Self defence for dummies

In My Humble Opinion
41

That’s where the “don’t be there” and “don’t get hit” parts of self defense come into play. :smiley:

I don’t need anyone in a forum telling me that I’m statistically smaller and weaker than roughly half the population (being female) and I can see with my own eyes that there is a significant percentage of the remaining half who are bigger and or stronger than I am. All that does is make me realize that I don’t want to go starting anything, and I sure want to be aware of what’s going on around me, because if my first realization is me getting hit or grabbed, I’m screwed!

However, a lot of times, the shock of the attack - punch, kick, grapple - is as incapacitating as the actual attack itself. If I can get to a place where I know it’s coming, or accept that I’m going to take damage, I’m already better off than the poor girl who’s frozen there with a shocked face because some skeezy drunk grabbed her arm or her purse.

As a complement to Krav Maga, I would also suggest Aikido, which is a great martial art focusing on deflection of momentum - basically using people and their appendages as fulcrums to make their own attacks break their joints or send them into the pavement.

Beautifully efficient and totally defensive (which is nice when you get to court later) - you only learn the attacks so that the ‘defender’ has something to defend against and practice on!

It’s also got some nice mental exercises about keeping your balance and stability so you’re harder to knock over, and some very fun and useful “disarming” moves, designed to remove knives, sword-length objects, and pole-length objects from people who are threatening you, and either dispatch them using their own weapon (which is fun in the dojo, but most likely illegal and immoral in reality), or dispose of it so that it isn’t a threat.

42

Illegal in my jurisdiction, so not an option I’m afraid.

43

As almost all have said, the answer is to flip the fuck out. Be a raging bitch/bastard. Think “kill” until you’re safe.

Bad guys are generally looking for easy targets (unless they’ve targeted you specifically). Hell, bite the balls off (heh, that’ll learn 'em). It’s your safety that’s on the line - anyone who compromises gets what they deserve.

Pepper spray (where legal) is a good tool. A small knife can do wonders, as well (again, where legal).

One caveat on the ball kicking thing - a dude kicked in the balls often has a period (a few seconds worth) of painlessness (adrenaline, I would assume). And he’ll kick hell out of you during that time.

The best idea is to not put yourself into dangerous situations. They can’t always be avoided, but caution never killed a cat.

44

Thank you

45

Krav Maga is good. I’ll also suggest muay thai. Muay thai trains you to be fast as a cat and hard as iron. When you can’t run away, you’d better be able to take some blows, and muay thai definitely teaches that.

And I’ll add my agreement to the previous shouts of “go crazy”. You want to get out of that crushing embrace? Jam your finger up the guy’s nose. Bite his lip off. Gouge his eye with your chin. Whatever it takes.

The biggest benefit of martial arts training, in my book, is that it gives you sufficient self-confidence that you won’t look like a target. If you don’t look like a target, you probably won’t get attacked in the first place.

46

Hey, a martial arts thread; another opportunity for me to be a blowhard :slight_smile:

I can’t think of anyone I would less like to fight than a skilled wrestler. If a wrestler threw me onto a hard surface and I landed badly I could easily die or end up paralyzed. Wrestlers are strong, conditioned, and aggressive, and anyone who says that wrestling isn’t an effective fighting style has no idea what they’re talking about; a good throw will do 100x the damage of even the hardest punch.

Judo is an option for those who didn’t have the opportunity to learn wrestling. Lots of clubs for adults, great techniques, and even more high-amplitude throws than even most wrestlers know.

I’ll even go so far as to say judo is by far the single best unarmed self-defense style–it’s better than wrestling when your opponents are wearing coats or other clothing you can grab, you get to learn submissions, and you can easily learn it as an adult beginner, and it’s cheaper and spends more time on standup than Brazilian JJ (my other favorite).

The single most important thing for learning self-defense is to practice your techniques in a high-stress environment against resting opponents who are trying to stop you. The kind of role-playing you do in most self-defense classes is worse than useless, but in a judo class you’ll be practicing against someone who has no intention of being thrown, and if your technique is bad you’ll end up on your ass until you improve it. Go to tournaments and you’ll learn to perform in high-stress situations.

Finally, Krav Maga is over-hyped crap sold to housewives. It’s to the 2000’s what Ninjitsu was to the 1990’s, except the overblown marketing materials talk about Israeli commandos and terrorists rather than Ninjas and Samurai. In fact, I’m willing to bet you could do a word-replace from a 1990’s Ninjitsu ad, and end up with a current Krav Maga ad, and it’s probably being taught by the same people, only they’ve re-written their imaginary credentials.

Stick to judo.

