Reality Based Self-Defense

Reality based self-defense is an interesting area of study and practice. It has much to offer and there's lots to learn from it. Traditional martial arts like Karate, Jujitsu, and Kung Fu, are ok for the dojo or the sports arena, and some practitioners can even make it work on the street, but for most practitioners it is impractical for real life self-defense situations, where you are likely to be taken by surprise, as by a sucker punch. Traditional martial arts rely on trained muscle memory responses, and arts such as Jujitsu have literally hundreds of techniques. In Jujitsu you have several different counters to, say, a head strike. The problem becomes that when you have a bunch of options to choose from in defending a head strike it slows your response time as your cerebrum decides which technique to use.
Reality based self-defense systems generally have a syllabus of only a few techniques and tactics that can be applied to a wide variety of different attacks. This is true of Krav Maga. It is also true of Senshido, the system developed by Richard Dimitri. Also, reality based systems don't generally rely on learned muscle memory responses, but rather focus on training to launch a defense/offense from off of the amgydalic flinch response. In my opinion, the best RBSD instructors and authors out there today include Richard Dimitri, Loren W. Christensen, Tony Blauer, and Larry Jordan. Another good instructor and author I've come across is Keith Pascal. I started out at the age of 16, with different practice partners, teaching myself Jujitsu. Later I incorporated elements of Taijitsu and Krav Maga. I'm committed to RBSD, and always working to improve my skills, and men like those named above only help me to improve further. You see, I was born with a congenital deformity of my left leg. It is about 5 inches shorter than my right, congenital absence of fibula, and my foot up to the instep had to be amputated at the age of 6. Consequently I have to wear a prosthesis. As a child and early teen I felt very vulnerable, like one of the weak of the herd (so to speak), and I was bullied and ridiculed a lot by my peers. So I felt the necessity of having an edge, and that's what led me into the martial arts and RBSD.
Someone might ask, "Why would I need RBSD skills" ? Look at the world we live in today, watch the News for a while, and that will give you your answer. Others are free to do as they choose. As for me, I choose to be prepared. If you're one who is interested in self-defense, then don't seek a martial arts class. Seek a self-defense class, unless, of course, your interest is in the sport aspect, which by the way, is for the dojo or the sports arena, not the street.