Teaching Women's Self Defense Through Ninjutsu

[Sajite]

Fair enough. So, what is the self training? Fergit the defense.

I'm talking about being confident, have control over your emotions, being reasonable fit, knowing your phisical and psicological limits, being familiar with violence and phiscial contact, using your common sense, being aware and sensible to dangers.... those things that a good martial arts traing should provide by itself. SelfDefense based on "ifs" doesn't provide any of those, usually jsut the opposite...

[I am...]

Training the spirit.

[Steve James]

Hold on. One is training self-confidence and spirit for what again, exactly? Aren't they forms of "self defense" against a "what if" situation? Possibly even to one that is violence may be the outcome? Hasn't it already been mentioned that "self defense" is more than learning moves? And, finally, confidence in what, exactly? One's ability to talk one's way out of every situation?

Of course, not getting into that sort of situation is an ideal defense.

[Mr_Wood]

One would apply that how in the last video situation?

Dunno its a bit tricky when the other guy is a psycho but perhaps just by being aware that something bad is likely to go down soon and not freezing up and taking measures to get out of dodge asap.

[Steve James]

After that, say a 120lb woman is your potential student, what precisely will you tell her and what would you give her to practice?

[Steve James]

I don't think telling someone "not" to freeze works well. Telling them what to do "if" they freeze "might" help. This usually involves giving that person something to do, which might include the admonition to "move."

[Mr_Wood]

yes, im really not sure Steve. Im not an expert in sd. I just like to keep an eye on whats going on around me at all times. But I know learning how to relax in the most stressful of situations can help overcome most fears, so perhaps something along these lines. Overcoming personal fears etc..as its not likely we are going to be able to practice a real life and death attack/mugging scenario by choice but our personal fears we can work on these whenever we choose.

[Sajite]

After that, say a 120lb woman is your potential student, what precisely will you tell her and what would you give her to practice?

Uf I don't think I can do that in English.

I'd tell her the "self" stuff, and that I know who can help with that; but that it's quite a long trip. Building "spirit" can't be done overnight. I'll explain her how a good martial arts method has a "transformative" effect that will improve her confidence, awarenes, sensibility, etc...

If there's a real danger and she's in a rush I'd recommend her a gun, some shooting lessons, yoga classes..

[Steve James]

Yes, it's a hard question. Women are in the most real danger around men that they know and/or think they can trust. I think we're talking about near-imminent danger that allows no time to get a firearm. Ok, in the home, having a gun could be a good or a bad thing, especially in situations where the woman's motives will be questioned.

Anyway, in a situation like the vid, and there's no other choice, then ignoring the smile and words and focusing on pre-emptive attack might be the best worst option. Whatever weapon available should be prepared as the person approaches, and it may be best to strike first ... while the guy is running his mouth. For anyone, a good front kick can be an invaluable tool.

[Mr_Wood]

lets face it. the lass is going to get stabbed. other than shoot him or use a tazer pre emptively she hasn't got a snow balls chance...teaching a decent kick to the nuts etc...may gain her a few seconds to get out of there if its a decent kick but other than that she's pretty much had it.

(had to edit the fat bit out as I misread your original post and she is 120lbs, still she will have to do a damn good job of dealing with this fella to stop his attack, I don't hold out much hope)

[Cavin_M]

Glad to see you guys are putting some thought into this. It's really not as simple as many believe.

AllanF clip shows a good example of one of the methods for getting some real-ish intensity. The instructor seems to have some knowledge. However if you look closely at the students drilling this you can see many of them are laughing or smiling whilst getting stabbed, so they seem to have missed the point and will be getting little or no benefit. Also without a LOT of padding and protection it's pretty much impossible for the 'victim' to respond appropriately without hospitalising their training partner.

Also what makes things even more troubling (mainly for male-on-male violence) is that there will be multiple attackers punching and kicking the victim from all angles whilst the victim is stabbed from behind. I dealt with a number of such incidents when in the police, surprisingly not all fatal though.

Lets see if we can keep this thread going, I think it could be beneficial.

Cavin

[I am...]

As far as women's self defense goes, if they are going to be training during just the class you give them, I feel like it is almost useless. The best mix I can think of as far as something that might work would be a mix of situational awareness and either 1 or 2 BJJ submissions from the guard, or some basic combatives or Krav Maga type material. For those that have some good instincts, some of it might come out if things go bad. Other than that the whole idea is kind of a flawed one unless they are going to train regularly.

[Mr_Wood]

A teacher of mine told me of a guy who suffered a violent knife attack. His survival was put down mainly to the fact that he had spent the last couple of months doing a great deal of running and the extra muscle tissue this had created around his heart had saved his life. Its a sad situation but as Cavin and Si pointed out the whole scenario is flawed and the victim is most likely going to get stabbed and then its in the hands of fate. You would really have to train for a long time and that training would have to be knife based sd to stand a chance of turning the tables against an attack like this. No weekend crash course, couple of months sd training, ninja training camp is going to enhance your odds of survival from this type of attack in my opinion. If its some kid on the street who doesn't know how to handle a knife then you have a much better chance of dealing with it using whatever empty handed skills you have but even then you would have to be very confident in your ability and still the risk is great, maybe he has friends nearby etc...

[Steve James]

The kick isn't the point; it builds strength and helps fitness, and those help develop confidence or, rather, help to eliminate the feeling of helplessness. It's not a question of her beating up the guy. A guy of the same size would have the same problem. It's not only that a weekend crash course won't work; 10 years of training "confidence" won't work either. Change the attacker to Brock Lesnar, and how much training is adequate preparation? Imo, fear and the sense of helplessness-weakness is why people take up martial arts. In a situation where someone is stabbing you, the recommendation is to fight back. At that point there is no choice, and you have to go with what you've got.

[Mr_Wood]

yeah, this clip which has been up before is a good example of how the only thing to do is just keep fighting back as best you can, perhaps this is the only way to train the situation, just keep going until you managed to get rid of the weapon and gain the upper hand. Even here the guy was lucky there were others around to help out but he did manage to knock the knife out of the guys hands after being stabbed a few times. This is really when your adrenalin and natural instincts for survival take over and i dont think any particular techniques will really be on your mind, although something you drilled enough times may come out.