What martial art should a woman start?

It's a misconception that the martial arts require a lot of muscle strength to do. It actually doesn't. When you learn technique, you're learning how to mechanically use physics to gain a physiological advantage, and learning weakness on the human body to exploit.

Combat sports changes the process of this, but still use this idea, depending on the sport played, to various degrees.

No martial art is gender specific. You can learn absolutely any one of them you want to. There are accomplished martial art women in every art. Because it's all a personal thing anyway, it all depends on the individual.

Go with whatever interests you. Chances are that's the one you'll do your best in.

In fact there are plenty of women who do kick boxing and no you do not need to be big and muscular for any martial art. As for what art you should look into then really that depends on what classes are available to you.

You need to find out what there is in your area, take a look at each school - most will offer a trial session for free or at least let you watch a class first. Pick the best school you can with the art that you find yourself most drawn to. Good luck.

Um, you can totally join boxing or kickboxing.

Any athletic activity will require (surprise!) athleticism. But unless you want to do them competitively, you don't need to strive for Olympic-level conditioning. I had soccer moms, overweight school teachers, and retirees in the Muay Thai class I attended, along with competitive fighters. It's really no big deal.

If you want to do a martial art because it's "fun" the best thing for you to do is to see what's available in your area and ask to see if you can try a free class. Most places will allow you to do that; some may offer an introductory week or month, even. That way, by trying it out, you can see if you like it. Honestly, if fun is what you're after, it's much more about the atmosphere of the individual school than the "style" of martial art.

I suppose it depends on what is more important to you... fitness or self defense. I am currently taking Jiu Jitsu. It teaches 'street fighting' techniques. Its not 'pretty', but from what little I know, its one of the best martial arts for self defense, and covers everything from kicks/punches, wrestling-type movies, and throws. (Some Jiu Jitsu classes involves throws, others do not etc. so you'll have to see how comfortable you are with that.) There are other martial arts which may be better in terms of fitness (more aerobic activity, more flexibility) but may not be as practical when it comes to self defense. (For example: I think Karate and Kung Fu emphasize kicks/punches, which becomes less useful when you're fighting in close. And Tae Kwon Do is more of a 'sport' than an actual self defence.)

My opinion is this.... Why should you listen to who ever is telling you that you must have big muscles to do any type of fighting style? Are they extremely experienced and knowledgeable about what they are commenting on...? I doubt it. bottom line here is why would any martial art or fighting style that you choose to study be something that you should not do? for what its worth some of the most dangerous martial artists I've met are small and weaker than the average person. One of the best is a Woman I knew in Virginia some years ago that was just over 5' tall and surely not more than 100 pounds. She was one of the most feared people to have to spar with. She took what she did seriously, and trained that way. She could make big strong guys shake with fear. Even though she was such an intense and good martial artists/fighter, she was also one of the kindest people you could ever meet.

If you find a good instructor teaching something you would like to study, ignore what others say and just go train. If you take the advice of others, you are likely to be taking advice from people that don't know what they are talking about anyway.

Best of Luck with your training...!

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Whatever you like best. Thai and kick boxing don't demand a bulky body, just strength (and strength does not mean mass, as the beautiful bodies of gymnasts and Shaolin monks show). Plus, since you're a woman you wouldn't get bulky even if you did heavy weight lifting, unless you took hormones of course. In case you're not that strong right now, don't worry, you'll build strength, endurance and cardio by training.

And when you train, please do not act weak. Over the years I've seen this "I'm a girl, I can't do this and that" mindset, mostly due to the way girls are brought up, and it's just counterproductive.

If you really want to succed in martial arts, train hard as everyone else. There's no secret.

Good luck!

I think that you want to start easy martial art ,in my opinion budokaido karate martial art is suitable for you , because of it is a one of the best martial art ,pls open this site www.budokaidokarate.com

Actually I think you should join the style you will enjoy the most.

First I haven’t met a lady martial artist that had hulk’s body, and yet I have known plenty that could beat me up. Matter in fact plenty of them did. When you know the techniques you won’t need muscles to power your strikes. Just athletism and knowledge.

Second join a style you will enjoy because that will be the style that you will dedicate your time to. It’s better to train hard in a style that you love than to train on and off on a style that you think is the most effective and devastating. Training hard will give you the athletism and technique that will make you more effective in any style you practice.

Shop around, at a good school it shouldn't matter whether you're a woman or not. Do look for one that has full contact sparring, because you can't get good at fighting if you don't fight. If you go to a school that doesn't have that, go to the next school. Also, play towards your strengths, if you good at more acrobatic kicks, try Tae Kwan Do, if you want more of an emphasis on punches look into styles like Boxing or Wing Chun, if you want more street oriented self defense, try Krav Maga. Find something you enjoy, and something that works with your natural strengths, it's easier getting good at something that comes naturally and then learning a new discipline later.

What makes you think that you can not grow strong? Any martial art you do will develop your muscles. Even if you just decided to exercise in aerobics it will tone you. So go pick a teacher and join and have fun. Don't worry so much about style.