If training were simply a matter of doing the right drills and exercises, everyone would be a badass. But it’s not just physical, it’s mental. If your mind is not already strong, then consistantly following the steps it takes to reach your goals is hard. You find seemingly legitimate reasons to postpone, skip, or even give up on the actions you must take.  Most of us end up fighting our thoughts, and in doing so, sabotage our dreams. A closer look at what’s going on inside your mind will help you take action and learn to fight for your goals. The Resistance The world is out to kill you. No, you’re not paranoid. It’s true. You reach for high goals, but life fights unfairly. You were supposed to workout, but something came up at work. You want to train, but your shoulder is hurting again. You planned to do something awesome, but it’ll just have to wait until tomorrow. You are meant to be great, but you are being held down by what we usually call, life. Life gets in the way. Life happens when obligations and unforeseen events interfere with your plans to do something that will bring you closer to your goals. Each time it happens, there appears to be a good reason, but there is really more to it. Actually, there is something sinister behind these events that interfere with your progress. You actually have a pervasive, treacherous, and relentless enemy that is going to destroy you if you do not fight it. This enemy, coined buy author Steven Pressfield in the War of Art, is known as the Resistance. The Resistance is a highly adept, guerrilla insurgency that operates within you. The Resistance is fighting you, and whether you know it or not, you are at war. Weapons of War The Resistance is a force that will use any weapon and any tactic to undermine your efforts to improve yourself.  They have no qualms at using the dirtiest of attacks and they follow no conventions of war.  Some of the primary tactics used by the resistance include fear, self doubt, procrastination, and rationalization. Big Guns Fear - The resistance unleashes some of its most violent attacks via fear. The fear of failure, the fear of not keeping your commitments, the fear of not living up to your values - these can crush you. The Resistance uses fear to fester indecision and stifle action. The darker the fear, the more entangled you become. Self-doubt - Once the Resistance has poisoned you with fear, self-doubt has room to breed within. Fear will inspire you to look for an escape, a way to avoid the fight. Self-doubt will tell you not to fight the fear, but to withdraw and take the escape. Feelings of inadequacy, of not being ready, and of not having the right stuff will chip away at your vision and goals. These feelings will allow you to accept less from yourself, to lower the bar, and to escape being required to face fear in order to reach your high goals. You are then left with average or meager goals, if any. Procrastination - The Resistance will deceive you with procrastination by using the promise that you will definitely take action, just not right now. Later. But every day you procrastinate mobilizing your battle plan, the Resistance grows stronger. And so, one day at a time, the Resistance will steal time from you as your will to fight fades away and your great vision is no longer in focus. Rationalization - One of the hardest weapons to fight used by the Resistance is rationalization. Through a form of espionage and brainwashing, the Resistance injects rationalization into your thoughts so that you second guess everything. When this happens, you find that your arguments for not doing the work are compelling. Before you know it, you will believe your own excuses and become enslaved by them. In addition to the big guns listed above, the Resistance will use other small arms that can be lethal as well. Some of the small arms the resistance will use to defeat you include self-dramatization, self-victimization, self-medication, and immediate gratification. Small Arms Self-dramatization - All of us have problems. Some problems are serious, but sometimes, the little things seem like big things.  Often they are not. The Resistance will catch you in a trap when you make a big deal out of nothing and dramatize your situation or life. When this happens, you put all your important work on hold and you spend your energy on something that is not important or simply out of your control. The trap is good because sometimes the drama can be rewarding: You get attention from others. Self-victimization - Self-victimization is a way avoid shame when you have not lived up to your ideals. If you are treated unfairly or are the victim of bad luck, then you have an excuse for why you are not meeting your goals. Letting others believe you are a victim is a lot easier than doing the hard work that you need to do. The Resistance will entice you with many opportunities that you can use to be seen as a victim.  Again, the attention from others can reinforce the victim persona you assume. Self-medication and immediate gratification - The Resistance will distract you from your higher endeavors with activities that give you pleasure without work. They will hit you with things that give you satisfaction, but have no meaning or value. This includes drinking alcohol, doing drugs, eating sugary things, shopping, watching TV, gossiping, and doing anything on Facebook. It all feels good while you are doing it, but you made no improvement.  In fact, you may have taken a step backwards.These are just a few of the weapons you will encounter when fighting the Resistance.  Often they will use a combination of weapons that makes them even more deadly. Know this: You must recognize and understand these weapons so that you can fight back against them. Know the Enemy Once you recognize the enemy, then you can start to fight back. If you do not know or even see the enemy, then you are in trouble. The Resistance will continue to derail your progress and sap your energy. Fighting the Resistance is going to require several missions, some hard fought battles, and very keen observation. This is a war, and you must wage a grand campaign to be successful.  You must be ready to hang in there and get comfortable with suffering until you win. First Mission Your first mission is to study the enemy. You must find out how it attacks, learn where it hides, and what it uses for defenses. You must find a way to disrupt its momentum and cut off its resources. Study the enemy so you can defeat it. Start your first mission by recognizing when the Resistance uses any of the weapons, listed above, in your daily life. If you put off training, skip a workout, or find a reason to avoid doing anything that is useful, you can be sure the Resistance is there, plotting against you. Pay attention to your thoughts. Learn their routines, and see how the Resistance meddles with your mind. Get to know the enemy. Gather intel and stay alert. Soon, we will discuss deploying the weapons you have for crushing the Resistance. Just know this: The fight is on.

