What is effective self defense? This question comes up in many ways, and through many disciplines of training. Is it the ability to win a fight? The sensitivity to cut off an escalation before it starts? Is it making yourself blade and bulletproof? Should you be a defensive responder or an offensive worst nightmare to your opponent?
Security flows like a yin and yang of give and take. You go this way, the attacker goes that way. You change, he changes. He strikes, you counter (or you counter, he strikes). The police use radar, the driver uses a radar detector. The police use radar-detector busting radar, the consumer buys radar detector busting radar detector busters. Security presents a constantly shifting interplay between forces and counterforces. It is not a static state.
Physical Defense
There’s no question that the intense physical training of a martial art prepares the body for greater trials of strength and endurance. As they say, how you perform on the mat is how you will perform on the street. It’s vital that you use good quality products in training so as to avoid the injuries you are trying to prevent in the first place. Fortunately there are some reliable sources for getting good equipment without spending too much.
However, physical training only presents part of the equation. In an actual self-defense situation, stress levels shoot up, people behave unpredictably, and a whole host of environmental factors come into play – traffic, friends, bystanders, weather, and even mood. There aren’t any guarantees for any of us.
In this way, the more challenges you can face on the mat – be it in judo, karate, MMA, taekwondo, aikido, hapkido, or what have you – the more prepared any of these fighters will be for surviving the reality of a stressful, dangerous confrontation.
Mental Defense
Martial training provides much more than physical preparedness. Regardless of discipline, a devoted practitioner may find increases in mental clarity during a physical confrontation. Less stress, shock, surprise, but perhaps most importantly, less need to prove oneself at the expense of another human being.
Training in any art such as judo or karate develops a mental acuity which will serve the practitioner in countless ways. Recognizing “the dance” – when someone in the crowd positions themselves to get at you. Reacting to surprise attacks with increased speed and natural countermovements, without sacrificing stability. Recognizing the body language that leads to an attack. Winning by cutting off a confrontation remains the most efficient use of martial training, in any discipline.
Personal Development
Martial arts may not be impervious to danger – we are, after all, human beings that posses many frailties and little natural armor. But a little martial arts skill can go a long way in saving your life, preventing injury, preserving the peace, and elevating the quality of your life.
