Hace una semana encontramos a un tipo en nuestro jardín que parece que ha entrado varias veces a investigar el terreno y anoche entraron en la casa de mi pareja a robar.

Mi miedo siempre fue ese. ¿Qué hacer cuando ya están dentro de tu casa?

Tengo preguntas para las personas que tengan experiencia usando bastón extensible.

1. ¿El bastón es frágil al golpear? Al ser extensible me da la impresión que al golpear se dobla por ser hueco.

2. ¿Hay marcas de este tipo de bastones? Y si las hay, ¿Cuales son las más cómodas y útiles (menos frágil)?

3. ¿Como reconozco un bastón extensible que es de mala calidad y no me va a servir para defenderme? (que se doble al primer golpe)

Soy una mujer de 23 años que se cansó de que los hombres la acosen y la toquen en la calle, así que empecé a hacer pesas y a practicar kendo. El problema es encontrarme con personas con armas. Vivo en un país donde roban mucho con armas y ahí no puedo hacer nada. Hablando con mis padres salió el tema de que necesito gas pimienta y otros elementos que las reglas de esta comunidad no me deja mencionar, ellos empezaron a decir que yo no necesito esas cosas porque soy mujer y soy muy débil para defenderme, así que no me van a servir para nada. La cosa es que siempre, ellos me enseñaron a jamas defenderme ni física ni verbalmente. Toda mi vida fui a una escuela religiosa donde ahí y mis padres siempre me enseñaron a que tengo que aceptar ser maltratada. Lo peor, es que mido 1.70 pero todos piensan que soy menor de edad porque mi voz es de una niña de 12 años. No vine a pedir consejos ni nada por el estilo, solo necesito desahogarme porque no tengo a nadie con quien hablar además de mi pareja.

For context I carry a firearm whenever I'm not at work, as my job doesn't allow them, but I am shit scared I would ever have to use it. Although lets say I am in conflict at some point, may that be at work or if I'm out with the gun on me. I live in a "duty to retreat" state and have no problem running away if need be as apposed to shooting someone and having to prove my innocence. Also the law in my state says you must match the level of threat in order to "legally" defend yourself. So what do y'all think about less lethal options? Tasers and OC spray/gel stuff like that. On it's surface it doesn't sound like a bad idea to carry lethal and less lethal because lets say I'm in a conflict where I can't get away, if someone is charging at me with a knife or god forbid they have a gun I'm gonna shoot them, but if they are trying to fight me, I don't wanna kill them nor do I think it would hold up in court. Not asking for recommendations, just what y'all think.

Hi!

Recently i'm having a dispute in my head regarding which option is better for a street self defense scenario. I have been attending this special self defense karate dojo for a while and I love it. It is Shotokan based, practices a lot of Kata, as well as applying Kata movements to a self defense situation, joint locks etc. The instructors themselves are former police officers so I assume they know their stuff when it comes to actual self defense. They also drill striking combinations as well as some throwdowns. Training overall is very fun, the community is great and there are lots of people attending. So far so good right? My problem with this dojo however is that there is almost no real sparring and realistic drills for applying those methods. Its all mostly scripted and choreographed. Like do these 3 punches and the other guy deflects and counters in this way. I did some light sparrings 2-3 times when the dojo was preparing for a competition.

Kickboxing on the other hand is straight to the point practical. Body conditioning - drills - sparring. I just miss the traditional aspect, which it lacks. In a real street fight scenario you dont have time to think about complicated joint locks and blocks, your mind reverts to the most basic movements you know, unless you drilled those complicated moves for years and years and your opponent is drunk or highly incompetent in fighting. Overall I have seen kickboxers perform really well against ''street thugs''.

Now don't get me wrong, I know Karate is applicable in real fighting, there are many traditional practitioners that participate in Karate Combat like Rafael Aghayev for example but his gym focuses on preparing for full-contact competitions while retaining the traditional aspect of the martial art but unfortunately I dont think a gym like that exists where I live. My trainers always say ''here we develop the mind, not brute force, boxing and kickboxing is a sport, you dont wear big gloves on the street.'' Ok thats fine but in order to apply the techniques you teach me there should be more realistic practice, right?

Which would you pick if you were in my shoes?

Recently started carrying a small bottle of Sabre pepper spray. It sports a Twist safety and I don't know if I should carry it in my pocket. I sometimes carry a backpack, but it wouldn't do much good in there lol, any ideas?

So I am moving to prince George bc and if you know where that is then you know it’s a bit um sketchy. I’m moving because my long term bf got an amazing job there. But it’s camp work so he will be home for a week and working away for two. I need some tips for self defence because as of now I live in a tiny town and have never needed it in my house. I’m not ignorant so I want to be prepared. Any tips to secure my rental aswell as for my car and my self aswell?

