Scenes from our Adult Self Defense Class, Monmouth County (Middletown, Hazlet, Holmdel, Keansburg, Keyport etc.)

Adult Self Defense class takes place on Fridays from 6 to 7pm. You don't have to know karate to participate, and both men and women attend.

You'll exert yourself a lot in the self defense class. If warmup exercises or moves are done that are difficult for you to do, you can modify your workout to your own ability.

Below, our sensei has constructed a station run, where the students hop over three shields, execute three punches at the heavy bag, and hop on back as fast as possible. This exercise helps you with being light on the feet.

Safety is a priority in our adult self defense class! Being able to hit with full power is a great exercise, but one's partner shouldn't have to absorb that blow. Thus, often we partner up with shields for our drill practice as you see below.

We follow the same protocol with kicks as well! Below, the gentleman in the blue pants is throwing a rather powerful back kick to the gentleman in black. After the distance of the dojo has been achieved, the partners switch off on the shield and the other person gets to practice.

Drills done, we get right into self-defense. Now, the absolute best method of self defense is not being in the wrong place at the wrong time to begin with; street smarts are always emphasized in class. Be that as it may, we also deal with "what if's" as well. "What if someone comes at you with a knife thrust?" Below, Master Merced has just trapped the arm of the knife-wielding gentleman (it's a wooden knife, of course) and is showing how to lock the shoulder in preparation for a take-down.

We don't work only with knives, of course - guns (wooden in our case) are also part and parcel of our self-defense class. Now, any technique that deals with a gun requires the person to get in as close as possible; this might require verbal dialogue (please please please don't hurt me, I have a family, I'll do anything you want, etc.etc.etc. - anything to get you within the needed distance). Below, you can see the start of this exercise; the "hands up" are to show compliance as the gentleman in the blue starts the pleading and gets prepared to begin the technique.

Guns aren't the only thing you need to worry about for self defense. What about big huge people who throw punches at you with empty hands, what do you do about that? It turns out there are many options you can take if you remain calm and clear-headed (panic is what often causes self-defense to go out the window). Below, the woman has maneuvered the man so she was able to place her foot behind him and bring him down.

Speaking of empty hands, there's another way to practice blocking hits - putting on gear (protective clothing such as hand guards, shin guards, chest guards, helmets, etc.) and throwing punches at one another. Below, the people facing the back of the dojo (like the gentleman in the red) are swinging round-house punches, one after another, while the other people are simply blocking. Notice the woman in the black has blocked high, while the gentleman in the white next to her has brought up both hands to protect his face.

Blocking is one way of defending oneself....getting out of the way is another!

Below, notice that the gentleman in the white has ducked down his body so the punch went over his head. The gentleman in the blue, however, has moved to the left, out of the way, as well as used his left hand to redirect the blow. Remember the gentleman in the blue, he shows up below as he delivers quite the surprise to our gentleman in the red at the end of this page.

Some adults in class really enjoy taking the practice to the next level, and engage in full-geared sparring. Again, this requires the protective gear; below, the gentlemen in the red and black are getting "geared up". All gear that's required for sparring can be purchased in-house at our store.

Sparring is a very fulfilling activity. You get to both control your actions and really go to town on your opponent, without worrying about hurting them. Below, our gentleman in the red is taking on two assailants at the same time, our gentleman in the white and our gentleman in the blue. Said gentleman in the red has no idea what's coming next.

Even the best fighter is capable of being surprised! Our gentleman in the red below is the master of the "Axe Kick" which almost always ends the fight should it make contact (and with him, it almost always does; his fighting ability is extraordinary). Thing is, our gentleman in the blue is a master of Aikido, including the "block and get out of the way prior to immobilizing the opponent" technique. It dissolved the effectiveness of the axe kick; kicking air leads to no advantage whatsoever. The match ended in a draw.

All of our students have the greatest respect for one another - they both thanked each other at the end of the bout.

Adult self-defense is a great class! I'm a 5'3.5" woman myself and I attend whenever possible - the senseis always compel my best performance and I'm learning one heck of a lot. Want to learn more? You do so at our Schedule page.

Please continue to enjoy your visit!

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