Great Self Defense Classes Phoenix | Is Jiu Jitsu for You?
A third-degree black belt, and owner of Strong Heart Academy, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, in Phoenix, Arizona, Mike Martin, discusses Self-Defense Classes Phoenix and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Is this martial arts training for you?
Watch the video below:
Transcript: Self Defense Classes Phoenix
Hi, I'm Mike Martin from Strongheart Brazilian jiu jitsu academy. Today I wanna talk about, self-defense in Phoenix or Phoenix self-defense, and is jiu jitsu right for self defense. And the answer is very easy. Absolutely. I kind of talked about this with women on a previous podcast is, jiu jitsu good for women for self defense? Absolutely. But men is no difference. Okay. So, I could say for myself, when I started Brazilian jujitsu, I weighed about 140 pounds and I was, six foot tall. So I'm very thin I did do jiu jitsu before, but I wasn't strong enough to overpower bigger people, you know?
I was very thin. And, right now, you know, I've done 20 years of Jiu Jitsu. I've put on 50 pounds of muscle, but over 20 years, and maybe 40 pounds, I might have a little bit of fat on me, but I'm pretty lean for my age.
Self-Defense: What Jiu Jitsu Teaches
And one of the things that I would say that jiu jitsu does is it teaches you to use leverage versus strength and not that strength isn't as important, but just physics, mass. Okay. If you just add mass four mass versus three mass and they go head to head, okay. Four mass beats, three mass. Okay. So angles are important. Leverage is important. Okay. Speed, timing, aggressiveness. Those are all important attributes that you're gonna learn in Jiu Jitsu. Learning, to deal with a generalization when you get really nervous, because there's an altercation happening. Okay.
So many people, even if they're trained in something, but don't train live sparring like jiu jitsu does, or at Strongheart jiu jitsu does, you'd never get adrenalized and you never learn how to deal with when it actually happens. So even if you know a correct move to do, you have to learn how to do it live when someone is not letting you do it. And I feel like that is one of the biggest differences between Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and so many other martial arts is the live sparring, our ability to get after it in a safe way, cuz we're all gonna be able to have the ability to say, tap or tap physically, and then having the trust in your partner to let go. Now, in a real altercation, obviously, you know, you don't know if the person's gonna let go, if you say tap or I give or whatever.
Okay. Most likely not. Okay until they've calmed down or they feel like you're not gonna be a threat anymore. So your ability to, preserve under pressure okay, is important. And your ability to stay calm and make correct decisions. Okay. Learning how to frame so that the weight isn't on top of you. Okay. And then the last part of all that I would say is, confidence. You know, so many people lack confidence. And as far as predator prey, when a predator, even in the wild is looking for a prey, it looks for something that it perceives as weak. Okay. Especially large cats, large cats don't want to be injured. They generally stalk and surprise attacks, something it's either an injured animal, a young animal, an old animal. Okay. So if they say, oh, they're not gonna go off after the biggest one, they're gonna go off of the weakest one.
Different Self Defense Scenarios
So as far as like self defense, I mean there's many different self defense scenarios. But if you, if, someone that is a bully or someone that is just starting to wants to start something, someone that's trying to take advantage of you, rob you, they're gonna look for a target that is weaker because they don't want to get caught. They don't want to get hit. They don't wanna get hurt either. And they're not gonna look for the toughest biggest guy. Okay.
Self Defense: Confidence and Calm
So your ability to be calm and be confident, just walking around in regular day life, I definitely believe it gives you a sense of confidence knowing that you feel that you could take care of yourself. And I feel like that radiates out almost like a beacon to other people to know, ah, that's not an easy prey. I'm not gonna mess with that one.
Even if you are a smaller person, it doesn't matter. I've often said, if you see, bouncers in security somewhere and you see a little guy, that's the scariest of all of them, the big guys are almost like window dressing. They might never have had a trained fight cuz nobody messes with the big guy. They literally don't. You could ask big guys, they don't get in fights because nobody wants to start a fight with them. So you know, the littler people they might get in more fights. Okay. And if they, if you have a job and you're smallest one, most likely they know that you can handle yourself. Okay.
Self Defense Comparison
The last part of that is if you do get cauliflower ear, that's almost, I always tell people it's like a tree frog, the arrow tree frog, you know, it's the most dangerous poison in the world that, Amazonians will dip, poison darts in, it's a brightest frog.
