firearms

[AccidentalOverlander]

I have been a member of my local The Well Armed Woman chapter for several years. This year alone our numbers have tripled. Training and confidence building is key. And like Bob Wells just said, women should consider taking a self defense class once a year. My objective is to be situationally aware enough to avoid or remove myself from danger so I never have to deploy my PPD (personal protection device) or firearm if you prefer to call it that. That being said, I TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN!

 

[eDJ_]

As a kid entering middle school years I took a Judo class at our local YMCA. One of the best things I ever did in those years. Of course we weren't all armed like "Capt'n Combat & Sargent Slaughter" in those years.

Should an opponent get the jump on you (male or female) and you don't have a weapon to use....how are you going to protect yourself ?

Judo is more about self defense where Karate leans to the offense with hand strikes. (men tend to lend themselves well to this)

Taekwondo is similar to Karate but emphasizes leg kicks (where women excel in this Korean form)

Where I live there are numerous Dojo's and our newspaper keeps reporting there has been a sharp rise in female enrollment to study Taekwondo.

If you are in camp wearing a sidearm, what's to stop someone with a rifle & scope from picking you off and then moving into your camp ? A firearm can give you a false sense of confidence just as well. So consider self defense training too.

 

[George Mason]

I did take Taekwondo when I was young for a couple of years. It does give you confidence.
But it wouldn't do me any good at my age, and this kind of kicks would put my knees out of of commission for good now.

 I took Kempo Karate as a kid. Like you there is no way my knees will take the abuse now. I do want to start learning Tai Chi though

 

[Dingfelder]

Joe Rogan is a national level Tae Kwon Do champ. He speaks repeatedly about being disabused about how effective the art really is, and is now into jiu-jitsu so much he is almost blind to the virtues of anything else. Be that as it may, it goes to show that a style that depends on tremendous flexibility and a bizarre supposition in advance (that nobody can counter kicks and that kicks are sufficient regardless) is very limited. But as an illustration against all styles like that, not just one. Flexibility is important. I got a third-degree black belt in jiu-jitsu and my hands were useless because they weren't properly trained in that style. You can't fixate on style in preference to reality which just .. is .. what it is. You never know what's coming at you.

Overall, I'd say training to be a better athlete and testing your rePflexes and learning a few throws and locks and a good jab is vastly better than any style. You probably don't have the wind to compete as is. Even if you get to be a perfect technician, gassing out while some half-wit dances around and waits for you to fail is not a good strategy. Any young monkey can beat you any time, and easy, if your training is all last year or years ago. People need to stop kidding theselves.

Almost the only courses that aren't useless are those that teach you to avoid or to run. Physical fitness, and self defense, are a lifestyle, not a weekend class or a sudden enlightening moment from a youtube vid or a forum post. Yeah, it's a years-long endeavor. Sorry life wasn't easy for you. But that's how it was for everyone but the physically gifted and perhaps psychologically disturbed. Defending yourself can feel very unnatural and take a bizarrely high amount of effort for something that produces no direct and immediate benefit otherwise in your life. It's just pouring effort into your monkey, not your angel, so that someone else's monkey doesn't destroy yours. It's a weird mix or something completely lacking in glamor and something to brag about.