James,
I thought you might be interested in a surprising development up my way. In the past I have been asked several times to trai women, usually friends of acquaintances, girlfriends, etc which I do not have a problem doing. Except for one rule: I will not train men and women together in the same group unless it is a private husband wife session. The reasons should be obvious in my opinion. Men and women are completely different and dont interact well in training environments. Usually this requirement sends the would be female trainees off in a huff exclaiming my sexist and bigoted ways.
Not this time however. Mutual friends of my wife and I asked if we would host a session for her and a few of her friends who wanted to learn some self defense techniques to better manage this world. I gave them my requirements and to my surprise they excepted without hesitation. Fast forward and training day arrived. Here in my garage were 4 young 20 something athletic girls ready and eager to train(which made me realize instantly why so many men get into personal training and why so many of them get themselves in trouble!)
Here is the format I used for my introductory session that may be helpful to aspiring trainers or people who want to train their wives, girlfriends, sisters, mothers, etc.
1. Situational awareness (discussions on common pitfalls and threat awareness)
2. Personal awareness (knowing physical limitations and how to overcome them)
3. The Great Equalizer ( a primer on firearms with strong encouragement to purchase, train, and carry one)
4. The Spear Drill
One thing I learned and maybe you already knew this but these women, all of them, showed better lateral footwork and instinctual good eye rakes then any of the guys I have trained and way better then when I first started.
Maybe that's how we breed women in the country above Yo Adrians Wall, beautiful, fit, fast, and great with eye pokes! Either way we had a great session and will be doing more in the future. Thanks again.
-Sean
Yes, every time I journey beyond the Wall I am reminded just how ugly chicks in Baltimore are.
My experience with training women is that they have better lateral movement and weaker lineal movement. I think it's the hips. The wider hips don't seem to help put anything extra into hooks on a power pivot, but do help the weak pivot getting off line, and probably synced well with the spear drill.
Thanks for this information, Sean, I'm sure the guys with wives will appreciate it.
Being a Bad Man in a Worse World
Fighting Smart: Boxing, Agonistics & Survival
Agree it's the hips. Blacks supposedly have better lateral movement due to wider hips.
That women will now train segregated from the men may indicate that the Overton window is shifting again and feminist fantasies are dying from the increasing danger from yoof. As Sir John Glubb writes,
"An increase in the influence of women in public life has often been associated with na- tional decline. The later Romans complained
that, although Rome ruled the world, women ruled Rome. In the tenth century, a similar tendency was observable in the Arab Empire, the women demanding admission to the professions hitherto monopolised by men. ‘What,’ wrote the contemporary historian, Ibn Bessam, ‘have the professions of clerk, tax-collector or preacher to do with women? These occupations have always been limited to men alone.’ Many women practised law, while others obtained posts as university professors. There was an agitation for the appointment of female judges, which, however, does not appear to have succeeded.
Soon after this period, government and public order collapsed, and foreign invaders overran the country. The resulting increase in confusion and violence made it unsafe for women to move unescorted in the streets, with the result that this feminist movement collapsed."
The wider hips are also aided in facilitating the lateral motion by lighter lower legs in blacks which also puts the at increased risk of bowing an ankle in the pivot and when being dropped.
As for Glubb's theory, I agree and would also amplify his statement about women achieving public power in Rome, by citing that the same thing happened at the end of the Hellenistic age with the Greeks just as Rome was rising.
Sean,
By "SPEAR drill," do you mean, "Tony BLauer's SPEAR drill?" My wife and I took a BLauer PDR class and the women in our church all wanted to know about it. I might get certified as a PDR instructor as a side gig, but the franchise fees are about $1k/year. The high gear is expensive too.
Actually I was speaking of our pivoting spear hand, the later eye rake we practiced on video a while back with the fencing asks and work gloves.
I am not familiar with Blauer's spear, but did find his Black Belt articles to be very well thought out.
It probably is indeed due to the hips, but women's peripheral vision is also superior to mens'.
columbia.edu/itc/anthropology/v1007/jakabovics/mf2.html
Being the more preyed upon gender, this would make sense.
I think it's also a sexual division of labor. Women being better at multi-tasking, constantly looking out for the children. Whereas the male's singular focus and tunnel vision is best for when the sabre-tooth tiger (Baltimore youth, etc.) is bearing down fast.