I posted this in response to a question by a small woman asking how to get better able to protect themselves and I was asked to create a separate post with this answer. ———-
Probably the most useful skill set to start with is how to notice problems early and avoid getting into situations. It does not always work but it is the best first answer.
The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker is a very useful book to help with this.
Jeff Cooper’s Principles of Personal Defense is short and has many useful insights. His perspective is very male and he is a strong proponent of being armed, kind of the opposite of de Becker in that way, but Cooper’s perspective is quite useful.
As for physical skills:
You have less size and, unless you are very fit, significantly less upper body strength than most of the aggressors you are likely to face, so you either need a weapon or a significant skill advantage if it gets physical.
The fastest effective thing you can learn for physical self defense is to use pepper spray.
There are some methods you can learn in a good self defense class which can surprise and hurt an opponent quickly and give you a chance to try to escape, but they depend on surprise and some luck.
Beyond that you are left with putting in effort to learn skills which take time to acquire enough proficiency. These skills can be with or without weapons.
Judo is easy to find most places because it is an Olympic sport and is generally well taught and inexpensive. Almost no one is teaching Judo to make money. It is often taught in universities which might allow the public to train there, recreational centers, etc. You may need to put in some effort to find what is available in your area.
Judo will teach you how to deal with someone bigger trying to use force against you. You will learn to fall safely. If you can use a throw in class against a person who has trained to resist with skill, it will be much easier to do against a person without skill.
If you throw a person in real life (not on a mat) and they don’t know how to fall safely, this will probably damage them more than any punch or kick you are likely to deliver in a fight. A strong person with weight behind it can throw a hard punch if they do it right, but it takes a good measure of skill, strength and timing to hit harder than a fall. :)
BJJ is good after you are already on the ground, but being on the ground with someone who is likely to weigh more and have more strength and aggression is not good. It is a good skill to have if you are already there, but skills which can be used while standing and that let you run away are much better than being stuck on the ground.
Boxing and kickboxing or Muay Thai are all good ways to learn striking and how to move. Learning elbow and knee strikes are especially helpful because they are effective and do less damage to you and they can be used even at very close range.
Punches are very good for range and hitting hard, but without gloves there is serious risk of hurting your hands when hitting the head or other places where bones are hard (like if they block with elbows or shoulders) and being effective with fists against targets below the neck is challenging with opponents who are bigger than you are.
Submitted January 26, 2026 at 07:11AM by storyinpictures https://ift.tt/HCPTIhO
