Defence Training For Survival

A big part of prepping and survival that is often neglected is personal fitness and the ability to defend yourself without the use of weapons.
The two go hand in hand and you will find that both fitness and defence skills increase as your ability to defend yourself improves.

But, without a shadow of doubt, the No:1, best form of survival defence is DO NOT put yourself in a position of danger in the first place.
Followed by the No:2, and that is… Run Away Fast.  
Nothing cowardly or wrong with that at all. If you did decided to stay and fight and win, you could and do risk injury. So why risk it?
There’s really only one exception to these two rules – If your family were with you… Then it gets a bit different..!

Self defence and martial arts cater for the different requirements of the individual – some train in a very passive style, that requires the attacker to make the first move and instigate your defence, while others are designed to pre-empt an attack and to respond with maximum force and violence.

In a worse case scenario you would need to deal with anyone who represents a threat to you and your preps and, quite simply, a threat to your survival. Under these conditions it really is a Survival of the Fittest.
This phrase could never be more meaningful than when applied to us preppers and, if you are not the fittest and the more capable of defending yourself then you’re going to go down.. hard and fast and then lose all that you have worked for over the years.

If you have never done any form of self defence or martial arts before then it’s time to learn some, and the sooner the better.
You will increase your fitness and your confidence as you progress, but, how can you do this if you don’t join a club or have an instructor standing there teaching you.?

 Remember – a few very effective defence/attack moves executed very well and with ‘violence of force’ will be all it takes to disable an attacker and protect yourself and your family.
A couple of essential points to begin with:  
*Jujitsu is considered to be the core martial arts from which all fighting techniques evolved. There were other ‘battlefield’ fighting techniques, but Jujitsu generally forms the basis of an organised martial art for students.
From this came Judo, Karate, Ku-Foo, Taekwondo etc, etc. each with a different and particular ethos and training style.
These were the ‘go to’ for many years as regards to fighting methods.

All are very effective fighting methods to use in your defence training for survival. But things have evolved somewhat now and fighting methods have definitely become more lethal and effective.

I would recommend learning a few effective techniques from all the martial arts, as well as aggressive fighting techniques that some would say constitute ‘dirty or unfair fighting’.
These need to be firmly based on my personal belief of ‘get in, get the job done, get out’..! Avoid anything fancy – you are not doing a test – stick to the basics that works for you, keep doing it.

 It does not have to be ‘textbook’ perfect – make it your style that fits your body, range of movement and ability.
 Take the defence and attack moves that work for you and throw out and ignore the ones that don’t.

You do not need to practice irrelevant moves that are too fancy and involved – stick to the basics. A good basic move done well, will work better than a badly executed advanced move.
Practice your skills and then practice some more until they become second nature.
Engrained muscle memory is what you are after – your ‘fighting’ response will then become second nature. Train well and your actions will be performed on auto pilot.!

Once you are confident of your skill set, then, and only then, move onto additional skills if you want to.
I am writing this as a qualified martial arts instructor – not a layman – I have seen people come and go within the martial arts world and never really ‘get good’ at a technique due to being rushed into something else that they try and again never ‘get good’ at either.

The ones that  do well and win sparring and fighting contests, are always the ones that are able to execute their ‘good moves’ with precision, due to practice and are the ones who stick to the basics and practice a few skills until second nature and they can perform them fluently and with precision under different circumstances.

By different circumstances, I mean being able to react effectively, left handed and right handed, in both a confined and open space as well as being tired and physically ‘worn out’.
Remember, train when you’re tired and fatigued – and push yourself to improve your skill set. When SHTF you’re going to be tired then..!!
This is your goal – be very good at a few effective techniques – keep it simple and effective and don’t try to learn too many things at once – this WILL WORK and give you the confidence to be able to defend yourself if it is needed.

There are many courses out there that claim to turn you into a master of martial arts in weeks – these are pure BS
 I suggest choosing a course that has its foundation firmly set in pure aggressive fighting techniques.
As simple as that really – Basic, effective fighting techniques that work and have been tried and tested to work efficiently over many years of combat.
Of all the various fighting methods I have studied over the years the most effective and appropriate self defence style for us preppers is Krav Maga  ( pronounced:  krav magar ).
I deliberately didn’t mention this earlier, but Krav Maga is a tried and tested fighting methods – no holes barred attack techniques that work well in a combat situation – if you choose any martial art, then this is the one for us preppers.

This martial arts style offers you the very best types of defence and attack combinations that are most suited to the type of situation you would find yourself in as a prepper.
Krav Maga training offers some of the very best and most effective defence techniques that work each and every time. Not for the faint hearted, designed to protect you from an attacker – exactly what we want..!

 It was developed from all the martial arts techniques and is now the No:1 combat defence system used by special defence units, and special forces around the world.

Krav Maga WILL give you these skills and you WILL benefit physically with increased stamina, co-ordination, spatial awareness and confidence.
So, in conclusion, I highly recommend  you consider taking up some form of self defence. It will give you added confidence and an ability to deal with any ‘would be’ threat to you and your prepping supplies.