Magnificent 7 Self-Defense Foundation

If you haven’t done so already, be sure to review Rick Tew’s Martial Art Strikes and Kicks form by following the link below:

Martial Art Strikes and Kicks Form

Combat Defenses And Techniques

Students will center their learning around the below seven areas of defense or what we call the Magnificent Seven. These groups will offer techniques to get a basic understanding of combat, movement and applications. On testing, students will be expected to have learned more variations and will be asked to demonstrate their skill. Techniques should not necessarily be fast but
more so fluid and natural. Memorize the categories and use them as a basis for learning the basics to self-defense.

The Magnificent Seven

1. Punches
   (all hand and arm strikes)
    
2. Kicks
   (all leg and foot attacks)
    
3. Restraints
   (grabs, chokes and holds)
    
4. Charges
   (pushes, and lunges)
    
5. Grapples
   (wrestling and ground fighting)
    
6. Throws
   (offensive and defensive)
    
7. Weapons
   (angles, size, blades and blunts)

In your notes you will be expected to write down the techniques you learn in class, this can be done in the following example:

Defense against a straight punch

A. Step to the outside at an angle, strike the groin with a ridge hand.

B. Apply a knee to their plexus

C. Knife hand strike to the back of the head; head takedown.

D. Head stomp, roll away and multi defense stance.

The defenses should be filled in with your own notes that you can understand.Use any code or shorthand that gives you enough information to understand clearly what to do when seeing it in the future. You need at least three defense per group when you test.

Personal combat skills

Self defense is the ability to do the best you can when protecting yourself or others.

Too often people confuse self defense with the illusion of television action stunt scenes. You can not expect to be 100% effective in combat.

The purpose of self defense training is to increase your percentage of survival.

For example, if you started training with a 10% chance of defending yourself the skills you learn may increase your ability to a 20% chance. Twenty percent may not seem like much but it is double what you came in with. If you get attacked and beaten and were unable to defend yourself or others it does not necessarily mean that your training is ineffective, it means your percentage was not high enough and perhaps you would have gotten beaten worse if you had not trained. So our goal in self defense is to increase our self defense percentage.

We can start by listing our strengths, weaknesses and strategies based on those two areas. By increasing our current strengths and working on our weaknesses we can begin to develop a base percentage increase.

The Magnificent Seven Videos
Click on the links below to learn more about a specific area of Defense:

1. Punches
   (all hand and arm strikes)
    
2. Kicks
   (all leg and foot attacks)
    
3. Restraints
   (grabs, chokes and holds)
    
4. Charges
   (pushes, and lunges)
    
5. Grapples
   (wrestling and ground fighting)
    
6. Throws
   (offensive and defensive)
    
7. Weapons
   (angles, size, blades and blunts)

NOTE: For many of the above tactics are also found throughout the RTMS training and site of NinjaGym.  For example, Weapons does not have its specific page for Magnificent 7 - instead you are expected to know the basics and have a realistic familiarity with the knife and stick.