Self Defence.
In my teens I attended a Judo introduction class and much to my consternation spent most of the
time getting up from the mat after being thrown on to it. To me it appeared everybody was stronger and heavier than me. After the first few days every part of my body ached and just to walk was painful. It was only much later that I had an insight onto the key of Judo. The principal is simply to destroy your opponent's balance. This can be shown by increasing your resistance so your opponent over exerts uncontrollable force, then suddenly by moving and adding your strength to the opponents by pulling instead of pushing. This will be enough to overbalance your opponent.
You do not need to worry about a correct hold or with which foot to block your opponent unless you want to take up Judo as a sport.
Taking up self defence and or martial arts should deal with the psychological affect of being attacked and prepare you for the right course of action.
The first principal of self defence is to actively avoid conflict. One glorious summer afternoon my wife and I were taking an after lunch walk with an elderly dear friend of ours. The lady who was a French Russian Aristocratic descendant had been a friend of ours for some years. We were walking on the pavement along a main shopping street, I was on the outside nearest the road and my wife in between the Aristocratic lady and myself when a tall young man came from behind us and positioned himself next to my wife ignoring me and said “You're a beautiful lady.” Our friend quickly smiled and said “Thank you young man it is a long time since I have had a compliment like that.” The man's shocked expression said it all. It had been one moment, one second where upon a mistake saved the life of my wife. In faltering, the man did not know what to say, his compliment for my wife had not hit his victim and in those few seconds of hesitation all the preparation for the attack went astray...
A car had stopped a little in front of us and the rear passenger door was opened where another young man was inside leaning out. Our friend stepped forward as if to carry on the conversation, thanking the man for the compliment but by that time my wife and I had already passed the parked car. The young man said something that I could not catch and quickly jumped into the car and it sped away.
The full impact of the situation only came to us later and we started to think about how in a few moments my wife could have been kidnapped. We heard later on the news about other attacks which had taken place where women had been kidnapped right off the street, drugged and forced into prostitution. We thought about how near we had been to a terrible situation and how one minute of unexpected action could fend off such a well prepared for attack, if my wife had been taken and she resisted what could have happened to her, she could probably have been killed.
The point of the true story is to say and do anything to distract your potential aggressor, to do the unexpected could save your life.
Try doing something or even saying something in a calm tone “Hello how are you? I haven't seen you for a long time. How is your mother?” All you need is one minute's distraction to give you a chance to get away.
If you think shouting will help then shout fire rather than help or rape as people are more likely to respond. The outcome of an attack is usually decided in the first moments and a determined but unexpected repulse will make the aggressor find an easier target. But if the aggressor has released you, run. Please do not hold out for revenge. If the aggressor grabs you concentrate on the weakest point by grabbing the little finger and lift against the joint this is much more effective than trying to release the whole hand.
Of course if you have had training you will have a good idea of how to respond to an attack. Always know that you are the one in control and it is not the physical strength but the knowledge of technique and how to plan your defence that can save you from a situation.
time getting up from the mat after being thrown on to it. To me it appeared everybody was stronger and heavier than me. After the first few days every part of my body ached and just to walk was painful. It was only much later that I had an insight onto the key of Judo. The principal is simply to destroy your opponent's balance. This can be shown by increasing your resistance so your opponent over exerts uncontrollable force, then suddenly by moving and adding your strength to the opponents by pulling instead of pushing. This will be enough to overbalance your opponent.
You do not need to worry about a correct hold or with which foot to block your opponent unless you want to take up Judo as a sport.
Taking up self defence and or martial arts should deal with the psychological affect of being attacked and prepare you for the right course of action.
The first principal of self defence is to actively avoid conflict. One glorious summer afternoon my wife and I were taking an after lunch walk with an elderly dear friend of ours. The lady who was a French Russian Aristocratic descendant had been a friend of ours for some years. We were walking on the pavement along a main shopping street, I was on the outside nearest the road and my wife in between the Aristocratic lady and myself when a tall young man came from behind us and positioned himself next to my wife ignoring me and said “You're a beautiful lady.” Our friend quickly smiled and said “Thank you young man it is a long time since I have had a compliment like that.” The man's shocked expression said it all. It had been one moment, one second where upon a mistake saved the life of my wife. In faltering, the man did not know what to say, his compliment for my wife had not hit his victim and in those few seconds of hesitation all the preparation for the attack went astray...
A car had stopped a little in front of us and the rear passenger door was opened where another young man was inside leaning out. Our friend stepped forward as if to carry on the conversation, thanking the man for the compliment but by that time my wife and I had already passed the parked car. The young man said something that I could not catch and quickly jumped into the car and it sped away.
The full impact of the situation only came to us later and we started to think about how in a few moments my wife could have been kidnapped. We heard later on the news about other attacks which had taken place where women had been kidnapped right off the street, drugged and forced into prostitution. We thought about how near we had been to a terrible situation and how one minute of unexpected action could fend off such a well prepared for attack, if my wife had been taken and she resisted what could have happened to her, she could probably have been killed.
The point of the true story is to say and do anything to distract your potential aggressor, to do the unexpected could save your life.
Try doing something or even saying something in a calm tone “Hello how are you? I haven't seen you for a long time. How is your mother?” All you need is one minute's distraction to give you a chance to get away.
If you think shouting will help then shout fire rather than help or rape as people are more likely to respond. The outcome of an attack is usually decided in the first moments and a determined but unexpected repulse will make the aggressor find an easier target. But if the aggressor has released you, run. Please do not hold out for revenge. If the aggressor grabs you concentrate on the weakest point by grabbing the little finger and lift against the joint this is much more effective than trying to release the whole hand.
Of course if you have had training you will have a good idea of how to respond to an attack. Always know that you are the one in control and it is not the physical strength but the knowledge of technique and how to plan your defence that can save you from a situation.
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