The Truth About Training Martial Arts for Self-Defense

When it comes to training martial arts for self-defense, you have many styles to choose. Some schools emphasize the lethality of their techniques and promote it as being the best martial art for self-defense. The truth is that those lethal fighting techniques aren’t safe to use in a real-life, self-defense situation. You want to avoid a fight, not escalate it.

What a “reality-based” self-defense training gets you are techniques that are too dangerous to use on your training partner. If you watch demonstrations of these techniques on YouTube, you’ll notice that the scenarios are choreographed, and the opponents are easily subdued. If you can’t train authentically, then how do you know it will save your life? You need feedback from a live training to know your strengths and weaknesses and improve you self-defense skills. If you’re not getting that feedback, then you’re not getting good value from your martial arts training.

The best outcome in a real-life self-defense situation is to survive and escape. Those lethal fighting techniques could get you killed and, at best, create serious legal problems. Street fights are unpredictable, and there’s no way to anticipate how they will turn out. Not only that, but what these schools don’t tell you is that you are more likely to be attacked by someone you know than by a stranger. If you get into an altercation with a friend or family member, you want to have self-defense techniques that are far safer than eye gouges and groin kicks.

These other martial arts also don’t train you for the scenario when your attacker fights back. If you strike, kick, knee, or eye-gouge someone, that incites more anger and violence, and you’ve just escalated the situation. Reacting with violence creates more violence, and more violence sends people to the hospital and invites legal problems. Brazilian jiu jitsu offers tools to diffuse the situation so that everyone can walk away in one piece. Of course, there are situations where you have no choice but to fight for your life. Jiu jitsu training gives you the skills, stamina, and mental toughness to survive.

At SBG Whitefish, you have live jiu jitsu matches with training partners who give you realistic pressure. As you put in more time on the mats,  you develop the strength, skills, and confidence to protect yourself in any scenario.

Train in a self-defense program that will give you the real tools to protect yourself and those you love. Train at SBG Whitefish Martial Arts!

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