Martial Arts And Women And Self Defense
When you turn on the news, you always see a story or two about a violent criminal on the loose. Now, the truth is that the streets are actually quite a bit safer than they’re made out to be. You can walk to your car at night every day for the rest of your life, and the odds are actually against your being harmed by some nutjob. However, the possibility is there, and it is very real. When it comes to martial arts and women, the whole point is to be safe.
Martial arts for self defense are a must for everyone, and especially for women, who are statistically more likely to become victims of violent crime. Going in, you do need to be realistic. No matter what the movies show you, a black belt won’t grant you the ability to dodge bullets, you won’t be able to leap twenty feet into the air, do a triple back flip, and come down heel first on some thug’s head. But, martial arts training will help you to defend yourself and to be unafraid when walking to your car after work.
Let’s run down some of the more popular forms of the fighting arts…
Kickboxing
American Kick Boxing is a hybrid of several styles, primarily Karate and boxing, with some Muay Thai thrown in. The essence of American Kick Boxing is that it is really just a basic, practical self defense system. The goal is not to destroy your opponent, but to do enough damage that they think twice before coming at you again. There’s very little emphasis on the mindset, the philosophy, the tradition and the culture of martial arts, because the form was really developed more as a tool than as a lifestyle. If you just want to feel safe at night or when walking the streets, study American Kick Boxing. It is lacking in the spiritual and mental training aspects, but if all you want is to be able to defend yourself, then it should provide everything you need.
Thai Kickboxing
Thai Kickboxing, or Muay Thai, is probably the deadliest form of martial arts, even more so than the fabled Ninjiutsu (which is, honestly, more of a form of physical training than it is strictly a martial art). Muay Thai is not focused on self defense. Muay Thai is focused on eliminating threats, permanently. Even if you try to pull your punches, the entire focus of Muay Thai is to break bones, rip flesh and rupture internal organs. The focus is on elbow and knee strikes, and the signature move has you grabbing your attacker’s shoulders and pulling downward while simultaneously driving your knee up into their chest as hard as you possible can. Scientific tests have shown this attack to have all of the stopping power of a car smashing into a wall at forty miles an hour. The aim is to snap the ribs and jab them inwards to stab at internal organs. If you want to study Thai Kickboxing, stop and consider whether or not you would be okay with carrying that sort of power, as it’s not a martial art for pacifists.
Okinawa Style Karate
Muay Thai will turn your body into a weapon. It’s not just about self defense, all of the strikes in Muay Thai are designed to incapacitate, sometimes permanently. The style is not for the faint of heart, and definitely not for pacifists. If someone tries to attack a Muay Thai expert, they don’t go to prison, they go to the hospital, if they’re lucky. The signature attack in Muay Thai is a knee to the chest that cracks the ribs, turning them into sharp stabbing points that go directly into the internal organs. With Muay Thai training, you can walk any streets at night and know that you’re more of a threat to them than they are to you, but proceed with caution if you want to learn this deadly form.
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