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If you want to learn effective Self Defence in Portsmouth, our classes teach BJJ, which has been proven to actually work, unlike a lot of traditional martial arts in the modern age, it has been tested heavily under real fighting pressure in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and proven beyond doubt to be the safest & most effective fighting system bar none for surviving and winning a 1 on 1 combative encounter and self defence. This is largely due to its combination of the clever scientific use of leverage to allow a smaller person to defeat a larger person and its use of live resistance training methods.
Leverage is a principle of Phsyics, that by using a lever, the output force will be greater than the input force. The best example of this in action is probably how in ancient times they used long planks of wood to move huge heavy stones.
Jiu-Jitsu as taught in our Portsmouth Self Defence Classes uses this scientific knowledge in its techniques and strategies in order to allow a smaller person to concentrate and multiply their force to defeat a larger person, by clever positioning it directs the strength and weight of your entire body into one small weak point of theirs. making it very effective for self defence
You can not learn to fight without actually fighting.
With the advent of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) in 1993 and the following rise of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) the martial arts underwent its greatest revolution ever.
These competitions that featured no rules at the time allowed representitives of different styles to fight each other and see what actually worked for real in a no holds barred situation.
The result was that the Combat Sports, those that used actual sparring against a resisting opponent when training came out on top, with the most effective of all being shown to be Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Sadly traditional martial arts and watered down commercial self defence systems in the modern age almost never use this method in their training. making it largely a complete waste of time and ineffective in an actual real fight.
Live resistance training is basically having your opponent fight back while you test out your techniques. It is essential in order to be able to use your training for real. we use it in all our classes, so for Portsmouth Self Defence training, get your free trial session with us now!
Imagine trying to learn to play Tennis by simply swinging a racket in the air, perhaps with an opponent the other side of the room doing the same, but with no ball in play.
Would you build the skill and timing neccesary to hit a live moving ball? Or would you more likely miss, panic and freeze up when it comes flying at you with full force. This is the equivalent of what a lot of Martial Arts and Self Defence practitioners do.
This is why we use live resistance training at our Self Defence classes in Portsmouth. In a live situation with someone attacking you, you do not have time to think, your reactions must be trainied into your body and muscle memory to work automatically as a physical reaction, and must have been practised against a resisting partner in order to build the timing and skill to use those movements under pressure, other wise it will collapse when you actually try to use it.
Imagine playing chess against an opponent who always lets you win, then one day you go against someone actually trying to defeat you, who has always played agaisnt people actively trying to beat them. who would win? You would simply have no useable skill nor ability to win.
We have Beginner classes to allow you to learn effective self defence lessons in Portsmouth & Southsea. As a beginner you will be carefully and gently eased into the art, You may not even roll (spar) at all for your first couple of sessions depending on your circumstances and your ability will be gradually built. Sparring whilst encouraged is always optional and students are welcome to take a breather and sit out at any time for any reason. Looking after all our students is our greatest priority at Pure Art BJJ and your safety and wellbeing is of the utmost importance.
BJJ actually has a lower injury rate than sports such as football and actually has a lower injury rate than most other martial arts.
Because Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu uses primarily joint locks and strangulation chokes as oppose to kicks and punches it allows practicioners to train often full contact against each other with a much lower risk of injury, making it very effective for self defence training.
Also due to its focus of quickly closing in on an opponent and often putting them on the floor to be submitted, it reduces the amount of time moving around on the feet, performing athletic movements, which is where a lot of sports injuries occur, It also has a far lower injury rate than something like judo which heavily (often exclusively) concentrates on throws, where you are getting constantly thrown to the ground.
Sparring (rolling) is conducted intelligently, you're training partners wont be going all out 100% agaisnt you in every single roll, instead resistance is graduated at different times to allow you to train for longer periods without becoming exhausted, and for your body to build resilience and avoid injury.
Because of the conditioning gifted to the body due to the resistant training methods, the body actually becomes more resilient to injury, you're flexibility, mobility, balance and strength of joints and tendons are all improved and you also learn to fall safely.
What you will actually find is that the rolling (live resistance sparring) is actually the most fun part of training bjj and is highly addictive, you will leave training feeling great, with reduced stress, feeling like youve had a good workout and with a new confidence and positivity.
