Action Against Violence

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The best things in self defense, I have always believed, come in twos.  For instance, successfully defending onesself against almost any attacker requires a critical nexus, or connection, between (1) the brain, and (2) the body.  Yes, it is our body that is our delivery system, but unless we first engage our mind we will likely end up either frozen like the proverbial deer in the headlights, or at best flailing our limbs at the bad guy with no plan of action, no direction, no nothing, until all energy and hope lapses into nothingness.

There are other Terrible Twos, but none as critical as the mind to body connection.  Call it The Psyche of Survival, or Mental Conditioning, or Spinal Tuning,  whatever you wish, but make no mistake, in order to activate your physical powers when you need them the most, you must first get your noggin into the fight.  So, you might be asking, how do we do that?

SPINAL TUNING YOUR MIND & BODY TO FIGHT WITH MAX EFFECTIVENESS

1. Be aware of your surroundings, of other people in the environment, and of subtle and not so subtle changes.
2. Assess yourself.  Assess others.  How are you feeling?  What are your gut feelings telling you?  Is there someone around you who shouldn’t be?  Who doesn’t “fit?”
3. Anticipate.  Ask yourself what you would do if such and such happened?  Have a plan of action.
4. Maintain a general state of (360 degree) awareness.
5. Visualization.  Every day or so sit in a relaxed state and visualize yourself in a critical, perhaps life or death situation and “see” yourself fighting an attacker and prevailing, or at least surviving the attack.  Visualization, believe it or not, is the same as experiencing a real situation.
6. Teach yourself to breathe.  In order for your mind and body to connect into real and dynamic action you must send oxygenated blood to the brain and throughout your system.  Teach yourself to breathe as the first step in any physical reaction to attack.
7. Positive Self Talk.  If you believe you cannot defend yourself, you are already outnumbered and overpowered.  Give yourself positive self talks with personal self messages such as:

•  ”I can breathe and empower myself if attacked.”
• “I will explode into action when first touched by the attacker.”
• “I have the ability and the skills to hit open and vulnerable targets on the attacker.”
• “I have the ability and the skills to do whatever it takes to defeat an attacker so I can go home to my loved ones.”
• Etc.

The Psyche of Survival is more than just a mind set.  It is a belief system that you can use to maximize your power against any bad guy.

In the next post:  The Terrible Twos, Part II (”Orbits Of Death”)

Until then, Stay Safe

Hammer

Easier said than done,  I’m sure, but “Hell no, I won’t go!” is my mantra for today’s post because that’s the attitude you have to adopt if you ever find yourself in a situation where an attacker – especially a sexual predator – is trying to physically force you to go with him from where he found you – what we call the Initial Crime Scene - to where he will have all the time to do with you what he wants to without the possibility of being interrupted by police or witnesses – what we in the business call the (isolated) Secondary Crime Scene.

You have to find a way to stay in the initial crime scene, dudettes.  That’s all there is to it.

Okay, dude, I can almost hear you asking, I got it.  I’m tracking you.  Really.  But how do I do that?  I mean, I say, “Hell, no, pervert, I aint going. I’m staying right here where you jumped me, ” but he’s twice my size, as strong as the economy in ‘92, and, on top of that, he’s hitting me and choking me and I got nothing left—-?

THE CHOICE IS ALWAYS YOURS!

I still insist you try everything you can to stop him from dragging you off to his car or van or into whatever ally or woods he has in mind.  Simply put, if you go, chances are you aint coming back.

Unless you Go With a Plan.  But that’s a subject for my next post.

The choice is always up to you.  If you believe you will only stay alive as long as you allow yourself to be moved toward the bad guy’s secondary scene, then allow yourself to be moved (once again, see the next exciting post), but there is no choice about this – never, ever give up; always look for an opening and escape route, a vulnerable target!

INITIAL CRIME SCENE TACTICS

Do whatever it takes to keep you butt where you are.  Accept the fact that you will be injured, maybe even seriously.  Self Defense is not an injury-free activity!  Even severely injured, if you stay where you want to be (and away from where he wants you to be), there is a good chance someone, including police and emergency medical help, will find you.

