subject: Do You Want To Be A Real Self Defense Expert? Make Sure You Have These 3 Things In Your Arsenal! [print this page] Even to a self defense expert, a self defense situation is a dangerous place to be. It's not the same as a controlled fight in a sports arena. There are no rules, no referees to insure fairness, and the attacker is not your friend!
Real experts know that you must have more than a few "cool" tricks up your sleeve. If you're going to survive and make it home in one piece, you're going to have to be able to do more than punch, grab, or kick your way to safety.
Here are the 3 self defense weapons that you must have in your arsenal. They are not conventional weapons like knives, guns, or some fancy martial art stick. But, without them, you will be limited to physically fighting when you could have had so many more choices.
The 3 secret skills, or unconventional "weapons," owned by any real self defense expert are:
1) Techniques -
These are the physical aspects for dealing with a self defense attack that you probably associate with self defense. This area includes the strikes, kicks, restraints, and other mechanical lessons that you might learn in an given program. Unfortunately, without the other two areas, this can be seen as no different than fighting.
2) Tactics - These are the "ways" that you decide to apply any given technique. For example, if we are avoiding an incoming punch, we might drop back and away from the attack, we might shift to the side, or even hold our ground and do a conventional blocking action.
Tactics can also be used before the attacker throws his punch. As he moves in we might blade our body - profiling it to him so as to remove our targets and make it more difficult for him to get at them. Or, we might shift toward a pole, wall, or piece of furniture - positioning ourselves in such a way that, when he attacks, we can use the item as a barrier or aid in our defense.
3) Strategies - These are plans and predetermined decisions that we will carry out under pressure, when we don't have the time to decide. Often, due to all of the options that students learn, they have a difficult time deciding what to do when they find themselves right in the middle of an attack. By taking the time to think about some of the different situations that you might find yourself in, you can come up with a plan of action ahead of time. That way, should this type of incident occur, you already know how you will deal with it in the moment.
An example of this could be that:
I'm walking down the street and witness someone being attacked. I have already predetermined that if there are only one or two attackers, and no perceivable weapons are involved - then I will step in and help the victim. If the situation is different, say with more attackers or with weapons, then I will take up a vantage point a safe distance from the situation and call 9-1-1 - all the while observing so that I can be a good witness should things go to trial.
Each of these areas or expanded perspectives of self-defense allows you to deal with a wider range of incidents. Together, they also give you more options for successfully handling any given self-defense situation that you might encounter.
