Molly McConnell leads a class at McConnell’s Boxing Academy.
Image: Regan Breeden
IF YOU WANT TO … use your body weight to bring an opponent down, down, down to the ground (without a single kick)
Try: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a grappling-intensive form of Japanese Jiu Jitsu developed in the 1920s and considered by many to be the world’s most efficient form of unarmed combat.
At: Mata Leao Combat Sports, Renzo Gracie Portland, Gracie Barra Portland
IF YOU WANT TO … deliver bone-crushing body blows with your shins and elbows
Try: Muay Thai—once known as “Siamese-style boxing” and today as “the art of eight limbs”—relies on torque, purgatorial clinches, and vicious knee kicks to reduce an opponent to rubble.
At: Portland Thai Boxing, Kilian’s Martial Arts Center
If you want to … ground-and-pound, sprawl-and-brawl, clinch-and-pound, or whatever works to get a tapout
Try: Mixed Martial Arts have come a long way since those early ‘90s no-holds-barred cage fights. Today, MMA has a few rules, but it’s still lean and sexy: a mix of Muay Thai, wrestling, Jiu Jitsu and Judo.
At: Alive MMA, Team Quest MMA, G.I.R.L.S. Gym
If you want to … float like a butterfly, break it down like a b-boy, booty-shake like a bee
Try: Capoeira—an Afro-Brazilian tradition originally brought to the New World by Angolan slaves in the 16th century—is today a mix of acrobatics, dance, and gluteus-fabulous beats.
At: Capoeira Ijexá Portland, Bahia Brazil Art Center
If you want to … put ‘em up old-school
Try: Fourteen years ago, Million Dollar Baby lent boxing true coed cred. These days, women are showing up to boxing clubs in record numbers.
At: McConnell’s Boxing Academy, Sweet Science Boxing Gym, Grand Avenue Boxing Club
If you want to … rise and sink, embrace the circle, ask heaven for forgiveness, and pour water on an attack
Try: Tai Chi—that thing your nana does in the park—is a millennia-old Chinese martial art. Those fluid movements that balance yin and yang? They’re also efficient for blocking punches.
At: Portland Tai Chi Academy, Portland Shaolin Center, U.S. Wushu Center
If you want to … spar, kick, spear-hand, and shout your fighting spirit to the world
Try: Portland karate fans can choose from several schools of this century-old martial art, which is focused less on Bruce Lee straight blasts and more on self-development, or budo.
At: Portland Shotokan Karate, Portland Shorin Ryu Karate Do Club
If you want to … train for the day you discover you’ve brought your fists to a gunfight
Try: The Israeli military’s official self-defense system, Krav Maga teaches techniques for street survival and close-quarter disarmament.
At: Krav Maga Self Defense & Fitness, Invictus
Published in the Have Fun & Stay Fit issue of Portland Monthly.
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