Resqtech

Best for you?  Don't know you so can't really give a good answer.

What do want to gain from martial arts?

Self Protection, exercise, a sport,social interaction?

In my own opinion there are 3...Krav, Muay Thai and BJJ,  I just don't see any need for kata or skippy hoppy flim flam, again....my opinion.  I can say my flexibility when taking TSD was amazing, I could do full splits 

Ultimately you should tale something you like and enjoy...if you don't like the style, you'll probably not stick with it.

If it's helping you exhale with strikes then roar on!

I'm in for all wars full and mini

Sizewise we could be twins

As I've said in several posts I've been training in Krav for almost 2 years (2 in July)..Love it, sadly my work and home schedule have turned insane and it has been difficult to hit the gym but it is temporary.

As for a what to take you should look at want you want to ultimately gain from it.

When I picked Krav this time around I did so becuase I had a list of what I wanted/didn't want.

After Krav my choices were:

Silat - After watching The Raid:Redemption I was really interested however Shcool location and learning "kata" removed it from list (I have zero desire to do kata)

BJJ - My gym teaches this and I can switch from Krav to BJJ any time I wish

Muy Thai - My gym teaches this and I can switch from Krav to BJJ any time I wish

"My ultimate goal is to be able to defend myself and hold my own (though I'm not sure why this worries me so much). "

Sort of a broad goal...defend yourself against 1, 2,3 + attackers, against a knife wielding attacker, weapon disarms etc

As for holding - "I don't want to get any messages saying that "we are holding our position." We're not holding anything. Let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose and we're going to kick him in the a$$. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose!"

I've torn my meniscus twice, 2nd time I was out of work and had no insurance it was about a year later before it was "fixed". After the surgery I was informed of a bit or arthritis in it...along with ongoing back and shoulder issues (I was not kind to my body in my youth).  Pretty much something pains me every morning when I get out of bed, between that and my age (I have stuff to do work, volunteer work) I wanted something simple..I found a gym that teaches Krav and I love it (I did Tang So Do for 10 years and American Kenpo for about 2 earlier in my life). 

Wyrmmaster's points are all valid in regards to selfdefense, I'll add a couple of my own.

In regards to security/defense it should be a layered approach (like Ogres, onions and cakes) this includes not making bad decisions, situational awanress, having a plan and backup plans, not freezing when danger is close and coming for you.

Two actually

All That Remains - This Probably Wont End Well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_O003Cvwlc

Adelitas Way - I Get Around

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGGIk0_Jj_4

We were doing choke from the from practice in class one night and one of the women wanted me to choke her a few times to see if it would work..

after a few rounds she turned to her female training partner and said "you have to try him, he's hard to get off..."

I've been thinking of starting Krav Maga in January and have done research of it, of course. But it would be great to hear about it straight from the people themselves So, if you could just leave a few words of what you've thought of it and if it's worth it in the end I would be really, really grateful! 

Yep,

Been training in Krav for 1 1/2 years, love it, passed my level two test 6 months into it (currently that is all the gym I belong to offers) but the instructors we have a great.

Alice,

I've been doing Krav since July 1 of this year (love it by the way).  Prior to starting I had been using the rebel fitness guide, it was a great help.

The Krav classes I attend usually starts with either (jogging around the gym, walking lunges, crab walk, bear crawl, side shuffles, pushups, rowers, squats, burpess) Instructor "2" usually hits us with 5 rounds of push ups, rowers, squats, burpees with some random mountain climbers thrown in to warm us up)

A good gym and instructor will help you along, we have people who can't do the full warm up for either health or fitness issues, when we are jogging, they step out of the way and walk, or if they can't do all the warmup they suppliment with something that might be easier for them to do...

What having a fitness level will not give you is the patience to learn the techniques properly..listen and learn and ENJOY

After watching Merantau and The Raid: Redemption I started looking into Silat...found a studio in Pittsburgh, PA..however it was not an easy commute for me and  it looked like they had a good bit of "kata" and frankly I have zero interest in doing "kata" anymore..so I ended up going with Krav

Good luck sounds like that gym might have a nice mix of offerings

Looking to join and train with the Ranger Guild!

