Women’s Self-Defense Classes in Houston can come from a variety of different sources, but self-defense is one of the most common reasons our students join martial arts! There’s so much more to our women’s self-defense classes than meets the eye, including lessons in danger awareness, confidence boosters, and hidden mental benefits that may surprise you.
Read on for some basic self-defense tips and to find out more about how our self-defense program is changing lives in Houston!
Women’s Self-Defense Classes – The Basics
Self-defense is kind of a loose term. Some people hear self-defense and think of guns or violence. Others will hear those words and think of legal justifications (“I did it out of self-defense!”). But at Meyerland Martial Arts, our definition of self-defense is using your words and actions to protect yourself and others from harm.
This is what makes martial arts self-defense training so different from any others. It’s not just about the punches and kicks that can protect you. It’s about stopping conflict dead in its tracks with your confidence and your assertiveness before things even have a chance to go sideways, and learning how to stay out of trouble in the first place.
It’s about building confidence and bravery in order to look someone in the eye and loudly say, “Get your hand off of me” or “I don’t know you, stop harassing me.” And ultimately, it’s about protecting yourself and your loved ones with as minimal damage as possible.
Self-Defense For Women
Martial arts is truly for everyone (we believe that every man, woman, and child should study it!), but we would be remiss not to dedicate some time to discussing the positive effects for women. They are unfortunately more likely to use self-defense in their lifetimes.
According to one 2013 study from the University of Oregon, when women took self-defense training they were three times less likely to be raped and two times less likely to receive unwanted sexual contact than those who did not take self-defense classes.
Let’s be crystal clear: if you’ve experienced sexual assault, it’s not your fault. But with the help of this study, we know that, for everyone, there are actions we can take to teach ourselves, our daughters, nieces, neighbors, and the women we care about how to use their voices to be heard and de-escalate conflict before it even begins. Girl power!
Self-Defense Tip #1 – Keys Between Your Fingers
Our first self-defense tip is to keep your car keys between your fingers. A common time of attack is when you’re walking to your car at night after work. Luckily, most people know to hold their keys between their fingers on the way to their car in case of an attack, but if someone actually came at you, where would you strike? The answer: go for the leg to wound your attacker enough to get the heck out of there.
How We Teach Self-Defense
So if you’re interested in self-defense classes, it’s helpful to know how we teach it. Unlike other self-defense training, the physical act of self-defense is just one piece of our martial arts classes in Houston.
Every class is based on different moves and activities that our students learn each week. Consistent practice is what makes the moves into muscle memory so that you don’t have to think twice in a panicky situation.
Some of the self-defense techniques that we work on in our martial arts school are kick techniques, punch techniques, and striking techniques. We teach a range of up-close and from-a-distance moves that help with any self-defense situation. So there’s the physical aspect (that’ll get you into great shape, by the way), and then there’s the mental aspect.
We also teach the “soft skills” that are needed for success in any facet of your life, including perseverance, discipline, and confidence through positive reinforcement. We push our students to be the best versions of themselves that they can possibly be every single week. Again, these benefits extend into work, relationships, and hobbies… everything improves with martial arts classes, not just your knowledge of self-defense!
Self-Defense Tip #2 – Don’t Park in The Dark
Common sense would tell you not to park your car in a dark area, but we’ve all got squirrels running around in our heads (read: we’re a bit scatterbrained). Often we’re just not thinking when we’re running post-work errands or pulling into the parking ramp first thing in the morning. So this is your reminder — stay diligent. Park where it’s well-lit and stay sharp when you’re walking to your car (see tip #1).
Don’t Just Learn It, Use It: Staying Calm With Self-Defense
Self-defense is important to protect yourself from danger, obviously. It’s really important that you know how to keep calm in an emergency situation so that you can actually use the self-defense skills you’ve worked so hard to learn.
If you’re reading this article, maybe you’ve watched a YouTube video or two on self-defense. But without regular practice (or a professional to show you the way), that information is going to slip away. Plus (and this is really huge), without practice it’s highly likely that you’ll panic and lose your common sense. If you’re walking down the street or just in the wrong place at the wrong time, can you effectively use self-defense without proper practice? If you haven’t been trained by professionals who have dedicated their lives to helping make the world a safer place, the answer is probably no.
Mastering the moves every week until they’re muscle memory gives our martial arts students a huge advantage over any other sport (not to mention powerful self-discipline). After years of martial arts classes, our students learn to recognize and avoid “bad” situations, and in effect protect themselves and their loved ones from dangerous situations in the first place.
Long story short, knowing martial arts will give you a huge advantage in protecting yourself. But knowing how to use your martial arts training to keep calm in high-stress situations, which is what we teach every single class? That’s absolutely priceless.
Self-Defense Tip #3 – Broom Handle
Think about it, what better weapon could you have than a weapon that doesn’t even look like a weapon at all? Using a broom handle like a staff or breaking it into two, like kali sticks, can be hugely advantageous in a pinch. Our advice, keep a broom near your door or under your bed, just in case.
Confidence Is Your Secret Weapon
One of the coolest things about martial arts is that while you’re crushing it in your workouts and building up physical strength, your mental strength is skyrocketing. Our classes are as much about cultivating perseverance, self-discipline, and unbreakable confidence as they are about mastering punches and kicks.
Through positive reinforcement and a “one step better each day” attitude, we push our students to be the absolute best they can be. We do this not only because it makes them better athletes, but because we want them to see in themselves all of the amazing things we already see. In this way, our students can speak up and stand up for themselves when they need to the most.
That confidence carries over into other areas of your life, by the way. You’re walking down the street and you know you can handle whatever situation comes your way. That’s an incredible feeling, and it just feeds the fire of self-respect and excitement over how truly awesome you are, and you understand that you deserve nothing less than the best in your life.
You may start to stick up for yourself in other ways, like asking for that raise you’ve been waiting to ask for, or eating salads over doughnuts. That’s what martial arts can do for you, draw out the best version of you. And that best version is a badass equipped with the knowledge and physical capabilities to defend themselves in any situation through self-defense!
Self-Defense Tip #4 – Self-Defense Classes
So these tips are great and all, and you can probably find a ton more online, but what’s not online is an in-person instructor to help you learn the psychological aspects of self-defense that complement the physical. Adrenaline will kick in in a high-stress situation and if you’ve never been trained on how to use self-defense, you may panic and not know what to do. Women’s self-defense classes with Meyerland Martial Arts are the number one way for you to learn how to protect yourself and the people you love.
Women’s self-defense classes in Houston can help you build the physical strength required to protect yourself as much as they can help build mental strength, stamina, and confidence you never knew you had. See for yourself how Meyerland Martial Arts self-defense classes can change your life the way it’s changed all of our students’ lives … our risk-free trial is the way to go! You’ll love it! $10 Trial Offer!