FAQ
Do you have to be in a good shape to be able to
participate the basic course?
No you don´t. Your cardio will get better during
the course. We aim to keep the intensity of the
classes as equal as possible for the whole group.
Do you have to pay the course at the very first class?
No you don´t. The course charge will be collected after
a two or three classes. You can also negotiate about the
schedule of payment if needed.
Is the age limit (18 years) for the course absolute?
No it isn´t. We can take younger students also but it will
be dealt every time as an individual case.
Being under 18 years and getting into the course depends on
many factors like how well you are developed physically and
how much under 18 you are.
For example few months to six months is no problem but
if you are years from 18, it has to be considered more carefully.
The best way is always to contact instructors before the course
and discuss about the situation.
Am I being insured during the basic course?
What about after that? Does training charge
include insurance?
No and no. Every student trains with their own responsibility.
Scandinavian Defendo Finland offers however an insurance
that covers the different kind of accidents that might happen
during a defendo class.
Some insurance companies offer insurances that cover
also martial arts/self defence-training.
If you have an insurance, check if it covers martial
arts. Most ones unfortunately don´t cover.
The price of the insurance that the Scandinavian Defendo
Finland offers is much more cheaper than most insurances
from insurance companies. We also recommend strongly
to take the insurance already during the basic course or
at least after that. Price is cheap compared to expenses
if the accident happens..
Is Defendo suitable for women? And because
Defendo is very physical, is it suitable also
for older people?
Defendo suits very well also for women. We have women
trainers in all our groups and they have coped well with
the guys:)
Also older age is no problem. In our club the average age
of students is much closer to 30 than 20, with youngest student
being 17 years and several over 40.
And the situation is pretty much the same in other Finnish
Defendo clubs.
Every student trains within their own physical abilities.
If you have an old injury that prevents you from doing something
in the class, you either skip it totally or the instructor gives
you another replacing drill/technique to do.
In case of bigger injuries that restrict more your ability to
exercise, please contact instructors before attending the course.
I have shift work and won´t be able to attend
all classes. Is there any point for me to take
the course when I have to skip so many classes?
Shift work is no problem. We aim to hold every week classes
also either in the morning or afternoon. Those classes are
meant especially for those working in different shifts.
Of course classes are also open to all of those who are able
to attend all evening classes.
One of Defendo´s main principles is to train 80% of the time the
20% of the techiniques, which means that you get lot of
repetitions for the important basic techniques every month.
Therefore you don´t get so easily the feeling of being left
behind even you would miss lot of classes.
Also if you miss the Hard Target-test at the end of the basic course,
it will be held again later if lot of course students aren´t able to
attend it. The test can be also taken later with another course.
Our main idea is to train realistic self-defence and therefore
we don´t consider taking different level tests to be the
most important thing.
So if you miss classes and/or the HT-test, it won´t affect your
possibilites to continue training after the course.
Defendo´s principle of getting lot of repetitions for the important
techiniques and not learning new ones all the time, makes it a
good and easy discipline also for those who arent able to
attend classes so often.
What do you mean by saying that you have to
have a blameless background to be able
to attend the basic course?
We don´t accept people to the course if they have criminal
background or have convictions about felonies that we consider
not suitable for a person training defendo.
Such are felonies for example from drug or violent crimes.
Speeding tickets etc. aren´t mainly a problem.
Also known "bar-brawlers or troublemakers" aren´t welcome
to our course/club, even they wouldn´t have any criminal
record.
We don´t teach criminals or people who might use their
skills the wrong way outside the club´s gym.
If you aren´t sure could you attend the course because
of your background, it´s always wise to contact instructors
before the course. Things can be negotiated and of course
we consider every case invidually.
I have trained Defendo in another city. Do I have
to go through the basic course again if I want
to start training in your club?
Of course not. Naturally we accept basic course from another club.
Also if you have gone through the basic course but didn´t take the
test, it´s no problem. You can attend our classes and take the test
later.
At this moment we have two different groups for students who
continue training after the basic course.
So we can look invididually which group is better for someone
who comes to train in our classes in middle of the training season.
I have trained other martial arts before. Do I still
have to attend the basic course or can I start
training without the course, especially if at the
time there is no basic course going on or
beginning soon?
In this kind of situation we have to consider each case once again
invidially. If you have solid background from a discipline that
supports defendo training, then it might be possible to start
attending classes without the course.
What if I have no background from martial
arts and there´s no course beginning that time?
On these cases we prefer that you just have to wait for the next course.
In some cases it might be possible to start attending classes without
the course and without any background from martial arts.
If that would happen, usually you start attending first the morning
and daytime classes (since they have fewer students usally
participating) and you would also get some personal coaching
so you could learn the basics that give you the chance
to attend classes.
This way of getting in is in every means an exception and
requires also perseverance from the student, because his learning
process is probably much longer and slower this way than
through the basic course.
If I have to use my skills outside the gym, will I be
expelled from the course or the club? Can I defend
myself?
Everyone in Finland has a right to defend themselves, this right
is given through the Finland´s legislation.
If you have been involved in a self-defence situation and
survived it with the skills learned in our classes, then in no
situation you´re gonna be expelled from the club or the course.
