This is an article taken from www.realistic-martial-arts.net Martial arts for women There are two issues that have to be taken into account for women if they decide to start doing martial arts for self defense. The first one is the obvious one, which is the physical attributes, or the lack of them. Women are smaller, weaker and slower than men (in general). The second issue is a mental aspect. This is actually a pretty normal problem for men as well, but even more so for women. So what do I mean when I say women have a mental “problem”? Well, I am talking about a mental block that many women have, that makes it hard for them to hurt another human being. This in my opinion is healthy and good quality, because after all, we are people and we should not be violent. If you have any sort of normal upbringing as a child, you should be against violence. However, in this twisted world that we live in, there are people that will attack you because they see you as an easy prey. Unfortunately, women have the hardest time defending themselves and therefore become a specially targeted. That is why women need to learn how to defend themselves. Before we go on to talking about martial arts well suited for women, we need to go through some tips that minimize the risk of being a victim. Some of these are common sense. 1. Don’t walk alone at night. 2. Walk confidently but not provocatively. 3. If a suspicious man hits on you, rather be rude toward him than nice (studies have shown that this is the right thing to do) 4. If you can, carry pepper spray Alright, besides these tips, you also want to know how to really defend yourself. Pepper spray is a good start, but many times you will be taken by surprise and you will not have the time to pick it up from your purse is a stressed situation. There are 3 things that you will need to deal with, and I will explain how martial arts will you with each and every one of them. 1. Attack first and hard, because you most likely will be physically weaker than the aggressor. Krav Maga is the perfect martial art to teach you this, it’s techniques compensate very well for physical inferiority. 2. If you don’t manage to stop the attacker, and he pulls you down on the ground, we have to deal with the reality of rape. There is no smarter solution for this scenario than that of Brazilian jiu jitsu. There is a position in Brazilian jiu jitsu called the guard, which is very similar to what a rape position would look like. So imagine a rapist trying to pin you down to the ground with his arms, you would be surprised how easy it is to put him in an arm-bar and break his arm. Or if he tries to lay on you, you would be surprised to see how easy it is to sweep him even though he is stronger, so that you get to a dominant position. 3. This last one is good but optional, because I realize people don’t have all the time in the world. But 4 months of pure boxing would be great in order to get past the mental block I was talking about earlier, which is to able to strike another human being. Also, it will take away the shock feeling that people get when getting struck for the first time. The two important ones however are Krav Maga and Brazilian jiu jitsu. One last thing I need to address is the importance of not going to these one week courses for self defense. These are just money scams. In real life, you do not have the time to think which technique to use; it has to be an instinct. They only way to make it an instinct, is by hundreds of hours of training. For example when I first started doing Karate, I had to think about things like hip-rotation in punches, and correct footwork and things of that nature, but with time that became natural, I do not think about doing it anymore, it would be un-natural for me now not to do it. I would say that if you do Krav maga and Brazilian jiu jitsu for 6 months each, you will be able to handle yourself fairly well and you will be able to walk more confidently which in its turn will draw less attackers toward yourself. It is a great feeling knowing that you can protect yourself from harm if needed. So it’s not just about being able to defend yourself if ever it should be needed, it’s also about feeling better when you leave the house, that's something pepper spray can't give you.
"I am talking about a mental block that many women have, that makes it hard for them to hurt another human being." hahaha every woman we hang around is an evil cow in that case! I think more men suffer this these days!
That's a pretty good write up, thanks for posting it 50inches. In regards to the line about size of women: The above statement is counter productive, if not inaccurate. I would have preferred it worded something more in the lines that if you are big, strong and tough enough to protect yourself, you don't need martial arts. However, if you feel you are not, then martial arts training can help. The important point is to gain exposure with training partners that are bigger, stronger, faster... than you. This will force you to learn, then in real world, you will be better prepared. On the other hand, the idea of training in both Krav Maga and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a good one IMHO. One of the focus on martial arts is to attack vital areas that do not matter how big the opponent is. Often striking and ripping is taught to go directly to the eyes, throat, groin, knees... secondary targets include the back of the neck, chin, various pressure points, tail bone, thumb, back of jawline, etc... but the primary targets are generally considered to be the most effective. Krav Maga is going to teach to go for these target area with strikes and bites. On the other hand, you have to be able to get into position to attack effectively without leaving yourself wide open to counter attack. BJJ at close range is going to help a lot with applying constant pressure and maintaining mobility in close quarters. Plus helping to negate the advantages of size and strength the opponent might have. I agree that together, Krav Maga and BJJ would make a good combination. Oh, about this: This is not exactly true either. Having a weapon such as pepper spray (with some realistic training in how to use aerosol restraints) can give a great sense of confidence. For instance, you are never so confident (and at the same time have the weight of responsibility) when carrying a concealed firearm. This is in a sense is a false sense of security because the weapon is only good if you have it in hand ready to use, and you are willing to use it if necessary... When without the weapon, a person can become very afraid. Martial arts with realistic training helps build confidence that does not depend on having a weapon in hand all the time.
