need help wing chun or muay thai?

i've taken both so i'll break down what you'll be doing

in muy thai, you'll be executing roundhouses like crazy. you'll train your shins and they'll become very hard in about 3 weeks. then you can roundhouse kick the bottom of 100 pound heavy bags with no problem. when opponents go south paw, you can throw a right roundhouse at the inside of their right knee cap. if you're a good kicker, that can really hurt your opponent.

second, you learn some basic footwork and boxing, you'll be wearing gloves, and maybe your teacher will start explaining elbows a bit. in another 3 weeks they'll get really hard and you can elbow stuff like your GF's fridge and it won't hurt. but she may yell at you. finally you will learn the clinch, and knee people in the face. again, you train to harden your knees.

so, to break it down: muy thai is mostly for people with natural talent. people who are already strong, already fast, hard punchers, hard kickers, force against force. it is very good for conditioning, some places in Thailand beat your limbs with a stick to harden your bones, and after Thai kickboxers reach the age of 35 ish, they can't walk. so it's a "hard" style. it's also a sport.

on the street? often you're not going to end the fight with one roundhouse kick. and second, most troublemakers on the street won't be standing so far away for you to kick in the first place. they'll be in your face, at punching, elbowing and grappling distance. since you said you want self defense? i'd say take wing chun instead.

but it also depends on your instructor. luckily i had a good one

don't get me wrong. i still go to muy thai to condition, but muy thai doesn't offer any knowledge to the average person in giving them an advantage over their opponents. muy thai punches just like boxing, footwork just like boxing, defense is just cover up. so you'll just be doing a kick here, a kick there, cover up, punch, elbow, and that's about it. anyone can do that. your opponent will do the same. so the factor which determines who will win is: who is tougher? who is stronger? and on the street you're not going face a scrawny midget now are you?

i used to do boxing, now i've stuck w/ wing chun. you know, i wish there was a dude who gave me all this advice when i started in this martial art, so let me give you some pointers.

1) footwork. wing chun footwork is my favorite. there's nothing like it. grab a partner, practice practice practice. footwork and learning how to move out of the way, keeping your balance is the MOST important. always remember that. you'll find kicks throws and takedowns won't even work on you anymore.

2) train your most basic weapon: the Wing Chun punch. the second thing you'll use the most often in a fight after footwork is your fists. train them! don't be a puss y and hit people then break your hand! do chain punches properly. do push ups on the concrete, hit the heavy bag. put your entire body weight of 200 pounds behind your strikes, and the recovery time is ridiculously very short.

3) Trapping, this is more advanced. don't worry if you don't get it at first. trapping is great to use on non wing chun strikers, but not essential. you only need to master trapping when facing other WC practitioners

as i said, it depends on your instructor. after you learn wing chun concepts, don't get into the habit of doing 1 2 3. just do 1. lap sao and punch at the SAME time. do use tan, lap, pak, then punch. that's 4. too slow.

wing chun kicks? they don't kick that much. they like to use their front feet to kick the balls then move in to strike. or they do a very powerful sidekick to the knee cap then move in to strike. my point is, don't rely on one technique to get the job done. even a kick in the nuts is sometimes not enough.

Neither art is better, its what you get out of it that counts. Its true that Wing Chun is a calmer art, but that doesn't make it any less powerful than Muay thai in terms of effectiveness. Now, on a larger scale, of course, Muay thai trains much more in power than wing chun, simply because of the wing chun system. I personally train in both areas and feel they compliment one another quite well. However, don't go based on which art you feel is more powerful, as wing chun is an extremely explosive art and is powerful all in its own. Go on what works for you. If it helps look farther than wing chun and muay thai. The point is to gather all you want, and keep only whats useful. Think of it like a sculptor, he starts out with a block of material and ends up with a beatiful sculpture by taking away what is useless and keeping what is useful. In the end, I would go with both, but that's just me, as they WORK for ME. Muay thai is going to deliver an unexpected power to your brother, him being a jj trainer(hopefully he doesnt stop there), and wing chun will aid in turning his energy against him, and trapping. Either way, do not go with one art, as that will make you a very vulnerable target, for you will train your body and mind to act and think like a single art, and you don't want that. Hope this helps

well.... i practice both!! as far for attacking from the out side or a little far apart,i would use muay thai but wen ur in a close combat,wing chun,if u

have a good chi sao, it become very lethal. if ur focus is on self defense

i`ll rather go with wing chun. as far as the wing chun kicks goes,they have a technique that deflect all kinds of kicks including muay thai`s kicks. its like a chi sao technique for kicks. u can ask the wing chun sifu

about it. at the end of the day as far as self defense is concern i rather

go with speed than power. but we cant deny that mauy thai is a hell of a work out..... good luck!!!!!

