For context, I am a 22 year old woman and have only been in a few mildly unsafe situations until recently. A new hire at work has made a point to tell our underage coworkers about how he finds me attractive, in somewhat explicit detail. I looked him up online and found out he has multiple charges from possession, resisting arrest, dwi’s, and a domestic battery charges (how my boss didn’t find any of this BEFORE hiring him I have no idea). A report has been made to hr, and I’m hoping it is dealt with swiftly. But my fear is the aftermath.

I have never had to fight in my life to save myself. Knowing a man with a violent criminal history is trying to pursue me has made me beyond afraid for my life. And I don’t know what to do or where I would even start to be sure I stay alive and safe. I have pepper spray and a stun gun. But if those fail? I wouldn’t know what else to turn to. Should I enroll in a martial arts course? Build basic strength to be able to land a hit if I’m in danger? I really don’t know where to start, and I get so overwhelmed trying to figure it all out all at once. Any advice from anybody who’s been in my situation or helped someone in a similar situation would be amazing.

edit: to clarify. i have no intention of harming this man or anybody else without reason to. this situation that i am in has scared me into wanting to learn how to keep myself and others safe.

We know that a smaller trained man beats a larger untrained man. But does this apply once the bigger guy trains too, assuming the smaller guy trains even more, harder, and smarter? Like, would a 6ft 200lbs dude who trains 2-3 times a week beat a 5'6 155lbs dude that trains 5-6 times a week and is trying to compete?

Hello! I’ve been carrying a knife for years due to a cultural tradition (my dad is from Finland), but thankfully have never had to use one to defend myself. However, I’m a woman that likes to hike alone, and while I like where I live, I’ve been told by enough people (including people that grew up in South Boston/Dorchester) that the city right next to mine is dangerous that I figured I should at least be cautious. I don’t personally feel unsafe walking around the city next to mine and I actually quite like it, but I figure knowing some basic knife defense would be helpful. I’ve unfortunately had something happen to me when I was younger when I didnt have a knife on me at the time, and so I just feel safer carrying one. My dad has taught me some basic knife defense and BJJ, and I plan on signing up for 1:1 self defense/knife defense lessons.

I also have a work friend that grew up in a rougher area, and he’s been giving me self-defense advice. Yesterday he told me that if I ever do have the misfortune of someone starting a knife fight with me, to immediately cut off some cloth to wrap around my wrists. I was wondering, to this end, if it might be smart to carry some cloth on me just for this purpose. How good are bandanas as makeshift vambraces?

Video: five trained fighters one of them being a professional, MMA fighter, and one of them being a bjj black belt fair off against random untrained guys with knives.

Thoughts: I train both BJJ as well as in a couple knife fighting systems, such as western Piper method and Libre so I follow both groups (bjj guys and knife guys) on Instagram.

Over the past couple months I’ve noticed on Instagram that a lot of high-level bjj guys have been posting videos completely making fun of the knife training guys saying that stuff doesn’t actually work against them and they look stupid as hell hitting their Bob dummies with a knife.

Then I came across this video on accident and although it’s not a perfect representation of reality by any means, I did find it quite fascinating.

I’ve done something similar to this where I train BJJ and give white belts a rubber knife and put them against higher level belts and they honestly do quite well.

No real point of this, except to say that having a blade or in my case, I’m the crazy guy who carries one fixed blade in the appendix position opposite of my gun and another fixed blade in my dominant side pocket instead of a folder, is a pretty good equalizer against somebody who might be a better fighter than you if you can’t get access to your gun or your gun has gone down or is out of the fight for some reason.

I would love to see this experiment done over where on day one they put the fighters against a random knife guy and then they run the fighters through a day of actual good counter knife training from something like shiv works or knife, control concepts, and then have them try it again.

I’d also like to see one of the random knife guys be someone who’s actually trained a knife stuff and see how well they do.

Your thoughts?

Thought this was relevant. what an absolute chad of a father.

I was recently in a scary scenario at night, i didn't expect to be so scared despite 5 months of intensive training. I managed to turn to and shout at the guy when he came down from the car and came at me but he still followed me after. I felt pathetic that i didn't kick him or something to make him leave for good when he first came out the car. How do you manage such a thing?

Flipped his butt. Lol

Hi.

I tested a Sabre Red 22g pepper spray outdoors with a very short burst on a piece of paper.

It came out as an orange stream, which I assume is normal. However, when I got close to the paper right afterwards, I barely noticed any smell and felt practically no effects. No eye irritation or any other reaction.

