I’m looking to go back to training martial arts. I want something that would be physically and mentally challenging. I’m kind of leaning towards Muay Thai but BJJ might also be an option. I’m 46 years old. What do you guys recommend?
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try both? Most MMA gyms offer both. You could sign up for a full-spectrum MMA gym and try out muay thai, kickboxing, ju-jitsu, and even boxing to see what you like.
If you want to seriously level up your confidence and your real-world fighting ability, I would most highly recommend boxing as a base. Most fights may END UP on the ground, but they ALL start on your feet, with punches, and nobody ever kicks in a real fight.
Learning the stance and habits of boxing makes you dangerous on the street, and after developing those strong foundations, adding in muay thai or BJJ would make you even more dangerous and well grounded.
But if you go into a street fight acting like a jujitsu or muaythai fighter, you’re gonna get knocked out because your stance and training will be all wrong.
You can 100% guarantee the first move in every fight will be a punch.
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Would love to do both but time is a factor.
I agree 100%. Boxing would be a great way to build a basis for Muay Thai.
Bjj is a great choice. It’s a bit easier on the body compared to muay thai and you can still train at a high intensity with relatively low risk.
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Would say boxing is better. It’s hard but not complicated.
Plus you get to try Boxing Mastery
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It depends on what you are looking for, but it’s really more of a matter of what you prefer and enjoy enough that you’ll keep doing it day in and day out for a long time.
Any regular training against live resisting opponents will let you dominate the vast majority of assholes who are likely to start something on the street.
There are a couple of things to recommend BJJ. The level of force is more scalable. The first is that you will likely get into less legal trouble if you take someone down and restrain them than you will if you knock them out, but you can do some crippling damage if you need to.
@COWolfe : My main reason isn’t to even use it in a real fight. Even though it might come handy. What I am looking for is a martial art that would also be a great workout. Lifting weights and running HIIT in the gym by yourself can quickly become boring.
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In that case, any of the things mentioned here would be awesome. Do keep up with strength training separately though.
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I am 42 and Muay Thai is hard on bones and for me it is difficult to fight with guys with harder shins, instead I would consider boxing.
Then I love boxing but the regular training doesnt kill me as much as BJJ.
BJJ is teaching you IMHO to close distance and not being afraid of getting closer of your opponent, even though like @Billions said it doesnt teach you to handle jabs in a real fight. But as a workout I found it really fun, manly, and the community around is usually very strong.
The ideal would be MMA training, but the second best would be BJJ.
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@Psiklou : Is BJJ training physically tough or demanding? More than boxing? I would have actually though the opposite.
If you wrestled in high school, it’s about like that.
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Maybe it is a personal preference. I prefer body to body grappling combat, like Wrestling to feet-hand combat like Muay Thai or boxing.
Boxing to me is like a (deadly) dance where you learn to position yourself and anticipate your opponent moves by reading is body langage.
BJJ is heavy grappling and lot of chess thinking where you can move either slow or fast and your next move can be your last one.
The conditioning itself is more demanding in boxing (dont know about MMA) but you are in it for the combat right? And the actual BJJ combat get me more tired but more satisfied because of the tension, the thinking, the frustration or the joy you get.
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Jujitsu is absolutely a physical challenge to the extreme. It will motivate you like nothing else to work on your cardio outside of class because you’ll get gassed so quickly. And because of the positions you train in, it’s a whole body workout like no other. Abs, back, small muscles across your whole body, and it’ll work on your raw strength.
But it’s also a serious mental challenge. It’s a martial art that ultimately requires you to practice your technique and form, just like a swordsman has to perfect each swing of his sword through repetition. If you’re not serious about getting better at the craft of jujitsu, then a stand-up martial art might be better for you in terms of purely a workout.
If you’ve never tried them, I’d just say start trying stuff. See what you like.
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@Billions said it better. BJJ makes you feel like a badass.
Clubs in UK allow you to test one class sometimes for free. It should be the same where you live.
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When it comes to Muay Thai or BJJ you can initially look at it as standup vs ground as well as striking vs grappling.
There are other factors too. These would be:
- Location
- Cost
- Scheduling Of Classes
- Instructors Background, Experience & Lineage
- Vibe/Friendliness Of People
- Facilities
Some BJJ places may teach some elements from Judo instead of wrestling. Judo complements BJJ as Judo is grappling while standing up. If your area has Judo techniques with BJJ, that can be of consideration in terms of utility.
If money is not much of an issue, private pad training is something to consider if going down the boxing or kickboxing/Muay Thai route. You can get an intense workout in 45 minutes or 1 hour.
Choose one that suits you best. If you want my choice I would choose BJJ.
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whatever you choose! remember to put extra emphasis on the stretching and warming up of your joints and bones, muscles, and all old injuries.
adopt stretching every morning and really put your heart into it for a week and i assure you, that youll have a clearer vision of which martial art to choose based on how your body is responding
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Apart from techniques and such, a class is a social experience. I’d go for whatever situation you can find that feels the most socially right. Feels like home. Or as if it could become home over time. It should be a place in which you feel good training, learning, and pushing yourself.
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