Help please

[korngirl]

I am 16 years old and i have been training in the martial arts for seven years. I have the feeling that if the day would come to where if myself or one of my students are to get attacked we may not fare too well up against an attacker. This is why i have choosen to do my senior project for school by creating a women's self defense class to present. The only problem is that all i know is martial arts, so i was wondering if someone could tell me of some powerful techniques, good books, or helpful websites. Thank you so much for your time.

Jess

["Real"PDShaolin]

If you've never seen the Gracie Academies Rapesafe video then get it. Its excellent. Rorion Gracie may be a snake oil salesman but he's an excellent instructor with a great gift for explaining technique. It covers a few great points and movements without going into ridiculous stuff that would take years for you to just LEARN let alone actually DO.

[ryanhall]

16 and has students? hmmmmm.....

take a look at:

www.senshido.com --read up on helen stratzl
www.gutterfighting.org --WW II combatives--excellent site
www.selfdefenseforums.com --general self defense--great forums
www.sammyfranco.com --lots of good articles--scan the archives
www.tonyblauer.com --info on psychological aspect of sd

most of those places have forums with a lot of knowledgable posters with a lot of experience. make sure you don't go looking for "super powerful techniques" or martial arts magic. that stuff isn't usually well received on those sites--but i'm sure they'll help you out. read up: just make sure you give credit where credit is due. good luck.

ryan

[Ryu (JKD?)]

Korngirl.
Hello.

From your post it sounds like you may not be experiencing real-life emotions, or real-life contact in your training. This is a necessity that is universal in martial arts. You must be training your emotions and your physicality against resitance if you want to train correctly.

This is what I would advise you to do. Do some contact scenario training. Find competent instructors who know their material and train your adrenaline managment, awareness, surprise attack defenses, first strikes, follow ups, etc. Learn not just the physical but also the mental. Find out how you react during crisis-scenario training. Do you freeze? Do you have tunnel vision, are you aware of the tell tale signs where someone is going to attack you?
What do you say? Can you use language strategically to defuse, confuse, and set up surprise attacks of your own?
What tactics do you use? Can you grapple, can you close in, can you palm, punch, rake, eye gouge, bite, etc. Can you do all those things against someone resisting you 100%?

This is the type of training that will allow you to feel more certainty about how you'll fare in a real situation. Training in BJJ is a good bet, and I'm glad that you are now doing that, however you need the stuff I mentioned above as well.

Good luck, and good training to you.

Take care,
Ryu

[korngirl]

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on this topic. If any one thinks of any good self defense books let me know.

Thanks
Jess

["Real"PDShaolin]

You want some good advice? I'm going to give you the most honest advice you'll get around here.

First of all, don't take all this crap so seriously. A streetfight is not a world altering experience that will leave you shell shocked like a Vietnam vet. Its an angry person trying to smack you. Everyone that talks about all the mental and environmental training is either brainwashed or trying to make a buck of you. How many times are you going to be assaulted that you need to dedicate every aspect of your life in learning how to fight? Frank Shamrock hasn't been training for too long. He'd kick everyone's azz here. Physicality is a big part of defending yourself. It doesn't take 10 years to learn how to punch someone in the face while yelling loud to draw attention to your situation.

People mak martial arts out to be SO much more than they really are. Instead of realizing that you are simply learning how to harm someone with your body or another object we get tossed into this whole big deal about "Street combat" as if the mention of that term should strike fear into your heart.

Boxers all punch basically the same way. Heavyweights, lightweights, feathers..... There is simply a way to punch that is superior to all others in a vast majority of situations. And even if that way is NOT superior in the 1% of the time that MIGHT come up, it will still be EFFECTIVE in that circumstance.

Defending yourself isn't brain science. Train your body and study arts that anyone can see are effective. Use some common sense and ask questions. And whenever anyone says "In theory this will....." grin really big and then run for the door when the person isn't looking.

[ryanhall]

First of all, don't take all this crap so seriously. A streetfight is not a world altering experience that will leave you shell shocked like a Vietnam vet. Its an angry person trying to smack you.

sometimes true, but a lot of people end up badly hurt and even killed. don't blow it out of proportion, but don't downplay the severity of it either.

