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

I recommend, especially for the brainer types, a well rounded martial art like ninjitsu, aikido, gong fu, qigong. Something like Boxing or BJJ will give you the physical fitness that you can get from most forms of exercise, but they lack the mental and spiritual refinement that comes from practice of a "true" martial art. The emphasis on art there implies that it is a true art form, taking years of discipline and practice to grasp just the basics. Ninjitsu is deadly efficient in combat, combines spiritual refinement (meditation, mindfulness, discipline), survival techniques (herbalism, meteorology, etc.), combat techniques and strategy into a complete package.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninjutsu

There's a few different goals you could have with martial arts: Fitness/athleticism, competition/camaraderie/sport, philosophy/balance, and/or practical self defense. Of the last one, there's also a few considerations. A highly trained martial artist in any art is going to fight very well, but how long do you intend to train and when if ever do you think you'd need to be proficient?

For me, I don't care about the sport aspect, the fitness aspect, the competition aspect, or the philosophy aspect. I sometimes travel through dangerous places, and I needed training that would get me proficient to protect myself in a variety of common situations. I researched into this some, and if you want rapid proficiency at self defense - to the exclusion of the other elements I mentioned - then I'd recommend a martial art that's been refined and taught by a successful military.

The two that I was deciding between to learn first are Krav Maga, the Israeli Army's martial art, and Systema, the Russian one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_maga

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systema

I was in Los Angeles which has the flagship American Krav studio, so I studied there and enjoyed it a lot, and I feel capable of defending myself in a variety of situations after only a few months of training. Eventually, I'd like to round myself out by studying a variety of martial arts, but for very practical fast learning curve self defense (to the exclusion of philosophy and sport) I was looking at Krav and Systema.

Regular boxing also seems to have a quick learning curve - I don't know if it's true, but I've that pure boxers will be ahead of the learning curve of most martial arts that use punches and kicks for about two years before the martial artist passes the boxer.

Krav Maga is probably the best multi-assailant self defence martial art you could do. It only takes a few months to learn the basics and after that you should be able to defensively handle yourself sufficiently in a fight against an armed assailant or with multiple unarmed assailants long enough to get away.

Capoeira is great fun but really really works you out. It's set to music and is very athletic. I only did Capoeira a couple of times but enjoyed it (then I did my knee in and haven't been back since, but want to once I've shifted a few pounds).

* Hard training. You want to be pushing yourself to the limit. Fast-paced classes (a lot of doing, not a lot of talking). The long explanations do help a little as a rank beginner, but overall, throwing a technique a few thousand times is the best way to get good.

* Not too commercial or money-oriented.

* Not cult-like.

* Still, you want good respect and discipline. The former keeps people safe, while the latter lets classes run efficiently. People should be aware that the reason for the discipline is efficiency and safety, and not because the instructor wants to be worshiped.

* Not too competitive. Even full contact sparring when both people respect each other and are trying to not hurt each other is safe. Even no contact sparring with both people trying to score at any cost is tremendously dangerous.

You should also see that what they teach makes sense. Funny looking stances? Probably not too good. Hands up in fists guarding head, knees bent? Probably better.

I'd advise you to switch schools after about 2 years. That's about enough time to pick up the basics. Go into the new school with an open mind. You'll feel like they do things differently, wrong, and you won't like it. In time, you'll appreciate about half of what the old school does is better, and about half of what the new school does is.

Cost doesn't correlate with quality. Size, to some extent, helps. You want more people to practice with. Avoid things that focus on sport (this is especially prevalent in Taekwondo schools, but there are good ones, and bad ones in other styles). You want good form for a fight, not for scoring points in a match.

Crudely speaking, styles fall into two categories: grappling and kicking-punching. There are schools that do both, but I've never seen one that does both well. Pick one and go with it. If you've gotten good at it, you can eventually try practicing the other. Starting both at the same time usually doesn't work well. They work very differently, and your body will learn better in series than in parallel. I'd give 2 years as a minimum time in one before starting the other, but more may be better.

When evaluating schools, ignore ranks and titles. They're mostly self-appointed. A tenth dan in one school may be equivalent to a brown belt in another.

It's also useful to look at the abilities of students after given periods of training. This may be hard for you to evaluate, though.

As for my goals, I would place fitness first, and increased mindfulness/mental clarity second. I like the idea of something very traditional, but don't have anything against more modern arts.

I'm 6 ft and 210 lbs. Should probably lose 20 lbs. Out of shape, but not terribly so.

Thanks for all your help. I've learned a lot from this discussion!