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The top 4 Self Defense Techniques are not what you think they are
The top 4 self-defense techniques aren’t some awesome kick, punch, or hold. The first three come in the form of your preparedness to defend yourself. The last one matches who your, what you are willing to practice, and what you can do for your self-defense.
We are all different with different lives. We will all face different attackers if we ever have to defend ourselves. Going back to the 80’s movie “WarGames” quote by the computer at the end is “the only way to win is not to play.”
This quote goes for self-defense as much as it does for global nuclear war. There is no way to truly win a self-defense situation. You will come away with something you don’t want. You will lose something. If you fight and disable your attacker easily there will be a law enforcement inquiry and you will lose half a day’s time just trying to answer questions (at the least). There may be a formal investigation and you might have to go to trial to justify your actions.
If you let the attacker win, you could lose everything up to and including your life. There is no “winning” a self-defense situation. You will lose something if you are truly defending yourself.
Here are the top 4 Self Defense Techniques:
- Mind Set
- Situational Awareness
- Be a Hard Target
- Fighting Skills
Let me explain each one:
Mind Set
Your mindset is the top self-defense technique. You can think of your mindset as three easy things; It can happen to you, Criminal use of violence, and Never give up.
It Can Happy to You
The news is full of people every night that thought it couldn’t happen to them… and then it did. The first thing you need to understand to get the right mindset is that it can happen to you at any time and in any place.
Crime and violence happen everywhere in our world. There isn’t a place on this earth that is truly safe where violence can’t happen. Just watch the news and see. Violence happens in your home in the form of home invasion robberies or worst. Violence happens in airport secure areas (there was a mass shooting back in 2013 at LAX). Violence happens in “nice neighborhoods”. Violence happens at the White House (person shot outside the White House in 2011).
Once you except that it can happen to you, you can start to prepare for it.
Criminal Use of Violence
Criminals use violence in a way most people don’t want to or can’t understand.
Violence is a way of life for a lot of criminals. They have to compulsion about using it, anyone. Lots of them use it on each other constantly.
Violence is what some criminals do and they learned it the hard way by doing it for years. You going to a weekend seminar about BJJ will not let you understand the kind of violence criminals use.
Walt Rauch in his great book Real World Survival (review here) called them “other humans”. They don’t think like you or I. Criminals don’t mind hurting you. Some of them like it. Criminals don’t do sympathy or mercy. They are like a cockroach to you. You don’t like it but won’t go out of your way to kill it unless it’s somewhere it shouldn’t be.
Criminals look at you like a cockroach. Criminals’ only thought to whether they will let you or let you live is will it help them or hurt them when the police come.
The best movie monologue of how criminals think was done by Jamie Foxx in Baby Driver right before they rob an armored car.
Violence is something you have to understand and understand how to use if you really want to master your self-defense.
Never Give Up!
Winston Churchill said it the best so many years ago: “Never give up. Never give up. Never give up!”
Once you go down a self-defense path you must continue for ever. If you give up after you start the truly evil criminals are going to kill you.
Once you start to defend yourself you much never give up.
If you just keep going, sooner or later the other person will have enough or you will inflict enough damage on the other person to stop them.
Just don’t give up. If you give up the fight, you probably give up your life.
Situational Awareness
Once you have the mindset, next is SA (Situational Awareness). You have to know what is going on around you, in your neighborhood, your city, and the country.
To be as aware as possible it starts before you leave your house. What is the most probable violence you will face in the areas you are going to?
If you are going to church this Sunday, what violence could you face on the way there and back and at the church? You may think you are safe at church or that the only thing you might have to worry about is a mass shooting.
The truth is that no place is safe. Churches have the same level of violence as the community they are in plus the chance of a mass shooting. You should prepare for all of them.
And, don’t forget, road rage on the way there and back. Your awareness should contain everything and the probability of it happening. So don’t forget, most people are more likely to be in a car accident on the way to church than have to face violence at the church.
Once you are out and about, look up at the people and things around you.
Criminals are interviewing you all the time to see if they want to victimize you or your vehicle. If you are walking faster, with your head up, and looking at the people that you pass, a criminal is less likely to choose you.
If you can see an attack coming, they are almost comical. If you never see it coming, the first thing you will know is when someone uses violence against you.
Pay attention, it could save your life.
Be a Hard Target
This is simply deterrence. What you wear, how you move, what you observe, where you go, the routes you use, what you have visible in your car, what your home looks like are all parts of whether a criminal will choose you during the interview process.
The richer you look, the higher the score for a criminal. Maybe you don’t want to wear that $10,000 necklace or watch to Walmart to pick up eggs. Be aware of what you wear says where you are from and how much money you have.
Dress appropriately to not stand out where ever you are going. I dress differently when I go to Walmart than when I’m going to a fundraiser black-tie dinner. I try not to stand out in either place.
Your vehicle and the way you drive can hurt you. The more aggressive you drive, the more likely you are to be in an accident and the more likely you are to be in a road rage incident. People are killed and injured all the time in road rage. Don’t be one.
Does your vehicle fit into the surroundings?
Do you have a predictable schedule and route?
Do you have good locks and a security system at home?
Look at yourself like you wanted to rob you or kill you. How would you do it? Where are you vulnerable? When are you most vulnerable?
Start fixing those vulnerabilities one at a time.
Fighting Skills
Fighting skills are last on purpose. The only way to win is not to play. If you are forced to play, you have to win.
Fighting skills are going to be different for everyone. You’re age, willingness to train, carry tools, the area you live in, and your physical and mental health will all play big into what are the best skills for you.
Once you start getting skills, the tools will present themselves. Of course, I think a firearm is the best tool for self-defense, but not everyone can carry one everywhere every day because of legalities.
As part of learning to fight, learn what is legal in your area, where you work, and where you travel so that you can choose the best tools and skills for you.
Fighting is a last resort. You have failed at everything else and now you must defend yourself. Get better at all the other things first.
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Stay Safe,
Ben