Search
Recommended Products
Related Links


 

 

Informative Articles

Fantasy League Rankings - CC Sabathia
Moskwa's pick of the day.... www.baseballstrategies.com In today's baseball review of yesterdays ranking I look at Cliff Lee. He definitely did not throw as well as I was hoping, giving up 6 earned runs, and 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings. The only...

How To Build YOUR Golf Swing
HOW TO BUILD YOUR GOLF SWING This process is multi fold 1. Learn what YOUR neutral grip is 2. The CORRECT ball position for every club 3. The CORRECT swing shape 4. How far back YOU can take the club 5. How to play within YOUR style...

Power Personified – With Massive Arms
Power Personified – With Massive Arms Remember when you were in High School. So many characters and personalities. Here’s one I think you’ll relate to. Gillie was the Paul Bunyon of my neighborhood. He had 20-22 biceps, and a neck almost as...

Super Bowl Athletes Prepare for Game Day by Getting Feet and Hands in Shape
Callused, rough feet and hands are a common problem for professional and amateur athletes alike. When their feet and hands are not in top shape, it’s a silent factor that hurts a player's game. Carol J. Buck, CEO of Xenna Corporation, says, "A...

What Baseball Could Learn From a Former Skinny Kid!
The baseball season is here and the game’s greatest players are in the news. They have hit the headlines not for their prowess on the field, but for alleged steroid abuse in the locker room. Baseball’s greatest stars could have taken a body building...

 
The Martial Arts and Self-Defense - Emotional Response and Reaction

The media has fuelled the perception that ordinary people on the street are in constant danger from violent attack, and self-defense classes promise to counter this fear.

To attract students, most martial arts schools in the U.S. teach self-defense methods. They make many claims about the usefulness of martial arts techniques in defending oneself against attack. Such situations of attack are rare, however, and can be avoided by not putting oneself in danger (for example, not walking around bad neighborhoods after dark, not buying or selling illegal drugs, not hanging around bars, not getting involved with gangs, and so on). Being alert and aware of one's surroundings and recognizing the types of events that are likely to occur in certain locations are the individual's first line of self-defense.

The media has fuelled the perception that ordinary people on the street are in constant danger from violent attack, and self-defense classes promise to counter this fear. In truth, this perception is largely false, as more people are injured in incidents of domestic violence than on the street by strangers. To be effective, self-defense classes only need to reduce the feeling of fear.

When a person is actually attacked on the street by a stranger, the main problem in self-defense is generally not a lack of physical ability to counter the attack, but an emotional reaction, such as panic or anger, that can turn a bad situation worse. Panic can


be paralyzing and invite attack, while anger can provoke harm as well by frightening or angering an attacker to further violence.

Serious training in the martial arts takes the emotional reaction out of violent confrontations. After many hours of practice, a punch or a kick becomes merely a physical force, a fist or a foot is easily handled, and an encounter is not even experienced as a personal attack. Students learn good coordination and self-confidence, characteristics which can discourage potential aggressors from becoming aggressive in the first place. In the martial arts, the simple act itself of practicing over a long period of time may be the most important element in effective self-defense than any specific technique learned.

Focusing on self-defense in today's world has changed the techniques being taught in the martial arts. In the modern world, no one is likely to be attacked by a sword-wielding samurai. Instead, an attacker may be unarmed or have a baseball bat, knife, or gun. Battlefield combat techniques would not be very useful in these situations. The emphasis on such techniques has declined in most martial arts styles and has been replaced with techniques that are relevant to our times.

About the author:



Steven Gregoire has been training in the martial arts since 1986. Currently he operates Tigerstrike.com A martial art equipment and supply store.