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Archive for the ‘Self Defense’ Category

Self defense is such a broad term that the history of it cannot be pinned down in the least. It is safe to say, however, that the broad spectrum of self defense can be considered as having come from the dawn of time even the earliest forms of human had to learn how to protect themselves and teach their strategies to others. From there self defense evolved into less primitive forms and into delineated and disciplined forms, such as with martial arts. There really is a style of defense for everybody whether it be women’s self defense, kickboxing, street fighting or even martial arts.

Women’s self defense is one of the most popular forms of defense, and it too is a broad term in and of itself. Women’s self defense can employ many techniques from several different styles of general defense, including but not limited to martial arts. Women’s self defense mainly teaches women how to protect themselves against unwanted attackers and usually employs more evasive maneuvers rather than one-on-one strikes because the theory is that if a woman gets attacked, she is not going to want to fight her attacker face to face, she will need to employ a strategy that will best allow her to remove herself from the situation.

Women’s self defense can usually be taught in just a few classes and many local YMCA centers will offer it; it is the perfect solution for women that do not want to take up learning an entire martial art but still want to protect themselves.

Street fighting is another form of self defense that can sometimes be taught in classes, but to its namesake, is more often learned by other s on the street. Similar to the martial art Krav Maga, the sole purpose of street fighting is to bring down the opponent and incapacitate them so they are not able to attack again using any means available. If that means a throw to the ground, then that is what must be used but other times, more desperate or harsh methods must be used.

Unfortunately, street fighting (again, like Krav Maga) is one of the more brutal forms of self defense and it usually doesn’t matter if the opponent or attacker is seriously hurt or maimed; in fact, that is the objective most of the time. For this reason, street fighting is not one of the forms of defense that can double as a sport and practiced for fun. It is best to learn it and keep the knowledge tucked away for a time in which it is truly necessary.

It is a good idea for everyone to be schooled in at least one form of self defense. The main philosophy behind defense, regardless of the form, is this: do not hurt the other person unless it is absolutely unavoidable and necessary. Contrary to popular belief, if everyone learned just a little bit of proper self defense, there would be a lot less violence to go around.

Most self-defense and martial arts instructors avoid the emotions altogether. Others limit their focus on a gross over-simplification of emotional response during an attack situation. But, beyond being scared or angry, what role do the emotions play in handling a potentially deadly situation?

Did you ever wonder about that?

Aside from being reactions to the moment-to-moment occurances as we go through our days, what role do your emotions play. For most of us, it’s kind of like your blood type. Apart from knowing what it is so we don’t get the wrong type if we need to have a transfusion, it just like emotions are just things that we “have” and have no control over.

In reality, your emotions are actually tied to our body’s own natural, human, defense system. It’s true. Your body is already hard-wired for self-defense from birth.

The thing is that, our sophisticated brains, socialization, and cultural, academic, and familial education has almost made us completely clueless that we have these abilities and functions.

So, what is the function of your emotions, and how can they help us in our defense? Good question.

It’s not the focus of this article to go into all of the inner workings of your human brain. Let’s just start with some very simple responses to stimuli from the world around us.

You see, everything that we’re exposed to, causes a feeling, or response at a base, primitive level. This happens without us being conscious of it, and also happens below the level of what we normally call our emotions.

These base “feelings” or responses can be generally identified as feelings of:



Attraction - we’re drawn to it

Aversion - we don’t like it, or…

Apathy - we don’t care either way



Don’t confuse these primitive feelings with higher, more complicated emotional moods like:



Love

Hate, and…

Ignorance



They are much simpler and tied not to the higher brain functions, but actually come from your primitive “reptilian” brain – also known as the R-complex – the part of your brain that’s primarily concerned with self-preservation activities like eating, procreating, and not-dying.

“Why,” you may ask, “do I want to know all this scientific mumbo-jumbo? All I want to do is pick up some moves to protect myself?”

And I would answer, “you don’t have to learn anything.”

Not if you just want to learn those “moves” and then hope that you’ll be able to use them in a real combat situation.

Here’s the thing. When you’re training in your martial arts or self-defense class, you’re in a differnt state – pumped up, happy, having a good time. Yes?

Looking at the base feelings I described a minute ago, that would mean you were in “attraction” mode, where you like what you’re doing and want more of it. The activity – the training – it feels good and, while perhaps difficult at times, probably not very threatening or dangerous at all.

Now, it doesn’t matter if you’ve ever been in a real fight, or ever been attacked by an enraged individual out for blood, I’m sure you can imagine what that must be like. You can almost see his eyes and the intense look on his face. Add to that, the pressure and intention he’s projecting and the smell of him – we can’t forget the smell and feel of him as he moves in on you.

Are you still in “attraction” mode? I bet not. And you’re not even in the real attack. You’re just thinking about it and you’re having an “aversion” response.

How do you think you’re going to feel actually being in the heat of the moment?

Right. Very different than in class or your own personal training sessions where there is no real danger.

If you get the idea of the role and great value that your emotions play in keeping you safe. And, if you learn what role they play in spearheading your body’s natural defense mechanisms, then you can also train to tap into their power and use them as tools for your own protection.

Realizing this will also allow you to tailor and adapt your actual training methods to accomodate, acknowledge, and use your emotions as the valuable tools they are.

