Dave Lader Lader is an accomplished traditional martial artist with over 30 years of experience who has also taught the occasional self-defense course on the side. While there are one or two obvious crossovers between the two disciplines, the fact is that a responsibly-designed self defense course looks nothing like a martial arts class. http://davidladermartialarts.com

1. Basics of Self Defense
David Lader

2. When it comes to your own safety and preservation, it’s vital to
be prepared. And in terms of preparation, nothing can replace
a quality self-defense class with a qualified, engaging
instructor.

3. The problem, though, is that too often you end up with a hot
shot martial arts master (usually a man) looking to show off big,
flashy moves that will impress people. While talented, these
emotionally immature professionals don’t necessarily make
good self-defense instructors.

4. The truth is you’re much better off with a mature, adult
professional in the field of law enforcement and/or rape crisis.
If you are a woman looking to protect yourself, the base case
scenario would be to find a female instructor who understands
first hand what kinds of situations can arise.

5. The ideal class will be taught in a workshope style over a
period of 2 to 4 hours, or even longer. You’ll receive
comprehensive and well-organized material including research
statistics. You’ll be fully informed of what violent situations
might look like, in the home, on the street, or elsewhere. Not
only will you hear about simple, effective movements to
neutralize an aggressor, but you’ll be given ample time to
practice and perfect these techniques.

6. All of that said, here are the three basic lines of defense when it
comes to self protection.

7. 1. Minimize the
Risk
The first is learning how to
minimize the risk of being put
in a compromising situation in
the first place. A good self-
defense course should raise
your consciousness of
different situations that can
potentially occur, and give you
a methodology for avoiding
these situations.

8. 2. Deescalate
the Situation
The second line of defense occurs when
you’ve been put in a risk. You’ve already
been chosen as a victim and now it’s
time to deescalate the situation with
correct awareness and practiced,
psychology. A good self defense
instructor can teach you how to
humanize yourself, how to call for help,
how to get free without panicking, and
how and where to run to get assistance.
The vast majority of conflicts can be
avoided without any physical
confrontation, provided you have the
right mindfulness. But in cases where
the first two lines of defense don’t work,
you have the last line of defense–
physical tactics designed to injure your
attacker enough to incapacitate them.

9. 3. Incapacitate
the Attacker
The vast majority of conflicts can
be avoided without any physical
confrontation, provided you have
the right mindfulness. But in
cases where the first two lines of
defense don’t work, you have the
last line of defense–physical
tactics designed to injure your
attacker enough to incapacitate
them.

10. Many instructors teach extreme methods for neutralizing an
aggressor, such as gauging out eyeballs or ripping off ears.
While these methods may be effective if done properly, the fact
is that when these situations arise, victims often don’t have the
stomach to carry out such extreme measures. We all have a
very strong survival instinct, but not many of us have the killer
instinct required to do this much bodily damage to another
human being, even when our own safety is at risk.

11. A good instructor knows what students will actually be capable of
in the real world, and teaches a variety of other techniques that
incapacitate attackers just as effectively without all the blood,
such as strikes to weak points on the face, in the neck, or around
the ears. And that instructor will give the students plenty of time
to practice these quick, simple strikes until they can do them
unconsciously so that when the time comes, the students won’t
experience tunnel vision and freeze in fear.