I started Martial Arts when i was 10 with 5 years of Shotokan-Karate until my second brown belt.
After that i made a pause for several years due to living in a fucking small village with just nothing to do.
Now i live in Cologne, Germany and practice Krav Maga (Thank you big city) since 2003.
But it is no "Martial Art" for that matter and everyone practicing it will tell you the same. It is strictly classified as "Self-Defense" which is a big difference.
You don't learn any fair fighting inside a reglement of any kind, but instead you do learn how to behave in potential dangerous situations. Which - instead of fair rules - involves effective "get rid of one or mostly more than one opponents and/or save you and third persons at the same time"
First comes the Confidence-training, after which you do a lot of actual behavioural stuff, like how exactly do you behave in a dangerous situation.
You learn how your body reacts under extreme stress (which involves
setting your body under extreme stress
).
You learn that "an asshole comes seldom alone" and how to react to that.
Finally you actually do learn some physical basic-fighting techniques like Boxing/Kicking/Grapple. But everything is kinda "intuitive".
Its not about learning specific forms or stuff like that, but more in the direction of: What would be your (or your bodys) first intuitive movement anyways and you base everything on that.
Thats why learning it is easier than doing special forms/techniques.
And you do learn how to effectively "dispose" of a threat. That means you do not "box" with them in a fair contest...
Instead you attack vulnerable parts. You kick on feet/chin/joints/stomach/balls. You attack with your hands the back of the head/throat/eyes/liver/kidney of your opponent.
Also you learn how to disarm opponents armed with various stuff like knifes/guns/sticks or whatever.
But the first and most effective rule of self-defense of all: You learn how to avoid any fight and run away properly if the situation allows. This is no joke at all.
If you really want to learn any real self-defense instead of a sport, i can recommend Krav Maga to you all. But sadly if you dont live in a populated area or Israel for that matter, trainers are kinda hard to find.