• BE OBSERVANT.  If you see a suspicious looking person eyeing you up and/or walking toward you more intently than you would prefer (trust your gut instincts), run or move away, using barricades in the environment to separate you from him.  Move toward other crowds, other safe-looking people.
• BE LOUD, A “JUMPING BEAN OF TROUBLE.”   Predators are not looking for a fight.  They are on the hunt for ”victims” only.  And victims are pretty damn easy to spot because they don’t move, don’t hardly say anything.  Victims can be moved easily and quickly and, even when there are other people close by, nodody notices ’cause the abduction is performed so quickly.  What the predator wants more than anything is to Strike and Fly.  Hit their target – you – paralyze that target with fear & indecision – and get the hell out of Dodge City as quickly as possible before a witness can interfere or take down a license number, before noise and screams can draw police intervention.   Acting like fricking Lady Gaga on stage – loud, obscene, profane, gaudy, full of unstoppable energy, attention grabbing – is a big step toward influencing the miscreant to break off his attack and seek out another victim.
• FIND SOMETHING TO GRAB ONTO.  You can turn a calamity into salvation by finding something in the environment to hold on to.  Women have save themselves by wrapping both arms and legs around a telephone pole as abductors were trying to drag her into a van.  The men beat on her for a while, but, after only a few minutes drove off in fear that the woman’s screams would somehow alert police or others on the scene.  Trees, bicylcles, bed posts, large garbage cans and other stationary or near-stationary objects can keep you from being dragged off for several minutes, perhaps buying you enough time to cause the attacker to give up the hunt.
• DROP, LOCK AND ROLL – GRAB ON TO THE ATTACKER.  By quickly and suddenly turning toward a (startled) attacker and diving toward his legs, head down, you can often force a bad guy to lose his grip on you.  Quickly latch on to his legs and ankles, wrap yourself tightly around him and hold on for dear life.  This is a last ditch tactic, for sure, but it can also cause precious seconds, maybe minutes to tick off the Bad Guy’s “internal clock,” cause panic because you not only are delaying the abduction – and delay can be fatal to him - but you are making it difficult for him to move you to that waiting isolated and secluded spot he has in mind.
• DROP & ROLL.  Another last ditch tactic – when all else fails, or, more likely, when you can think of nothing that works in your “conventional self defense arsenal,” try this unique surprise tactic.  As he has hold of your wrist or arms and is pulling you forcefully toward his car or another target area, go with the pull and allow the bad guy to build momentum and speed until you think the time is right then drop, quickly and suddenly and go straight down, creating a powerful shift in balance.  In some cases the bad guy has fallen and in some cases the sudden shift and fall has caused the bad guy injury.  If he is still standing and still has hold of you, drive a foot as hard as possible into his groin or into his knee.  Roll away as soon as he relinquishes his grip as if your shirt is on fire and you are trying to extinguish it.
• PULL AWAY AND DRIVE FORWARD.  There are literally hundreds of surprise moves you can make when the bad guy is trying to pull you into a car, bedroom, alley, but one I particularly like is to “feed into his expectations and then force him to throw them back up.”  What I mean by that is the bad guy is pulling you and he expects you to try to pull away, even though he knows there is no way you can win that battle.  Your first move, then, is to feed in to his expectations by pulling away, against his strength.  Then, now that he is overconfident that you are his, allow him to pull you violently toward him – which he will every time – and, then, relax your body and flow rapidly into his Center-Line Targets, and, before the surprised predator can do anything to defend himself you are kneeing or twisting his groin, driving a forehead into his nose, palm-heel striking his face, and you are mauling him and not stopping until the threat is oover!
• UP TO YOU.  I exaggerate not when I say there are hundreds of other ways you can stay in the Initial Crime Scene.  Your homework assignment:  Think about it & write as many Initial Crime Scene Strategies as you can think of.  Get your brain working on it so your body will do the rest, if the time ever comes.

Until the next post, stay safe.

