Fight or Flight

A blogger shared with me what she overheard on a podcast discussing martial arts:

“The guest had suggested that when ladies learn martial arts (like JJ) it can help them have more confidence and experience to fight with an attacker (sounded like a good point) but then Rogan noted that it would take years and years of training and then even with that – ‘basic anatomy’ plays a role in determining how most women would do if fighting with an attacker.”

“So while great for self defense and good for mind and body coordination and stability – the best advice is for people to put distance between themselves and the attacker (as opposed to someone with a certain level belt assuming they can take down someone twice their size).”

This is a good reality check. And I don’t disagree. Sure, I found it a little discouraging, but then I thought about my reasons for doing Jiu-Jitsu and Taekwondo:

• Am I expecting to get attacked at every turn? No.

• Do I intend to don a cape and spandex to fight crime vigilante-style? No.

• Do I think it would be nice to have some ability to defend myself should I need it? Yes.

• Am I largely just doing this for the fun of it? Also, yes.

• Do I enjoy the challenge of learning something hard? Yes. (It helps that I have realistic expectations of myself. I never thought I’d be a natural at this.)

• Does it give me greater confidence in general? Yes.

• Is teaching what I’ve learned to middle school girls fun, fulfilling, and challenging? Yes.

• Do they enjoy the class for all or most of those reasons above? I believe so, yes.

It has been pointed out to me more than once that the best option, when viable, is to simply run away. I joked that I should hang up my gi and work on my speed instead.

How am I doing?

Think I could outrun a bad guy at that speed? (This is also a nod to fans of The Office.)

I saw an interview with actor Ed O’Neill (Married… with Children, Modern Family), who has a black belt in Ju-Jitsu. He used his knowledge twice to put a rear naked choke (RNC) on men who had become unruly. This move is a good go-to, and I’ve already proven that I can, with a bit of struggle, successfully get the job done on a male blue belt (Surfer Dude 1). I don’t hope to need this skill in real life, but if I do, I’ll have it.

Fun side note: Hubs and I recently saw The Lost City. Brad Pitt used the RNC on several bad guys. I whispered to Hubby, “He’s using perfect technique. It’s nice the writers did their research.” Later in the film, Channing Tatum tries to imitate Pitt, but does so humorously wrong and unsuccessfully. It was a cute movie, and I’ve been a fan of Sandra Bullock ever since While You Were Sleeping.

Now. Let’s talk T-shirts, shall we?

It was fun of Flojo to suggest a contest. I’m grateful for the creative ideas suggested in comments on my previous post, so I’m adding them to the list of votees.

Here are the old along with your new suggestions. I removed the Korn T-shirt and “I got Draked” because those were a joke. (My apologies to Prior House who liked “I got Draked” the best.)

The first one below was favored by Jacqui who wrote: “Throw up a ‘donation’ thingy in the sidebar. I’ll toss in a few bucks for the tshirt. That thing is wonderful!”

I don’t disagree. However, I also don’t do tech. I tried to figure out how to “throw up a donation thingy” and failed. I googled it, found multiple methods, tried to follow them, and inevitably hit a dead end when the next button I was supposed to click didn’t seem to exist.

My hope was, I would buy the winning shirt and model it for you all here, have the winning shirt MADE if it didn’t already exist (and likewise model it for you), and, if I raised the the funds, send a shirt to the person who suggested the idea too (and hopefully that person would model it 😉 ).

Well, that’s probably not going to happen. But, I occasionally splurge on a non-essential item, so who knows!

Again, the choices, some pictured below the list:

1. BJJ Girls Rule. (from Endless Weekend)
2. I won the battle. (from Beth)
3. You should see the other guy. (from me)
4. Tough Mother (Also me. Or as a bumper sticker, but either might get me in trouble.)
5. When I play dodgeball, the ball dodges me. (Endless Weekend again)
6. Jui-Jitsu – the Home of Rear Naked Chokes. (from John)
7. Down with the Sickness (from Mark because it’s a Disturbed song. “Oooh-wa-ah-ah!”)
8. I get a kick out of you. (from Flojo. The possibilities for graphics on this one… 🙂 )
9. Chex Mex, tequila and Jiu Jitsu – you got a problem? (from Andrew, who so gets me)
10. I have the perfect limbs to crush the life out of you! (from Wynne. Haha. Can you imagine?)
11. Jiu-Jitsu: The art of folding clothes while people are still in them (plus more, see below. Endless Weekend sent a variation on this, the image of which is no longer available, but this one from Amazon is close. And since I was searching JJ shirts on Amazon, I also found…)
12. Touch me and your first Jiu-Jitsu lesson is free. (Ooooh, me likey!)
13. Jiu-Jitsu: It’s how I roll. (When I got my existing shirt, I was originally looking for one like this!)
14. Simply stick with my current “This is How I Roll” shirt, or
15. find one like this from Manja Maksimovič who wrote: “This is how *I* roll.”

Then she added, “This is NOT a commentary to your blog. You’re doing mighty fine.” Haha. Way to play it safe, Manja!

Here are the others for which I have pictures:

#1 above

#11

#12

#13

#14

Also, if you voted in the comments on my previous post, thank you, but also, would you mind voting again since things have been updated?? Thank you!