Martial arts
 

I have absolutely no knowledge about this, so would appreciate any replies in idiot guide form :)
I am interested in starting a martial art to improve my agility and flexibility as well as complementing my general exercise routine. Any suggestions or advice drawn from your own experiences?

Under your current stipulations, just about any martial art would be appropriate for what you want.

To cut out choices, you need to sit down and decide more specifically what you want out of a martial art. Think about how much usable self-defense you want, how much spirituality you want. Also consider how offensive or defensive you want your art and if you want to do some weapon training. You can even make a decision based on training your hands or feet more.

Of course, another big limit is what schools are in your area.

So yeah, hope this was of some help.

Basically, any martial art you pursue will get you to the same end, provided it is taught by a good teacher. The goal is an understanding of movement, which takes many many years.

Different arts will take different approaches to reaching that goal, but with enough study and training, you'll get there.

That being said, the quality of the instruction is the most important thing. I strongly reccommend against the big business martial arts schools, where you're in a class with 30 other people. Find a smaller school, max 10-12 people per class. My school has 5 senior students that never miss a class (one girl hasn't missed a class in 2 years!!!) and 3 more that miss a few classes here and there... because there are so few of us, it feels like a family!

Another benefit of the smaller schools is that it is MUCH harder to decide to quit if you are so closely bonded with your classmates - while quitting a 30 person class could go unnoticed.

Finding a school will be the hardest part. Check on the internet first. Search for "martial art" +your town name.... and see what you come up with. Look for Grandmaster level instructors that operate schools in your area. In my case, I found that a GM lived in the next city to me (only 20 mins away).. I emailed him and found that one of his students has a satellite school closer to me.. so I tried it out and it turned out to be perfect!!! This school was not even in the phone book, so I wouldn't have found it otherwise.

Be wary of the school that takes out a full page ad in the yellow pages. They are just out there to make money.

Steer clear of any school that talks about 'secret techniques' and boasts of fast promotion to black belt. Also, make sure you take part in a trial class at whatever school you find. Is everyone friendly? Are there 9 year old black belts? (that's bad by the way). Make sure it's a nice environment where you can come and enjoy yourself.

Stick with it and you WILL see improvement, but the first while you'll feel like you have no clue what you're doing. Swallow your pride, concentrate on technique, not power, and it will all come into place eventually

maybe this'll help too... I try to write a quick description of some common arts.

karate
Japanese art, focusing on power through stance and technique, with kata or forms required to advance in belt. Self-defense techniques are taught, but are restricted in their approach in some schools. Common styles are goju-ryu, shotokan, shorin-ryu, isshin-ryu.

tae kwon do
Korean kicking art... emphasis on strong kicking techniques to disable your opponent. Sets of self defense techniques taught through all belts, but mostly at higher levels. Some tae kwon do schools have acquired a reputation of money-grubbing... charging for gradings, belts, stripes... you can 'buy' your black belt essentially. Those few bad examples should not detract from the quality schools.

kung fu
something I know far too little about. Perhaps antagony can help. Many many different styles of kung fu out there.

muay thai
kickboxing with philosophy. can get pretty rough when you start sparring, not for the weak willed. Focus is on speed, using leg kicks, knees, elbows, and punches.

hapkido, kuk sul won,
korean art, less emphasis on kicking than TKD

ninjutsu
extremely, extremely difficult to find a good, authentic ninjutsu school. Follow this rule, if you go to a class and everyone is wearing black face masks as part of their uniform, get the fuck out of there. A good ninjutsu school as a gem... very effective for self-defense, as it is all about maintaining an advantage over your opponent, by being behind them, staying to the outside, etc... My teacher is also 4th dan (degree) ninjutsu, taught by Dr. Dan McEaddy and GM Dan Verkerke, who in turn were taught by one of the most respected ninjutsu masters in the world, GM Masami Hatsumi. (Many of the techniques in what I study resemble ninjutsu techniques as a result of my teacher's influences.)

Aikido
the Way of Harmony. The essence of aikido is the control of energy. Be that redirecting an opponents punch into a wrist throw, or focusing your own energy for speed or strength. Very effective for self-defense, as you can learn to control without injuring someone too severely.

judo
grappling/wrestling. You learn many throws to get a person down to the ground, reversals if you are thrown, and submission techniques on the ground. Very sport oriented these days.

hope this helped! good luck!

Seizo said pretty much evrything well. here was just one more that he didnt mention. Jujitsu. This is similar to ninjitsu. Just different in philosophy. Ninjitsu does what ever it takes to take out your opponent fast and efficiently. Jujitsu shows respect to your opponent by bot making them suffer. Ju jitsu is what the samarai used. Eg in a sword fight a samarai would attack the body and head to kill quickly. A ninja would attack the limbs first because it is safer. They both work. Saying that Jujitsu is on of the best martial arts to avoid being raped because it has a lot of emphasis on grappling. Unfortunately most fights end up on the ground and jujitsu (Brazilian juitsu in particular) focuses to a large degree on this.
Wingchun deserves a mention. I dont know that much about it. Just what a guy at soccer told me (he has been studying it full time for about 3 years). It is ment to be the ultimate in close fighting style. It is extremely fast and uses anatomy against your opponent. I wouldnt want to take someone on from that art.
Muay thai kickboxing is my base art and the one I like the most. It places a lot more emphasis on fitness and conditioning and simplifys everything down to the basics. When your in a life or death situation your only ever going to use what you know 100%. What is the use of knowing 10 different wrist locks for the same situation then? You will be heaps fitter and alot more flexible and your feet will speed up out of necessity.

anybody know anything about Oom Yung Doe style? seems interesting, but as a novice not sure if it is the best way to go.

Thanks!