(1) In BJJ techniques are first learned in theory against a non resisting opponent,this allows you room to gain a mental and physical understanding of the mechanics of the movement, without the distraction of someone trying to fight you and resist at the same time. (Unfortunately this is where most martial arts begin and end)
(2) In BJJ however once the concepts behind the techniques are understood in terms of how and why they work, techniques are then tested against gradually increasing levels of resistance in set specific positional sparring scenarios, with partners staying within the parameters of certain positions in order to repetitively attempt the techniques agaisnt a gradually rising level of resistance all the up to 100% which is what somewhat on the street or in a real stuation will use. therefore you need to be experienced at facing it.
(3) Next will be full rolling, (basically non specific free sparring) opponents will spar against each other within the rules of BJJ, with varying levels of (but always present) resisitance, and can attempt any of their techniques and positions, this allows you to attempt the technique you have learnt in the previous 2 steps when it is not neccessarily expected or at the forefront of your mind, proving it is well engrained into your muscle memory and trustable as an effective reaction.
Simply put most fight's end up on the ground in some way either with both or one person fighting or often injured there.
In striking sports such as Boxing or Kickboxing, there will be a referree that because of the rules seperates opponents when they get too close and enter what is known as clinching distance, (basically when they grab hold of each other) this keeps them at striking distance so they continue to purely punch and kick each other.
What you dont see because they are seperated is that when left to their own devices they will usually end up on the ground. this was proven in MMA where fights were not stopped once opponents clinched and grappled each other and usually ended up on the ground in some way with the winner being the person who knew how to fight on the ground best.
Putting an opponent on the ground also makes them far easier to control, there movement is slowed down and you can keep them still with pins, restraining them far easier than when standing and get easier access to their neck for strangles and limbs for joint locks.
Being on the ground also takes away a lot of the size and strength advantage of a larger opponent as their movement and reach is restricted and the effect of blows is also reduced due to the lessened transition of bodyweight and momentum.
BJJ avoids the striking distance which is the most dangerous and either entirely avoids it or closes it down completely to maximum clinching distance almost immediately from where it is much safer to either directly attack your opponent with a choke or joint lock or put them on the ground to do this.
By practising these skills it makes you far more skilled at stopping someone trying to grab and grapple you and manipulate you to ground and makes it far easier to escape from them
If you are not used to fighting on the ground then when put there you will be like a fish out of water, it is compeltely different from regular standup striking fighting and there is no direct transfer apart from one to the other, This is partly why BJJ as taught at our school is so effective for Self Defence training in Portsmouth & Southsea and fighting as most people simply dont know nor train how to fight effectively on the ground.
Being able to fight and defeat or escape from someone on the ground or grabbing you especially if in a losing vulnerable position such as underneath someone is vital to self defence classes. training on the ground also makes it far easier to get back to your feet and escape if neccesary.
Learning to hit effectively can be a useful tool for self defence, and I recommend all students learn some striking skills to augment thier Jiu-Jitsu, this can be done with me in private lessons in Waterlooville near Portsmouth & Southsea and or by cross training in something like boxing which uses live resistance sparring.
However attempting to purely strike with someone in a combative encounter can be a risky practice, no matter how good you are there is always the chance you might get hit with a lucky shot and be knocked unconcious and or injured. it may also be a situation where you dont want to hit the person.
Using BJJ is generally a far safer method of Self Defence training, you avoid damage from strikes by staying out of range and often closing down the distance entirely and you can put someone onto the ground in a more controlled method, rendering them temporarily unconcious with a choke or controlling them or damaging one of their limbs with a joint lock is far safer than knocking them out or causing impactful injury with damaging blows. People have died after being hit, usually as a result of hitting their head on the ground after falling when knocked out or over.
Also knocking someone out or defeating them with blows is often not as easy as it looks on TV and in Films, the fight may descend into grappling range and you will certainly now need BJJ.
Using BJJ is a far safer primary strategy.
Whilst the live resistance training provided by most BJJ schools can potentially be useful in Self Defence, at Pure Art BJJ we also specifically address using BJJ and Martial Arts in the context of Self Defence in our Portsmouth classes and will incorporate drills relating to this into our training as well as still maintaining an equal focus on BJJ competition training to teach the art as a whole, as far as we are aware we are one of only a few clubs in Hampshire and the only one in the Portsmouth & Havant area to offer this. We also spend a lot more time working on standing techniques and takedowns than most BJJ clubs.
Concepts such as awareness, avoidence, strategy, spatial positioning, maintaining a fence and verbal de-escalation are very important for self defence and sometimes covered during our Portsmouth classes and we recommend you also learn and study them outside of training.
No. Dont Waste Your Time.
No. See the above section on "Why does live resistance training work".