Hammer

As I’ve written in many of my posts, the element of surprise, is nothing short of essential in the art – if I can call it that – of defending oneself against the predatory sexual assailant (women) and criminally violent attacker (women, men, boys & girls).  Double or triple that when dealing with an attacker who is larger, stronger, faster, meaner and more prepared to destroy you without a second thought and meaner than you.

 

It is an inarguable truism, far as I am concerned, that, without the use of surprise, you’ve got two chances against the criminally-dedicated criminal attacker.  Cremated or conventional burial?

 

THE 3 LEVELS OF SURPRISE,

 

I separate surprise into three basic categories.

 

1. “TACTICAL SURPRISE.”  Tactical Surprise is an innovative and pre-planned response to whatever the Bad Guy throws at you.  Tactical Surprise is a scary and unpleasant undertaking because, usually in order to invoke this tactic, the Bad Guy would have to have at least invaded your PSZ (Personal Safety Zone, within 3’), and, more likely to have laid hands upon you (initiated “first touch”).  Tactical Surprise depends also upon your ability to think under severe (life or death) stress.  The intended victim must be thinking clearly under the most debilitating circumstances (Survival Stress floods the mind and body with stress hormones, initiating Sympathetic Nervous System activation, causing debilitating events, such as perceptual narrowing, visual difficulties, decision-making problems, and a truckful of physiological and psychological changes).

 

•  Ergo, in order to employ Tactical Surprise, you must always commit yourself to Breathe Tactically (more on this in future posts); to use “First Touch (by the Bad Guy)” as a trigger to explode violently, and to commit yourself to prevail!
• You must also understand what the Bad Guy anticipates you, as his chosen victim, will do when attacked suddenly and spontaneously.
• In order to be able to carry off Tactical Surprise, you must have a Plan of Action in mind before the Bad Guy even approaches.

 

• WHAT SURPRISES THE BAD GUY?
  • Immediate Action.
  • Loud & determined vocalization.
  • Logical Movement.
  • Target Focused Counterattack (instead of hapless “slapping” eyes-closed action of a frightened victim).
  • True Anger.

 

• What exactly is Tactical Surprise?
  • It is any type of countermeasure where the intended victim employs Survivor Tactics rather than those of what the attacker expects out of his intended victim.
  • More likely than not, the Bad Guy has attacked his ‘victim” because he expects that “victim” to respond in such a way and in such a manner that will prove the least amount of resistance to said attack. 
  • Meaning, Tactical Surprise can be as simple as this: 

-        If an attacker with superior strength is using that strength to pull you toward a car, bedroom, isolated spot, whatever, surprise him by initially pulling against his power, which is exactly what he expects, then, at the right moment, use his power to pull you hard into his center-line targets, and, before he knows what is happening, violently and quickly drive your knee into his groin, temple into his nose, etc.   

-       If an attacker grabs your wrist with a powerful hand, use a conventional Wrist Release, which will come as no surprise to the miscreant, but – and here’s the dealio – if and when he re-grabs your wrist(s), it’s time for invoking Tactical Surprise.  Allow the Bad Guy to hold your wrist – the tighter the better – and, in your mind (I have actually said this out loud to an idiot attacker), say “thank you, Bad Guy,” because the attacker now has no use of that  hand, or, if he has grabbed you with two hands, he has no ability to block what you are about to do next, which should be a vicious front kick to the side of his knee, or a straight kick to his groin, followed up nicely. 

-       If the Bad Guy invades your PSZ & is verbally threatening you, maybe brandishing a boulder-sized fist toward you, put up both hands, palms facing the Bad guy, in the universal gesture of “please don’t hit me; I don’t want to fight!”  This is what the Bad Guy expects you to do as his targeted victim & by doing this you invoke a sense of security in the attacker, which will be short lived as you drive both hands forward and up into his face, driving it back on his neck and following that up with knees into his groin, hammer fists into the face, etc. 

 

In the next post, we cover the next two levels of Surprise.

Until then, Stay safe.

