This is a very important consideration and, in fact, when choosing a trainer, great importance should be attached to the right qualification. Because we are talking about your personal safety in a situation in which you are concerned with your physical and psychological health or, worse, with life and death.
The number of offers from different instructors and sports is huge and confusing. It makes sense to think of a martial arts school as a first step. These advertise countless self-defense courses. At this point, I would like to correct the overvaluation of self-defense training in martial arts and give you very important information on choosing your instructor in this and the next answers.
So much for now: Before you sign up for an education, you should inquire (and not ask, see below) which instructor / school expertise is actually self-defense-based. The teacher must - whether you like it or not - have experienced dangerous situations in real life. Without this practice, training is simply too inaccurate and wrong. Or are you satisfied with being trained by a theorist? You would not book a driving instructor who tells you to know driving a car from books.
But that is exactly what is practiced thousands of times and everywhere. Someone enthusiastically practices martial arts for years or decades and at some point feels called to share his knowledge. Self-defense training is a good market and he offers appropriate courses. But he never saw a knife in the eye, he knows brawls only from movies and was never in a threatening situation. - How does he want to teach someone how to behave in such an extreme situation?
If you would ask him right now, he would explain to you plausibly why him or his martial arts technique is the right one for you. Therefore, it is better to watch. Just look at their ads and attend a trial. A simple indicator of professional quality is whether and how the defense of a knife attack is offered or trained. It is very easy to fix. Please take a look at our video "This is how a knife attack really takes place".
A knife attack is life-threatening even for highly trained professionals. Therefore, you can only run away from a normal citizen. Only if there is absolutely no other way, should one try to defend themself and pray to God.
So, if you see ads or training exercises where someone is threatening someone else with a knife and an outstretched arm, then you better pack your things and leave immediately. This shows more clearly than anything that the practical relevance is missing. Our video explains how a knife attack actually works. In a life-threatening situation like this, if the educational institution is remote from the subject, you do not need to have much hope that other techniques will be much better.
Tip: With our video turtorials you will learn to protect yourself in every situation as best as possible.
Do you have a question for our instructor Robert Amper? Send them by email to chiefinstructor@security-umbrella.com; he will gladly answer you them here for all readers.