I love Wing Chun. I think out of all the Chinese martial arts it's probably got the most applications an average person could use. I like that it was geared towards the poor to learn self-defense and to train it all you need is a small space and a dummy. Even people out of shape can do it, I believe Sammo Hung trained in it and he's a big dude.
Second love is Mantis Kung Fu, it's just so goofy and it's my favorite animal style.
There's a fighting version of capoeira that's more serious and less flashy than the dancy version. Apparently the weapons of choice at one point were straight razors and the defense was silk scarves. Idk how it stacks up to modern systems like bjj.
My understanding is most martial art systems do have a quick and dirty version that's pretty decent for killing people, but they don't get much emphasis during peacetime because you can't use the techniques that cause permanent injury in tournies.
Like bjj has lots of techniques that can cause severe permanent injury to joints and effectively disable someone, but folks don't need or want to do that so they focus on safer holds and submissions that can actually be applied in competition.
To be fair, BJJ is fucking vicious. I think the only way for someone to be better equipped for dealing permanent, life-threatening injuries to another person would be to have an actual weapon.
Yeah, as far as ground fighting goes, BJJ really feels like the end of history for martial arts. Like ground fighting is a solved problem now and we're just tweaking the parameters for edge cases.
Are there any BJJ schools that aren't full of chuds? All the ones near me are absolutely infested with cops and loudly proclaim their partnership with local law enforcement agencies.
I know technically I could still take their classes, but I'm pretty sure they will smell the commie on me. I live in rural Ohio, I'm a weird person, and the pics of their classes on social media make it clear that I would definitely stick out.
Dunno. Guns and mma attract chuds like flies. Maybe ask around if you've got any comrades who can teach you. For all practical purposes learning some basic strikes, throws, and ground work is going to put you ahead of most people who have no formal training at all. Worst case, find a buddy who also wants to learn and figure it out yourself from online videos. You don't have to be a good fighter, just better than your opponent.
Maybe look for classes taught by queer people, POC, or women? Might have better odds of dodging cops.