Self Defense - Taking Away Weapons

It's been awhile since I was able to post de to a leg injury that has kept me off my PC. Things are getting better but I still have to keep this one short.

We have an old saying in martial arts. If an opponent grabs you he has lost one or two weapons and you are at an advantage, If you hurt an attacker's arm or leg, you have taken away some of their weapons - the limbs needed to inflict damage on you.

We advocate the use of Mace pepper spray to take away an assailant's vision and disrupt their breathing. This gives you a distinct tactical advantage.

If you've ever worried about the wind blowing pepper spray back at you or the proximity of the attacker being such that particles will be release into the air and cause you be Maced as well, then worry not. Mace Pepper Gel is the best defense spray you can carry!

It shoots a high pressure gel with pinpoint accuracy up to 18 feet away and sticks to the attacker like bubble gum. They can't get it off and the pain will blind them or cause enough pain to allow you to get out of harm's way.

Mace pepper gel allows no ambient particles to escape into the air and is safe to use anywhere without risk of becoming affected or contaminated in any way. Get some ladies you'll be safer with it. See you again real soon!

See the effects of Mace on Police officers who train using it:

Kubotan - Self Defense Stick

Self defense for women should be as simple as possible. Martial arts training isn't realistic for most women. For those women who are trained martial artists, we respect you and your ability to pass this material on further than we can perhaps.

Today let's look at the kubotan, yawara or pocket stick. All these are synonymous for the same thing; an implement that is used in the hand to concentrate energy into a focused spot or pressure point. This causes acute pain that can give you the edge in getting away or in mounting an effective counter-attack.

Unlike a pepper spray that can temporarily blind an attacker and cause pain by use of OC pepper or tear gas. The pocket stick is for hand to hand encounters or in situations when you either don't have a defense spray, or can't employ it due to wind or other conditions.

We encourage the use of non-lethal self defense deterrents in conjunction with other methods of self defense or strictly on their own merit, they all have their place.

Building on our last post let's see a few more pocket stick techniques. See you soon!

Self Defense For Women - Foot Stomp

I hope you ladies had a chance to have a good look at the chart that was presented in the previous post. It details many vital areas that you can strike with your hands, elbows, feet and knees. Even more pain or injury can be inflicted with the use of a striking device such as the Kubotan.

The Kubotan concentrates your power and channels it to a small impact surface which greatly multiplies the force applied to the attacker's vital area. Martial arts practitioners have used the Kubotan or Yawara for centuries. Modern versions are very lightweight, discreet to carry and give you a lot of bang for your buck!

Today we'll look at another simple, yet effective way to disable an attacker without even chipping your beautiful manicures. Enjoy it - it's a great technique for your self defense toolbox. See you soon!

Women's Self Defense - Vital Striking Areas

We've been looking at some basic strikes, such as groin kicks, palm strikes, elbows and more.

The question arises: where are the best places to strike an attacker. Well there are lots of charts to direct you, but it's much easier to have a real live expert Instructor explain them to you.



If you get an opportunity to take a self defense seminar, take a friend and a notebook, you'll get loads of information to take home with you.

Enjoy this video. It's not "comprehensive" but it's a start. See you soon!

Self Defense For Women - Punch Or Slap

In our last post we looked at self defense against a haymaker or a roundhouse punch. This is a commonly used power shot, used to really knock a person's block off.

Today let's look at a simple self defense "counter" against a straight punch or slap. Again ladies, take note that you don't need to make a fist, which can hurt very badly if your hands aren't conditioned properly, to take out the attacker.

This video displays powerful strikes using the palm of the hand as well as knees, which can be launched to the groin, bladder area or stomach. These techniques can be practiced alone or with a partner.

If you don't carry a gun or a self defense deterrent such as Mace pepper spray or tear gas models, then you may want to try these out. See you soon!

Women's Self Defense - Defending A Punch

Yesterday, we were discussing defenses against sucker punches or "haymakers." Ladies be aware that you don't need to break a fingernail to strike your assailant.

I have included a video below that most closely describes the best method to use. As a seasoned veteran, I use an even more sophisticated variation of this "stop hit" method, called mirroring or shadowing. This to move as your opponent moves and not directly into the line of fire.

You have to be very good to do shadowing or mirroring techniques, so I didn't include any video that shows it off.

For now, you can see that simply catching the striking arm with a circular block, sets up palm strikes, knee and elbows.

Try these with a friend if possible and do the movement slowly - no need to walk into a big punch until you've trained for awhile okay?