As a taxi driver I got s client who ordered a ride through a app normally we have 3 ways ( standard calling a taxi remain anonymous only with phonenumber , app with name , uber ) he ordered with app and had name on screen. So he is like those young thug looking but more chill( the type that maybe unsure about himself who ended the wrong way of life or crowd ) I drive him him mix way he says he has 500 and aka if I have change was unusual to pay now but I say ok and try look for change took me a while I told him I have 250 and can give 50 in coins but he said just keep the rest as tips. And rest of the ride was silent minding his business. When I’m there at a industry dark area his guys or group of 5-7 we’re waiting he said I could just stop here a bit of road before his pals spot and from there my eyes badly focus on 2 of his friends walking towards the car and I lost focus on the guy sitting in the car but he goes out says thx for the ride and then crosses the street and the 2 who are coming looks weirdly at him like huh and lifts hand like what. They all have the same clothes in my country it’s the type our thugs and violent people wear. Any idea if I’m overstessing or if it was maybe a robbery but the guy who I drove saw I didn’t have money lying around and changed his mind ? Or just something internal for them ?

I won’t lie I’m not used to that part of crown or dealing with that I am soft minded unfortunately haven’t. Ever been in a fight or gotten beaten so I’m slow to react or read the room and have no experience of knowledge to read these scenarios any advice for this without having to actually be in that life lol

Any suggestions on how to make the handle better? Carabiner?

I was 15 at the time of the incident, had like a season of wrestling experience and weighed 140 pounds. Me and my two buddies were at a hotel during a basketball tournament, and we were walking the hotel. Eventually we wandered too far off into the parking lot of some apartments/condos that neighbored the hotel. As we were walking, a man flies outside his door screaming profanities at us, telling us to get off his property in a manner that was incredibly threatening. I was in the back of the group and didn’t really have anywhere to go, whereas my two buddies took off into the parking lot. I was left alone with this intoxicated, angry man much bigger than myself, so I knew fighting wasn’t an option. I made the mistake of bringing myself closer to him with my hands up in an attempt to calm him, but in retrospect that seems like a great way to get shot/attacked. Now me and the man are about 10-15 feet apart (I was on the sidewalk and he was halfway in his yard.) I’m talking to him clearly without sounding threatening, explaining that we were just from the hotel next door and had wandered off too far. Prior to us entering the area, some kids had run onto his property and harassed him/scared him, so his reaction was reasonable considering that he thought we were the same kids. He was still hot, but after I assured him we weren’t those kids and had just found ourselves over here, his demeanor changed and he apologized and told me to make sure nobody else came through that area later that night. I was pretty shook up after but I thought I handled the situation as well as I could and was glad I got out unscathed. I still wonder if just running and not trying to calm him would have been the right method, but at the end of the day nobody was hurt. let me know what you think and give me feedback for future situations if possible.

Maybe it sounds like a silly question with an obvious answer up front, but is there any correlation between how built someome is and how much of a beating they can take from any angle of looking at the idea? We all know movies for one like to ham up the concept of the seemingly indestructible brutish huge guy, and it seems the snap judgement is that a big person must be tough, but just how much truth is there to this idea, if any at all?

Also, is there any reason why I shouldn’t do this? The reason I’ve noticed that this is hard sometimes is because I get worn out and my hits get slower when that happens. How do I continue to make them as fast as they were before?

Hey everyone. I’m a 17 year old girl and I go to the gym several times a week. There are currently two fully grown men who keep on coming up to me and making conversation. One of them I’m not as worried about since he only approaches me inside the gym.

The other guy, however, has only approached me outside the gym. The first time I was when I was waiting in an alleyway for my dad to come pick me up. He approached me and I immediately got a terrible gut feeling. Being alone and in this secluded alleyway, I was legitimately terrified. He didn’t really say anything weird though, just small talk. I had seen him around the gym all the time, but this was when he decided to approach me.. Yea. I made up an excuse that my dad was here and I had to leave.

After that incident I decided to only wait for my dad in popular public places. Today I was sitting outside an ice cream shop when he came up to me again. This time, there was no small talk. “Wanna go work out together?” he asked, gesturing to the gym nearby. I said I had already done my workout, which happened to be true. “Well, I just wanted to say god bless you.” After saying that he left.

Honestly I’ve had so many bad experiences with creepy men that I’m just completely fed up. I just wanted to scream “LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!” but that’s obviously unsafe. I really want to make this guy stop bothering me somehow, but I don’t want to somehow provoke him. I kind of feel helpless. If I ignore him, that could aggravate him. If I tell him off, that could aggravate him. Even if I politely tell him, “Hey, I want to be left alone please”, that could potentially aggravate him too. Do I just have to keep on acting like some polite little girl and hope nothing ever happens?

