What is the best martial art?

This question gets asked over and over again. What is the best martial art? What is the most effective? What's the easiest to learn? What's the toughest? The fastest? The list of questions goes on and on.

The answer? Well, that's easy. I can honestly and with confidence answer that the best and most effective martial art is Japanese Jiu Jitsu. Bar none...

For me, that is.

The best martial art is the one that you enjoy studying. It's the one where you make a connection with the teacher and the other students. The best martial art is the one you keep showing up for. The one that makes you feel good, improve as a person, gain confidence and self discipline.

For me that is Japanese Jiu Jitsu. It fascinated me from the first time I met my first Sensei and he gave me a demonstration. Truth be told, it was likely more my Sensei than the style, but I didn't know that at the time (more on this to follow).