Best Self Defense Options?

[Anonymous]

Been reading the thread on the Rockville HS rape. Definitely a wake up call - maybe time to sign up DD for some self defense classes.

Am I delusional or is it worth spending time/energy on this? What is the best option? Are particular martial arts more effective than others? Any suggestions.

[Anonymous]

I say until your child has some heft, it's pretty useless. I am an adult. I can pick up my 14 yr old with one arm and throw her. She can kick me between the legs, but I can block her, and she's not that strong.

I think the best self-defense is raising boys to not rape and to teach girls to stay safe (not walking alone, no short-cuts, stay in a group, don't get drunk, don't drink from an abandoned drink).

FWIW, my coworker (law firm) is a black belt and her dad teaches karate for a living. We've talked about self-defense and she says try to claw the eyes out. Not scratch, but literally rip the eyeballs out of their sockets.

[Anonymous]

As PP notes, eye gouging is what many teachers of self-defense recommend. But the point of doing self-defense class (if it's a good one) is to make a kid more confident in the idea of actually being that violent against an attacker. It's one thing for dad or mom to say, go for the eyes and gouge, don't scratch. But unless a kid has had some kind of experience, even just a classroom experience, in actually being encouraged to get that rough, she -- and I say she advisedly, since girls in our culture are socialized not to be that kind of physically rough -- may be afraid to go too hard against an attacker. Self defense classes should involve putting kids into mock situations and then pushing them hard to react with full force, usually against an instructor who is padded and ready to take the hits.

I would definitely sign my kid up for a class -- and would do another one at times like leaving for college. Refreshers. I did one some years ago and am looking for another one right now and hope to get my teen DD into one.

The instructor for the one I did said that the main problem isn't women or girls knowing what moves should help them -- it's the fact that when they are actually in a terrifying situation, many people tend to freeze, no matter what they've been taught. That's why teaching that really pushes them to let go and wail on someone, as well as repeating self defense lessons periodically, is better than advice without actual practice.

OP, seek out a self-defense class, not a martial art that takes years to learn and develop. Martial arts are terrific, but it sounds like a quick and dirty self defense workshop and not a long-term martial arts education is what you're really thinking of here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As PP notes, eye gouging is what many teachers of self-defense recommend. But the point of doing self-defense class (if it's a good one) is to make a kid more confident in the idea of actually being that violent against an attacker. It's one thing for dad or mom to say, go for the eyes and gouge, don't scratch. But unless a kid has had some kind of experience, even just a classroom experience, in actually being encouraged to get that rough, she -- and I say she advisedly, since girls in our culture are socialized not to be that kind of physically rough -- may be afraid to go too hard against an attacker. Self defense classes should involve putting kids into mock situations and then pushing them hard to react with full force, usually against an instructor who is padded and ready to take the hits.

I would definitely sign my kid up for a class -- and would do another one at times like leaving for college. Refreshers. I did one some years ago and am looking for another one right now and hope to get my teen DD into one.

The instructor for the one I did said that the main problem isn't women or girls knowing what moves should help them -- it's the fact that when they are actually in a terrifying situation, many people tend to freeze, no matter what they've been taught. That's why teaching that really pushes them to let go and wail on someone, as well as repeating self defense lessons periodically, is better than advice without actual practice.

OP, seek out a self-defense class, not a martial art that takes years to learn and develop. Martial arts are terrific, but it sounds like a quick and dirty self defense workshop and not a long-term martial arts education is what you're really thinking of here.

+1 for self defense course for both teens and their Moms. Refreshers every few years.

[Anonymous]

Classes here:

http://dcimpact.org/classdescriptions/

[Anonymous]

OP here - thank you for the info!

I will look into just regular self-defense versus martial arts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I say until your child has some heft, it's pretty useless. I am an adult. I can pick up my 14 yr old with one arm and throw her. She can kick me between the legs, but I can block her, and she's not that strong.

I think the best self-defense is raising boys to not rape and to teach girls to stay safe (not walking alone, no short-cuts, stay in a group, don't get drunk, don't drink from an abandoned drink).

FWIW, my coworker (law firm) is a black belt and her dad teaches karate for a living. We've talked about self-defense and she says try to claw the eyes out. Not scratch, but literally rip the eyeballs out of their sockets.

I agree and have been discussing with my son regularly over the years.

