What my boyfriend has taught me on self defense — I want other opinions on these

Part 1 - “Cheap civilian pepper spray isn’t effective, and may not be able to be accessed in an emergency”

I used to work a somewhat hazardous job. I carried pepper spray as a self defense. My boyfriend, a security guard, saw that I was carrying this Walmart brand pink pepper spray and how I was doing it and nearly had a cow.

He set up a drill where, after much convincing, he told me that I could actually spray him. He was 30 feet away, and I clipped my pepper spray to my belt as normal. 30 ft is twice to three times the 10-15 foot range of the spray.

He identified himself as a “threat” and charged me and I scrambled to get the spray out. I couldn’t. He pinned me to the wall.

Then, he let me spray him. He managed, after being sprayed, to pin me to a wall, get my watch off, take and unlock my phone, empty my pockets against my full resistance, and throw me in the pool to proceed inside and wash off with milk.

Needless to say I no longer carry pepper spray.

Part 2- “If you won’t take a reputable self defense class, at least get this ‘basic’ stuff down”

He’s wanted me to take a self defense class, but I won’t. I’m agoraphobic due to a traumatic experience at work, and I won’t willingly put myself around a large group people who are trained to kick ass.

He does his martial arts stuff in the spare garage, and he has invited me into his space (lols). What he has been teaching is basic boxing strikes, head movement, combinations, elements from traditional martial arts (hammer fist, palm heel), and knees from the clinch.

Part 3- Aggression & force vs technique

He says that technique is important, but in a real self defense encounter the technique should be trained in to be reflex and you should be thinking about aggression & force (however much you need and applying it).

He likes to put me in self defense drills for prolonged striking and stamina stuff. Like, his favorite is calling off boxing and striking combinations on the bag until I get tired with one arm, and then when I get tired taking a break and switching arms.

He says the goal is to fight to get out of the situation, and then run away, and if needed fight to keep the person from chasing you.

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I guess what I’m asking is, does everything presented here make sense to others? I want a second opinion. Is pepper spray really not that effective, can you stay safe by only drilling on a short list of techniques, and is training for prolonged aggression & stamina really better than training for one shot-one down?

Submitted July 16, 2018 at 12:56AM by Yj006 https://ift.tt/2NUzlTF