47

And I got so caught up in my rant that I didn’t really address the OP:

1) Ease of learning for total beginners, including fitness levels required to utilise.

Judo clubs are everywhere. They’re probably outnumbered (in the martial arts world) only by TKD schools. In all honesty fewer of these clubs are prepared to teach adult beginners, but I’m willing to bet you could find one. A Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school would be much more geared toward training beginners, but it’ll literally cost 10 times as much.

2) Effective defence technique - law abiding and sensible citizens I don’t think would find much use in a technique which emphases attacking.

Judo wins this one. First, it’s proven effective; every throw you’ll learn has been demonstrated to work against even world-class martial arts practitioners, provided you can apply it correctly. Second, you have a wide variety of hold-down techniques, for when you’re in control of the situation and don’t want to hurt someone. Judo is taught to police officers around the world, and most practitioners are upstanding citizens.

3) Proven technique - stats like “technique x has saved y amount of people from aggressors, compared to technique w which saved z” would be ideal, but details are difficult to come by. Everyone wants bragging rights and is trying to sell something online.

Judo has been proven effective in the world of MMA (several champs are judo practitioners, e.g., Fedor, Aoki). It’s also been proven in the real world. Like I mentioned above, it’s taught in police academies around the world, and you can find thousands of stories of it being applied in self-defense situations, e.g. my favorite story “The bear bit Yamaguchi on the hand and left thigh and he responded by hitting it on the nose and in the stomach. When he used a judo technique to hurl the bear, it ran away from the scene. The bear was about 170 centimeters long, police said.”

4) Technique must be more effective than a swift kick in the balls and fleeing (the “Arnold Rimmer” school of martial arts). Which personally I think is a pretty good technique.

Covered above

48

Why is it that self defense threads always end up with a bunch of people metaphorically waving their jockstraps at each other and snarling?

49

As opposed to the religion, politics, sports, … threads, which are models of decorum.

50

Why is it that self-defense threads always end up with a complaint about people metaphorically waving their jockstraps at each other and snarling from someone who obviously (finish the question yourselves)?

51

cardio, cardio, cardio.

Seriously. For 99% of the sorts of confrontations a regular person is likely to get into, running away (or otherwise defusing the situation) is probably your best bet. They are usually non-lifethreatening arguments over something stupid that is hardly worth getting your face all bruised up or getting involved with the police.

Real fighters TRAIN for real fights. You don’t want to “sorta know how to defend yourself” against someone who may get into a street fight every other week since he was 15.

The best “technique” is to be bigger, stronger and faster than your opponent and just whale the shit out of his face, body and groin until he can no longer continue.

52

This is supposed to be the best book ever written on the subject

53

In terms of widely available styles, Krav Maga is probably the best bet. As it is an interdisciplinary style that teaches striking, grappling, improvisation, and perfecting your natural style.

I practice Kan Moku Shi Do A type of interdiciplinary Ninjitsu that stresses the same principles. We focus on real world scenarios and how to escape them. A real street fight is a nasty, dirty, dangerous affair far removed from the ring, dojo, or competition. What will save you is situational awareness, the willingness to give and receive damage, and a battery of well practiced, simple moves that are instinctual to you. Stay in decent shape, be aware, and practice a few solid dirty tricks and you will be far above nearly anyone out there on the street.

Keys for anyone to practice:

Learn to sidestep. Probably the the most important thing you can learn, if you can’t learn anything else. Simply moving out of the way will save you far more times than anything else. Combine this with:

Cover your face as much as possible. Keep your hands UP and between you and the attacker. He cannot see your face well and you are in position to strike back. This is basis for all blocking and will protect you against punches.

React is if your life is on the line, Because IT IS. Do not fight to disable, wound, or control. Until you have many years of experience training, it is better to assume that you must end a fight as swiftly and viciously as possible. This echos the “go berserk” philosophy of other posters above.

There is no dishonor in running away. Do it if you have to. Do it even if you don’t have to. Do it while screaming like a scalded, psychotic chimp on PCP to get as much attention as possible. Just make sure you aren’t followed.

54

I’d like to know how many in this thread have real experience in the MA they’re advocating.

Most of the established martial arts would be effective in a pinch. I’ve done judo for a couple of decades (and it’s more than a decade since I quit, but that’s really not relevant for my argument), and it had proven to work fine in a pinch.

