 Karate, Kung Fu, MMA. In this episode, we're gonna ruffle some feathers and put to rest of the debate as to which is the best martial art. There's nothing more polarizing than the discussion of whose art is better. Debates often quickly evolve and it becomes more of an argument of who's is bigger. Is Taekwondo better than Nikito? Is Karate better than Kung Fu? Or is MMA gonna beat them all? What makes these questions so difficult to answer is that we are looking for an objective reasoning on a very subjective topic. And it should be subjective because in the end, martial arts are art. And people usually connect to art on a very, very personal level. Can you write down why Gojiru is a better art than Shodokan on a technical and objective level? Or vice versa? Show me a technical printout as to why Van Gogh is superior to Da Vinci. Again, an objective question to a subjective topic. Everyone will relate differently. So we're gonna approach this question subjectively based on two different criteria. One, your reason for training and two, the school that teaches the art. We're gonna talk about this one first because this is perhaps the biggest influential factor on the question. What are you trying to accomplish? Are you taking martial arts for exercise? Are you trying to lose weight, build endurance, condition your body, or perhaps even all of the above? Maybe you're training because you wanna compete in tournaments and are interested in the sport aspect of it. Or are you trying to learn how to defend yourself? It could also be a social interaction. You know, go out and meet people, have something to do. We can take this even deeper and ask if this is for yourself or are you looking for an art for your child or your family member? In that case, which art is the best? Are you looking for discipline? Do you want them to exercise or are they getting bullied at school and you want them to be able to protect themselves? Answering this question alone cuts down half the work of finding the best art for you. Most arts are gonna give you a pretty good physical workout. Arts that fall into the karate often typically focus on strength, power, core workout. You'll likely burn fat but you might not get the cardio workout if that's what you're looking for. For cardio, you're gonna want something that's gonna keep you in constant motion the whole class, usually involving a lot of kicking. Taekwondo, various kung fu arts, capoeira, Muay Thai are guaranteed to give you that kind of a workout. Additionally, Muay Thai, kickboxing and MMA will also tone and condition your body very, very quickly. So for exercise, look for arts that keep you constantly moving. Check out a few schools in your area, watch a class and see who's sweating at the end. Now, if competition peaks your interest then you can divide that into further discussions such as sparring, forms, or self-defense demonstration but for the purpose of this video we're gonna focus on just the sparring part of the competition, because that's the most common. Korean arts such as taekwondo and tanksudo are very, very popular for tournaments and are considered some of the more sportier arts especially if the tournament is point-based like in the Olympics. If it's full-point competition or full-contact competition you're looking for you want knockout submissions, then you've got Muay Thai, kickboxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, you are some very worthy contenders. Now let's say you're looking for self-defense. Here's where the debate often gets ugly and I can already feel the comment section getting hot below. This is such a loaded question because there is no one-size-fits-all solution. A real world fight has no rules and many variations. A fight that takes place in the bar and on the street or an intruder breaking into your home are all very different scenarios and if you bring weapons into the mix then you're talking a whole different discussion altogether, something we'll cover in a later video. So first let me mention that you can pull fighting techniques out of just about any art out there. Most of them teach you how to punch, how to block, how to kick, some basic footwork. So I'm not gonna say that you can't use any art or there's not an art that you can't use to defend yourself. But something like taekwondo isn't generally ideal for street fighting due to its sportier nature but it does have some serious kicking power. Traditional karate and kung fu disciplines often focus very heavily on self-defense but they can take a long time that you can proficient in the art at least to the point of being effective. Arts that are MMA based, Muay Thai, boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu can be very effective in self-defense because classes are usually heavily focused on application and conditioning. I also have to throw in Krav Maga because it's considered an art that's based on ending confrontations quickly. Now there will be people out there in comments that say, oh, XYZ style is total crap and will never work. Are they right? That's another point of view. Many people have had poor experiences with certain arts or maybe they didn't progress as well as they wanted to. Others have pride about their own art. And many times comments just come from people who have never even trained a day in their life but they think that martial arts are just some hokey BS that's on Hollywood and on TV. I cannot count how many times I've heard that someone say, oh, it doesn't matter how hard you train or what art you're training, I could just kick you in the balls and the fight's over. Yeah, really? Well, guess what? If you could just kick me in the balls and the fight, why can't I just kick you in the balls and the fight? And honestly, if we're just coming down to who can kick who, who's got the better advantage. The one who's mouth and the off or the one who's been practicing kicking for years. I was recently foolish enough to partake in an online debate with someone who said that it was impossible, yes, impossible to use any karate in true self-defense situation. He said, the whole system is rigged by frauds and that it won't work. And if it doesn't work in sparring, it will never work on the street. A concept that kind of makes some sense but it's not entirely true. And once again, something we're gonna cover in a future video. I ended up leaving the debate when he said that all martial arts all out there were all completely useless. You can't win with people like that. So my point is you will encounter haters. There are people who love an art but absolutely hate others. Which martial arts is the best art is such a loaded question in order to, it's just to begin with because to answer it, you have to have a clear idea of why you wanna train to begin with. What do you want to achieve with the art? The other major factor in defining the best art for you is the quality of the school teaching it. I cannot stress this enough. There are both terrible and excellent schools for all martial arts. Schools often pride themselves and a lot of debates are fueled from that about which art is the best. I mean, how many times have you heard a student from school X and a student from school Y arguing about who school was better, whether they were in the same art or not? You know, it's just a debate you're not gonna win. It's constantly fueled. And also, once you have an idea of the art that you might be interested in, check out some of the local schools in your area that teach it. Don't just sign up because, oh, looks like a good place, it's what I want. Do your homework. If it sparked your interest, just do some research on the school. What are some of the classes? We know, watch some of the classes, talk to some of the people afterwards, ask the students, what are they getting out of it? Why do they like it? Talk to the instructor, get some information about him or her, their background and some information on the program and what they offer. In another video, we're gonna go much further in depth on how to pick a good school or the right school for you, for your purposes. But generally speaking, you get an idea by taking the close observation of the school you're at. Is the instructor engaging in the class? What are the class sizes? Are there 40 students being led by one instructor or even a junior instructor? Is the school full of just nothing but trophies? So that, you have to ask yourself, is this a competition-based school? If you're looking for self-defense, you might, this might not be the right place for you. Talk to them, find out what their focus is, ask them what makes them unique and also compare them to other schools in the area. Most schools, at least we're trying, will even offer you trial classes or like limited periods that you can at least try it out. So finding the right school can completely make or break the art. Personally speaking, I have trained in Kempo for 25 years and I have seen some absolutely fantastic schools and instructors as well as horrible ones. It's not unique, it's to every art. So how do you choose the best art for you? Well, define your motivation for training and then look for a good school that teaches it. You're gonna find a vibe if it works or not. So, which martial art is the best? Well, it's the one that you feel the sparking connection with. It's the art that you are willing to dissect, what you learn, take it apart, put the pieces back together and it put 150% of your effort behind it. If you find that, then good chances that's something you're gonna wanna try and that might be the best art for you. So, what is your favorite art and why? Have you used any arts to defend yourself or have you won any tournaments? Or on the other side, have you tried an art and it failed you? Looking back what you have done differently, I would absolutely love to hear your experiences. Thank you so much for watching. Please subscribe and share this video so that we can keep the fire of this debate going forever.