Physical skills are only part of the skills that you need for self defense. You must have cognitive skills too.  One of the most important cognitive skills you can cultivate for self defense is situational awareness. What is Situational Awareness? Simply put, situational awareness is knowing what is happening around you.  It is knowing your environment and what events are occurring nearby.  In terms of self defense, situational awareness includes knowing what is happening, and knowing what, if anything, you should do about it. To do this, you must derive meaning from the circumstances in which you find yourself. Situational awareness is your perception of the environment and nearby events together with your assessment of how your actions will affect your immediate and near future. To make this assessment, you must first pay attention to details in your environment that may affect you.  After observing those relevant details, you must then determine if there is anything to be learned from that information.  You will use that information to predict what could happen next. In doing so, you must consider whether or not there is a threat to your safety. You can then decide what to do to assure a safe outcome for you. States of Readiness A common framework for understanding situational awareness is using defined states of readiness.  There are several models that use this method. They all can be used to help you channel your awareness and actions based on your circumstances.  The following method is used by the N.R.A. to teach situational awareness.  It incorporates four states of readiness - unaware, aware, alert, and alarm. Each state can be associated with certain circumstances and can help you determine what actions (if any) you should take.  Here are the four states with examples: Unaware - When you are at home, with the doors locked, you can let your guard down. You can take a nap, drink a beer, and listen to music with your headphones. This would be the unaware state, and in those circumstances, it would likely be ok.  However, if you are walking down a busy street while drinking a beer with your headphones on, or napping in the park, you are likely to have problems. You could be selected as an easy target and become a victim of a mugging. Aware - This is the state you should be in when you leave the house and go about your day.  This is a relaxed state, but in it, you are observant.  You take mental notes of the people and things around you. You have not seen anything to alert you that there is a threat, but you are paying attention to your environment in case there are any indications that you should become more focused on any potential threats. You cannot be daydreaming or talking on the phone to maintain this state, you must be paying attention to your surroundings. Alert - In the alert state, you may have recognized that conditions are favorable for something bad to happen. You are not only aware, but you are paying a little extra attention to something that looks like it could be a potential threat. You may have seen someone cross the street and start walking towards you. You may notice someone in the parking lot looking over their shoulder, then looking at you. In the alert state, you would immediately start making plans of action based on what the potential threat may do. If the situation escalates, then you already have a plan and can therefore act more quickly. Alarm - When you are in the alarm state, you have determined that the potential threat you noticed earlier is indeed a real threat, and you may have to act immediately.  If you noticed the potential threat in the alert state, you will already have a plan of action. You will simply be looking for the cue to take action. For example, you may have seen someone walking in your direction and decided that if they approach you aggressively, you will yell, “Stop!” and put your hands up before they get within 10 feet of you. You may have planned that if they keep coming you will create distance and move to their flank. These four states are on a continuum of attention and perceived danger.  In the unaware state, you are not paying attention to your surroundings because you feel there is no threat whatsoever. You are completely relaxed. At the the other end of the spectrum, in the alarm state, you are focused on a real threat to your safety, and the intensity of your focus is at it’s highest. Using Situational Awareness When analyzing the people and events that you see in your environment, consciously put yourself in the appropriate state of readiness. Your evaluation of the environment and the potential threats within will tell you which state you should choose. You may start with one state, then quickly move up or down to the next. If you learn to control the state that you are in, then you will be able to have a quicker understanding of your immediate options in any situation.  If you do not have that control, then you may fall into a state of panic, and panic is not a state of readiness. Situational awareness can reduce the stress of a violent encounter by removing surprise. Situational awareness can give you a little time to think. By recognizing the nature of the threat and the factors involved, you can at least begin understanding what threats confront you before the actual attack hits. Even if your awareness it only gives you a few seconds before an attack, you may at least have enough time to mentally brace yourself for what is coming. This mental preparation can reduce the freezing response and panic that comes from being caught off guard. This is important because it will give you a better chance of taking the action that you feel is the best choice. Knowing the state you are in helps you determine what to do next. The value of identifying the state you are in, or need to be in, is that you can quickly see, plan, and act on what you see. If you can classify your situation into any of the four states, then you will immediately have direction for your next action.  You may need to defend yourself right away, look for more information, or perhaps you can simply resume what you were doing before. Your initial actions are based on your current state. Situational awareness allows you to be ready to apply your physical skills. Moving from the unaware state to aware, alert, then alarm is like moving up a ladder. The higher up the ladder you are, the closer you are to taking action. When you see what is going on around you, notice there is a potential threat, then identify it is becoming a real threat, and start making a plan of what to do, you are getting ready to take physical action.  Having the information you gathered and evaluated through your situational awareness, you will already have an idea of what it is you must do. This is valuable because you will have already moved through the observe, orient, and maybe the decide stages of the O.O.D.A. loop.  The O.O.D.A. loop is a theoretical model of what cognitive processes you must complete for you to react to anything.  Once you have seen what is happening around you (observe), determined whether or not you need to do anything (orient), then decided what you need to do about it (decide), then you can apply your solution (act).  This action may be move, disengage, negotiate, strike, block, shoot, etc. - your self defense skills. Here are a few examples of situations wherein your awareness could help you determine what to do next. 1. You get out of your car to fill it up with gas when someone that you do not know, walks up to you.2. You are in the parking lot of a busy restaurant and bar.  A person who appears to be drunk and looking for a fight gets kicked out and is walking in your direction.3. You walk up to an ATM and someone nearby glances over both shoulders, then starts to approach you.4. You are in a convenience store, the front door opens. You look over and see someone entering while covering his face.5. You see someone in the mall pull out a gun. Though the severity of the potential threat may vary in each of these circumstances above, using situational awareness could help you navigate each one. Final Words Use situational awareness as your first line of defense. It’s your radar. Once you see something getting closer to you, pay more attention. See if you need to do anything about it. Situational awareness can help you see potential threats and take steps to avoid or prepare for them before they become immediate threats. Monitor your state of readiness.  Make sure it is appropriate for the circumstances.  Being unaware while walking downtown at night is not appropriate. Expecting sudden attacks from every shadow in your home is probably not appropriate either. Find the right balance of awareness so you can both stay safe and be functional in your everyday life. Situational awareness does not guarantee you will not be caught off guard. Nobody can be vigilant 100% of the time. A determined criminal can wait until he has the best opportunity to catch you. However, situational awaress can make it harder for someone to catch you off guard. Situational awareness is developed through training. It is not cultivated by simply reading about it or willing it to happen. Situational awareness is developed though practical application.

