Posted: 1/27/2007 8:35:51 AM EDT
| I live in a rural area that is about an hour in every direction to a " city ". I'm interested in getting some hand to hand training that is geared toward protecting myself and not competition. Any suggestions as to what to look for? Are all of the train from the comfort of your own home tapes garbage? I know that its probably better to learn how to fight when you have someone to fight with, but I thought those might be an option too. |
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My opinion... First, regarding the tapes. You can learn things from tapes, if you can already fight. But you can't learn to fight from tapes. My might learn some tips about awareness and avoidance from tapes. Other than that, you should be starting by looking around your neighborhood and seeing which types of systems are available to you. Can you imagine what would happen if you tried to learn to box just from tapes, and then stepped in the ring with someone who has spent time in a boxing gym? Can you imagine learning basketball from tapes, and then playing against someone who has spent time on the court? It may not be a sport, but self defense is physical, and there's only one way to learn. Regarding your statement, "geared toward protecting myself and not competition". Keep in mind that many of us have seen that people doing sport-style systems like MMA are often more prepared for real-world conflict than those doing what they think are defensive-only systems. MMA and sporting arts build a fighting foundation -- mental toughness, a body conditioned to take a hit, the ability to throw and land very hard punches against resisting opponents, killer instinct, etc. Yes, the real world doesn't have rules, but nothing builds your fighting foundation better than sport-style training techniques, including combative drills and sparring. And if you don't have that foundation, I don't care how good your eye pokes are, you tend to fall apart, which is what we've seen over and over. If it turns out you have a great MMA school near you, I'd urge you not to automatically pass it over for a "defense only" school until you check the schools out with your own eyes. I'd rather build my fighting foundation in class, and learn other key defensive concepts like fencing & default responses elsewhere, than learn the defensive stuff without building the foundation. Best of both worlds, of course, is to find a school that does both. So, with that, what to look for? For fighting foundation, look for full power technique drills such as focus mitts and pads, lots of sparring, rolling and groundfighting. For defensive techniques, look for key defensive concepts such as verbal response, use of the fence, assault cues, pre-emptive strikes, default responses, and combative drills that features disproportionate knowledge and weaponry: e.g., partner walks in to ask you the time, then suddenly mock-assaults you (you practice verbal response, fencing, default position) or as a surprise pulls out a knife (you practice Red Zone or whatever empty-hand response). |
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One of UFCs top fighters learned how to fight from watching the DVDs and training with his friend. I have Bas Rutten Lethal Street Fighting DVD and its great, awesome for teaching basic self defence... Plus Bas is a funny guy  . I highly recommend it. I'm in the process of getting 4 Krav Maga DVDs, I've heard alot of bad things about KM but i'm going to try it. I'll let you know how I like them after I watch it. As for DVDs being a bad method of learning its not... Perhaps it isn't as good as a real trainer but its better then nothing. I've won several "Fights" by using stuff I've learned in the Bas R. tape. He's a great teacher IMO. |