Sounds like you've got two good choices and some good answers.... Let me suggest something though. Consider your motivation beyond "self defense" for studying either.

Beyond a good means of self defense (which I think both methods offer a solid base in teaching you), what more do you want from the study?

Muay Thai will offer a killer workout and will also have a sport orientation to it. You will gain in fitness (perhaps a little more than you would in Wing Chun).

Wing Chun will offer a good workout, but probably wouldn't have quite the sport element involved. You would also learn a method you would be able to practice longer over a lifetime. (There are elderly Wing Chun practitioners, but you don't typically see old farts sparring throwing knee and elbow strikes at each other, now do you?)

You will learn a different form of expressing yourself as an individual physically. Which form feels more like "YOU"? You will also be exposed to some extent to the traditions and cultural influences from the country of origin. Which culture do you find more interesting? Which method's history do you think you'd be more interested to read about?

Once you consider more than just the self defense aspect, I think you'll be able to decide which method is better suited to you.

Be well.

i rkn do muay thai,

in a real life situation never go for the head kick unless it has a high chance of hitting the temple, or unless the attacker is in a position which you can recover and maintain your defensive composure..

on the other hand the tai chi aspect is also very important, a simple way which i learnt through no specific style is once you''ve breathed in hold your breathe, and exhale all of it as fast as you can (helps if you scream or yell) as well as punching as fast as you can at one specific point (visualize this, pretend you are snapping a few roof tiles) and tensing as hard as you can, once you have got the hang of this you should be able to some real internal damage, combine this with a flying knee strike from muay thai, followed by an elbow down to the top of the head.... not much of a chance for your attacker

a good muay thai teacher will teach you to stretch properly and it will lengthen your muscles like yoga because the thais had a closeness to India through trade . the strength and the vigour of muay thai will keep you young remeber you dont have to spar if you dont want to. wing chun kicks are extremely effective because they are aimed at very specific targets a good martial arts teacher has a great understanding of anatomy. it all depends on how much you want to move in a fight you will find wing chun will stand more stagnate but will put great emphasis on posture (very important in all martial arts) good luck ooooh and buy the way I know you didnt want to hear this but wrestling is the best martial art you want examples how about matt hughes and randy cotoure he he he sorry mate couldnt help myself and neither will anyone else who helps you ponder the martial arts on this site peace out homie

Your answers so far make some good points. You might want to consider which style would be easiest for you to learn, though. We're all different, and some of us are just naturally better at quick, precise movements, while others excel at gross, strong movements.

I would recommend you check with both teachers and see if you can do a one-month trial at each school. Offer, of course, to pay the monthly rate for the trial, but do not allow them to get you into a contract. This should get you 8 classes in each or so, which should give you an idea of your ability to grasp each art. At the end of your two months, go for the one, with which you feel most comfortable.

Naturally, you're training for defense, so street effectiveness is paramount, but your effectiveness can vary, depending on your own particular learning abilities. Someone very good in a less-street-oriented art can potentially be better off than someone, who isn't as good at an all-street art.

In my opinion, any instructors worth their salt would understand, and not penalize you for doing your homework in such a way.

For self defence I'd definitely say Muay Thai. It's brutal, powerful and relatively easy to learn (as a pose to Wing Chun anyway).

do mauy thai. the defence is superb, and also attacks with the utuliaation of the elbow and knee are very powerful. wing chun leaves openings for you (onekick, then the opponent has a chance to attack you), muay thai replys on random bashing (in my opinion).

choose mauy thai. its stronger and also easier

i did vin chung for about 5 years thats 8 years ago and i still practice. Its more 'livinging it"...it gets a part of you! Everyday...they way you breathe, the way maybe, you speak and think about thinks...

Also the training itselfs. It gives you a good feeling!

Those fights with weapons are awsome! I enjoyed 110%

There is also thai chi which you wanna do,b4 you start practicing vin chung, getting ONE, body and soul ect ect ect...

You should try out,..whatever you more into and whatever you like the most.

Hope you enjoy it!