Great Distance between yourself and an opponent is always going to be the best choice for Self Defence. However that Luxury may not be possible or you might have friends or family with you so cant leave them in danger. As shown earlier fighting from striking distance can be dangerous as even as a skilled striker you risk getting hit by a lucky shot.
Closing the distance and Controlling your opponent either to be restained, choked, or joint locked often by putting them on the ground is part of the main strategy of BJJ in a 1 on 1 situation and has been proven the most successful way to defeat someone. simply put it is far easier to control someone if they are on the ground.
However although we may put ourselves on the ground first sometimes in training to practise working from here should things go wrong or for a deliberate tactical advantage in the safety of a competition setting, this is not something we look to do in a real fight.
In a real fight it is our opponent that we will look to put there first, remember that most fights will go the ground anyway so by training this we can control it in the safest method possible, we may choose to remain standing over or kneeling on them, whilst applying a technique, allowing us to scan around for other dangers or depending on the situtation we may even keep both of us standing while aplying a technique.
Also should we end up on the ground by accident at any point of a situation we will also be far better prepared to win or escape from this situation.
Also if you want to avoid being put on the ground, training BJJ with us is one of the best things you can do.
Although a lot of BJJ clubs these days dont practice hardly any standing work or takedowns due to over focus on competition where they often just pull guard (sit down). At Pure Art BJJ we practice staying on our feet against an opponent trying to take us down and working from standing a lot. which is a highly effective skill for self defence in Fareham & Portsmouth area
Dealing with the fight should be your priority. Glass or other other items, if they are even on the floor are going to present far less of a danger to you than than attempting to exchange strikes and risking getting hit and injured, also if the ground is to be used, your strategy should involve having your opponent between you and these things
Against multiple opponents the best strategy is always to get away as fast as possible, the best skill to use here is running, and if neccesary striking to create space, however should you not be able to get away immediately, BJJ as taught for self defence in Havant & Portsmouth Area will help you to avoid going to the ground and give you at least some skill in getting back to your feet and protecting yourself if put there, it will also teach you to break out of grips and holds to create the space you need to get away.
The only form of anti grappling that works is learning grappling.
Anti Grappling is a term for tactics invented by certain martial arts that largely focus on striking, to persuade their students that they are effective against someone that may try to grapple with them and or take them to the ground
This kind of thinking was shown to be nonsense with the advent of the UFC.
It often involves doing things like poking your opponents in the eyes, groin strikes, hitting them in the throat, striking and biting etc, which are often useful attacks for Self Defence but completely miss the point that a person trained in BJJ can potentially do all the same back to you, but from a superior position of control.
It often also involves moving in a way to stop them closing the distance with you and thus taking you down. It is very difficult to stop a person intent on closing the distance with you and very difficult to avoid being taken down unless you train in grappling regularly. something we offer for Self Defence in Gosport & Portsmouth area
Its highly unlikely,
Whilst good courses & training do exist these types of training are often very far and few between, also whilst they may contain good information on non fighting skills such as awareness (unlikely) often the physical methods heavily rely on striking (covered earlier) or are ineffective in real practice and (even more often) feature no resistant training so will be useless should you have to actually fight.
Effective fighting skills are not something that can be learned in a day and require repetition on a regular basis against resisting opponents to be formed into a useable skill.
Unlike Our Self Defence lessons in Southsea and Portsmouth , These courses and classes often feature ineffective, unrealistic techniques and information taught by people with varying levels of often traditional martial arts experience. They may mean well or are simply looking to make money but often simply have no clue what they are talking about, nor any experience of actually using the information against a resisting opponent nor of how to put together effective training to make someone better skilled at fighting.
BJJ is the perfect Martial Art for a woman (or anyone) to learn Self Defence.
Also as women are often likely to be smaller than a male agressor its use of leverage to allow a smaller person to defeat a larger person is ideal.
Its taught abilities of breaking grips, holds and grabs and fighting back from a vulnerable position often underneath someone are also highly useful to women.
You will gain real experience of applying effective techniques against men and know that your abilities work for real.
Learning BJJ is one of the most empowering and sensible things a woman can do.
If you are a woman reading this and considering training, I strongly urge you to come and visit us for a free session.
In training BJJ you will learn technical skill in fighting triumphs all.
Having a superior ability and understanding of technique will allow you to overcome larger and stronger opponents.
Things like weightlifting can be useful but only for augmenting fighting skill. not creating it. Muscles will not make you effective at fighting on their own.
Yes we are easiliy reachable for Self Defence training from Havant, Fareham, Waterlooville, Portchester, Chichester, Gosport, Hayling Island, Emsworth Petersfield & General Hampshire area
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