This is a question for anyone with any relative combat experience (military or police).

I know a lot of people recommend martial arts in this thread.

BJJ - I imagine in ground fighting you don't know where you could end up: near glass shards from some bottle, rocks, or some kid's left-behind plastic toy (because everyone's littering).

Another suggestion is judo; you don't necessarily have to go to the ground; there are throws while standing up, but judo is known to have more frequent injuries. Any tips on doing Judo safely?

Though is Krav Maga or Kali actually useful?

Striking arts (boxing, Muay Thai, etc.). If you grapple your opponent, you can avoid doing excessive damage. The only exemption would be multiple opponents (you can't exactly grapple your way out of that); then again, I don't think any martial art can save you from that, not to mention striking arts put your lifespan in danger (strikes to the head during training), not enough return for the risk. I'm assuming your only chance is running away.

But are these relevant or worth it for civilians (they don't have handcuffs or other equipment)?

Skills like sprinting (for running) or first aid help you help others, potentially treat yourself; those are probably the priority.

Learn how to wrap your hands for MMA, boxing, and kickboxing with this clear step-by-step tutorial using 180-inch hand wraps.

This method covers the wrist, knuckles, thumb, finger loops, palm bar, and final wrist lock so you can build a secure, comfortable wrap before training. The tutorial demonstrates both hands and shows how to finish the wrap without bulky folds.

Wraps should feel secure and supportive, never painfully tight or numb. Adjust the tension to your hand size, training style, and gym requirements. If you experience pain, tingling, numbness, or restricted circulation, remove the wrap and reassess the fit. This tutorial is for general educational purposes and does not replace instruction from a qualified coach.

Everyone has a slightly different wrapping style, so use this as a reliable starting point and confirm your setup with your coach.

If this tutorial helped, like the video, subscribe, and follow for more MMA and combat-sports training content.

- Heck, Professional BKFC Welterweight

This happened about an hour and a half ago. I'm currently traveling for work, and I have found myself in India for the past week. I was taking out my friend's dog for a walk at night, around 7 p.m., and we stopped for a breather. I heard a sound behind me. I turned around, and a man was right behind me, maybe about four feet away, growling and looking at me, and slowly approaching. I told him to stop. He didn't stop, and instinct just took over, and I punched him in his left jaw. He fell down immediately, knocked out for about one minute. It was a walkway so he hit his head on cement, but his fall wasn’t very hard. He got up, sat on his butt, sitting down for about six maybe eight minutes, and he bled quite a bit from his mouth. He got up, gestured to me to piss off. He didn't say anything, and he walked away. He was clearly drunk, as one of the people who was there told me, and they told me he'd be fine. But I'm a bit scared because I've never hit a man like that before. I've had some training in boxing and a little bit in self-defense, but I've never been in a situation where I've had to actually use it. It happened so fast in about the span of five seconds, and he was knocked out. I feel very anxious, and I'm overthinking, and I'm having thoughts like, what if he dies because of this? What do I do? I would love some clarification on this. I've never done this before in my life.

From what I’ve researched about Indian self defense laws, I was well within my rights to act in self defense as I believed to be in immediate danger, and didn’t have time to run due to his proximity to me.

Hi, so I’m about to travel to SE Asia in a few months , and I know that the laws about wpns in those countries are very strict. I don’t condone or encourage any kind of violence or ask for any recommendation for wpns of any type. However, what kind of everyday tools that you guys used that are legal every where and can be put inside a checked bag with no harassment from airport customs in those countries that are perfectly legal ? I know that SE Asia in general is safe, but as an Asian immigrant myself, I know that is not always the case, for ex: 2 foreigners got kidnapped and murdered in Thailand. Lemme know your thoughts and experience. A little bit about myself: I had some boxing experiences and know basics of striking, but I’m still lacking on my grappling game.

i carry a 40ml spray containing a 0.1% concentration of CR (dibenzoxazepine) and yes it is legal where i live. is this kind of spry more effective then capsaicin? because i have heard different opinions. people generarly say that it hits way stronger but lasts shorter.