Everyone that talks about all the mental and environmental training is either brainwashed or trying to make a buck of you.

sigh...all those guys with their so-called 'experience' must be mornons. right . just so you know, most of those people who "talk about all the mental and environmental training" have a fair amount of mma (or arts that mma types respect/incorporate into their training) experience. do you walk around in your little spandex shorts everyday--just in case someone wants to roll with you? i should have known that every time some big dude out of my weight class acts like a jerk and threatens me that a ref will be there to stop things if they get out of hand. all those buddies of his just want to watch and cheer on their friend. maybe after it's all over, we can go get some drinks? WHY oh why does this never happen? i must not be doing things right.

Frank Shamrock hasn't been training for too long. He'd kick everyone's azz here. Physicality is a big part of defending yourself. It doesn't take 10 years to learn how to punch someone in the face while yelling loud to draw attention to your situation.

yeah, but he trains for hours a day every day. that more than makes up for a lot of lost time. add being a natural athlete, and you've got a good fighter. the tools that really work most of the time do not take a lifetime to learn. he'd beat everyone senseless in the ring, but he's not much use if he gets jacked in the throat while telling you what terrible things he's gonna do to you for crossing him. what if he gets stabbed in the ribs by someone who didn't like the way he looked at them? not likely, but not impossible, especially given the way most of those guys carry themselves.

Defending yourself isn't brain science. Train your body and study arts that anyone can see are effective.

brain science? well, i guess you're more smarter than me. that was the bestest advice ever. but seriously, your mind is much more important to your survival than how hard you hit (power helps though).

i don't claim any expertise, but i know the real deal when i see it.
stick to what you know, tex

ryan

["Real"PDShaolin]

Ryan is an idiot. Just ignore him.


He's the guy trying to make ME sound stupid for saying 'brain science', which I meant to say, when he doesn't know that sentences start with capital letters.

I've probably studied martial arts before he was born.


This moron wants to know what happens if frank Shamrock gets stabbed in the ribs or jacked in the throat....THE SAME FRIGGIN THING THAT WOULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE ELSE. What are YOU going to do in that situation? CHI the knife out of you?

And, just so you know, I AM much smarter than you. Nice of you to point it out. I have too much humility to say so otherwise even though its pretty obvious.

Man I've been around but you are one of the STUPIDEST baztards I've come across. Whats up with THIS gem:

i should have known that every time some big dude out of my weight class acts like a jerk and threatens me that a ref will be there to stop things if they get out of hand. all those buddies of his just want to watch and cheer on their friend. maybe after it's all over, we can go get some drinks? WHY oh why does this never happen? i must not be doing things right.

No offese, but what the FUK are you talking about? Are you ok? Are you talking about grappling against multiple opponents? If you are ANYTHING his friends can do to you while your engaged in grappling they can ALSO do to you if your striking. Common sense. Get some. Its free.

[platinum_angel]

Originally posted by "Real"PDShaolin
Ryan is an idiot. Just ignore him.


He's the guy trying to make ME sound stupid for saying 'brain science',

This moron wants to know what happens if frank Shamrock gets stabbed in the ribs or jacked in the throat....THE SAME FRIGGIN THING THAT WOULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE ELSE. What are YOU going to do in that situation? CHI the knife out of you?

And, just so you know, I AM much smarter than you. Nice of you to point it out. I have too much humility to say so otherwise even though its pretty obvious.

Man I've been around but you are one of the STUPIDEST baztards I've come across. Whats up with THIS gem:





No offese, but what the FUK are you talking about? Are you ok? Are you talking about grappling against multiple opponents? If you are ANYTHING his friends can do to you while your engaged in grappling they can ALSO do to you if your striking. Common sense. Get some. Its free.

you sound smarter than him LOL

by the way ryans right your wrong

don't talk if you don't have anything intelligent say.

no offense

[ryanhall]

well, peedee, you may have been studying martial arts before i was born, but that is immaterial.

when he doesn't know that sentences start with capital letters.

when your insults have been reduced to harping on the way someone types their posts (and the correction is not even grammatical), then it's about time you closed your pie hole before you embarass yourself. you write columns for a joke page. as the rock would say: "just shut your mouth and know your role."

No offese, but what the FUK are you talking about? Are you ok? Are you talking about grappling against multiple opponents? If you are ANYTHING his friends can do to you while your engaged in grappling they can ALSO do to you if your striking. Common sense. Get some. Its free.

my post was not in reference to some stupid and childish 'striking vs grappling' garbage. only a fool doesn't know both. it was about your wholesale dismissal of the mental aspect of survival--which just happens to be the most important piece of the puzzle in the opinion of many in the know.

