SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO SELF-DEFENSE
- Manual for beginners. Read before you start -
Let this be my answer to endless polemics on the internets with various "experts". Next time I get into a discussion I just post a link to this article. This article will also serve as a contribution to society.
Let's say you want to start with self-defense and you don't know absolutely anything about it. It's like me starting a piano class. Fine. What everybody does next? You open internet and find multiple schools in your neighborhood, of which majority will be different Krav Maga schools (because they are most frequent). If all you want from self-defense is to mildly sweat, make new friends, feel (tacti)cool during your trainings and boast in front of your friends, stop reading right now and take your pick. It doesn't matter which one you choose. This article is for the rest of you who really intend to learn something useful - in that case before you choose any of the schools, you have to ask yourself, one-by-one, several questions.
This article will help you answer them.
QUESTION 1:
What is the major reason why you want to do self-defense and not something else? (boxing, f.e.)
- I want to learn how to deal with real-life violence -> continue to question 2.
- Any other reason -> stop reading and randomly choose any school you want. (there is no shame in that if you are aware of the risks leading from this decision)
QUESTION 2:
What is self-defense?
- By definition it is "a way of defending self (you) from bodily harm inflicted by other person(s)". The "self" also means you have to do it yourself, although in the process of defending you might have to defend also your loved ones (if you are that kind of person).
- Conclusion: Self-defense is clearly a defense from real-life attacks. It is not a martial art (karate, kung-fu, etc.), nor a sport (MMA, Thaibox, etc.) This leads us to next question.
QUESTION 3:
How does a real life attack look like?
- Open Google and type "real attacks on CCTV". You can try combination of this sentence with following words: "knife", "gun", "rape", "rifle", "shooting", "stabbing", "kicking", "deaths", "victims" and other similar expressions. Then open Google again and type "real attacks wounds". Now you have enough study material for several evenings, and what is "better" - you will never run out of fresh material. Remember well how these attacks looked like on CCTV. You will need this knowledge later.
- Conclusion 1: It's no fun (at least for victims). Death is frequent. You don't want to experience something like that. It's brutal. It will probably take a HUGE effort (mental, physical and emotional) to survive such situations. Even if you survive, you will carry mental and health issues for the rest of your life. This leads us to next question.
- Conclusion 2: You can't anticipate what how the attacker(s) will attack and with what. Thus you have to train for worst case scenarios.
QUESTION 4:
Knowing the reality, do I still want to do self-defense?
- No - go do something else with your life and pray you never get in a situation like that
- Yes - praying is not a good strategy. In that case continue to question 5
QUESTION 5:
How should the training look like then?
- Now you know how reality looks like. You also have to understand that good systems will only raise your chance of survival (of course, everyone claims that - don't worry, keep reading). No sane person will guarantee 100% chance of success. You automatically filter out such "experts".
- If a self-defense system is to raise your chance of survival significantly (significantly = to make any difference on the street), it must unconditionally fulfill a long list of following criterias:
- IT MUST BE AS CLOSE TO REALITY AS POSSIBLE
- Which leads us to several conclusions about self-defense trainings:
- It will hurt. A lot. If it doesn't, look elsewhere
- It will be emotionally, mentally and physically very demanding. If it's not, look elsewhere.
- We will have to do the techniques under extreme stress. If you are smiling after class, look elsewhere.
- We will have to push ourselves beyond limits we didn't even know we have before we entered the class. If you don't push those limits, look elsewhere or work harder.
- Techniques must be successful (under stress) in at least ~60% of cases (otherwise, what are we doing here?). If they don't, look elsewhere.
- Being hurt and screamed at is not fun. Trainings should not be constructed to boost your morale. If people are polite to you in your training, look elsewhere.
- Ego doesn't belong to trainings. If your instructor won't allow you to challenge his ideas, look elsewhere VERY quickly.
- Instructor must not be your friend during the training. If he behaves like one... well... you know what to do.
- It can not take decades to learn. You don't need self-defense when you are 55. You need it now - in a year or two, maximum. If you can't understand a basic technique (let's say punch defense) in 5 mins and execute it correctly under stress after 2 hours of intense training, look elsewhere.
- Perfection doesn't exist on the street. If you hear something like "our system is the best", look elsewhere and call police
- If the curriculum of a system doesn't cover successful defense against multiple armed attackers, you don't train for reality. In that case disappear.