A good self defense program is based on an observation of reality.  It is based on a practical understanding of potential threats.  By understanding a threat, we can develop a relevant defense. In developing your approach to self defense, there are many things to consider.  These considerations should affect your decision of what to train, how to train, and how to prioritize what you spend the majority of your training resources (time, energy, money) doing. Initially, it helps to identify what or who you are fighting.  The following three assumptions about who that is will direct your other training choices.  They are significant because they will frame your entire outlook.  The assumptions are: The opponent is armed.  The opponent is trained.  There is more than one opponent. The Opponent is Armed The majority of violent crimes in the US are committed with a weapon.  The US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice Information Services Division reports the following for violent crimes in 2015: 57.8% of robberies were committed with a weapon 73.7% of aggravated assaults were committed with a weapon 95.4% of murders were committed with a weapon In all violent crimes reported above, the criminals used weapons more often than not. Of violent crimes committed in 2015, the highest percentage of attacks were aggravated assaults. Aggravated assaults account for 63.8 percent of the violent crimes in 2015.  Aggravated assaults are violent attacks that are intended to produce severe or aggravated bodily injury.  By nature, these attacks usually include the use of a weapon because there is greater likelihood that a weapon will cause serious injury. Crimes that only include the threat of a weapon being used are included in this category.  However, this fact does not minimize the significance of the high percentage.  We can consider many aggravated assaults as just unsuccessful murders, and murders top the list when it comes to weapon use.  Nearly all murders in 2015 were committed with a weapon.  This is probably because weapons are just more effective at killing than unarmed methods of attack. Because of the likelihood that a weapon will be involved in a violent crime, you should consider how this affects your training. Different types of weapons each have unique characteristics and threats. If you train with weapons, you will understand the dynamics behind their use.  By training with various weapons, you will be more aware of the potential dangers and additional risks that are presented when weapons are involved.  For example: Blocking a punch can be a sound and effective technique, but attempting to block a knife attack can leave your arms exposed to secondary attacks or incidental injuries.  If you have exposure to training with impact weapons, edged weapons, and firearms, then you will be a much more realistic understanding of how to defend against them. Techniques that work in an empty hands scenario may not work when there is a weapon involved. I have often heard the saying, "the weapon is the extension of the hand."  Sometimes this is interpreted to mean that your empty hands techniques are the same as your weapon techniques. Though, in theory, many of the techniques you learn to use against an unarmed opponent will also work against an armed opponent, often there are special properties of a weapon that make this untrue. For example: It may be advantageous to grapple with a single opponent in order to control him, but if that opponent has a knife, a different approach may be more likely to succeed.  This is because the situation is very different.  Different dangers are present when the weapon is introduced to the scenario. Understanding this will help you mitigate the risks that you take when responding to any attack. In your training, narrow down the techniques that you use to a few primary responses that work in both situations that involve weapons and those with only empty hands.  You may not know if your attacker is armed, but if your primary techniques work in both armed and unarmed situations, then you will be covered.  You will not be taking a gamble, and you will not leave yourself exposed by using a technique that only works in one situation, but not the other. Weapons can be deadly, even in the hands of the untrained.  Because the capacity for weapons to cause serious bodily damage or death is very high, formal training is not required to be effective with them.  A simple touch with a knife can produce a cut.  A single shot from a firearm can cause death.  Do not underestimate your opponent. Recognizing how dangerous anyone can be will force you to demand more precision in your training.  You will strive to prevent anyone from touching you or even getting close because, you know it could be deadly.  You cannot afford even one mistake, so the techniques you train must have a margin for error.  A high margin for error gives you a better chance of applying your technique effectively. Physical size, strength, and tempering can make a big difference in one’s ability to thwart an unarmed attack, but they are less significant in an armed attack.  A knife or bullet will easily penetrate the tissue of both the strong and the weak.  Your fitness and physical strength are important, but you must not rely on them as your primary advantage.  You need tactics and techniques that will give you an edge.  This includes learning to use positioning, leverage, stuns, distractions, and mobility to help you prevail. If you assume your opponent is armed, then you will not be caught off-guard if he is.  Your training will be more widely applicable to a variety of situations because you have selected techniques that are more versitile. The Opponent is Trained The huge growth in popularity of the Ultimate Fighting Championships and Mixed Martial Arts in the past two decades has made martial arts and martial arts training much more mainstream.  This shift in popularity has resulted in more trained people and more people who are familiar with techniques that can be used effectively for criminal attacks. A quick search on Youtube offers thousands of options for those who have no formal instruction.  It’s likely that more people are trained today than ever before, and that includes the bad guys too. Criminal gangs are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their training and are using military style training and tactics. In 2011, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Gang Intelligence Center determined that by 2009, members of 53 different gangs from over 100 different territories within the US joined the military to expand their operations and to bring the tactics they learned back to use in their criminal activities.  This includes gang members who were recruited by gangs and sent to join the military specifically with the intent of learning special weapon and combat skills. Just the experience of a seasoned violent criminal can make him much harder to fight.  Criminals hone their tactics as they repeat their violent crimes again and again.  A mugger may know, and have actually experienced, the majority of possible responses you, as his victim, may try when he attempts to rob you.  Do not underestimate this advantage.  Imagine: Your assailant has mugged one hundred people, but you have never been mugged before.  His experience far outweighs yours in this situation.  When selecting you as a victim, he is also selecting the ideal circumstances that would give him a win.  He is waiting until the best time when you are most vulnerable.  Your training should include education on common criminal mugging tactics, so you can be better prepared to avoid and survive them. Preparing for a trained opponent requires hard work and an earnest study of self defense.  If you assume that your potential attackers are trained, then you will push yourself to learn more.  To really prepare, you must understand and anticipate options that your attackers have.  You need to know how to limit those options and how to gain an advantage over your attacker.  You need to know your techniques well.  Know how they fail, and know how to stop them from being countered.  You need to know how to recover if your technique fails.  You cannot afford to leave yourself open by assuming your opponent is going to be unprepared for your defense.  Doing so would be a blunder. When you understand that your survival is actually a competition, then you will work harder to win.  The opponent is training to hurt you, you must be ready to stop him.  Every day you rest, he is training. You likely will not perform at your best when under the stress of an attack.  Even in training, where there is usually no threat of death, we all have bad days.  In order to really be ready for a trained opponent, you need to master and review your skills.  Do this so that you can still be effective, even on a bad day. Really, you should not only be ready for a trained opponent, but also for one who is bigger, stronger, faster, and more talented than you.  Focus on training techniques that will still work under mismatched conditions. Again this includes avoiding techniques that rely on your physical skills such as strength and speed alone.  Practice techniques that are magnified by leverage, position, and timing.  Use dynamic training to challenge your ability to apply your skills.  Do not assume your opponent is unfamiliar with what you may do.  Keep working hard to overcome the advantages such an opponent will have over you. This assumption is really about being ready for someone who is better than you.  If you prepare for someone who is also trained, you will have a better understanding of what you need to do, and you will have the right training to back it up. There is More than One Opponent Attacks that involve multiple assailants are common.  Hate crimes, the knockout game, and similar variants are often perpetrated by multiple offenders and can result in death of the victim.  Flash mob thuggery and rioting youth often pick victims who simply were in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Common mugging tactics often involve more than one criminal. Typical methods include one person distracting or luring the victim, while an accomplice then approaches from a blind spot for the assault. Terroristic and other deadly mass attacks with multiple participants are becoming more frequent within the US.  According to the Global Terrorism Database, collected by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, acts of terrorism, that are not state sponsored, have been increasing each year.  In 2015, there were 38 incidents labeled as terrorism in the United States.  These terrorist incidents resulted in 44 deaths and 52 injuries.  In 2014, there were 26 incidents. In 2013, there were 19 incidents, and in 2012, there were 17 incidents.  In just 3 years, the number of incidents more than doubled.  Though some of these attacks are committed by only one person, many terrorist attacks are committed by two or more attackers working together as a team. Because attacks that involve more than one offender are common, you should train to address multiple attacker scenarios. The threat of multiple opponents requires continuous situational awareness.  Assume that there are multiple opponents, and train your mind to continually look out for them.  Expecting multiple opponents will prevent you from leaving yourself open by giving 100% of your attention to just one attacker.  Train yourself to scan whenever possible.  Recognizing a threat early will allow you to be proactive.  If you are always looking for an additional attacker, then you are much more likely to see him before you are caught off-guard. If you look for tactics that work in both single and multiple attacker scenarios, then you can narrow your selection of viable techniques.  This narrowing will allow you to focus your training on the most relevant techniques and, therefore, help you get the most out of your training.  For example: With multiple attackers, you must be prepared to disengage at any time.  Facing off with a single opponent for too long will leave you open to being overwhelmed as multiple opponents surround and close on you.  Instead, you must stay mobile and, whenever possible, avoid using techniques that commit you to a stationary position.  Hit and run tactics will be your first choice over grappling or ground fighting tactics that may tie you up. Spend most of your time on the training that will create habits that help you in any situation. You still need a wide spread of self defense skills, including grappling, to be fully prepared.  However, by anticipating that any attack may include multiple opponents, you will then logically budget the majority of your training resources for those techniques that will serve you best. Conclusion There are many factors that should be considered in your self defense training.  The three assumptions above are important factors that will influence the mindset, direction, and content of your training.  If you start by preparing yourself for the worst case scenario, then you will be ready for anything else. Expect that your attacker is armed, trained, and supported by friends. Many people believe that they will never be victimized by violence.  They either believe that they don’t deserve to be victimized, so they will not be, or they think they can just avoid it somehow.  Don’t be like those people. Don’t live in denial.  Even if you try to avoid violence, it can find you.  Accept that you could be the target of violence and do something about it. You cannot control what others do, but you have control of what you do.  Study, train, prepare yourself. Don’t become complacent or put too much faith in your current state of training.  Keep improving your skills and understanding.  Find new sources for knowledge and perspective.  It’s a war, and if you do not continue to train and evolve, you will become obsolete.

