Turns out if you're light, you can work as hard as possible but will still lose easily to somebody heavier who's trained for 6 months. This means, in a street fight, if the dude who's attacking me has a bit of training, I'm probably screwed because of my size.

At 5'6, without an exceptional skeletal frame size, how feasible is it to bulk to 200lbs while retaining athletic and fighting ability?

can anyone recommend me a high quality, tested, and trusted pepper spray for self defense?

in life right now im in a bit of a sticky situation with neighbors and they are showing signs of being deranged.

i can't get any firearms. but if you have another options of weapons and tactics feel free to lmk. i also carry a pocket knife always. but that is highly escalated deadly force and kind of wanna carry also a less lethal option.

i never had pepper spray before. only a homemade bottle of pepper extracts one time. it was able to shoot like 7 yards in a stream. which i saw is better than most actual oc spray models out there. however it doesnt fit in the pockets easily and can leak out the nozzle.

so any spray that has a good amount fluid inside. and also sprays a nice long stream as long as possible is what i'd like to carry.

I'm talking about when someone is attacked of course. When someone is attacked how often is it by two people? Or three? Or more? I'm sure the statistics are out there but I can't find them myself.

Last week, for the first time in my life, I came close to a situation where I might have had to physically defend myself.

I was trying to park near my house when a guy started tailgating me. I felt pressured to park quickly because of the car behind me, and it pissed me off. I ended up yelling at him (car windows were closed, he could not hear me. He only saw it). For context, I recently became a father, I’m barely sleeping, and my patience hasn’t exactly been at its best lately. No excuse to get mad, I am aware.

When I got out of my car to get to my house, I noticed that the other driver had stopped too. He grabbed a hammer and started walking towards me.

I’ve trained martial arts for most of my life. I have a brown belt in judo, years of kickboxing and MMA experience, and some wrestling experience as well. I always understood that real-life violence is unpredictable, but I guess I never truly understood what it would feel like to face someone who was actually threatening me with a weapon.
All that training suddenly felt irrelevant.

I didn’t feel confident or prepared. I didn’t feel like a fighter. The only thing I could think to say was, “Did you really just grab a hammer over this?”

I know that de-escalating the situation and getting home safely was the right priority. I’m not upset that I didn’t fight him. I’m upset by how helpless I felt in that moment, despite all the years I’ve spent training.
Part of me knows that avoiding a potentially life-threatening confrontation was the sensible thing to do. Another part of me keeps interpreting that feeling of helplessness as some kind of failure.

Has anyone here with a martial arts background experienced something similar?
How did you deal with the mental aftermath? Did it change the way you view your training or your ability to handle yourself in a real-life confrontation?
I’m not looking for advice on how to beat someone armed with a hammer. I’m trying to understand why I reacted the way I did and how to stop interpreting a sensible decision as a personal failure.

I (30F) got assaulted today by what seemed to be a crazy woman. She pushed me while cursing me and kept coming close. All I could do to avoid escalation was to back up and tell her to back off with my palm raised infront of me but she responded by hitting my arm and telling me not to tell her to back off while still cursing. She kept intimidating me until her friend opened the door to the building (which I was also staying in and trying to open the door but struggling) but even inside she was still cursing and looking back at me through the glass like she was about to come out again and fight me.

Mentally, i was prepared to kick her away from me but i was too scared she would get too crazy and do something seriously harmful to me, so I didnt exactly freeze. I was assessing the right thing to do and felt it was too risky to provoke her more but she also seemed like she would've done more if her friend didnt open the door.

I've done muay thai and BJJ for three years and stopped due to major life events, also did a couple of self defense workshops, then started kick boxing recently. Whenever im out alone, im always alert and mentally prepared for things to go south so that i dont freeze. Here, i really couldnt tell whats right.

Are you supposed to know when to hit back, or is it a matter of a reflex that happens without thinking? Was I actually assessing the situation properly or did I really just freeze?

What would you do to improve your physical self-defense skills while pregnant? My current thought is non contact boxing but curious if there are any other baby-in-the-belly friendly suggestions? I'm continuing to workout and weight lift as I'm able.

