Self Defense Made Easy

Greetings!

Welcome to the Self Defense Blog.

I started this website with a few basic Karate self defense techniques that I found in a book called Super Karate Made Easy by Moja Rone.

In part that was because the techniques described in that book are simple and easy to follow. However, from experience and discussion with other martial arts experts, I believe some of those self defense techniques are either inadequate, unrealistic, or just plain wrong.

When Rone wrote Super Karate Made Easy, martial arts and self defense were not as widespread as they are at present. Thus, even if many of his techniques were (and are) too basic and simple, there was still a chance that you could use one or two techniques to successfully defend yourself in a given situation.

It is sort of like in the 70s Kung Fu (David Carradine) movies, where the TV series hero kicks everybody's butt with Kung Fu, when those silly arm-swinging cowboys dared to attack him. They did not know an effective fighting system (other than brute force and guns!), and he knew... well he was a Shaolin monk after all! ;-)

But times have changed since.

Present conditions require us to adapt our self defense skills. You need to know how to defend yourself in urban street fighting conditions.

What does that mean?

Well, it means that assailants (bullies, whatever you want to call them) also know effective ways to hurt you. As martial arts have become popular around the world, non only good guys learn them and practice them. Bad guys also learn that stuff. Therefore, we must gain an edge in self defense techniques.

To do that, we must develop different fighting skills drawn from different martial arts and fighting systems. It is not longer enough to know how to kick and punch (although it is still useful and essential). Now, we have to learn to fall, to throw, to fight on the ground, to grapple and submit our opponents, and how to survive attacks from skilled fighters.

The aim of this blog and - indeed - of the whole site, is to share with you techniques I've come across from different martial arts.

Whilst I called this site "Karate Made Easy", I should have actually called Self Defense Made Easy, as I never intended to dedicate this site to Karate alone. I only intended to use Karate techniques as a departing point to what I regard as more advanced techniques from other fighting systems.

I hope you enjoy the information of this site and its blog.

All the best!

Jeff

Self Defense Made Easy : Self Defense Made Easy : Welcome to Self Defense Made Easy!

Welcome to Self Defense Made Easy!

This is the section of my site where I share with you self defense techniques from other martial arts and fighting systems.

From time to time, you'll find new articles and reviews of self defense matters. The purpose of this section is to bring to you awareness of techniques from other martial arts that you can perhaps modify to your own training. You may also wish to incorporate them as part of self defense drills.

But not everything is hard work. ;-)

I also like finding out about self defense gear, books and learning aides... and when I find something good, I will tell you about it.

Use what's relevant... discard the rest.

Skinny Jeff

26-05-2006 - More Martial Arts Stretching Exercises

I promised to add more martial arts stretching exercises before, and here they are. Hamstring Stretch To do this exercise you must sit on ground with right leg extended to front and foot pointing up. Then bend your left leg with the sole touching to... New Self Defense Articles

18-05-2006 - The Shaolin Roots of Kung Fu and Karate (A.K.A. "Barefoot Zen")

If you're interested in the origins of Karate as a martial art, there are many books around that can give you an insight into this topic.

Sure, the knowing where Karate originated won't make you a better martial artist, nor will it make you a better fighter. However, martial arts and self defense are not just about punching and kicking each other silly. If you're serious about self defense and martial arts, you should also immerse yourself in their history.

Nathan Johnson offers a new approach to the origins of Karate as a martial art, and convinsingly demonstrates that the traditional movements of both Kung Fu and Karate grew from the spiritual practices of the Shaolin order of Buddhist monks and nuns.

Nathan argues that, contrary to popular assumption, neither Karate or Kung Fu were meant to be used as techniques for self-defense. What was intended to be then?

Ahhh... grasshopper... you gotta read the book to find out. :-)

But the book is not only about "speculative history" (Although I would not really call it "speculative"). Barefoot Zen also includes practical instructions for preforming kata with over 400 photographs, 35 illustrations, and 54 figures.

If you're in Asia, Australia or New Zealand, you can find this book here (a new window will open).

If you're in North America, you can find Barefoot Zen here (a new window will open).

Self Defense Articles

17-05-2006 - Stretching Exercises

In this mini-article, I share with you the first 2 stretching exercises I listed in my previous entry. New Self Defense Articles

May 2006 «

RSS Feed For This News