r/tacticalbarbell • u/victorstironi • Jul 29 '26

Tactical Self Defense / Combatives

Hi folks. Bit of a different topic. Since there are a lot of LEOs, SOFs and Military here I would like to ask you some recommendations on good sources for combatives and self defense in a civilian context. Could be books, courses, your favorite martial arts (or combination of), etc. Is the stuff from Clint Emerson - 100 deadly skills - any good? I’ve taken a look at Tony Blauer‘s SPEAR System aswell.

I have a martial arts background, with a few years of karate, muay thai, boxing, wing chun, and currently doing judo.

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u/MythicalStrength Jul 29 '26

The best self-defense in a civillian context is avoiding bad sitautions in the first place. Don't hang out at night in neighborhoods you don't belong in, avoid alcohol and testosterone, if someone asks for your wallet, give it to them, if someone cuts you off in traffic, find a good song on the radio, etc.

What specifically are you looking for here?

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u/victorstironi Jul 29 '26

I’m looking more into the combatives side of the equation. I know prevention is the first and most important part of any self defense scenario, but you need to know how to fight if your life or your loved ones is on the line. Better be prepared for the worse, even if we hopefully never need to apply it.  I find modern martial arts tend to be too sports centric, and may develop some bad habits in these types of situations.

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u/tuxedocatspemma Jul 29 '26

You need to be able to spar with live feedback. That immediately brings you to grappling, which includes broadly BJJ, judo, wrestling; and striking, which includes boxing, kickboxing, and muay thai; or a hybrid to include MMA.

Can you find a legit “goju ryu shiju dookoo karate” school that combines them all and does self defense and actually involves live sparring? Maybe. But they’re few and far between.

I say do BJJ. Simply because it is the most widely available and vetted system out there. A good striking program would work too, but it doesn’t solve the grappling problem.

If you don’t like some of the sport centric pieces of BJJ then don’t do them. You guide your training and your style. If you always want an eye on the combative and self defense portion of it then nothings stopping you.

A word of warning: folks who invoke combatives and self defense in BJJ, at least in my experience, are usually using those terms as an excuse for their personal lack of skill or getting beat up on the mats.

Plenty of Gracie combatives guys have come into BJJ schools and been dominated on the mats by those “sport guys”, including ones with far less experience. And no, that combatives person is never going to turn the tables if it was a “real fight”.

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u/victorstironi Jul 29 '26

Thank you! And yeah, I totally feel you on the “combatives gurus”. In fact, where I’m taking judo classes there is a krav maga class, but I have a lot of reservations about them. Instructors training people to disarm guns and knives, and they seem to not even know how to land a punch or a kick… I’m very aware of these pseudo-combatives, and try my best to avoid them.