Learning BJJ for Women’s Health and Safety

1. Overview

 Many women in the world decide to learn BJJ to improve their lifestyles by learning self-defense and enhancing their physical and mental fortitude.

The journey of learning BJJ is not stress-free for women but it has encouraged them in many ways that has lead to living their lives more confidently. BJJ self-defense techniques help women protect themselves from being attacked on the streets and develop the self-confidence to defend themselves against physical harm.

Moreover, BJJ self-defense techniques also sharpen the reflexes of women, allowing them to better tackle dangerous scenarios when someone tries to grab them by the hair or wrist. BJJ helps women stay fit by improving their energy, concentration, and self-discipline.

This article will help motivate all women currently seeking to accelerate their BJJ journey to better keep themselves safe and healthy using inner strength and a positive self-image.

2. Need for Women's Safety and Self-Defense

The concern for women's safety is evident in every part of the world. Women are threatened, abused, and harassed in their private and public lives.

Today, young women and girls experienced more incidents of sexual abuse and street harassment. Around 150 million women worldwide are subjected to street crimes, abuse, rape, and sexual violence. It means that 1 in every 3 women in the world has experienced physical and sexual violence.

Some women quit their public life due to the fear of sexual harassment on the streets, public transport, and marketplaces.

The continuous fear and threats of street attacks and possible sexual harassment have shattered the self-image of women. It also has affected the physical and mental health of women.

BJJ provides a way for women to learn self-defense that can boost their self-esteem and personal efficacy.

2.1. Why Do Self-Defense Techniques Matter?

Knowing self-defense really matters in the practical lives of women. Self-defense techniques are not only useful in protecting oneself against unwanted attacks. It also has a lot of physical and mental health benefits for women. So, self-defense starts with preparing the mind to sense danger and using one's physical capabilities to deal with the danger.

Self-defense techniques can be used by women in the following ways:

• Women can take charge of their lives by being responsible for their own protection.
• It boosts confidence in women and helps them to make quick decisions when handle any safety crisis.
• It is a good way for women to engage in health and fitness-related activities.
•  Women become more depending on themselve rather than their male companions during travel.
• It teaches self-discipline to women to have better control of their bodies and minds with sharp reflexes, good observational skills, and awareness of their surroundings.
• Street crime rate is reduced when women learn to defend themselves against sexual assault.

Self-Defense with Martial Arts

Learning self-defense with martial arts is a life-saving decision for many women. Although, self-defense and martial arts are considered two different things, most martial arts are also focusing on teaching self-defense techniques.

In the world of martial arts, size, weight, height, shape, and disability don't matter, as long as someone is practicing self-defense techniques correctly.

Martial arts are categorized as either armed or unarmed. All of them have beginner to advanced levels.

• Martial arts help people improve their focus and situational awareness to be aware of any potential threat.
•  Martial arts training helps people build up their stamina. With extra endurance, MMA practitioners can easily work on adjusting their breathing and using useful techniques to better deal with adversaries.
•  a Martial arts are useful in disciplining their practitioners by doing controlled actions and body movements in stressful situations.

2.2. Tips and Tricks for Women's Self-Defense

Hereare some useful tips for women's self-defense.

• Build stamina to improve running in case of an emergency.
• Be aware of your surroundings while walking on a lonely road.
• Avoid holding a purse or mobile while walking to avoid getting the attention of snatchers.
• Avoid heels while walking around unknown places for a long time.
• Practice screaming loudly to ask for help when needed.
• Try to stay in well-lit areas.
• Always keep a handy whistle to call for help immediately.
• Always charge mobile phones in case you need to make an emergency call.
• Avoid opening doors without proper identification.

3. Empowering Women with BJJ Training

Today, the world is changing and women are encouraged to take part in different, healthy lifestyles like martial arts.

BJJ training polishes the hidden warrior in women, teaching them the art of ground fighting and self-defense. As BJJ teaches women to deal with assaulters by using arm bars and joint locks, they feel a sense of accomplishment when they take charge of their own safety.

BJJ is one of the ideal martial arts for women as they can easily defend themselves against bigger and stronger opponents. BJJ is suitable for all ages, no matter their height, weight, or body structure.

The women who are part of BJJ training are inclined towards healthy and disciplined life, inspiring young blood in the BJJ discipline.

3.1. Learning BJJ for Promoting Sisterhood

 Training with other female BJJ athletes helps them connect with like-minded women. This type of strong connection among women helps in promoting sisterhood within the BJJ community. Women training during BJJ classes can find inspiration and motivation from each other by listening to stories of their past struggles and challenges.

Today, many women break the gender stereotyping of women being unable to do well when doing BJJ training on the mats. Now women train, struggle, laugh, and share together on their BJJ journeys.

4. BJJ's Self-Defense Basics for Women

 The emphasis of BJJ training is on ground fighting. It helps women learn how to defend themselves by using techniques, timing, and leverage instead of power and athleticism.

The unique element of BJJ training is that it focuses more on skill rather than force. Many weaker and smaller BJJ women athletes may struggle in the early days of their training. But once they have mastered certain techniques, they show tremendous success on the BJJ mats and in real fights.