My instructor does women only self defence courses, which i think is great to get them started, but i think that for real training they need to train with men, as its all very well training with women about the same size as them but in the street if a 20 stone bloke grabs them their confidence would go out the window for a start as they are used to fighting a female of similar size and with no disrespect when training with each other they probably wouldn't put as much pressure on in the techniques as they would need against a big guy. The women who have trained with the men have come on strong and know exactly whats needed, trust me there are a few who i have trained with and they don't mess around, some mug attacking them on the street wouldn't know what hit him.
I am in agreement with Taffy.I train almost exclusively with men.Most people on here who know me know I advocate a) training with men and b) getting a good combination of striking and grappling so you have a good arsenal of techniques.
Yes, a must to train with men, especially bigger... and I say this not only because I believe it is true, but because there is an all women Kajukenbo school here that has open sparring every month to bring in men for the women to roll and spar with. They believe it is necessary. On the other hand, I think you got to train with people smaller than you because what works for them will help you develop what works for you against bigger people. Oh why do the women always want to grapple me? I can only assume it is so they can learn how a little guy like me grapples so they can learn.
So we can just say the best training in self defence for a woman is.............. .........................exactly the same as mens. Not really a suprise is it?
Exactly. Though as I have said before, a lot of "women's self defence "courses are done in isolation.I think it's so important for us lady folks to train with men, for self defence and for good mma training- I was trying to explain this to a lady who came along to mma yesterday.
You have to train with all shapes and sizes never know whos going to attack you for real on the street and the more people you train with the more confidence it gives you. We make a point of swapping training partners so you get used to it, especially with the kids classes as they would settle for training with their best friends(which can be a nightmare sometimes) and others would pick who they thought easiest to beat. I don't have the option of training with anybody smaller than me, even most of the kids class are taller than me!!!!!!
ive got the same thing at bjj nd i like it. its a lot more realstic since i doubt anyon attacks someone bigger than them
The best you can say about this article is that it's no worse than most of the ones out there. It concentrates on stranger danger which shows that the author is about as ignorant of self defense issues as most martial artists. Not his fault. Most people who know how to punch and kick think makes them an expert on anything related to crime, violence and self protection. Then there's his prescription: BJJ or Krav Maga. There's nothing wrong with either of these. But they aren't the Unholy Ichor of Great Cthulhu. There's plenty of good teachers who can get you what you need who don't do either of those. And there are lots of KM and BJJ guys whose advice and training are not helpful at all. He pulled his numerical rating system for martial arts out of his **** and expects everyone to be impressed because it's got numbers and abbreviations. Mostly he's doing what every salesman does - telling us how cool his stuff is so that we'll buy from him.
Seconded. I found this comment particularly funny: If there's a situation where you have the option of thinking which technique to use then you've probably been taught too many techniques. Fine if you're an instructor who needs 'excess' knowledge so as to be able to give the best option for individuals, not so good if you're just learning self defence. The alternative to hundreds of hours of training is a small amount of training practising instinctive movements (or extensions of instinctive movements) and low maintenance movements.
jwt, I agree with your last paragraph and also absolutely disagree. I'm guessing that you know what I mean and so on and so forth. If all you have is a few things that's what your brain will pull up in an emergency. That's what you'll do. If it's stuff that has a good chance of working and if you're motivated - scared witless is a strong motivation - there's a good chance you'll make it work. The real thing that has to be changed is your mind. A four hour quick course may plant some seeds. Over the years my best guess is that somewhere around twenty hours is enough to take a complete beginner and give her enough physical basics and emotional training to increase her chances significantly. The long-term stuff will take you further, but it takes a lot more time.
