I’m considering signing my six year old up for martial arts class, but I’m not sure which one to choose. To be clear, it’s not because we’re dealing with a bullying situation or anything like that. It’s more about starting a new physical activity, but I do want my kid to get some self-defense skills out of it. Our local options appear to be Taekwondo, Kung-fu, and Jiu-Jitsu/MMA. I did Taekwondo when I was a kid and it was fine, but I’m not sure that it’s practical for self defense. Jiu-Jitsu/MMA seems very practical for self-defense, but the studios that offer it seem a little bit too blue-lives-matter for my liking. As for Kung-fu, I just know nothing about it.
How did you decide on a martial art for your kids?
Would Judo be an option? It would be less likely to attract the MMA crowd, and its great for kids
+1 for judo if it is available in your area. It’s tons of fun.
The attitude of the teacher and other students matters more than the martial arts style. You want a fun, positive environment. Sit in on a class or two and talk to the other parents about their experiences. It should quickly become apparent whether you and your 6-year-old will enjoy that particular school or not.
The mma part of the jiu-jitsu gives me pause but traditional jiu-jitsu has the most ways of dealing with a fall of any martial art I have experience with and of the three its the one that is most useful in an altercation where you do not want to hurt your opponent which I feel is a more common occurence than fighting for your life. Only advantage I could see with taekwondo and kung-fu is its likely better excersise and may have an advantage if fending off multiple opponents but thats debatable.
TKD is great for self defense if your attackers can be scared off by doing many jumping spinning kicks. Or I guess if you can land the first one that’d work too. After that you’re kinda screwed.
The most important thing is going to be a kind of vibes check. I had a similar question from a friend so I already had this written up:
Good questions to ask:
what are the last 5 injuries that happened to your students and when? And are they still training?- injuries happen but this question should help you know how often they happen and maybe why/ some places might not take care of their people as much
What are all the fees I should expect to pay: monthly? Belt testing? Tournaments? Weapons? Uniform?
Are there any kids around thier age training?- training with friends will help you keep going
How many black belts do you have that train regularly?- this one is a sign of a health dojo because getting a black belt is really just the first step, honestly after black is where all the cool stuff starts happening
Also most places will allow you a free class or two or at least to watch.
For my recommendation, which has 19 years of bias within karate. (I know super bias) Taekwondo- it would not be my first recommendation. In the US tends to be much more fitness and sport than art. You find a good Korean who knows their stuff, great… most that I’ve seen are white dudes walking around as 10th degrees in their 30s for some reason.
Jujitsu/mma- I would generally advise against it mostly due to the types of meatheads it attracts. Not saying it’s bad, but it’s not my preference or recommendation. Also super easy for said meatheads to give your arm/knee some extra juice and now you are dealing with a sprain or worse. (Our saying was 2 most dangerous students were white belts and black belts but for very different reasons)
Kung fu- I have a lot of respect for the art and style that I’ve seen in a lot of kung fu schools and even trained in tai chi myself for some time. The art as well as the self defense are strong. I would recommend kung fu the most of these 3 schools in your area just by style alone.
All that said it depends on if the school itself is good and if your kid is going to have fun and keep up with it. Also considering you trained as a kid, you might want to pick it back up with your kid. There are very few activities that you and your kid could start together. I saw it many times families of different ages starting at white and going to black. It’s a unique opportunity that doesn’t happen in a lot of other things, soccer, baseball etc.
Sorry for the wall of text, but I saw your other comment about the jujitsu mma being good self defense. I would argue that it has inflated its reputation due to its prevalence in tv mma as a winning style. It is very good for what it does with submissions, but only so far as the rules protect the fighters. The best way to get out of a grapple is break a finger or gouge an eye or an elbow drop to the base of the spine… no one wants that in an organize fight. This is their job, so the rules thankfully protect them against that. And in a self defense scenario with 2 people, you really don’t want to take 1 to the ground and hope the other guy just stands there. Best defense is going to be to get out of there.
The best one is the one your kid likes the most. For us it was the one where his friends are.
Aikido has been good for mine. It was close and I didn’t like the karate class we tried. Just have to ignore Steven Sagan is a practitioner. You’re right about bjj at least at my gym. Other gyms might be different.
Carl launched himself into the air, a meteor of fury aiming to put a crater in Steven’s sternum. He had trained for months to finally put an end to Steven’s reign of terror and this was his moment. However, something was wrong. Why were there suddenly two Segals? It took only a millisecond for Carl to realize that his rival had employed gravitational lensing and his kick was completely off target, but it was already too late. With a flick of his wrist, Steven sent Carl flailing. Carl could only manage to grab Steven’s collar, pulling them both into the telepod. The door slammed shut.
Neil watched from the shadows, smirking. The reign of Tyson was about to begin. His hand hovered over the keyboard.
