Favorite Martial Arts style (real or fake)

[Ihateregistering1]

So I was just watching a pretty decent martial arts flick on Netflix called "True Legend". In it, the bad guy practices an evil martial art called "Five Venom Fists", which allows him to poison his opponents whenever he punches them. He trains for it by sticking his hands into a pot filled with snakes, spiders, and scorpions and absorbing their venom when they sting/bite him.

In other words, totally awesome.

So it got me thinking, what are some other awesome martial arts styles out there, either real or fake, and which one is your favorite? Nothing to do with actual effectiveness, just general coolness.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I've always loved Taekwondo, particularly as represented in videogames or movies. Tony Jaa style movie Mauy Thai is also such a pleasure to watch.

 

[Queen Michael]

The "Anything-Goes" school from Ranma½. I have fond memories of it.

 

[Shock and Awe]

Krav Maga, I've taken a bit of it and it's a brutal style. Everything is meant to do as much damage as possible, with a lot of options for lethal strikes.

 

[Euryalus]

Uhh... That's difficult.

I'm going to split it up. For ground fighting, Brazillian Jiu Jitsu.

Getting a larger opponent to the ground is actually pretty easy and then most of the moves are reliant more on technique and leverage, so a smaller guy can have an advantage he otherwise wouldn't and a larger guy can use his weight to his advantage too.

For fights against more than one opponent you don't really want to be on the ground if you can avoid though so its always best to combine it with a striking martial art to round yourself out.

In that regard I actually prefer western boxing because of the relative "simplicity" of the moves. Its efficient if not very showy.

Krav Maga, I've taken a bit of it and it's a brutal style. Everything is meant to do as much damage as possible, with a lot of options for lethal strikes.

Yeah Krav Maga is actually a martial art designed to address the problem with BJJ I mentioned above. Fighting several opponents at once. It's brutal and flailing in a way, but it has intent and control.

At least that's how my friend describes it. I've never actually practiced or seen it properly in action myself.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

I fall in the camp of NOT calling Krav Maga a martial art, because it is ugly and there are no rules to the system, everything goes.

However! After having looked up the origins of martial arts: "Arts of Mars" (the Romen god of war), I would argue it's more so a martial art than most others as it is used in war, to great effect, on a daily basis (yes I know there are several branches of Krav Maga for civilians, soldiers and law enforcement).

Cought in my own web of semantics...

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Ive been dabbling in a few since the start of the year(Somebody tried to mug me at 4 am on new years eve so I decided to learn) and so far in terms of purely what I find fun to do, Brazillian Jujitsu is great fun and an awesome workout.

 

[Nouw]

A style that's stuck to mind recently is pencak silat thanks to The Raid 1 and 2. Like Krav Maga, it's a no-nonsense, brutal style of fighting.

 

[FPLOON]

*ahem*
Super Fist of the Nose Hair!

Spoiler

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090801215320/bobobo/images/4/44/Fist_of_the_Nosehair.PNG

...Enough said...

(Damn, do I still wish I could do that!)

 

[Kolby Jack]

"Drunken kung fu" - Zui Quan

Mainly because Jackie goddamn Chan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74OBuMA2qEk

Hell yes.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I'm going to nominate fencing, all permutations of it, because I find a certain elegance in it, and because I've done a bit of it.

 

[slarlath]

I feel like I should cast a vote for Wado Ryu style of Karate, being a long time practitioner of it but the reality is that there is no such thing as a superior martial art, only superior martial artist. A master of any style will always beat an adept of another.

However as far as cool ideas for martial arts I would like to mention the Gun Kata in Equilibrium. Not sure it really counts due to the use of firearms but awesome concept non-the-less.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mAH_6V5h4c

 

[JayRPG]

Wing Chun - The problem with a lot of it though is that many schools are far too traditional.

There are a lot of Wing Chun communities that do actual scientific research and testing to see whether or not what we are training is effective and if it isn't we alter it until it is.

Small changes like the in the Sil Lim Tao form, the Fook Sao that is taught traditionally is 2 in the mid-section but a Fook Sao's application can be as high up as the head and as low on the thigh, so we practise 3 Fook Saos, 1 low, 1 mid and 1 high.

Wing Chun is much like Krav Maga in that there are little to no rules, you are encouraged to use elbows, to strike the groin and do anything and everything you can to survive.

I love Wing Chun for many reasons, I don't believe it is the be all and end all of martial arts but it is very effective once you start actually thinking about what you are doing rather than blindly following what may have been effective hundreds of years ago - People change, anatomy changes. Wing Chun was taught to Chinese people to defend against Chinese people, we are significantly taller and have more muscle bulk than the people of the time that developed this style. You have to change, you have to adapt.

This fight scene, while not 100% accurate because Donnie Yen employs more than just Wing Chun here, is enough for most people to fall in love with Wing Chun. It's a bit of fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJh_QbEmHTc

 

[RedDeadFred]

Gun kata. Seriously, watch Equilibrium. Better yet, just watch all the action scenes on Youtube and skip the rest of the movie. They invented a new martial art called gun kata for the movie. It's ridiculously over the top. So much so that words don't do it justice.
Actual gun stuff starts at about the two minute mark.

 

[4RM3D]

First thing I thought of was Gun Kata, but that is already ninja'd. Oh well...

 

[Darks63]

Hokuto Shinken and Ren & Southers Nanto styles are my favs. The ability to explode or cut opponents to pieces with strikes would just be awesome.

 

[dangoball]

Okie Dokie! The martial art used to kick the ass of the Son of Time himself! (Discworld)

As mentioned above, Gun kata is also insanely fun looking and it also looks as if it actually has some merit to it unlike most other fictional fighting styles (such us the "Venomous fist" op mentioned ). Now I want to see Equilibrium again.

From real arts? Muay Thai and Krav Maga for offense (sheer brutality) and Aikijutsu for defense (elegance, use of your opponents momentum and the sound of crackling joints).

 

[SonofaJohannes]

Another vote for Drunken Boxing, watching the first Drunken Master film was what made me want to train martial arts; as soon as I find a place that teaches the style I'm going to leave my current club.

Also Ecky Thump, because hitting people with black pudding is hilarious.
A guy actually died from this. Well, not a fight but he laughed himself to death when he saw this.

 

[Schmeiser]

Gun kata in equilibrium, enough said. Got ninja'd, but still gun kata > all

 

[w23eer]

I love any K1 martial art (the strike based ones), Kickboxing and Tae Kwon Do in particular. Although I have been thinking about adopting Hapkido (which is basically Tae Kwon Do but with grapples and throws).

I've always loved Taekwondo, particularly as represented in videogames or movies.

Tae Kwon Do videogames exist?