 

Hammer

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE THE GRAIN OF SAND, PART II

You want to Be the Grain of Sand?  That miniscule grain, that, when resting among a million other grains in the palm of someone’s hand, is virtually meaningless.  Meaningless and even useless, that is, until it is flung into the eye of an attacker.  Flung well by a person willing to attack a bad guy’s universal weakness, – injury, that is – because, as I said in my January 28 post, everybody has different strengths & it is hard to discern what those strengths are, but we all break the same.

 

Metaphors, allegories, and mental images such as Be the Grain of Sand are swell.   They are an integral part of any good self defense instructor’s repertoire.  But, my question is, how the heck do you put it into action when you are forced to grapple with a merciless, atavistic, determined, criminally- violent assailant who is so damned close you can smell what he had to drink and eat at the last nickel bar on his nightly tour?

 

THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE

 

Surprise is always your ace in the hole.  Surprise, in the form of distractions & attacking where the opponent least expects it is at the top of any fighter’s arsenal of weapons.  For those of us attacked by a much larger, stronger, faster assailant, surprise can not only level the playing field, it can tilt the field in our favor!

 

Surprise works for both the bad guy and for you.  He will wield surprise against you like a blackjack damn near every time, so what you need to do is to wield it first and wield it hard and well.  And, it will work if you are willing to improvise and refine your mentality a bit, because the reason surprise will work is because of the bad guy’s own expectations:

 

• He expects you to freeze like a deer in the headlights when he first touches you.
• He expects you to hold your breath and her knows that you cannot fight effectively without breathing!
• He expects you to say nothing and do nothing for the first 30 seconds of the attack.
• He expects you to fight against his strength with your strength (he grabs you by the throat and begins to squeeze & you expend whatever breath you have left attempting to pry his much stronger hands off your throat).
• He expects you to LILO (Lock In and Lock Out, meaning you will Lock In only one singular body area to counterattack, if you do counterattack at all &, tragically, Lock Out and other possible targets of counterattack).

 

The secret behind using surprise then is simple.  Do what the attacker least expects us to do and to do it with absolute commitment.

 

Read the next post to learn how best to do this.

Until then, stay safe.

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

SELF DEFENSE – AS SIMPLE AS A GRAIN OF SAND

January 28, 2011

Would like to share an interesting, and, in my opinion, compelling self-defense theory that I ran across earlier today.   I must admit that part of the reason I favor it is it dovetails with what I have been preaching for years.  But Matt Bryers of FightAuthority.com articulates his beliefs in such a pure and simplistic manner that I wanted to post this ASAP.

 

Bryers starts off with a photo of a hand holding a small heap of sand and implies that when presented in that manner against an attacker larger, stronger and meaner than you, the sand is meaningless against the assailant.  He can crush it in your hand, swat it deftly away, or, goodness knows, he can take your hand and drive the sand into your face just for the hell of it and then pound you into oblivion.

 

But then think about this:  what if, instead of holding a handful of sand outstretched, you waited

 For the right instant and threw the sand into the attacker’s face and eyes, instantaneously distracting and (temporarily) blinding him?

 

Yes, you could easily take off and avoid and evade the attacker.  And, yes, you could take advantage of his inability to see and his shock to knock him down, kick him repeatedly until he no longer moved.

 

I am not suggesting that from this moment on you carry with you a handful of sand.  What Bryers and I are suggesting, however, is that, instead of focusing on the attacker’s strengths – which is what any attacker would prefer you do – for that is where he had you beat before you even got out of bed that morning – it is in your interest that you focus on universal weakness – injury – and “Be That Grain of Sand.”

 

After all, Bryers insists, “everyone has different strengths, but we all break the same.”

 

In future posts, then, we will talk about the Universal Weakness, which is injury, and how we can concentrate our efforts, if ever attacked with true, raw (Street) Violence, to cause injury to that person who has the misfortune to choose you as a victim because you are perceived to be weaker, slower, less violent than he.

