Ask HN: What martial arts do you practice? What do you recommend?

Do you want to be 'badass'? Do you care whether there is a philosophy side to it? Do you want to have a grading system (belts, for instance)? Is it important to have a 'pure' art - or would a school that 'takes the best from different arts' sound better? Can you just sit on the side at a school to watch a lesson (call first so they can suggest a suitable lesson)? Do you want to be able to demonstrate to your friends? Do you want to be able to do a 'form' (solo, regimented practice)? Do you want to be taught 'weapons'?

Is the school run for love or money? Are the other students people who you feel comfortable with? Can you respect the teacher(s)?

Of course, other people have asked all the above questions better : http://everything2.com/title/Things+to+consider+when+choosin... - but I must emphasise the importance of making sure the school is right for you ...

Avoid most schools of Karate (Kenpo especially), Capoeira, Aikido, Tae Kwan Do, and most of Kung Fu.

In any case, there are bad instructors to be found for every art. Caution is in order.

I have fairly high level belts in several arts. My father put my in Judo when I was 4, jiu-jitsu and Taekwondo by 6. While there are some Karate styles that have become obsolete with more contemporary arts surpassing them (Kempo comes to mind). I believe that Taekwondo is still a very relevant art even for combat.

Taekwondo while extremely difficult due to the technical kicking requirements is by far the most superior kicking art. The problem is that it is not a rounded art. In combat you cannot rely on the fact that you will land the kick ever time and Taekwondo does not really focus on that fact, it has to be augmented with another art. Which usually in Taekwondo schools is Hapkido. The problem is Hapkido is inferior to Aikido or jiu-jitsu.

That being said, my son is now 4 and the first art I enrolled him in was Taekwondo. Doing so will allow him to develop superior kicking technique which take the body the longest time to develop and some people after aging are never able to achieve the limberness required to master Taekwondo.

I agree with you to the extent that Taekwondo on it's own does not round a person enough to be confident in a street fight. But as an augmentation to other arts it will give you superior leg work over any other art and is very relevant to modern street combat. In the few altercations, that I could not avoid getting into, 2 where ended by a single kick and both where head kicks that are only taught in Taekwondo, so it is effective you just cannot rely on it as your only weapon.

If you want to learn to defend yourself and/or get fit, box, wrestle, do Muay Thai, Judo, Brazilian Juijitsu, etc. That is, something that's practiced live against people who aren't cooperating. The downside is that the techniques will also be done to you.

On the other hand, if you want to put on strange clothes and raise your self-esteem by hanging out with a bunch of dudes in the same strange clothes, almost anything will work. Aikido, Ninjitsu, and similar arts are very popular among computing types as they offer the promise of combat effectiveness without being pounded on in the same way you'll experience if you come up in a 'live' art.