Which self-defense method is best?

Factual Questions
41

Lots of good advice here, I’ll just add a few cents of my own…

When searching for a school, there are a two key points you might want to consider:

  1. Find a school that you are comfortable in. Every school has it’s own attitude and demeanor. Some are very rigid with the teacher always referred to as sensei or sifu. Some are more relaxed. Some are high pressure, others are low key. Find the one that best suits your personality and makes it easy for you to learn.

  2. For practical self defense, finding a school where full contact (or mostly full contact) sparring is essential. Adhering to rigid forms and moves will not serve you well in a fight. You need to learn how to read your opponent and yourself. You need to find out what moves are effective for you and which ones simply don’t work, and the only way to do that is to actually use them.
    I’m going to disagree with a few of the earlier posters, I would avoid boxing. Boxing can be beneficial because it will teach you how to take a punch and it will give you a lot of experience in the ring, but boxing has such a rigid set of rules around it that I don’t think it would make a very effective self defense technique all on it’s own. I think it would be great as a supplement to any other style. Few sports will give you the total body conditioning like boxing will and I’ve often heard that American boxing produces one of the most effective punches of all systems, but boxing will only teach you to defend yourself against someone who is coming at you from the front at arms reach, who isn’t grappling you or brandishing a weapon. For similar reasons, I would avoid Muay Tai as a solitary defense method, but would recommend it as a supplement.

“Internal” styles such as Tai Chi, Ba Gua, Hsing I or Aikido can be enormously effective, especially against multiple opponents, but they generally take a very long time to become profficient in, and as such, probably aren’t good choices for you as a solitary system.

I would look for a good practical system such as Jeet Kun Do for practical fighting. A form of Karate could be good specifically for you as well as it will be an excellent confidence builder. It will teach you moves that you can apply to the real world very quickly and will give you a structured learning environment with attainable goals that you can reach. (ie. getting your next belt)

I would also like to point out that in this day and age, many of the martial arts have leaned towards the sports aspect. Hand to hand combat is not as prevailent as it used to be, so many of these arts are being relegated to competition as their primary use. This is why many people feel that systems like Tae Kwon Do are not effective in actual combat. The thing to remember is that most of these styles are decended from real combat styles, and are capable of being effective self defense techniques. The trick is to find a school that is teaching martial applications for these arts. A classic example is Tai Chi. Many people think of Tai Chi as the funky thing old people do in the park at sunrise, but if you’ve ever seen a Chen Tai Chi master at work, then you know that Tai Chi can be a devestating defense system.

For the OP, it might make the most sense to take a few classes in personal defense that will show you some techniques and some applications to situations you are most likely to come across in the event that you were being mugged, rather than going to train a full martial arts system.

42

Judo is a great sport and you would learn a lot of very applicable techniques in Judo. However, Judo was distilled from Jujutsu roots to make if safe for competitions, so a lot of techniques are either modified or removed compared to jujutsu. In particular, a lot of the striking is not done in Judo. From a purely technical standpoint, you’ll learn more street-applicable techniques in jujutsu than judo because you’ll learn the strikes that provide entries and set up techniques. You’ll also learn to defend against strikes. However, as I noted above, the instructor and class is more important than the style, and if there’s a good judo club nearby that you would be able to commit to, you’re quite likely to learn great stuff there.

Consider your daughters and their safety. Personally, I’m extremely non-confrontational. I don’t hurt other people for a variety of moral and legal reason. I’m not terribly squeamish but I’m empathetic enough to wince at other people’s pain. I’m kind to strangers and help those in need. If someone endangered my son or wife, I would grind them into unidentifiable pieces using a nail clipper if need be.

I will do everything in my power to avoid violence, but if my family is threatened, I will remove the threat using any means necessary. That’s a personal decision I’ve come to by considering what I’m willing to do, and you need to do the same thing. You may come to a completely different conclusion and decide that there are some things you simply would not do regardless of the threat. Whatever answer you come to, you need to consider it now so when the time comes, your mind is free.

43

Running away and hiding has always worked best for me - until lately that is. Now I speak softly because I don’t carry a big stick.

44

**"Consider your daughters and their safety. Personally, I’m extremely non-confrontational. I don’t hurt other people for a variety of moral and legal reason. I’m not terribly squeamish but I’m empathetic enough to wince at other people’s pain. I’m kind to strangers and help those in need. If someone endangered my son or wife, I would grind them into unidentifiable pieces using a nail clipper if need be. **
I will do everything in my power to avoid violence, but if my family is threatened, I will remove the threat using any means necessary. That’s a personal decision I’ve come to by considering what I’m willing to do, and you need to do the same thing. You may come to a completely different conclusion and decide that there are some things you simply would not do regardless of the threat. Whatever answer you come to, you need to consider it now so when the time comes, your mind is free.

That is DEEP man, I’ll have to reflect and think about that fer a while. EYE OPENER!! thanks. Errrrr… I meant eye opener as in wake up and smell the roses, not eye gouger :slight_smile:

45

gutterfighting.org

46

Another point to add to the mix -

When choosing a school or a style, consider if it concentrates its teaching mostly on self-defense, or mostly on duelling.

Many martial arts concentrate on duelling, where both fighters start off roughly even in position. Standing up, face to face, both aware that a fight is about to begin, and so forth. Fights in which someone genuinely intends to hurt you do not always begin this way. The sucker punch and the sneak attack are both at least as likely to be your assailant’s approach as a challenge to “step outside”.

This is especially true of weapon attacks. Many times you are not aware that he has a knife until after he stabs you, which almost invalidates all the training that many self-defense arts use to prepare you. And it is not practical to defend against a gunshot from twenty yards away, because it cannot be done without plenty of warning.

Another advantage of arts such as judo, jujitsu, boxing/kickboxing, and other “full contact” training arts, are that they give you practice in defending yourself when you are in a disadvantageous position. Boxing and kickboxing teach you how to fight after you have been hit. Judo and jujitsu teach the whole sequence of “top-mounted -> in the guard -> pass the guard -> establish control -> get the submission”. Thus you are better prepared to deal with things when the guy does not wait for you to say, “Make like you are coming at me with a club”.

Duelling can, by and large, be avoided. Mostly it happens with adolescent males between 14-25, and is mostly chest-pounding and jockeying for position in the hierarchy. Unless your assailant is involved in patterns of alcohol or other drug abuse that retard maturing, you can generally avoid dominance duels by avoiding, or at least be extra wary, of males in that age range, and by avoiding places where alcohol is used.

And if he just wants your wallet, he is also easily dealt with. If he wanted to kill you, he would not show you the weapon first, he would just shoot you. Him you can deal with by not handing him your wallet - by tossing the wallet about six feet to your right as you take off running to the left. If he just wants your money, he will go for the wallet and go buy crack. If he doesn’t, at least you have a head start.

It is the rest of the time that you should be training for - when he wants to hurt you, not rob you, and doesn’t care to give you a fighting chance. Which is why I generally would not recommend arts like aikido or other, more stylized fighting forms. Try doing a nice shiho-nage lying on your back after being tackled.

Almost any martial art that is at all practical will improve your conditioning, raise your fighting spirit, and give you some idea of what you want to do and how to go about doing it. This gives you an advantage over the average schmuck who is not paranoid enough to be on the lookout for trouble, and working to avoid it.

Be safe.

Regards,
Shodan

47

The most important part is how much time you’re willing devote to practice.

What you’re taught’s not nearly as important what you learn.

You only get better at what you practice.

Mental toughness, physical conditioning, and experience and practice are the best bets you have regardless of what art you choose.