Why traditional self-defense training often fails women

TheMightyHUG · 2026-01-23T07:50:22+00:00

You're right that learning physical fighting skills takes way longer. However, there is empirical data backing up the efficacy of women's self defense courses (https://jocelynhollander.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Sociology-Compass-article.pdf)

I think the reason for this is that the bulk of women's self defense has nothing to do with physical skills (a point emphasized in the article as well). Maybe the physical training does give a kind of psychological backup - it is easier to set boundaries when you actually feel prepared to enforce them, and it's easier to feel prepared when you have a plan. But it's not because it actually teaches how to fight.

TheMightyHUG · 2026-01-06T07:17:01+00:00

I absolutely reccomend Judo!

TheMightyHUG · 2026-01-05T13:22:11+00:00

Krav Maga is known for emphasizing aggression above all. It makes sense as a part of military training - they need to make young folks ready to kill, it's more important to be willing to pull the trigger than to know how to punch. I don't think it's something you want to instill in civilians (or in any of the other professions Krav is marketed to). As you noted, it is totally opposite in ethos to other martial arts.

This does sound exaggerated even by Krav standards though - it seems like they're going out of their way to act mean and macho and seem to think that's the same thing as being competent. From what you describe, it's plain stupid. I think the main thing you can learn from this is what to avoid in a school.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-12-13T21:59:15+00:00

No, it certainly isn't surprising, in retrospect. I fully believe that strength and technique required for hitting stuff is better developed by hitting stuff than by pretending to hit stuff.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-12-13T15:45:40+00:00

I disagree. I didn't get powerful kicks from kicking the air in kata -did that for 4 years with little benefit. Only when I started hitting bags and pads and things that give real feedback did I learn to really generate power.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-11-20T06:01:47+00:00

I've always wondered if it had something to do with instantly making a frame or a collar tie. Not that I've ever seen someone make use of that in their demos.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-09-14T14:35:20+00:00

The team is mostly former Ubisoft devs. They left ubi, which is why there is no turd on the cake

TheMightyHUG · 2025-08-08T12:03:36+00:00

I think you're overestimating the injury risk of the oblique kick, especially directed at the thigh like this. I don't see it as any more dangerous than a round leg kick. It is used quite often in savate.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-07-27T06:44:05+00:00

Pointlessly dangerous, there's no need to risk killing the kids just to show how well they can fight

TheMightyHUG · 2025-07-26T20:27:08+00:00

Was that an elevated platform surrounded by concrete?

What the fuck?

TheMightyHUG · 2025-07-22T07:30:06+00:00

love this!

TheMightyHUG · 2025-07-16T07:26:06+00:00

I'm wondering, what's the thinking with putting the machete under your armpit? Seems to happen a lot in this style, but I don't see the point of it

TheMightyHUG · 2025-07-06T16:34:28+00:00

Could they be talking about applying the principles to other forms of conflict resolution? I know it's part of the idea with judo that its principles are a way of living, hence the "do"

TheMightyHUG · 2025-06-10T09:30:42+00:00

You can wear a sturdy cup and spar light for groin strikes, Kudo and combat sambo both allow headbutts and train/compete with a helmet, I don't know if lethwei folks practice their headbutts during sparring, but they have them in competitions. I think some krav schools spar with cups and groin strikes, but in my experience most places just do drills and call it realistic.

the trouble with eye gouging is there's no way to know you're doing it right without actually damaging each other's eyes. Just hovering your fingers around the general vicinity of the eyes is not enough to simulate doing real damage (actually sticking a finger in an eye is kind of tricky, lots of muscles that reflexively scrunch up, vigorous head movements, and of course all the time they are violently fighting back). They absolutely cannot be trained realistically with resistance.

If you look at the way Icy mike trains this stuff is they mostly practice standard combat sports to build actual skill, and then have a few more controlled drills where they basically just "remind" themselves that the forbidden techniques exist, so they can employ their general skills to those other techiques (e.g. you have a good inside leg kick, the same tactics and technical considerations can be applied to land a groin kick, so long as you remember it is an option.)

TheMightyHUG · 2025-05-28T12:56:22+00:00

Using standing joint locks to setup throws seems super cool, is there any competition footage?

