Chris Crudelli lists more than 50 self-defense systems in his book "The Way of the Warrior, Martial Arts and Fighting Systems from Around the World." The list ends with "see also aikido, judo, jujutsu, tae kwon do and taijiquan." The implication of the addendum is that many martial arts can serve as effective self-defense fighting systems, when the restrictions imposed on them for training purposes or sport competitions, are removed. Other martial arts, such as many of those in Crudelli's list of 50, concentrate solely on techniques designed to be effective against a variety of physical threats.
American World War II Heritage
Some self-defense arts such as Defendu, Defendo and American Combat Judo date back to the training U.S. combat troops received during World War II. American Combat Judo, for example, was founded in 1944 and uses simplified, highly aggressive judo moves combined with strikes. Defendo began as a type of close quarter combat system that was changed after the war to make it more acceptable as a self-defense system because of the removal of its killing techniques.
Post World War II American Systems
Model Mugging was founded by Matt Thomas in 1971 with the purpose of freeing women from the misconception that they are vulnerable by teaching them a variety of self-defense techniques. It stresses the essential mental transition required to convert from a non-fighting outlook to an aggressive attack mode when necessary. Frank Monsalve created Hurricane Combat Art from many other martial arts, including penchat, silat, muay Thai, jeet kun do, and Russian Systema. It stresses fast, furious and damaging responses to attacks.
Russian Self-Defense Styles
Russia has given rise to many effective self-defense systems including Russian All-Round Fighting, R.O.S.S., Systema and Combat Sambo, all reportedly at some time taught to, and used by, Russian Special Forces. These martial arts include techniques for armed and unarmed combat. The Russians have a long history of hand-to-hand combat experience and their self-defense systems reflect this.
Many More Styles From Around World
The Israelis have a very well-known system of self-defense called Krav Maga. Developed by Imi Sde-Or in the 1930s, it is a hand-to-hand fighting system used by the Israeli Defense Forces and a popular civilian self-defense system taught in the U.S., Australia and Europe. Kapap is another Israeli self-defense system developed around the same time. Pencak-Silat is a style of self-defense fighting taught in more than 800 schools in Indonesia. The schools differ in the emphasis they place on particular techniques but unarmed training is usually followed by weapons training. Scores of other self-defense systems have been developed in Europe, Asia and South America.
References
- "The Way of the Warrior, Martial Arts and Fighting Systems from Around the World"; Chris Crudelli; 2008.
- USADojo.com: About Sambo, Soviet System of Sport and Combat
- Martial Arts Database: Systema
- "Krav Maga, How to Defend Yourself Against Armed Attack"; Imi Sde-Or and Eyal Yanilov; 2001
- Martial Arts Database: Defendu
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