| Get into a good martial arts school that teaches | | | | you. But there are 2 things you need to be aware |
| you how to survive! Don't spend years learning | | | | of when you attended these types of schools for |
| useless forms or how to use weapons that were | | | | self-defense. |
| popular in ancient societies. Who carries around a | | | | The first is application for the street. Combat |
| staff or sword in the real world? Find a school | | | | sports are just what the name says, a sport. |
| with a curriculum that emphasizes overall fitness, | | | | Now as I said earlier they are the best to |
| self-defense, and survival! | | | | experience defending yourself against another fully |
| Most martial artists will tell you that your chances | | | | aggressive human being. However, as in all sports, |
| of surviving abduction once an attacker gets you | | | | there are rules to make the contest fair and |
| into his car are slim to none. Their advice is to | | | | keep the contestants relatively safe. Not so in the |
| fight for your life because statistics show that the | | | | street. In the street there are no rules, in fact |
| consequences are grim. On Wednesday, July 28, | | | | things considered foul play in a combat sport are |
| 2004, Larissa del Mar Fiallo, Miss Dominican | | | | probably the best techniques for the street. So if |
| Republic, was assaulted by two men who tried to | | | | you're in a combat sports school find an instructor |
| kidnap her in the parking lot of a shopping mall. | | | | that can teach you the logic and the crossover |
| What is interesting to us about this story | | | | from the ring to the street. |
| reported by (July 29, 2004) is that Ms. Fiallo was | | | | The second is safety. Instructors must simulate |
| able to escape her attackers because of her judo | | | | what can happen in the street as close as they |
| training. She explained how she fought back when | | | | can, safely. If you attend a school where there is |
| the two men tried to get her into their car and | | | | reckless abandon in the training or you constantly |
| how she knocked over the larger one three | | | | are fighting far more superior students, it's only a |
| times. Her attackers eventually left the scene. | | | | matter of time until you get hurt. And being |
| While Ms. Fiallo suffered deep cuts and bruises to | | | | injured means your not going forward in your |
| various parts of her body, she survived the | | | | training. It is also harder to defend yourself |
| attack and was released from the hospital several | | | | (impossible with serious injuries) when you are |
| days later. | | | | hurt. Ancient warriors invented martial arts training |
| One type of school to completely steer clear of is | | | | to better their chances on the battlefield. But you |
| one that is very traditional, in the sense that you | | | | can never completely recreate what happens on |
| must pay your dues by doing countless hours of | | | | the battlefield (or in the street) in the gym or |
| forms and techniques that would not work in the | | | | dojo, cause then everyone would be hurt or dead! |
| street before the instructors give you the | | | | Pushing your body and mind is part of martial arts |
| "secret" techniques. Don't get me wrong, forms, | | | | training, but so is keeping your body healthy and |
| katas, and tradition have their place in the martial | | | | safe. It's a fine line to balance. |
| arts, but not when it comes to self-defense. | | | | Most people are concerned with their safety in an |
| Combat sports schools such as boxing, | | | | increasingly uncertain world. They want to be |
| kickboxing, muay thai, MMA, judo, and jiu jitsu are | | | | prepared to defend themselves and their loved |
| very good places to learn, because in most cases, | | | | ones. Ms. Fiallo's years of judo training paid off. |
| you get a sense of reality in the training. That is, | | | | Are you ready to fight for your life? |
| a real live opponent who is resisting and attacking | | | | |