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I love martial arts. I’ve been studying various styles for many years and I highly recommend them for many reasons. But if you want to know the best martial arts for self defense, I have to be honest with you. There aren’t many styles I would say are useful in their entirety for self defense. A few do prove helpful in some situations or with some of their moves, but martial arts alone are not a complete or thorough self defense training. That’s why I created my more comprehensive, realistic, women-focused Tough Cookie Self Defense Course, which could still nicely build upon any of the martial arts skills below.
Most martial arts focus more on tournament sparring or demonstration rather than preparing you for real life fights. You’re taught not to hit at full strength in the spirit of friendly competition. So your body doesn’t learn what it feels like to hit (and take hits) at full force, especially under an adrenalized state. You also learn moves that are more pretty than practical, and won’t help you much in a real attack. Real fights aren’t pretty or clean or choreographed. They’re ugly and messy and awkward. There are no rules. People fight dirty. And everything happens a lot faster than you think, including your heart racing and cortisol spiking, making it near impossible to remember any complex moves.
All that said, martial arts are still excellent supplementary training to have under your belt (especially a black one). Each style I recommend below has a lot to offer, whether more traditional or more mixed martial arts. But if your goal is to learn how to defend yourself in real life situations, choose your martial arts style wisely, be aware of its shortcomings, and make sure you round out your training with other self defense skills. Otherwise, you may well still find yourself unprepared and frozen when faced with real life threats. So take all of these recommendations below with a grain of salt, and make sure you get a wide breadth of experience.
Krav Maga Self Defense
This is by far my top recommendation for a self defense-relevant martial art. It’s more commonly known as the Israeli self defense system, used by the Israeli Defense Forces, and for good reason. Krav Maga teaches you to use your whole body and entire surroundings, everything you can get your hands on and weaponize, to help you defend yourself. But best of all, Krav Maga’s primary focus is fighting only as far as necessary to escape. As Krav Maga Academy New York founder Matan Gavish says, “The smartest response [to a threat] is to avoid violence at any cost.”
The other thing I love about Krav Maga is its training environment. Krav Maga classes are often practiced in street clothes without gloves or padding. This is to help simulate what a real fight would feel like, so you can better prepare your body for those conditions. I use this same philosophy in my own Tough Cookie Self Defense Course. You want to practice your self defense skills in as realistic a setting as possible, with as much full force and adrenaline as you can, so your muscles can memorize performing these moves under the worst case scenarios.
Top Move: Groin Kick / Knee
Everyone knows this move. And the Krav Maga version is no joke. It’s all about being powerful but fast. Speed is key. Swiftly swing your leg/knee out AND UP into his groin. Make sure you make contact on your shin/thigh, and not your foot/knee, which are bonier and will hurt you a lot more. The key is to follow all the way through with your kick motion. Really drive your leg into and through your target for maximize force and damage, just like Jennifer Lopez does in the movie Enough.
Boxing
I’m a huge fan of boxing and once dabbled in it a fair amount myself. While it is more of a tournament sport than a self defense system, and a real life fight will rarely maintain this style’s beautiful form and footwork, the lesson here is to simultaneously wear down your opponent and knock them out. In this style, you are incentivized to hit at full force and feel its impact on your body. But most importantly, the #1 benefit of boxing training is building stamina. It’s about endurance as much as skill, and boxing champions often win by outlasting their opponents. So training in boxing will teach you how to maintain your energy in a real fight, and keep fighting (or running away, which also requires endurance) even when you get tired.
Top Move: Footwork & Conditioning
Probably the most valuable skills you gain from training in boxing are the ability to move around quickly and lightly on your feet and continue doing so for a very long time. I’d put my money on a boxer outlasting fighters of any other style listed here. And real fights are never as nicely paced as choreographed fights. They are hasty, reckless, and extremely tiring. So being able to match, and ideally outlast, your assailant’s stamina is going to be key to your survival.
Muay Thai Self Defense
I love Muay Thai. It’s a popular mixed martial arts (MMA) style that’s brutal like Krav Maga and equally as useful for self defense training. However, unlike Krav Maga (and like other styles below), it is a competition sport and uses some fancy moves that may not be as effective in a less controlled real fight setting. But Muay Thai is also a big proponent for quick, explosive, blunt force moves that are extremely effective when the stakes are high. Many of my own self defense system’s moves are adapted from Muay Thai moves, like my favorite one below.
Top Move: Elbow Strike
BJJ Self Defense
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is another popular MMA style that’s also considered effective for real life fighting. Especially any fighting that ends up on the ground, since BJJ’s focus is on groundfighting and submission grappling. So it’s not a bad idea to incorporate some BJJ into your self defense training regimen. However, BJJ is primarily a competition sport (albeit a savage one used frequently in MMA tournaments like UFC). So just remember my warning about making sure you practice any of these martial arts moves in a more realistic setting for self defense, where there are no rules.
Top Move: Mounted Triangle Choke
At all costs, you want to avoid getting yourself into a position where your assailant has you on the ground and is on top of you. But if this does happen, you’re gonna need to get comfortable with going on the offensive to escape. One of the best Jiu Jitsu moves for this is the triangle choke hold. Swing your legs up over your assailant’s shoulders and wrap them around his neck, locking one foot tight behind the other knee, while keeping hold of one of his arms. Squeeze your thighs around his neck as you pull his arm through and he’ll run out of air in a matter of seconds, releasing his grip and allowing you to get free from under him and run to safety. Just like Gina Carano does to Michael Fassbender in the movie Haywire.