Though the world has long been fascinated with competitions that involve fighting with empty hands, there is a growing interest in the study of weapons for self defense. The popularity of boxing and, more recently, mixed martial arts competitions such as the UFC have inspired many to train the martial arts both for enjoyment and for self defense.  Recently however, training with edged weapons, impact weapons, and firearms has become more and more popular. This growing trend of training with weapons is in part due to the popularity of weapon based arts in the movies, but, more importantly, it is also because many are seeing the real value of weapons training.  Weapons training has many benefits.   Weapons training offers excellent skill development at an accelerated pace.  Weapons training lends to developing a mindset that is focused on survival.  Also, weapons training offers a well rounded skill set that allows one to have more options for self defense. Acceleration of Skill Development Training with impact weapons will help you learn how to generate power and hit harder.  In the old days, boxers used to chop wood to develop a hard punch.  At that time, the axe became a tool for developing power.  Swinging a weight (the axe) with power requires coordinated body mechanics.  When swinging the axe, the boxer had to increase the range of motion of his hips and shoulders as he twisted them harder and harder to generate force.  This increase in range of motion helped the boxer to learn how to engage more of his body into the swing.  He developed the ability to use more effective body mechanics by moving the axe and not just his hands alone.  This ability then allowed him to tap into those mechanics when he returned to the ring, without the axe. Weapons train you to hit faster, even with your empty hands.  When beginning the swing of an impact weapon, such as a baton, you must first overcome inertia to get it moving.  Then, in what is a relatively short distance, you must accelerate your strike to reach a speed that is sufficient for delivering a blow that has enough power to cause damage to your target.  When training with weapons you are essentially doing a sort of dynamic weight training.  Though the weight is light, it does offer resistance.  That resistance develops more speed and acceleration in your movements.  This is especially evident when you strike using a similar motion, but without the weapon. You will find that you have cultivated the ability to move your empty hands faster because you have trained the mechanics with the added weight of a weapon. Weapons training will give you a strong sense of speed and timing.  The pace of weapons training can be faster than that of empty hands because the tip of your weapon can move faster than the hand holding it. This effect is greater when the weapon is longer than the reach of your arm, such as in baton training.  By training regularly at this faster pace afforded by weapons training, you will become accustomed to defending against attacks at higher speeds.  Because of this, you will also develop a keen sense of timing.  At a faster pace, your timing must be more accurate and precise because your margin for error is smaller.  This pressure will make you more skillful quickly. Weapons training will allow you to develop very sharp sense of accuracy and precision.  When using a weapon, any small motion of the hand at the grip of the weapon results in a much larger motion at the tip of the weapon.  This is similar to the affect that you can observe with a bicycle gear.  With a gear, more rotational distance is traveled at the outer circumference of a gear than is traveled at the axis.  A small turn in the axis, results in more movement of the outside.  This same effect happens between your wrist and the tip of your weapon.  Your wrist acts as the axis and the tip of your weapon acts like the outside of the gear.  Because you must control the tip of the weapon, you learn that very small movements of the hand and wrist can make a big difference. Managing this effect regularly during training leads to a strong sense of accuracy and precision in your movements.  Any small error in positioning with the hand can make or break a technique.  This forces students have to focus more with coordination when weapons are involved.  That coordination lends to more refinement of the empty hands skills as well.  Students who have trained with weapons find that coordinating empty hand movements seems easy in comparison. Survival Mentality and Understanding of the Offense Training with weapons develops a survival mentality.  Self defense in modern times is really survival.  It is survival from more than just the threats of a mugging or an assault.  We now have mass attacks, kidnappings, and terrorist attacks occurring more frequently in our culture.  In your study of weapons, you must consider when and how you may need to use them.  This leads you to thinking more realistically about how to avoid and prevail in these situations.  You will become more vigilant.  In doing so, you improve your ability to survive by developing a mindset that will keep you observant and alive. Learning offense gives you a better understanding of what is needed for a good defense.  Weapons training not only involves how to protect against an attack, but it teaches you how an attack with a weapon happens.  It teaches you the dynamics of an attack.  If you do not have any idea of the dynamics of a knife attack, you will have a hard time defending against one.  Knowing the offense will allow you to train for a realistic and effective defense. Training with weapons conditions you to expect a weapon to be involved.  Because of this, you will not be caught off guard when a weapon is introduced to the fight.  Many people who were victims of an assault did not realize that they were being attacked with a knife until the attack was over.  If you train with weapons, you will not make the mistake of assuming there is no weapon, even if you do not see one.  Because of this approach, you will not take risks that leave you exposed when there is a weapon. Weapons training instills sense of urgency in getting your techniques right because you may die if you get them wrong. You may be able to absorb a few punches or survive a takedown and continue to fight, but you cannot afford to exchange knife thrusts or shots with an opponent.  Training with weapons conditions you to be decisive and get out of the way.  You will not allow yourself to become static and easier to hit because you know that one hit could kill or seriously injure you.  This understanding adds intensity of purpose to your training and a focus on getting it right.  If there is any advantage you can find from better position, distance, etc, you will learn to take it. Weapons training is relevant to your self defense.  Bad guys use weapons.  You need to know how to use them too, or you are at a disadvantage.  It’s that simple.  You need both empty hand skills and weapon skills to be more well rounded in your self defense preparation. Maximizing Training Time and Versatility of Application When you are learning to use weapons, at the same time, you are learning the movements and skills needed for empty hands techniques.  You are doubling your training with no extra work because strikes with weapons can be applied using the same movements as those with empty hands. Weapons training teaches you the entry skills you need apply locks.  If you are going to apply a technique (other than disengaging) you must learn how to get in close to counter the attacks of your opponent.  You must learn how to get in to apply your strikes and other techniques.  To enter and apply a disarm or control tactic with a weapon involved, you must have good timing.  By training how to disarm an attacker, you develop the ability to enter and control the opponent with excellent timing and precision.  This skill applies in empty handed situations too.  The weapons training teaches you the skills you need for the entry of an empty hands technique. Weapons retention techniques prepare you for learning empty hands control and breaking techniques. In training weapon retention, you learn how to prevent someone from disarming you by learning to escape grabs.  In weapon retention, you must prevent someone from controlling your weapon arm.  In the course of your weapon retention training, you learn how an opponent can grab and control your arm, and how they can disarm you.  You learn to prevent them from grabbing you and escaping any locks they may use to disarm you. This training prepares you for escaping and countering empty hands grabs and holds before they are fully set against you. Weapons training will teach you how to use weapons of opportunity when you are otherwise unarmed.  You may not always carry a weapon, but if you understand how weapons work, then you will be able to use common objects available to you from your environment to protect yourself.  If you understand how impact and edged weapons work, then you will understand how to adapt and use as a weapon, objects that are not designed to be used as a weapon.  This is especially useful if you are kidnapped or attacked in a non-permissive or secured area such as a school, an airport, or a government building that does not allow you to carry a weapon. Conclusion Weapons training has a lot to offer.  It can develop your skills at an accelerated pace and prepare you mentally to survive a threat.  However, weapons training is not enough for self defense.  You need empty hands training too. With the right approach to weapons training, you will be able to develop your weapons skills and your empty hands skills together.  With this approach, your skills will overlap and give you a more efficient approach to learning and skill development.  The Filipino martial arts have a well established method of training that incorporates both weapons and empty hands skills.  They also include weapons disarming and retention.  No matter what system you use for your own training, find one that incorporates both empty hands and weapons training in a cohesive and effective way.

