Types of Self Defense

There are hundreds of types of self defense studied around the world. Over the centuries, martial arts has crafted techniques for unarmed and armed defensive combat. Many of which have evolved into different schools and arts offering specific styles of combat. The five major categories are: striking arts, throwing arts, joint lock arts, hybrid arts and weapons.

History

The type of self defense with the longest history is the striking arts. They include boxing, karate and tae kwon do. The study of striking arts is straight forward. Students strike at vulnerable points on an opponent's body while trying to avoid being struck themselves.
Many striking arts later evolved into sports with rules regarding appropriate types of strikes and targets. Boxing only allows competitors to hit with gloved fists to the front of the upper body. Karate and tae kwon utilize kicks as well as punches. Strikes are limited to padded areas during sport competitions but can be anywhere during self defense study.

Features

Wrestling and judo use techniques that help a fighter to manipulate her opponent and knock her off her feet. Once they are on the ground, additional techniques are employed to make the opponent submit. As with striking arts, throwing arts have also evolved into sport competitions over time. Wrestling and judo are popular sports worldwide with rules to protect the safety of competitors.

Effects

Joint locks is a more intricate type of self defense. It is the practice of pushing an opponent's joints past their comfortable range of motion for effect. Joint lock arts are popular with smaller people since they allow the control of much larger individuals with very little effort. Aaikido is the best known joint lock technique. It uses an opponent's own aggressive energy against him. Joint lock martial arts are among the most difficult to master and require years of study.

Potential

As more people study the martial arts, more types of self defense evolve. Some of the most recently developed styles are hybrid martial arts. These combine features from several martial arts to create something unique and new. Examples of this from the past century are hapkido and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Both combine striking, throwing and joint locks in a fluid system that transitions from one to the other. In the last decade, the sport of mixed martial arts has inspired new schools of self defense devoted to skills useful in "no holds barred" competitions.

Considerations

The study of martial arts involving weapons is personally fulfilling to many, but less practical for self defense on a day to day basis in the modern world.