I’ve been dealing with this bully for quite sometime now and it’s gotten to the point where he would always follow me home just to beat me up I already tried going to the police but nothing was done and he shows no sign of stopping he has a huge size advantage I think he’s 6 foot and I’m 5,4 and very skinny everytime I tried fighting back he would always overpower me by grabbing me if anyone knows how I can fight back I’d appreciate it

Hi all, I am an old man in the Midwest so these recommendations are not for me. They are for my daughter. She is a new college graduate and living on her own in the LA area. I have been thinking about purchasing her some self defense classes but this is an area where I know absolutely nothing. The last fight I was in was 50 years ago while in the 7th grade after a disco dance class at the local park district (flame away). It taught me one thing: that I am not a fighter.

Anyway, suggestions about the types of classes that would be best for a single, young woman on her own and, if allowed, recommendations to actual places in LA that would be good. I know LA is huge so think Playa Del Rey/Westchester areas (north of LAX).

If it matters, my daughter is on the smaller side (5'3ish) and not a particularly serious work out person so she has little to no experience with weight lifting and/or physical confrontations. She has never been in a physical fight in her life. She spends a lot of her time outside walking with her dog. Recently she had a "strange" interaction with a guy near a dog park and this is what triggered my interest in finding her some type of professional self defense training.

Thank you all for any advice!

This is a question for anyone with any relative combat experience (military or police).

I know a lot of people recommend martial arts in this thread.

BJJ - I imagine in ground fighting you don't know where you could end up: near glass shards from some bottle, rocks, or some kid's left-behind plastic toy (because everyone's littering).

Another suggestion is judo; you don't necessarily have to go to the ground; there are throws while standing up, but judo is known to have more frequent injuries. Any tips on doing Judo safely?

Though is Krav Maga or Kali actually useful?

Striking arts (boxing, Muay Thai, etc.). If you grapple your opponent, you can avoid doing excessive damage. The only exemption would be multiple opponents (you can't exactly grapple your way out of that); then again, I don't think any martial art can save you from that, not to mention striking arts put your lifespan in danger (strikes to the head during training), not enough return for the risk. I'm assuming your only chance is running away.

But are these relevant or worth it for civilians (they don't have handcuffs or other equipment)?

Skills like sprinting (for running) or first aid help you help others, potentially treat yourself; those are probably the priority.

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Everyone has a slightly different wrapping style, so use this as a reliable starting point and confirm your setup with your coach.

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- Heck, Professional BKFC Welterweight

This happened about an hour and a half ago. I'm currently traveling for work, and I have found myself in India for the past week. I was taking out my friend's dog for a walk at night, around 7 p.m., and we stopped for a breather. I heard a sound behind me. I turned around, and a man was right behind me, maybe about four feet away, growling and looking at me, and slowly approaching. I told him to stop. He didn't stop, and instinct just took over, and I punched him in his left jaw. He fell down immediately, knocked out for about one minute. It was a walkway so he hit his head on cement, but his fall wasn’t very hard. He got up, sat on his butt, sitting down for about six maybe eight minutes, and he bled quite a bit from his mouth. He got up, gestured to me to piss off. He didn't say anything, and he walked away. He was clearly drunk, as one of the people who was there told me, and they told me he'd be fine. But I'm a bit scared because I've never hit a man like that before. I've had some training in boxing and a little bit in self-defense, but I've never been in a situation where I've had to actually use it. It happened so fast in about the span of five seconds, and he was knocked out. I feel very anxious, and I'm overthinking, and I'm having thoughts like, what if he dies because of this? What do I do? I would love some clarification on this. I've never done this before in my life.

From what I’ve researched about Indian self defense laws, I was well within my rights to act in self defense as I believed to be in immediate danger, and didn’t have time to run due to his proximity to me.

i carry a 40ml spray containing a 0.1% concentration of CR (dibenzoxazepine) and yes it is legal where i live. is this kind of spry more effective then capsaicin? because i have heard different opinions. people generarly say that it hits way stronger but lasts shorter.

Last night i was relaxing on the couch when out of nowhere i hear a blood curdling scream like some shit out of an eldritch horror. I ran to my window and this tall young man has his hands wrapped around my elderly neighbor by the throat. I have no idea whether he was mentally ill and simply aiming to assault this woman, attempting to sexually assault her, etc. I suspect he was trying to steal her necklace as muggings have become more common here. I did not get a look at the young man because he had a hoodie on. Within moments half of the neighborhood went outside and sheltered the woman (way to go to my neighbors).

