Self defence
I don't write a lot about self defense and related martial arts, although sometimes I would like to talk more about Judo, which I have been practicing since the age of 6. I also practiced Thai Boxing in my youth even with an excellent teacher (Flavio Monti, from Bologna) but then I "returned home".
I write about it because I see things like this:
And that's what makes, I have to say, a little pissed off. Because "winning a fight" is confused with "self defense".
One thing must be understood: Hollywood has hypnotized people, making them believe that accepting a fight with a stranger and then winning it because you know the <magical technique of the moment, preferably spectacular and American> is "self defense".
This is due to the fact that
- testosterone makes males believe they are invulnerable, provided they know <the magic technique of the moment, preferably spectacular and American>. This, in the event of an attack, leaves a jerk on the ground with a stab or a ball in the head.
- as the male enters calmly into a dark alley that women would avoid, and in martial arts gyms there are mainly males, women think that males are safer or invulnerable, and accept alleged lessons on how to "self-defend".
And all this produces a business of "masters" who "teach women to defend themselves in case of aggression".
We need to understand the difference between "self defense" and "winning a fight".
These women just won a fight:
These two just AVOIDED combat:
These have been abused (but I have doubts about the first one):
If you are a very good observer and very attentive to detail, you will have noticed that abused women are more like those who "won the fight" than those who AVOIDED the fight. (apart from the cup, of course).
Of course, Hollywood explains to you that as long as you use <magical technique of the moment, spectacular and American – but also oriental> you can win by coming out without a scratch, or at most with small streams of blood that in the end make you look even more cool. .
So, let's start all over again: years ago I met a girl in Milan. Which practiced, as a sport, the 10,000 meters. He found himself in trouble towards the “Bisceglie” stop, and his reaction was to take off his turkey shoes and start running. Towards a certain point in Lorenteggio, apparently his abusers were out of breath.
Now, I know that Hollywood doesn't count "10,000 meters" as a <hot and spectacular martial art of the moment>, but apart from the skinned feet and a pair of shoes, the girl got out of it unscathed. I know that in Milan a woman is not "unharmed" if she has lost a pair of shoes, but I assure you that in the rest of the world losing your shoes is preferable to rape, and even death.
I would also like to point out the apocalyptic flirtatiousness of this frame:
None, I repeat NO martial art considers it positive to have the opponent behind you. You lower the center of gravity, and it rises above you.
True, in Judo you have Ippon Seoi Nage, where (as you learn it) you seem to turn your back on the opponent. But if you look at what an Ippon Seoi Nage REALLY looks like:
(one of these is a Morote, I don't understand what he does in the video)
As you can see, in reality the Seoi Nage you do it after locking the shoulder and arm, and often also lifting the opponent, as well as rotating the pelvis. And they see the back only in motion, and for a tenth of a second. But usually not even that. And in any case, apart from a few movies, no one will ever advise you to use Seoi Nage for self-defense.
The girl in the photo will be pushed against a wall, or against a parked car, the attacker will lower his pants and underwear and will use himself comfortably. I wonder which "teacher" can lend itself to such videos. For real.
I could go on with Judo, which I know well, and say that Juji Gatame is really effective, when someone gets between your legs. True. Many women think this in judo. This is what they teach you in the gym: it is not wise to stay between the legs of someone who does Judo or BJJ.
But don't really do that, even though BJJ supporters like to say it's cool.
This is what you actually do:
Which you can hardly do in the street. (Yes, Kana Abe's opponent dislocated her shoulder. It will take a while to recover.).
But also assume that you are capable of doing it. What if the opponents are TWO?
Eh, beautiful shit.
And how can you guarantee that there are not two?
Eh, beautiful shit.
DISCLAIMER: Do not try to do seoi nage or juji gatame "stand up" standing at home with siblings, friends and / or relatives. On the hard floor and with people who can't fall, you'll count broken bones and send people to the hospital. Those fights take place on tatamis, which are soft and very cushioning, and with 900g per square meter Judoji.
So far I have talked little about conditioning. The problem is, hitting hurts. Because your body parts are bumping into someone else violently anyway.
If you only hit soft parts with hard parts (elbow, knee) then that's fine. But if you start punching and kicking, even the low kick, you have to be conditioned, because a blow to the shin is bad for you too, and it is not good to hurt yourself. Ditto for the fists: a small packet of bones and tendons (the fist) against the skull, it is not a situation in which only the skull is hurt.
So in these sports you train to "condition" parts of the body, or to resist / get used to that particular pain (low kick, fist, strangulation in judo or garami / gatame in the arms, etc).
If you are not conditioned, well, fighting is sharing the pain with those you hit. Very Zen.
Running away quickly, although not very honorable and not Hollywood, works with one as it does with ten opponents. You start running, and if you are faster it matters little whether there are two or one. You sow them.
Training for cross-country skiing (10,000 meters, in short) is effective. Fucking effective. You "just" have to avoid the typical female mistake of looking for a refuge, typically a closed place like a door, and run into open spaces.
Now the question is: what if you can't escape?
Good. Statistically you are screwed. The opponent has guaranteed victory BEFORE attacking you. Either because there are two of them, or because he is armed, or because he has CHOSEN you as victims, so he has evaluated you. And he understood that he was superior.
