cross

The Buddy system. You stay here, I'll go get help. The downside is that one has to stay and face the group, but its better than being alone with no help in sight.

If thats the case, why not choose a more protective starting point, like around chin height?

Apart from sticking to well lit public areas when out at night, you can try to have a friend with you (power in numbers). That way at least 1 can run for help if needed. Trying to talk down multiple people is very difficult, and unless you practice it regularly you wont have a great chance of calming down all of them, even with practice you may be calming down 1 person but another may be getting more aggressive. If escaping is not an option initially than going pre-emptive and/or finding an improvised weapon is your best shot at survival.

Very True, throw in some realistic knife/stick/gun defense, pre fight psychology and situational awareness drills and you have what you can expect at most of the good rbsd schools.

I agree with what your saying ps1. There is definitely value in all kinds of training. At one stage i thought all training had to be hardcore full out or it was pointless. But more and more i enjoy skill training and various types of fitness and conditioning training that has nothing to do with self defense or martial arts.

Hey Everyone, I bought a BOB dummy on the weekend, good for target acquisition etc. Here is a quick clip of me messing around on it this afternoon.(video size only about 3mb). Any of you guys/gals own/used one? If so how do you like it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmvdjnlqNiM Thanks, Cross.

I agree there is no 1 and only way to do things, however some methods are more applicable and logical than others. The key is to find and frequently train these methods to improve your chances of success.

In addition to this, keep in mind that the good rbsd schools have a strong base in mma style training and fitness and conditioning also. This is a far cry from the "eye gouge, groin kick, camo pants" guys some people think of when they think self defense. The mma style training has a different focus than competition based schools and each "style" is trained to develop self defense applicable skills in specific ranges. I.e. From kickboxing you develop: Stance, pain management, how to take a punch, footwork, solid defensive skills, angles of attack etc. From BJJ+wrestling you develop: Control, positioning, comfort on the ground, greater chance of getting back to your feet, submission and compliance techniques etc.

Not dictionary definitions, but these might give you a general idea(i will use brazillian jiu jitsu and the Gracie family has an example): Family: A style created by a specific family. I.e. Gracie jiu jitsu created by the Gracie family. Branch: A school that teaches a specific style. I.e Gracie jiu jitsu Austin branch. Style: A certain form of martial arts I.e brazillian jiu jitsu. Form: Similar to style. Hope this helps a little.

Certainly. One of the great things about this kind of training is the progression of the drills. Take for example a knife defense drill that is common with alot of rbsd groups:(on person has a weapon concealed somewhere on their body) stage 1. armed person attacks with a common knife strike. Defender simply stands, observes and picks up on any indication that the weapon is about to be drawn, also becomes familiar with the body mechanics required by the attacker to make the strike including trajectory, angle of attack etc. stage 2. attacker does same, defender responds with appropriate defense and aims to secure the knife hand asap. stage 3. The attacker is most likely to respond in 1 of 4 ways when the knife hand is secured: 1. Pull the knife hand away(to break the grip) 2. Still try to stick the knife in you 3. Strike with his free hand/feet/elbows etc. 4. Switch the knife to his other hand. Each one of these responses is worked individually. I.e. To work response 1, the attacker strikes, defender secures weapon hand, attacker attempts to pull the knife hand away, defender attempts to prevent the knife hand being pulled free and prevent getting cut. stage 4. Same has above except the responses are random. stage 5. Same has above except now the defender can physically retaliate with appropriate attacking techniques and attempt to access the primary targets (eyes and throat). stage 6. attacker changes location of weapon and strike type, the process is repeated. So has you can see from a pretty simple drill, you can break it down into lots of stages and sub-stages from there. You dont start at the "full out, anything goes" part, but you work your way upto it in layers so this becomes the end result. Has you see with each level of the drill comes an increase in complexity, variables, and skills required. Also you notice not every stage of the drill requires attacks to be performed both parties.

What schools are you talking about specifically?

Most of those videos are drills to develop specific skills, they are not full out sparring. Also keep in mind that unless you are actually feeling the pressure being put on your and the energy the opponent is giving its hard to say weather you could actually throw a knee or not from those positions.

