Perhaps but you have to realize where I am coming from being a woman... (and hopefully in our new Womens Self Defense forum we can focus more on this)... I have trained in both empty handed techniques from my traditional TKD/Aikido training and also some scenario-based self defense training. I am hoping to get Yelena Pawela to come over to MAP and contribute to this thread (I have invited her to do so after reading her aricle this past month in Black Belt Magazine).... her experience includes having studied under Russian and U.S. Special Forces hand-to-hand combat instructors as well as Krav Maga, JKD, Kali and JJ and rape prevention. Her article does mention that weapons are important to a woman who may be concerned about her personal safety on the street and if a conventional one is not avaialbe she needs to search for a way to improvise one. Yes... everything is a weapon if you plan to attack but also remember everything is also a weapon that can be used against you... and bearing this in mind prepare your empty hands to meet that weapon in the street.
i understand where you are coming from Rockonmat but im telling you you would reduce your chances of survival by relying on some weapon that you are unfamiliar with.. they always say dont pull a weapon unless you know how to use it otherwise it will end up getting used on you.... i understand say given twenty feet between you and five attackers and your tripping over baseball bats you would pick on or two up but at one foot on say a basketball court what are you going to grab...... we are discussing situations where we havnt chosen the combat zone its been chosen for us ... the time it takes to find a weapon and equip yourself with it could be the differance between life and death ,,, if you NEED to, use that time to take out the attacker/s say you pull your keys and decide to use the longest as a push dagger ..have you done it before... do you know how to use them... probably not making it a lot less an effective weapon than your own body... kickchick i assumed that was where you were coming from which is why i felt it was so important to get my point across ..... in a home intruder situation when you are in the bath and its you body or the bar of soap somewhere in the tub you need to be able to and have the confidence to rely on your body..... i though about several situations where the only imediate weapon around to assist with survival was the human body and people need to know they can rely on it when nessacary,,, my girlfriend is 5'6 about 58 kilos can hurl me around like im nothing and could take me appart in a fraction of a second thats because she belives in her abilities in 5'11 about 90 kilos and i feel like i should be looking for weapons (joke lol) i think where you are coming from is one of the most dispicable acts imaginable ..and when i was teaching it was certainly at the back of my mind for all my female students but i gave then no outs no excuses and treated all my students the same and a lot of the women where better and i would have been more worried because they think they have to be but the truth is in ma unless the attacker is equaly trained and has the same strenght of will (this then becomes a size/strenght battle) size means nothing i saw an 8 year old kid break the leg of a friend who is a kung fu instructor ..he like the kids mom askd the kid to show him what he new so he side kicked his knee ........... big guy little kid... a grown woman should sure as hell be able to do the same thing at least should she ?
maybe you missed a point that was made earlier. Some of us train to use improv. weapons and in weapons that are weapons. AND your example of the keys as a push dagger is not that valid, push daggers and similare weapons (tiger claws, brass knuckles etc) are called brawling aids, im sure your heard teh term before. NAD as brawling aids are weapons taht are just some thing that make basic unarmed attacks more damaging. Yeah my punch can probably break ribs but if I have some keys or even a small piece or plastic protroding from my fist it focuses the the force over a smaller area so I can cause more damage with less force. Why should i use all or alot of my strenght to cause damage to a person when I could use a lot less and cave some ones head in? And as rockon_matt said why would I want to let some get close enough to me so they could break my ribs with their fists or feet? if i can keep an attacker an extra 3 feet away because I have a sharp of metal pointed at his throat so much the better. AND I dont think any body every said that its unimportant to train your body for unarmed fighting and you said so yourself and I agree with that statment but what about if you have readily available weapon? would you instead choose to use unarmed figthing against and armed attacker? And as I recall you said you would or surrender. so maybe you tell us how to fight a man with a sword, or stick, or gun , oh wait thats right your would give up if he had a gun, or how about somethig completely ;unlikely an attacker weidling a klingon batleth, some cops are trained to fight against them because some crazed trekkie might attack. Or how about chains can you fight against chain weapons? It would be wonderful if we could all live in peace but taht wont happend because if we could we would nolonger be humans. It is that drive towards conflict and destruction that makes us what we are.
1 single, benign, amoeba. 1 oxygen molecule. Sex. Well, that may be used as a weapon, BUT WHAT A WAY TO GO!
Ok. Said I wasn't going to post again, but I lied. Again, I wanted to second everything that Cudgle wrote. And break down my philosophy as such: 1. Your ultimate weapon in any self defense situation is your mind. That's what the martial arts are about. Let's face it, the martial arts are there to give practioners an advantage against people who are natural fighters and/or bigger and stronger than them. In order to do that the martial arts deconstructed combat and human movements and came up with doctrines, strategies and techniques to defeat opponents. An that is all mind work. Recongizing your situation is mind work. 2. Your mind functions through your body. So your body needs to be trained. Otherwise you're not going to be able to consistantly accomplish anything. 3. Your third weapon is how you train. The core philosophy of my art is adaptation. We start training to adapt to any situation as beginners. A huge part of that training is understanding how to "shut down" an attacker's options. In order to do that we need to understand how and what attacks someone has. So we study weapons in that respect. Another key aspect of my training is improvisation. So as I mentioned at the beginning of this thread, we have exercises where we evaluate all the weapons around us. And then we take it a step farther and traing with improvisational weapons. I've done knife drills with pens (as an example). So I may have better training than some in immediately appling a weapon to a situation. However, I also have done enough to know my limitations. I would choose a large knife over a submachine gun, 'cause I don't know how to use the gun (ie load it, find and disengage the saftey). But at the same time, as Cudgel wrote, I also know that your suggestion of using a key as a punch dagger isn't correct and I would't try it. I don't advocate baseing your entire self defense on a weapon, makeshift or otherwise, that you don't know how to use. But if you can grab something in the moment that is going to help you defend yourself (especially if you know how to use it) then you should. And that could be something as simple as picking up a rock and throwing it at your attacker. As I suggested earlier, the ultimate goal of self defense is for you to make it home safe. Any technique, weapon or pair of track shoes that helps you accomplish that is key.
