The best martial art for young people

I am seated at the left of the picture above, at the end of the row, with a kendo sword across my knees. This was on the playing field of Bristol Grammar School in 1964, when I was thirteen years old.

The school was quite progressive in the breadth of sports it supported as you can see: fencing, kendo, judo. So here is my advice to a young person considering studying a martial art.

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The best martial art for young people

Choosing the right martial art isn’t just about picking the one that looks most impressive in a movie or the one some self-styled expert insists is “the most effective”. Real fights are messy, chaotic affairs, and the only techniques that matter are the ones you can execute automatically—without hesitation, without thought, and certainly without consciously consulting your mental archive of choreographed moves. That’s why the way a martial art is trained matters more than the theoretical lethality of its techniques.

Let’s take three popular options: karate, boxing, and judo.

Karate is often touted as the ultimate fighting system, but it has a fundamental flaw—modern training methods. Sparring (kumite) is often light or heavily choreographed these days, and much of the training focuses instead on kata (solo forms) and kihon (repetitive drills).

These may build precision, but they don’t instill the instinctive, high-pressure reactions needed in a real fight. If you’re unaccustomed to applying techniques in live combat, they won’t magically materialize when you need them. Hesitation equals defeat.

Boxing is better in this regard. Training involves regular sparring, conditioning fighters to react under fear and pressure. However, the most effective techniques—full-power strikes to the head—come with an inherent problem: repeated blows to the skull are not conducive to long-term brain health. While a hardened boxer is formidable in a street fight, few people want to endure the cumulative damage required to reach that level of effectiveness.

And that brings us to judo. When I trained in judo as a youth, every class involved at least 20 minutes of randori—live, full-contact sparring: throws, immobilisation holds and joint-locks. Over weeks, months, and years, this developed automatic reactions: gripping, positioning, attack and defence, and controlling an opponent on the ground.

Because judo is designed to be non-lethal, it allows for continuous, realistic practice without the fear of permanent injury. This is its greatest strength—techniques become second nature, and when conflict arises, you react instinctively. More importantly, judo equips you to neutralize an opponent without excessive force. You won’t kill anyone, and you won’t end up facing a manslaughter charge for defending yourself.

So, for anyone looking for a martial art that builds self-confidence, resilience, and real-world effectiveness, judo is by far the best choice.

It allows you to train the way you’d need to act in a fight, ensuring that when the moment comes, your body moves smoothly and rapidly without needing permission from your brain.

And in a real fight, that’s what makes all the difference.