Actually, it´s wonderful if the skills you have learned here,
made you survive the situation.
However, this doesn´t mean that skills are meant to be
tested outside the gym in purpose.
The techniques and the skills that you learn in the class are
only meant for self-defence situations.
And self-defence is actually a lot more than the just the
physical action, from that you will learn more in the
course and the classes.
Everytime you had to use physical force on someone
outside the gym, it would be a good idea to inform the
instructors as soon as possible.
Therefore we will hear about the situation straight from
the one who was in the situation. Usually when the incident
is heard through the "grapevine" the story has been altered
already many times.
Does the basic course include any theory lessons
for example about the legislation. Or the classes
in general?
Every basic course has a separate theory lesson, usually held within
the first couple of weeks of the course.
Later on the classes we also go through other theory about self-defence in general and other important issues involving it.
Usually we keep the whole package of self-defence (theory,practise,
mental training) in our mind all the time in the classes.
What kind of training gear I need for the basic
course? And what about after that?
In the basic course men will need a steel cup or some other groin
protection. For women they are not necessary, although we
recommend them also for women. Best protection give the ones
which are designed for martial arts but also those that are
meant for example to ice hockey or football are ok.
Heavy bag,- grappling or boxing gloves are recommended
already in the basic course, because we use quite a lot of focus
mits training.
Of course, we also do some punching without gloves from
time to time.
Gumshields are very recommended for the course, although they
are not mandatory. Dental injuries are very nasty and expensive
and gumshields are very cheap, so it´s very wise to invest a few
euros to them.
After the course you will need shinprotection, grappling/boxing-
gloves and head protection. Getting these isn´t necessary but it´s
recommended.
The most important task of the different protection is to guarantee
that you can train hard without injuries.
Still the most of the time we train with minimum protection and
therefore the safety in training is always the number one priority.
The training mat is meant for either wrestling or budo-shoes so
you cannot train on it with normal indoor shoes.
If you don´t have wrestling or budo-shoes, you can train with
bare feet.
We recommend getting wrestiling shoes at least after the basic
course, if not already during the course.
Can I buy training gear from the club´s gym?
We have a small storage of different gear and training clothes.
If students need a larger amount of them, we usually make
a bigger order in the club´s name, because most shops give
quite good discount for clubs.
You can find out the club´s storage situation from instuctors.
If you wish to buy your gear yourself, we recommend that
you consult us first before you purchase the product(s).
We have years of experience from different brands and
gear so we can tell you what is a good buy and what is not.
Is there a Gi or some other similar training
clothes in use in the classes?
In the basic course we don´t demand a unified
training clothes. Still, the training clothing has
to be within a good taste and reasonable for
the martial arts training.
After the course the students wear official
defendo training clothes meaning either long
trousers or shorts and t-shirt/sweatshirt/hoodie.
These products you can buy from the club´s gym
when they are needed. Again, if we don´t have the
products in our storage, we order more of them.
Is there any competition or sparring in defendo?
There is no competition in defendo, but sparring we do with
different rules. Contact training, like sparring, is very important
part of efficient and versatile self-defence.
I work in the field of security. Is defendo suitable
for me and are the techniques suitable for
the use of force-situations?
Defendo is very suitable for someone who works in the field of
security. Most of the techniques are suitable for the use of force
situations and actually lot of techniques are used all the time
among security personnel in real situations.
We also go through lot of different issues (like theory lessons)
that will probably be useful in your field of work.
How much is tradional fitness training (like pushups,situps etc.) made in the classes? Are classes more technique oriented or more physical with good sweat?
We aim to use as much of the time as possible to defendo-techniques
which usually covers also the warm-ups etc. That still doesn´t
mean that the classes won´t get you to sweat, on the contrary.
Of course at the beginning of the basic course we have to use more
different fitness exercises because it takes some weeks before we
have gone through enough techniques to be used for that.
Defendo techniques and different drills with them are very physical
itself and will definately increase the level of cardio for most.
Physical training will also strenghten the mental attitude of the
student and for that we especially use exercises we call
fighting spirit-drills.
Of course every class is little bit different and sometimes we may
have more fitness-oriented classes also.
We think that good cardio is very important factor also in self-
defence, so we aim to encourage our students to do extra
cardio/fitness training and in the classes we use quite often
different kind of fitness exercises that support the defendo training.
This kind of training is for example bodyweight training and
training with kettlebells.
Hard Target/Advanced-groups students have a possibility
of use our gym at their freetime and use different equipment
on the gym. More info about this you will receive from the
instructors.
Are there any seminars or camps in defendo?
Different seminars and/or camps are being held
about every month all over Finland. In our club
we have 3-5 times a year a guest instructor
holding a seminar. Topics of the seminars are
usually techinique oriented but also
kettelebell-seminars etc. are being held couple
of times in a year.
Information about national seminars you can find
at our events calendar.
There you will find links also to events held outside
our club.
Our students have participated regularly to
different seminars and events all around country
and abroad also.
We aim to organize some sorf of combined
transports to this kind of events etc.
About this kind of things you will be informed
in our member forum.
Also Scandinavian Defendo Finland and Defendo
Allicance homepages are good places to check
out upcoming events.
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