... even a scarf? I should have known better than to bring up the gender issue involving self defense with weapons (here especially in discussion with you) ... but womens self defense instruction does rely on the use of offensive/defensive use of weapons both real and improvised... it just does. I personally feel confident in my 5'8" 135 pounds worth of martial art training .... but like I said earlier my kicks & punches, TOGETHER with learning to use a weapon (or improvised weapon) will most undoubtedly give me IMO a better chance of survival and a more "well-rounded" martial artist (that has nothing to do with me being female! )
I totally agree I totally agree , you can kill someone with a wad of hair ... shove it down the throat.. so yea... just keep track yoru surroundings and be like jackie chan cuz hes the man Kung Fu Princess
Yea i do taht sometimes Yea i do that sometime.. but yoiu gotta be careful cus at the University i go to .. well they cetch you they freak .. 911 and all Kung Fu Princess
Self defence as a weapon? Then why call it "Self defence" The basic concept of Japanese martial arts are as a tool to strengthen ones own spirit and character through fighting principles. Shodan/Nidan are Junior grades. One can watch something like Muay Tai or K1 and people rarely go down in one hit. If anyone breaks into your house a can of beans in a sock would perhaps be better alternative. The guy that breaks has possibly done quite a bit of fighting himself. There are no miracles produced in MA. The strongest people are usually naturaly strong before they started to practice.
With respect to a weapon against multiple opponents, I'd take the staff. A gun (assuming it's a typical pistol/rifle) has a 1/2 second to 1 second delay between shots. Multiple opponents? You can kill one, what about the rest . Would pick a staff, length could be used to keep opponents at a nice distance, as long as momentum is controlled rechambering won't be as necessary and there's something about staffs as a weapon that I admire. Weapons in my room. First one I spotted was a belt (made of some kind of cloth, metallic ends), then another belt (leather, so it would move more slowly, strike harder and be more defined in shape). Also spotted an old empty bag, which could be opened and jammed over an opponents head to blind them. Coathangers could be used as weapons I think, as could a pair of wire bookends (hand extensions). CDs could be thrown as frisbees, screwdrivers could be used to stab with. Just spotted a nasty one, a pop-out panel from a computer case. 5 1/2 inch rectangular piece of steel with sharp edges. When it comes to using weapons in combat, you'd have to use it by applying principles for similar weapons. Tai Gip, I often hear you criticise others for not being open minded on certain topics (eg. chi), but you're being pretty closed minded here. If you've trained in bojitsu or escrima (staff fighting), and you pick up a broom - wouldn't you be able to use the same techniques?
now as to the rate of fire for firearms im sure that autoloaders can fire faster than 1/2 second even a revovler can fire faster than that. Multiple oppents a large sword would work quite dandily especially against unarmored targets and in close quarters. Sharp edges are wonderful as are poky things you can use a phone like a chain weapon or a mouse or shoe if you happen to have one nearby grab it by hte laces and flail away. Mine would do some hurting size 11 steel toed work boots.
Cordless phone here, mouse cords/keyboard cords not long enough. Hmm, there's a spare powercord over there >. Cordless could be used as a small club, true. would prefer some of the other weapons around here though .
I can't be bothered to go through all the replies to this post but the answer is yes. Everything is a weapon even the floor. use your imagination and not your limitation.
the wall is a weapon just like the floor only you hjit your opponent aginst it as opposed to hitting your opppent with the weapon. I like
How about using a dog on its lead as a weapon? swing it around your head and you have an instant mace with teeth. If its a big one then even better... Or better yet, a cat. A cat is the perfect weapon! And there are thousands of them about on the street. You probably have one in your home just waiting for a home invasion. Not only can it bite really well but its feet have stainless steel razors in every toe. I vote for a cat held at arms length [arms wearing of course a full length set of welding gauntletts]
Seriously though, at a recent knife disarm session our instructor was telling us about a woman who was cornered by some rather nasty blokes. She apparently ended up breaking a wire reinforced window and using the shards of glass as daggers... for self protection. Its a matter of using something appropriate if you need it and hopefully avoiding getting in the position in the first place. Avoidance AND awareness etc
FLAIL!!!!!!!! The termis flail a mace is metal club a flail is a chain atached toa handel generally with with wieght attached to teht other end of the chain adn a morning star is not flail jsut to say it now.
ok ok dont get excited! I accept it's a FLAIL I'm sorry I called it a mace! We dont use maces or flails so pardon my ignorance! wanna play bo?