A guerrilla force is a small group of fighters that is agile, elusive, and carefully selective in how it engages a larger military opponent.  Guerrillas do not use a force of numbers or size of arms to overwhelm an opponent.  They use strategies and tactics that are indirect and misleading.  They use distractions to setup an attack.  They attack along lines that are less expected.  Guerrillas position themselves so that they can gain an advantage and limit the options of their enemy.  Guerrillas seek to demoralize their opponents in order to gain a psychological advantage.  Guerrillas use these tactics to be successful against a larger, more powerful opponent. You need to learn to fight like a guerrilla to defend yourself.  You cannot afford to stand and fight it out against another opponent. Though guerrilla tactics are typically used by a small group, you can apply many of them in your own personal defense. Below are guerrilla tactics explained with the appropriate adaptations for self defense.  Incorporate these tactics into your self defense and martial arts training. Don’t Fight Toe-to-Toe A small guerrilla band does not trade blows with a larger, conventional force by using a frontal attack.  If so, they would never win.  Fighting on equal footing would put them at a huge disadvantage.  History has shown that frontal assaults in battle are rarely successful anyway.  Even when they are successful, they are usually not worth it.  The winning force typically suffers heavy losses in the process of the battle.  Learn from the guerrilla fighter, and avoid going toe-to-toe with your opponent. Don’t pit your strength against that of your opponent.  Not only may you encounter someone who is stronger and more hardened than you, but you may face more than one opponent at the same time.  If you reply on your strength or your ability to take pain in order to win, then you will not last.  Eventually you will meet your match, run out of strength, or incur too much damage to continue. You cannot afford to suffer injuries while trading blows back in forth.  This is especially true if there is a weapon involved.  Do not absorb blows, cuts, or shots just to be able to strike back.  Your body may be able to absorb some abuse, but it will add up in both the short term and the long term.  If you fight toe-to-toe you are leaving yourself in easy reach of an attack, so your opponent will continue to hit you because your approach is too direct.  That approach makes you an easy target. Instead of fighting toe-to-toe, use an indirect approach.  If you attack in the front, you will be attacking where your opponent is balanced.  His weapons are ready and pointing at you when you stand in front of him.  Attack him at an angle that will catch him off balance.  Move to the side of him, where he cannot easily reach you with both hands or kick you with both legs. The advantage is temporary, but it can be huge. Let him think you are going to engage in the front, but actually move to the side and attack from there.  All you need is a slight angle to the side to give you an advantage.  Once you are to the side, you can point all of your weapons at the opponent, whereas, he has to adjust by turning towards you before all of his weapons can reach you. Like a guerrilla force, you want to use fewer resources against a larger opponent.  You want to conserve your strength and minimize your injuries so you can maintain your ability to fight back.  If you spend all your energy fighting off an attacker only to find there is more than one, then you have lost.  Imagine fighting for several minutes delivering strikes, kicks, takedowns and grappling tactics.  In a very short time, you will be injured and exhausted.  Conditioning yourself is very important, but avoiding an all-or-nothing, toe-to-toe fight that taps your energy and willpower is crucial.  Fighting that way will wear out your resources.  Conserve your strength and energy, and use it selectively. Hit and Run Guerrilla fighters are more successful when they attack, then quickly withdraw.  They hit, and then they run.  They do this to frustrate and demoralize the opponent.  They are usually not concerned with dominating or capturing land.  They are just wearing down the opponent.  By striking, then immediately withdrawing, they can reduce the amount of time the opponent has for retaliation.  They get out before the opponent can organize a response.   To hit and run, guerrilla fighters move to a good position, deliver an ambush, or snipe at the opponent, then exit quickly.  You can apply the same tactic against your opponent. Deliver your attack, then exit right away.  Although it may only be for a brief moment, you want to get out of your opponent’s reach immediately after you attack.  Try not to linger more than 3 seconds or 3 hits before you attempt to disengage.  Do not linger just to deliver additional strikes. If you hit and stay in, then you need to be sure you are really dominating or your opponent is uanable to respond. Remember, even someone with no training can hurt you.  It is better to attack and get out right away if you can.  It may not always be possible to disengage, but it is safer. If you can stun the opponent with your initial hit, it may buy you enough time to escape.  You will be much less likely to suffer injury if you can completely escape.  Remember hit, then RUN! Change your line of attack.  You want to hit your opponent where it is unexpected.  Attacking the same way multiple times will give your opponent a chance to figure out a response.  This approach is actually how we train in class in order to make improvements.  We practice responding to the same attack over and over, until the response is fluid. Don’t give your opponent multiple opportunities to counter the same attack.  He will figure it out.  Instead, keep him guessing.  Also, do not attempt to attack along the same line if your first attempt failed.  Get out and try another line of attack. Stay mobile.  Remaining in one position is a bad habit.  Focus on footwork, not stances.  Keep your hands and body moving.  Train yourself so that you feel uncomfortable when you are not moving.  If you are just standing in one spot, you should feel like something is wrong.  Get in shape so you can move continuously without fatigue.  Train to be agile.  There is no room for static defense.  At the very least, you can be a hard target to hit if you stay mobile. Fight from a Dominant Position In battle, position is key.  With the right position, a small group of guerrillas can fight a much larger, stronger force.  With the right position, a guerrilla can gain advantage. For example: If the guerrilla force is positioned on a mountain above the opposing force, then they would be better able to repel the attacks of their opponents.  The difficult climb would leave the opponent more exposed when he tries to engage. The guerrillas would have better vision of the incoming attacks, and the targets below would be easier to hit from above.  