Back to Top

Is bad self defense enough?

Q&A with the coach. Are bad/mediocre hand to hand combat techniques enough to deal with the “average” attacker on “the streets”?

Comments

McFlubberpants says:

The subtitles said, "It's Ramsay, do me!"

SURVIVAL SCOUT says:

fighting is much more then techniques its strategy, mindset and philosophy also the will power thats what should be taught in self defense classes

SURVIVAL SCOUT says:

its the styles that make boundaries never settle with a style do what you feel like in the fight express yourself dont let styles control you

Blixxa2theRevenge says:

I wasn't aware of how badly I was trained by my karate school until I started kickboxing. Woman's self defense is still several rungs below that. It's a pure disservice to learn & can cost you your life.

Talent Dance TV says:

Haha Ramsey was watching the anime series Baki the grappler

And there is a scene where 2 kids draw out knives to fight each other

And one guy comes up to them and says “Put the knives away, you give yourself a disadvantage fighting with a knife against a man with his bare fists, because it makes him fight harder”

And I was thinking what the hell 🤣🤣 why would they put some nonsense like that in the anime , I hope no one follows that in real life

Mmmmm nope having a knife is a huge advantage haha

Immediately thought of what you would say when I saw it

SuB SONiC says:

I enjoy this channel for the behind the scenes and training stuff. The 'garbage' and 'nonsense' put-downs of bad teqs arent necessary tho. No matter how many times you say youre criticizing the teq not the person, you know that isnt how many people will take it. Same attitude permeates trained martial artists too. Bein a douche isnt justifiable.

Foxtrot Unicorns says:

God created all men, but Samuel Colt made them equal.
It's extremely hard for women(or anyone) to be able to hold their own against a larger stronger opponent. However, 20 rounds of 9mm doesn't care about size or strength of your target. Martial arts is no magic that will save your life.

len73 says:

Great video Ramsey.though I wonder if someone such as your wife felt more self confident after watching fake self defence videos..would it not at least be a cure for anxiety..tbh I don't believe even good technique saves a smaller lady from an attacker 50 kilos heavier intent on hurting someone.

Adrian Benningfield says:

There can be good defense great, but it am sitting there watching the Baltimore Ravens win a game and I am really drunk and I am surrounded by a bunch of Steelers fans and it am like oh I am going to be in a fight right. My first defense was not to antagonize others. I won. First defense don't start the fight.

Giovanni P. says:

Good explanation. 'Self defense training' need not be 'brutal' – even though defending yourself against potential brutality is important, traumatizing 'yourself' over the possibility of potential attack needs to be kept in check. Some resistance would be beneficial. The turning your arm towards the thumb to release from a grip is good, however it needs to be done correctly otherwise the attackers free hand is likely to be coming at 'you' in a relatively short time… What you and Master Wong both point out is positioning and being aware of your environment…

RTP says:

You have the best videos about self-defense on Youtube. They are even better than Gracie Academy, 'cause you are unbiased and fully honest on your opinions.

As you said: "respond violence with violence means that you have to overcome your opponent"… the violence set today is not people doing street braw… is criminals with knifes and guns… usually guns.

People need to be more realistic and responsible about this topic. On some places worldwide you need military training and equipment… but it's not accessible to everybody… so we should make people smart about avoiding violence. We need to accept that we live in a ecosystems of our own… where there are predators and preys. There is no shame on be a prey… but be a smart one. Be the one with streetwise and self-preservation sense. Pay more attention on your surroundings and respect the world. Don't be those tourists that have being decapitated in Morocco or kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro. Stay safe and be wise. Save the martial arts practice only to fortify your body and mind… it's one of the best ways for one to meet himself well. By the way, happy new year, mates.

Cheers!

Bubble Whip says:

Clearly you don't understand the difference between "combat" SPORTS and teh streetz. See Master Wong's video on how to escape a rear naked choke to see how people really do it with no rulez.

yeah buddy says:

Well… would you ever train for the best case scenario? If that's the case, why bother? Best case is you don't need to defend yourself.

A Zhivago says:

I'm no expert (I trained self-protection under the supervision of a sensible "krav maga" trainer for some years), but in situations where your life is at risk, technique in my view comes a distant second after state of mind. My self protection class was certainly one of the rare better ones in terms of its training methods and realistic down-to-earth approach, but even after years of training, most of my class still would not stand a chance in any kind of streetfight, even against an untrained drunk. Why? Because they could not seriously get into the mental space of 100% destroying a human being who is rapidly and repeatedly smashing them in the head intent on killing them. Serious violence is foul – I'd rather fight a Krav expert or a black belt in whatever discipline who has no serious experience with violence than I would an untrained drunk who has been smashing the shit out of people (and getting smashed the shit out of) every Friday night for fun for the past ten years. Obviously many MMA guys will be seriously formidable on the street in many situations as they have experience shedding blood against one another in cages, but I imagine even a few of them who have never actually felt what it is like to have it all on the line in the street will either freeze up, deficate, or, on the other hand, be too composed and calculated when a glass is suddenly smashed in their face and three guys launch an onslaught.

