As a female that’s been in bjj for a number of years it’s been a very awakening experience. Experience and technique won’t always save you from a hyper aggressive white belt that has some combat sports base. With this consciousness comes the perspective to manage distance in threatening situations but also to react if you come into a situation where you have no chance.  But this is something that’s entirely evading the lady in the segment below.

 “One class is not enough time for you to develop the muscle memory to be able to even react in a way that’s going to help you get away,” Doyle says in her video. “Nobody in a gym or anything is going to really attack you in the way that somebody would if they had the intent to want to kill you.”

This may or may not be true. Things get heated at bjj and often times it’s an intense experience to roll with a man who, for instance, hasn’t been yet submitted by a woman. Some of them do go quite overboard now as to how overboard they go when they’re in the shape of their lives is another matter.

Still does this mean we should be telling women you have no chance? Or that it’s masculine just to try?

This is like telling people might as well give up now you’re helpless. So why even learn bjj if you’re, like Helio Gracie smaller in stature and of less strength…

If you just look at the ADCC that just concluded it’s proven that dedication, skill and details count at least in some measure – otherwise a young teen Nicky Ryan could never dream to compete in the adults division of the most prestigious competition there is.

As a podcast addict I’ve been listening to the amazing Dirty John series – one of the best podcasts of the year. In it a young small female was able to defend herself just because of being exposed to Walking Dead so who is to say that that one technique you covered that one day can’t save your life?

“Terra: And then I got out of my car. I got my dog out of my car and then I walked to the back license plate and John came up and grabbed me by the waist, put his arm around my waist, looked me in the eye, and he said, “Do you remember me?” I didn’t even respond that; I just tried to get away from him. He started grabbing me, trying to put his hand over my mouth, but I bit him. I was pushing him, trying to get away from him, he started to punch me, I thought, but it turns out he was stabbing me. One of my automatic reflexes was to put my arm up to protect my chest and I also had my purse with me, so he stabbed my purse a few times, I believe, and then he also got one in my arm that was one inch deep.

We were just kind of wrestling for seconds, but it seemed like forever; it seemed like minutes. I was just trying to run away from him, but he kept on grabbing me, kept on trying to stab me. We fell to the ground. My dog was also attacking his ankles and biting him, just going off on him. I fell onto the ground, I fell on my back, and he was on his knees with the knife just trying to stab me.”

Christopher: The rain boots Terra wore that day were her sturdy pair, with thick tread, and it’s possible that played a role in what happened next. She was on her back, using her feet and legs to protect yourself as he stabbed at her.

Terra: And I kept on pedal kicking him and trying to block the knife. And then, seconds later, just doing this, I knocked the knife out of his hand.

Christopher: The knife flew through the air. It landed on the pavement. It landed inches from her right hand. It landed with the handle pointed toward her.

Terra: I didn’t give it a second thought and I just started wailing on him and stabbing him because I know that, if I didn’t fight back and wound him, he would continue to try to hurt me and possibly kill me.

Terra’s life was saved by Walking Dead trivia, because due to the show she was exposed to details about how to handle a knife and where to aim.

Had this girl not reacted off of her back she would be dead right now. If even a cell of her being thought there’s no point in fighting back – she would be dead.

There’s always a point even in a single class of anything you attend. Because when it comes to it, and we all hope that it never will – any knowledge of the body and martial arts no matter how trivial can save your life.