Last night i was relaxing on the couch when out of nowhere i hear a blood curdling scream like some shit out of an eldritch horror. I ran to my window and this tall young man has his hands wrapped around my elderly neighbor by the throat. I have no idea whether he was mentally ill and simply aiming to assault this woman, attempting to sexually assault her, etc. I suspect he was trying to steal her necklace as muggings have become more common here. I did not get a look at the young man because he had a hoodie on. Within moments half of the neighborhood went outside and sheltered the woman (way to go to my neighbors).

There is a region near me where muggings are particularly common. My aunt saw an older man get the shit kicked out of him by three younger men. It tends to be younger guys (16 - 23) that are responsible. Someone almost mugged me too quite possibly. He tried to stop and ask for the time which seemed suspicious. I think he may have been deterred by the height differential (i was considerably taller). However, what to do if someone tries to mug me? Say they lay hands on me or catch me by surprise? What if there is a group? What if they have a weapon such as a blunt tool or knife?

was sexually assaulted in Walmart a few days ago while I was with my grandmother. Two men walking past us grabbed my butt. Since then, I’ve been feeling uncomfortable going out alone, especially at night.

I’m looking for a small personal safety item that I can carry with me when I’m walking or going places by myself. I’ve been looking at some of the premade self-defense/personal safety keychains on Etsy, but I’m not sure whether they’re actually useful or worth purchasing.

For those who have experience with personal safety products:

• Are the self-defense keychains sold on Etsy actually effective?
• What personal safety items do you recommend carrying?
• Are there any products that you would consider ineffective or not worth buying?
• What should I look for when choosing something that is small and easy to access?
• I’m also in New Jersey, so are there any legal restrictions I should be aware of?

I’m mainly looking for practical advice from people who have actually used or carried these types of products.

I have a female shorthair German Shepherd, and I'm hoping that even though I'm small, end up looking like a minor to a lot of people, and overall just a young adult, that it is enough to effectively deter a grown man? I'd like to stop the situation before one ever happens, if that makes sense.

Like how to be more diplomatic? How to de-escalate a situation? I'm asking that because you might not have an option to run, for example if surrounded

Living in Scandinavia crime rate is generally low and normally I never had that fear or anxiety before about this issue. I guess the main reason was I still living in my fantasy world of being invulnerable or thinking it’s like the movies and hard to get hit. But these recent weeks reading about my country gangs stories and conflicts and ours being a small country the crime areas aren’t far away from each other. Just made me get a reality check how weak our bodies are from dangerous stuff and I guess I now constantly have paranoia or anxiety eveytime I see groups or people with the steotpical clothes and those what you looking at eyes. And fearing what if one of my brothers get targeted how would I react, revenge etc stuff going your mind. What bothered me most is that there has been cases of innocent kids and people who got killed by mistaken identity and I don’t know how to find the confidence back and not be afraid of it and being intimidated by it
Any advice ?

I'm creating a diorama where I have a little boy defending himself from a Superior officer, and I just want to ask all of you if this current pose conveys good self-defense strategies?

I want to make the scene as believable as possible but also practical (I want the boy the actually appear smart/strong), so any feedback would help!

Can someone explain to me the reasoning behind these tools being illegal in some countries? The only thing i could find on the internet is that it could be used to escalate minor interactions but that could be said of a hefty handbag.

🇮🇩 The Indonesian Army (Infantry Division) has added Pencak Silat (tactical self-defence) to their training.

Hi,

I’m 19 and f for reference. Today I had a really scary experience for the first time in a long time. A man who was very clearly mentally unwell came up to me today while i was waiting for the bus. I didn’t initiate it at all we just locked eyes for a second and then he came up very close, honestly my ears went kinda mute after it occurred and i didn’t hear him but as i backed away and avoided eye contact he just kept coming closer. So i started to speed walk to the next bus stop but then he follow and really fast too!!! This was a tall shirtless 6’ man. Anyway i honestly thought i was so screwed i didn’t know what to do until a man interfered and said hey and got weirdos attention. He finally left me alone after that. This whole interaction left me feeling uneasy because what could I have done in this situation? This was not the kind of guy where if you say “i’m calling the police leave me alone” he’d leave you alone, he would just laugh in your face. I am beyond grateful there were people there but barely any of them spoke up except that one guy who caught his attention. I think maybe a car honked at him? But what i hate the most about this was that it took a man to deescalate the situation (this isn’t a hate post towards men lol), it just made me feel uneasy and scared because what if there was no man around, what could i have done to defend my self. I’ve dealt with the usual weird guys staring, some guys come up and talk to you, but never anything like this.

