How do you train for self defense...?

[taitsechien]

just wondering how different people from different systems train for self defense situations... for example...
every saturday a friend (a tae kwon do dude) and i get together at a dojo i teach Gen-Jitsu at to practice "real type fighting" we talk about situations, set up different situations(kinda like one steps), attack eachother with different weapons, we usually practice a bunch of **** in slow motion then slowly start to pick up the pace... we've also invited different people in... we had a wing chun guy, and an average joe dude come in one day... we would take turns having one person in the middle and everyone else would try and "get them" kinda like tag with punches and kicks... the contact is obviously toned down a little but i feel like its better prepared me for situations...
i've got alot more to say, but hopefully this'll be a hot topic and i'll just be able to post stuff all day... woo...

 

[MarkBarlow]

I'm not trying to hijack the thread but what is Gen-jitsu?

 

[still learning]

Hello, You ask "How do you train for Self-defense"? Is like asking how you train to play football?

You have the mental sides, verbal side, phycial side,conditions side,full contact side,light contact side,sparring side,traditional side,free for all side,spritual side...endless

Just learning how to do chokes holds can take a long time...I read somewhere someone had 64 ways to choke someone....we have only 21 ways to learn and only ONE NECK too!

How do you train? by practice and more practice and many times step by step process? free for all ...you can learn quicker sometimes?

For instances we have ten escape and controls (10 different ways of a person who grabs/punches...and step by step process of either escaping or countering) is taught in a uniform way..everyone does each one the same way....than later you can have "add ons" and varietions of each to fit you! This is a one step to several step process.

Most martial arts train this way including football.....NOT the eye gouging in football.

OH? How to do you train? ...answer can be hard,soft,slow,fast,quiet,loud,painful, and "pretty?" pretty good or pretty bad?

Just my thoughts...this seems to be a hard question to answer?

Aloha, I vote yes!...maybe NO...um maybe sometimes?.....UH?

PS: The more contact in training...better the impact on learning!

 

[Hawke]

I wish I could remember the person who told me this (sorry if I forgot your name)......

When you read the papers, watch the news, or listen to the radio you will most likely hear about a shooting, rape, murder, and other horrible news. Next time you come across this type of news break it down and ask what would you have done? How can you use this info to train? This is not an exercise to be judgmental and put somebody down, but look for a way to improve upon a hypothetical situation for yourself and love ones. Learn from other people's mistakes.

Train to be observant of your surroundings.

 

[Guardian]

I wish I could remember the person who told me this (sorry if I forgot your name)......

When you read the papers, watch the news, or listen to the radio you will most likely hear about a shooting, rape, murder, and other horrible news. Next time you come across this type of news break it down and ask what would you have done? How can you use this info to train? This is not an exercise to be judgmental and put somebody down, but look for a way to improve upon a hypothetical situation for yourself and love ones. Learn from other people's mistakes.

Train to be observant of your surroundings.

We trained with scenarios like this all the time and I still do, what could have been done different, how I would react to such a situation, we use to sit around and go over things like this.

 

[harold]

Everyone seems to be on the same page.....PRACTICE!!!!!. In the Tao of Jeet Kune Do Buce Lee said something to the effect of 'visualize yourself being attacked and see yourself responding. Simple techniques are best'
The military does things like practicing techniques by the numbers so that muscle memory is built up. Then the training gradually gets faster. The ancients said to practice kata daily, again building up muscle memory so that when it is for real, the body instantly reacts.

 

[still learning]

Hello, The HARDEST thing to train for? is a REAL life attack...the adrenline dump...feeling the fears and unknowns...and the UNEXPECTED!

Most of us train is a very safe eniviroment. Very few train in dark allys,bars with bikers, or in prison with prisoners unleash!

We train in a very safe classroom with KNOWN people.....NO FEAR AREAS..

When threaten? ...in a real eniviroment....unexpected attacker(s)...

Combat soldiers go thru this all the time....When it is for REAL? .....very different from practice...or training.

Aloha, Real contact...makes you better.... (you can contact me anytime?)

 

[Thomas]

Interesting post taitsechien. I have practised very different martial arts and of course the way self defense (situations) were practised varied a lot. My martial arts "career" started with three years of Shotokan Karate where we did a lot of formalized sparring, which in no way resembled real combat. When I later started Ju-Jutsu I was in for a rather huge surprise when we in the very first lesson had full contact sparring (with head gear and all the necessary protection of course) - My three years of karate had given me some nice kicks, blocks and punches, but mentally I weren't prepared for the aggressive nature of full contact sparring, so I panicked. An eye-opening moment. I later had to move to another city and then I joined another Ju-Jutsu dojo (same system as the one I trained before I moved), but there we did not have full contact sparring. The reason was that full contact sparring was not something that essentially was a part of the system. The guy who owned the first Ju-Jutsu dojo I trained wanted to let his students get as close to a "real" fight as possible. We did a lot of full contact sparring and he brought in people from other martial arts (kick boxers, boxers, wrestlers etc.) to spar with us. The guy who owned the second Ju-Jutsu dojo I joined did not believe in this approach.

When I later started to practise Wing Tsun I encountered a system (or a mental mindset from the owners) that was even more focused on giving the students the ability to fight back - with any means necessary - and to prepare them for a lot of different situations. There were a lot of training for real life situations (as real life as it can get in a training hall). For instance the classic discotheque-settings with loud music, tables and chairs, people shouting at eachother etc. etc. Very, very interesting. Even though it might be your best friend that is standing in front of you, shouting at you and pushing you VERY agressively while shouting that he wants to brake your neck for looking at his girl friend on the (imaginary) dance floor it makes the adrenaline flow. The fact that the lights have been turned down to give it the discotheque-feeling and loud techno music is being pumped out of the speakers only makes it worse.

My point is that in my oppinion you at a minimum should spar in protective gear so you are allowed to have contact. It is also important that you spar against a lot of different kinds of people. And in regards to women - it is so damn important that they train against guys. I also think it is very, very important to practise in ways not usually done in the martial art you practise. If you for instance practise Shotokan Karate you need to try to take the fight to the ground. And you should also try to fight dirty - the first time I had a guy in a Ju-Jutsu head lock during a Wing Tsun session he managed to put three fingers in my mouth pulling in my cheek really bad and actually breaking the head lock.

Hmm... I didn't mean for the post to be this long

Best regards
Thomas

 

[Drac]

Since Combat Hapkido is pure self defense we practice being attacked from EVERY POSSIBLE angle..As your skill level goes up the intensity of the attack goes up.. Reps, reps and more reps....