self defense books

king_of_inismac

Hey guys,

I've been doing various martial arts for years, training competing and teaching.

I've been asked to teach a self defense course to a group of teenagers as part of a transition year program.

I usually think these things are pointless (a little information is dangerous and can lead to a false sense of security!) but I'm going to try to give them a few useful techniques. Obviously, I'm going to talk extensively about being aware of your surroundings, thinking about your personal safety, and generally not putting yourself in a dangerous position to begin with.

Can anyone recommend a good self defense book that covers simple effective self defense techniques?

Thanks,
M

SorGan

pardon me for asking but, why do you need a book?

king_of_inismac

good question:

well from my experience, what someone who has trained for 10-15 years can do, as opposed to someone with no experience/training can do are two different things.

Ideally, everyone who took the class would take up a martial art/sport, get fit, get strong etc, but in reality thats not going to be the case.

I'm a realist.

I don't want the best techniques, I want techniques that are very very simple but are effective and they're easily remembered.

That's it!

buck65

I think what you said about avoiding trouble is the most useful lesson, then maybe basic self defence such as grab breaks from wrist from neck. Maybe defending against a bottle or stick attack? . Working with teenagers sporadically there probably isn't much point in looking at anything outside the basics.
Perhaps how to form a boxers stance and to punch and parry might be something to teach after the defence side of things?
I'm just going by what I learned in the first months of martial art tuition I got.

Mark Hamill

You can learn self defence from a book in much the same way as you can learn how to ride a bike form a book. In the end you still have too get on a bike, and no matter how many books you have read, and no matter how good they actually are, they can't prepare you for how it actually feels, so you will still fall off a lot.

I think books are best for more experienced people, those who now that when a book says how to do something, they are going to have a good idea of what it actually means. I'm sure at your MA classes you've come across someone who just doesn't understand a movement or technique, even though its obvious to you, think how awkward teenagers are going to be, they are better off just doing whatever you tell them to do, and not trying to interpret it from a book.

Scramble

If you've been teaching a particular martial art for years, maybe you'd be better off just doing a short introductory course on that. At least you'd be on firmer ground, as opposed to getting involved in teaching self-defence, which doesn't seem to be an area you've previously had any experience coaching in?

john kavanagh

this is the best self defence book i've ever seen

click

Baggio...

Here's a few...

Lee Morrison's - Street Safe.
Geoff Thompson's - Dead or Alive
Peter Consterdine -Streetwise
Jamie O' Keefe - Dogs don't know Kung Fu.

mccaffertyt

maybe i'm wrong but is the simpliest moves not generally the best moves,i don't no too many highly advanced techniques that work for self defense.

ryoishin

are you more looking for a structure to show SD and some lingo to go with it?

REACT by steve collins (not the boxer) is an excellent book more on the stress/lead up/prevention etc side but does go into the basics. I ve seen it in Chapters in parnell street.

Just remember john wayne right hand, bear hug, head butt and groin kick are prob some of the main attacks with them all being done from a grab aswell. Use your own stuff for the defence. But how you are as a teacher will prob have the most impact (pun intended).

After that you could just answer their questions.

Best of luck