Haven't ridden for 3 days because of a very scary man

[Trek420]

breaking different kinds of holds; basic punching and that it's good to practice not broadcasting your punches. And we got plenty of scenario/role playing practice at all of this throughout the course.

Out of shape out of practice Nidan (2nd degree black belt in Aikido) chimes in.

Yes, if it will help you to feel confident do take a self defense course. Good courses last 1-3 days.

Situational self defense does .... not .... work. Plenty of role playing practice? Ok

let's do a basic chokehold shall we?

Now from the rear
Again, 'cept now I'm grabbing your wrist
In motion, starts from in front and grab from behind.
grabs your wrist from the rear and instead of a chokehold there's a knife knife at the rear of your neck I've still got the arm
both hands now
back to the chokehold but it's a bar across the arm (there's quite a few ways to knock you out; one way you can breath but you'll pass out if you don't move fast, the other one you can't breath but if you'd just move the opposite way that your logic tells you) so we'll do all those including ....
with the lapel, not my arm ...
Front choke holds ....

martial arts is not a sport it's an addiction There are infinite variations even grabbing a person with one hand. Say you get one technique sorta kinda right it's different with everyone, shorter, taller, stronger, more flexible .....

It's an art, it's part of my eclectic spiritual practice. I just hope and pray that I never ever have to use it again

If (hopefully not when) you need to use it there will not be a post-it telling you what to do. Your body must react from a primordial memory. That takes years of practice. You can not think. You must MOVE.

Move move move make noise move move move move move.

And never ever ever go to another location. I'd die trying to stay right there.

Training since about 1979 and every class I take my goal is maybe just maybe get one technique right ONCE. And speaking of training in Aikido we do a fair amount of knife defense, but every once in a while my teacher has someone attack with a live blade. It's training, in a class, but my eyes get big, this is intense. One missed response and I'll be cleaning blood off the mat, my blood for a while. If you think a few grabs, a couple releases in a class will work I am sad to tell you that is wrong. If you think in the fear, immediacy of a "real" situation maybe with a weapon or multiple attackers that you will react promptly and correctly from a few classes you may be dead wrong.

Situational self defense does not work. It's awesome crosstraining for cycling but not good self defense.

This works

http://www.impactbayarea.org

Find a class that teaches conflict avoidance and diffusion. The best self defense of all is to just not be in the fight in the first place. The fight that does not happen is the one you win.

And then if you can't avoid or diffuse the situation just artless, techniqueless mayhem brutality and utter destruction. In all my years of study I was amazed. There's little art to it, it's not pretty, it's not beautiful just hit them where it hurts and never stop until they are no longer a threat to you and you can take that any way you want.

Most real fights will start or end on the floor. Situational self defense will not work from there.

As for my training it's an art I hope to never use again. even in beautifully falling off the bike which it's helped a couple of times

This sounds a little discouraging so let me just end by saying I feel strongly that the best self defense is what we all do already. Get out there, look strong because we are strong, look fearless because we are fearless. Sure, bring a cell phone, trust your gut but by just being out there looking fabulous and strong that is truly the best self defense there is.