Howdy people. I have no previous training in any self defense system or the MA. I'm either going to take up western boxing, bjj or san shou, chinese mma. I cant decide. I wanted some input from you guys on which u believe would be the best for me. I'm not looking to become a pro fighter, I just want to be able to defend myself effectively in a rl situation.

http://www.fightingarts.com/ubbthreads/s...=0#Post15770259

Here's the spoon. All you have to do is eat.

We can only give opinions based on our own individual experiences. Your best bet is to got to some classes in each and talk to the instructors.

What the heck is chinese mma?

I think he means that san shou IS Chinese MMA.

Jag -

I agree with Brian. Check out the schools for yourself and see what you think. Boxing and BJJ are completely different arts, while san shou would be like a combination of the two.

All other things being equal, if you just want self defense I might go with san shou and maybe crosstraining judo/bjj a bit at a later date. Characterizing it as chinese mma seems like a bit of a stretch since to my knowledge there usually is no or very limited groundwork but maybe your place throws in some submission wrestling.

Edit: Notice the all other things being equal part. How easy it is to get to is going to have a big effect on how often you go, as is price, student atmosphere, teacher participation, class structure, time constraints, etc. Go watch a class. Take note of how much one on one time students get. Is the coach taking the time to correct form or watching the football game? Do they have a good competition record? Any amatuer ranked or pro fighters, or do they produce anyone who's won prestigious events like the golden gloves?

San Shou :-

Basically kickboxing with lots of TKD kicks, and wrestling throws but no ground grappling.

Good fun, tried it before. Usually called Wu Shu these days,I think. It's an official sport in the ASEAN and SEA games.

-Taison out