There's Now A Martial Art Specifically For Selfie Stick Users

Protect yourself as you pout.
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oneinchpunch via Getty Images

Selfie-defense has arrived in Russia.

Martial arts experts in Moscow have devised a new fighting technique specifically for selfie stick users, according to reports.

The discipline is dubbed “mpd-fight” (monopod fighting), reports the BBC.

It aims to give tourists who get too caught up with snapping the perfect shot of themselves in front of an attraction the key skills to fend off potential muggers.

And it’s apparently so easy to learn that it can be picked up in five simple classes, M24 is cited as saying.

The exact methods used by the fighters who go on the crash-course have not been revealed.

We're presuming it's not as simple as smashing the robber in the face with the pole.

But bosses at the M-Profia martial arts center reportedly came up with the idea after seeing how increasing numbers of selfie stick-using sightseers were being targeted for their expensive smartphones or GoPro-style action cameras.

The introduction of the course comes four months after Russia’s Interior Ministry launched a “safe selfie” campaign.

World Leaders Taking Selfies
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A student takes a selfie with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House Talent Show in Washington, D.C., on May 20, 2014. (credit:Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel poses for a selfie with Afghan politician Shukria Barakzai at the German Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 16, 2015. (credit:Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images)
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Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for a selfie with teenage athletes in Cheboksary, Russia, on Oct. 9, 2014. (credit:Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images)
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel poses for a selfie with a Syrian migrant at the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for migrants on Sept. 10, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. (credit:Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
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British Prime Minister David Cameron, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt and U.S. President Barack Obama take a selfie at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Dec. 10, 2013. (credit:Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)

It aimed to stop people from taking selfies on top of trains, on highways or railway tracks.

A government-produced leaflet detailed how people could still take beautiful shots but without getting hurt, reports the Moscow Times.

"Millions of likes on social media are not worth (losing) your health or life," an accompanying statement warned.

Numerous public venues, including many museums, have banned the use of selfie sticks in recent months.

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