buddy28 said:
Id like to learn how to defend myself. But what discpline should i pick up in which i wouldnt have to spend years mastering before i could defend myself fist-to-cuff with a moderate degree of proficency? boxing?
Would it have even made a difference in this situation?? Its really impossible to say.
Bro, listen to my answer on this... and remember that it comes from 30+ years experience practicing different martial arts:
boxing, kick boxing, jujitsu... in that order
I wasted an enormous amount of time as a kid studying the wrong martial arts. I started out in tae kwon do... went to wu shu... then took a Chinese family style called lung ku... went from that to seven step praying mantis... then seven star praying mantis, so rim, hapkido, and pa kua chuan. I used to read all the martial arts magazines... considered myself very knowledgeable... and truthfully got very little more than exercise and agility practice out of these systems.
Then, by good luck I became a slob boxer... I say slob because I loved to work the heavy bag and spar... but I missed lessons in my earlier years... just learned from friends... then I added in kick boxing... and had the good fortune to hit jujitsu.
In real world application... if you are going to use something in a fight... it will be from boxing, kick boxing, or jujitsu. They don't take forever to learn... but what they do require is practice. The more you practice the better you get.
The interesting side effect of practicing fighting arts is that if you ever have the rare instance of having to get in a street fight... pretty big guys go down in an eye blink against a trained fighter. It's odd to say but guys who pick dumb ass fights are virtually never experienced or trained fighters. I've NEVER had more than a one punch fight. (Unless I wanted to kick the guy in the head a couple times when he was on the ground.) (Or if you count one knucklehead from when I was in high school who just wouldn't stay down.)
Training in fighting styles makes an enormous difference in your life.