A change in position can make a big difference in the outcome. With the right position, guerrillas can even defy the advantages held by the opponent.  For example: By leading an opposing force through a natural funnel in the landscape or battlefield, a guerrilla group can reduce the number of effective fighters the opponent can move to the front.  This funneling effect allows the guerrilla to fight a smaller force and limits the opponent’s ability to surround them. Like a guerrilla, position yourself so that your opponent has fewer options and you have more. The goal is to attack from a position where your opponent’s weapons are not all pointed at you. If you are directly in front of him, then both arms and legs can reach you.  Don’t stay in front of him. Flank your opponent.  Fight him from the sides.  By flanking your opponent, you delay the reach of his weapons on the opposite side. By you moving to his side, your opponent is forced to adjust to you.  When he adjusts to get a better position, you can take advantage of this delay to deliver an attack, move again into a better position, or disengage. Get to the back of your opponent.  Whether you are standing or on the ground, being behind your opponent offers a huge advantage.  His weapons are pointing away from you, and his vision is limited.  He will have difficulty determining what you are doing and what he should do about it.  You will find it easier to evade his attacks. In the back, not only are you in the best position to avoid his attacks, but also you are in a position that leaves him very vulnerable.  His spine and head are exposed to attack.  His neck will be accessible for a choke. Psychologically, he will be off balance.  It will take him time to recover from this bad position.  During that time, you can focus on attack or escape.  Either way, the initiative is yours.  Sabotage your Opponent’s Resources  Guerrillas destroy the resources of their opponents.  They sabotage communication equipment, obstruct supply lines, and destroy other key elements that are important to the plans and maneuverability of their opponents. They attack significant points of the infrastructure inside an opponent’s territory.  They do this to cause a distraction, take away the opponent’s options, or to force a reaction. You can sabotage the plans of your opponent by attacking him in a way that will distract his attention, undermine his plans, and disrupt him psychologically. Stun your opponent before launching a full committed attack.  In order to make sure what you are doing is not obvious and easy to counter, start with an attack that distracts or misleads your opponent.  Gain advantage right away by delivering a quick stun that has little commitment on your part, but that forces him to respond.  If the stun works, then you will have gained some initiative to do something more substantial. Use a stun like a jabbing flick to the eyes with your fingers or your weapon.  While recoiling from the flick to the eyes, your opponent will have difficulty clearly seeing what you are doing.  Use that opportunity, when he does not have clarity of vision and awareness, to follow up with more devastating strikes or to move to a better poistion. Destroy your opponent’s plans.  Before the fight even begins, you want to reset your potential attacker’s OODA loop.  You want him to have to reassess the situation.  If you recognize a pattern building that may lead to criminal behavior or violence, interrupt that pattern and force your potential attacker to second guess or diverge from his plans. A criminal looking to rob you has a plan.  It may be simple, but it is a plan.  In that plan, the would-be attacker has some assumptions.  He is assuming you will respond a certain way based on his actions.  For example: This may include politely asking you a question in order to get closer to you, then putting his gun in your face in order to convince you to give him what he wants.  If you can recognize that he is trying to get closer, then you can stop him from doing so with verbal commands and authoritative body language.  Before he has a chance to reach for his gun, you can position yourself to jam his arm if he tries to draw a weapon.  You may even already have your hand on your own weapon, so you are ready to accessit quickly and stop him. If you distract him from his plan and instead force him to respond to you, then you have sabotaged his planning.  You may even circumvent the benefit he has of experience.  He may have used that same plan twenty times, and it worked every time.  If you change the variables and don’t fall into the behavior pattern that he expected, then you have disrupted his resources of planning and experience. Ambush your Opponent Guerrilla tactics include the use of ambushes.  Ambushes are attacks designed to catch an enemy off guard by using concealment and surprise.  They are used to knock the unsuspecting opponent further off balance in order to temporarily stunt his ability to respond. When it is time to fight, try to catch your opponent off guard.  The time to fight back may vary.  In some situations, you need to act immediately, such as before your attacker even finishes his pre-assault pattern. In other circumstances, you may need to wait for the right opportunity such as when someone pointing a gun at you looks away momentarily.  Either way, you need to act when the advantage is yours and, if possible, when your opponent is not expecting it. Use violence of action when attacking your opponent.   Overwhelm your opponent with very aggressive, continuous attacks.  If you are morally and legally in the right to do so, then attack.  Don’t use more force than is necessary, but whatever your technique, apply it hard and fast.  Don’t give your opponent a chance to recover. You want to emotionally disrupt him, so that he freezes or becomes defensive.  Keep him reeling from your attacks, so that you can be one step ahead.  Do this until he stops being a threat. Final Thoughts You can benefit from learning to fight like a guerrilla.  Like a guerrilla, you will likely be facing an opponent with greater size and resources.  You may even face several opponents. If you can incorporate the tactics above, you will find that you can give yourself a better chance of surviving a violent personal attack. Using the tactics above requires that you develop self defense skills through training and cultivate situational awareness through practice.  You need trained responses and the ability to improvise in order to survive a violent attack with the least amount of injury.  You need to teach yourself how to maintain awareness of your surroundings and think through possible plans of action should something go wrong.  If you are unaware of your attackers actions prior to the actual violent attack, then it will be difficult for your to execute many of the tactics mentioned above.