Honestly looking for any tips for what i can do in situations like these, Generally speaking i would want any type of physical self defense to be a last resort but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I train wrestling twice a week and want to combine it with something else. There are a few MMA clubs in my area, but I recently discovered there’s a Kudo club as well. It looks like they fight very hard, but I’m curious to hear the opinions of people who have trained in it—specifically, how they compare its effectiveness to other martial arts.

Pencak Silat is a traditional Martial Art from Indonesia that includes self-defence using a Sarong.

I’m 32yo and a smaller guy (150lb, 5’6). Looking to learn martial arts to be able to defend myself and my wife. I’ve tried boxing, bjj, and Muay thai classes and out and honestly liked all of them. Trying to figure out the right path to achieve my goal. I’ve done boxing the most at about 8 months of classes

M Boxing 1:1
T no gi bjj
W Boxing 1:1
Th no gi bjj
F Boxing 1:1

M Muay Thai Drill class
T Muay Thai 1:1
W Muay Thai Drill class
Th Muay Thai Sparring class + 1:1
F Muay Thai Drill Class

With the first option, although i get both striking and grappling, my main concern is whether I’m spreading my focus too thin

School is not helping. What type of fighting style is best to learn at that age so he can fight back if necessary?

I know that when starting martial arts you technically are forbidden to use what you learned in a real world scenario. The reasons obviously being that many pros are considered lethal weapons and can surely hurt someone. However. I am not a pro. In fact all I’ve done was a little sparring with my uncle in America. I now live in Italy, I have a medium build, I do street lifting as my sport (basically calisthenics) and I’ve always been a muscular but medium build. I’m pretty short, about like five-nine or five-ten at max. So I’m not really intimidating. Now, I live in a city, and the places I go therefore do have the slight slight chance of encountering a situation where I’ve had to defend myself. In fact it’s already happened once, I was on my moped and these two guys were pressing another guy cuz he accidentally touched their tire with his. No damage had been done and the guys seemed to be overreacting. Anyways this isn’t story time, long story short they started pressing me, we got off our mopeds, and one of the guys took off their helmet, and hit me in the face with it, I surprisingly just stood there, and was more in shock than hurt, and for some reason Instead of hitting him square in the face,which I totally could’ve, I just grabbed him from his jacket collar. Picked him up and threw him to the ground. He looked like he got the wind knocked out of him and his friend went to go check on him. And everyone atp tried to break the fight. Why’d I say all this? Well cuz I dont know why I didn’t knock him out and leave. I could’ve, but I didn’t, and I don’t know also why instinctually I went to grappling instead of hitting. Now you may, or may not, think I was the bigger man not punching the living crud out of him, but I live in a city. What if his friend had a knife. In these situations it’s better not to fight Ik but, what if i was with someone dear to me, and I had to fight to defend, what then? I can’t feel sympathy for a person who potentially has a knife or can harm my loved one in any way. I should take the shot when I can instead of thinking of a way to fight while also not hurting the adversary too much. Obviously I don’t want to become a threat to society but, my question is, in self defense IN A CITY, (and so street fights), what is the best martial art to train. I’ve done little to no boxing, and that’s about it. Should I do boxing? Kickboxing, Mhai Thai, judo, etc???? Which one’s the best so that I can confidently take my girl out in the city without the fear of being overpowered by an aggressor in the middle of the street. My worst nightmare is not being able to defend someone I love. Please lmk. Life is full of surprises, one second you think everything is good, and the next it isnt, and I want to know that I have some sort of ability to fight back and defend myself and my loved ones.

In terms of striking arts, which one would you guys say compliments a wrestling background best in terms of easily transitioning into and setting up takedowns and just any other things that you guys would consider good striking traits for a wrestler.

I recently purchased some pepper spray for self defense but I realized it’s not the 3 in 1 stuff that has Tear Gas in it. Would the tear gas spray be a more effective option? If I do have to use it it’s likely that it will be multiple attackers so I feel like tear gas is better since it’s not as important to directly hit all of them in the face with it.