From Karate to Krav Maga, every guy seems to want to learn self defense. As men, we watch the Ultimate Fighting Championship and action movie characters like Jason Bourne showing off with all sorts of fist-fighting. As we compare fact from fiction, how can we tell what really works for self defense? After years in the gym pursuing multiple martial arts and even firearms training, I have found the answer. I truly believe that boxing is the most superior self defense system to learn. Before you call me full of shit, first read my list of 10 reasons why.
1. You can’t always carry a gun or weapon everywhere with you
Firearms are the great equalizer when it comes to self defense, but they’re not always a possibility. Reason number one is quite simple: a lot of places won’t even legally allow you to carry a firearm. I’m a big proponent of the 2nd Amendment and the right to carry for self-defense, but the truth is that legally you are not allowed to carry to certain areas. Some of these places have fights breaking out all the time, like bars, and will not allow you to carry a firearm. This means you better learn self defense without a weapon.
Another point to make is travel. It’s important to think about times when you’re traveling to states that don’t allow you to carry or even on trips overseas. Unless you’re a international spy who has the luxury of bringing a weapon wherever they go, the rest of us are shit out of luck. If you can’t bring your firearms with you, you had better bring your ability to fight.
Learn Self Defense to Hold your Own, Wherever you Go
This further reinforces my point that as a man you need to be able to hold your own. In order to do that you need to make sure you’re trained in some way. I chose boxing and I urge you to do the same. Let’s face it, neither you nor I are Jason Borne. Let’s drop the bullshit that we will be able to take on ten dudes all at once. However, you should still be able to defend yourself realistically and that’s where boxing comes in.
Learning to box will make you feel more comfortable in most case things when things start popping off. You may not ever have to fight ten dudes at once, but you might have to fight off some drunk guy at some point in your life. Now I’m not saying you should be involved in any bar fights, hell no. What I am saying is at least you will be more prepared if you’re trained in boxing. Since fists flying at you will be the most likely scenario at a bar, training boxing will be your best bet to handle yourself.
2. You’re not going to be throwing many kicks
This brings me to my next point: no one is likely to start kicking you in a real fight. Kickboxing is an excellent combat art, one of the best and most brutal to train in, and it absolutely has my respect. However, the truth is that when it comes to self defense situations, you’re not going to kick someone in the head or even the leg. The main reason is there are too many variables involved when trying to kick someone.
You’re probably wearing pants, you’re probably not warmed up, and you definitely DON’T want to risk slipping or falling. Anyone who has trained in kickboxing knows how much more difficult it is to kick a person versus just punching them. Fighting is way more basic than people make it out to be. The basics are usually much more effective when it comes to performing things under pressure.
For most people, a punch is going to be much easier to throw in place than a kick. You’re not going to be Bruce Lee or Jason Borne fighting your way out of situations by kicking. Usually in a fight, there will be one or two strikes thrown and you will need to act quickly. In reality I can’t see you, me, or most anyone else throwing a kick. If you want to be the guy who has the “element of surprise”, then be my guest. By the time you get good at kicking you’ll just realize punching would have been more effective.
3. Most people will try to punch you
I’ve probably already mentioned this but it needs to be reinforced. Most people will try to punch you when you’re going to need to defend yourself. The fact is punching is the most natural form of attack for humans. If someone is going to attack you then punching is most likely going to be their choice. Most self-defense situations start with a shove or an immediate punch being thrown. As a result, if you’re wanting to learn self defense, boxing’s going to be the most natural option.
By practicing boxing, you are training your ability to recognize punch patterns. The whole point of the martial art of boxing is to get good at performing and recognizing these patterns. This instills the ability to react by hitting back first, defending yourself, or avoiding the attack completely.
Training in boxing also helps build your awareness to see the early warning signs of an attack. Over time, you’ll learn how to read the body language of someone about to punch you to avoid being hit. Most people get into some sort of fight stance or they cock their dominant hand back before they attack. As a boxer, you get used to seeing this from training. Defending yourself becomes second-nature. Boxing also helps you understand the distance/range of attack, so when punches start flying at you, you’ll be able to know the correct striking zone you should or shouldn’t be in.
