What are the most effective martial arts in real life situations?
In this article we look martial arts and self defense and which fighting styles are the most effective when it comes to real life combat and street self defense.
In truth, the most effective martial arts in real life for any individual depends on the individuals unique circumstances.
For example, an effective martial art for a bouncer or security guard may not be the most effective for a women who has to travel daily alone after dark and in a not so safe neighbourhood.
So, bottom line, the most effective martial arts in real life situations really does depend on the individuals real life situation.
And what are the most common real life self defense situations for that particular individual.
But we will cover the most common real life situations and the most commonly found martial arts that are available to learn virtually anywhere in the world.
This way any individual can take some guidance from this article to find what is the most effective martial arts in real life situations for them.
Let’s first look at general everyday real life situations for anybody, and martial arts that can be effective for anyone.
And then we can look at more specific situations for women and professional security as their circumstances can be more dangerous than an normal everyday person.
General – Most Effective Martial Arts in Real Life Situations
For most people, the threat of attack or needing self defense is not really present – the vast majority of the time.
But it always good to have some knowledge and be capable of defending yourself should a situation arise.
“It’s better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war”
Bruce Lee
The Bruce Lee quote from above, outlines an everyday persons situation well, in my opinion. While we probably will never ever need to defend ourselves, it is good to have the knowledge and capabilities to do so.
The most effective martial arts for most people in real life are discussed below.
#1 Gracie Jiu Jitsu
Gracie Jiu Jitsu differs from the more commonly found Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) in that the focus is 100% on self defense street ready techniques and training.
Competition is the main focus of BJJ.
Thus defending against strikes or even weapons are not taught much in BJJ but it is the main focus of Gracie Jiu Jitsu.
Gracie Jiu jitsu always takes the point of view that your opponent will almost always be bigger, stronger and faster than you and so takes time in perfecting technique, timing and leverage to gain an advantage in a real life situation and effectively defend yourself.
There are no long complicated forms to learn as in Kung Fu and Karate and street applicable techniques are taught from the outset.
This makes GJJ one of the most effective martial arts to learn for real life situations.
#2 Krav Maga
Another very effective martial art with a pure focus on street applicable techniques, Krav Maga orginated from the Israeli Defense Force and the techniques and training if docussed on combat.
No fluff or unecessary flshy techniques are taught in Krav Maga and only effective and useful techniques are practised.
Krav Maga is the main style of unarmed combat used and trained by the Israeli Defense Force as well as Police and Military across the world.
#3 Muay Boran
Less known and harder to find than muay thai, muay boran comes from the warring periods of Ancient siam (Thailand) and is a battlefield art.
Muay boran has become more popular in recent years as interest has grown in learning more self defense style ‘boxing’.
Muay thai is still very effective as a street self defense style but the training is focussed on ring combat under specific rules including weight classes and protective equipment such as gloves and mouth guards.
Muay boran is more focussed on combat and self defense techniques used by any size or gender in real life situations.
Effective Martial Arts for Women
For women, the threat of violence and attack can be more present than for men in everyday situations.
A lot depends on a woman’s:
- neighbourhood (safe or not safe)
- job (late night shift worker, bar or nightclub worker)
- daily travel (walking, bus, subway and time of travel)
There are definitely numerous other factors that a woman must consider when it comes to finding an effective martial in real life for their unique real life situations.
But we can cover the most common types of real life street self defense and common attacker situations with very effective martial arts that are designed to deal with a lot of the most common attacks.
#1 Gracie Jiu Jitsu
Gracie Jiu Jitsu originates from Japanese Ji Jitsu which places much focus on leverage and using an opponents weight and momentum against them.
Jiu jitsu translates as “gentle art” and is very effective for smaller practitioners against larger heavier attackers.
This makes it very effective for use by women against male attackers.
One of the two founders of Gracie Jiu Jitsu Helio Gracie is famously quoted saying:
“Always assume that your opponent is going to be bigger, stronger and faster than you; so that you learn to rely on technique, timing and leverage rather than brute strength”.
The above quote well sums up Gracie Jiu Jitsu’s teachings and its effectiveness for small practitioners (i.e women).
The effectiveness of Gracie Jiu Jitsu in real life situations was constantly tested and refined by Helio Gracie in Brazil in the 1940s onward.
The style was further tested and proven by the Gracie family in challenge matches against virtually every other style in the US in the early 90s where Gracie Jiu Jitsu was undefeated in no rules unarmed combat.
It should be noted that Gracie Jiu Jitsu differs from the more commonly found Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) as the main focus of GJJ is self defense with a focus on striking and also weapons self defense.
BJJ has more of a competition focus using a rule set similar to Olympic Judo i.e no striking.
Effective Martial Art in Real Life Situations for Professional Security
Whether a security guard at the mall or business, a bouncer or even personal bodyguard, the most effective real life martial arts will differ greatly from an ordinary person.
This is because potential threats are even more present as professional security.
Depending on your location in the world firearms training could be a major part of your job, but this wont be discussed in this post.
The most common situations for professional security in unarmed (not firearms) real life include, but are not limited to:
- restraining a person and escorting them off a premises/property
- preventing theft
- preventing physcial attack against a client
In most of these cases, close quarter unarmed combat and more commonly, grappling would be a major part of the real life situation.
And though we have not included disciplined forces and military in this post (as they are already required to take martial arts training in most cases) the professional security person would do well to follow what military and police are learning as their main martial arts all over the world.
And these are some of the effective martial arts styles listed below.
#1 Judo
Judo is a well recognised grappling martial art with very effective throws.
Judo also utilizes effective strangle, choke and joint manipulation techniques that are well suited for professional security personnel.
Judo also from Japanese Jiu Jitsu and is proven in real world self defense and combat.
The Japanese Police force, as well as many other Police and military across the world regularly practice Judo as part of their regular training.
#2 Sambo
Sambo is another very effective grappling art that originates in Russia and is trained by Russian disciplined forces. Sambo was developed to be trained and used by the Russian military and was developed in the 1920s.
Sambo was created to be a hybrid martial art that incorporated the most effective techniques of other martial arts.
Sambo is an acronym that translates to mean, “self defense without weapons”.
Sambo is similar to Judo and BJJ/GJJ in the throws and employed as well as the chokes, strangles and arm locks.
Sambo also has leg locks and other joint manipulation below the waist not present in Judo today.
Effective Martial Arts in Real Life Situations – Final Thoughts
The most effective martial arts in real life situations for any individual really depends on their unique life circumstance, occupation, living environment and other factors.
This post has looked at the most effective real life martial arts that can be used by anyone effectively in self defense and street applicaiton.
We have also looked at unique situations such as for females and also for professional security personnel.
The martial arts discussed in this post are proven effective over decades of training and real life use.
In the case of muay boran discussed for self defense, the number of years of effective use could be in the hundreds.
But overall each of the styles presented in this article have proven track records in real life situations as being very effective.