Check out some of the following on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/clivegirdham How many people who spend 1 night a week training at the local karate club are going to be able to pull everything off when the heat is on? The difference is in the training methods, look at the above clips and ask yourself why it doesnt look like the average martial arts class. The tactics are trained with people attacking you with real intent and energy. Situational awareness is one of the biggest points stressed in good rbsd courses, the roleplaying you say you cant take seriously is a big part of it. Place yourself in these situations in training then you know how you will react and if your common sense actually does prevail or if you need more work. The real key is to have seen whats happening right in front of you in training before. Having actually trained against(not just talked about) the initial emotional attack that is oh so common in situations and then attempting to defuse, if that fails then going physical. Let me ask you something. Whats better? Having a guy start pumping you with a knife in real life and you have: a) dealt with the same style of attack in training against a resisting partner(see video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTKuK8AgFfY) or b) spent your time learning to throw the perfect 1-2, shoot for double legs and pull armbars?

What experience other than reading the sites and looking at the logo's do you have of what they are offering? Have you watched any of the material? Spoken with any of the instructors? Trained with any of the instructors in a class or seminar format? MMA prepares you very well for sport fighting, not self defense. There is a difference. Actually watch some of the material and you will begin to understand this.

Go kan ryu, style of karate created by an australian, to the best of my knowledge.

There is good and bad in everything. Its the same for traditional and modern arts, there will always be the people making unrealistic claims and teaching equally unrealistic things. Some of the self protection guys who seem to have stood the test of time and are offering a variety of good information include(but not limited to): Richard Dimitri- https://www.senshido.com Sammy Franco- https://www.sammyfranco.com W. Hock Hochheim- https://www.hockscqc.com Check them out and some of their material before you judge for or against. For most of this stuff if you can look past the marketing and look to the actual material and message being presented you will benifit.

Are you refering to their doorknocking approach? Its been happening in Australia for a long while. Not sure if its a tactic i agree with, but seems to work for them.

It depends on how you define effective and ineffective. In my opinion, for something to be considered an effective self defense tactic or tool it must pass some certain criteria: (see http://www.karateforums.com/technique-assessment-vt32506.html point 4 and 5 specifically). You personally may have done a head kick and its worked. Thats not an automatic indication of effectiveness. Under what circumstances was it performed? Can you replicate it without failure in various conditions against various attackers? Can it be taught to the mass majority of people without them requiring some special ability to perform the move? Is it worth performing this technique when there are a large number of other techniques that not only have been proven to have a high success rate in violent confrontations but also follow logic and sound combat strategy? Because some things have a higher chance of working than others. Just because a technique or a system exists doesnt ensure its effectiveness. If your doing it for arts sake, then teach and do whatever techniques you want. But if your doing it for self defense purposes you need to look at what has the best chance of working for most people, to do anything different is providing a disservice to not only yourself, but students if you start teaching it.

Welcome to the forum! First off, what do you want your kids to get out of the training? Once your reasons for putting them in training are clearly defined, then its far easier to select the style that best fits what you are hoping for them to achieve. Also going down to the school itself and checking out the kids class to see what they are offering will give you a better idea of what they will get from the training and if its the right place for them.

I agree with basically everything bearich wrote. Just a few points to consider: Can you high kick without stretching first? High kicking goes against any good system principles such as closest weapon closest target. To pull off a high kick you require distance. In a real situation, this is rarely something you have. The majority of fights start and finish within arms reach, From this distance you can still drive lowline kicks into the attacker but head kicks would be near impossible to perform without moving back first, and to do this just gives your attacker more opportunity to hit you. In the amount of time it takes to do 1 high kick you could probably land a reasonable amount of hand strikes that are harder for your opponent to defend against and less likely to put you off balance.

For the most part id say yes. A good RBSD school will be geared specifically with teaching you how to protect yourself before, during and after a violent confrontation. Its not so much about trying to make people fear confrontations. Rather being prepared for it and facing the reality that it could happen has opposed to just saying "you are learning these techniques so you never have to fight". Doing this kind of training is similar to having car insurance. You dont crash your car everyday, but you still have the insurance, just in case. Id say yes again, the training you get at a good RBSD school will be worlds ahead of anything you would get at a martial arts school. Personally i attended a 4 day seminar with Richard Dimitri(https://www.senshido.com) and learned more about self protection and actually dealing with all aspects of a violent confrontation in those 4 days than i did in around 6 years of training at various traditional schools. Just my experience.

