In my eyes, the "boxing life" has always seemed incredibly beautiful, and even romantic, or at least its portrayal in fiction. Skipping rope, roadwork, punching bags for hours, throwing punches into the air in the middle of nowhere.

I would love the idea of being a boxer - except for the fact that the sport itself seems so ugly and self-destructive. The simple truth is, getting hit in the head is bad for you, and even the smallest hits will build up and give you brain damage. There isn't really another way to get better at boxing than to fight people, but no matter how I think about it, it's just bad for you.

But at the same time, I can see why people love boxing. Still, is it worth it?

Hey guys. I'm 18 years old and I'm an amateur fighter with the goal of eventually making it to professional MMA. There aren't any huge, well-known gyms with famous fighters in my city, but I can still get good-quality training here and I've been improving a lot. I currently have 3 kickboxing fights and 1 Wushu Sanda fight, and I've won all of them.

Next year I'm going to start working, so my training time may decrease, but my plan is to save money and move somewhere with a bigger gym and high-level training in early 2028.

I have 2 options for the time I have left here:

1. Train boxing and Muay Thai for 4–6 hours per week + 1–2 hours of strength and conditioning.

2. Train 2 hours of boxing or Muay Thai + 4–5 hours of BJJ per week.

I'm still a white belt with two stripes in BJJ, but because of my Wushu Sanda background, I'm fairly comfortable with wrestling and judo. I haven't competed in grappling yet.

I really love the environment at my BJJ gym. Everyone is welcoming and respectful, the training is really good, and there are some well-known amateur fighters in the region training there.

Honestly, I'm more of a striker. I feel much more comfortable fighting on the feet. So I'm not sure if I should spend this time building a strong striking base and then, once I move to a better MMA gym, find a BJJ coach who can turn me into a well-rounded grappler for MMA, or if I should keep developing both sides from now on.

What would you guys do in my situation?

I couldn't think of the right name to describe it..

Hi! I have recently returned to martial arts (Wing Chun) after a long absence. The school I found is great, but it doesn't have a strong emphasis on Chin Na, which was always my favorite thing. Is anyone in the Bay (Oakland area) looking for new training partners/victims? I'm not looking for a new school, I don't have the time, but am interested in practicing chin na.

I (25M) recently did my first Muay Thai class and i enjoyed it. We worked on punches, kicks, knees, elbows and pad work. My punches felt alright, but my kicks were terrible lol. I struggled with hip rotation, balance and generating any real power.

The thing is, I’ve always wanted to learn boxing and I really like it, but Muay Thai also interests me because it seems like a more complete striking martial art and I’d like to improve my legs/kicks too.

I can realistically train around 3 times a week.
For people who have trained either or both, would you recommend sticking with Muay Thai for 6–12 months and learning boxing later, or just going straight into boxing if that’s what I’ve always been more interested in?and what’s more important in real life scenarios?

Temporarily relocated and there is a Budo Taijutsu dojo nearby. I never heard of it. Searched the sub and didn’t find much. Anybody ever did it and what are your reflections of this martial art?

I'm a 19M who started judo about 2 months ago, I'm not particularly good at using techniques and applying them at randori sessions due to my extreme lack of strength (48kg weight and 5'10 height) i am really passionate about learning martial arts and judo really seems like good choice to me specifically due to ne-waza/bjj makes me feel like i could grow better but every session is just a reminder that it is not for me. I know i need to change my diet and join gym for strength training but financially it's hard for me since i don't earn myself. Any advice ??

Long story short, but due to childhood burns, and later minibike injuries, my legs and especially my knees are pretty much only just operational. I can walk ok, but kicks etc would be out of the question.

Are there any martial arts that concentrate only on the upper body for the most part?

It’s so bizarre to me. Is there any activity that can be mastered that quickly?

I’m talking about the people who say they plan to box for three months because they feel they will be “good” by then. Or who quit the first week because it’s harder than they thought. Like what do they expect?!

