What is the difference between fighting and self defense? For more information please go to www.selfdefensethesmartway.com
It is a given that you fight back to defend yourself.
How else are you going to defend yourself, right?
Even every self defense course teaches you to fight back.
You are urged to give everything you got into your counter attack.
With all your strength, all your aggression.
You have the instructor screaming at you to punch harder, kick harder.
Fight! Fight with all you’ve got!
It is because of this prevailing attitude that we have been approaching the problem of self defense the wrong way.
The Fundamental Difference Between Fighting and Self Defense
A fight requires two willing parties. You choose to fight.
The fundamental difference between fighting and selfdefense is that in self defense you are not there by choice!
You do not want to fight.
But you need to protect yourself.
So you fight back out of desperation.
Fighting back is the #1 biggest mistake you can make when you have to defend yourself!
The moment you enter into the mindset of fighting you have lost the fight before it has even started.
Think about it.
The playing field is not level.
You:
Smaller
Weaker
Less aggressive
Not a fighter
Your attacker:
Bigger
Stronger
Aggressive
Better Fighter
No matter how hard you fight back, the reality is that fighting against a stronger attacker has little to no chance of winning.
So it begs the question:
Why are all self defense instructors teaching you to fight back?
Most instructors come from a martial arts background and of course their self defense courses will be derived from the martial arts they were taught.
There is a common perception that martial arts and self defense are one and the same thing. That could not be further from the truth.
Martial arts were created for fighting NOT selfdefense.
Instructors teach you what they know best: to fight.
Instructors may be able to defend themselves by fighting back.
They have spent years of dedicated intensive training to be an expert.
Fighting is hard.
No matter what a self defense course promises you, it will take a whole lot more than a weekend course to be proficient in fighting back!
Because the fundamental difference between fighting and self defense is not acknowledged you end up with the blind teaching the blind.
No matter what, you cannot teach a woman to fight like a man and expect her to win.
It is not going to happen as the odds are stacked against her.
The irony
The irony is that while the martial arts community will not let a well trained black belt fight against a bigger opponent in their tournaments, they will turn around, teach a petite woman some basic moves and turn her loose against an attacker twice her size!
If martial arts can work for self defense, they wouldn't need to have different weight divisions in their tournaments and they would allow women to fight men.
A new approach
The first rule in selfdefense is to escape, but unfortunately escape isn’t always an option.
Then obviously a new approach is needed if women are to stand a chance to be able to defend themselves successfully against men.
Contrary to popular belief, protecting yourself successfully against an attacker twice your size is a lot easier than you think.
I will be delving into this new approach in the next article. Stay tuned.
Hope this article gives you food for thought and not blindly accept conventional wisdom that fighting back is the only way to defend yourself. There is a surer and more intelligent way to defend yourself.
