Martial arts

I took Karate, Aikido and Taekwondo at various times for a short time when I was in school. I liked Aikido most. Most martial arts these days are styled more for defense or competition but I'm more interested in practical fighting. But you have to be careful since real offensive fighting uses joint locks and breaks, nerve strikes and death blows. Rarely would it be necessary to use those in a real life situation. However, many martial arts are also defensive and just redirect an opponents energy such as Aikido, Judo, Tai Chi and a few others. I tend to favor these for most practical applications and only rely on more damaging moves for life and death situations or multiple attackers. However, since I've moved around so much, I haven't had a chance to get back into training. What martial arts do you like or have studied?

Personally, I would love to study Muay Chaiya, Krav Maga, Wing Chun, Chen style Tai Chi, Xing Yi Quan, Baguazhang, Eskrima and Bojutsu

I've heard Krav Maga tho. My friend said that style has brutal counter attacks and It will help you in real life fights.

Aikido is pretty good but you need to study it for awhile to learn to use it well. It has lots of joint locks and you don't need to be that strong to use. If someone is really trying to hurt you, I try to keep in mind: "eyes, throat, groin" as easy weak spots. It actually takes more skill to defend against someone without hurting them but usually, if they are serious about hurting you, there may not be a choice.

Krav Maga is brutal at the higher level. The Israel military often learns it I think. Lots of moves to disarm and bring someone down fast or even kill them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjmBPFPTq-g

Its perfect for me coz I'm not really that strong. All I know in self defensing is how to knee where it hurts the most and its the most effective move (from experience).

Lol, yeah. A good groin strike will have them on the ground for awhile. Plenty of time to get away. It's harder if they grab you from behind or even put a knife to your throat/gun to your head or if there is a group of guys.

*BLOWN AWAY* THAT IS AWESOME AND SOMEWHAT SCARY. It looks like the guy is always aiming for the vulnerable parts of the body with an intention to kill. kinda interesting to learn. Is this style is somewhat a combination of aikido and boxing? coz from the lockings and punches it seems tho.