Girl’s Self-Defense Nonsense
So many girl’s self-defense books are full of nonsense. I was at the bookstore the other day and perused the ones alleging to teach self-defense. Sadly, judging by the material within, most of the author’s last fights had to be over Tonka trucks in the sandpit at daycare. Alternatively, they’ve never been up against anyone but a compliant student in their school.
Can we clear this one up for once? You cannot teach girls wrist locks and arm locks and call it self-defense. Well, alright, you can, but you should be sued for misrepresentation when you do.
No Such Thing As An Arm Lock
To begin with, there isn’t any such thing as an arm lock. The technique is actually an arm break. Remember that all of these techniques are derived from fighting for one’s life, oft times on a battlefield. Why, in the middle of a battlefield would you take two of your arms to tie up one of the enemy’s? How long are you going to do that in the middle of a war going on? Till he cries “uncle” or gives in? Nope, you broke their arm and thus rendered them “hors du combat” and you moved on to tackle the next guy.
Look at the above picture. What do you honestly think would happen if the “mugger” just stood up? Look at the inverted grip? If he just violently yanked his arm free could she hang on or would she get sliced as the knife passed through her hands, arm, and armpit?
Control & Restraint Misnomer
Somewhere along the line the breaks became misconstrued as pain compliance techniques…probably because in training you’d take them to the point where the joint started to break – thus causing pain – at which point your training partner would cry out and let you know.
Alright, I’ll admit it. I’ve used them as pain compliance when removing someone from a club and controlling subjects whilst a military police officer. Here’s the deal though, I still have to be big enough and accomplished enough that when I let the subject go, and he decides to fight, that I can do the job and knock him out if necessary or, a cop, I’m going to control the arm long enough to get cuffs on.
Arm Breaks
What is our hapless female victim to do? She’s being attacked by a rapist (and let’s hope there’s only one of them) and she puts the lock on him. Now what? You going to lecture him on the error of his ways and hope he repents? Are you going to wait till the police come all the time controlling this struggling man with superior upper body strength to yours? Are you hoping he cries “Uncle” and accepts defeat? Are you going to take it to its logical conclusion and break the joint? Could you? Have you ever heard one break? Do you have any idea how strong you have to be to pull it off?
The bottom line is if you are much smaller than your opponent you’re not putting locks on him if he doesn’t want you to…at least not until you’ve hit him enough times to stun him. If it takes that to put it on, why not just stun him and make scarce anyway?
I look at a woman and ask the obvious question when it comes to girl’s self-defense. What could she, without a weapon, do to hurt me? I’ve never said “a wrist lock or an arm lock.” I say things like “poking a finger in my eyes, punching me in the windpipe, or kicking me in the balls.” Why then don’t we start there and stop teaching girl’s self-defense nonsense?
Hi Nick,
I’ve been teaching some women’s self defence classes recently and am amazed at the look of shock on their faces when I explain this kind of stuff. They really seem to think I’m gonna teach them a few simple Ninja moves and everything will be ok. They look very disappointed and ripped off!
Any tips ?
It’s really hard. I try and explain it to them like this. You find out you might have to play Tiger Woods in a golf match sometime during the next 20 years. Are you honestly going to go to a golf pro and go give me a one-hour-long lesson so I’m ready for that match?
Another point to make is that you’re not going to lie to them and show them stuff that won’t work. Then teach them one of the crap moves and have them try it. When they see it fail they should take your side for trying to be truthful with them. (Not all of them will. A lot of people are looking for easy fixes and when you tell them it’s not easy they’ll go find someone who will).
Everywhere in social media’s I see women self defense videos with bullshit techniques being showcased. Not like they won’t work but what they don’t understand is none of them will work if you don’t have the proper training and mind set to perform them in life threating situations not the mention the barrage of bs techniques. As for you, you need to join a decent school that actually teaches self defense and not fighting (read the book for more information about it)
Instead of focusing on complex joint locks, teach women to target vulnerable areas like the eyes, throat, and groin, using strikes that can disrupt an attacker’s balance and create an opportunity to escape. Real-world scenarios need simple, powerful techniques, not classroom theory.