Best Martial Arts for Women Who Want Self-Defense, Fitness and Confidence

The best martial arts for women are the ones that train against real resistance: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, boxing and judo. Add an empowerment self-defense course if personal safety is the main reason you are looking. Which one comes first depends on what you want: protection, fitness, confidence, or a sport you can compete in.

This guide is for adult women. If you are choosing for a daughter, our guide to the best martial arts for girls covers kids and teens. My own two daughters trained Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for a year, and watching them learn to escape someone bigger is a big part of why BJJ sits at the top of this list.

What Is the Best Martial Art for Women?

There is no single best art, but there is a best match for each goal. Start with your main reason, try a class in the art that fits, and judge the school as much as the style.

Match the Art to Your Goal

Start with why you want to train, then find the class that fits.

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Best Martial Art for Women’s Self-Defense

For self-defense, the strongest evidence is not for any one martial art. It is for empowerment self-defense, short programs that teach women to spot danger early, use their voice, and fight back physically if they have to.

The best-known trial ran at three Canadian universities. Women who took a four-unit sexual assault resistance program had a completed rape rate of 5.2% over the next year, against 9.8% for women who were only given brochures, a reduction of nearly half. Attempted rape fell from 9.3% to 3.4%. The journal’s editorial put it plainly: one rape was prevented for every 22 women who took the program.

Sociologist Jocelyn Hollander found the same pattern in a 10-week self-defense class at the University of Oregon. Over the following year, 12% of the women who took the class reported unwanted sexual contact, against 30% of a comparison group, and none of them reported a rape.

So where do martial arts fit? They give a self-defense course its depth. Most assaults happen up close, and many end up on the ground, which is why Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the art I would pair with any safety course. Krav Maga trains escapes, strikes and weapon threats as scenarios, and it suits women who want self-defense without a sport attached. For a threat-by-threat breakdown, see our guide to the best martial arts for self-defense.

How to Choose Self-Defense Classes for Women

A good class leaves you safer, not just more confident. Before you sign up, look for these:

Our dojo assessment questions help you judge any school, self-defense or martial arts.

BJJ for Women

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is built on the idea that leverage and position can beat size and strength. Helio Gracie, one of its founders, stressed technique and leverage to compensate for size differences. For a woman facing a bigger attacker, that is the whole point.

Every class ends with live rolling against a resisting partner, so you learn what it feels like to be pinned and how to escape. Mackenzie Dern, a two-time BJJ black belt world champion, took those skills into the UFC.

That is what I saw with my daughters. In a few months they stopped panicking under a heavier partner and started working toward an escape. If self-defense is your main goal, BJJ is where I would start.

Muay Thai and Kickboxing for Women

If you want fitness with real skill behind it, Muay Thai and kickboxing are hard to beat. Classes run in rounds of pad work, bag work and drills, so your heart rate stays up the whole hour. That helps you meet the CDC’s call for 150 minutes of moderate activity a week plus two days of muscle strengthening.

Muay Thai adds elbows, knees and a clinch, which makes it the more complete striking art for self-defense. Kickboxing is usually the gentler start. Valentina Shevchenko came to the UFC with a 56-2 Muay Thai and K-1 record with 17 world titles. If you are choosing between the two, our comparison of kickboxing vs Muay Thai lays out the differences.

Boxing for Women

Boxing is the simplest striking art to start and one of the most useful. You learn to keep your hands up, move your head, and stay calm when someone swings at you. Women’s boxing joined the Olympics at London 2012, and most cities now have boxing gyms with women’s classes.

Its limits are the same for everyone: no kicks, no clinch work and no ground game. Pair it with BJJ if self-defense matters to you.

Judo and Wrestling for Women

Judo teaches you to throw and pin a person who is trying to stay standing, and to fall without getting hurt. Women’s judo has been a full Olympic sport since Barcelona 1992, and women’s wrestling since Athens 2004.

The women who brought judo into the UFC show how well it carries over. Ronda Rousey won Olympic judo bronze in 2008 and became the first UFC women’s champion and the first woman in the UFC Hall of Fame. Kayla Harrison won Olympic judo gold in 2012 and 2016.

Judo and wrestling also load your bones. Women are more likely to develop osteoporosis, and the NIH notes that resistance exercise, including your own body weight, can make bones stronger. Talk with your doctor first if you already have low bone density, because throws and falls are part of every class.

Which Martial Art Should You Start With?

If you want one answer, start with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and take an empowerment self-defense course alongside it. If fitness is the goal, choose Muay Thai, kickboxing or boxing. If you want to compete, judo, BJJ and boxing all have women’s divisions from local events to the Olympics.

Whatever you choose, pick a school where you train against people who are really trying, and where you feel welcome on the first day. That is the school you will keep going back to. For more help choosing by goal, see our guide to the best martial arts to learn.

What made you walk into your first class, and what keeps you coming back? Hear from women who train every style, from BJJ to boxing, and share what you have learned on the open mat →