I’m with you on sexy girl’s unrealistic defenses, while there is some value – it should be done realistically.

I kind of like Chrissy Russo’s fighting on Fox 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_whP0z_d6Hk

At least she is really trying to do the moves.

Thanks as always for your insightful comments.

There are no shortage of sites like this. My main objection is this is just not called for… people should not be hoodwinked into seeing girls butts. It is just another bait and switch con.

I must be getting older because as a young man (with lots of empty space in my head) I may not have objected.

http://actionkaratearts.com/videos/self-defense/#Self-Defense03

One of the most important lessons to learn is to make your strikes count (i.d doing damage) by using speed (in the delivery and especially when retracting) and putting body-mass behind the strike. A good way to test this is to punch or kick the heavy-bag: if it swings wildly it means you pushed instead of hitting, when it stays relatively stationary it means you were quick enough on the retraction causing the energy to go through the target (doing damage) instead of just pushing him back. I’m curious as to how others feel about this but to me the stompkick is a risky technique: yes the top of the foot is a good target since it contains a lot of small bones which can be broken but if he happens to be wearing heavy footwear (boots) it’ll have no effect whatsoever and you’ll have wasted valuable time (not to mention the risk you took when you decided to lift your foot to kick). On light shoes it’ll work but since you won’t know beforehand and you don’t have time to check during the attack it can be a liability. A better alternative would be to target the knee and/or scrape his shinbone with the edge of your shoe before stomping down on his foot (very painful). Unless he’s a conditioned thai-boxer you’ll get his attention and no amount of conditioning can protect you against a hyper-extension of the knee.

After viewing sexy- girl’s videos again my beef with this would be unrealistic attacks (in the one about choke-defense the guy could have easily pushed her to the ground before she could break free since her balance was so terrible) and this is what makes or breaks the defense. I’m not saying you should try to really hurt your partner but you shouldn’t go lightly on them either. This is why it’s probably not such a great idea to use your boyfriend as an uke: he won’t want to hurt you for fear of having to sleep on the couch (lol). All in all I have no problem with sexy women teaching MA or self-defense as long as they know what they’re doing. In the dojo the correct outfit is a gi though and not a bikini or other kinds of clothing that leave little to the imagination (man, I really am shooting myself in the foot here), I very much doubt there’ll be any clubs or dojos that would tolerate or even promote such clothing on the mat, probably more appropriate for a tae-bo or another type of pseudo MA/fitness-class.

As to her appearance: she is indeed hot, thanks for the visual entertainment John (lol). I’ve got nothing against gorgeous women taking up MA (they’ll be the ones most likely to get raped after all), especially not when they show up at our dojo, but in training or fighting looks don’t matter. Man or woman, plain or beautiful: you’re there to learn and train as hard as you can and looking pretty or cute won’t make your attacker go away or protect you from harm. When I teach I do not really treat the women differently than the men although when I train with them I do have a tendency to be a little overprotective at times (I know I’m not doing them a favor so I try to refrain as much as possible). The only thing I emphasize for them is adjusting the technique to fit their body-type and ability: if a small woman can’t reach a man’s head to elbow I tell them to elbow the solar-plexus or floating-ribs, if they’re afraid to hurt their hands punching I tell them to use the palm of the hand. Luckily I do not have to adjust a lot since our style is designed to be effective for nearly everyone, without using a lot of power or relying on body-mass. At first I had my doubts but now I do think women can be great at MA but they need to be willing to work hard at it and steel their body and mind and this is something most women are either unable or unwilling to do. Women in general are used to be treated gently (as they should) and even if they play sports they tend to avoid body-to-body contact, thus it is more difficult for them to get comfortable doing MA-training, especially ju-jutsu since it does emphasize close contact with the opponent (especially on the ground). Punching is another problem for most girls/women but they do tend to be better at kicking (more flexibility) so there’s an upside too. Their lack of strength can actually become an asset (with time) since they’re forced to rely on technique instead of strength, this works especially well with locks which are all about technique and positioning.

I don’t have any great objections to the portrayal of women ‘martial artists’(well girls really)as in the videos above because I actually have faith that most men (though they may enjoy watching such videos) can see through them and do have respect for more serious female martial artists.