Many women ask me if martial art self defense is effective. Well, it is in some cases and not in others. Not every woman is has the physical ability to use martial arts effectively. Another factor I consider is that the woman must be want to learn this skill and have the right frame of mind to get physical with a larger attacker.
Some woman have a very gentile nature and have a difficult time learning to exert the force necessary for a hit or kick to be effective. They are however able to learn certain aspects of martial arts that can be effective in an encounter with an attacker.
Other women are athletic by nature and better able to exert the necessary forces involved in some martial arts. The trick is finding a school or instructor willing to tailor a system for women who just can't muster up the strength or forces needed in a physical confrontation.
This is where my pet peeve on martial arts comes in. I have seen so many martial arts school advertise themselves as "self defense" trainers and tout their background in training Navy SEALS, Special Forces, and law enforcement people. Well, a woman is not a combat trained Navy SEAL with the ability to grapple with a 200 lb. man in a parking lot. It seems to me that they're trying to impress you with credentials and teach what they know rather than teaching a woman how defend herself in a parking lot or some other place she may find herself in.
Many of these martial arts school teach certain methods such as grappling, deflection, or some other type of sparring ,but the problem is that those techniques are very structured and designed for mutual combat or sport, not true self defense. Many of those schools even have competitions and teams that earn trophies and medals. You can not fight or defend the same way you compete. Training for a competition requires that you don't hurt the other competitor so you never really learn to punch someone in the face with the intent of breaking a nose or gauging an eye. They will never teach you how to dislocate an arm, or disable an attacker, THAT is what is needed for true self defense!
Another problem I see with many martial arts school is that they tend to have women train with other women. That in itself shows that the instructor is not thinking about a woman's defense training but focusing more on technique. In real life attacks, 95% of the time, the attack will be male on female. A woman trained in a structured course or technique will not be able to effectively fight a larger male attacker if she's only trained with other women the whole time. She will be used to only exerting the forces necessary to fight an equal force. She may be used to lifting and throwing a 130 lb. woman, but not a 200 lb. man.
Some schools use the "black belt" training or track to get you to sign up for a more expensive training that will get you to black belt faster. I believe that not only gives the student a false sense of security but also degrades the true meaning of earning the belt through training and discipline. I have met so many black belts that do incredible flips kicks and spins and win trophies but wouldn't be able to do squat in a real attack. Folks, real self defense is not about the color belt you have, the type of martial art you learned, nor the competitions you've won, it's the quality of training that will defend you in a real attack.
As I said before, there are exceptions and certain effective techniques that even a petite woman can use that are effective. Again, the woman's mentality and motivation has a lot to do with how effective her defense is. That, and as I stress in my presentations, practice until it's second nature.
Below is an good example that.
This potential victim did the right thing by breaking off the attack after the second attacker approached and fled and she did not try to save her purse while the attackers were still in range. Initially, she struggled for her purse, then her training kicked in, literally!
Here's another one in which the female used effective self defense training which came to her as second nature.
This girl wound up trapped with the attacker with no place to run so she did the right thing by continuing to pound on the attacker to prevent him from regaining his composure to continue his attack.
Be wary of martial arts courses that tout self defense. Many of these schools need money to survive so promises of black belts, showing off credentials, trophies, and pictures of students doing high kicks is more of a sales tactic, not necessarily quality. If you are interested in martial arts training, look for a school where women train with men, there are no competitions for prizes and the bumps and bruises are the norm. A true self defense instructor does not use belt colors as incentives or rewards and his or her training will have practical application. High kicks, flips, and flying spins have no place in self defense.
Be strong
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