4. You’re not going to be rolling around on a soft mat doing BJJ
I frequently argue that boxing is the best way to learn self defense and oftentimes I get a lot of wrestlers or BJJ guys that try to counter-argue me. “Most fights end on the ground” is a very common phrase that gets thrown around in self-defense circles. Yes this is true, fights can and do end up on the ground in a lot of instances. What you shouldn’t forget though is that ALL fights start standing up.
The most important thing is to be able to read, avoid, or act while on your feet. I’m a big proponent of training in other martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), but the truth is you just don’t want to be rolling around on the ground when you’re in a fight. If I have to actually defend myself in a life or death situation, the ground becomes especially dangerous.
The hard surface of concrete is not the soft, forgiving training mat of the gym. It only takes one hard slam to the ground and you lose all consciousness. Who knows what happens to your body and your life after that happens. Concussions, broken bones, and worse can all start to take place once you hit the ground.
It’s also important to note that once you hit the ground and get your guard, the fight doesn’t stop there. Who knows what types of weapons your assailant has on him or what type of backup he has standing nearby? While you’re rolling around on the ground, his buddies could easily be running up to help. You had one guy to deal with and now you have more trying to soccer-kick your head off. This is why it’s important to learn how to strike on your feet and get out. Strike first, make it count, and then run out of there to avoid the ground at all costs.
5. Boxing Increases Mental Toughness
The mental toughness that you develop from your training in boxing is a huge benefit in self defense situations. Training teaches you self-confidence, develops your ability to handle stress, and shows you the realities of fighting. After you learn what your capabilities are, you’ll want to avoid getting into physical fights all together. As you learn self defense through boxing, you’ll realize that there’s fighting for sport, and then there is self defense for survival which is much more severe. Training helps connect the realities of fighting for most people to see the differences.
By training in boxing you’ll exercise a lot of humility, especially as a beginner. You learn just how difficult fighting really is and why you should avoid it if you can. That being said, there is also another aspect of training to take away. Once you’ve been hit hard and find that you can take it, you’ll learn a lot about yourself. That means if shit hits the fan, you know that even if you get hit you will keep on going.
Confidence Gives You an Edge
The more you train, the more confident you become in your abilities. Over time, you start to walk around less scared than the average person. Training in boxing is VERY stressful at times, and nerves are all part and parcel of training. Your nerves are running all over the place when you’re about to spar someone and definitely when you’re going into competition. The more you train, the more you learn to cope with these awful feelings. This gives you a huge edge if a fight breaks out, as opposed to someone who has never trained.
6. Body Language
Strong body language is often an overlooked positive effect of training in boxing. Most boxers walk differently after they have trained for a bit of time. A lot of this could be from the mental aspect as mentioned above, but there is more to it.
Through training you’re working out hard and it doesn’t take long to see the positive changes in your body. You get into really good shape quite quickly and you start stand a little taller than you might have before. You might not even notice immediately but you will dramatically change your body language in the process.
Most experts agree that 70% to 93% of all communication is nonverbal communication. Bullies are always looking for an easy win, so they typically prey on weak looking people. Maintaining strong body language is a is a huge deterrent to avoiding bad situations. This can come from little things standing taller, looking people in the eye, and even remaining calm in social environments.
Instead of just looking like you can fight, training in boxing means you can walk the walk. Through gaining the ability to fight, you give off an aura that people can pick up on. This aura usually translates through your body language and most of the time, it is unbeknownst to you.
7. Hidden Super Power
Knowing how to box is like having a hidden super power. When it comes to knowing how to box, it’s like you bring pocket aces with you to a game of Texas Hold ‘Em. The biggest difference is that instead of bringing your cards out every once in a while, you carry them with you daily. Once you’ve honed in your skill set, you basically now have a hidden superpower most others don’t possess.
