Self Defense - Steps to Survival - Katy Mattingly

Self Defense - Steps to Survival

by Katy Mattingly

NEW, 166 pages

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About Self Defense - Steps to Survival

Hone your senses, increase awareness, and learn the techniques that could save your life.Self-Defense: Steps to Survival will teach you to identify danger, avoid assault, and defend yourself and others against attackers in a variety of situations.

Based on the proven strategies and techniques taught on campuses and in metropolitan areas worldwide, Self-Defense: Steps to Survival is both practical and immediately applicable for men, women, and teens regardless of previous experience. You’ll learn these skills:

• Assess your surroundings, notice warning signs, and remove yourself from potential harm.
  
• Use the power of your own voice to thwart an attack. 
  
• Recognize warning signs of violence in an intimate relationship.
  
• Resist and escape physical and sexual violence by strangers and acquaintances.
  
• Free yourself from an assailant’s grasp.
  
• Develop an arsenal of strikes, kicks, and defense techniques for countering physical attacks. 
  
• Defend yourself against weapon attacks and multiple attackers.
  

About Katy Mattingly

Katy Mattingly was the director and lead instructor at Washtenaw Area Model Mugging (WAMM) Self-Defense in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from 1996-2005. She was trained in the IMPACT system of self-defense, which emphasizes physical and emotional realism, full-force practice against padded instructors, and individualized instruction. Mattingly has been teaching realistic and effective self-defense and personal safety for more than 15 years in a variety of venues, including corporations, universities, youth and community centers, and domestic violence shelters. She also is a freelance writer.

About Martial Arts

Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development.

The term martial art has become heavily associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia, but was originally used in regard to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. An English fencing manual of 1639 used the term in reference specifically to the "Science and Art" of swordplay. The term is ultimately derived from Latin, martial arts being the "Arts of Mars," the Roman god of war.

Some martial arts are considered 'traditional' and tied to an ethnic, cultural or religious background, while others are modern systems developed either by a founder or an association.

Testing or evaluation is important to martial art practitioners of many disciplines who wish to determine their progression or own level of skill in specific contexts. Students within individual martial art systems often undergo periodic testing and grading by their own teacher in order to advance to a higher level of recognized achievement, such as a different belt color or title. The type of testing used varies from system to system but may include forms or sparring.

Various forms and sparring are commonly used in martial art exhibitions and tournaments. Some competitions pit practitioners of different disciplines against each other using a common set of rules, these are referred to as mixed martial arts competitions. Rules for sparring vary between art and organization but can generally be divided into light-contact, medium-contact, and full-contact variants, reflecting the amount of force that should be used on an opponent.

Light- and medium-contact

These types of sparring restrict the amount of force that may be used to hit an opponent, in the case of light sparring this is usual to 'touch' contact, e.g. a punch should be 'pulled' as soon as or before contact is made. In medium-contact (sometimes referred to as semi-contact) the punch would not be 'pulled' but not hit with full force. As the amount of force used is restricted, the aim of these types of sparring is not to knock out an opponent; a point system is used in competitions.

A referee acts to monitor for fouls and to control the match, while judges mark down scores, as in boxing. Particular targets may be prohibited , certain techniques may be forbidden (such as headbutting or groin hits), and fighters may be required to wear protective equipment on their head, hands, chest, groin, shins or feet. In grappling arts aikido uses a similar method of compliant training that is equivalent to light or medium contact.

In some styles (such as fencing and some styles of Taekwondo sparring), competitors score points based on the landing of a single technique or strike as judged by the referee, whereupon the referee will briefly stop the match, award a point, then restart the match. Alternatively, sparring may continue with the point noted by the judges. Some critics of point sparring feel that this method of training teaches habits that result in lower combat effectiveness. Lighter-contact sparring may be used exclusively, for children or in other situations when heavy contact would be inappropriate (such as beginners), medium-contact sparring is often used as training for full contact

Full-contact

Full-contact sparring or competition, where strikes are not pulled but thrown with full force as the name implies, has a number of tactical differences from light and medium-contact sparring. It is considered by some to be requisite in learning realistic unarmed combat.

In full-contact sparring, the aim of a competitive match is either to knock out the opponent or to force the opponent to submit. Where scoring takes place it may be a subsidiary measure, only used if no clear winner has been established by other means; in some competitions, such as the UFC 1, there was no scoring, though most now use some form of judging as a backup. Due to these factors, full-contact matches tend to be more aggressive in character, but rule sets may still mandate the use of protective equipment, or limit the techniques allowed.

Nearly all mixed martial arts organizations such as UFC, Pancrase, Shooto use a form of full-contact rules, as do professional boxing organizations and K-1. Kyokushin karate requires advanced practitioners to engage in bare-knuckled, full-contact sparring while wearing only a karate gi and groin protector but does not allow punches to the face, only kicks and knees. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and judo matches do not allow striking, but are full-contact in the sense that full force is applied in the permitted grappling and submission techniques.

Self Defense - Steps to Survival