Whats a good martial arts to have an entire family do?

myself I trained in muay thai krav maga boxing and wrestling but when i train in these it was for fighting in the ring, but now I have a family and currently live in austin and looking for a martial art or some type of self defence that me and my family could get into.

Whats a good martial arts to have an entire family do?
i think you think that muay thai, krav or boxing is just too rough for them right?





well i suggest a more sport oriented martial art - tae kwon do. perhaps since, you probably must have retined pride in real fighting. may i suggest International Taekwondo Federation Taekwondo. they do have sparring conests/ pattern contests. but teach practicality.





they teach your kids to use elbows knees and what works or doesnt work in a real fight. because they are not merely a sport.





their sparring does not use the conventional 'fat suits' you see the other TKD federations use. so i think you will find your balance between a fun sport and a practical martial art here.





their kicks, punches and elbows will be a tad similar to muay thai. only the stance will be different and you will have to learn patterns for a belt
Reply:Tae Kwon Do can be a good art to start and include the whole family.
Reply:I took Kung-fu for about 8 years. I remember the entire school used to have form contests, and we always performed during chinese new year. Its a pretty showy art that focuses not only on the principle of self defense, but also the forms that follow. Its not a full powerhouse art, and its actually alot of fun to perform.
Reply:Hapkido is great for the whole family. In incorporates a variety of martial arts. You learn to punch, kick %26amp; block but you also learn self defence moves, falls, throws, patterns and weapons. When I did it we learnt multiple attacks as well. Basically you stand in the middle of 5 people and they all attack you at once. It's really good practice for learning to protect your back. Tae kwon do is good too but it's mainly kicking.
Reply:I would suggest either Kung Fu San Soo or Cabales Serrada Escrima for real self defense. Both are based on REAL fighting. Not a contest. A martial art should teach reflexes to deal with the reality of violence, and the willingness to injure another human being, in a kill or get killed situation, but few do. Most attacks will involve a weapon and martial arts that do not center around weapons simply instill a false sense of security in the students. Martial Arts that do not include weapons are practically worthless, against weapons, even in the hands of an untrained person. However, some people need to learn to get along with others and an old fashioned traditional Karate might be best for them, because it teaches tenants of getting along first with your inner self, then your family then your neighbors and then your country and then the world and then the universe, and in ten years back to your inner self and then they might teach you to defend yourself, if you're stll around. Most sociopaths don’t have the patience to stay much longer than about 3 months, and by then they have figured out they are too smart to be there. Maybe maybe not.
Reply:Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, Kung Fu, Tang Soo Do, Karate, Im sure there are more, i just cant think of them at the moment. But my family and I do MA'. I am a Black Belt in TKD%26lt; but have studied aspects of 7 other styles, which I incorporate into my teachings. My entire family loves it. And all the ones I mentioned would be awesome as a family deal.
Reply:If your looking for something that is good exercise, light to no contact and something that not only adults could do but children as well... Any non-combative style will do for that. Any type of martial ART like karate, Tkd, etc. will be about the same. You'll all get to class, do some ritual bow in, do some stretches and warmups, run through a little unrealistic punching and kicking. Then you'll spend the rest of the time doing kata. Then another ritual bow out. Everyone will sweat and feel good about their self. The parents of the children will then feel safe that their child knows how to defend themselves ( the kata ya know, it will save their lives). This will go on and on until the whole family will get ranked to black belt (in about one or two years) as long as you keep up the cash flow.





If I were you I'd have fun with the family but not forget to keep up with the real training.
Reply:well....if it's going to include the ENTIRE family, i would say something that won't get everyone bored or at each other's throats while at dojo, or whatever. As such, the martial art must be quite fun and relieve stress and aggression while you are doing it. My favorite martial arts are shaolin-do, ki-aikido, and capoeira.





Shaolin-do is a very inexpensive line of schools owned by granmaster Sin Kwang The and everyone is real nice and friendly and it has a good curriculum.





ki-aikido can teach wierd stuff that seems to defy logic and physics. It is also fun with good curiculum and good people.





Capoeira is the brazxilian dance martial art invented by slaves to excape their masters. This martial art involves music and dancing throughout the whole time. It is so fun that you won't realize that you are doing back flips until about an hour after class is over and you feel a pain in a previously unfelt muscle. This class is amazing and teaches great acrobatics that can improve one's self-esteem.





If it's for whole family, I would recommend capoeira because their's a lot more movement and it's more free style than other systems, so people wont get annoyed trying to remember a kata, or something.