Unlike walking around like a body-builder, strangers don’t know you can fight. You’re not announcing it to the world via your large muscles, so no one knows who they’re really dealing with. I’ve seen boxers in the gym that have the physique of twigs, but they can still beat the crap out of 90% of the population. Having the “sleeper skill” of boxing is one not a lot of people will know you have. This means that in a self-defense situation, the attacker might not see it coming either. This provides huge element of surprise for most attackers, since they’re usually bullies trying to pick on the weak. Much like in some movies, if you decide on boxing when you want to learn self defense, they’ll happen to pick a fight with the wrong guy.
8. Body Building Won’t Save you
Speaking of body building, it’s a great tool to develop strong body language but honestly little else. This means it’s great to use as deterrent until it’s time to actually fight. Yes, I repeat, body building will not save you when it comes time to fight. If anything, body building might attract more negative attention than good.
There are lots of people out there that want to start fights with you simply by the way you look. Some people want to challenge the biggest guy in the room or the guy that looks like he can fight. I’ve seen it time and time again at bars. Girls think their boyfriends can fight, and the guys who defend them while get involved in fights they shouldn’t have. Body building is great for attracting the opposite sex but some people take it as a threat. Body building is for aesthetics but when it comes to actual functional ability for a fighting it does very little. No one gives two shits about how much you can bench if you’re knocked out cold. My recommendation is to drop the barbells and pick up the boxing gloves instead.
9. Boxing Comes with a Community
The boxing community is a huge part of the journey that one gains when they pursue acquiring this skill. The truth is, in order to learn boxing you need to have good coaches and training partners. As you join a boxing gym, you also join a community of like-minded people on similar paths. The more you train together over time the closer you become as you bond through hard training.
There is something about the sharing of blood, sweat, and tears that typically brings people together. I know this was definitely the case for me when it came to finding friends for life. Most of the strongest relationships I ever had were built in my boxing gym. These relationships become your community and the people you enjoy spending the most time with, even outside of the gym. As you spend time together, you don’t even need to worry so much about individual self defense because the community of people has your back. The unlucky guy that picks on you has to deal with ALL your training partners too. Good thing your friends are the dangerous ones.
10. Boxing is REAL
Boxing is the real deal, unlike many martial arts out in the world today. I know far too many people that spent decades training in other martial arts only find out they didn’t actually work when put to the test. The worst part was that this realization usually occurred when they needed an effective method of self defense.
These people felt conned in the end, after spending years practicing and hundreds of dollars. They walked around with a false sense of confidence with their in self defense until reality came crashing down. That never happened to those I know that practiced boxing. People in the boxing gym knew what worked and what didn’t. This eliminated all the bullshit that comes with living in delusion that a lot of other martial arts perpetuate. If the creation of the UFC has taught us anything currently is that certain martial arts just don’t work. On the plus side boxing has surfaced as one of the most legitimate martial arts out there. It’s not always thrilling spinning back kicks but it was an emphasis on strong basics that emerged.
Boxing is the Superior Way to Learn Self Defense
Boxing is one of the toughest skills to get good at but it is also one of the most rewarding. There is no playing or pretending to box. You either can fight or you cant, and the weak don’t survive. This is why when it comes down to the reality of combat effectiveness, many other martial arts have proven to be lacking.
A lot of other martial arts attempt to incorporate punches, but they’re usually just poor imitations of boxing. Boxing has time and time again come out as the superior way to defend yourself. This is so true that other martial arts use elements of boxing to make them seem even a little legitimate. Boxing alone provides the most effective ways to actually punch, hence the nickname “the Sweet Science”.
There is nothing out there superior to boxing for learning real self defense. I hope this article has shown you a few new perspectives on boxing for real self defense. I don’t like to bullshit and urge you to avoid fighting at all costs. If you can’t avoid confrontation, I hope you at least train in boxing.
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