The position you take should place you in a favorable position to appear passive and non-threatening, whilst also allowing you to reflexively respond if he decides to sucker punch you, or strike first if you feel the situation is spiraling out of control. Most of the leaders in self protection at the moment all use some variation of what ShotokanKid mentioned. Both hands up and open around shoulder height, one foot slightly angled back. This is not a static position, your hands move around whilst your talking but are maintained between yourself and the aggressor to allow for protection if required. For more on this check out the following thread: http://www.karateforums.com/pre-fight-posture-vt30818.html?highlight=strike+first Should you hit first? It depends. Your first priority should be to verbally diffuse the situation. Saying "i dont want to fight" and walking away is not an effective way to diffuse a situation. You need to listen to what the person is actually saying to you and try to connect with them in someway. Talk to them on their level, DONT act like the victim and scream your head off has 1 person suggested in an earlier post, thats a recipe for making them more hostile. Also dont challenge them, but take control of the situation and explain your position to them. If for whatever reason this doesnt calm them down and the situation is getting worse, they are shoving you, not listening to anything your saying, or their friends are starting to move towards you also, then you need to act. Striking first is your best chance of survival in this kind of situation. Regardless of weather its honorable or not to strike first is besides the point in a situation where you are likely to get injured or killed if you dont act first. For more info on pre-emptive strikes check out this thread: http://www.karateforums.com/should-you-punch-first-vt29900.html?highlight=strike+first Hope this helps.

Assessing the techniques you train and/or teach is essential if your intention is using them for effective self defense. These are not set in stone rules, just some guidelines and ideas(in no particular order) that will allow you to assess how relevant your training is for self protection purposes. Keep in mind you can take any singular technique or combination of techniques and apply the guidelines below. Also im interested if you think there should be any other guidelines included within this structure. 1. Natural reaction Is the technique based around your bodies natural instinctive reactions? This is not to say that the technique must be you EXACT natural reaction. But your training methodology should be aimed to improve your natural reactions and build on them, because the further the technique strays from what your body already wants to do, the longer it will take to learn and it will be much harder to retain and perform in high stress situations. 2. Gross motor Is the technique a gross motor movement involving large muscle groups? In the event of an attack where you perceive to be prey, the body experiences an adrenaline dump which limits, if not completely removes your ability to perform fine motor movements, until the perceived threat is removed or the shift has been made from prey to predator. Not to mention the more complex a technique is, the harder it will be to perform and retain has mentioned in point 1. 3. Opponents Reaction Does the technique or combination of techniques rely on your opponent to react in a specific way to one or all of the techniques? Unless you are training a combination with everyone possible reaction being factored in, a far more sound strategy is to react spontaneously based on what your opponent is offering. 4. Specific ability Does the technique rely on specific ability that you might have personally, or that a certain group of people(i.e. males, athletes) might have? This is particularly important when teaching self defense to others, if you can make a move work, then by all means train it and use it, but if the reason for your success with the technique is based on your exceptional athletic ability or brute strength etc, then it most likely wont be applicable to the majority of people who want to learn to defend themselves. 5. Risk vs Reward What risks are you taking by using the technique, versus what you might gain by performing it? I.e what good is winding up for a huge knockout punch that could potentially end the fight if it lands, but also will put you off balance, in a poor position and leave you open to a large amount of counters if you miss? This is all about playing percentages, go for the high percentage techniques. 6. Allowance for weapons This is specifically for defensive techniques(blocking/jamming/parrying etc). Does the technique make allowances for the possibility of a weapon? I.e. can the block you use for a round punch to the head be executed without modification to defend against a knife slash to the throat? Being the the attackers body mechanics for a punch and a slash are the same, with the exception of the end result(getting hit or getting cut). This is important because in the majority of cases that a weapon is involved, the person being attacked doesnt realize there is a weapon present and in the case of a knife often dont know they have been stabbed until well after the fight. 7. Allowance for multiple attackers Does the technique put you in a compromising position if multiple attackers are involved? I.e. attempting submissions on the ground that leaves you vulnerable to being stomped etc. This is important because whilst you may be initially fighting one person, in the blink of an eye, his/her friends or even bystanders can step in to help one or both parties. Has i mentioned, these are just some guidelines, if your goal specifically self defense, most of these should be followed when it comes to technique selection. Finally to make sure the technique will be with you when it counts, making your training resemble reality has much as possible will greatly improve your chances of retaining and applying the technique if you have to use it. Thanks for taking the time to read, Cross.

I completely agree. Has Dana White said, he and a alot of others having been trying very hard to have MMA accepted into the mainstream and be viewed has a sport rather than a barbaric slug-fest. Not sure i agree here. From watching the video, actively seeking takedowns, pulling guard and attempting guillotines and armbars that result in your head being slammed into concrete would be extremely detrimental to someone hoping to defend themselves.

I mainly learn it for the enjoyment, but it is still effective and relevant. In what way is it still relevant? Do you personally carry a fan when you go out? Do you know anyone else who carries a fan on a regular basis?