Real Self Deffence

[gabbah]

Has anyone tried any of these suggestions? This forum is neigh useless if no one takes action.

I'm not sure if you were refering to me in your previous post... Anyway I haven't trained yet and also I'm only helping out sometimes, and don't normally train with girls, only sometimes.
I have seen really "careful" girls that were afraid of sparring become really great fighters. So all hope is not lost for those kinds of girls.

[Little Apple]

I was talking about anyone. We've put forward a lot of ideas, and that's great, but I was just wondering if anyone had had the opportunity to try any yet. It'd be great to get a consensus on what's truely effective.

[TV954]

Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs.

A wonderful gentleman by the name of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman writes in "On Combat" that most of the population can be categorized as "sheep", not in a derogatory way, just that they prefer not to think of or deal with the possibility of violence in our society. There are the threats, that is the "wolves", and then there are the "sheepdogs", law-enforcement, military, martial artists, etc. Why don't women, or for that matter most men, want to realize the need for self-defense training? Because they don't want to! They are "sheep". It's too stressful and unpleasant to think about, let alone do something about. Is teaching self-defense a good idea? Sure, and for just about everyone at that! An effective SD curriculum needs to be realistic, stripped of all ritual, teaching multiple strategies (physical, verbal, etc.), has to be full force, full power, and trigger an adrenaline dump just like the real thing. There also has to be time and opportunity for trainees to talk, depressurize, and analyze what occurs in training. The training has to emphasize that the goal is to GET AWAY, not punish or kill an attacker. Now before anyone starts in on how there is something amiss in what I've posted, let me say that for as many martial arts, law-enforcement people that teach SD there are that many ideas as to what's right and effective and what's not. These are just some thoughts regarding what has worked for me throughout the years of teaching scenario-based, stress-inoculation types of SD classes.

[tellner]

Lt. Col. Grossman has done some excellent work. Sometimes he is full of untreated effluent. His categorization of people into sheep, sheep dogs and coyotes is one of those times.