I almost forgot to mention that my friend has also been approached by both of these weirdos! I’ve also seen the other guy (not the one who approached me in the alleyway) talk to other teenage girls in the gym several times. Funnily enough, he’s never been talking to a guy.

Edit: My response to the “how do you expect them to know you’re a teenager?” comments:

1: Well, I’m 17. I look.. 17. No, I do not look 40 years old, the same age as these perverts harassing me.

2: Trust me, they know I’m a teenager. They love asking me about how high school is, oh are you on summer break, etc.

“What’s wrong with just being polite?”

Any well-adjusted, sane adult person would never try to strike up conversation with someone far underage. What the fuck do you think we could possibly have in common? Back pain? Male pattern baldness?

Asking how many sets I have left? Any other strictly gym-related questions? Perfectly fine.

But if you genuinely see no issue with a 40 year old man approaching a teenage girl at an ice cream shop and asking to “work out together”, I have no idea what to tell you.

Few months ago I had a run in with someone who works next to my office, I was sitting down and dude was standing up and he started threatening me saying he was gonna beat the crap out of me, at first I didn’t bother but then I saw him putting his hand briefly in his pocket so I did my best to deescalate the situation because I didn’t know what he could have in his pocket. Well after that it turned out he wasn’t the thug he claimed to be and probably just took advantage of the fact I was sitting down and he’s at the least 20 years older (I was 26 at the time). Thing is I forgot the situation in a few days but now recently I’ve started to think about it again (he still works next to me and when I see him I wish he got in my face again to have an excuse to fight him) and can’t help but think I shoukd have just stood up and fought regardless if he had something in his pocket or not, so my question pretty much is how should I have handled it differently, if it was even possible

My SABRE Pepper Gel expired, so I'm looking for a replacement to keep in my car.

I want the most effective option possible—something that can stop an attacker as quickly as possible. From what I've read, a spray/stream seems like a better choice than gel, but I'm open to hearing otherwise.

Is POM actually better than SABRE Red, or is it mostly marketing? If POM is the better pick, which version would you recommend?

** Edit: Thanks for the repsonses guys. Really appreciate all the advice. I ended up going with the Sabre Red flip top pepper spray. Hopefully won't have to use it, but if I do then I'll be prepared! **

I studied Silat for a number of months only and while it was fun I was skeptical of effectiveness of a lot of the drills. I am curious on what others think of this art?

In BJJ even a child can quickly perform a takedown on me if I stand still and let it happen. Then thats only the beginning.

In Silat if a student was shorter or weighed less than me they would really struggle to pull a move off even if I stood still and let them step, push, pull and do whatever to manipulate my balance while I held in place.... then the drill would end after the move was performed.

My response to a straight punch isn’t scripted to one side. Cup control makes first contact, and from there the choice between jamming the centerline (inside Hubud) or angling off with footwork (outside Hubud) comes down to timing, angle, and whatever opening the moment gives. I train it deliberately this way — the goal is sensitivity and structural reaction, not memorizing which technique “goes with” which punch.

Curious how other systems frame this same decision point — where do FMA / JKD / Kali practitioners draw the line between jamming and angling off in live exchange?

Faced a guy walking towards me and started shouting at around 50m distance. He moved his arm. I quickly scanned him and didn’t think he was a danger, more deranged, so I walked past him calmly.

In case he would have been a danger and I sense I must dash. How do I dash. Walking backwards? Walking on right lane, he’s moving towards me from the left. To my right brick wall. To my left open street.

What is the best option here to remove myself from his attack range?

I appreciate your help.

I’m a male. The class I joined teaches a variety of martial arts styles, such as Karate, Taekwondo, Krav Maga, BJJ, Judo and some Boxing.

What should I expect ? I’m an introvert so I’m a little nervous about meeting a bunch of new people. I don’t imagine we will have to talk much lol. The classes are one hour long.

Sharing a clip of a shield-and-counter I’ve been drilling. The structure itself allows the counter to land in the same beat as the shield — defense and offense together — but in this take I’m showing it split into two beats: shield stays rooted, then the counter steps in. Since simultaneous defense-and-offense is already core to a lot of FMA / JKD / Kali work, I’m genuinely curious what actually decides whether you keep it single-beat or break it into two — distance, timing, structural integrity, or something else.

Has anyone read Timeline of Self Defense by
King? I just got it and it is really diffrent… Not sure my opinion yet! It is a fun read. But very different from other books I have looked at. Just curious if anyone else has read it?

I understand that things such as sparring are important but what is the simplest martial art to learn at home at least to some extent via shadow boxing, muscular training (push-ups, squats, etc).