What is the best self-defense for a woman? Krav Maga, Jujitsu or boxing?

Question

I am a 5'4" woman and120 lbs. I have experience in Tae Kwon Do and Shotokan karate but I still don't feel confident in being able to successfully defend myself. Which of these three would you suggest? (Or if you have anything else in mind please let me know!)

Answer 1

I'm 5"4, 105lbs, and I do judo and did karate.

Most people who would attack you would not have training in Martial Arts, as we are diciplined. But if that guy is 6" 200lbs, he would have stronger kicks and punches than you..and what if he grabs you, how are you going to free yourself?

Both Tae Kwon Do and Shotokan karate are "more of" a long range attack, I find that having some training in a style of martial art that specialises in close range boosted my confident.

You can try jujitsu, or judo.

(we're talking about bare hand attackers here, right?)

If the guy has a gun...ermm....I'm not sure what I would do either...I think I'll just give him all the cash I have...After all, I don't know anything about fire arms, don't know when it will accidentally discharge...etc. I'd rather live than die =)

But if the guy has a knife or baseball bat or something like that, I'm confident that I will walk away with minor or no injuries.

Answer 2

Buy a gun ?

Answer 3

Krav Maga. Ive trained it for one year and its really practical and easy to learn.

Answer 4

The problem with Krav Maga rests solely in finding a good instructor in the United states. It is definetly good for self defense, but only if taght right. You say you have experience in Shotokan karate, but how much, and how good is your instructor? One person stated that Shotokan is for long range attacks, which is false. Shotokan has excellent striking, but wrapped up in the kata's are many clinching moves, take downs, throws, sweeps, locks, and chokes.

Maybe you have just not trained the style long enough to get to these, or your instructor does not know how to find them in the kata. I will not recomend a style, only that you make sure that whatever you take get the best instruction you can afford. All martial arts are designed to give a smaller person a advantage. There are many answers about how to find a good school and what to watch out for.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Krav Maga teaches gun and knife defenses.  Close Quarters Battle (CQB) which is what the New Zealand SAS uses, teaches similar techniques.  Both are military/streetfighting systems and use elements of jujitsu in their ground defense, and neither uses closed fist techniques (boxers AND MMA fighters tape up their hands for a reason; they can punch harder without breaking the small bones in the hand).  

I would recommend Krav Maga, if only because a  CQB instructor may be harder to find (for what it's worth, and if want to do some interesting reading go to  www.toddgroup.com).

Answer 6

For "Street Survival" I recommend:

. Jeet Kune Do CONCEPTS

- I do JKD Concepts we have techniques from Gong-Fu, Savate, Muay Thai etc. Trapping range mainly from Kali, groundfighting from Judo, Jiu-jitsu, BJJ, Sambo, western wrestling & Kino Mutai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kino_mutai

. COMBAT(or Modern) Hapkido

http://www.greenhillcombathapkido.com/wh...

. Krav Maga

http://www.kravmaga.com/

. Kapap-Lotar

Answer 7

1. Hokkido

2. ITF Tae Kwon Do

3. Pepper Spray