But after reading the police report/articles about the Rockville HS rape case, it is obvious that some people are not raising their boys this way. And so we need to empower our girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Classes here:

http://dcimpact.org/classdescriptions/

These look like great options!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I say until your child has some heft, it's pretty useless. I am an adult. I can pick up my 14 yr old with one arm and throw her. She can kick me between the legs, but I can block her, and she's not that strong.

I think the best self-defense is raising boys to not rape and to teach girls to stay safe (not walking alone, no short-cuts, stay in a group, don't get drunk, don't drink from an abandoned drink).

FWIW, my coworker (law firm) is a black belt and her dad teaches karate for a living. We've talked about self-defense and she says try to claw the eyes out. Not scratch, but literally rip the eyeballs out of their sockets.

So the boys who rape only rape because it's their natural state? They must be taught not to rape otherwise they rape?

[Anonymous]

DEFINITELY Krav Maga!

In my opinion, Krav Maga should be required for ALL young girls, tweens, teens, women & all the way up be trained in Krav Maga self defense.

Krav Maga uses real life situations in training (unlike at Kicks Karate & all of the chains, where they only teach our kids to fight in situations as if their attacker will be fighting them respectfully in a karate studio). The best thing about it, is that it will work for any size woman, big or small, heavy or thin, old or young, as the techniques they use specifically teaches the victim to use the attackers OWN weight against them.

I took Krav Maga for 6 months & I love it & my 12 year old daughter will will DEFINITELY be taking it too.

FYI, many places who teach it will give you the first lesson free to try it out & see if you like it. You can find Krav Maga in ever city in America now and there are many churches, community colleges & YMCA's around the country who give free lessons to women.

In Israel, ALL women are taught to defend themselves with Krav Maga!

This YouTube video shows just one example of a young girl trained in Krav Maga who takes on 3 drunk guys in a restaurant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DEFINITELY Krav Maga!

In my opinion, Krav Maga should be required for ALL young girls, tweens, teens, women & all the way up be trained in Krav Maga self defense.

Krav Maga uses real life situations in training (unlike at Kicks Karate & all of the chains, where they only teach our kids to fight in situations as if their attacker will be fighting them respectfully in a karate studio). The best thing about it, is that it will work for any size woman, big or small, heavy or thin, old or young, as the techniques they use specifically teaches the victim to use the attackers OWN weight against them.

I took Krav Maga for 6 months & I love it & my 12 year old daughter will will DEFINITELY be taking it too.

FYI, many places who teach it will give you the first lesson free to try it out & see if you like it. You can find Krav Maga in ever city in America now and there are many churches, community colleges & YMCA's around the country who give free lessons to women.

In Israel, ALL women are taught to defend themselves with Krav Maga!

This YouTube video shows just one example of a young girl trained in Krav Maga who takes on 3 drunk guys in a restaurant

A good friend of mine and her daughter just started taking Krav Mega together. It's truly amazing how much they've learned in such a short period of time (and because they go together, they practice on each other). She lives in California though, did you take your lessons in Maryland? If so, where? Krav Mega is the only defense lessons I'd send my daughter to now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DEFINITELY Krav Maga!

In my opinion, Krav Maga should be required for ALL young girls, tweens, teens, women & all the way up be trained in Krav Maga self defense.

Krav Maga uses real life situations in training (unlike at Kicks Karate & all of the chains, where they only teach our kids to fight in situations as if their attacker will be fighting them respectfully in a karate studio). The best thing about it, is that it will work for any size woman, big or small, heavy or thin, old or young, as the techniques they use specifically teaches the victim to use the attackers OWN weight against them.

I took Krav Maga for 6 months & I love it & my 12 year old daughter will will DEFINITELY be taking it too.

FYI, many places who teach it will give you the first lesson free to try it out & see if you like it. You can find Krav Maga in ever city in America now and there are many churches, community colleges & YMCA's around the country who give free lessons to women.

In Israel, ALL women are taught to defend themselves with Krav Maga!

This YouTube video shows just one example of a young girl trained in Krav Maga who takes on 3 drunk guys in a restaurant

Thank you! Maybe I will take this WITH my daughter! Good bonding activity.

Do you need to be in great shape to start? I'm about 20 pounds overweight but not in terrible shape if that matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I say until your child has some heft, it's pretty useless. I am an adult. I can pick up my 14 yr old with one arm and throw her. She can kick me between the legs, but I can block her, and she's not that strong.

I think the best self-defense is raising boys to not rape and to teach girls to stay safe (not walking alone, no short-cuts, stay in a group, don't get drunk, don't drink from an abandoned drink).

FWIW, my coworker (law firm) is a black belt and her dad teaches karate for a living. We've talked about self-defense and she says try to claw the eyes out. Not scratch, but literally rip the eyeballs out of their sockets.

ANY woman trained in Krav Maga will take you down & take you down quick... I don't care how big or strong you are.
The bigger the better, Krav Maga teaches women to take the attackers own strength and use it against them, so bring it on.
That includes YOUR 14 year old, with some training... just give her a few lessons & she'll be picking you up & throwing YOU down with one arm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DEFINITELY Krav Maga!

In my opinion, Krav Maga should be required for ALL young girls, tweens, teens, women & all the way up be trained in Krav Maga self defense.

Krav Maga uses real life situations in training (unlike at Kicks Karate & all of the chains, where they only teach our kids to fight in situations as if their attacker will be fighting them respectfully in a karate studio). The best thing about it, is that it will work for any size woman, big or small, heavy or thin, old or young, as the techniques they use specifically teaches the victim to use the attackers OWN weight against them.

I took Krav Maga for 6 months & I love it & my 12 year old daughter will will DEFINITELY be taking it too.

FYI, many places who teach it will give you the first lesson free to try it out & see if you like it. You can find Krav Maga in ever city in America now and there are many churches, community colleges & YMCA's around the country who give free lessons to women.

In Israel, ALL women are taught to defend themselves with Krav Maga!

This YouTube video shows just one example of a young girl trained in Krav Maga who takes on 3 drunk guys in a restaurant

Thank you! Maybe I will take this WITH my daughter! Good bonding activity.

Do you need to be in great shape to start? I'm about 20 pounds overweight but not in terrible shape if that matters.

As I mentioned earlier, you can be ANY weight or size to take it. I too was about 15lbs over weight when I started, so my biggest issue in the begining was getting winded because I didn't have the endurance yet... that quickly changed though. You'll notice the change quickly too. Because it's self defense & not martial arts, there's a lot of adrenaline involved & adrenaline won't let you get tired as easily as you might if you were on the treadmill or doing cardio. That's why I loved my instructors! They were all from Israel & the best in the world at what they do.
While one of the instructors would teach the class, another would non-nonchalantly walk around the class correcting poses & form (like a yoga instructor does) & then out of nowhere leap out & grab one of us! You never knew if it was going to be you or another girl, because even with peripheral vision he was SO darn quick & good at what he does (he's an expert!) you would have SWORN he was definitely going after another girl, as he was nowhere near you a second ago. We were ALWAYS caught off guard, every single time (which is how a REAL attack will usually be) & he didn't stop coming for us until we had him down or we asked him to stop (but that only works in the beginning, lol... they aren't there to let you off easy, they want you to fight!).
That adrenaline kicks in & I could whoop on him for what felt like forever (of course in the beginning, I was huffing & puffing afterward, but it was only after he was subdued & incapacitated &after I'd had time to collect myself, lol).

There were women of every age in our class... from probably 15 - 70, it was awesome! They treated everyone exactly the same, because an attacker isn't going to go easy on you just because you're 70, right??? So he needed to treat each & everyone of us like a real attacker would... he's such a gentle giant though, I love him!

Now, after 6 months, it's so embedded in me there's NO WAY there would ever be an incident where I'd flinch, freeze or wasn't prepared (except against maybe a gun, lol)
Taking the class with your daughter is fantastic! There were many couples in the class (moms & daughters, husband & wives, sisters, etc) & also many singles.
We would switch up partners too, becasue sometime our loved ones couldn't give us the intensity we needed, a stranger can, lol.

I promise you... if you take this class & have this experience WITH your daughter, you'll never worry about a boyfriend, her husband, or a random stranger ever hurting her again, because you'll be able to see for yourself EXACTLY how powerful she can be, even if it's not evident to her (and she won't worry about you being attacker either). Great, great bonding experience

[Anonymous]

Have your daughter watch Krav Maga girl... she is IN-CREDIBLE!

Watch this Youtube video how she shows girls to handle themselves in every situation (including a close space like an elevator).

That's her in the instructional videos... she is the definition of kicking ass & taking names, lol.