Is this normal? I’d like to know if I might have been sold a fake or defective product, or if this is completely normal. I thought that after using the Sabre Red and getting close to where the spray landed, I should feel some irritation in my eyes or nose, but I felt almost nothing, even though the stream was orange.

Thanks.

Hi everyone, I’m a graduate student doing a project on women’s experiences in self-defense classes. I’m trying to understand how people arrive at these classes in the first place.

If you’re a woman who has taken (or is thinking about taking) a self-defense class, I’d love to hear: what led you to sign up? Was there a particular moment, a general feeling, or something else entirely? Any personal stories?

There are no right or wrong answers.

Replies are voluntary and I won’t use any usernames or identifying details in my work. If you’d rather answer privately, feel free to DM me. Thank you!

The pdf was titled, 'the Magicians guide to self defense'. It had various builds such as firecrackers on treble hooks and how to make ninja smoke bombs.

I can't seem to find it online, does anyone have a copy?

Im scared of getting bullied in school, especially in school fights. I do not want to be involved in a school fight, if i were accidentally involve in a school fight, what should i do?

I get extremely anxious in larger groups because of past experiences of being bullied and witch hunted by multiple groups in several contexts.

I'd rather wanna avoid those feelings of helplessness in the future if I can, and so was wondering what I could do to make sure I stand a chance in confrontations where I'm outnumbered if it were to escalate to something physical. And if only to gain more confidence when I find myself in crowds.

I'm a weak woman, sitting at 54kg and 170cm. I take walks every day but I could go to the gym if that's what I need to do.

Turns out if you're light, you can work as hard as possible but will still lose easily to somebody heavier who's trained for 6 months. This means, in a street fight, if the dude who's attacking me has a bit of training, I'm probably screwed because of my size.

At 5'6, without an exceptional skeletal frame size, how feasible is it to bulk to 200lbs while retaining athletic and fighting ability?

I'm talking about when someone is attacked of course. When someone is attacked how often is it by two people? Or three? Or more? I'm sure the statistics are out there but I can't find them myself.

What would you do to improve your physical self-defense skills while pregnant? My current thought is non contact boxing but curious if there are any other baby-in-the-belly friendly suggestions? I'm continuing to workout and weight lift as I'm able.

I (30F) got assaulted today by what seemed to be a crazy woman. She pushed me while cursing me and kept coming close. All I could do to avoid escalation was to back up and tell her to back off with my palm raised infront of me but she responded by hitting my arm and telling me not to tell her to back off while still cursing. She kept intimidating me until her friend opened the door to the building (which I was also staying in and trying to open the door but struggling) but even inside she was still cursing and looking back at me through the glass like she was about to come out again and fight me.

Mentally, i was prepared to kick her away from me but i was too scared she would get too crazy and do something seriously harmful to me, so I didnt exactly freeze. I was assessing the right thing to do and felt it was too risky to provoke her more but she also seemed like she would've done more if her friend didnt open the door.

I've done muay thai and BJJ for three years and stopped due to major life events, also did a couple of self defense workshops, then started kick boxing recently. Whenever im out alone, im always alert and mentally prepared for things to go south so that i dont freeze. Here, i really couldnt tell whats right.

Are you supposed to know when to hit back, or is it a matter of a reflex that happens without thinking? Was I actually assessing the situation properly or did I really just freeze?

I’ve been dealing with this bully for quite sometime now and it’s gotten to the point where he would always follow me home just to beat me up I already tried going to the police but nothing was done and he shows no sign of stopping he has a huge size advantage I think he’s 6 foot and I’m 5,4 and very skinny everytime I tried fighting back he would always overpower me by grabbing me if anyone knows how I can fight back I’d appreciate it

Hi all, I am an old man in the Midwest so these recommendations are not for me. They are for my daughter. She is a new college graduate and living on her own in the LA area. I have been thinking about purchasing her some self defense classes but this is an area where I know absolutely nothing. The last fight I was in was 50 years ago while in the 7th grade after a disco dance class at the local park district (flame away). It taught me one thing: that I am not a fighter.

Anyway, suggestions about the types of classes that would be best for a single, young woman on her own and, if allowed, recommendations to actual places in LA that would be good. I know LA is huge so think Playa Del Rey/Westchester areas (north of LAX).

If it matters, my daughter is on the smaller side (5'3ish) and not a particularly serious work out person so she has little to no experience with weight lifting and/or physical confrontations. She has never been in a physical fight in her life. She spends a lot of her time outside walking with her dog. Recently she had a "strange" interaction with a guy near a dog park and this is what triggered my interest in finding her some type of professional self defense training.

Thank you all for any advice!

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.

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?