I'm wondering...

[Cain]

I'm going to be going to the gym starting next week, and I want to start taking a martial art as well. I used to take Tae Kwon Do, but I didn't really like it much. I took Aikido too, but it was too defensive for me. I know that boxers have intense training, so I was thinking about taking up kickboxing.

Basically, I'm trying to figure out one of the more fun martial arts that still serves someone well in self-defense. I need something to keep me in shape.

[Lipp]

I did Aikido and Wing Chun for all of the last semester just to try it out, and you're probably right that Aikido felt a bit defensive, I'm hoping to try out Yoshinkan Aikido (thanks to Indi for tipping me about Joe Thambu months ago) which is a "hard" version of it with more practical application.

Wing Chun is pretty fun, I liked the concepts its based on alot, but unfortunately its popularity has made so many teachers teach it differently and it's more about exercises to strengthen the thigh muscles and moderate workouts but not really intensive. Might be sufficient for your needs, might not.

Kick boxing is worth a shot if you want cardio, and doing Muay Thai will definitely get you worked up if you got a good teacher, and guess you'd get some basic ideas of self-defense as well, the problem I had with those is that I'd rather learn something a bit more interesting and different.

Was considering trying out Krav Maga which is a combative taught not far from uni, supposedly they run harsh exercises and full focus on practical situations, might work better if you're not as fond of the traditional methods of training. Haven't had time this semester so can't tell whether it's good or bad.

Wushu over here is quite flashy and doesn't have much use for self-defense, more of a fun thing to do.

Jujitsu is definitely something I'd like to try out, though there weren't any dojos near to where I'm at. And by that I mean japanese jujitsu, not brazilian (BJJ) which is attracting every jock and his henchman because of the UFC hype crap.

[misombra]

i did regular boxing and i loved it.

[NeoSeminole]

boxing + wrestling = win

[anachronistic]

Hapkido.

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