Marshal arts.

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I've been thinking about taking up marshal arts for some time now. I cant decide which one though. I want it to be good exercise as well as learning to defend my self. I have no experience with marshal arts and don't really do sports.
Any ideas?

I like Aikido

Aikido would be good for Marshalling...

It's a fun hobby. I'd be more interested in the quality of the dojo, the classmates, and the instructor, than the actual martial art.

Try a few and go back to the one you like.

It really depends on your preferred style and body type, I'd suggest you try a few and decide which you find best. Firstly, I'd suggest you start by going to a few basic boxing classes to get into a routine for strength conditioning and get an idea of sparring. Many Mixed martial arts gyms cross train in Brazilian Jiujitsu and Thai boxing, it's worth checking out the ones in your area.

Also Ross Training is great for conditioning your body for full contact sparring and physical sports, I would definitely recommend his book Infinite Intensity, you can find his website here http://rosstraining.com/blog/

Thank you everybody for your suggestions!

I just had my first no gi BJJ class a few days ago, it was a great experience. Jiu Jitsu is fun to do, as it takes thinking on your feet to outsmart your opponent and is great for excercise. I suck at it right now, as I got submitted five times by the more experienced guys,but I'm definitely coming back. I also practiced Muay Thai and Boxing, which are good for getting in shape and fun to do as well. MMA is awesome!!

If you're looking for a workout and something that can help your striking a lot, find a good Muay Thai kickboxing class. BJJ is also good in that it gives you a good ground game and obvioustly grappling in a Judo gi you'll sweat a lot out.

There are other arts that would be good for strengthening your actual standup game but especially if you don't have any experience you'd probably be best off priming yourself with one of these before going to some of the more complicated Filipino, Indonesian, or Southern Chinese styles.

I'm an instructor of Uechi Ryu Okinawa Karate.

It's a style that comes from China and is known for it's quick moves and body conditioning.

I recommend it if you want to become both physically and spiritually strong.

PM me if you have any questions.

Stand up arts are generally pretty bad for self-defence if you're a woman. It's just very hard for even strong women to do any significant damage against a male attacker. This includes the so-called 'dirty tricks' like groin shots, eye gouges, etc. They'll only piss off a half-way determined attacker.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the best choice for women. You may not be able to knock someone out, but you may very well be able to triangle or heel-hook him.

I'd suggest aikido too, my husband is an instructor and in his dojo the ages range from 4 up to 82 with all fitness levels. Aikido uses your opponents own strength to take them down, which is how our 6 year old daughter can take down a 6ft, 15 stone man with a twist of the wrist and a slight movement of the feet.

I have tried several styles over the years. As somebody with AS I have liked:

ToShinDo (modern ninjitsu, not a joke)
Aikido
Hapkdio (Think Aikido but with striking/more agrresion)
Judo

I have not liked:

TKD
Traditional Japanese arts (Okinawan styles)
BJJ

The atmosphere and people in a Dojo can really make or break it though. Aikido and TSD both tend to have very supportive environments with good people.

I second this.
I've been training in Aikido for about 10 years and I love it. There are Aikido dojos I wouldn't train in, though, and dojos of other arts that I would train in (even if it meant starting over) if there wasn't an Aikido dojo I liked in the area. The dojo-cho has a dramatic influence on the atmosphere of a dojo, and regardless of how effective the art is you won't stick with it long enough to learn anything usable if you're not having enough fun to overcome your natural human tendency to stay on the couch when class time rolls around (unless, of course, you're one of the super-disciplined types for whom obtaining a black belt (or the equivalent) is a necessary rung on their ladder. If that's the case, research the type of fight you think you're most likely to encounter and take classes that will be effective in that type of fight).

Waaaaaait a minute... Marshal Arts? Ah... you want to be in law enforcement?

Yeah, it sounds like he's got a hankering to try Systema Spetsnaz.

So happy somebody else saw the humor in that... last time I made a joke like that I almost got banned because they thought I was trolling...