Stay safe and we'll see you soon!

Common Sense Self Defense

I was traveling home and a Police car came flying past me! I wondered where he was going in such a hurry?

I arrived at home shortly afterward and walking inside, I found my wife on the phone with a friend who has a police scanner. A 19 year old youth was killed in an auto accident, just moments earlier. Now I know where that police car was headed.

I thought about how painful this Christmas would be for the family of the youth who lost his/her life. What a terrible blow this holiday season would be for so many years to come for the family.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope that you'll all be careful in your travel and in your celebrations. Common sense self defense dictates that you be aware and if you drink, please don't drive. See you in 2010!

Alternative Self Defense For Women

I've studied several traditional martial arts for my entire life and there's always something you can find to gain an edge. I have handguns, knives, rattan and steel batons, long & short swords, pepper spray and a stun gun.

I can relate to women who feel vulnerable to attack. As I age, I find that certain skills that I possessed are diminishing. I can't out-muscle a young strong athlete like I did 25 years ago, I must get an "edge" and divert his attention or catch him in an unprepared moment and then deliver a telling blow.

I purchased a 975K volt Stun Master Hot Shot stun gun a couple of years ago for my father who is now 90 years old. Of course my sons and I had to give each other a few poke with it first..ha-ha! I must say that it delivers instant pain to an arm, causing it to release and fly back. After a couple of 1 second bursts on the arm, even my wildest son, who's down with anything, wouldn't take a third hit to the arm. I took 2 on the arm and one quick burst to the abdomen.

Let's say that was all I ever wanted in regard to testing that little monster. The body shock made all of my abdominal and chest muscles contract violently and I recall thinking that "this must be what a heart attack feels like."

We gave Grandpa his Hot Shot stun gun for Christmas and my youngest son - a great sport - took a few more pokes and then called it quits. These things really work.

I purchased one for my car's glovebox. I can think of no better way to remove an arm that's reaching in to grab me than to give the attacker a burst from the Hot Shot.

My batteries have lasted for over a year and it's still crackling like the day I ordered it. They are replaceable at stores like Wal-Mart or Radio Shack. They're easy to find, just take the old ones in and they'll find one that matches. (we got Grandpa some new ones a couple of months back - just to be sure)

The Hot Shot has a lifetime warranty (that's very cool) and is an awesome close quarters self defense tool. They're the size of a pack of cigarettes, have a safety switch with a red LED light to let you know it's armed, and the activation button sits right on top of the palm sized, ergonomic design.

Get one for your glovebox, pocket or purse. You'll be glad you did. See you soon!

Defending 1 or 2 Handed Frontal Grabs

Women's self defense doesn't have to be "hard" or employing the use of a lot of physical strength. If you read my techniques for escaping grabs in the previous post you should have that idea already.

In today's segment we're going to watch a young lady employ a slight shifting movement of her position and employ her hands in deflecting movements, known as parries.

Parrying an attacker will usually give you a nice edge, since the assailants momentum will cause them to become unbalanced and sometimes lead them to a different direction than they intended. This allows you to push them away, strike them or simply make a quick escape.

I hope you enjoy this video. It is short but you know what they say about a picture right? We'll be back with you soon to display a couple of other scenarios that tie into the one you're watching today. See you soon!

Defending Rear / Side Grabs

We're coming at you today with some more grab defenses. Ladies you know that the first thing a man or woman who means to accost you is going to do right? Grab you!

Let's keep working on our self defense against grabs. I am showing you my personal instructions (hard to do in text) by instructing you to click on the words "grab defenses" in the first sentence. That will take you to a lot of great information that you can practice on your own and then try out on a willing subject. Better yet, get a friend, spouse, sister or brother to these on.

Remember these are very effective techniques and to go slowly until the movements begin to flow naturally and there's no thought involved. You are responsible for staying in control and not harming your training partner!

I'll be back in a couple of days with some videos from other ladies who will illustrate their defense against grabs from the rear and the side. See you soon!

Women's Self Defense - Hair Grab

In my last two posts I've given a link to my article on the best hair grab defense and then another, with a video on a hair grab defense.

IMO, grabs are the "frontline" of self defense that women all women should know. I want to show two more videos on the hair grab before we move along to other grabs. I'll just post these final two, a rear hair grab first and then a defense against a frontal hair grab in a few days.

Please be advised that the link I posted 3x's down the page, covers a hair grab from any direction. So let's get these last two hair grab defenses under our belts so we can move along. See you soon ladies - don't forget to practice!