Lord Malkzebeck says:

You're so clear. But eu acho que vc levaria um pau feio do Anderson Silva 😁😁😁

Charles Xavier says:

Don't you sometimes feel though that people get into the MMA is better than everything mentality? I mean I know a lot of people follow blindly behind traditional arts but don't you think some people are doing the same for MMA? The premise that MMA is testable like a science is sometimes false because of the fact that self defense and combative sports are still two very different scenarios. I'm not trying to knock MMA, but I feel a lot of times on channels like this, combative sports martial artists almost go out of their way to degrade self defense information. I could get more on board with that if in those videos they offered tweaks or solutions to make it more effective. Granted you do do that in your videos but watch the myriad of other channels that just seem content to just say "that wouldn't work".

Patrick S says:

Life is enough. You live long enough and you learn … after getting beaten up a certain number of times enlightenment dawns. And you ain't gonna be giving away these secrets to other people, that's for sure. But it's mostly common sense. Like, if you have to fight, well just don't, but if you have to fight assume 1. You're gonna get seriously injured; 2. You're gonna die; 3. You're gonna go to prison. So unless you're fight8ng for something reslly worthwhile – family or a principle, it just ain't worthwhile.

detectivepenegrande says:

adressing the first question, that reminded me of an armed robbery last week in wich, a guy with a pistol tried to rob a student. The thing is, the student saw his intentions and knocked him out in one punch, next he kicked the robber to a point wich I thouth the guy was dead and took the gun and left. I think an important part of defending your life is using extreme agression for the sake of preserving your life.
side note: in Soviet Mexico, the victim robs the bad guy.

broken radio says:

My faviroute story of self defense is when me friend was walking past maccy D's, then some chav saw him and said "oi emo, what the fuck are you getting so close to me for?" My freind just told him to fuck off, so they guy started threatening to knock him out. However my freind just said "mate you can hit me if you want, but I'll just hit you back even harder". Then this twat started claiming that "it's not even worth it", and walked away. The morale of the story is : sometimes, all you need is words .

Doctor Octagon says:

If any training would help.
Then learning astrology is better than nothing & would aid you in your study of astronomy.
At best it’s useless and at worst it’s just gonna cloud your eyes with nonsense.
I’m a 3rd degree blackbelt in kenpo.
As a man I switched to bjj + boxing. Then when I got a blackbelt I had the courage to take off the gi and call my art simply mma.

My 3rd degree in karate made it harder to learn boxing.
My mechanics were a mess.
Honestly think I’d be better now if every time I did karate I instead took a walk in the park. Tho I’ll concede point karate (while not exactly the equal of Dutch kickboxing) like TKD id say it’s better than nothing.

But self defense crap like kenpo aikido etc. I think they make u worse.
The aikido types that join first have to learn to knock off yhe silly locks and lever takedowns the learned at start with the fundamentals.
Often it takes a full year for them to realized it’s a waste of time.

I always use an old martial arts thing.
Every few months some beginner asks me how long til I’ll get them a fight. I say
“don’t know. You’re new. I’ll get u a fight when u are ready to win the fight. Pure guess? Maybe a year?”

But on these lucky occasions he’ll say
“Yeah but I got experience in Kung fu”

Of course you know what I’m gonna say

“Ok then.. 2 years”.

I’m sure all mma instructors use this one when they can.
The greatest philosopher and best actor and best fighter (and sexist man) ever bruce Lee said

“First u must empty your cup”

Ironically this time bruce was right

ILCCT Instructor says:

I don't know if you teach the 'Color codes of mental awareness' as developed by Jeff Cooper in his Book "Principles of Personal Defense." It is the state one's mind is set in to inflict violence in defense of themselves or others. This is mainstream teaching since the 1980's in defensive firearms circles. I just am not sure if this has made it's way into martial arts. There are four states of mind represented by colors: White =unaware & unprepared Yellow = Relaxed Alert Orange = Specific Alert Red = Fight

Ale Calderón Leal says:

The problem is the violence, if someone is coming to hurt you, a "trick" wont stop them.

powerowl2120 says:

This question made me think about techniques I use in practice and sparring and even matches that my coaches tell me I shouldn't use in a fight but they seem to work pretty well. I'm able to fight with my hands up and I do when i feel i should, but most of the time their just below my chin by my chest. My coaches tell me to keep my guard up all the time, which I can but I dont find as effective for me at least. I have a question sort of branching from this one. If you fight a certain way your coaches disagree with yet you still find success what should you do?

Reply to SuB SONiC Cancel reply

*