Why the trainings must be like that? Because reality is like that. You can't learn how to defend yourself (or anyone else) if you only "play" reality. Trainings have to mimic reality as closely as safely possible. Continue reading to understand this point.
(Trainings also shouldn't put us to hospital - safety rules must be set. Those safety rules on the other hand CAN NOT interfere with the main criterium of closeness to reality. If an instructor tells you only to unrealistically mimic attacks for your own safety, disappear.)
QUESTION 6:
Ok, then which system is the best? Everybody claims to be an expert!
- Now you know how reality looks like and how the training should look like. Armed with this knowledge you may start judging the systems available to you. In your laic position, you will hardly be able to recognize quality of techniques from Youtube. But I will give you general rules, to make your decision making simpler.
- Watch videos from your chosen schools first:
- If the techniques look very elegant and fluid and the victim doesn't break a sweat, look elsewhere
- Consider all aspects said in Question 5. If their trainings don't resemble reality very closely, look elsewhere.
- Visit free classes of the schools you chose:
- Challenge your instructor relentlessly about his ideas and techniques he will teach you.
- EXAMPLE: Instructor teaches you his defense against knife attacks. Then ask him if you can stab him to evaluate if his move works. If he says no, leave. If he agrees, stab him (with a training knife) in the same manner you saw in CCTV videos without telling him first! Don't give him any discount! If you are unsure about result, repeat this process at least 10 times and count how many times he has been successful in his defense attempts.
If he is open-minded and survived majority of your attacks, you might have found a good system!
Congratulations! You just won a lottery! But remember - never stop asking questions and always try to PROVE physically if something works. There is no other way
BE WARNED! The challenge I just described is what many instructors out there (and whole systems, world wide known) will unfortunately never agree to. Because deep inside they know they teach bullshit. For most of them, teaching self-defense is about profit and prestige. How many students will return to classes for another set of bruises, scratches, kicks and punches twice a week? How many of them will have mentality and determination to suffer through the trainings to reap the benefits? Frankly, not many. (But those who do... it's a great pleasure to know them, to work with them and in most cases to consider them friends). This is why self-defense cannot be about money - those few people left in reality based trainings will maybe put together money for a gym. This is why you usually see 30, 40 people in Krav Maga classes happily punching pads and laughing about it. And their instructors clapping their shoulders. If you make it hard for them, they will leave and their money with them. Those are the people that would choose second answer in our first question. And I don't blame them. Self-defense is (or at least should be) a really hard work. I blame the systems that sell themselves as "The most realistic self-defense in the world." and when you visit their classes you see completely unrealistic techniques, ego and a bad boxing class instead of self-defense. All I want from them is to tell the truth - "The most realistic homeopatic self-defense in the world."
Self-defense instructor who teaches bullshit (no matter the reason) is a criminal and should be jailed - because he sells his students an illusion. An illusion that can easily kill you when you attempt to use it. It is your life on the line! That's why self-defense is not a sport. Losing a boxing match will not leave you gutted on a sidewalk!
REMEMBER! - the only way to prove if some technique work is to TEST IT. Repeatedly, under stress, full speed. Success rate of self-defense techniques is not a matter of opinion (as it is the case with most of instructors out there). It is a matter of statistics!
LAST QUESTION:
Alright, so what are the benefits? What do I potentially get back from all that back breaking work?
- You will learn how to think clearly under stress (and not only in physical attacks), how to work with adrenaline. You will definitely get to know you much more than before. You will learn how to raise your chance of survival, and - if the system offers these options and you are willing to - how to save someone else. Maybe you will expand your knowledge to other combat skills - VIP protection, knife fighting, gun/rifle shooting and it will interest you. Maybe your wife, girlfriend, mother or daughter will benefit one day from your skill and knowledge (and you will pray for that day not to come). You will never look at violence with fantasy eyes again (it spoils most action in action movies, I warn you right now). You will become tougher, stronger, faster, smarter, harder, more resistant to pain and most importantly - humbler. Ego is a greater killer than cigarettes and alcohol. You will learn how to deescalate the situation, how not to fight, how to strike first, how to evaluate the situation correctly. And maybe - you will become a better person.
All of you - stay safe.
And... God Bless.