Is Shotokan Karate Effective self defense?

[aj4154]

Is Shotokan Karate Effective self defense?

how about tai chi?

[jcbboots1]

I think Larry will tell you some of the same things that I am going to say. Most of the joint locks and pressure points are usless when it come to the real streets. There are NO RULES on the street. I think anyone with a high level of training in any martial art is better off than the average person. After taking a course with Larry Wick I had a rude discovery that even though I have trained for over 16 years it was usless against anything he had! Martial arts as a whole are a wonderful thing and I would suggest it to anyone to make yourself fit and to be a better person. I only have a little practice with Tai Chi but I believe it is wonderful for breathing ,relaxation and internal energy. Good luck on your search!

[TejasT]

Between the two, Shotokan Karate is probably the better self defense. These days, most Tai Chi is taught as a meditative exercise. There is a self defense aspect to Tai Chi, but it takes years to master that. Not to mention that it's difficult to find teachers familiar with the self defense aspects of Tai Chi in the west.

I don't know if you follow MMA, but former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is a blackbelt in Shotokan Karate.

[tom]

I've been doing Shotokan for over 40 years. There are some modern groups that added joint locks and pressure points, I've never been around that and think it's fine, but I have never done it and have no opinion one way or the other.

As for a martial art defending against what Larry does, I didn't think that SSS was meant to be used as an attack, something used by a mugger. That wasn't my understanding. Since self-defense to me has nothing to do with dueling/competing, I don't see how one self-defense style can go against another. It would no longer be self-defense.

Whichever martial art you may join, if relaxing and making it work is not in the lesson, I'd have my doubts about it. Is my Shotokan useful? I dunno. I hope I never will. Learning from others' experiences, I'm pretty sure it is, but I'm a friendly, careful guy and the chances of me ever having to find out are thankfully pretty close to zero. I don't know Tai Chi, so no opinion but an open mind. I have seen different schools, some yogish and some hardcore.

I'm sorry I missed that Larry was down here in Livermore. A dojo-mate went to his seminar several years back and came back with only good things to say. This is an ornery, doubting, smart, capable friend and that he was impressed is all I need to know that Larry has so much to offer. I'm waiting for time, place, and money to come together so I can go myself. Or . . . . I've never been to Alaska.

Tom

[MikeNY]

Most Karate taught in the USA is for sport and competition not a combat art. I read about Larry's SSS and it sounds very good. Having been in Law Enforcement and taken the FBI Combative Course and old school training, see things differntly. In the innercity there were loads of Kung fu experts, and they avoided the Boxer's; on the Street Boxer's take out people that have decades of martial art training if they are attacked.

In NY once you could learn Savate and that is now dead, and the Savate they taught was really Italian with la Lutte (wrestling). Now days MMA, Judo, JuJitsu or Boxing and Wrestling are the easist to learn in the USA and the most effective. Traditionaly the Police learned Boxing, Wrestling with some Judo/JuJitsu, now they learn MMA that is really just Boxing, Wrestling with Judo/JuJitsu, things never change. The Special Forces learn MMA as do the Military. Boxing, Wrestling, Judo have full contact and are reality based.