Martial Arts advice

I'm sure that the vast majority of martial artists wouldn't use the vast majority of their art in a street brawl,
but I'm sure their increased understanding of corpal dynamics would prove advantageous.
If you want to do well in a street fight, then experience in street fighting is vital, and everything else is speculative.

The reason I study capoeira is not because it claims to be the
MASTER OF ALL MARTIAL ARTS™
but because it allows (and promotes) creativity, improvisation, interpretation and expression, something that is missing in other martial arts.
It's emphasis is on playfulness and trickery, expression and deception.
It doesn't take itself too seriously, which is what I enjoy about it most.
If you use it in a street fight, you're a dick.
If you try and compare it to other martial arts in terms of it's effectiveness in mashing someone,you've sort of missed the point.

Think of it as a physical game of chess, parkour with people instead of buildings, a coporeal conversation.

Discussions comparing martial arts online always seem culminate in a "my dad could beat up your dad" cock-measuring contest
and it's for this reason that I find them laughable.

I'll bet I mince a lot prettier than Balki, too. ;)

fuck off

i do fencing

a much more mincey sport than one involving backflips and breakdancing

Yeah, fencing is definitely for fudge packers.

Backflips and breakdancing :) thats good.

Krav Maga seems to be one of the most effective ways to disable an opponent.

As for increasing your fitness levels and defence skills I'd go for boxing or Thai Boxing there so much more to it then just having a brawl and throw punches.

I've done Tae Kwon Do for 14+ years and boxing for another 10+ years and would say that, in a situation outside the gym, boxing is the more useful one.

Seriously, I've won ever fight I've ever been in.

...by at least 50 meters

...by at least 50 meters

Fun, you rucker!

Stuff that's definitely worth watching is the videos by Geoff Thompson:

YouTube- The Fence - Geoff Thompson - Clip 1

He's also a Bafta winning writer, and made a great short movie about a bouncer:

Bouncer - Video Dailymotion@@AMEPARAM@@http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video@@AMEPARAM@@video

this is pretty much how i see the world:

http://dror-shalom.com/cm/userfiles/16/image/index.jpg

the science of getting kicked in the balls.

If you want to do well in a street fight, then experience in street fighting is vital, and everything else is speculative.

This is spot-on IMHO. Next best thing would be any art that places an emphasis on live sparring with fully resisting partners.

but because it allows (and promotes) creativity, improvisation, interpretation and expression, something that is missing in other martial arts.
This is dead wrong. Capoeira may well place a particular emphasis on these things but saying they are missing from other martial arts is absolutely untrue. All of the arts I've studied (it's a few now) have rewarded these attributes to a greater or lesser extent. Sometimes not explicitly it's true but they are present nonetheless.

Think of it as a physical game of chess, parkour with people instead of buildings, a coporeal conversation.
Interestingly, this is also an almost perfect description of the art I have finally 'settled' on as my own (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu FWIW). Also, a nicely turned phrase.

Discussions comparing martial arts online always seem culminate in a "my dad could beat up your dad" cock-measuring contest
and it's for this reason that I find them laughable.
This is true. It's why I don't read Bullshido much anymore tbh.

I'll bet I mince a lot prettier than Balki, too. ;)
Pics or GTFO?

This is dead wrong. Capoeira may well place a particular emphasis on these things but saying they are missing from other martial arts is absolutely untrue.

Mea culpa. I should have expressed that this was based on my outsider's preconception of martial arts as a whole... compared to something like parkour or breakdancing, martial arts im geral seem rigid and unquestionable; if you don't do exactly what Sensei says, you're not doing it right, whereas Capoeira has absolutely none of this, on the contrary; if you're not expressing yourself and experimenting, then you're not doing it right.

Interestingly, more and more BJJ is working it's way into Capoeira games; training in Bahia last year opened my eyes to a level of grappling in the roda that I hadn't seen before; combined with a more offensively-positioned base that is almost certainly also borrowed from BJJ.

Mea culpa. I should have expressed that this was based on my outsider's preconception of martial arts as a whole... compared to something like parkour or breakdancing, martial arts im geral seem rigid and unquestionable; if you don't do exactly what Sensei says, you're not doing it right, whereas Capoeira has absolutely none of this, on the contrary; if you're not expressing yourself and experimenting, then you're not doing it right.

Well, now that I think is spot on. I don't want to fall back on lazy stereotypes but there absolutely is a marked cultural difference between the traditional Japanese arts I started in and the Brazilian atmosphere I train in now.
Even in the BJJ gym though there is definitely an emphasis placed (rightly IMHO) on adhering strictly to doctrine in the initial phases of your training career. It's only as you progress that you will begin to open up your game and start subtly altering the basics to suit yourself. This was also true in the TMAs I studied but there was much more weight placed on the conformity aspects and, of course, the whole environment was much more formal.

Interestingly, more and more BJJ is working it's way into Capoeira games; training in Bahia last year opened my eyes to a level of grappling in the roda that I hadn't seen before; combined with a more offensively-positioned base that is almost certainly also borrowed from BJJ.

That is interesting. To the best of my knowledge there doesn't seem to be much if any cross-training going the other way but, AFAICT, there isn't a lot of overlap of curriculum in any case. Happy to be corrected on that point if I've got it wrong.

I'm thinking about taking up a martial art...