So at the end of my first 6 week adventure:

Goal 1: Made it to Krav class every week ( with the exception of Labor day...no classes held that day) so A+ for that goal

Goal 2: 3x5 Lifting...going to have to give myself a B- for this. I made all my sessions on Thursdays but the past 3 Saturday's I 've had to teach and making extra $$ takes priority to lifting. 

Goal 3: Improved diet (Increasing greens into the diet), meh C+ or B-.  I'm still doing very good with keeping general junk out of the diet (chips, soda, candy etc) still need working on the greens.

Main Quest: Should have known better than to pick such a generic goal...on the plus side I did drop 8 LBS and the minus side that was 4 short of my goal...however...I've added

25LBS to Squats

20LBS to Bench press

15LBS to Over head press

20LBS to Babrbell row

40LBS to Deadlift

Started doing 2 dips, now can do 6

Up to 1.5 un assisted chin ups

Shorts that fit at the beginning of summer and challenge now need cinched down with a belt or they fall off...

So for my overall 6 week goal I'm going to say a grade of B

So at the end of the 6 week adventure:

Goal 1: Made it to Krav class every week ( with the exception of Labor day...no classes held that day) so A+ for that goal

Goal 2: 3x5 Lifting...going to have to give myself a B- for this. I made all my sessions on Thursdays but the past 3 Saturday's I 've had to teach and making extra $$ takes priority to lifting. 

Goal 3: Improved diet (Increasing greens into the diet), meh C+ or B-.  I'm still doing very good with keeping general junk out of the diet (chips, soda, candy etc) still need working on the greens.

Main Quest: Should have known better than to pick such a generic goal...on the plus side I did drop 8 LBS and the minus side that was 4 short of my goal...however...I've added

25LBS to Squats

20LBS to Bench press

15LBS to Over head press

20LBS to Babrbell row

40LBS to Deadlift

Started doing 2 dips, now can do 6

Up to 1.5 un assisted chin ups

Shorts that fit at the beginning of summer now need cinched down with a belt or they fall off...

So for my overall 6 week goal I'm going to say a grade of B

1. Which art is more practical for real situations if I have to defend myself (or others)? (cause I dont mean attacking anyone first )

2. Which art is less dangerous for a guy with weak joints, skinny body and minor injuries: elbow and knee?

3.Which art builds more strength alongside with fighting skills? I'm asking cause I would love to focus generally on building strong body that is capable of facing different challenges of life (not only fighitng bad guys )

 

looking forward to your answers and/or other tips/questions I should ask before choosing the right class.

Panczo

1) I did 10+ years of Tang Soo Do (simialr to Taekwondo) and in my opinion you'll find Jujitsu more of a "practical" defense style

2) Less Dangerous for you...probably TKD...but you will spend a good portion of your classes, kicking, punching and as you advance doing more "flashy" spinning kicks etc.

3) More strenght <shrug> both...you should gain strenght, endurance and flexability from both of them

I'd suggest watching classes at both studios and asking about either a free class or two or maybe some kind of two week intro class if you are not sure

Have you read this?

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/05/26/how-to-look-like-ryan-reynolds-in-blade-3/

Good luck...I've toyed with the just for a bit I want to look like that ...thats a down the road goal

Currently reading  The Combat Position: Achieving Firefighter Readiness by Christopher Brennan.

Mostly 80's Hair Metal...since I'm old now my tolerence for concert nonsense seems depleted

Heart
Honeymoon Suite
KISS (Multiple times)
Aerosmith (Multiple times)
Guns N Roses
LA Guns
Bon Jovi
Motley Crue
Cinderella
Dokken
Scorpions
Ozzy (Multiple Times)
Kingodm Come
Ted Nugent
Cheap Trick
Journey
Blue Oyster Cult
Ace Frehley (Solo)
Billy Idol
Blue Murder
Bullet Boys
Buzz Poets (Local Band)
Def Leppard
Winger
Donnie Iris (Local)
Extreme
Faster Pussycat
Great White
Kix
Lita Ford
Lords Of Acid
Megadeth
Metallica
Mr Big
Poison
Brett Michaels (Solo)
RATT
White Zombie
Power Man 5000
Stabbing Westward
Sugar Ray
Don Henley
Stevie Nicks
U2
Trans-Siberian-Orchestra (Multiple times)
Pearl Jam
Type O Negative (Multiple times)
Yngwie Malmsteen

