Recently, people who are concerned about being able to defend themselves from a random attacker have started to take some form of martial arts. This surge in popularity is probably a combination of increased popularity of UFC (and related fighting organization) and the increased sense of insecurity. However, these same people are looking to devote years to their training, they just want to feel safe. Normally, within the first year, sometimes the first few months, they will ask their instructor “How many martial arts techniques do you need to be able to defend yourself?”. Unfortunately, there isn't a magic number to answer this question. However, there are some facts that can help solve this problem.

With self defence training, you can learn how to do a variety of different things to protect yourself from a random attack. Some of these tactics are martial arts techniques, while others are not. Unless you plan on spending years learning how to defend yourself in every possible situation, it is important to pick and choose what you want to know. For example, Do you want to learn how to disarm someone? Strike and stun someone? Grapple and go the ground? These are the kinds of questions that you need to answer for yourself.

First, you need to decide what you do not want to learn. Most people don't want to wrestle their attacker to ground and try to choke them out. They would rather knock them down and get away. With this in mind, most people do not want to learn martial arts techniques that require multiple steps. This is because with every additional step, there is a higher chance that something may go wrong. Because of this, many people prefer to learn a few select moves, instead of focusing on overall techniques during their self defence training.

Now that you have thought about things that you do not want to learn, it is time to focus more specifically on what you do want to learn. One of the most important skills you learn is how to avoid the situation altogether. This is not something that is specific to any martial arts techniques, however they can teach to be more aware of your environment, which can help you to avoid bad situations. The one thing that everyone who is interested in self defence training is how to create an opportunity to escape This is normally most effectively achieved by one or two well placed strikes. There are variety of different techniques that can teach you this skill.

So to answer the question, “How many martial arts techniques do you need to be able to defend yourself?”, as few as one, but as many as it takes you to feel confident and safe. The ultimate goal of self defence training is not to learn how to knock someone around, but rather to create an opportunity to escape the situation. The easiest way to do this is often by using a few well place strikes to throw you attack off balance and potentially to the ground.