This moron wants to know what happens if frank Shamrock gets stabbed in the ribs or jacked in the throat....THE SAME FRIGGIN THING THAT WOULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE ELSE. What are YOU going to do in that situation? CHI the knife out of you?

guess what, smart guy...you're right. must be a nice change for you. getting stabbed or hit in the throat can ruin your week. however, i never said anything about chi or what i would do. contemplation of hypotheticals is pointless. however, i would be strive to be aware of my surroundings, the mental state of my assailant, his weapons deployment capability, and i would make sure i wasn't staring down every bastard who looked my way--more than i can say for a lot of the mma tough guys i know. oh yeah, and i would hit first after setting him up. sadly, you would be out of luck here, because in order to use said 'set up,' you must engage your brain--something you do far too infrequently it seems.

Common sense. Get some. Its free.

thanks for the suggestion. i got an extra helping since you seemed to pass up your share.

in closing, peedee, you have come here and announced that someone was using your name 'criminally,' and no one cared. troll somewhere else please.

ryan

["Real"PDShaolin]

Both of you are kids. Thats obvious now.

I DID have something intelligent to say. I gave advice that a person ASKED for and then had someone who has trained about one fifth of the years I have open his mouth and start shiit. If you dont want to see that then come back when you've grown up and read it again.

["Real"PDShaolin]

And as for Ryan(The genius who STILL doesn't know how to start sentences) I've done martial arts for a LIVING. What exactly have YOU done?

[Ryu (JKD?)]

Real Shaolin,

An attack on a woman (like Korngirl who is 16) will not usually be "an angry guy trying to smack her around."
The reason I advocate full contact scenario drilling, de-escalation principles, etc. all against resisting opponents is because much of real world self-defense centers around who's able to be aware of violence at a given moment, and someone who's not.

It is very unrealistic to tell a 16 year old girl "fights are just angry guys trying to smack you." ............. No. That's not always the case, and it becomes even less of a case if someone is trying to assault a 16 year old woman.

Fighting is varied. You have different degrees of "streetfights" just as you have different degrees of "crime." Some are much more serious then others. Some are not so serious at all.

"fights" can be everything from verbal arguments and schoolyard shoving matches (not serious at all) to muggings, attempted rapes, etc. (extremely serious)

In order to "defend yourself" (which is MUCH different then simply knowing how to fight,) you have to incorporate strong physical training with strong emotional training as well.
Emotional training is more than simply "overcoming the butterflies at a competition."

Being able to really defend yourself means you have to train
realistically in resistant martial arts/systems like BJJ, MMA, JKD, Boxing, etc. to get the physical skills that you can test out on a regular basis.

It also means having an understanding of how psychology works, how certain body language effects behavior, thinking, emotions, etc.

It means knowing how to de-escalate potential threats from a legal perspective, and knowing how the law works in your area, and from the perspective of the person bringing a threat to you.

It means knowing how to keep a cool head when things are about to hit so that you can react clearly, avoid "tunnel vision" etc.

You cannot be a complete martial artist if you don't incorporate these kinds of things into your training. They sound like common sense, but they're not too common when you actually get into a situation. Especially for different people. People have a variety of personalities and reactions to different stimuli.
Avoiding certain parts of training (whether physical, psychological, or even spiritual (people's moral issue with certain tactics, etc.) can be rather dangerous for certain people.

Take care,
Ryu

[ryanhall]

Ok, PeeDee. Firstoff, i am not a child. Secondly, many people do martial arts for a living, and even fewer do it well. I have met more charlatans and egomaniacal jerks in that business than almost any other save professional sports. I don't know what you do, and frankly i don't care. Skill is hardly ever a function of time alone--it was you after all who made the Frank Shamrock observation--so please try not to contradict yourself. That said, if you want to disagree with me, please feel free to do so--just try to do it without making blanket statements or blatant insults (i am guilty of same). Perhaps my mere eight years in the martial arts makes me inferior to you in your mind--once again, i don't care. Please continue to post here if you wish to. I'd just prefer if we could keep things on a cordial level.

Notice how i started my sentences in this one?

Thank you for understanding,
Ryan

By the way--excellent post, Ryu.

[midnight]

Are you the "real pd " ?

Lighten up dude unless you going to reach trough the net and kill someone chill out you are going to give yourself a heart attack.

You seem to get very stressed over every thing maybe you should try some yoga or some thing.