So all the other animals know, do not mess with this animal. The frog's like this big, it's not the size. It's the bright, they know you mess with this. You will die. Okay. I find that like sometimes a cauliflower ear for people to know is like a sign. Hey, that's not the one. That's not a good idea. I've seen a funny meme once that had a guy in a bar and it was like Dan Henderson, famous MMA fighter and wrestler. And he has his ear and the other guy's just like barking in front of his girl. And it was like, this guy has no idea. You know, that, that is a symbol of like, don't mess with this person. Now you might not ever get cauliflower ear doing Brazilian Jiu jitsu. You know, it's not most people, many people don't get it.
Cauliflower Ear: A Self Defense Symbol?
But I do understand that it is like almost like a, a beacon to say like warning, warning, warning, you know, less likely to mess with you. People. I forget, I have it. I'll step in an elevator sometimes and go, oh, did you wrestle? Do you fight? I'm like, oh yeah. And then I realize, oh, they're talking about my ear. You know, not, I have no outward symbol. I'm not talking about it. We I've never met this person, but it'll just come up sometimes.
Power of Knowledge and Self Defense
And again, people don't wanna mess with someone that knows something. And then the power of knowledge is if I know something and you don't, that's, that's so powerful. You know, most people that get in fights have never trained to fight. People that train to fight don't fight. And if you're a professional fighter, you surely don't fight because Hey, I get paid to fight.
Why would I pay, fight you for free? <laugh> you know, I'm a prize fighter. I don't, I don't, I don't mess around. I can get injured with you. I'm a professional. Like I don't wanna get injured for $0. Okay. So real fighters don't fight. They just don't. Unless they absolutely lose their mind with CTE or something like that, but jiu jitsu you don't get it because there's not hitting. You're not constantly getting punched, but you can learn to defend yourself for punches even on the ground. If a guy is standing, you can upkick. We just saw in a UFC fight last two weeks ago, a lady upkick into the kidneys and as kidney shot, the other one dropped to the ground. You could upkick to the face. If you're in the guard, you know, if you take someone's back, you could elbow in the back and there's no rules in the streets.
Striking and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Okay. Striking is easy to add to Brazilian jiu jitsu. Very easy. Once I control a position, you cannot defend yourself against strikes until you say I give. And then the last part is you don't have to strike it all. I could take a hold of someone, hold them down until the police come. Okay. They will not move. They're not gonna hit me. They're not gonna grab a weapon because I have control of their arms. Okay. S
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu a Great Self Defense?
So do I think it is a great self defense? Absolutely. If you're looking to get into self defense and you wanna learn, okay. We have a great program at strong heart strongheartacademy.com click on the trial button, try a class out. You have nothing to lose. It costs $0. The price of admission is, courage. Get in your car and to drive down. That's the hardest part.
The hardest part is to get here. And even people that train, you know, when you're tired, ah, I had a long day, the hardest part is getting in the car and getting there, not the workout. The hardest part is getting there. So I encourage you. If this is something you're looking to, do you feel like, man, I feel like I need to know a little bit something, more, something that boosts your confidence.
Professionals and Jiu Jitsu
Even I think people are professionals working professionals, training Jiu Jitsu feels like you have an extra confidence level. If I have to give a sales presentation. So much of it is your confidence in your persona. But if you have this thing, that's like one part of my life is kind of taken care of. So many parts of our lives are constantly in flux, but you're like, man, this part of my life, I'm, I'm confident I can defend myself and all my family and my friends. That's powerful, really powerful stuff. Every, UFC fighter, every MMA fighter knows at least some jiu jitsu. If they don't, they go to the ground, they will lose. Okay.
Self Defense: Most Fights Are on the Ground
The last part of this I would say is most fights go to the ground. Somebody sucker punches 'em they're on the ground. Somebody tackles someone they're on the ground, you trip over something in the street you're on the ground. So your ability to even learn how to fall correctly, say drop ball. So you don't hurt yourself on the way down. And your ability to stand back up is part of jiu jitsu. Okay.
Summary: Strong Heart Academy Self Defense Classes Phoenix
So, I appreciate your time. And if you wanna try out in you're in the Phoenix area and you wanna learn Phoenix, self defense, go to strongheartacademy.com, hit the trial button and try out a class for you. See if we're right for you, have a great day.