Women's Self Defense Against Hair Grabs

Most women, (but not all), have plenty of hair to grab in a confrontation. I'd suspect that at some time in a woman's life she's been grabbed by the hair or grabbed another's hair.

Hopefully, this has been in play as a child. All too often, women are seen in TV news clips or on the web, at sites like YouTube, fighting and being thrown around because their assailant has grabbed a fistful of that lovely head of hair.

Wife beaters and other male attackers will also use the hair grab to control their victim and it's quite effective! I am old enough to have worn long hairstyles (yup I'm a dinosaur) and I learned the most effective hair grab defense over 30 years ago. It ALWAYS works, with one caveat.

You must have you senses about you. That is to say, you must be keenly self aware and ready to move instantly. If you can manage that attitude about your self defense, you'll never be grabbed by the hair and tossed around again.

There are other things one can do when grabbed by the hair, but this is the most natural and effective defense against a hair grab that I've ever learned, practiced and taught.

Follow the link above and read the material carefully. I promise it'll be worth your time. See you soon!

Escaping Grabs - Self Defense

I'd like to show you some very easy escapes from grabs today. We'll look at some video on a frontal choke and I'm including some links to articles I've written on escapes from hand grabs that any woman can easily employ.

These maneuvers only take a little bit of practice and the body mechanics are guaranteed to work every time. So watch the video closely and remember what you've seen, then read the enclosed article links. I spent a lot of time on them and I know they always work - for anyone.

We'll spend more time on escapes on our next post. See you back here again soon!

Establishing Your Base For Self Defense

Having a strong "base" or stance is important in delivering powerful and effective strikes in self defense scenarios.

Used not only for delivering strikes, but when you are well balanced and strong in your stance, you'll find that a solid base will assist tremendously in any type of block, kick or escape maneuver.

Just like the old adage says, "before you build your house - build a strong foundation." We'll watch a video on the horse stance. This is the first stance taught to martial arts practitioners. The meat and potatoes so to speak, of foundational training. It isn't hard and with a bit of practice, you can have a strong foundation too.

Give it a couple of minutes and you'll see for yourself what it looks like and how to begin building your arsenal of techniques from this position. See you soon!

Fighting Back To Survive

Hopefully, any ladies who have stumbled upon this blog, have taken a few minutes to read a few posts and maybe watched a video or two.

In our last post "Self Defense For Women - Striking Back" we discussed that "when an opponent touches or grabs you - they have opened a target area that you can easily strike."

We were also treated to a video by Dr. Melissa Soalt, aka Dr. Ruthless, who encourages women to tap into their primal instincts to survive. I encourage you all to click on her name, visit her website and get to know her.

Attackers can easily have the tables turned against them if you are prepared to tap into your survival instinct and stop thinking "I can't do that." Of course you can!

How many times have we read or heard stories of women lifting an automobile to free a husband or child? Think about it. You have the power within you to accomplish amazing feats.

A woman knows the intention of her assailant right? Ordinarily, the attacker will not know YOUR intentions. For too long, it's been said to comply or just go along with an attacker and let them have their way. This is wrong. This thinking gets women beaten, raped and worse.

You can and will be able to withstand an attack and survive if you prepare yourself!

See you soon....

Self Defense for Women - Striking Back

Dwelling on the concepts that "usually" hold true, we've looked at them all except for one which is really a summing up of the four easy concepts that we mentioned in our post - Self Defense Basics. There are many other truisms but we'll look at this one today and remember - all of them are covered in the videos we've shared.

"When an opponent touches or grabs you - they have opened a target area that you can easily strike."

We usually teach beginners that every limb is a weapon. We start off with 4 - "right and left hand," plus "right and left foot." Within weeks, we expand to 8 - including both knees and both elbows. This is really quite easy ladies. You don't need to have hardened knuckles to strike an opponent to the head. A sharp strike with the "heel" of your palm will cause adequate damage to make a fight of things, or escape and get away.

You feet will mostly be shod with shoes of some type, so no worries there either. Elbows and knees are both devastating weapons when brought into play and need no conditioning to render an attacker harmless. In self defense training for women, anything goes and anything is a weapon.

Yes, traditional - hardcore martial artists condition their bodies and all of the striking surfaces they employ. This isn't necessary for you and should only be considered if you would decide to pursue that avenue of self defense discipline in the future.

Let's take another look at a video which illustrates what I've just mentioned. Remember all of the previous posts and videos are useful in learning these simple concepts!

