glock 17, civilian body armor, and live in a place where everybody within a 2 mile radius got ur back.

"Hip-hop was set out in the dark. They used to do it out in the park"

I'm not sure that learning to fight by brawling with friends (my friends and I never playfought. We fought until somebody was unable to breath, dammit) counts as "Self-taught," but that was the closest option. I intend to take some classes, though, because it's been a while since I fought with friends like that; my limbs are now long and ungainly and I am not confident that I can use them to full effect.

After all, with all the trash I talk, I should be able to protect myself. I'm not afraid of going into fights, but it's better when I know what I'm doing.

I am the God of Freedom. I am not revered, I have no shrines; and you have never before heard of me nor will you ever hear of me again.

Gang fights/street fights in high school with basic knowledge of boxing so not sure whether to put in self taught or trained

I used to learn teakwando when I was 8 years old.
Now, I want to try silat..

[img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h46/lh_4ever/n79231101368_2219924_5452403.jpg[/img]
Slow internet is DEADLY

[img]http://img.userbars.pl/69/13603.gif[/img]

i took some classes, first wing chung, then Taekwando, then Wado-Ryuu Karate, plus street fighting when i was stupid high school delinquent.

Also self-taught informal self-defence theories from books, family and friends with practice spars.

While i picked the first choice, i have to admit i don't consider myself that, because it's been one & half year since i went to a class.

Without constant practice, you might as well consider yourself a one shot, because i think in a situation that you are required to act, without regular practice the first strike is the only effective one.

Even shadow sparring or routine kata helps, as it refresh your memories and your muscle memories.

personally i agree with the previous poster, if you are starting from the ground up, relying on just self-taught theories, it will only help your self-defence from the first strike.

without muscle memory training it's no good.

even personal training helps, or at leased have someone to spar with can make all the difference.

If you you are self taught and you are serious about self defence in unarmed situation then i will urge you to find a friend to help you.

they don't have to learn with you or does it have to be with body injuring spars, even simply slow movements with real body contact can make all the difference.

Concentrate on move that can slow or disable an an opponent with your first strike, if you can get this one move right, this will give you enough time in a real life threatening situation to RUN AWAY.

After all, the goal of self defence is for you to survive, not fight until you die courageously or something stupid like you see the the movies. 🙂

being a girl in a class where the majority is male, hanging out with my older male friends as a female, attaching myself to male playmates, all comes down to "i have to be the strongest (or at least #2) if i dont want to be kicked out!!". add to that the fact i was bullied, and you get an 11 year old fighting machine.
on my first fight i ripped the guy's sweather. on my 2nd fight i KOed my opponent 4 times. once you find out your strong points, fighting is easy. and if you have a loud voice and a scary glare, ur tagged as scary, even if u only participated in one highschool fight (a succes!).

the best security guard, EVER.

Yeah, From manga/internet/book/other

That actually made me giggle.

I did. Taekwando when I was like...ten.

I'm rather a pacifist, I took fencing for little bit a while back and found out I have an aversion to hitting people. I always pulled my blows before they hit.
Thats about the extent of it. I think one of my guy friends in middle school showed me how to punch without breaking a thumb. I've just never felt the need to persue any self-defense training.

"Tu es responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as approvoise." Le Renard en "The Little Prince" Antoine de St. Exupery.

Quote from Splintered

Yeah, From manga/internet/book/other

That actually made me giggle.

I did. Taekwando when I was like...ten.

it could happen...I mean they do it in manga

Number of things..

Blue Belt in Karate
Took boxing for a month. (Yes, only a month. It was something sponsored by my school.)
Self-taught knife skills.
Some random skills I taught myself based on books. Those were difficult to learn, seeing as I didn't know exactly how to go about learning them, but I manged.
and some other things, but they are too small to mention, not to mention I can't remember them at the moment.

and I've been wanting to take fencing, but I haven't gotten around to it. -Is a big fan of swords-

Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?

karate & those kinda things are all fake....

what you need is muscle and quick reflexes lol -- hitting doesn't really do that much...

grappling though... another story lul 😉

95% of teens would cry if they saw the Jonas Brothers at the top of a skyscraper about to jump. Put this as your sig if you are in the 5% that would get some popcorn, get a nice seat, than start chanting "JUMP, JUMP, JUMP"

I taught myself boxing for a while

I'm a black belt in Karate but I quit when I couldn't go any higher until I turned 18. I am going to start boxing soon and I fence. Oh and I also carry around a box cutter.

“You people don't understand. I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me!“
-Rorschach, Watchmen (2009)
“Did you see that unicorn? Its horn was so shiny...”
-Neil Patrick Harris, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)

Quote from power1x1

karate & those kinda things are all fake....

what you need is muscle and quick reflexes lol -- hitting doesn't really do that much...

grappling though... another story lul 😉

Would you let a professional boxer hit you? Hitting doesn't do that much anyway....

I'm sorry, but I have to say your theory is pure BS!!!

[img]http://www.freewebs.com/majormarmot/hypnosis%2Dss.gif[/img]
THIS POST DOES NOT EXIST......IT'S ALL IN YOUR IMAGINATION

Quote from MajorMarmot

Quote from power1x1

karate & those kinda things are all fake....

what you need is muscle and quick reflexes lol -- hitting doesn't really do that much...

grappling though... another story lul 😉

Would you let a professional boxer hit you? Hitting doesn't do that much anyway....

I'm sorry, but I have to say your theory is pure BS!!!

hahaha...If anyone watched National Geographic...Study showed that a boxer has a punch of almost a thousand pounds of force...force equal to that of a sledgehammer to the face which would result in vibrations that bounce the brain back and forth inside the skull ending in a knockout...