Jiu Jitsu Self Defense
Jiu Jitsu is BJJ’s older, more well rounded brother. It also focuses on the same throws, joint locks, and choke holds, but goes beyond BJJ’s groundfighting focus to include a broader blend of other moves for upright fighting as well. That said, traditional Jiu Jitsu is also a competition sport with less emphasis on realistic settings. So while I do find some Jiu Jitsu moves quite helpful, I do recommend you take this style with a grain of salt in your self defense training.
Top Move: Bear Hug Escape
If your attacker catches you by surprise from behind, they may grab you by wrapping their arms around the chest, pinning your arms to your body. Since you can’t fight back with your hands and elbows, you’ll have to use your legs get out of this hold. In any way you can. Kick as if you’re run in place. On the front swing, get leverage against walls and objects around you. And as you kick backwards, connect your feet with your attacker’s body. Balance and leverage are two cornerstones of BJJ and self defense. Kicking your legs out, back, and down will help you regain both, while knocking your attacker off of theirs and ideally knocking or throwing them to the ground in the process.
Judo
The last of the best martial arts styles for groundfighting is Judo, which predates many of the other styles on this list and is a very valuable foundation to have for any fights that may head towards or end up on the ground. That includes how to take your attacker down to the ground and away from you without going down with him. Like with a classic Judo one (or two) arm hip throw that happens to be one of my favorites. And as it would seem, also a favorite of Charlize Theron’s in Atomic Blonde.
Top Move: One Arm Hip Throw (“Ogoshi”)
Hapkido
I consider Hapkido my primary style, as well as one of the best styles for women and smaller bodied folks in fighting an opponent (or assailant) much larger than them. Aikido, essentially the Japanese version of Hapkido, is likewise effective for such a matchup. But while Hapkido comes from similar roots, it’s also blended with other Japanese and Korean martial arts such as Judo (above) and Taekwondo (below). As a result, it’s much more well-rounded with a whole slew of throws, kicks, punches, and joint locks, grounded in a core principle of circular motion that helps keep your energy centered while deflecting and redirecting your opponent’s energy and, when necessary, turning it around against them. I’m a huge fan of this circular step, which can be extremely helpful in a real life fight for both slipping out of an attacker’s grip and countering with your own strikes and throws.
Top Move: Circular Step
Taekwondo Self Defense
Besides Hapkido, my other most trained martial art is Taekwondo. Another Korean martial art. Fancy that. What can I say. Koreans. We know how to fight. It’s known especially for its variety of quick and deadly kicks, some of which do come in handy in a real life scenario. That said, my warning about competition styles goes especially here (and for the rest of this article). Taekwondo kicks are often not practiced with full force or an emphasis on driving through your opponent. So use your judgement on how much force you need to fight off your attacker, whether a quick snap kick to stun them or a more forceful one to knock them down. Either way, Taekwondo will teach you the art of making every kick fast, precise, and painful.
Top Move: Shin Kick
Karate Self Defense
Karate is another martial art that is much more competition and performance than realistic training. That said, there are some core fundamentals of Karate that I do find very valuable in real life situations. Namely, the cat (or tiger) stance. I use a variation of this “ready stance” in my own Tough Cookie Self Defense Course as one of the first things you need to learn. Karate also has deep roots in Zen and mindfulness. So one of its core tenants is mastering the art of relaxed readiness. A tense muscle is a slow muscle. Your cat (ready) stance needs to be focused yet flexible, ready to react to whatever happens next. Like a car nearly running you over.
Top Move: Cat Stance
Chinese Martial Arts
The ultimate Chinese martial art is Kung Fu. Now there are many styles of Kung Fu, too many to name here. But for the purposes of self defense, the most important elements are its basic principles of motivation, self-discipline, and time. Let’s talk about time. Kung Fu is a beautiful martial art whose moves are often more attractive than effective and can take a longer time to wind up (or chamber), which can hurt you in a real fight by giving away (or telegraphing) what you’re going to do before you do it. But there are a few moves delivered with speed that would be valuable in a real fight. My favorite is a hitting move also seen in similar fashion in other martial arts that always seems effective, with or without any additional makeshift armor you might be able to get your hands on.
Top Move: Back Fist
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Tough Cookie Self Defense
Ready to learn self defense? Join my Tough Cookie Self Defense Course, the first truly comprehensive women’s self defense online course that’s designed FOR women like you BY a woman who’s been through it too.
Let me show you the way of Tough Cookie Self Defense, including how you can take the moves from all of these best martial arts for self defense above and incorporate them into a holistic and realistic self defense system that teaches you how to fight back like the powerful woman you are!
The Art of Travel Insurance
Now that you have armed your body for ultimate travel protection, you’ll want to do the same for your travel plans. Travel insurance is the best way to protect yourself in case anything goes wrong, from cancelled flights, to lost baggage, to severe injuries after you’ve fought off an attacker. Defending yourself is only step one. Recovering is the next, and equally as important, step. So get World Nomads insurance and give yourself the best chance of recovery and recompense.
The Act Of Pining It