 Many women are short in height with light bones structure and weight than men, so grappling arts like BJJ have the most effective self-defense techniques to defend against larger and heavier attackers in real scenarios.

4.1. Useful BJJ's Self-Defense Techniques for Women

Punch Defense

Defense against punches is a basic self-defense technique in BJJ. It is extremely useful in street attacks when a woman can easily throw full-power punches at her attacker.

It is important to learn that while throwing punches at an opponent, it is best to maintain distance and control body movement to reduce the risk of self-harm. When learning arm and body blocks, as well as proper body posture, it is important for a woman to defend against a punch so that she can escape those dangerous situations.

If someone throws a punch at a woman, it is best to get closer to shorten the distance and block with one arm while controlling the opponent with the other arm. If the punch is blocked, a woman can move in for a throw or a sweep.

Take Down Defense

It is very important for a woman to learn to defend herself when someone is trying to take her to the ground.

In BJJ, takedown defense can be performed through a combination of footwork, head and hand control, chokeholds, and sweeps.

One simple way to defend against a takedown is called the sprawl. This technique was adapted from wrestling and used in BJJ to keep one's legs out of the hold of an attacker. Once an opponent has your legs, they can easily pin you to the ground.

Arm Locks, Chokes, and Submissions

Armbars, chokes, and submissions are important self-defense techniques in BJJ training. Using arm locks and submission techniques allows any woman to gain control over the attacker. An arm lock is quite a useful self-defense technique and can cause serious injury to the attacker.

Women can also use chokes by applying pressure on the attacker’s neck, blocking airflow to the attacker’s brain. A BJJ woman athlete can also perform locked arms and legs, both useful ways to defend herself.

Ground Control

Once a woman has been taken to the ground, then she is in a weaker position to perform punches or kicks.

BJJ self-defense techniques teach women to defend and escape from the worst of assaults. By learning ground control, women can learn both defensive and offensive fighting techniques.

Getting Back to Your Feet

BJJ training teaches women to quickly get back on their feet in a street fight. Even if an attacker bumps or throws a woman to the ground, then she has the strength to get back on her feet easily.

Wrist Release / Grip Break

Whenever a woman has her wrist grabbed, she must remain calm and try to keep her elbow low while moving her body towards her assailant. Then, she can use leverage and the thin edge of the forearm to exploit the gap between her thumb and fingers. She can also use the grab as a way to set up a lock or throw.

Another way for a woman to release her wrist from the grip of an attacker is to get to the base, grab her fist, break the grip and try to run to avoid further confrontation. So, a woman should act assertively, decisively, and quickly in any confrontation.

Defense Against Hair Pull

Most attackers try to go and pull a woman's hair from behind. A woman cannot react quickly because the attackeris not in front of her.
In such a situation, a woman should take control of her head, grab her hair with both hands and slowly turn towards the attacker. She needs to first release her hair from her attacker's grasp.

She needs to apply some blunt force or nerve strikes to effectively break away from the grab. She can also hit bigger muscles in the forearm with a few good punches. Strike hard in a way that hit the bones or sensitive areas like the eyes or nose to cause instant pain to the attacker.

5. Importance of Women's Physical and Mental Health

A healthy physical and mental state is essential for managing relationships, career, and spiritual life. Nowadays, it becomes difficult to maintain balanced physical and mental health due to busy life schedules.

It is proven that continuous physical activities by women can lower their vulnerability different diseases that can become a major cause of a disability or even death.

It is reported that one in five women is dealing with some kind of mental issue like depression and anxiety.

Doing physical and social activities along with quality sleep can help women improve their physical and mental health by getting rid of stress and anxiety.

All women need to take time from their busy lives to balance their bodies, minds, and souls effectively.

5.1. BJJ and Women's Physical Fitness

BJJ training comprises of cardio, flexibility, and strength exercises, making a good full-body workout for women. During a single BJJ training class, women can easily burn up to 500 to 800 calories per hour depending on the intensity.

BJJ training helps women in many ways as it requires intensive bodily and muscular movements. With just a few weeks of BJJ training, women can start feeling rapid changes in their bodies. Average BJJ training of one hour can easily burn fat, enhance stamina, and build vitality necessary to do all daily tasks easily.

Along with muscle exercises, BJJ training also improves coordination in the body and regulates cardiac health among women. Moreover, BJJ training helps lower blood pressure. Women are also at less risk of having bone fractures.

5.2. BJJ and Women's Mental Health

Women must treat mental health as being as important as physical health. The body cannot function properly in the absence of mental health.

During BJJ training and exercise, the body releases chemicals called endorphins that are extremely helpful in improving one’s mood, as well as feeling energetic and motivated throughout the BJJ training.

With BJJ training, women boost their confidence in dealing with dangerous situations. It also strengthens problem-solving and conflict resolution skills in women.

Along with mental strength and positive self-image, women also learn valuable life skills like humility, bravery, respect, leadership, communication, resilience, and discipline.

6. Conclusion

Women need to function well in different capacities of their lives. They need to feel safe emotionally, physically, and mentally. BJJ is a powerful solution to help women feel empowered, healthy, and safe.