Are martial arts self defense?

The question on everyones mind, are martial arts self-defense? It could honestly be a yes or no. For example, martial arts certainly contain some self defense moves, so they obviously have self defense applications. However, self defense isn’t the only aspect here. They also contain many more aspects that become more of a lifestyle rather than just simply learning some self defense. This is the reason why most self defense practitioners need to only train a few months to defend themselves while martial artists train for years at a time. Rather than learning the entire art, they learn only the most applicable self defense techniques that will keep them safe on the street.

But what about true martial-arts self-defense. Does that even exist? Certainly systems have tried to be martial arts self defense systems but do they actually work? Some of the more popular examples of these include Krav Maga and Systema. These arts seek to be almost entirely dedicated to teaching you self defense moves, with very little “fluff” involved. However, they still cling to martial arts techniques, and this is there shortcomings. With martial arts techniques, there is a very long learning curve not present in self defense systems. So these systems are not the best way to learn proper self defense techniques despite the fact that they can most certainly be used as martial arts self defense solutions. To learn to defend yourself, find a competent self defense instructor teaching a good system designed specifically for reality based self defense (RBSD).

RBSD is very beneficial in that you are able to learn and master everything you need to know to defend yourself in a short amount of time. You see, you can learn these self defense moves in a matter of weeks, not years and years of training. You won’t see any silly belts here. At least not in a good reality based self defense program. If you are looking for martial-arts self-defense make sure you try to look around and find a good RBSD school.