... start with hard techniques, and transition to soft techniques as they got older and less able to rely on brute strength. Without the basics, soft styles are unlikely to be useful...

I think your age and level of fitness is the most important thing for us to know before anyone could give give you proper advice Malaysian. As pointed out by Wen Jian, if you are under 25 or so, you have the time and physique to be able to get good at something offensive.

If I could live my life again I would have started Kick Boxing or perhaps Muy Thai from a young age. Those are the guys I have hard a really hard time with when sparring one on one, even those who have just dabbled in it years ago.

Oh, and totally agree:

seriously i cant see many of us ever being able to take on multiple opponents

With two eyes pointing straight ahead, we humans just weren't made for it.

if you want to do some form of martial art just to get fit than most are perfectly fine.
all martial arts have their own pros and cons.
some teach to be more passive while others teach to be more aggressive. I'm sure you can find something to fit your traits.
from the age of 4 till the age of 12 i trained in seki juku karate.
its fucking awesome and i can definitely still feel the benefits (im 15).
i think kendo is super rad as well.

Stuff that's definitely worth watching is the videos by Geoff Thompson: ....

ZZZzzzzzz.....

If you want to evade groups of thugs may be some Kabaddi ; )

ZZZzzzzzz.....

Was it that boring? I find his videos seriously interesting, he's got the right ideas in my eyes.

Strangulations rock!

With or without Gi?

Such interesting points of view. These are mine. These are only my opinion and may not stand up in a court of reality...
In SA, and therefore my mindset, is that Kung fu takes to long to learn and doesnt help. It makes you tough but the moves are to complex for a fight.
I had a mate who was very very good had his ass handed to him by a guy who did valetudo, and offshoot of BJJ. The Valetudo guy even said he would only do stand up as thats what my mate did. He swapped over to Muay Thai and later valetudo.
Karate for me is a poor form of martial arts. The guys think that they have 1 punch knockouts but never hit anyone ever.
Capareiaiaero is to difficult to spell. I know i cant do it as i cant even hand stand.
Judo is great, but it is an olympic sport. Very technical.
BJJ is amazing for the grounding if you want to get into street fighting then thats a good start. Learning effective take downs for a stand up opponent is worth while. Arm locks/bars, strangulations, body control is very good. But this and judo take huge amounts of practice to get right. But less so than becoming effective in my opinion with the chinese martial arts.
Thai chi is a tea.
Fencing is eligant. But only ninjas can carry swords without anyone noticing.
Martial arts will get you tough. The tougher the martial arts, the harder you are, the better you can handle a beasting which gives you a chance to get back or run. I dont think just gym can give you that. Bigger is normally better. Heavies tend to beat rakes.
Thai is brilliant but early shin cancer. Simple easy techniques like boxing (i have the utmost respect.) but you learn to protect your lower half though at a cost as you open up your guard more. But you learn to use your knees and elbows which are very effective short range weapons most people dont know how to use.
Boxing, proper ring train boxing, would do better than most things as its simple and taught in sparring.
Silat i have no opinion other than i would love to have learnt to fight with sticks as a child.
Krav Magda is a new age MA. I think i will wait and see. The good practitioners are military, i think they would be good at almost all MA.
As said, body shape is important, as is your weight. But better yet is reaction times. Darwinism.
There is a new one that looks quite interesting but its very much like the principles of Krav and MMA where they adopt the things that work for the 'head' of that form.
Taekwondo (TKD) is brilliant for kicks. But its like boxing in reverse. I had another friend who broke her hands (unrelated) and someone forced a fight and she kicked him in the head when they were nose to nose. It put him down long enough for her to walk away unscathed.
Surprise i find is an awesome tool. It covers "hit first hit hard win" tactic (which i dont aprove of but almost cost me my eye). If someone is not expecting you to kick them in the head, youre at an advantage. If they dont expect you to take them to the ground and submit them, then youre at an advantage. Advantages are short lived.
Fighting groups, odds are, youre not going to win. So dont try. No group will wait for you to finish 1 then the next. And even if you did, most people will be spent on the first fight. Gustos gone and that means running is gone.
Most of this is my thoughts on martial arts from a controlled environment.
You want street fighting, get on the street, live the life, but also fight for your life.

Oh, and expect to lose most fights! Make sure the ones that you win are the ones that count. Practice and hope you get beaten often when it doesnt.

With or without Gi?

Both really:-) A t shirt is all you need if need be.

Oh, you can do a rear naked choke without any part involved wearing a t-shirt or Gi.

If youre behind its a better, but If youre doing a strangulation from the front, you can use the collar as long as you slide youre hands under the collar as far back as you can using your wrist area to cut off blood.
strangulations are better as the cut the blood flow to brain and a person under stress can pass out in seconds. Choke is longer as you cut of the wind pipe but is more painful and youre more aware so its scarier.

I find people generally tap quicker to chokes as the pain and 'danger' sensation when someone places pressure on your windpipe is, as you say, very strong and immediate. People will try and resist strangles for longer.

If youre behind its a better, but If youre doing a strangulation from the front, you can use the collar as long as you slide youre hands under the collar as far back as you can using your wrist area to cut off blood.
strangulations are better as the cut the blood flow to brain and a person under stress can pass out in seconds. Choke is longer as you cut of the wind pipe but is more painful and youre more aware so its scarier.