So:
- forget about kicking. You have uncomfortable shoes, pants that hold you back, cold muscles, and no preliminary stretching. At the most you will kick the shin, engaging one of the two legs. No good.
- forget the melee. Of course, if you are a judoka or BJJ you are on average more prepared than an attacker. If he is one and he has no weapons. If that's more, it only works in Hollywood. And this also applies to all other martial arts. Even those that are made in a cage.
- if he's got a knife, that's it. I know, all martial arts tell you how to grab the knife that the attacker holds in a stupid and ineffective way, and with two rotations, a roto-translation, a similar transformation, a nuclear reactor at hand, two experts in aeronautics and two simple tensors, you turn it against him and poof, you make a cotechino. I come from a place where cotechino is made, I did it too, and I can guarantee you that it doesn't work.
- the boxers. It is true, if you do boxing or Thai boxing you are left with conditioned reflexes. I had conditioned reflexes for about 5/6 years, after doing Muay Thai. But you will quickly discover that, if you are not facing a drunken idiot, hitting a person with a fist (unless you have ham shoulders) does not work very much. A male has on average 15% more muscle than a woman by weight. A woman normally weighs 20% less. If you want to piss him off, feel free to punch him. He will butt-fuck you with more desire.
In general:
combat is NOT self-defense, except as a last resort. And it will only be slightly less harmful than what the opponent wants to do to you.
So, let's go in order. Effective self-defense techniques:
Second self defense technique:
If you don't want to take a gun, there are effective but less expensive and empowering tools:
There are so-called "professional" or "tactical" flashlights. You must ask for a "tactical" flashlight that exceeds 10,000 lumens. But over 20,000 is even better. You can find them already at € 50 euros. You can try one on yourself and you will see that pointed in your face forces you to close your eyes, blinds you and even hurts your eyes. You can frame even more opponents, and at that point you can escape.
I have one with 25,000 lumens (about 50 €), and I can guarantee you that at night, less than two meters away, you won't be because your eyes burn too much. Of course, they have special batteries and you often have to keep them charged. Sunglasses are almost useless.
They are held in a specific way:
above, to the side of your head.
Let's go to what does NOT work:
- chili pepper. It does not work. Maybe the one for the wild boars. But neither. Maybe in a closed car-like environment. But rarely, because it affects you too. Forget it. Use it in the kitchen. The police one is effective, but they don't sell it.
- Tasers. If you are a cop, trained, and it depends on how the attacker is dressed. Not always, in hand-to-hand it affects you as much as he does. Leave it alone.
- Krav Maga, fantastic animals and where to find them. Those who do are cool. Like the Israeli army. But in the gym you don't, because you don't want to leave any harm to anyone. If you want to use a martial art that you DO NOT practice, but watch carefully or mimic, go ahead: a degree in Boxing at Bocconi is worth the same. You know everything. And you looked at all the figures.
- Fingers in the eye. They never worked. And they will never work. That's how things are.
- Striking on the male genitals. Four billion years of evolution calibrating reflexes, genitals retracting in combat, and a slow girl in uncomfortable shoes tries to hit a man on the genitals. I don't find it brilliant. If it worked, you are Tae Kwon Do champion and he was drunk.
- Biting an ear. If there is one thing you must NEVER do, it is that. Even if you tear out the ear, the rest is still there and it's pissed off like a buffalo with hemorrhoids. No.
- Tactical pens, kubotan, tactical whips, various trinkets. Nah. Only if the opponent is one and has written "I'm a jerk" on the forehead.
- Whistles, sirens, alarm systems. Within 100 meters of a police station they work great. Typical place where you will be attacked.
- Tactical gloves. They are the fashion of the moment. If you think you can punch someone, do it. But only if you are big. And you don't like to peel your knuckles.
Having said that, what remains? The case where many offenders have surrounded you to stop you from running and hold your arms to prevent you from using a flashlight or pulling out a gun.
In that case, you have lost.
And no, in that case <spectacular Hollywood martial art> won't help you much.
Here we should enter the chapter "but why was I there, and why should I avoid being in that specific point at that specific time".
What amazes me, however, is to see how many "masters" are committed to deluding women that self-defense IS THE RESULT OF A FIGHT, which even if it were won would cause catastrophic injuries to the average housewife / employee.
Self defense is NOT "combat".
Get over it, and don't listen to Hollywood.
So I'm saying martial arts are useless for self-defense?
Well, no. If you are in your 20s and are champions, or train to exhaustion, are at least black belts and don't have an ounce of fat and have a lot of muscle, it will probably work against AN untrained opponent. And you have to be "conditioned", that is, used to not feeling pain when YOU hit someone.
This is what happens when you read in the newspapers "MMA champion knocks out molester", or "Judo black belt stops a rapist". True.
But if you are an employee who goes to the gym twice a week, and you have never done a tournament or a real competition, forget it.
I met a guy, who later became European Muay Thai Champion, who was really hard to attack on the street because he had a pain reliever and conditioning that was impressive. He was a mountain of muscles and he could crack with his legs even when cold.
I don't think anyone has ever attacked him. And that's because the offender makes sure he is superior BEFORE attacking him. (If they attacked him, I want a photograph to see their face. First. I mean, when they had one.)
Because the fights are lost, too.
"All martial arts can be used for self defense" makes me laugh.