A student asked about guillotine defenses if the attacker pulled guard. I showed the tripod/pants off technique.

Then we got to talking about the clothes we wear, and how if I was wearing something basketball shorts, I’d actually be taking off my shorts (and maybe even my underwear, depending on how tight the opponent’s guard was).

It reminded me of I had a conversation with someone else about how he would never wear shorts like that. He carried a knife and sometimes a gun, so he needed something more substantial.

While getting into a fight is very unlikely, we still train jiu-jitsu for self-defense. But if we were doing that as insurance, shouldn’t something as simple as wearing clothes be looked at the same way?