The most important thing to a mom is protecting her child. That’s something I didn’t fully feel until I had my baby girl this past January 2024. It completely changed how I think about safety when we’re walking, so let’s dive right into our 6 self defense tips for walking with your baby.  Tip 1. Walk with your dog A dog is arguably the number one best security system. They do all three components to self defense that we teach women in our program: deter, detect, and defend.  They’re a major deterrent to attackers due primarily to their bark. The last thing an attacker is looking for ..read more

Every martial artist knows someone who's 'been training forever' but doesn't seem to actually improve. And we all know of people who excel amazingly fast despite being new to the sport or training far less than everyone else. What's the difference? The latter often gets labeled as a 'freak athlete', but what's happening more often than not is a drastic difference in the quality of their training time. Quality training is just as or more important than quantity. The program, instructors, and training environment play a major role, but in this post I'm going to share 4 under-used and fool-proof ..read more

In the Girls Who Fight Kids MMA & Self Defense program, girls are rewarded for skill progression through earning new stripes and belts. Character development, however, is recognized by a special pink stripe, which is awarded once girls have received ten stars on their attendance card for demonstrating Black Belt Behaviour. What is Black Belt Behaviour? There are many positive character traits that kids develop through martial arts training: patience, perseverance, humility, etc. At Girls Who Fight, we narrowed down the list to the five traits we believe to be the most important to accompan ..read more

Research shows that women's self defense training works to reduce sexual assault. Unfortunately, victimization data shows that girls need this training young for it to be a factor in preventing the majority of assaults: 55% of rape victims are under 20 years old. Victimization by Age: The Data Sexual Assault & Rape Women are at their greatest risk of sexual assault and rape while they are under 20 years old. According to the FBI Crime Data from 2013-2022, including 635,462 rapes reported by 6,396 law enforcement agencies (only 29% of the total population): 13% of rape victims were age 0-9 ..read more

Criminals tend to look for easy targets. Tourists are particularly easy targets, especially to professional and organized criminals who can spot someone who doesn't belong from a mile away. In the 1970's Charles Sobhraj and wife Marie-Andrée Leclerc targeted tourists on the Hippie Trail of Bangkok, Thailand. They would drug, rob, and murder their victims using drugs, parties, and charm as lures. In one case, Sobrahaj's wife Marie meets a young couple on the street. They tell Marie about their travel plans and that they have gemstones which they plan to sell. Marie then invites the young couple ..read more

Written by Gemma Sheehan, Girls Who Fight founder & head instructor. Hello! If you're reading this it's probably because you're interested in taking our self defense classes, thank you for that! We offer two types of weekly training sessions, our beginner course and our weekly class. Here's what makes them both special and different. The Course Our beginner self defense course is a 20-class program that focuses only on fundamental combat skills that can be used to defend common attacks against women. It is strictly focused on: the attack situations women are most likely to face the most ..read more

"A hero is a man who does what he can." -Romaine Rolland What is a hero? We know one when we see one. A hero takes on responsibility willingly instead of deflecting it to others. A hero acts not because of his appointed position but because he or she is put in a position that requires action. A hero makes a choice to do something without the obligation to do so. A hero does the right thing, even if it is not the popular thing. I'd like to argue that being a hero is a choice, one that everyone can make not only for others but for themselves— and it starts with responsibility. Take three exampl ..read more

Women and girls make up 76% of reported kidnapping victims. As a women's self defense program we are completely focused on the threats faced by women and girls. In this post we will explore the data on abduction from two critical reports: Data on victims of abduction over a 10 year period from the FBI Crime Reporting System Data on attempted abductions of children from a 10 year study by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children We'll start by sharing key findings from each study and finish with discussing how we can use this information to become better protectors of ourselves ..read more

Our mission is to provide the best possible training program for a woman who wants to learn how to defend herself against a physical attack, and learn what she can do to lower her chances of being attacked in the first place. Here's our approach and what makes us different. 1. Effective Combat Training with a Self Defense Objective Effective combat training.. Our program is based on techniques from Mixed Martial Arts, including Kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Wrestling. At the highest level of combat sport (The UFC), these are the disciplines that professional fighters spend the most time ..read more

If you’re a woman who wants to take steps to become more prepared to defend yourself, this blog is for you! Women’s self defense is a practice with the objective to give women skills to protect themselves. There are many practices and habits which can help you accomplish this. I’m going to share what I believe to be the three most important elements and effective uses of your time in this pursuit. 1. Awareness Situational awareness is the practice of being aware of your surroundings and the people around you. It’s as simple as it is powerful because you can’t defend what you can’t see, yet how ..read more