Historically, it was frowned on for women to practice martial arts in many cultures. However, women warriors have consistently broken down the barriers to prove their mettle to their male counterparts. Examples include Hua Mu-lan, the Yang Women Warriors, Shaolin nun Wu Mei and Okinawan bodyguard Tsuru Yonamine. Other women have developed martial arts styles like wing chun founder Yim Wing-chun and pentjak silat creator Rama Sukana.
Because of the many crimes that are committed against women—domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment and physical abuse—many martial arts schools provide self-defense classes specifically for women. Key components generally include teaching students the proper mindset of being in a stressful confrontation, successful physical tactics like striking vital points and the importance of being aware of your surroundings.
– July 9, 2012
Betty Jo is home alone, wearing her favorite flannel nightgown. She shuffles into her U-shaped kitchen and fixes herself a cup of Sweet Dreams tea. Suddenly, the kitchen door is kicked in and the prospect of sweet dreams turns into her worst nightmare. “Shut up! Shut the f*** up!” the
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– December 15, 2011
In an age when the crime rate seems to be climbing out of control, it’s no surprise women are attending self-defense classes in record numbers. Self-defense instructors often assume that participants absorb all the information taught in a course, but the unfortunate reality is that many self-defense class participants are
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– November 23, 2011
Are you into the close-quarters combat training styles of Avi Nardia, Albert Timen, Alain Cohen, Mike Lee Kanarek, Richard Ryan and the like? Are you interested in realistically depicted street-fighting scenarios and step-by-step breakdowns thereof? Then Black Belt has a new group of krav maga and kapap DVDs that might
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– November 16, 2011
Martial artists looking to take a crash course in Brazilian jiu-jitsu need not look any further. The world’s most famous grappling family will host the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Immersion Camp 2012 from May 17 to May 20, 2011, in Destin, Florida.
Each day starts with mat time during which the instructors will
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– October 3, 2011
To help us learn more about traditional training in a modern world, our friend GK Zachary from AdultMartialArtist.com sat down with combat-hapkido founder John Pellegrini.
Pellegrini’s been inducted in more than 20 martial arts halls of fame and has been on the cover of 17 self-defense magazines, including our own. Why?
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– May 19, 2011
I’m probably going to stir up some controversy here, but it needs to be said: Most women’s self-defense techniques learn are overrated. Unless your initial strike entails sticking your finger knuckle-deep in some guy’s eye or hitting him in the windpipe or groin, not much will have a significant effect
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