Self-defense is a component of survival.  There are other skills you need in addition to self defense skills to help you survive a violent encounter.  You may be ready to fight off the bad guy, but what if you are injured in the process?  If you suffer a serious injury during an attack, you will benefit from knowing how to treat the injury afterwards. Improving your self-defense skills is about preparation.  You study to know more about the threat.  You train techniques and tactics to use for defense.  You arm yourself with a weapon and train when and how to use it.  You cultivate situational awareness skills, verbal deescalation skills, and learn to manage situations that are common to violent crime.  In addition to these skills that are directly related to defending yourself, you should learn first aid skills that will help you or someone you care about recover after an injury. The threat level for dangerous events like bombings, active shooters, home invasions, violent road rage and the like seems to be going up.  The potential for more people being hurt in one event and the likelihood of you being the victim of a mass attack appears to be increasing recently.  In this climate, the skills for emergency first aid are potentially more valuable or perhaps more frequently needed than before.  In events with many injured, such as the 2016 Brussels Bombings and 2015 Paris Attacks, first responders are spread too thin, unable to attend to everyone quickly.  If all of us learn a few emergency first aid skills, there would likely be fewer casualties in events like this. What to Learn Don’t be overwhelmed, thinking you have to start reading 5 inch thick medical books or spend years in school.  You are not trying to become an ER doctor.  You just need to know enough to minimize the impact of an injury before medical professionals can address it. The good news is that in a short period of time, you can learn a few very useful skills. Learn to stay safe.  The first thing you will learn about emergency first aid is to be safe.  You will need to make sure that you and whoever you plan to help are safe.  If the scene you are in is unsafe, then you need to make sure that it is or leave.  You cannot help yourself or another if you are attacked and injured or killed in the process.  Once you know it is safe to treat someone or treat yourself, then you can really help. Learn how to approach someone you intend to help.  In your first aid training, you should learn basic assessment skills and methods to approach someone who is injured.  You should learn how to recognize and treat shock.  If you are helping someone else, you may find them to be scared, disoriented, or agitated.  Learning to manage the stress both you and others will be experiencing after a traumatic event will allow you to help more effectively. Learn hemorrhage control.  You need to know how to stop bleeding.  This will include the application of pressure bandages, packing wounds with gauze, using hemostatic agents, and applying tourniquets.  You need to know how and when to use each of these. Learn to use an AED (automated external defibrillator).  An AED will determine if a person has an irregular heartbeat that is interfering with his ability to pump blood.  If so, the AED will attempt to treat the irregular heartbeat through electrical therapy (defibrillation) to allow the heart to reestablish an effective rhythm. AED’s are designed to be used by anyone and will even talk you through the steps required when used. Learn CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). If someone is unable to breathe, you need to be able to breath for them.  If someone does not have a pulse, you give them one.  CPR is performed to restore breathing and blood flow to get oxygen to the heart and brain.   CPR can manually keep the brain functioning to prevent death and minimize damage caused by a lack of oxygen.  It cannot actually start the heart if there truly is no activity, but it can certainly save a life. Learn to treat a penetrating chest wound.  Wounds to the chest area can cause what is known as a pneumothorax a.k.a. sucking chest wound.  This happens when the vacuum inside the chest is broken and one or both lungs detach from the chest wall and begin to collapse.  Pressure from air and blood inside the chest can squeeze the lungs making it difficult to breath.  Treatment will involve using an occlusive dressing on the injury.  This dressing acts live a valve allowing air and fluid to come out, but not to go in.  Using it helps restore the vacuum needed inside the chest for the lungs to function properly. Learn to treat a wound with an impaled object.  If you see a knife sticking out of someones head or body, don’t just pull it out!  You could cause more damage and allow more blood to be lost by pulling out what was essentially acting as a plug.  Often you will just need to stabilize the object, so that it will not move and cause more damage.  There are some situations in which you do need to remove it.  Learn about it. Most injuries in U.S. are caused by blunt force trauma (mostly car wrecks) and heart attacks.  Having emergency first aid skills to help you survive an attack is very useful, but you may be more likely to use those skills to save someone from bleeding to death after an accident or after they collapse due to a heart attack. What Gear You Need To streamline your effectiveness in an emergency situation, you should consider separating your basic first aid supplies needed for minor situations from that needed for a serious emergency.  In the basic first aid kit, you keep things like band-aids and aspirin, but in your emergency kit, you have only the things you really need to save a life.  Below are a few of the most common to include in your emergency kit.  These items are based on what is needed to apply the skills listed above. Pressure dressings such as an Israeli or OLAES bandage. Z-packed gauze Z-packed gauze with an hemostatic agent such as Celox or Quikclot. Occlusive dressings.  Make sure you have at least 2.  Think about a gunshot injury wherein there could be an entry and an exit wound. High quality tourniquets such as the SOF-T-WIDE or CAT.  Watch out for knockoffs and inferior replicas sold on Amazon and airsoft websites.  The more you have the better.  Imagine a family car wreck, How many arms and legs could need a tourniquet? Heavy duty / EMT scissors or cutting tool designed to be used for removing clothing in order to find and have access to injuries. Nitrile gloves.  Protect yourself from blood borne pathogens when helping someone else. This list is not a complete list, but it covers most of the basics needed for someone who does not have medical training.  If you have other special needs, such as an EpiPen for dangerous allergies or insulin for diabetes, you may want to include those in your kit.  You may also want a CPR mask.  Some carry a decompression needle.  Just remember the larger your kit, the harder it is to carry with you.  Also, you need to be careful when helping a someone else if you use more advanced medical procedures.  If you are dodging something that should only be done by a medical professional, you could open yourself up to more liability. You must have your emergency kit with you.  Put together multiple kits and keep them in your home and your car.  Keep one at work.  Carry one with you.  Make sure one is readily available at the gun range and when you go hiking, hunting and camping.  The kit will not be useful if you or someone else helping you cannot find it immediately. You must have training for any of this to be useful.  Don’t go out and buy these things until you have had training and learned how to use each of these items properly.  The easiest step is to order all the gear, but the usefulness only comes with the training. Training Go to a professional course like those offered from Lone Star Medics and the American Heart Association to learn how to administer emergency first aid and CPR properly.  You need to learn where you can have hands-on experience in class.  Some courses include scenario training to bring together skills and create more realistic training environment.  Though videos and books can be useful, they are secondary resources and are not substitutes for actual training. Just like in training for self defense, so in training for emergency first aid, you need to practice the physical and cognitive skills involved.  After learning the techniques in class, practice them at home.  Buy some extra bandages and tourniquets that you use only for training.  Get them out regularly and develop the motor skills to quickly access your supplies from your kit and apply them.  Rehearse the steps used in each of the procedures.  Think about what factors would affect your assessment of someone who needs your help. Final Thoughts Without learning some basic emergency first aid skills, you are unprepared.  You should know how to help both yourself and others who you care about.  With just a small investment of your time you can develop useful life saving skills. Not only are those skills useful for the aftermath of a self-defense related incident, but also they may allow you to save a life in other deadly situations.  Whether you are hurt in a wreck on the way to work, see a friend fall and become injured while enjoying the outdoors, or witness a family member fall over and stop breathing, you can do something about it using the same set of skills. Be prepared to take action.  If you are injured and alone, who will help you?  If someone else is injured, who will help?  Do you want to watch them die or be prepared to help them before the professionals arrive.  Get some training.  Buy and learn to use the right gear.  Be a little better prepared for the unexpected.

