10 Misconceptions about Self Defense

Incorrect views about self defense

In this insightful article, we’ll look at 10 misconceptions about self defense. Buckle your seatbelt, because this is information you don’t want to miss.

That being said, when it comes to self defense, there are several misconceptions and ideas that aren’t necessarily true. Many fighting training methods are not realistic and often include scenarios that are very unlikely to happen.

Therefore, it’s always important that when it comes to practicing self defense, you try and imagine a scenario that is most likely to happen. This will make your training that much more authentic and realistic.

One of the most important things you can do when you’re training for self defense is to question every technique and see how you can apply it to real life scenarios.

Questions like “Can I actually do this movement under adrenaline?” or “When will I apply this in a fight” or “Have I ever come across a situation where I would have been able to use this technique” are very useful and can help you see things more realistically.

Top 10 self-defense misconceptions

To make things easier and narrow down the misconceptions of self-defense, we’ve included the top 10 self-defense misconceptions:

1 – Training in sequence: This is basically numbering each movement you do when applying a technique. The reality is that when you’re fighting someone, you’ll never have the occasion to pull out a series of pre-determined techniques. You’ll be too busy defending yourself and fighting back. Additionally, attacks are unpredictable. You can’t have a pre-planned fighting technique. Thus, breaking down the techniques into a number of movements is unrealistic.

2 – Using your cellphone: You will not have time to use your phone during a fight. People often think that if they get attacked, they will just call the cops and be safe. The reality is that attacks happen quickly and the second you take out your phone, your attacker is already striking you. You need to focus on defending yourself.

3 – Carrying a weapon: You might think you’re safe if you carry a weapon, however, some things can go wrong with this scenario. The first is having to explain why you were carrying a weapon in the first place since it’s not always a case of self defense. Second, there’s a much bigger chance that your opponent will manage to use your weapon against you.

4 – Go for the eyes, throat or balls: People think that going in the most sensitive areas will finish the fight. The first misconception with this theory is that you don’t know the person’s pain tolerance. There are no fight finishers. So, focusing on these areas will not help you in finishing the fight. Go with the momentum.

5 – Size doesn’t matter: While people often say that size doesn’t matter when it comes to self defense and it’s all about the technique. That’s not true. Size does matter. The person is bigger and heavier than you, they will outweigh you and there are several techniques that you will not be able to use towards a bigger person.

6 – MMA is self-defense: MMA is not self-defense. When you’re faced with an attacker who has a weapon, going to the ground with an attacker is not your best choice. Defending yourself in a real-life attack is really not the same as fighting in the ring. There are many techniques of MMA that just don’t work for self defense.

7 – 90% of fights end up on the ground: That’s wrong. There are fights that end with a people fighting on the ground. However, saying that 90% of fights end up on the ground is exaggerating. That said, your goal is to stand up and not end up on the ground. You want to avoid getting stomped in a street fight. Here’s a self defense video on ground fighting.

8 – Military systems used for self-defense: The rules of engagement are completely different. The scenarios are different, so you can’t use a military system in a street fight. You want use physical self defense skills in most cases, you will try and talk to the person to divert the situation. The situation and mindset are completely different and military situations just can’t be applied to real life scenarios.

9 – I live in a safe neighborhood: People will think that because they live in a safe area, they don’t need self defense. This is wrong because you can get attacked anywhere and you don’t want to put your life in the hands of someone else. You are responsible for your life so learn self-defense to get control of it.

10 – Pulling hair is for sisi’s: When you’re in a situation of defending yourself, you will use whatever self defense technique you can. You will use whatever you can because you are fighting for your life. You will do anything to survive, including techniques that can be considered as a cheap move.

Here’s the clip that explains it all:

Additional self defense resources

We hope you found these tips useful. Click on the following link to see our video on the top ten self defense misconceptions.

You’ll see live examples for each of these 10 misconceptions about self defense.

Feel free to share the video with your contacts on the social media platforms of your choice.

If you’re serious about learning to defend yourself, take a serious look at our self defense product page. On there, you’ll find all the videos needed to learn a proven system taught by certified self defense instructors.

So, there you go, it’s all there for you! It’s up to you now to take action 😉

Lastly, for more content on personal protection, signup to the Code Red Defense newsletter.

Take care,

Patrick Viana

Code Red Defense