I recently received an Email from a reader who was looking for advice. It seems that there were two issues that he wanted to discuss.
The first was that he and his wife wanted to provide for their own self defense, and they were hoping that I could help them avoid false starts. The second issue was that their daughter was a senior in college, and the recent spate of killings, kidnappings and shootings where college students became victims had alarmed them both. They were hoping that I could also provide some advice for her as well.
The problem was that they completely rejected the option of arming themselves against this sea of trouble. Instead they wanted to know if I could steer them towards a gym or dojo that taught an effective unarmed martial arts style.
We exchanged a few Emails, but I get the impression that our concerned father wasn't satisfied with what I had to say. To explain why will take a little background.
Last year, Dan From Madison decided to explore an aggressive martial art called Muay Thai. He has been blogging about his experiences here.
There are a few things that will become apparent as you start to read his posts, and you can get a pretty good summary of what I want to talk about in this one. In his essay, Dan mentions that he doesn't simply expend effort in the class and then relax at home. Instead he looks for ways to improve his technique even when the class isn't in session.
"He gave me a lot of compliments on my form with my elbows and so did the instructor - they both noted that my footwork is better too, and I told them that I have been practicing it for a half hour a day at home in front of a mirror."
Dan has seen his general level of fitness become much improved in a short period of time, but he works out a great deal and controls his diet. Muay Thai provides the framework for his efforts, but it is entirely due to his efforts that he has come so far so quickly. And I doubt that it was easy.
Talk to most people involved in a serious martial art, and they will bitterly denounce the "trophy gyms". These are places that teach form and provide a little fitness training, but their focus is on having their students look pretty so they will win trophies at national non-contact matches. Everything is learned by rote, with none of the swirling and unpredictable physical chess match that is actual combat. It is rare that a student from a trophy gym will actually hit another student during training, or even to work out on a punching bag. The focus is instead on teaching what are essentially elaborate dance steps.
Why do this? Because few people are willing to withstand the very real physical pain that comes from realistic training. Dan tells us what it is like.
"I took a look at my arms this morning and they are a wreck from all of the elbow work the past several weeks - bruises, cuts, scrapes and all the rest. But I love it. They will heal quickly as they always do."
That is the reality of learning effective unarmed self defense. You have to train, you have to sweat, you have to be dedicated. Sparring has to be painful and conducted in a carefully controlled environment, with bruises and scrapes common without actually crossing the line into real injury. You have to hit other people while they are doing their best to hit you, and you have to do it often.
All of that would be daunting enough to my reader, since both he and his wife are in early middle age and some of the spring would have gone out of their step even if they were in generally good physical condition. But I think what really put him off was what I said when I discussed his daughter's situation.
It is an unfortunate fact that women are generally smaller than the males of our species, and that they usually have less muscle mass on a pound for pound basis. They certainly have a problem when it comes to matching men in upper body strength, and most martial arts require upper body strength to be most effective.
This doesn't mean that women are helpless even if they devote themselves to an unarmed martial art. Most people don't work out all that much, and even fewer seek out a dojo and start to learn the unarmed ways of defense. If a woman of average size works out with weights to increase her upper body strength, as well as train in a combat martial art at the same time, than she will be able to prevail in the vast majority of situations when having a weapon isn't necessary for defense.
But should she be faced with a male who does the same thing, then he'll eat her lunch just about every time.
So what sage advice did I dole out to my reader?
I suggested that he and his wife visit a boxing gym, since boxing is one of the easier martial arts to master while still being effective. I doubt he'll bother since you also have to get in the ring and get bruised up after you learn the basic moves, but it was the best advice I could think of since he completely ruled out firearms.
So far as his daughter was concerned, it is pretty obvious to me that unarmed martial arts training would be of very limited use. All of the college kidnappings, shootings and murders that have been in the news lately specifically mentioned that the criminal was armed with a firearm. Like the old saying goes, an armed man will defeat an unarmed man with boring monotony.
But I wanted to be helpful, so I suggested a vigorous schedule of weight training along with classes in a full contact martial art. Since the young woman was in college, weight rooms and martial arts clubs were included in the tuition. No need to pay for anything else, just have her start to use what is already available.
It would be nice if attending a kickboxing aerobics class twice a week, something where you punch the air and step up and down on a little plastic step, would actually impart the skills needed to resist an attacker. But it doesn't.
UPDATE
Words Twice has some similar thoughts. He and I pretty much agree, but he doesn't put as much effort into being polite.
He also likes to use mildly harsh language, so his post might not be safe for work.
Dan From Madison, the same blogger I linked to at the beginning of this post, was kind enough to share his thoughts.
Brillianter also has his own take on the issues raised.
Comments (12)
I wouldn't say that there is zero self-defense value in training in a martial art, it's just that the payoff isn't as big as people expect. Martial arts do a good job of teaching "how" and terrible job of teaching "when."
I don't think that you have to be able to win a full contact match to prevail in a self-defense situation, because the victory conditions are different. What it does take is hitting hard, hitting early, and hitting until you get a better option.
I guess I would say that some training is better than no training, but we have to remember the limitations of that training. Having good tools certainly equalizes a lot of disparity in size and skill. If you don't have the size and skill then you should probably have tools.
Posted by mostlygenius | March 15, 2008 10:01 PM
Posted on March 15, 2008 22:01
I started doing Jiu-Jitsu last november. I trian twice a week. It is a combination of self defense, knife fighting, ground fighting. etc. If i don't tap in time, i will get hurt bad. Broken joints, broekn bones, passing out, etc.
