u/NicRapt

​I’m 36 and recently decided to start a martial art. Ideally, I was looking for Judo or Freestyle Wrestling, but unfortunately, there are no schools offering those in my area. ​So, I’ve narrowed it down to Kyokushin Karate, as there are two local dojos available: ​Dojo A: Affiliated with the Honkyokushin International Karate Organization (HIKO). The head instructor also holds a black belt in Kudo (Daido Juku), so he incorporates more grappling, takedowns, and face punches into training. Naturally, this sounds a bit more appealing to me given my initial interest in wrestling/judo. ​Dojo B: Affiliated with Kyokushin-kan International (Japan Honbu). From what I understand, this is a legitimate Japanese organization with a strong history and direct lineage. ​My main question is: Is the lineage/prestige of the Japanese organization (Kyokushin-kan) something I should heavily consider

​Or should I just go with the instructor whose style and training focus (Dojo A with Kudo elements) align better with what I’m looking for?

​Hi everyone, ​I'm 36 years old and looking to get into martial arts. I don't really have any significant previous experience, other than doing Pankration for 2 years and Kickboxing for 1 year when I was very young (ages 9–12). ​After doing some research on what I want, I realized that ideally, I’d like to start with a grappling-heavy art that includes a lot of live sparring (like Judo or Freestyle Wrestling) and eventually transition into striking (like Kickboxing). ​However, I've run into a location problem with the available gyms in my town: ​There is no Judo nearby. ​The only Wrestling club is 20 km away, which makes it very difficult/impractical for my schedule. ​Taekwondo is available, but it doesn't really fit what I'm looking for. ​There are two Kyokushin Karate gyms, but after watching some fights, the ruleset (standing toe-to-toe trading chest shots with no head punches) just isn't for me. ​That leaves me with two main options locally: ​MMA / Pankration: My town has a strong Kickboxing tradition, so the coaches offering MMA/Pankration here are primarily Kickboxers who added these programs due to popularity. From what I hear, they don't focus heavily on deep wrestling/grappling technique, but it is available. ​Traditional Ju-Jitsu (JJ): There is one traditional JJ school. From what I understand, traditional JJ usually focuses on cooperative wrist locks/throws with a compliant partner rather than heavy live sparring, though I haven't checked this specific school's class culture yet. ​My goal is a mix of solid physical conditioning and practical self-defense. ​Given my options and limitations, what would you recommend I choose? Should I go with the MMA/Pankration class despite the coaches' Kickboxing background, or give Traditional Ju-Jitsu a shot?

Which language would you mistake Greek for? As a Greek, I’ve caught myself listening to Portuguese without really paying attention, and I honestly felt like I was hearing Greek