Remember, any monkey can learn the moves, but a true expert – a true master – takes advantage of things that most individuals don’t even know about, or don’t know exist. So, do you have to study and use your emotions in your self-defense training? No.

But then, you don’t “have” to breath either. But I’d highly recommend it!

Are you a private individual, law enforcenment or security professional, member of the military, or human resources manager looking for effective self-defense training that works?

Get the training you need to survive a real world self-defense situation.

Women’s self defense issues are constantly in the news and a ‘hot’ topic for conversations. In fact, the number one concern from women, especially single women in the dating world, is rape.

It seems that everyone from police officers to karate instructors has his or her own philosophy and theories about the how’s and why’s of self defense for women and girls.

The truth is though, that many of the same techniques and tactics taught to men for self-protection simply will not work for a woman. Why?…

… because attacks perpetrated on women have, at their foundation, certain inherent problems, issues, and conditions that are often very different for men who find themselves in defensive situations. Women have to deal with things that, quite frankly, men don’t.

If this is something you’re really concerned about, you owe it to yourself to do some serious research to get more information about real-world self-defense for women designed around issues specifically related to womens self-defense.

Now, before some of you start rolling your eyes or nodding your head in agreement, this is not a women’s lib issue or anything of the sort. It’s simply the way it is.

What kind of things make self-defense for women different? I’m glad you asked.

Well, for starters, physiologically speaking, there is a 7-to-3 strength ratio between male and female bodies. That means that if you were to stand a man and a woman, having the same height, weight, and build, side-by-side, and all things considered (health, fitness, etc.)…

… the man would still be two-and-a-half times stronger than the woman!

This is not theory or one person’s belief over those of others. It’s scientific fact.

Next, women are more likely to be slapped, grabbed and pinned than punched or kicked. For men, it’s just the opposite. The fact is that, most of us have been conditioned since childhood to act, play, and, yes, fight with each gender very differently. And attackers are no different.

The good news is that more and more women are being drawn to the life-enhancing benefits of the martial arts and basic self-defense programs for increasing their level of self-confidence and overall feelings of safety and security. The not-so-good news is that…

… there is a shortage of:

* Martial arts instructors who understand scientific self-defense, ‘and’ have the necessary life experience to be able to teach from a perspective that shares that experience.

After all…

… if an instructor has never been in a real-world self defense situation themselves, it will make it nearly impossible for them to teach real self defense to anyone – let alone self defense for women. It’s kind of like going to a priest of counselor for marriage counselling who has never been married themselves. They both have information passed on by others but, neither has anyway of expressing that information based on real-word knowledge.

However, there is an over-abundance of…

…so-called self-defense experts who are of the tough-guy, fighter type or the “This is Reality – Deal With it! macho-type.

These people, by their very nature are the “slugger-types” who rely and depend on speed, strength and size to win. Since self defense situations usually involve a bigger, faster, stronger attacker victimizing a smaller, less-prepared target – and, that’sexactly what most women are up against when they’re attacked…

… these instructors, and their “strike-first-and-crush-them-where-they-stand mentalities, are far from being suited, knowledgeable, or able to deliver the necessary lessons needed by women to effectively protect themselves from an assailant intent on dominating them physically.

Other Considerations for Girls and Womens Self Defense

The following is a partial list of some of the other major differences between self defense for women and men. The important thing to remember is that…

… a self-defense situation is very different from a sport or competition-based contest where the individuals are willing participants. They are evenly matched to insure for a “fair fight.” I have been in contests and I have been attacked and I can tell you without a moment’s doubt that…

… there is nothing “fair” or “even” about a real attack. NOTHING! And, once your personal space is invaded by another human being wanting to beat you to your core, you will know what I mean and never, ever, buy into the crap that most of these so-called experts are shovelling.

With that said, please know that I have not said that every self-defense or martial arts instructor is full of it. Just that you must know what you need and make sure that that’s what you’re getting. Remember – you’re not buying a couch that you can take back. A mistake in this area could literally cost you your life!

Here are some other differences between men’s and women’s training that a good program must address:

* Cultural Influences – girls have been taught from a very early age that fighting was not “lady-like.”

Oh my god! What would people think!

* Situational Self-Defense – rape and sexual assault are two of the biggest differences between the genders when it comes to suriviving an attack.

The fact that men are usually dealing with the more obvious situations (muggings and competitive (“oh-yeah! let’s go!”-type fighting), while women, and more and more young girls, are required to deal with subtle tactics like date-rape or being ambushed by a group.

Add to this the strength differential discussed earlier, and you have a very different situation, requiring very different self-protection tactics.

* Incorrect Information – I believe that the majority of teachers and instructors mean well. They aren’t out to con you. It’s just that they have no real experience to go on so they do what everyone does when they don’t know any better…

… they make assumptions that seem logical and rational within their own frame of reference.

The problem is that we’re talking about self-protection here…

… self defense for women…

… girls self-defense. Not…

… vegetable soup. Where, if you make a mistake, you can just dump the pot and start over.

As I said earlier, a mistake in a women’s self-defense situation, in any situation requiring defense against an attack from an assailant bent on damaging you, could be very, very costly indeed.