Self Defense Tips From Krav Maga Expert Jarrett Arthur

When I was in college, I took a course in self-defense, partly because I realized it was something I should know more about, but also, I figured it would be an easy A.

Imagine my surprise upon getting a dreaded B (yeah, I was one of those students) on my first paper. We were asked to describe an occasion on which we felt threatened and might’ve been able to utilize self-defense, and, frankly, I’d had a remarkably sheltered upbringing and didn’t have much to write about. I was displeased with the grade, at first, until everyone in class shared their stories. Every single other woman in my class had experienced a situation that gave me chills. After hearing about some of their encounters, I was more than happy to take a lower grade rather than have those types of memories to work through.

According to a 2012 paper by the Centers for Disease Control, close to one in five women reported having experienced sexual assault. And that doesn’t even take into account non-sexual violent assault. Now, just take a second and think about your group of girlfriends and what that means. It might not be something you’ve discussed, but chances are very good several members of your inner circle have dealt with some form of assault.

Now, all I’ve got here is a platform for writing — I can’t take each of you by the hand and make you attend a self-defense class. But I can give you a lot of information about self-defense, ranging from preventing assault to training for potential encounters to whether or not the self-defense app on your phone is helping or hurting you. And I’ve brought in an expert to help: Jarret Arthur!

Jarrett Arthur is one of the highest ranking female Krav Maga black belts in the U.S.  She’s taught hundreds of men, women and children over the course of her 10-year career, and she’s sharing her top tips with us.