Being raped or kidnapped is seriously my biggest fear, and while I am confident in my strength I don't know the first thing about how to use it, so I got my parents to agree to pay for some martial art type lessons. So, what is the best thing to do in terms of self defense? Boxing, kickboxing, jiu kitsu, karate? I know very little about this stuff, so please help me out! I want something practical that I can use to beat the snot out of anybody scary

>>1 OP btw not done it my self but from that I have heard and seen * Aikido * is a good martial art for self defence

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

>>1 OP sorry for double post,

You also have to be aware that there are also good martial art instructors and bad ones, So I also suggest that you also find out as much as you can about what ever martial art club you do join.


What country do you live in that you are seriously a afraid of being raped or kidnapped :/ ?

Krav Maga or some variation. Akido is good too.

It's hard to actually pick one true art to follow o_o. I for one know that taekwondo is good for being quick on your feet and you develop muscle memory, particularly in your legs.

Basically taekwondo is all about the legs. If you wanna run from your attacker than this could be good. But every scenario is different as we all know, dont rely solely on this art form!

If you want something for pure self defense, avoid competition style martial arts like karate, boxing, taekwondo, et cetera and go towards something like CQC and krav maga. Its not that competition style martial arts are not useful in general but rather there are certain rules that you get used to that will get you killed in a street fight. For example in taekwondo competitions, you are not allowed to kick below the waist for obvious reasons, but in a street fight you want to go straight for the hit to the groin, followed by another kick in the balls, and then perhaps another stomp on the testes. But because martial arts are majority muscle memory and a shit ton of practice, you wont instinctively go for that kick to the groin. Krav Maga and CQC on the other hand are designed to be used in military combat situations so they dont really care about causing permanent irreversible damage on another persons body which if you are in that sort of dangerous situation you are describing, you shouldnt really either.
Oh and a criticism of akido is that while akido has a very good variety of blocks, counters, and other defensive moves, it has very underdeveloped offensive moves which is sort of its "thing." But because of that when you are practicing akido with another student of akido, as is the tradition in most martial art schools, it will leave unprepared for going against someone from a more aggressive martial art training like northern shaolin or eskrima, but then again how many rapists and kidnappers are trained in martial arts?

I've been doing marshal arts since I was like 8 and I personally think that the best ones for purely self defense are hapkido, because it teaches u blocks, attacks and how to disarm a person, and jujitsu because it does really show u how to attack somebody with the intention if hurting them with hurting yourself.

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

Jeet Kune Do. Gain own style.

The caution is the best self defence.

Bump

You can try aikido or judo. I've tried aikido and its not that hard, surprisingly.

A combination of aikido(yoshinkan) and judo or try Arnis

Boxing will teach to punch slip counter and defend. It'll basicly teach what you need to know about fight. Though boxing and jujitsu is an excellen combination