Working with a lifetime of martial arts knowledge, this is an important question.
1. What would you teach to women who had only one day to learn how to defend themselves successfully?
2. Is it even possible?
Answer to #2= YES.
Answer to #1=Systema, of course. You think it would be anything else?
I used to teach women’s self-defense classes just like every other martial arts teacher–by technique.
Women would learn a few cool moves that were more about getting them to think that they could learn how to defend themselves if they trained than actually teaching them to defend themselves on the hurry up.
Incidentally, there is a guy in town teaching exactly that–deep stances and hard blocks to women. Been there, done that. I can only shake my head. These women are getting “false confidence” that they could defend themselves.
Enter The LETHAL LADIES tm
Lethal Ladies is the name of the women’s self-defense program that I have created that actually works in one day.
Lethal Ladies has two main components:
1. Using body armor for Full-Speed, Full-Force scenarios.
Yes, a group right here in Colorado pioneered using armor. Basically, it is just glorified sparring gear to martial artists but it is necessary so women can “let it rip.” I wouldn’t recommend women taking any self-defense class WITHOUT ARMOR.
2. Â SYSTEMA.
Systema training principles are the key that makes Lethal Ladies unique.
The Breath Work to Contain Fear, well, you won’t find that anywhere, especially not done to the extent we do it in Systema and how we apply it.
The Natural Movement Work is UNPARALLELED in its ability to get women moving and escaping and overcoming their instinct to freeze. Honing their Innate Self-Defense Skills versus trying to teach them something foreign can’t be matched by any other training method, period.
I’ve been teaching Systema for 13 years and I am still astounded at how quickly these Lethal Ladies pick up the work. They are moving instinctively, spontaneously and pre-thought…all because of Systema principles.
I get a kick out of the marketing of Body Armor Courses because they are supposed to be so scary and overwhelming. Sure, they are for most people and they work….
…However, by the end of a Lethal Ladies course the women report being exhilarated and HAVING FUN. Just so you know, whenever I break out Body Armor for the Systema students they too report “That was Fun.” (fear and joy actually share neural circuitry)
One BIG DISTINCTION is that Systema teaches us to contain our fears rather than amplify them and try to harness that. Â This way we stay in conscious control while dealing with our stress response.
Systema’s results speak for themselves.
(Caveat: we only dealt with standing grabs in one day. Obviously, other Lethal Ladies classes deal with ground work, weapon-defense, multiple attackers and the results are the same. I just don’t want you to think training is ever finished after one day, it’s just that the progress is amazing!)