This self defense video has to be addressed (updated)

*Update: The folks over at The Middle Easy reached out to Rubin about the video and techniques in question here. Since, others in the martial arts community have also addressed the techniques and videos on social media. While she does give sound advice and creates awareness, the presentation of these techniques can do more harm than good. Check out the Middle Easy's article on when they reached out to Rubin, they did a really good job. The link is below.

Screen capture

As a martial artist who has done a few women's self-defense seminars, and one that trains regularly I cannot help but comment on the video from Tech Insider on defending a choke hold from a would-be attacker. First, see the video here:

A self-defense expert reveals how to get out of a choke hold — the No. 1 way a violent attacker will grab you pic.twitter.com/J9jakQV94F

— Tech Insider (@techinsider) November 29, 2017

 She says, "Never focused on what's grabbed, focus on what's free."

I can tell you from being choked out a few times myself, if you do not focus on the choking hand, you will be choked out. That's pretty much a fact. You have to alleviate the pressure from the choke so that you can do anything else. It is only a matter of seconds before a choke puts you out, so absolutely address the choke before trying anything else Gabrielle Rubin suggests.

She does teach self-defense courses in New York City and according to the reviews, many women take the course and feel empowered and better about themselves, which can help them in becoming less of a target. I'll give Rubin that much credit if she adds being aware of their surroundings and not being buried in their phones in her seminars.

But if you want some actual, applicable choke defenses I advise you to take seminars at local places that have regular classes too. If you are going to look for videos for proper references, youtube has plenty are more effective than this. A lot of folks commenting against the Tech Insider video are from the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community like myself, so to be fair I'll put something that is not from their, but let me assure you, any grappling art will address the choking arm, like in this Krav Maga video below.

Regardless of what works and what doesn't, constant training can only make the reactions to things you have to use in self-defense muscle memory. You have to drill the situations often, just make sure what you are drilling isn't nonsense. 

* TECH INSIDER’S SELF DEFENSE EXPERT GABRIELLE RUBIN RESPONDS TO BACKLASH FROM VIDEO| The Middle Easy