Home Self Defense Training

Though self-defense and martial arts are most easily and effectively learned by training with an accredited professional or school, it is not impossible to teach yourself the basics of self-defense at home. While it's not free, home self-defense training is a cheap and convenient way to stay in shape and to be prepared in the case of a self-defense situation. The best way for a person to become proficient at self-defense is to improve both his fitness level and his knowledge of proven martial arts. To train in self-defense at home, you need an open space or room where movement won't be restricted.

Conditioning

No martial-arts knowledge will be effective unless the person using it is in condition. Therefore, it is important to build and maintain a fitness base, both before and during a self-defense program. Since self-defense situations generally result in short bursts of intense physical exertion, training in such a way is an important preparation. Fortunately, a person can do this training with nothing more than her body weight in the comfort of her own home.

A simple and effective workout routine would be 30 continuous seconds of one body-weight exercise, immediately followed by 30 seconds of another, continuing until three minutes are up. Then rest one minute and repeat. Some sample body-weight exercises might be:squats, push ups, crunch and sit-up variations, mountain climbers, jumping jacks, lunges and jumping rope.

Punching

A fundamental part of self-defense is the ability to throw a punch. The trainee should assume a proper stance--if he's right-handed he should stagger his left foot in front of their right, vice versa if he's left-handed, with legs about shoulder width apart, with his weight evenly spread on the balls of the feet. To assure good defense, he should focus on keeping his hands in front of his face, just below the eyes, and moving his head to provide a tough target to hit.

From this stance, there are four basic types of punches. The goal is to connect firmly with the index and middle finger's knuckles on each punch. The jab is thrown with the lead hand (left if you're right-handed) and is not meant to have great power, but rather be a stunning blow to the nose or mouth. It is the quickest punch and is used to keep distance and set up other punches. The cross is thrown with the rear hand, and is a power punch. Often thrown after a jab, a proper cross is thrown by rotating the hips and pivoting on the back foot to generate power. Hooks can be thrown with either the lead or rear hand and use much the same hip and feet movement as the jab, except the fist is brought towards the target on a perpendicular line. The elbow should be at a 90-degree angle for proper technique. Lastly, uppercuts can be thrown with either hand, and are designed to move directly up and hit the bottom of an opponents' chin. As with the hook, the elbow should be kept at a 90-degree angle to ensure proper technique. To practice these techniques, the trainee should both shadow box--which is envisioning an opponent and mimicking the movements one would make when fighting--and practice hitting a bag.

Ground Fighting

Many self-defense situations will find both participants on the ground. At this point, it is important to know the basics of ground fighting. These are most effectively learned by studying martial arts that focus on ground fighting, such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or BJJ for short. Typically, BJJ is taught in accredited schools; however, because of the growing in home training, various instructional videos have been made for this very purpose. Instructional videos can provide a good base for a novice martial artists. Former UFC champions Rich Franklin and Evan Tanner both first learned martial arts through video tapes.

The Gracie family, who are credited with developing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, have multiple videos designed for both the beginner and advanced student.

Equipment

Some equipment must be purchased for effective home self-defense training. The home should have an open area that is equipped with a padded mat and a television with a DVD player to play the instructional videos.

To effectively practice ground fighting techniques, you should ideally have a partner. If you don't, you can use a grappling dummy. You can find these at many martial arts stores and online. You should also own a pair of 16-oz. boxing gloves, hand wraps and a standard heavy bag. You can purchase all these items at a typical sporting goods store.

Warning

Training in any martial art puts you at risk of injury. Training without the supervision of a certified instructor puts you at further risk. Precautions, especially to protect the wrist and hands when punching a heavy object, should be taken. Purchasing high quality gloves and hand wraps will help prevent injury, as will training intelligently and with good judgment.

References

• Ross Boxing
• Submissions 101

Resources

• Basic Boxing
• Gracie Instructional Videos
• Grappling Dummy