 

Remember.  We all have different strengths and there are those  out there who will attack you because of your perceived weaknesses.  It is part of the attacker’s game plan that you will counterattack his strengths (he pulls you toward a car or an alley or grapples with you or tries to strangle you & you try to use your strength to pull away or pry his hands off your neck) instead of what I ask you to do, counterattack his weakness and his secret fears by being that grain of sand!

 

STAY SAFE

HAMMER

According to Lori Hartman Gervasi, in her seminal book, Fight Like a Girl–and Win, EVERY attack against women starts with the element of surprise. Although I might argue that some attacks are highly predictable, mayhap even expected by the victim (consider domestic violence, for one), for the sake of brevity and time, let’s concede the point.  Fact is, the male (and sometimes, female) attacker understands the cogency of the element of surprise in first charming, then disarming, and finally destroying the victim with as little fight as possible.

In my Fighting Arts for Women classes the theme is always this:  Reverse the Predator/Prey Principle. Simply put, I advocate taking the attacker’s mind set and expectations and totally flipping the mentality upside down by invoking the Element of Surprise on our part!

In any “life or death fight” where one side is dramatically overmatched, I say, Surprise is probably the only thing that can change the game in the woman’s (or child or teen facing a predator, bully, etc) favor!  Think of this:  when a woman is attacked, more often than not, her attacker is larger, stronger, faster, armed, in the company of an accomplice, plus, is often prepared with an attack plan.  Not only that, the bad guy has often tracked his prey for minutes, hours, days, sometimes months.  He has given this attack a lot of thought, even to the point of waiting to assault you in an environment with poor lighting, poor footing, and in a space where his victim has little room to escape or fight.

OKAY, ALREADY.  WE GOT THE IDEA:  WE’RE SCREWED!  SO, WHAT THE HECK TO WE DO?

Good question.  A little tempremental, but, still, good question.  What you do – what you must do – is do the unexpected. Believe it or not, you have an edge.  Not a big one, but an edge nevertheless.  And what is that Edge you have?

The Bad Guy’s Expectations.

In 97 to 98% of the attack scenarios, the bad guy expects you to be meek, to surrender without a fight, to beg for your life.  He often gets off on your fear, on the look of terror in your eyes. That look of “recognition” that you are the prey about to be dragged into an isolated corner of the world so the predator can torment and torture you until he finally rapes, robs and murders you.

INVOKE S.N.E.A.K.!

Open up a big can of Whoop-Ass on the monster by using the element of surprise.  Sensei Michael Pace used the acronym “SNEAK” to describe the process.

Surprise is the first and most important element.  Surprise is activated by fulfilling the bad guy’s expectations initially, and, then, suddenly exploding in his face!

Non-Violent is the 2nd element.  Before counter-attacking, you must appear non-violent.

Explode is the 3rd element.  You must “explode” from non-violent to ultra-violent in a split second.  When you explode, go nuts, liberate the beast.  You are all over his ass!

Aggressive:  Incorporate an aggressive attitude.  No longer a nice girl.

Knock the Bad Guy out of the fight.

Okay, you might be saying, that’s nice, but how the hell do I do this? In the next few posts I will be going over a few strategems, but, how about trying this one on for size?

The Bad Guy approaches with that “look” in his eyes.  Despite your protests he steps into your space.  Your gut instincts are screaming at you to get the hell out of there, but when you try to move he blocks your exit.  You know for sure you are about to be attacked in some way.  Put both hands up in front of your face, palms facing the guy’s face – the universal “Compliance Stance” – and you even “beg” him to let you go.

Then, suddenly, you bend your knees for power and drive both hands hard and fast into his head, driving up as if trying to knock his head off of his shoulders.  Before he knows what is happening, his head snaps back and he is off-balance and all his Primary Targets are open for a follow-up strike!  There are no apologies or excuses in self defense:  Show No Mercy and hit those open targets with everything you have until it is safe for you to escape.

Even if the Bad Guy has one of your hands under control.  Use your free hand and go for his head.  No head can withstand the power of your entire body.

This will work.

Until the next post, stay safe.

The Hammer