So I guess I should have posted here first...my bad

So by day I'm a 42 yr old IT System Analyst...and by night Assisant Fire Chief for local volunteer fire company (along with a buch of other things: Emergency Management Coordinator, Technical Search Specialist for Regional USAR team, Local Level Instructor for State Fire Academy)

I wasn't alway out of shape...use to do martial arts (Black belt in Tang Soo Do, took a few years of American Kenpo), former employer had a very nice gym so 4+ days a week I was in the gym lifting)...somewhere along the road I took a bad turn..days turned into weeks, weeks into monts and Jan 1, 2012 I found myself at 301LBS and had a serious wtf(rak) moment, yelled at the scale then did some serious soul searching.

I needed to back in shape...not being a fan of the local meat mark...err gym close to my house I somehow stumbled onto Nerd Fitness, started reading articles, found out about paleo...started doing the simple body weight exercises and adjusting my diet to closer to a paleo style also in July 2012 I gave up carbonated beverages (soda, diet soda).

Later I picked up the Rebel fitness guide through the rest of 2012 and early 2013 it was on again off again until about March when again I was still hovering in the 275lbs range, after that the only thing I had to do when I first got home from work was workout, no tv, computer..nothing (unless something was on fire)...cranked through RFG phases 1 and 2 when I hit 3 I was havning a difficult time doing some of the exercises inside so I opted to adapt some of the level 3 (I liked the walking pushups) and just either add weigh and or reps to level 2 stuff.


One thing over the years I missed was martial arts, Tang Soo was a good workout but meh forms (kata), I liked the American Kenpo (Seeing Speakman in The Perfect Weapon made me seek out that style), the school in my city is not real conveniant and again kata meh..So I started researching MMA, BJJ and found Krav.  About a year ago or so local gym started offering Krav (friends from local PD gave it the thumbs up) so this July 2013 I signed up...I love it just month into it but I'm hooked, so twice a week I'm doing Krav and twice a week I'm doing 3x5 lifting sets.

Long term while in my head I have an ideal weight in mind but its just a number, I'm thinking more of a level of fitness


So I think I'm rambling so in short "Hello" to everyone here

PS: So after our fire dept drill night last night we were talking about doing a Hero Rush obstacle course as a group in 2014...I'll probably be asking for info/advice from anyone who has done any of these type of events

The Crow (the best of 90's alt-metal / goth)

Yep one of my favorite Soundtracks (Burn, Big Empty, Dead Souls, After The Flesh,)

Also the Score from The Crow written by Graeme Revell is fantastic.

Both are available as Nook Books as well

Currently it would be Five Finger Death Punch - Under It Over It

Honorable mentions:

In This Moment - Adrenalize

Stone Sour - Gone Soverign/Absolute Zero

Hands down it is  H.P. Lovecraft

Check out:

The Hyde Effect and its sequel Shapes by Steve Vance (kindle version is less than $4) were a nice little twist on the werewolf ledgends.

If you want a different twist on Vampire story check out Brian Lumley's Necroscope Saga (fyi - not kid friendly stories I'd put most at either hard R or NC-17 rating)

Just finished re-reading The Crow by James O'Barr...thinking about reading the Walking Dead series next (been hooked on the TV show since it first aired)

Talk with your instructor...adapt overcome..."in the real world" you are not going to be able to exchange your attacker for one of a more convient size. 

While I'm new to krav I hold a black belt in Tang Soo Do (10+ years), trainined 2 years in American Kenpo, and in my Krav classes there are a couple of women that I probably have at least 1 foot in hieght and easily 100 lbs on...on a couple occasions I've been paired up when we work either 360 drill or kicks and punches....I don't blast them with every kick or punch...instead I'll spend more time on technique, stance, foot work, yes one of two punches are going to have some pep in them, even through the tombstone pad gives a little taste of a body hit.  When it is there turn I work at their pace..let them get the feel of defending against a larger stronger attacker.