Do you live in Sydney, Australia, and want to train in practical self-defence?
Do you feel unsuited to one of the existing self-defence groups?
If so, then you may be suited to our Low-Impact Self-Defence group.
Our group is an informal network of contacts that allows people to come together and train in a way they feel comfortable with.
Some of the problems you may have encountered with existing self-defence groups are:
- too expensive
- being easily injured by hard training
- being unable to learn at your own pace
- being forced to do exercises you are uncomfortable with
- being restricted to one approach of self-defence
- being unable to improvise or tailor the training
- being unable to choose your training partners
- feeling like your time is wasted on someone else's agenda
These are not meant to be criticisms of self-defence schools, they work very well for many people. They are a great learning resource and some people in our group still use them at times. Some are better than others, but, simply, one size doesn't fit all.
Our group addresses these concerns with a network of contacts that allows people the flexibility to negotiate their training needs with other like-minded people. You can find partners for 1-on-1 training, or build a larger group. Usually the training occurs casually in a park, backyard or garage.
Our group is guided by the following principles:
- no fees, the only costs are the optional purchase of training equipment if desired
- all activities are optional, no-one is forced to do anything
- care is shown for training partners at all times
- each person chooses their own training, tailored to their body-type, personality, injuries, disabilities or health problems
- you can choose your training partners, no-one is forced to train with anyone they don't like
- we are a group of training partners, not a school where the teacher-student model is used. People can learn from others if they wish, or practise what they already know, or experiment and make it up as they go along. Any teaching is done in the spirit: "don't show your students what YOU can do, show them what THEY can do" and "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear". No-one is forced to listen to anything.
- there is no expectation to progress, improve, learn more, or reach a certain level. It's great if you do, but it's all your choice. However, if you're getting old you will be expected to regress (that's a joke).
- each person in a group will receive equal training time during a training session
- it is suitable for male or female, old or young, beginners or experienced, so long as you are open-minded to different approaches and care for your training partners
- training times are flexible, negotiated with partners. You can train regularly or once in a blue-moon. You are expected to inform partners if you cannot attend an agreed training time
- training intensity is negotiated with your partners. Usually it is your choice of either low-impact or no-impact. No-one is forced to a level they are uncomfortable with, and that includes both giving and receiving force. High-impact training may be available if you can find willing partners.
- we train as realistically as possible within the above limitations
Note, the term "low-impact" used here refers to training without hard impact in order to prevent injury. Also, "impact" refers to hitting a punching pad or focus mitts held by your partner, it does not refer to hitting a person. No-one in our group is ever intentionally hit. The only impact on a person in our group is that transferred to the body from holding a punching pad, or through a grab or hold, or an accident. When hitting pads and escaping from grabs/holds both training partners are at risk of injury, that's why we train with low or no impact.
Also, although we train at low-impact level, this does not necessarily mean holding back in self-defence. If you need to be brutal to defend yourself, so be it. When you defend yourself against a serious threat, and you have tried every peaceful means to avoid it, it may well need to be high-impact, all-out, no holding back, no holds barred, primal, feral and whatever-the-hell you need to escape to safety. But when we train, usually it is low-impact or no-impact, to prevent injury, and calm and friendly so that no-one gets hurt or emotionally exhausted.
Anyone who can leave their ego out of their training is welcome. If you are the type that thinks because we rarely or never train at high intensity then we are wasting our time, you are entitled to your opinion, but are not suited to our group. For us, low-impact or no-impact training, optionally combined with some mental imagery, is as realistic as we can get, and we are happy with that.
To join the Sydney Low-Impact Self-Defence e-mail discussion group, and find training partners in your area and learn (if you want to) about self-defence, click on the following link:
Click to join LowImpactDefence
Links
We are mainly interested in simple, easy to learn, realistic self-defence, not fancy martial-arts that take years to master. It has to spring out of you instantly and work under fear and stress.
Some website links to styles of self-defence that we are interested in are listed below. They may appear to have a high degree of difficulty, but can be adapted to low-impact training.
Overseas
Dr Ruthless - Melissa Soalt, USA
Attack Proof - John Perkins, New York
Senshido - Richard Dimitri, Canada
Tony Blauer - Canada
Geoff Thompson - UK
Combative Based Action Imagery - Darren Laur, Canada
Australian
Krav Maga - Australia wide
The Inner City Combat Club - Sydney
Penrith Freestyle Self Defence - Sydney
Website credits:
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