What kind of martial arts are there and explain all of them and how they are different?

i'm getting interested in the whole martial arts thing and I want to take a class but i don't know which one i should do

What kind of martial arts are there and explain all of them and how they are different?
What kind of body do you have? What do you want out of a marial art? Do you want to compete in sports settings? self defese?
Reply:Fencing is commonly regarded as the only western martial art. it has a long history of chivalry and honor. the upside is that you get to play with swords. it has a high level of discipling and is regarded by many to be the physical version of chess. it combines intense physical effort with extreme concentration and split-second reactions.
Reply:well,





How many martial arts are there ?? let me see ......... well, if FILA (Association of Federated Wrestling Styles) can't come up with the names of all the wrestling disciplines in the world, The Kodokan Hall can't keep up with all the Judo based styles and the Shaolin can't keep track of the mushrooming Kung Fu styles then it would be rather hard for me to come up with an exact answer for that question.





But, seriously, how many martial arts are there for a seemingly petite "i'm getting interested in the whole martial arts thing" girl...... That kinda narrows down the field. Keeping in mind the requirements of social acceptability (I took an year of shootfighting at Plainville and even though it's one of the most advanced hand to hand fighting systems in the world people still go "Huh ??, what's shootfighting", your art should be more mainstream), easy accessibility (surprisingly enough, shootfighting and Brazillian Jiu Jitsu are not that widespread), practical objectives (should not be bone breaking to learn, should be easy and practical in real life) and desired effects (in your case would be fitness, discipline, self defence and that killer look).





It narrows down to Judo (the fourth internationally accpted form of wrestling, Olympic sport, major martial art), Tae Kwan Do (effective self defence against an untrained opponent, takes very less time for learning), thai boxing/thai kickboxing/muai thai (involves good workouts for that killer look as well, is tougher but very good for the streets. Hindu/Buddhist cultural influences make it spirtual too), Kyukoshin Kai Ryu Karate and Shotokan Karate.





Stay away from the hype of being like Royce Gracie or Frank Shamrock ..... follow your heart and practice traditional martial arts.





My advice very specially would be to choose from either Judo (word of warning, very bone breaking initally really worth it to install the passive spirit in you) or Muai Thai.