i prefer kung fu. ive trained in judo, taekwondo, kenpo, and southern dragon mo gar kung fu taught in the the ancient style.
the kung fu training as taught in the old style is a killer. it will have you shredded in no time if your dedicated. but, as others said, you really need to research schools and the teachers. when i was in kenpo, the 'black belts' taught the class and the master would come out occasionally to talk to us about a punch or something. i thought that was lame.
the belt system comes from japanese martial arts, most authentic chinese styles will not use a belt ranking system. i look at belts as a sort of false sense of security.
anyhow, i would check out kung fu schools, jeet kune do if you can find it, ju jitsu is a mean ass system, kenpo karate is also cool if your into speed (go watch any movie with jeff speakmen in it, its hollywood glam fighting but he is still using the kenpo techniques, 'the perfect weapon' is a good one), muay thai as listed before. most places let you participate in your first class for free.
im usually involved in some sort of combat training along with my lifting. keeps you balanced in my opinion.
Definately. Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) is rigorous and you don't need to get beaten up all the time - you can isolate the training without the combat/competitions. It is an *excellent* form of whole-body exercise. That said, other martial arts offer similar conditioning, but Muay Thai delivers the goodsa as long as you are consistent.
