Self-defence training isn’t like other athletic pursuits. While it can be good for the body and mind, its primary goal should be better, equipping you to protect yourself. The problem is that not all courses are made equal.
That’s why today, we hope to tackle what exactly you should be looking for in the training you engage in. You’ll learn how to set realistic goals, avoid getting suckered by big promises and easy answers, and more.
Forget Being an Action Hero
The first thing to understand when learning to defend yourself is you’ll never be John Wick, Rambo, or whatever your pick of famous action hero might be. The bad guys in your life aren’t going to choreograph with you, and most won’t go down in one punch. Any course that promises stuff like that is a scam.
Quality self-defence classes will aim to tone your body into an effective tool and drill proper offence and defence into you so hard that they become almost second nature. Large, strong men will always be difficult opponents. Multiple attackers will always represent dangerous, sometimes impossible odds.
You want a class that acknowledges this because anything teaching you otherwise may get you killed. You want to have a real understanding of the skills you’re learning can and cannot do for you.
Fighting is dangerous. In a real fight, someone might be trying to kill or injure you. This is why a good combat course teaches something you won’t see in most movies: your goal is usually to injure and disorient an opponent long enough to run away.
If that sounds “lame”, then you may not understand how bloody real, violent fights are. Bones break, and organs rupture. Weapons may come out, especially if someone feels they’re losing.
Look For Real Results
Many martial arts have an issue where even their masters aren’t excellent fighters. Some styles are objectively worse for fighting than others. While just about any style will help you get fit, learn discipline and more, some martial arts are better viewed as a sport than true fighting styles.
When deciding what martial art to learn, research martial art styles known for their effectiveness. Krav Maga, MMA, Brazillian Jujitsu—you have plenty of legitimate options. Remember also to research your particular school; you want to avoid a “McDojo,” the sort of school that takes cash and delivers low-quality results (and often hands out black belts or the equivalent far too quickly).
It should also be noted that the philosophy a martial arts school teaches isn’t that important for self-defence. It makes sense to teach students discipline and when violence is and is not appropriate, but some schools take their philosophical lessons a bit too far (at least if you’re there to learn to fight). You will want to make sure at least 90% or so of what you’re doing is dedicated to either improving your body’s performance or learning actual technique.
Good Self-Defence Training Acknowledges Life Isn’t Fair
Many martial art courses focus on teaching you how to combat someone who is either attacking in a straightforward manner or using a style more or less identical to the one the course is teaching. There may be a focus on keeping scenarios “fair” and combatants being similarly sized and starting in neutral positions.
If you’re interested in learning a style for sport or fitness purposes, this makes some sense. Competition tends to start combatants out on even footing and split by weight class. We’re not calling this out either; logically, things would work this way in most sport settings.
The issue is that effective self defence training prepares you for the fact that that isn’t what a real fight tends to look like. You may be ambushed; your attacker may even be armed. Some martial arts, such as Krav Maga, embrace this fact and prepare students for such scenarios.
Like the header says, life isn’t fair. Lucky for you, you don’t have to play fair either in a real fight. Good self-defence courses often teach “dirty” tricks to help you survive an attack; you may learn things like scratching and attacks to the eyes and genitals that would obviously be inappropriate in a sports setting.
Efficient and Effective
At the core of a self-defence class should be efficiency and effectiveness. The moves you see in movies? They may be cool to look at but often have flourishes that add nothing in a real combat scenario.
Real combat needs to be efficient; your moves need to be putting in as little effort and offering as few openings as possible while delivering an effective strike (or other desired result) on an opponent. You aren’t dancing; you’re fighting.
Some martial arts, intentionally or not, are full of movement that looks good but isn’t effective in combat. This isn’t to say these moves don’t require impressive skill; it’s to say that not everything that requires skill translates to meaningful combat technique.
Be Safe and Be Kind
Self-defence training can make you safer and is a worthwhile venture for almost anyone to pursue. Just remember to be safe; being good at defending yourself doesn’t mean much if you start picking dozens of more fights than you used to get in!
Furthermore, remember these skills are for defence! You should only use them to defend yourself or others in need. If you’re hurting people who don’t deserve it, you’ve very much learned the wrong lessons.
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