Kyokushin or Boxing? For Self Defense

[Beginner]

I'm still pretty new to the martial arts game. I sparred the other day with some guy and have all the attributes of a noob. I.E. Closing my eyes/Whinicing when combos were being thrown at me. I figure learning how to deal with these types of things would obviously be beneficial in a SD situation. Considering this, and self defense in general, which art would you say would be more beneficial?

[Preacher Man]

I'm still pretty new to the martial arts game. I sparred the other day with some guy and have all the attributes of a noob. I.E. Closing my eyes/Whinicing when combos were being thrown at me. I figure learning how to deal with these types of things would obviously be beneficial in a SD situation. Considering this, and self defense in general, which art would you say would be more beneficial?

In a nutshell, try both and then decide for yourself. Its the only way you'll find whats right for you.

[Emevas]

Kyo is gonna cover more ranges of combat (kicks, punches, knees, elbows...I think) as opposed to boxing (punches), but depending on the school, the Kyo might be focused on tournament sparring and you'll lose out of head punching defense which is something boxing will excell at.

Really can't go wrong with either one, if the schools are good.

[supercrap]

Personally I would recommend Ninjutsu. It covers all ranges including ninja stars and num chucks. Also it is very economical and based on body mechanics and minimum use of brute strength. It was invented in India by monks and secretly trasmitted to only a handful of overweight beardy nerds. Of course you have to find a good school, lots of them are rubbish.

[Shuma-Gorath]

Where are you going to take Kyokushin? Is it with that group that rents Okuyama's place a couple of times a week?

If the schools are good just flip a coin; you really can't lose. If you choose Karate I would check to see if they spar with gloves and face shots every now and then so you don't stop guarding against face shots, which is what most people will try to hit you with in a streetfight.

[Beginner]

[QUOTE=Shumagorath]Where are you going to take Kyokushin? Is it with that group that rents Okuyama's place a couple of times a week?

That's the place. You know anything about them?

[Shuma-Gorath]

Why yes, I do! I went there to watch a class one night. The did 30min of conditioning (pushups, stretching, etc) and then spent a long time on basics, kata, standard stuff. There was not too much sparring since one of their people was competing that weekend and they did not want to risk injury. Everything looked in line with the Kyokushin I've seen on video (square stance, no pads) but they weren't hitting especially hard or anything. The two or three advanced guys there were pretty good, and at the time most of the lower belts were probably better than me.

Their belt order is all screwed up (orange comes before yellow, and yellow is way higher than usual) and I found that odd. The person they were sending to compete was a yellow belt and she was a senior student. Also, if you want to compete you'll have to travel to Québec since the Ontario athletics people think leg kicks are evil. Of course, they are perfectly fine with kicking people in the head.


I chose to shop around a bit more and eventually landed where I am now instead. I was hell-bent on some kind of Karate at the time so they probably would have been my second choice; perhaps less so if I had gone looking for boxing gyms.

[j416to]

Is this the place, in Missisauga?

http://www.geocities.com/irek65/karate.html

[Shuma-Gorath]

The school I'm talking about is located on the Danforth, east of Broadview.

[j416to]

Ah, okay, I don't know them.

Have you guys started back up at Shah Franco? I'm trying to decide on what to join next.
BJJ, Judo, Sumo?

How crowded has Shah Franco become, now that you've got Iron Mung training there.