The best Martial Art is whichever one you would enjoy doing the most on a regular basis.
At the end of the day, it’s mostly going to be about exercise and not being a badass or even self-defense. The best thing you can do when faced with danger is to get out of that situation. Most martial arts will not help you a great deal except keep you calm and rational. If someone has a gun, there is no way to remove the chance it will go off, even with a disarm (and that is unsafe for everyone around you). If someone has a knife, there’s almost certainly going to be blood no matter how good you are—although you might not feel it until the adrenaline and blood loss kick in. And that’s without getting into, even if you win the hypothetical fight, knowing what constitutes legal self-defense before, during, and after the fight to ensure you were within those bounds. These aren’t an “always” thing, but most of the time what you get out of MAs is more on the mundane side. Get into a martial arts because it’s something you enjoy, you want the exercise, becoming more comfortable in your body and how it moves, and you want to improve your discipline. And learning how to break fall—that will help you more than anything else because falling can happen anywhere, not just in a fight.
Personally, I do HEMA (Historical martial arts; primarily sword fighting) and traditional archery, because those are what I enjoy and their relevant to a lot of the illustrations and creative endeavors I do. I’ve dabbled in others MAs and there are fun techniques, but I keep coming back to those practiced in the past (mainly European but will reach into as many regions as I can get my hands on) when it comes to my time and money…even if that means having to workshop how they may have worked in their historical context (because for some of them, we just don’t know). Just have realistic expectations with what you choose.
The best Martial Art is whichever one you would enjoy doing the most on a regular basis.
At the end of the day, it’s mostly going to be about exercise and not being a badass or even self-defense. The best thing you can do when faced with danger is to get out of that situation. Most martial arts will not help you a great deal except keep you calm and rational. If someone has a gun, there is no way to remove the chance it will go off, even with a disarm (and that is unsafe for everyone around you). If someone has a knife, there’s almost certainly going to be blood no matter how good you are—although you might not feel it until the adrenaline and blood loss kick in. And that’s without getting into, even if you win the hypothetical fight, knowing what constitutes legal self-defense before, during, and after the fight to ensure you were within those bounds. These aren’t an “always” thing, but most of the time what you get out of MAs is more on the mundane side. Get into a martial arts because it’s something you enjoy, you want the exercise, becoming more comfortable in your body and how it moves, and you want to improve your discipline. And learning how to break fall—that will help you more than anything else because falling can happen anywhere, not just in a fight.
Personally, I do HEMA (Historical martial arts; primarily sword fighting) and traditional archery, because those are what I enjoy and their relevant to a lot of the illustrations and creative endeavors I do. I’ve dabbled in others MAs and there are fun techniques, but I keep coming back to those practiced in the past (mainly European but will reach into as many regions as I can get my hands on) when it comes to my time and money…even if that means having to workshop how they may have worked in their historical context (because for some of them, we just don’t know). Just have realistic expectations with what you choose.