So I will not ask the usual question like "is JKD effective???" yada yada, and I'm not looking for replies like "it's incomplete" or "it's a concept, not a style". The right lead stance is a concept mentioned in the tao of jeet kune do as a striking approach where you keep a southpaw-like stance while throwing lead strikes and frequent jabs to apply pressure in a fencing like motion. From a pure striking standpoint, where the user has pressure tested this approach for many hours in sparring, how effective do you think it could be in relation to other more conventional concepts like "jab with the weaker side to setup power strikes with the rear limbs"? Mainly looking for opinions from trained individuals

I currently do gym + kickboxing and have been managing it well. I don't feel burnt out or excessively fatigued, and I genuinely enjoy training.

I'm a college student. Classes end around 1:30 PM, then I usually go home, eat something or take a short nap, and head to the gym and kickboxing.

I'm thinking about adding wrestling 3x/week on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. There's a place very close to my home and the timings fit perfectly around my current schedule. Wednesday is my gym rest day, Saturday is the day I don't have kickboxing, and Sunday is completely free.

My main goal is eventually to learn MMA. The MMA gyms near me aren't really economically feasible, or they're basically McDojos and don't seem legit. So I thought learning kickboxing and wrestling, and eventually adding BJJ, would be a good way to build a foundation for MMA.

I also genuinely enjoy martial arts and being around people who train. I actually hate sitting around doing nothing on rest days, so I'm not adding wrestling because I feel like I need to train more. I just want to learn it and enjoy it.

My main concern is accumulated fatigue. I feel like I can handle more right now, but I'm wondering if that could catch up with me over time.

The memberships are monthly, so if wrestling ends up interfering with recovery, I can always take a break or even switch to a different art.

So, for people who have experience combining strength training with multiple combat sports, would adding 3 × 1.5-hour wrestling sessions to this routine be too much, or could it realistically be sustainable with good recovery?

hi! I practice bjj and I want to create some content about that, I have a competition soon and I want to take this opportunity to make bjj videos, but I have no idea about the format of the video type... do y'all have some ideas???

I haven't seen any outdoor heavy bags. Mine is canvas and would collect mold if I left it outside. Is there any options for outdoor bags? Anyone do any DIY projects to create a waterproof bag?

If you train stick fighting arts, do you train left and right or only your strong side and maybe double stick?

I'm really tired of this particular piece of martial arts video clickbait ("Terrifying")

People always say, “Watch out for the quiet and nice person—they probably know how to fight.” And honestly, there is some truth to that. If someone remains unusually calm during a confrontation, there is often a reason for it.

I trained in martial arts for a couple of years, and during that time I met all kinds of people. One thing I noticed is that martial arts can also attract people with huge egos and people who are genuine bullies. I experienced this myself. Some of them tried to intimidate me, and yes, sometimes we ended up fighting. But even after that, some of them remained exactly the same assholes they were before. Fighting clearly didn’t change their character.

I’ve also met men who were genuinely misogynistic and would deliberately teep me in the chest when the technique is normally aimed at the abdomen. It’s honestly scary to realize that some people train martial arts not just to defend themselves, but because they actually want to hurt others more than necessary.

There is some truth to the idea that people who constantly act arrogant and tough often can’t fight at all. But unfortunately, there are also martial artists who behave that way. The difference is that they usually don’t need to constantly brag about how tough they are or talk like a 13-year-old about how they’re going to beat someone up. They have the skills to actually cause damage, which makes that kind of personality much more concerning. They do brag but they do it much different way they will get in you're face and talk shit etc.

The world isn’t as simple as “the good guys learn martial arts and the bad guys don’t.” Martial arts can be learned by good people, but also by people with violent, narcissistic, or toxic personalities. And honestly, that can be a scary thing to think about.

Conor McGregor is a good example of how someone can become extremely skilled while still having a very controversial and aggressive personality. Mike Tyson is an even more complicated example, considering his history and the things he has done outside the ring.

