Re: finding the real deal among the McDojos.
Get edumacated! There are some useful principles in finding most of the schools and styles that have all the contents. What I know best are the traditional Japanese and Okinawan budo. Examples:
Karate. It is a complete martial art with a heavy grappling emphasis where the whole system survives, edged and blunt weapons included. All of it comes originally from Okinawa, whence a handful of teachers migrated to "mainland" Japan some 110 years ago. Several styles and schools were founded in Japan but they can be traced back to Funakoshi, Yamaguchi, Ohtsuka, Konishi, Itose, Miyagi and a handful of other household names, mostly before WW2. If you want to train complete karate, find a school where this lineage is preserved and which still has affiliation with a major Japanese main organization founded around 1950 at the latest, preferably earlier.
And, if you can find a school with affiliation to modern Okinawa, it will be hard to go entirely wrong either. Especially Okinawan Goju is as complete as a pedagogical system to learn fighting can be. In any case, look for a chain of certifications going all the way back to the sources, avoid competition orientation and "musical forms" BS.
Jujutsu: as complete as can be. Look for affiliations with big Japanese organizations but also feel confident with lineage back to Morris from the UK. The styles taught in German police academies and the Finnish Hokuto-ryu are also very much the real deal.
Judo: sports. A subset of jujutsu. Not a complete martial art, but waaaaaaaaay better than nothing.
Western boxing: sports. Not a complete martial art, but... look above. A mean jab, good movement and any decent combination trained to a high level will go a loooong way nevertheless. You'll need complementing in the grappling/groundwork.
American Kenpo: look for lineage back to Ed Parker. Very much a complete martial art, but school emphases can vary. Shy away from tournament and competition-oriented teachers.
Jeet Kune Do: look for lineage to Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto. A very much complete art.
Aikido: look for a direct lineage to Ueshiba. IMHO aikido is a complete enough art, very specialized and potentially highly effective.
Koryu Uchinadi: a sort of a re-invention of Okinawan karate in its most archaic form by Patrick McCarthy. Definitely zero BS, although some "filling in the historic blanks" seems evident. Actually, almost any watered-down tournament style complemented with KU training will be very good indeed, as long as the katas trained are even close to the originals. "Musical forms" champions need not bother...
Taekwondo: essentially sports, not a complete martial art. A concoction of mainly Japanese karate with some traces of older Korean styles put together by a Korean general named Choi in the 1950's. Of late, some schools seem to have complemented their curriculum towards a more complete style but altogether, IMHO, the system lacks foundation. That said, I wouldn't say that IRL to the face of a well-trained TKD player - the training remains overwhelmingly hard and serious a55-kicking skills are definitely acquired. YMMV.
Kyusho-jitsu/tuite: a re-invention of a subset of karate, very advanced kata application. The jury is still out on this... not a complete art as such and BS abound, YMMV. Pressure points or not, there is a fresh approach to old kata here. Dillman seems serious enough, but not entirely convincing. Laaksonen in Finland (European Kyusho-jitsu Tuite) is serious in developing this further, but the essence is still emerging.
Krav Maga: look for a direct affiliation to Imrich Lichtenfeld. That said, the art is rather thoroughly commercialized and variations in the curriculum occur. See to at least that firearms are in the curriculum where you train (yes, they do). Again, the training will in any case be physical and tough.
Tai Chi: a very complete martial art, actually a kung fu (or wushu) style, no BS. Find a school where push hands and sparring are in the curriculum.
Kung fu/Wushu: there are plenty of styles and YMMV greatly. BS abound. Look for Wing chun or some of the other best known, widely practiced styles.
Silat, Kali/Escrima, Arnis etc. Filipino/Indonesian martial arts: look for a direct lineage to the originating countries. Curricula will vary greatly as well as the emphases of the training, but mostly you'll find serious and highly advanced grappling with and without edged and blunt weapons. BS at a minimum, but obviously YMMV.
Muay thai: sports, but... mean enough. Very hard and physical training and yes, it also includes some grappling/throwing. You'll need to complement that part some, but heck yes, it's specialized and tough enough to make you baaaad.
"MMA": reinventing the wheel basically, but with a vengeance. No lineages to follow, no guarantees but WYSIWYG, YMMV. Generally a high tendency towards precious little BS. A welcome movement back to the real thing, to the roots and basics, since a lot of original-sounding martial arts have lost their essence somewhere along the way. If you can't find a "traditional" art school where all the areas were still covered, you'll do good with several MMA teachers. Look for lineage to the ones who win in the cages currently.
This was a handful of picks off the top of my head, written to pass some idle time and to give a few honest, but possibly somewhat biased pointers to anyone in need. My own experience is about 20 years of a complete, traditional Okinawan-based but Japanized karate style with plenty of cross-training, reading, discussion and seminars in other arts. Feel free to complement and comment. I repeat, YMMV!
