I’m not exactly sure why, maybe because the world is on fire, but I’ve seen several posts from people asking for advice about learning self defense. I actually did a ton of research a while back because I was trying to settle the debate of “what is the best martial art”? The answer I found was a tad unsatisfying because the conclusion I came to was “there isn’t really a ‘best’ one.” At least not how you might think. The official best martial art is “dedication and experience.” If you match up a boxer against someone using Krav Maga and the boxer has been training every day for 10 years and has legit fighting experience, but the Krav Maga person has been training off and on for 10 years and barely sparred in any kind of match… the boxer will kick their ass. Not because boxing is better, but because they had more dedication and experience.
As far as self defense goes, it seems there is no quick class you can take to really prepare yourself for dangerous situations. Most of those are a scam to give people a false sense of security. In reality, you need to commit to something and stick with it. It could even take several years to become proficient enough to protect yourself.
As for as what fighting discipline to choose… that can really depend on what is available in your area. If you can find something that teaches both fighting standing up as well as a ground style fighting, that would be preferable. In a situation where you are being attacked, it can often end up on the ground very quickly. But you want to remain standing as long as possible because you want to be able to run away as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Running away is often the best defense. Especially if you can injure your attacker and slow them down first.
Here is the one “tip” that I found repeated throughout my research.
If someone says their fighting style is “too dangerous to spar”… it is a scam.
A lot of American Krav Maga classes are like this. They take the brutal reputation of the style, tell people they can only “pretend” to fight and then rake in the money while not actually teaching anything useful. You have to be able to spar. You need to throw real punches and kicks and land them on a real person. If all you do is fight the air or a practice dummy, you are going to get yourself killed in a real fight. Humans are unpredictable and do weird things in fights. Real fights are often messy and weird and sometimes there is a lot of hugging. They never show the hugging in the movies. But if you don’t learn how to react and improvise against a real opponent, you’ll be screwed in a dangerous situation.
Same with the teacher. You want a teacher that has actually fought real people in matches or combat or whatever. Don’t get fooled by fancy moves on a practice dummy or a choreographed “fight the air” spectacle. You might as well hire a dance coach at that point.
It’s a long term commitment.
You want a class that teaches fighting standing up as well as on the ground. You might even consider separate classes for both. Like boxing or karate and then wrestling or Jui Jitsu.
No “too dangerous to spar” nonsense.
Sparring and fighting in matches is essential to learning how to fight a real human.
Find a teacher that has also fought real humans. No dance teachers.
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