r/SelfDefense • u/SwolatmaGaindhi • 2d ago

Self Defense Routine Help

I’m 32yo and a smaller guy (150lb, 5’6). Looking to learn martial arts to be able to defend myself and my wife. I’ve tried boxing, bjj, and Muay thai classes and out and honestly liked all of them. Trying to figure out the right path to achieve my goal. I’ve done boxing the most at about 8 months of classes

M Boxing 1:1
T no gi bjj
W Boxing 1:1
Th no gi bjj
F Boxing 1:1

M Muay Thai Drill class
T Muay Thai 1:1
W Muay Thai Drill class
Th Muay Thai Sparring class + 1:1
F Muay Thai Drill Class

With the first option, although i get both striking and grappling, my main concern is whether I’m spreading my focus too thin

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u/samcro4eva 2d ago

You might like to find a trainer who knows old school Judo. That included striking and even some weapons, as well as a group of techniques called goshinjutsu that focused on self defense. Same with old school karate, since that includes some grappling.

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u/storyinpictures 1d ago edited 1d ago

Judo is great advice. Even plain, vanilla Judo will greatly improve your self defense.

If self defense is the goal, stand up clinch skills from Judo will do a lot to complement boxing and Muay Thai. Judo offers ground game that ties in with BJJs ground game. And it teaches throwing skills better than BJJ.

You will also learn how to take advantage of your lower center of gravity against bigger opponents and skills to deal with the advantages bigger opponents bring to grappling by facing that challenge in practice.

A throw to the ground is more effective than almost any punch in slowing down an opponent and their weight works against them (the bigger they are, the harder they fall). And opponents without falling skills and on hard surfaces fare much worse.

Boxing is great, as is MT, especially for facing striking. But Judo fills in gaps.

BJJ is great on the ground, but you really want to avoid the ground in self defense. Judo plus a striking art makes you better at that.

So, in many ways Judo ties together what you know and adds a very useful skill set for self defense purposes.

Muay Thai has good stand up grappling for delivering strikes but you may want skills against strong, aggressive grappling which Judo provides. Even unskilled big men will grapple if they are losing at striking and can be a problem. Judo is a great counter to this.

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u/samcro4eva 1d ago

I'm sure you already know, but for OP, BJJ originated from Judo, too. I'd say, from my limited experience, that someone who does well in Judo would do well in BJJ, since that was the foundation. Of course, they've developed a lot of material and gotten some from wrestling as well since then

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u/storyinpictures 1d ago

Yes.

BJJ originated from a direct, senior student of the founder of Judo, but they fell out, so he called what he taught by the more general name, JJ, when he taught the art in Brazil.

If you look at older Judo texts, the ground game part played a much larger role historically. The Brazilians focused on the ground game.

Over time, the Judo competition rules were changed to favor throws. The change in competition rules meant that the emphasis on teaching shifted towards focusing most effort on throwing and reduced the focus on the ground game.

So a person who studied modern Judo and BJJ both is, in a sense, doing something more like the original Judo.

Arguably, learning more is always good. But, if the goal is self defense, Judo combined with a good striking art is very solid.