Drills for Women's Self Defense Classes

[KickChick]

Post what drills you have used for classes or devise some drills ... taking into account focus in sime of these areas....

Basic techniques

Training with live, non-compliant opponents

Defense against weapons... applications involving the creative process of using improvised weapons (found objects, weapons that do not look outwardly "weaponly", etc.) Whether a student chooses to employ weapons as offensive /defensive tools or not, they must still display an understanding of these items

Behavior Modification

Awareness

Strategic positioning ...how to stand, posture, gesture, and talk to a potential attacker

Different training experience in various venues: cars, phone booths, hiillsides, stairwells, etc.

[gojuman]

We utilize an exercise in our self defense seminars to help women get used to the idea that it is OK to cause an attacker physical damage when protecting themselves.

First we have a plain empty cardboard box and a sharp impliment like a spike of sharened kubaton. Then we have each woman take the spike and then stab the box. The next step is to take the box and we draw a face on it with 2 eyes, nose and a mouth. We then have each woman take the spike again, but we instruct them to stab the face on the box into the eye. Certain women (or any human) has a problem doing this. They often get squeemish and hesitate stabbing the eye. When this happens it alows us to focus on helping them to overcome this sqeemishness and help them understand the importance of what has to be done some times to defend life and limb.
After proper reinforcement as to why it is ok to stab the eye to save ones life the exercise is repeated and they usually stab the eye right away.

[surgingshark]

My friend is in a Women's Self Defense Class in Long Beach City College...she just had an exam.

...a WRITTEN one.

...can you imagine her frustration?

[Floorismyfriend]

"womens self defense" sounds kinda sexists doesn't it?
Everything that are taught in wsd can be taught to any guy to defend themselves. Hey howcome they dont make a mens self defense class against large and really strong women.

Well anyways teaching the 50 ways to attack the groin or eyes would be a good way to start a womens self defense class.

[Matt_Bernius]

A great drill is to have participants take turns role playing as attacker and "victim". The advantage of this over the typical instructor as attacker is that it allows the participants to get into an attacker mindset. By doing this they begin to understand attacker profiles. That in turn helps them be more aware of when they are in danger of being attacked. It's also, empowering in a weird sort of way. The difficult thing is both people really need to buy into this type of a drill.

A crucial one is also to make sure that everyone in the class has a reason to defend themselves. That they can identify one thing (family, friend, pet, etc.) that they need to get home safely to.

I should note that both of these are drills I've been exposed to through working with the Blauer system coaches (I always seem to end up hocking Blauer material on MAP... honestly I'm not directly connected to the guy). Hope this helps.

- Matt

[LRWC]

Womens self defense should be the same as a mans, Wing Chun was supposed to be invented by a woman. But whatever style you study, you need to spar to keep it sort of real. Good luck

[hkphooey]

Originally posted by LRWC
Womens self defense should be the same as a mans,
Really? You don't see any differences in situations men and women might find themselves in?

Time go go home. everyone have fun.

[SOUNDLESS]

I used many different drills in self defence classes as well as sparring (for mental conditionning)
Standing up drills range from release a grip(a tough grip even with two hands) on your wrist to head-butts. Most of them are quite difficult to explain without pictures. I might post that later if I have time.
Ground drills often start from escape from mount position (bridge and so on) to triangle, arm-bars ... in the guard position. It is a good thing to train a person in guard position for they become accustomed with a position that could be very unpleasant in real situation.

Another thing, I advice my student to strike open hand.

Good luck to everyone.

[narcsarge]

Post what drills you have used for classes or devise some drills ... taking into account focus in sime of these areas....

Basic techniques

Training with live, non-compliant opponents

Defense against weapons... applications involving the creative process of using improvised weapons (found objects, weapons that do not look outwardly "weaponly", etc.) Whether a student chooses to employ weapons as offensive /defensive tools or not, they must still display an understanding of these items

Behavior Modification

Awareness

Strategic positioning ...how to stand, posture, gesture, and talk to a potential attacker

Different training experience in various venues: cars, phone booths, hiillsides, stairwells, etc.

K.C., one thing I try to have trainees keep in mind is that most cases where a woman is attacked, the attacker does not stand still. Practicing choke escapes is great when you just have someone stand there and apply a choke. Remember, the attacker is going to be moving! Full Force! Ladies have to have this ingrained in the training otherwise their mind goes "What the heck, this is not how it was in training" and they freeze.

Same theory applies to grabs and locks. Try to be a "real life" as you can be without jeopardizing safety. But keep it real! :D

[KenpoDavid]

enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYDtmR_lbhg

[Tommy-2guns...]

i advise powerslap drills, torque takedowns , vulnerable areas to strike , verry basic techniques that take little to remeber when it comes to the crunch, also a lot of verbal power talking/dissuasion aswell as teaching the importance of the fence and pre-emptive attacks.

[Connovar]

Personally I would place verbal defensive skills first before physical skills. I believe a majority of encounters can be shut down with good assertive verbal skills. Bill Kipp (FAST) has a good DVD that has good drills and basic skill content instruction here.

My next step would be to teach her the SPEAR of Tony Blaur's

Following that I would have her learn any self defense or fighting system that used full resistance training.

[thescottishdude]

when it comes to women's self defense you should be learning moves to do with leg-work, as women's upperbody strength is alot weaker than the average man's. To compensate for that you should also cover in detail wrist locks and arm bars.

[TheMightyMcClaw]

Really? You don't see any differences in situations men and women might find themselves in?

Time go go home. everyone have fun.

You wouldn't happen to be referring to rape and sexual assaults, would you?
Ever seen American History X?
These things don't only happen to women, you know.....

[2ndchance]

Do you think that trainees in a WSD class need to practice full contact (like on a fully padded attacker) for the lesson to be effective?

[2ndchance]

when it comes to women's self defense you should be learning moves to do with leg-work, as women's upperbody strength is alot weaker than the average man's. To compensate for that you should also cover in detail wrist locks and arm bars.

I disagree, but my mind is open...

I feel that asking an unpracticed person to use their legs to defend themselves is just asking for their leg to be grabbed and be thrown to the ground.

Also, I think it would be a mistake to teach joint control techniques in a SD class because these require a huge amount of practice to become proficient.

Of course I'm referring to a one day-type class as opposed to an ongoing martial arts type class.

[PASmith]

Here's a good drill.
I call it blind man's (or woman's) bump. Not sure where I got it from.
You need 4-5 people to do it.
One person stands in the middle with their eyes shut while the others stand around them in a ring holding Thai pads.
One person in the ring controls the drill and signals visually for someone with pads to "bump" the blind man in the middle (they can signal themselves).
When "bumped" (a fairly robust bump that doesn't actually physically move them) the person in the middle responds as violently and quickly as possible. If they are bumped low (into the body) they should turn, clinch and fire in 5 skip knees. If they are bumped high (shoulders or chest) they again open their eyes, turn, move into the "attacker" and fire in 5 elbows as aggressively as they can. Obviously you can change the techniques to whatever you want to practice at the time.
The person controlling the drill can send in the bumpers in quick succession or make the person wait with their eyes shut (building up tension and adrenaline). People in the ring can also shout and swear without bumping to build up disorientation before the bump.