fighting that would serve you well if you were to get into a street fight. This is the reason why Jujitsu is on the top five list of most effective self defense martial arts in a survival situation.
Krav maga
Krav Maga is the combat form that is used in the Israeli Army. As a matter of fact, the video I have in this section is one of the only ones I could find in English. Most of the videos are in Israeli, so I couldn’t show them. Krav Maga literally translates in Hebrew to “contact combat” and is very popular among FBI and SWAT teams in the United States today.
Part of Krav Maga’s philosophy is to not get in a fight in the first place, which as you know is hard to do, but at least it’s good to start out that way.
Origins
Krav Maga was founded in the 1950s by Imi Litchenfeld and was used by the Israeli Army then started being taught to the general public in the 1970s. Imi Litchenfeld was known to be an amazing Jewish athlete who practiced boxing, wrestling, and was even found practicing as a gymnist. The problem that Imi ran into is he lived in Czechoslovakia, which soon came under anti-Semitic rule in the 1930s.
By 1940, Imi had gained the reputation of protecting his neighbors against the vicious ways of their oppressors, and finally he couldn’t take it anymore, and decided to move to Palestine to join the Haganah to fight for Israel. Immediately his superiors noticed his fighting skills and put him in charge of training the fighting forces of Haganah. Finally, when the Jews gained their statehood in 1948, the elite fighters from the Haganah were infused into the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and ultimately Imi became the head instructor at the combat school for the IDF, and taught what we know today as Krav Maga.
Why Is Krav Maga Good For Self Defense?
Krav Maga teaches first and foremost to try and defuse situations first, if at all possible, then move forward with fighting second. Krav Maga is another martial art that teaches a lot of hand-to-hand movements and practical techniques out in the open. This art was designed by Litchenfeld to combine a variety of different styles such as boxing, Aikido, Jujitsu, Judo, and wrestling into a single martial art – which we know today as Krav Maga (notice how 2 of the 5 martial arts listed in the development of Krav Maga are on this list today?).
Again, anytime you can incorporate a more practical, street-fighting, situation that trains you to take away weapons and bring someone to the ground and gain control, is a martial art you want to get trained in. You can find more information about Krav Maga in the United States by visiting the United States Krav Maga Association website.
Aikado
Steven Segal made Aikado a household name back in the 90’s. He was known as a soft and gentle giant, due to the fact he used Aikado as his choice of martial art. The below video, in my opinion, is a great example of the purpose and practical applications of Aikado. The instructor in the video talks about having the “choice” to do a variety of different things in any scenario that may arise.
Now with everything else in life, you will have other martial artists say that Aikado is too soft, and wouldn’t stand up to someone who is an expert in Brazilian Jujitsu. But in my opinion, it all depends on how you look it. According to practioners at the Shobu Aikado School in Houston, “The strategy of Aikido is to enter (irimi) into the attack with body mind and spirit and unbalance the attacker with spiral movements.” Everything in Aikado is designed to “neutralize” an attacker, so as to never get into a fight in the first place. This is what the above video talks about when he refers to “choices.” You can either choose to divert the attacker’s energy, or you can choose to use lethal force to stop the aggressor.
Origins
Aikado is a traditional Japanese martial art that was founded by Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969) in the early 20th century who always stressed the importance of improving everyone’s lives as a whole. Ueshiba strived to create the true “Budo” way of the art, instead of focusing solely on fighting and overtaking an opponent through violence. After his death in 1969, he received one of the highest honors of the Imperial family in Japan at the time for his contributions to his country.
But with his death, the art of Aikado grew even stronger due to Kisshomaru Ueshiba, Nidai Doshu (the second “master of the Way” of Aikido), son of Morihei Ueshiba, who was born in 1922. It was Morihei who ultimately worked with the government of Japan to form a nonprofit organization that helped spread the practice internationally. After Morihei’s death in Japan in 1999, his son, Moriteru Ueshiba, son of Kisshomaru Ueshiba, was named the Sandai (third) Doshu and continued the tradition today.
Why Is Aikado Good For Self Defense?
Aikado has long been debated at whether or not it is good for self defense or not simply due to its main point to deflect aggressors in an attack and redirect their energy. At the same time, this is precisely why it would work in a real-life situation. Knowing Aikado would stop the fight from happening at all! If you can’t get the upper hand in the beginning, yes, you might have some problems. But if you are able to deflect a knife attack or even a punch, then bring the opponent to their knees begging for mercy due to the pain you are inflicting on their arm or wrist, I would say that you have gained enough control to subdue your aggressor.
Muy Thai
Believe it or not, I had the opportunity to practice Muy Thai for two years when I lived in San Diego. This was after I had studied Shorin-Ryu Karate for the past 10 years. Known as the “art of eight limbs,” because of its use of elbows, feet, knees, hands, shins, etc. , I wanted to try something completely different to see how I liked it. It turned out to be pretty brutal due to all of the shinbone-on-shinbone action, plus getting in a boxing ring and getting hit in the head a bit didn’t make it any better, but I learned some pretty amazing street fighting techniques that could prove very useful if I found myself caught in a difficult situation.
There has been a lot of movies made about the Muy Thai fighters, and for good reason. Those little guys are tough hombres. They pack a powerful kick to any part of your body that will drop you in one swift blow. There is fantastic, deeper explanation of the differences between Muy Thai and Kickboxing, because even though most people refer to it as “Muy Thai Kickboxing”, there are some big differences and some overlapping techniques.
Origin
Muy Thai, also known as Thai Boxing, is the national sport and martial art of Thailand. They essentially believe in using your entire body as a weapon. According to the website Tiger Muy Thai, in 1238 the first Thai Army was created in the city of Sukhothai, who’s capital was Siam. At some point, Siam needed to be defended against neighboring tribes, so the army began learning the art of what we today know as Muy Thai, using every part of their bodies as weapons.
Throughout the centuries and different kingdoms and rulers, Muy Thai was passed down from generation to generation until finally it was introduced to Europe and the rest of the world during World War I. By World Word II, the world was begging for the Thai fighters to teach this art to their countries and it developed into full fledged arenas, although small, in the 1920s. Today, Muy Thai has become an officially recognized sport in the Olympics and continues to grow in popularity.
Why Is Muy Thai Good For Self Defense?
Muy Thai is an art that involves every part of the body. The philosophy of “eight limbs” is a smart one to build a fighting philosophy around, and one that I wholeheartedly agree with. The fact that they train with elbows, kicks, deadly strikes, and fists would more than likely have a huge advantage on anyone who tries to come near.
Muy Thai is one of the most effective striking practices among all of the martial arts. It is effective if you are standing up fighting, or if you are brought to the ground. It’s one of the key components of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and many of fighters in the UFC today know some form of Muy Thai, which means you can’t go wrong with this type of martial art.
Final Thoughts
No matter what martial art you choose to get involved with, always remember that none of these will stand up very good in a gun fight. These martial arts will no doubt make you more confident if you are forced to forage out of your comfort zone for food or water. Always know your limits, and don’t be overconfident when up against an opponent.