One day, you could face a dangerous situation in which all your negotiating skills fail to dissuade an attacker and you have no option but to protect yourself. How can you subdue a bigger, stronger assailant?
Punch the neck? Poke the eyes? Kick the crotch? Many people, particularly women, believe these are the best ways to neutralize or thwart an attack and escape.
However, in reality, they often do not work at all.
“A lot of people, when they think self-defense, they think karate chop to the throat, knee the groin … they do not work in real situations,”
if you happen to be a 50kg (110 pounds) woman, and about to duke it out with an 82kg (180 pounds) your meager kicks, or jabs with your skinny fists, will not be effective. “Even if you learn to punch properly you’re still limited in terms of strength,”. Besides, such moves will only enrage your assailant, and make the situation even worse.
What if you gouge the eyes? “ In real life, it doesn’t work,” who cautions against learning self-defence tactics from the highly choreographed fight sequences in Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan films. As many have learned the hard way, real fights are nothing like the movies. Junior says we have an inbuilt instinct to protect our vulnerable areas like the eyes.
As for groin shots, many predators expect this response nowadays, so they are highly focused on protecting the area, also take into consideration the attacker could be highly intoxicated and don't feel the attack as planned. So what self-defence techniques can a person use if they are smaller and weaker than their assailant?
This is where martial arts basics come in handy. Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which evolved from strike-heavy Japanese jiu-jitsu, was conceived for individuals of smaller stature to overpower bigger opponents.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a ground-fighting art form – you subdue your opponent by getting hold of them and forcing them to the ground.
Taking the fight to the ground offsets the differences in strength, weight, and size between you and the attacker. On the floor, players’ strength is less useful but technique becomes crucial. “This allows a weaker person to have an advantage over a stronger, bigger opponent,”
“Brazilian jiu-jitsu empowers women because they start realizing these techniques are not based on physical strength or size, but on a correct application of techniques to certain situations or scenarios,” Junior says. These methods are not just for women but for anyone to defend themselves in a dangerous situation.
Be prepared
In a dangerous situation, we all have a fight-or-flight response. But for some women, the overwhelming shock and fear might make them freeze, which makes them more vulnerable in the attack.
That is where practice comes in, as more familiarity with a close combat scenario can help alleviate fears. People need to get comfortable in close-range engagement.
“A lot of people can’t even deal with close contact,” adding that you need to get accustomed to using grabs and other physical tactics with a heavier opponent. That doesn’t mean you need to advance to a black-belt level of martial arts; all you need is some familiarity and confidence to prepare for a real-life confrontation.
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