Most situations where MA are useful don’t start out of the blue. They start with bad-mouthing, and progresses via grabbing and finally to punching. If you train a “hitting” type of MA, you may get off by some kind of posturing (a friend of mine got away by asking for a few seconds to prepare, swung a couple of high round TKD kicks in the air and declared himself ready. The opponent backed out), but in order to use it efficiently you have to escalate the situation before you’re hit in the mouth yourself. That’s not a good thing if the police comes by to check on what’s happening. OTOH, a wrestling type of MA like judo, wrestling or jujitsu enables you to take down your opponent before any blows are exchanged. That often looks better when you face the police (“well, you see, Officer, this guy grabbed my throat and raised his hand to hit me, so I took him to the ground” Yep, been there…). Also, if you throw an inexperienced guy down, he’s gonna hurt. Often, he’'l be winded as well, and that’s when the cardio training gets useful (AKA run like hell).

But the best technique is of course to cultivate a non-aggressive behavior. 9 times out of 10, you are able to talk yourself out of a situation, and that’s the best attitude. And some MA jocks take to the MA a long time before it’s really needed…

55

I have had a few regrettable instances of having to apply the fighting arts I’m trained in, including once–foolishly–against an armed perpetrator. In general, in both my experience and the reading that I’ve done on training and fighting, is that you revert to what is most familiar and comfortable, and any finesse or intricate technique goes right out the window unless you are such a finely honed fighting machine that such strikes are literally second nature to you. Five strike techniques against an opponent with an overhand club? Probably not going to work. Kick above the mid thigh? Only if you are Bruce Lee’s prodigal. The laborious inside/outside/overhead/downward blocks? You’re not going to be able to react fast enough to deflect an untelegraphed attack (and one that is aptly telegraphed may just be a feint to leave you exposed). Joint locks and pain compliance? Forget about it, particularly with anyone large enough that you can’t physically manhandle them. Getting hit? It is going to happen unless you are fighting eight-year-olds, so learn how to shed or ground a punch, and cultivate the ability to take a hard strike and keep going (which requires getting hit in training). Trapping? Remember, whenever you trap someone’s limb, they’re also tying you up, which again reduces mobility.

Your best defense is mobility (hence, why I dislike groundfighting). Your best block is a strike. Your best stance is the one that keeps you upright and mobile. Your best strike is one you can deliver rapidly and solidly without overcommitting or exposing your inside. Your best weapon is whatever is readily at hand. Your best preparation is situational awareness and a self-deprecating sense of humor that lets you talk your way out of a “monkey dance”, and the best fight is one you never entered into 'cause you avoided the situation.

Although it is not unique in this respect, Wing Chun (sometimes called Ving Tsun) fits these criteria to a tee; the only weakness is a philosophical avoidance of ground technique, which I think should be studied if only to avoid or rapidly exit the situations where it occurs. Classical Western pugilism and Muay Thai also offer some excellent practical basics like grounding and shedding, but both require considerable physical conditioning to be effective, whereas Wing Chun is intended to be used by a smaller, weaker opponent. In any case, it will be a couple years of regular study (2-3 times a week) before such arts will be adequately trained to be useful in a real fight, though just a knowledge of basic striking and an attitude of awareness may be enough for the average person to escape from a single surprise attack.

Stranger

56

All the Krav Maga I’ve seen is highly choreographed. This leaves me skeptical.

For real life encounters I’d recommend studying everything that is illegal in MMA, have a great base in cardio and do some sparring - people not used to fighting tend to look down to avoid getting hit in the face (bad strategy).

57

Because all martial artists want to prove that their form is the BEST! That’s why MMA and no holds barred tournaments were created. The debate wages on. Wrestlers have dominated strikers, strikers have KO’d wrestlers, athleticism has outlasted superior technique, and the opposite is also true. This argument has been going on for hundreds of years and will continue, for hundreds of years, and it won’t help the OP.

There is no one form (or even a combination) that is going to make you lethal weapon training two times a week, but once you’ve mastered some basics you will gain a slight advantage to help thwart/survive an attack. The longer you stick with it, the better advantage you gain.
My suggestion: visit some Martial Arts dojos/studios in your area. Most offer a free lesson or two to interested people. Look for a clean and professional looking school, talk to current and former students. If they sound like blowhard meatheads then that’s what they are.

Find a form you actually enjoy doing whether Judo, Boxing, Jujitsu, Muay Thai, etc, and then train the hell out of it. It’s great exercise and it’s way more fun than running on a treadmill (not that you should give that up). If you want to be more complete, then add in another form that is opposite of your base form… IE: If you love Boxing, then add in a Jujitsu/Judo class once a week, or vice a versa. Once you’ve had a few lessons under your belt you can come back to this forum, and argue with everyone else, how your form is the BEST!

58

Hey, don’t look at me. I’m a fencer.

59

Épée? Foil? Sabre? Claymore?

60

Foil and epee. I wanted to be a hacker but I had to use my brother’s hand-me-down equipment when I was in school and he was an epee specialist.