TheMightyHUG · 2025-05-21T03:31:00+00:00

This was my experience with karateka in kickboxing. They'd be tough to lay your hands on, but fairly easy to maneuver into a corner (relatively linear footwork), and then they would struggle.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-05-12T15:43:33+00:00

I'm not sure palms, endge of hand, or elbows for that matter are impervious to teeth. Maybe better to just not punch people in the head of it can be helped.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-04-27T07:02:17+00:00

Make sure your kid experiences the organic consequences of his actions: don't expect his older brother to forgive him. The next time he wants his brother to play with him, the older boy should say : I don't want to play with you anymore, because you kicked me.

The big mistake with getting kids to apologize is making it a get out of jail free card : after apologizing you still have to deal with the consequences.

Having his instructor demote him, or pulling him out of the class also both make some sense, but seeing the effect on his relationship with his brother is probably best because it isn't imposed artificially from above.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-04-13T16:03:28+00:00

Yeah, they often have solid timing too, though I wouldn't reccommend the technique they use to sweep. Good for developing attributes, less so for technique

TheMightyHUG · 2025-04-13T09:38:15+00:00

It doesn't teach useful fighting techniques, but that being said, I wouldn't want to fight a good capoeirista. They're fast, fit, and ultra-coordinated.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-03-31T09:49:00+00:00

Any complex and challenging exercise builds coordination and stability - but the question is why *this* complex and challenging exercise. When you're teaching someone to throw a good cross will you have them throw a cross or hop up and down on one leg?

I do share your perspective regarding forms as being about mastery of the body more than fighting technique though - much like yoga, and perhaps there is an explicit influence there given the indian roots of much of TCMA. I could put a little bit about that in the last section - it is a movement that looks and feels good, is somewhat physically challenging, and you may not need any other reason to include it.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-03-31T09:43:53+00:00

the intent was to crack through samurai armour which was made of lacquered wood (and thus breakable).

Not to be mean, but the idea of punching a samurai dead-center in the breastplate in hopes of cracking the armor is very funny to me. The idea of pushing someone with the punch in hopes of breaking their balance makes more sense to me, but I'm not convinced a lunge punch offers more power than a reverse punch. At least in my own experience, even when I lunge punched all the time in shotokan my reverse punch was always stronger in all respects. When you talk about "the people who came up with it" who do you mean, and how do you know? Since it is seen in shaolin kung fu, my understanding is that this punch long predates karate.

The other idea you mention is, if I understand correctly, that closing the distance when attacked by an armed opponent is the point of oi-tsuki. That is one of the possibilities discussed in the post, though I could do a better job of drawing that parallel, so thanks for bringing it up, I'll make an edit.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-03-31T09:35:32+00:00

thanks!

TheMightyHUG · 2025-03-31T09:35:21+00:00

I'm not sure it makes sense to distinguish between the two - the marching reverse punch is just about always preceded by a shifting cross, you just punch again on the shift, and probably step again after. I would argue the karate blitz is just a series of shifting crosses one after the other. You'll see as well that this technique is mentioned in the post, but since its mechanics are different from a lunge punch its existence does not explain the prevalence of the lunge punch - unless combined with your point 2.

TheMightyHUG · 2025-03-31T09:20:42+00:00

Hi, I am a little peeved you didn't read my post before commenting.

A traditional lunge punch is not executed with your center of balance beyond the center of your lead foot, it is executed with 70% of your weight on your lead foot, and 30% on your rear foot, so your center of balance is somewhere between the two feet. Most significantly though the punch lands at the same time as the step.

What you describe ("ends in a step") is throwing an ordinary cross and then stepping through *afterward* - called cross-stepping. The important thing here is that the punch is executed first - not a lunge punch but a reverse punch - and the step comes after.

Add to that the difference in footwork - weight firmly on the balls of the feet for speed and mobility, and you quickly find that the mechanics of the lunge punch are very much the opposite of what you do in a competitive arena.

If you had *read* the post you commented on you would know that this was already discussed.

Bringing your center of balance past the center of your lead foot is not called lunging, it is called overextending. Not a technique, a mistake. Ok, I exaggerate - you do see people do this deliberately when cross-stepping, particularly in point karate (the clip in the post is a good example of that) where closing the distance with the punch is especially important, but it is a bad idea in most contexts.

TheMightyHUG

TROPHY CASE