For me,the best martial art for self defense is BALINTAWAK ESKRIMA.
Ninjitsu. It is the baddest martial arts around. Spike TV did a special on martial arts a couple of years ago and came to this conclusion. After seeing it, I agree.
A defensive handgun training course. Not much beats someone with a gun who knows how to use it. But if we are talking hand to hand, i would go with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Krav-Maga is the best martial art for self defense. Wing-Chun is the second......
- Duddy.
Krav-Maga is by far the best martial art in terms of real life hand to hand combat.
I studied Goju ryu karate and, currently, Wing Chun kung fu.
Krav Maga is a jujutsu adapted by the Israeli military for use in special situations like armed captivity, execution (on knees gun to head) situations, disarming, and grappling. It utilizes brutal tactics for brutal situations. However, like most jujutsu varieties and japanese styles, it emphasizes the physical and external, rather than mental capacity and development and mastery of the body's qi.
Unfortunately, modern karate has been desensitized in an exposure to free market, and students are often put on a conveyor belt through overpopulated schools for the sake of the sensei's wallet, so be cautious. I've had an amazing experience with kung fu thus far, because it focuses on developing the self, through which self defense comes naturally if necessary.
Good luck with everything!
The best martial art is the one that the individual can adapt to and use most efficiently. There is no 'best' in terms of one size fits all, and mixing various styles is the best way to find what suits you.
I agree with M_Cep - you simply cannot say "this is the best martial art" because there are too many factors involved with the decision. Example - a physically fit male in his 20's can perform some of the arts mentioned here such as Krav-Maga or Ninjitsu. However, that won't work for a woman in her 50's (nor for the guy in his 20's when he's 80!)
For long-term self-defense, it would be much better learning an art that stresses using the opponent's physical strength to their disadvantage such as Jiu-Jitsu, Aikido or Hapkido - what are known as "soft" martial arts. They are more geared for women and the elderly, but are equally effective when used by anyone.
The others mentioned above as well as Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Tang Soo Do, etc. are "hard" styles that are more suited to those physically fit, or who desire to be.
However, nothing you learn matters if you don't know how to develop the proper mindset for combat - all the techniques you know won't do a bit of good if you're frozen in fear or if your adrenaline is rushing so bad you can't perform a move effectively.
Of course, nothing beats a gun, but I wouldn't consider that a martial art!
Hope this helps you find your way...
This has been an age long debate, however each art has its strengths and weaknesses. It is best to be rounded. Each art that I have studied has and can be very effective for self defense. The single most important factor in any martial art is the student and the dedication they are willing to put in for proficiency. There really is no best, no art that after a couple of lessons is going to make the student reign supreme. There are a lot of good suggestions in the responses. Ultimately it depends on the individual and what style (or school) works for them.
Advanced grappling techniques (locks and holds) but it is not good to practice some of them because you can easily kill someone
by Rajan Singh Jolly 12 years ago
Which is the best martial art form for self defence?
by Omar Eldamsheety 8 years ago
What is the best martial art ? Why ?There are many martial arts and we don't know which one is the best and why.
by PhoenixV 12 years ago
Which Martial Art Is The Best?Which Martial Art is best for the exercise? Which Martial art is very effective for self defense?
by PhoenixV 12 years ago
What Are The Best Types Of Self Defense To Learn?What is the best type of Self Defense to study?
by ronin1 15 years ago
Would anyone like to ask questions of martial arts, self defense or self defense products?I would like to ask people to contact me at crimeinformation@gmail.com with any questions pertaining to martial arts, self defense or self defense products and I'll be happy to write an article at...
by Schattenreich 14 years ago
What weapon would you choose to carry with you? A knife, a gun, a batan? Pepper Spray?
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |