Women's Self Defense - 5 Easy & Effective Self Defense Moves Every Woman Must Know

On my journey to find the best self defense system I uncovered what I intuitively already thought was true. This truth is that the most simplest move or technique is usually the best and most effective. You can search high and low and learn the most intricate and deadliest martial art out there. But what good is it going to do you if cannot perform it under stress or if it takes ten years to become proficient at it?

The largest barrier to self defense is your mental state. Everyone reacts differently but most people will initially freeze up when faced with a life threatening situation. The only way to work past this mental state is through realistic practice with a partner and by knowing the most vulnerable areas to attack on another human being.

I absolutely do not recommend practicing the following self defense moves full force or full speed on your partner. Instead you want to practice them slowly and deliberately so that you will have them hard wired into your brain and your muscle memory will take over when the pressure is really on!

The following targets and descriptions of the basic self defense moves are violent and graphic. I have watered down my language describing them so as not to offend some people. Obviously great care should be taken not to injure your training partners. When training with a partner you should stop before the point of injury and visualize continuing all the way through the target.

The best way to practice them is to have your partner put you in a situation and your job is to go slowly and identify a vulnerable area and practice accessing that target from whatever situation you may find yourself in.

The following moves and targets are given in no particular order.

Self Defense Move #1 - The Eye Gouge

This one is pretty straight forward however it warrants some discussion.

Us "normal" people have a natural aversion to harming another human being. Attacking someone's eyes is absolutely no exception. Morgues are full of people who left scratch marks all over their attackers face but for some reason they never had the nerve to stick their finger or preferably their thumb directly into the eye socket of their attacker.

I am not talking about scratching at the eyes here either. I am talking about sinking your thumb all the way in up to your knuckle at the inside corner of the eye, rupturing the eyeball and then dragging your thumb knuckle deep all the way across and to the opposite corner of the eye.

This will definitely cause a reaction from your assailant that will buy you time to escape to safety. The police should have no problem identifying your attacker at the local hospital emergency room either!

What if they have glasses on? Simple you slide your thumb from the cheek bone up and under the glasses. I could elaborate on proper technique but that would make for a much longer article.

Self Defense Move #2 - The Ear Slap

A good and properly performed slap on the ears will at worst disorient your attacker and at best rupture their ear drums sending them crumpling to the ground in pain. Let's say for example that someone has grabbed you in a bear hug from the front underneath your arms and is carrying you off to their trademarked creepo van.

You know where his arms are! He has left himself wide open and defenseless!

For some reason or another you have decided not to gouge the eyes. Maybe you are saving the eye gouge as your last option if the ear slap does not work. Anyways the critical component of this technique is to cup your hands just like you would if you were clapping loudly at a sporting event. No opera claps here! With both hands cupped you "clap" or "slap" both ears at the same time. If you only have access to hitting just one ear that will do just fine too!

The important thing is that it should be a good hard clap with a cupped hand. This point is critical. Your fingers should also be pressed tightly together. The cupped hand creates a vacuum which ruptures the ear drum of your attacker.

Take care with your training partner here! Do not actually clap over your training partner's ears. This can cause permanent damage and a lifetime of pain for your partner! For practice just go slowly and keep your fingers spread open to avoid an accidental injury. In real life keep your fingers tight together and hand cupped.

Also in real life you are aiming to have the center of your palm seal your attackers ear canal.

One word of warning! How you practice usually dictates how you will actually strike when the real pressure is on. So you may want to improvise and practice an ear slap on an empty Javex bottle or something like a watermelon that your training partner is holding up. If you get to know the feeling of performing this technique properly you will be able to tell the police to look for the guy with a ruptured ear drum at the hospital emergency room. Injuries make it so much easier to identify your attacker!

Self Defense Move #3 - The Ball Buster

Nothing new here! If you can reach the testicles with your knee, foot or hand you have found one heck of a sensitive area!

The real issue here is launching your attack without setting off any radar. Guys are conditioned from a very young age to instinctively respond to any incoming threats to this vulnerable area. An attacker can usually respond in time to avoid most kicks because they see it coming and subconciously respond or flinch! Ideally you want to get close and use your knee because it flies under the peripheral view.

The goal is to kick or knee the testicles and follow through. In a self defense situation you are aiming to try and kick or knee them up through the groin area and try to follow through all the way up to their neck!

What if someone has grabbed you from behind in a bear hug over your arms? Stomp on their foot and get an handful of their family jewels and squeeze as hard as you can for as long as you can till the guy either drops to the ground or lets go. You want to squeeze until you feel something burst. Then you run to safety.

Self Defense Move #4 - The Throat

This self defense move can be lethal so do not mess around and take it easy on your training partner.

A strong forearm strike to the windpipe can cause enough damage to collapse the wind pipe and your attacker will suffocate. Surfaces that you can attack this area with are endless it can be a punch, edge of hand blow, forearm strike, elbow, hammer fist or even the webbing of you hand that is made when you make an "L" shape with your pointer finger and your thumb.

You can even place a cell phone inside your fist so that the bottom of the phone is just slightly protruding out the bottom of your fist and then you hammer fist the throat. The unforgiving structure of the cell phone is sure to cause serious damage.

The one thing to always remember is that a strike with to the throat area can potentially kill the other person. A strike to any area can potentially kill another person if they have the right pre existing medical conditions!

You can even take this target further and include what I call the "Ring Around The Collar". The sides of the neck are vulnerable due to the nerves that run through this area. The back of the neck is where the brain stem is and is the one common connection between your brain and the rest of your body. Impacts to the entire "Ring Around The Collar" can cause serious life threatening injuries. Take special care of your training partner and never go full speed or full force on any of these areas. Use a light touch and slow controlled movement in practice. Practicing in this manner will build muscle memory.

Self Defense Move #5 - The Lower Leg

The vulnerable spots here while not immediately life threatening can lead to injuring your attacker either directly or indirectly. When I say indirectly I mean if you manage to break your attackers ankle and they go crashing down onto the side walk and split their head open.

If someone has grabbed you from behind tying up your arms the areas of the lower leg to aim for can look something like the following. You can use the edge of your foot, assuming that you are wearing shoes, and scrape as hard as you can down the attackers shin. This is should get them to loosen their grip! Whether you are wearing shoes or not you can stomp your heel as hard as you can directly onto the top of the attackers foot as high up and close as you can to where the foot meets the ankle.

How about if someone has knocked you to the ground and is standing over you? What you can do in this situation is bring your knee up and in line with the ankle and then lift up and place the front of your shin directly on their lower shin just slightly above the ankle joint. Then you press down and slam all your body weight across and down into the pavement.

The ankle joint attack takes practice. It can be done standing and stomping across and down. It can be done from the inside of their legs by rolling all of your body weight outwards.

You are looking to strike just above the to knobs that you can feel on each side of your ankle joint. This tears the ankle joint and sends your assailant either limping away or crashing down into the pavement.

Be careful with your partner. Go easy and go lightly. On the ankle attack you want to go slow and give your partner time to roll ahead of your pressure and simulate falling to the ground. Be careful. When in doubt go slow! Even if you are confident, go slow and do not injure your training partner!

Those are the five easiest and most effective self defense moves that just about anyone should be able to perform to stop just about any assailant. Seriously injuring your attacker will free you up and buy time to get to safety.

When your own life and safety is on the line a pain/compliance, pressure point kind of defense will usually do you no good because the second you release your attacker and try to make an escape they will have an opportunity to attack you one more time.

These moves can be deadly so the utmost respect should be taken when practicing them with a partner.

The five self defense moves discussed should only be used in situations that warrant extreme self defense and all other options have been exhausted.

Stay safe and respect your training partners!

Scott Smith is a researcher and reviewer of various self defense systems and products. His reviews and opinions can be viewed at http://www.my-self-defense-journey.com

A free seven week mini self defense e-course is available on his website which includes video instruction on some of the self defense techniques discussed in this article.

Visit http://www.my-self-defense-journey.com for more information and for self defense product reviews.

Women's Self-Defense Classes - The Fallacy of Women's Self Defense

There are many who say women learn self-defense better in an exclusively women-only environment. The so-called "experts" say it is less intimidating if women don't have to compete with the men, or, it is easier (more comfortable) to discuss subjects like rape without men present. So, the new trend in self-defense programs is "Women's Self Defense" classes.

I don't agree with this line of reasoning, because the overwhelming evidence suggests that this is the wrong approach. I can't tell you how many times I have heard, "I took a women's self-defense course once. But, I went home and tried some of the stuff on my husband (or boyfriend), and it didn't work!"

There is nothing more confidence-shattering than to spend the time learning all the techniques and starting to feel good about yourself, only to have the bubble burst the first time you try out your new-found skills. Women then begin to feel there is nothing they can do to protect themselves when they can't even make it work against someone who isn't really trying to hurt them.

The real shame is when someone is really attacked, and after repeated attempts, can't make their self-defense techniques work. At that point, they simply give up, and won't fight back no matter what. I can only imagine that someone in that situation would look back on the time or money spent for self-defense classes and feel that they had been victimized twice!

Why "Women's Self Defense" Programs Don't Work!

Most of the people who take my self-defense classes are women. Sometimes, I even have a class that is all women. However, that is by coincidence, not design. Women who sign up for my classes know that there may be both men and women in the class. Whether there are actually men in the class is not important, after all, I am instructing the class, so there is always at least one man in the class.

The point is, if a woman is so intimidated by men, that she will not even take a self-defense class with men, she will never survive an attack by a man. Why? Because "intimidation" is just another word for fear. Until she can prove to herself the techniques work on a man, she has done nothing to help her get over her fear of men.

If she is ever attacked, it will probably be by a man! If she hasn't gotten over her fear of men, she will immediately panic, no matter what she has learned. If she hasn't learned how to deal with the bigger, stronger, more aggressive male, she will not understand how the dynamics of the situation will change in the real world!

Women MUST practice self-defense techniques against a man! Otherwise, how will she know they work against a man? This is what we call "realistic scenario training" (more about this later). If she has only practiced self-defense techniques with other women, she gets a false sense of security that her techniques will work in the real world. But, an even bigger problem is that most of what is taught in these so-called "women's self-defense" classes wouldn't work anyway!

Poor Teaching Methods

Much of what is taught as "women's self-defense" is not only ineffectual, but insulting as well. Courses intended only for women assume they are weak, less capable of defending themselves, and therefore need different methods from men to counteract violence. Women have been told to "yell 'FIRE', carry a hat pin or umbrella to jab at him, do something vulgar to gross him out, like tell him you have VD." If any of that junk worked, we'd be teaching men to do the same thing.

The following sample of bad advice still shows up in high schools and women's self-defense courses:

"Confrontation always makes everything worse. Don't react-it might be an overreaction. Don't add to the violence by becoming violent yourself. Don't make him mad. Trying to escape risks escalating the problem."

These ideas are wishful thinking or blind optimism. Experience at real crime scenes teaches you something very different.

Imagine if the percentages of women and men raped were 50-50 instead of 98 percent women and 2 percent men. [Outside of prison, those are the true percentages.] Now imagine someone telling men, "Don't overreact to rape, guys. Go along with his demands so you won't be hurt." I think you can see there might be a double standard that is completely unfair to women.

Doing Nothing

Doing nothing against a violent attack is the biggest risk of all because it makes resistance and escape later far more difficult. Worse, statistics show it actually increases the likelihood that violence will escalate, especially when the crime is rape. The most profound example involving resisting (doing something) versus submitting (doing nothing) was a Department of Justice study of rape published in 1985:

Rapists do not normally pre-arm themselves with weapons. Only 23 percent of 1.6 million cases studied involved knives or guns. [The major exception to this are rapists who break into a residence; 96 percent grab a knife from the kitchen.]
Approximately 51 percent of women resisted in some form, ranging from screaming to fleeing, to fighting back; the remaining 49 percent did nothing.
When broken down between resistance or submission, there was only an increase of two percent in the injury level to the women who resisted.

Yes, there is always a risk involved in fighting back, but there is just as much risk in doing nothing. If you face a rapist and do nothing, he'll rape you. If you face an armed criminal forcing you into his car and do nothing, he'll kidnap you. The "do-nothing" group believes that in doing nothing, they risk nothing.

Doers, in contrast, have simple and direct reasons for taking action: "If I don't do something fast, it's going to get worse."

False Claims

Another problem is the false sense of security given by unsubstantiated claims. One direct-mail women's safety device provides an "instant and easy self-defense" video for women.... "Can you point your finger?... Can you raise your hand?... If your answer is yes, you can instantly escape anything from rape to severe attacks.... It's quick and easy." The product being mentioned here, pepper spray, almost never works this way in the real world.

One television commercial for a women's self-defense program promises "two-minute, guaranteed knockout using your feet. When your assailant tries to grab you, use the heel of your shoe to strike into his head over and over." Could you really learn to do this in two minutes? It takes years of training in karate or taekwondo to learn to effectively kick someone in the head, and even then, it's a risky move. It's just a marketing ploy to get your money.

If you buy a police radar detector that is guaranteed to work, but doesn't, the result is a speeding ticket. If you pay for "self-defense classes" or videos that don't deliver as promised, the result can be severe injury or even death. Relying on someone else's guarantee is only a false sense of security that will only have bad results!

Anti-crime gadgets, and martial arts self-defense programs marketed to women, are often too simplistic and come with unrealistic guarantees. The fact is, surviving crime requires far more mental toughness than physical abilities. Size, weight, conditioning, and upper-body strength don't make the difference. If they did, a lot of men would be in deep trouble. Crime survival takes tough-minded mental conditioning, the same for both men and women.

What Does Work

What works, as proved by the results of both police and military testing, is "realistic scenario training". Scenario training consists of learning techniques, rehearsing them in realistic scenarios, and then visualizing these actions in your mind. It is a method used in many fields, from sports to law enforcement, military to medicine.

Scenario training is a way of planning our responses. We do something similar every day in our regular lives. We plan what to say if the boss criticizes a report we've submitted, or how to appease our spouse if we've done something irritating. Often we actually rehearse the words we'll use, we do it constantly. It doesn't always get us what we want, but it gives us a better chance.

Face-to-face with violence, your first split-second problem is not what is he going to do, but, "what are you going to do?" Scenario training against violence answers that question at the right time... before it happens. You can make mistakes and learn from them before it becomes a life or death situation! Scenario training to survive violent crime draws on real-life crime cases, which allows us to analyze our own mistakes, as well as the mistakes of others, learn from them, and decide how we will respond differently.

Without realistic scenario training, people panic and freeze up; they have no way to cut through the overwhelming fear that boxes them in during a crisis. Everyone needs to train for the same scenarios, and everyone, men and women alike, need to train the same way: to develop the mental toughness needed to survive a real attack!

Summary

This is the bottom line that must be adopted by every woman, every women's self-defense teacher, and every parent of a daughter: If the how-to-survive-violence technique and advice is not acceptable to men, it's not acceptable to women.

Knowing how to handle yourself when confronted with violence is your only insurance against becoming a victim, or just another statistic in a police report. You have car insurance, home-owner's insurance, life insurance, health insurance...

What insurance do you have against being the victim of a violent crime? A long-term self-defense program offers the most comprehensive training, and therefore, the best opportunity to learn to handle almost any situation that may occur. However, if you don't have the time to commit to a long-term program, at least some form of weaponless self-defense training is better than none.

But women MUST practice techniques with MEN! The idea that women can learn to defend themselves against men, without training with men, is simply false.

Resources:

Strong, Sanford - Strong on Defense; Simon & Shuster, Inc.; 1996

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Uniform Crime Report; 2000

Mark Jordan is a 6th Degree Black Belt in Budoshin Jujitsu, Vice-president of the American Ju-Jitsu Association, and a Certified Self-Defense Instructor with the International Association of Close Combat Professionals. You may find out how to contact him for training, or read more of his articles by visiting his website:
AllJujitsu.com.

Women's Self-Defense - Why Most Programs Are Wrong

Women's self defense issues are constantly in the news and a 'hot' topic for conversations. It seems that everyone from police officers to karate instructors has his or her own philosophy and theories about the how's and why's of self defense for women and girls.

The truth is though, that many of the same techniques and tactics taught to men for self-protection simply will not work for a woman. Why?...

... because attacks perpetrated on women have, at their foundation, certain inherent problems, issues, and conditions that are often very different for men who find themselves in defensive situations. Women have to deal with things that, quite frankly, men don't.

If this is something you're really concerned about, you owe it to yourself to do some serious research to get more information about real-world self-defense for women

designed around issues specifically related to womens self-defense.

Now, before some of you start rolling your eyes or nodding your head in agreement, this is not a women's lib issue or anything of the sort. It's simply the way it is.

What kind of things make self-defense for women different? I'm glad you asked.

Well, for starters, physiologically speaking, there is a 7-to-3 strength ratio between male and female bodies. That means that if you were to stand a man and a woman, having the same height, weight, and build, side-by-side, and all things considered (health, fitness, etc.)...

... the man would still be two-and-a-half times stronger than the woman!

This is not theory or one person's belief over those of others. It's scientific fact.

Next, women are more likely to be slapped, grabbed and pinned than punched or kicked. For men, it's just the opposite. The fact is that, most of us have been conditioned since childhood to act, play, and, yes, fight with each gender very differently. And attackers are no different.

The good news is that more and more women are being drawn to the life-enhancing benefits of the martial arts and basic self-defense programs for increasing their level of self-confidence and overall feelings of safety and security. The not-so-good news is that...

... there is a shortage of:

* Martial arts instructors who understand scientific self-defense, 'and' have the necessary life experience to be able to teach from a perspective that shares that experience.

After all...

... if an instructor has never been in a real-world self defense situation themselves, it will make it nearly impossible for them to teach real self defense to anyone - let alone self defense for women. It's kind of like going to a priest of counselor for marriage counselling who has never been married themselves. They both have information passed on by others but, neither has anyway of expressing that information based on real-word knowledge.

However, there is an over-abundance of...

...so-called self-defense experts who are of the tough-guy, fighter type or the "This is Reality - Deal With it! macho-type.

These people, by their very nature are the "slugger-types" who rely and depend on speed, strength and size to win. Since self defense situations usually involve a bigger, faster, stronger attacker victimizing a smaller, less-prepared target - and, that'sexactly what most women are up against when they're attacked...

... these instructors, and their "strike-first-and-crush-them-where-they-stand mentalities, are far from being suited, knowledgeable, or able to deliver the necessary lessons needed by women to effectively protect themselves from an assailant intent on dominating them physically.

Other Considerations for Girls and Womens Self Defense

The following is a partial list of some of the other major differences between self defense for women and men. The important thing to remember is that...

... a self-defense situation is very different from a sport or competition-based contest where the individuals are willing participants. They are evenly matched to insure for a "fair fight." I have been in contests and I have been attacked and I can tell you without a moment's doubt that...

... there is nothing "fair" or "even" about a real attack. NOTHING! And, once your personal space is invaded by another human being wanting to beat you to your core, you will know what I mean and never, ever, buy into the crap that most of these so-called experts are shovelling.

With that said, please know that I have not said that every self-defense or martial arts instructor is full of it. Just that you must know what you need and make sure that that's what you're getting. Remember - you're not buying a couch that you can take back. A mistake in this area could literally cost you your life!

Here are some other differences between men's and women's training that a good program must address:

* Cultural Influences - girls have been taught from a very early age that fighting was not "lady-like."

Oh my god! What would people think!

* Situational Self-Defense - rape and sexual assault are two of the biggest differences between the genders when it comes to suriviving an attack.

The fact that men are usually dealing with the more obvious situations (muggings and competitive ("oh-yeah! let's go!"-type fighting), while women, and more and more young girls, are required to deal with subtle tactics like date-rape or being ambushed by a group.

Add to this the strength differential discussed earlier, and you have a very different situation, requiring very different self-protection tactics.

* Incorrect Information - I believe that the majority of teachers and instructors mean well. They aren't out to con you. It's just that they have no real experience to go on so they do what everyone does when they don't know any better...

... they make assumptions that seem logical and rational within their own frame of reference.

The problem is that we're talking about self-protection here...

... self defense for women...

... girls self-defense. Not...

... vegetable soup. Where, if you make a mistake, you can just dump the pot and start over.

As I said earlier, a mistake in a women's self-defense situation, in any situation requiring defense against an attack from an assailant bent on damaging you, could be very, very costly indeed.

Jeffrey M. Miller is the president and CEO of Warrior Concepts International, and specializes in teaching the lessons for effective self-protection and personal development to individuals, groups, and business organizations. He has been studying and teaching these methods for over two-thirds of his life. He is a former federal police officer, private investigator, and bodyguard - all professions that demanded that the techniques, strategies and tactics that he used in the line of duty worked, and worked every time.

Mr. Miller is the founder and creator of the EDR: Non-Martial Arts Defensive Training SystemTM. EDR stands for Emotion-based Defensive Response and focuses on teaching adults how to tap into their body's own natural defensive response system to effectively deal with over 95% of the assaults that might happen to them. And they learn in hours instead of months or years as required by most karate programs. Get more information about the EDR System, or to have him speak or conduct a seminar for you, at http://www.warrior-concepts-online.com

Women's Self Defense Training - Be Equipped

 Be Equipped: (necessities such as tools or provisions.) Being equipped with the proper personal security and self defense tools whether it is a lethal, or non-lethal, or an alternative self defense tool, can greatly impact your personal security in a positive way. They are an important part of an overall self defense strategy.

Lethal: (Capable of causing death.) Just the definition of a lethal Personal Secuirty and Self Defense tools causes some people to fear, with good reason. When you carry a lethal one there is a great responsibility that inherently comes with it. A lethal tool can be a very effective choice with proper training and practice.

·         Guns, particularly pistols are the most common lethal self defense device.

·         They come in a variety of different calibers and sizes to fit each individuals needs.

·         If you carry it for self defense; that would imply that you would be willing to use it, possible taking another humans life to save your own.

·         You must insure that you get proper training, required permits, store it properly to avoid any accidents,and practice with it regularly.

Non-lethal: Many people choose non-lethal self defense tools for obvious reasons.A non-lethal self defense tools can give you the opportunity to flee from a dangerous situation.

·         Pepper spray is a non-lethal non-toxic aerosol spray used for self defense. The active ingredient in pepper spray is a naturally occurring substance called Oleoresin Capsicum or "OC". Pepper spray comes in dispersal types: Fogger, Stream, and Foam. Pepper spray offers the most bang for the buck of all non-lethal security products.

·         TASERS are non-lethal electroshock devices for self defense purposes only that disrupt the body's neuromuscular systems using electrical currents. They come in three different models; the C2 which is fashionable compact, the ML18 advanced TASER resembles a gun in shape and size, and the X26C that is gun shaped and offers many features.

Alternative: An alternative personal security tool is anything you can find wherever you are. They can be both lethal and non-lethal depending on the self defense tool used, placement and power of the strike on the offender. When it comes down to it you do what you have to in order to flee. Let me give you some examples of possible self defense tools in your car, home, or on your person. Because of liabilities I won't be explaining how to use these items; however the element of surprise is usually on your side with one of these self defense tools.

·         In the Car; ice scrapers, snow brushes, keys, sunglasses, a hard sun glass case, CD or CD case etc.

·         At Home; any aerosol can, a tooth brush, T.V remotes, drinking glasses, kitchen utensils, books, trash cans etc.

·         On your person; would be your wallet, loose change, pen or pencil, cell phone, comb, umbrella etc.

·         This is by no means an exhaustive list when you consider almost anything can be used as an alternative self defense tools. The key to any alternative self defense tools is that they don't appear as self defense tools and give you the element of surprise. By holding correctly, striking with force in the right area they are effective.

In Summary, with any self defense personal security products you should follow the laws and regulations in your area, practice with it and realize the moral and legal responsibilities that you take upon yourself when you carry them. Though it is never guaranteed, these items can give you the upper hand and a chance to flee. In future articles, additional rules will help you maximize your personal security and safety. Remember the best time to learn your lesson about personal security and self defense is before something happens.

Adam Sisterhen is the president of Your Personal Security Store (s90x.com), self defense instructor, author of personal security and self defense articles and a Rotarian. He is a proud advocate and a firm believer in personal security and self defense training and products that help protect you, your family and your loved ones.

To find the products talked about in this article and a wealth of information check these links below.

For the quality personal security and self defense products visit [http://www.s90x.com] Security to the 90th power!

For insights into products and personal security and self defense visit http://www.yourpersonalsecuritystore.blogspot.com