Choosing an unarmed fighting style...

[cracked butt]

Aikido+Shotokan Karate. They fit hand in hand.
Most of them so-called "flowery Katas" are nothing but a bunch of very effective and sometimes incredibly gruesome techniques packed into a short pattern for repetition. Having a good Sensei who understands the Katas and explains them to you is pretty enlightening. The downside is that it takes alot of time and training.

I vote for Boxing.

 

[proletariat]

"everybody was kung fu fighting"

Hello Im new here and I just thought I'd say hi and contribute some of my experiences...

I ve been into the martial arts for over 10yrs. I just wanna say the people who mentioned 'straightblast gym' are giving some good advice (by the way I grew up with Matt in highschool. We use to hang out and talk martial arts all the time. In fact, at one point he made this role playing game involving everymartial art we could research in the public library but every time we played it we would argue on what kind of damage a certain attack would do. ) Getting in shape and staying fit are the first things to any martial art or survival skill. This doesn't mean running a 30minute 5 mile'r but improving your own personal abilities/strengths. BJJ is great but the problem with that is if you have multiple attackers then what??? Its best to learn from all the styles and take what works. In the modern times Bruce Lee coined this first with his JKD system it wasn't just the techniques but the thought process in using your skills and what you have around you. You can learn a lot from bujinkan too. Im not talking about their fighting techniques(which mostly dont work) but Bujikan's mental fighting process to survive or avoid a dangerous encounters(situational awareness). Skim the fighting styles and find out how you can incorporate knife/gun techniques with your martial art that you pick. I think it was Bujinkan sidoshi hays that said...

when you cannot prevent, avoid.
when you cannot avoid, confuse.
when you cannot confuse, dissuade.
when you cannot dissuade, hurt.
when you cannot hurt, injure.
when you cannot injure, maim.

and only when the scheme of totality demands you be its messenger, KILL...
(with all bs aside this is pretty good advice)

If you look at that you'll see its common in most of the new self defense/personal defense styles of surviving today. Because thats the key, survival.

 

[Looking2Learn]

In my Humble Opinion

You should study what feels right for you. Not everyone likes (or can accept) getting hit, and for them I would suggest a grappling art (BJJ, Sambo, Judo, etc). For others who like to keep a 'distance' then I'd recommend a striking art (boxing, Thai boxing, FMA).

Your physical build is also a factor. 'Short and stocky' USUALLY makes for better grapplers while taller/sleeker builds usually do better in striking arts (key word - USUALLY).

I study and train for both street-defense and competition and will tell you theres a weakness in EVERY style, the key is to be well rounded. From your post, it seems like you have plenty of resources to draw from.

Good Luck and Have Fun!

Looking2Learn

 

[DevilDog]

I've done a fair amount of martial arts and a little boxing in my past.

I agree with the previous posters about getting/being in good physical condition and on a constant aerobic regimen. Next, get a heavy bag and pound on that thing at least 3-4 times a week.

As far as picking a style, "who" is more important than the style. What I mean is there are a lot of "in it to make money" martial arts instructors out there. They may or may not be capable, but their primary goal is to fill up their clubs with whomever will pay them and they are more concerned with keeping paying students.

You want an instuctor who will give you some "no b.s." training, one who will tell it to you straight on how well you can or cannot handle yourself and will help you become practically proficient. If you can find that kind of instructor, the style becomes less important, imho.

 

[jason10mm]

If you are interested in a class SPECIFIC to gun retention, fighting to your pistol, and fighting (not shooting, though thre is a lot of that in the class) WITH your pistol, you might check out Jeff Gonzales' Trident Concepts Close Quarters Fighting class.

It is a 2 day affair with the second day completely devoted to fighting around the pistol. I took it a few years ago so I am sure the techniques have evolved significantly, but back then he had a couple of very simple "gain distance" maneuvers, as well as some stuff adopted from the spear guys. He covered handgun retention both in the holster and out.

We did a lot of work with weapon strikes and he introduced us to some relatively simple disarms. I think by their very nature a disarm (as opposed to grabbing the weapon and wrasslin' for it) is complicated, but his worked well when everything fell into place. They were included more as an exposure to why you don't want to stick a gun into someones back rather than to teach us how to use it ourselves.

I agree that you need a solid base to be an effective H2H fighter, but for the gun specific stuff, Jeff has some really good tools for the toolbox.

 

[twoblink]

I have a pretty good MMA background, and I can tell you, you should try to be well balanced..

You need to learn standup fighting as well as ground fighting..

If it's one on one, and you want to neutralize the guy, bjj is perfect.. But if there's more than one, bjj is a liability, as more than likely, you will end up on the ground, and are exposed to a headkick from others...

Muay Thai + BJJ. Great stuff..