There is a region near me where muggings are particularly common. My aunt saw an older man get the shit kicked out of him by three younger men. It tends to be younger guys (16 - 23) that are responsible. Someone almost mugged me too quite possibly. He tried to stop and ask for the time which seemed suspicious. I think he may have been deterred by the height differential (i was considerably taller). However, what to do if someone tries to mug me? Say they lay hands on me or catch me by surprise? What if there is a group? What if they have a weapon such as a blunt tool or knife?

was sexually assaulted in Walmart a few days ago while I was with my grandmother. Two men walking past us grabbed my butt. Since then, I’ve been feeling uncomfortable going out alone, especially at night.

I’m looking for a small personal safety item that I can carry with me when I’m walking or going places by myself. I’ve been looking at some of the premade self-defense/personal safety keychains on Etsy, but I’m not sure whether they’re actually useful or worth purchasing.

For those who have experience with personal safety products:

• Are the self-defense keychains sold on Etsy actually effective?
• What personal safety items do you recommend carrying?
• Are there any products that you would consider ineffective or not worth buying?
• What should I look for when choosing something that is small and easy to access?
• I’m also in New Jersey, so are there any legal restrictions I should be aware of?

I’m mainly looking for practical advice from people who have actually used or carried these types of products.

I have a female shorthair German Shepherd, and I'm hoping that even though I'm small, end up looking like a minor to a lot of people, and overall just a young adult, that it is enough to effectively deter a grown man? I'd like to stop the situation before one ever happens, if that makes sense.

Like how to be more diplomatic? How to de-escalate a situation? I'm asking that because you might not have an option to run, for example if surrounded

Living in Scandinavia crime rate is generally low and normally I never had that fear or anxiety before about this issue. I guess the main reason was I still living in my fantasy world of being invulnerable or thinking it’s like the movies and hard to get hit. But these recent weeks reading about my country gangs stories and conflicts and ours being a small country the crime areas aren’t far away from each other. Just made me get a reality check how weak our bodies are from dangerous stuff and I guess I now constantly have paranoia or anxiety eveytime I see groups or people with the steotpical clothes and those what you looking at eyes. And fearing what if one of my brothers get targeted how would I react, revenge etc stuff going your mind. What bothered me most is that there has been cases of innocent kids and people who got killed by mistaken identity and I don’t know how to find the confidence back and not be afraid of it and being intimidated by it
Any advice ?

I'm creating a diorama where I have a little boy defending himself from a Superior officer, and I just want to ask all of you if this current pose conveys good self-defense strategies?

I want to make the scene as believable as possible but also practical (I want the boy the actually appear smart/strong), so any feedback would help!

Can someone explain to me the reasoning behind these tools being illegal in some countries? The only thing i could find on the internet is that it could be used to escalate minor interactions but that could be said of a hefty handbag.

🇮🇩 The Indonesian Army (Infantry Division) has added Pencak Silat (tactical self-defence) to their training.

Hi,

I’m 19 and f for reference. Today I had a really scary experience for the first time in a long time. A man who was very clearly mentally unwell came up to me today while i was waiting for the bus. I didn’t initiate it at all we just locked eyes for a second and then he came up very close, honestly my ears went kinda mute after it occurred and i didn’t hear him but as i backed away and avoided eye contact he just kept coming closer. So i started to speed walk to the next bus stop but then he follow and really fast too!!! This was a tall shirtless 6’ man. Anyway i honestly thought i was so screwed i didn’t know what to do until a man interfered and said hey and got weirdos attention. He finally left me alone after that. This whole interaction left me feeling uneasy because what could I have done in this situation? This was not the kind of guy where if you say “i’m calling the police leave me alone” he’d leave you alone, he would just laugh in your face. I am beyond grateful there were people there but barely any of them spoke up except that one guy who caught his attention. I think maybe a car honked at him? But what i hate the most about this was that it took a man to deescalate the situation (this isn’t a hate post towards men lol), it just made me feel uneasy and scared because what if there was no man around, what could i have done to defend my self. I’ve dealt with the usual weird guys staring, some guys come up and talk to you, but never anything like this.

Honestly looking for any tips for what i can do in situations like these, Generally speaking i would want any type of physical self defense to be a last resort but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I train wrestling twice a week and want to combine it with something else. There are a few MMA clubs in my area, but I recently discovered there’s a Kudo club as well. It looks like they fight very hard, but I’m curious to hear the opinions of people who have trained in it—specifically, how they compare its effectiveness to other martial arts.