Martial arts don’t automatically make someone a better person. They give you skills. What you choose to do with those skills—and what kind of person you are when you have them—is a completely different thing.

I went to a school. They said that the first lesson is a free trial but if I decide to join them, I have to pay to buy their uniform and wear it every class. For Karate and Taekwondo, I can understand that everybody dress in white but for this school, their uniform is a T-shirt and pant with the school name on it. Is this more a way to get more money from the students?

In order to reduce volume of beginner questions as their own topics in the sub, we will be implementing a weekly questions thread. Post your beginner questions here, including:

"What martial art should I do?"

"These gyms/schools are in my area, which ones should I try for my goals?"

And any other beginner questions you may have.

If you post a beginner question outside of the weekly thread, it will be removed and you'll be directed to make your post in the weekly thread instead.

I realize this forum does not have self-defense in the title.. but i'm daring an opinion anyway.

Here's my philosophy. Most people are not going to be willing to spend 30% of their lives working out and practicing to the point where they can stand up to 250lb violent (steroid) psychos. Or even 150 lb ones. Regular, normal, peaceful people don't really want to feel pain or even hurt other people. I think this is the main obstacle in self-defense.

So the only thing that comes to mind to me, is Bruce Lee's philosophy of groin kicks and eye jabs. I mean, i weigh about 220 lbs. If i had worked out and started boxing, in 2-3 years time i would probably be quite competent at it. And i'm sure that would be a great tool to have in the bag.

But as of now, that's not how it is. I am quite un-agile.. slow and unpracticed. I would probably even have trouble defending myself against a 150 lb 20-year old that has training and is violent in nature.

I have therefore at least forced into my head, that if i should be either surrounded, caught in a tight spot, or violently attacked without warning, i will immediately use the eye jab to both eyes and back away, run and call the police. Or kick to the groin if i feel that is warranted. Headbutt is also something i may do if i feel like it. All these techniques are 95% fight-enders... it ends the situation right away, unless you miss. With some practice, the chance increases.

Does this seem cowardly and unethical to you guys (and girls) that has martial arts training? I mean, to most of you, you can probably handle 90% of anyone causing harm to you... you are practiced in taking a swing to the face and kick to the stomach. Most people are not trained to take punches, kicks and brawl. It will be unsystematic and increase risk. So i feel that using whatever really works, is warranted to do. I mean, if anyone -wants- to cause trouble .. then they have to accept that people that don't -want- trouble, are going to defend themselves with any means necessary.

To me, this is the essense of self-defense. You use the least force necessary - but if you have not practiced, for any reaason, live a peacful and normal life, and hate hurting other people - then this is the best way to do it. Or am i wrong? Should regular people have to spend 20-30% of their lives getting to like level 5/10 in order to defend themselves against violent people, that live for it, and are at level 7-8/10 regularly? I feel that is a bit unfair.

I've been training kickboxing for a little over a month now, usually with my main coach about 3–4 times a week. I feel pretty comfortable training with him and have gotten into a routine.

But today I trained with another coach who I don't see very often and he trains way different than my other coach and for some reason I just couldn't get my mind right. He's actually really patient and a good coach, but I felt different mentally and had a really hard time focusing on what he was telling me.

He told me that if I can't get my mind right and focus, it's going to become a problem and that I may have to go all the way back to the basics. He recommended that I work more on my drills, shadowboxing, and combinations which he's right.

I know I've only been training for over a month, so I definitely still have a LOT to learn. I'm just wondering if anyone else experienced something similar when they were new, especially when training with a different coach?

Is this just part of being a beginner and learning to stay focused, or is there something I should be doing differently during my solo practice?

I been only doing one on one sessions so far in practice and the only time I go to my other coach is when my main coach is busy/not available to train. Both coaches know each other and know i train with both.

Hello, I visited some martial arts and gymnastics schools. I saw a few adult men having the top fully naked. Why are they allowed to do that? Don't the teachers know that if these people have some medical condition, it is very easy to transfer their body fluid to another students through the sweat and the mats?