Self-Defense: What's the best way to learn how to defend myself in a fight?

Real fighting has NO RULES You have to be willing to hurt the attacker and not feel bad, Not such a good thing, I recommend finding a school that can show you how to use your apponents energy and not learn to hurt the other to much just learn to disable. I do think you are doing the right thing by walking away tho. Why fight if you don't have to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5mhX_JWsMk

Krav Maga, maybe Systema. But make sure that you go to a gym where you actually spar. You need to get hit in the head a few times to learn how to avoid being hit in the head. :)

Dont mix martial arts with self defense. You can defend urself by acting. Dramatic acting , or crying like a baby will make the adversary laugh out and walk away. Run forest run, this is called awlf defense. Tigers Lions Buffaloes have power, try walking to them, first perimeter of self defense is run to safety zone. Though they could have fight you first. Never bother dealing with a drunk, they dont even have idea what are they doing. I am practicing our own muay thai for last 15 years. How many fights ? 0. How many confontration ?many . Why didnt need to fight. Sometimes staring on someone eyes can let them know dont screw with him. More over I cant fight.. Caz I knw points of body and learnt to hit those areas only, which can cripple even kill a man. Yes but with my neutralizing technique , I stopped many unwanted fights,  once grabbed once neck from behind and put other palm to the face and threw to the ground in different direction. And yelled to the crowds hope u r family members civilized more than you people. Martial arts give u tremendous upper edge of being man warriorship. Martial art is not for everyone.

Go to youtube, look at videos on how to throw a punch, fighting stances, and basic moves. Look up street fighting tips. The real martial arts forms are fun to try but in a real world situation, you will not be in the proper state of mind to execute them, and more then likely be worse off trying them in a real fight. here's a good starter I highly recommend this channel though, he teaches you moves in a real world scenarios they seem effective ad easy to do http://www.youtube.com/user/creativecombats Practice the moves with a friend, punching bag, or even just the air. These steps will go a long way. 90% of outcome in street fight depends on who can keep their cool better to actually win. Practicing these moves will help give you confidence so if you are in a situation you know what to do. Lastly, going to the gym and lifting weights will also have a huge impact. Edit: It seems the intentions of this answer went over the heads of others who answered. Of course watching Youtube videos will not prepare you for a fight. The only way to be truly ready is practice, and even more important experience. However, some people don't know the very basics, like how to throw a punch, or take a stance. I was just offering other suggestions, because not everyone can devote a whole year to learning a martial arts discipline as suggests; it is expensive, time consuming, or you may have health concerns (or have no insurance and can't risk injury). Not everyone is a pugnacious roughneck who gains experience by constantly fighting like suggest. There are plenty of guys like myself who hate the idea of getting in a fight, and avoid them. That does not make you less of a man as Woodard seems to suggest.   However, people will always challenge you and avoidance is not always possible. For the regular guy, who doesn't always start fights, or the guys who are unable to train, between a few pointers from youtube, a punching bag, good conditioning and weight training, you may not be fully prepared for a fight. However, your confidence will be built up and confidence is key to level-headedness and a leveled, thinking, focused, mind wins fights.

A great method is actually martial arts - but the key is to find a martial arts that actually teaches you the methods that you want to learn. Not all martial arts are created equal. Some focus more on defense than other skills. A great martial arts that you might be interested in to help defend yourself is Akido. A quick search will show you that Akido is focused in using the attacker against themselves, no matter your size.

You are either a fighter or you are not. You learn this in high school, or probably not at all. If you take kick boxing for fitness, and get into a bar fight with someone who has been in 100 fights, you are going to get whooped in about 20 seconds, if even. Weights mean nothing. Can you take a great punch right to your face and still have the will to scrap? That is not learned on YouTube and has nothing to do with how much you bench press. Two kinds of people start fights in bars. Dudes who fight. These are the ones who probably do not run their mouth that much before they put it on you. Dudes who jaw. These are the ones who talk shit nonstop in a crowd of their friends. I would say if you got into less than 5 fights in high school, you are probably not a fighter. Just don't even go there. Plus, when you get older, the cops get involved, you get an alcohol ticket in you career background check, etc. The main rules? No sucker punches. No jumping in. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone follows these rules anymore. If you fight someone, bet that one of their friends will kick you in the ribs or try to stomp your head.

Krav Maga is a very good mixture directly designed to self defense, built from many elements of several martial arts. It's been developed since the 30's so I think maybe it's more up to date than any other ancient martial art for self defense. (relevant article about it http://www.kravmagainstitutenyc.com/israeli-self-defense/). And yeah there are no rules in the street, it's not a dojo so you train with real punches and kicks and that is why you really learn it, not just the movements without power.

The best method of self defense is to run, away! If there is no other option but to defend yourself, I would suggest Krav Maga as the form you want to learn. Martial arts are just that, art forms. When your life is in danger you need to hit the most vital points of your attacker, fight dirty ( eye gouge, strike to the throat, groin kick), to make some space, and then run away for help. MMA is great if you are fighting one attacker, but beware, you are not in a cage on soft matting and the second attacker is kicking a bottle into your face.  You also do not want to go to ground in an attack, keep standing, strike and run.

MY ADVICE TO YOU AS SOMEONE WITH 40 YEARS OF MULTIPLE MARTIAL ARTS, AND 20 YEARS OF BODYGUARD  EXPERIENCE; IS THAT EVASION IS THE BEST POLICY. DO NOT PUT YOURSELF IN SITUATIONS THAT END BADLY.