Whatever brings you to the point of deciding to learn of fighting techniques or self defense techniques can be wildly different from person to person. Going through bad experiences, personal assault, humiliation can do it or it could simply arise from a desire to better oneself and build inner confidence. All reasons are valid and worthy.

The security of having the knowledge to defend oneself from external harassment is a blessing and can provide us with a level of certainty as we move through the world and our day to day business.

Particularly today as the media would have us believe that crime is on the increase. Now I am not one for subscribing to media scaremongering so I take crime figures and stories with a pinch of salt. I am very wary of falling into the trap of believing there is a mugger on every corner…there isn’t. That’s nonsense.

However I do feel that the nature of violent crime has changed for obvious reasons. Drugs and the availability of weapons, mainly guns and knives. Drugs make people do stupid things because they are not in control of their own personality and drives. That doesn’t mean they are not responsible for their actions  – of course they are. It just means that for you and I, potential assailants are unpredictable, hard to second guess and often can’t be communicated with.

This brings me back nicely to self defense techniques. It is empowering to feel that you can deal or begin to deal with someone who for whatever reason begins to act toward you or your family/friends in an antisocial or aggressive fashion.

So how do we learn self defense? Well, obviously a course taught in a class environment is the good way. You have an instructor and other students to practice with and learn moves. You can supplement this with books and instructional dvd’s.

There are also quite a number of online courses to buy and learn at home. The advantage with this method is you can learn at your own pace and at a time that suits you, when and where you want. You can move as quickly forward with the course as you wish.  Just make sure you do your research and find a good product.

If you are looking to buy an online self defense course, one I would recommend, I like it so much that I advertise here it on my site, is the Self Defense Company’s “Self Defense Training System”. These guys really know what they’re doing and you get 24 hr support from the experts involved with the system.

Unlike studying a martial art for many years, learning self defense techniques can be done in a much shorter time frame. When you learn self defence you are not getting involved with the ritual of the art or style, the hierarchy of teacher and students, the long and short forms or the belt grades.

You are simply finding out how better protect yourself and your loved ones. This is about what works on the street and not in the dojo.