It is fun, useful. But you only get out of it what you put into it. And it takes a large amount of effort to get good at it. I also work out and run one to two other times a week (last week i ran 4.5 miles).
Believe me, guns are much easier to use as a weapon than you body is.
Posted by cyrus | March 15, 2008 11:01 PM
Posted on March 15, 2008 23:01
Sparring of some sort is really essential — getting used to both hitting and getting hit is a very important part of training.
On occasion I have been asked what I would recommend for women's self-defence, and the answer is that whatever it is should involve some training in applying defensive techniques in a stressful situation. For example, delivering full contact strikes and resisting a male training partner as he grapples with the student whilst shouting abuse and threats. This allows some preparation for the stress of a violent assault in the street.
A common response to this is to reply that such training would not be suitable, as it would not do to have instructors touch their students and certainly not to say any rude words! Couldn't I just show a few "moves" in a more relaxed manner, that they could practice with a female partner? More pleasant, perhaps, but not likely to be very useful.
Posted by milo | March 16, 2008 6:12 AM
Posted on March 16, 2008 06:12
I've noticed when training women on self defense with firearms that they usually have a LOT of work to do on mindset, and that does not bode well for any form of unarmed combat.
Overwhelmingly, when interviewing crime victims, especially victims of violence, I hear variations on "I couldn't believe it was happening." Most people, especially women, don't do their mental homework on how to respond when confronted with violence. I haven't noticed any real difference with martial arts-trained victims, probably because it's most often taught as dance class, not how to respond with the overwhelming violence necessary to prevail. In that brief moment when a truly violent response might save the day, they're leafing through their "Response Roladex" trying to categorize the event, and it's usually long over before they get to the right page.
Once they start carrying a firearm regularly many people do seem quite a bit more alert to developing situations and anticipating a response. Most, however, if not actually afraid of it, regard the gun as a talisman of sorts until they've got some advanced defensive pistol work under their belts.
Posted by Anon | March 16, 2008 8:23 AM
Posted on March 16, 2008 08:23
You can lead a horse to water...
I've run into this same attitude before and I just shrug. Some people just don't get it, and don't want to.
Rather than clutter up your comments, I posted the rest of my thoughts on my blog.
Posted by words twice | March 16, 2008 9:21 AM
Posted on March 16, 2008 09:21
Thanks for the link James. I made some comments, but it morphed into a post - you can check out my blog if interested.
Posted by Dan from Madison | March 16, 2008 5:57 PM
Posted on March 16, 2008 17:57
I can tell you, as a 5th dan black belt, that it takes lots of physical training for a person to become effective against someone larger, or more skilled, or who has a friend or two, than most people think. And realistic sparring is a must.
I teach CHL classes here in Texas and I would not be doing that if I felt 'karate' would do it all. It won't.
Yes to learn to handle yourself with your hands and feet is a priority as well as firearms, but the gun is way ahead cause the street is not fair, it has no rules, and won't wait till you are ready.
Posted by Deaf Smith | March 16, 2008 10:18 PM
Posted on March 16, 2008 22:18
This father is delusional if he thinks that a foundation in sport martial arts skills will protect his daughter against a determined attacker. This is fantasy!
Other than the military I know of no schools which teach the LETHAL lethal hand-to-hand close combat skills needed for this scenario. If the father would carefully read Rex Applegate's book "Kill or Be Killed" and :The Close Combat Files of Col. Rex Applegate" he would soon realize that developing competence in disarming methods and unarmed combat requires different training and an entirely different midset than martial arts sports.
To survive an unarmed encounter against an armed opponent you cannot naiively think in terms of executing a hasty defense to get away. To live you must ruthlessly take the fight to the enemy, disarm them and be willing to kill them.
http://www.ausa.org/pdfdocs/ARMYMag/CC_Sept05.pdf
Lacking the will to do this, for those who choose not to be a victim, a firearm becomes the great equalizer and is much easier to obtain basic skill with. Applegate's methods work best there too.
http://www.gutterfighting.org/files/Applegate.pdf
Posted by ke4sky | March 17, 2008 9:07 AM
Posted on March 17, 2008 09:07
Unarmed defense isn't a strategy, it's a result of / reaction to a bad strategy.
Posted by KCSteve | March 18, 2008 1:32 PM
Posted on March 18, 2008 13:32
I would recommend they try Krav Maga.
Here is a link http://www.kravmaga.com/ohio.asp
DoubleTapper
DoubleTapper@gmail.com
DoubleTapper, blogging on Guns Politics Defense from Israel
Posted by DoubleTapper | March 18, 2008 4:34 PM
Posted on March 18, 2008 16:34
Few years ago a friend mentioned that her daughter, just about to go to college, had taken a 'self-defense' class at high school with all the usual pc-allowed 'do just enough to run away' ideas. She told the daughter that crap wouldn't work, daughter insisted it would. She told daughter's boyfriend "I want you to attack her like a rapist. You've got my permission to bruise her up." then to daughter "Ok, now you stop him."
She couldn't. When he used his greater size & strength aggressively, he got her on the floor and pinned, every time. She, and the idiots 'training' her, just didn't understand that unarmed self-defense does work, but only if played for keeps. Which they didn't want to teach the girls.
Posted by Firehand | March 18, 2008 11:26 PM
Posted on March 18, 2008 23:26
I would recommend Krav Maga. These guys dont mess around. They teach you things for every kind of situation you can think of, armed or not. I think it would be a great style for them to learn. Thanks for listening.
Posted by oates | March 25, 2008 12:05 AM
Posted on March 25, 2008 00:05