Simple Self Defense for Women

Continuing the concepts that "usually" hold true, let's look again at this one:

"If your opponent touches or grabs you - they have one less weapon in play than you do."

I have a video below that will display how true this is. If you watch this video you'll see that the attacker has committed to an action and taken some of his weapons out of play.

There are multitudes of strikes that are safe for a woman to employ that won't hurt, while inflicting tremendous pain on an assailant.

Back with more, very soon!

Self Defense for Women: Concepts

Today we continue our foundational series of simple self defense:

"If you are attacked, that opponent has committed to a course of action."

"The course of action that an opponent has chosen can be exploited."

In my 3+ decades of martial arts training, fighting and observing, I've noted that counter-strikes produce the most devastating knock-outs or destructions of target areas.

So what does that have to do with the concept quoted above?

That's simple. If you're aware and a very keen observer, you'll notice that when an attacker commits to a course of action, their body's momentum becomes exploitable.

If an opponent attacks - you have many options to allow that momentum to lead them:

Into empty space ( rotate your centerline - causing them to miss )

Into empty space (step out of the way)

Into empty space (push them down)

Into a counter punch / counter kick ( watch the videos I've already posted again)

These are very subtle self defensive movements that can produce dramatic results.

They can be quite easy to learn in the privacy of your own home or with a friend who is "like minded" and would like to train with you occasionally .

Please read this again and watch the videos again for ideas. In a day or two, I'll post another video and discuss the next concept!

Don't miss it and NEVER become discouraged. Remember, anyone can enhance their self defense skills if they want to!

Self Defense - Removing Targets

If you're just joining us, I outlined some simple self defense concepts that generally hold true. The first one was" "The easiest way to avoid being struck is to remove the target."

I've posted two videos that display how simple movements will allow you to avoid punches, kicks, grabs and various attacks by simply taking a small step, or turning your body. In self defense training for women, we want to make things as simple and as subtle as possible. That's why I asked you to watch the two videos and disregard all of the blocking and counter-punching techniques.

My intention was for you to see how little it takes to make someone's attack. "miss the mark" and fall short of harming you.

The gentlemen in the videos were trained fighters, I am as well, but I can't stress enough, that you don't have to move as much as they demonstrated, in order for your evasive movements to work successfully.

So ladies, by staying loose and keeping your wits about you - you can train all by yourself if you care to, by just practicing a few stepping movements, as well as rotating your trunk or "centerline" to disrupt an attacker and cause him/her to be unable to hit you.

In my martial arts training, many years ago, I was taught that if a punch missed you by an inch - that it was the same as missing you by a mile. Many women have never seen the great Muhammad Ali stand right in front of very large, muscular boxers and never be touched by their punches, as they came crashing toward him from every conceivable angle.

He's often called "the greatest" and he earned that reference, in part, because he was almost "impossible to hit," in the prime of his career. To watch him slip punches is comparable to watching any great artist ply their trade. Watching him avoid punches, taught me more than any other fighter, how easy it could be to move out of harm's way.

In our next post we'll continue to build on our study of self defense by exploring the next concepts:

"If you are attacked, that opponent has committed to a course of action."

"The course of action that an opponent has chosen can be exploited."

"If your opponent touches or grabs you - they have one less weapon in play than you do."

"When an opponent touches or grabs you - they have opened a target area that you can easily strike."

We'll have commentary and videos and spend quite awhile on these concepts. I hope you'll stick with us and share this blog with your friends.

Your comments are welcomed and my email address is located in my profile!

Self Defense Tips - Defending the Center Line

Here we are again with another video that illustrates how to protect yourself from strikes to the body.

These attacks (kicks, punches, pokes, grabs) are usually directed toward the "center line" of your body.

You can watch with your audio on or off, but focus on the movements that remove or turn the centerline away.

Disregard all counterstrikes or mention of them. Just concentrate on the ease of stepping out of the way or preferably, "turning the body" to move your centerline out of the way of incoming strikes.

I'd like to mention that the movements displayed are "more than necessary" to defend your centerline. It only take a few inches of movement in the directions illustrated to avoid being struck, or at least dissipate the energy of an incoming blow to your body's center line.

Please keep that in mind - the video below, is geared toward advanced martial arts students but is applicable to women who are interested in learning self defense.

Please enjoy it, think about it and watch it again. Maybe even stand up and try to imitate some of the movements?

Thanks for stopping in. I'll be back soon!