The stress created by a deadly threat in a survival situation, can suddenly cause your body to respond with physical and psychological (biochemical) changes to prepare you for survival. Your breathing and your heart rate will become faster, blood with fill your large muscle groups and your body will become warmer in an effort to boost physical performance. This physical arousal of your body readies you for action, and is mostly caused by the release of adrenaline in your body. It is commonly referred to as the "fight or flight" response. Whereas some physical arousal is good for effective performance, too much is a problem. If your heart rate and breathing become too fast, you will experience a degradation in your motor skills and difficulty with cognitive abilities. In other words, it will degrade your ability to perform well and think clearly. You need the ability to manage the effects of stress in order to respond more favorably in a dangerous situation. Managing the Effects of Stress With training, you can improve your chances of benefiting from the physical arousal caused by stress. By managing this natural response of your body under stress, you can channel it into faster, more effective performance while avoiding becoming overly stimulated and unable to respond properly. The physical arousal caused by the fight or flight response readies you for action, and is therefore desirable. In addition to essentially "warming up" the body in an instant, the increased heart rate delivers additional blood sugars and fats to fuel the body. Your body also speeds up the ability of your blood to clot in order to minimize blood loss just in case you are injured. This is good, but this is not the only thing that happens to you. Fears, self doubt and worry can also be aroused in times of stress. Your emotions can become very distracting. Thoughts of inadequacy can surface wherein you worry you are not conditioned enough, you have not trained enough, or you don’t have the right equipment. You may worry that you will make the wrong choices under stress and there will be very serious, negative consequences because of those poor decisions. We want to keep all the positive benefits of this stress response, while avoiding the negatives. This is can be done through proper training. There are several factors that help with this, but one, easy-to-learn tool for managing the effects of stress, is controlled breathing, also known as tactical or combat breathing. Combat Breathing Yoga, meditation, martial arts, and sports have used controlled breathing to manage stress and enhance performance for many years. Police, firefighters, and soldiers use controlled breathing to help manage the pressure of their jobs. There are several techniques and variations, but they are largely the same in effect. They reduce your heart and respiratory rate and therefore help you find an optimal level of arousal. The ideal heart rate for good performance is between 115 and 145 beats per minute. At this range, complex motor skills, visual and cognitive reaction speed are at their best. The body is stimulated for action and the mind is clear enough for logical thinking and decision making. Using combat breathing in times of stress, you can influence your heart rate to prevent it from getting so high that it erodes your performance when trying to protect yourself. Combat breathing allows you to keep your mind focused on only what is needed to survive, and it can help you recover from surprise or distraction. If you enperience a surprise that spikes your heart rate up and starts to set you in a state of panic, use a few breaths to bring your heart rate down and calm your mind. How It Works Deep breathing removes stale air from your lungs, and allows you to breath in more oxygen. Breathing in more oxygen adds more oxygen to your bloodstream so that your body does not need to pump as much blood to get the amount of oxygen that it needs. Because of this, your heart rate then slows down. That reduction in your heart rate allows your mind to become more relaxed and controlled. How to Do It To get the benefits of combat breathing, you must use deep, abdominal breathing. With abdominal breathing, you initially expand your abdomen as you inhale, rather than expanding your chest. This will fill your lungs using your diaphragm, a muscle located between your abdominal cavity and your thoracic cavity. Breathing with your diaphragm is efficient, and it triggers relaxation. When you breath abdominally, you will fell like you are pulling your breath downwards rather than up into your chest. An easy breathing method is to remember is 4-4-4. Repeat the following 4 steps, 4 times. For each step, count to 4: STEP 1 - Breath in through your nose while counting 1, 2, 3, 4. STEP 2 - Hold your breath, counting 1, 2, 3, 4. STEP 3 - Exhale through your mouth counting 1, 2, 3, 4. STEP 4 - Hold your breath, counting 1, 2, 3, 4. Note: Step 4 is optional and may be difficult when the heart rate is very high. Also, you can use a different count if it suits you. Just use what works for you at the time. It may be hard to hold your breath for a long count when you are really out of breath. Try a shorter count. Anywhere from a 3 to 7 count is useful. Start by practicing combat breathing in a safe place, without stress before you try it in a dangerous situation. When you first begin, you may also start with your eyes closed. Initially, it takes time to learn to relax, but once you have practiced it a few sessions, you will be able to more quickly recall the state of relaxation.  You will be able to do this without closing your eyes. When you practice, develop a mental image or cue, such as a command word, like “relax” that will help you trigger your relaxation skills and recapture a state of calm the next time you use it. If you associate the image or cue with the state of relaxation you reach each time you practice, then you will link the cue with the state. After some practice, using the cue or visualizing the image will put you back in that state in a shorter period of time. Practice in everyday situations that cause you minor stress so that you will be accustomed to using the technique in real life, not just in training. Use it when you are cut-off in traffic, get frustrated at work, or find you are losing focus. By practicing regularly, you will not only get better at relaxing quickly, but you will also remember to use the technique itself. When to Use It Use breath control to prepare for a stressful situation. If you are about to confront an intruder, see a potential threat approaching you, or just have have a bad feeling about something, start your breath control. You can reduce any building tension, fear, and anxiety. Use breath control to manage arousal during a stressful situation. Use it to keep from overreacting or allowing your heart rate and breathing to become too fast. If you have just been hit, shot at or otherwise assaulted, if there is any opportunity to control your breathing, do it. Even if you do not finish the breathing cycle, you can use it to refocus on the task at hand or recover from a stun. Use breath control to recover from a stressful situation. After surviving an attack, start controlling your breathing so you can clear your head and make the best decisions about your safety. You can use your breathing to slow bleeding if you have sustained an injury during a violent encounter or in an accident and are waiting for help. Final Thoughts When I was a kid, I read about biofeedback, breathing, and meditation a lot. I used to hold an amplified microphone up to my chest so I could hear my heartbeat though my old pioneer stereo. I would then try to slow down my heartbeat while I listened. After only a few tries and some breathing exercises, I could do it fairly quickly. To this day, 30+ years later, when someone is measuring my pulse, I cannot help but slow down my heartbeat when I hear the beeping sound of the pulse rate meter. During a CrossFit conditioning workout, I can actively slow my heart rate enough to recover a little faster than expected. I can do this even when I have not been regularly working out. To others, this may give the impression I am in better shape than I really am, but I'm just glad it helps me keep from collapsing to the floor in front of my students. It will be difficult to follow the 4-4-4 steps precisely in the middle of a fight, but consciously learning to control your breath will help you maintain more control of both your body and your mind. Even if you never need it in a violent encounter, you will find it has other benefits that are worth the effort it takes to practice.

Being armed is an essential part of self defense.  Not every scenario can be solved by talking, running or even by using your empty hands.  If you do decide to arm yourself, you need to make sure you choose the right weapon for you and that you learn to use it properly.  This process starts with your personally outlook on life. Is Carrying a Weapon Right for You? You need to start by asking yourself some very important questions.  Are you capable of violence?  Do you believe it is ok to hurt someone else in order to defend yourself?  Are you willing to take a life in order to protect your own?  How about your family members and other loved ones?  Your religion, personal philosophy, and values will be your primary guides here. If you are not willing to hurt another to defend yourself, then you should not carry a weapon.  A weapon will be useless to you and may actually become a liability if someone who intends to do harm with it steals or takes it from you.   It may take you time to decide on your stance in regards to self defense, but you should consider the factors carefully and make a decision. You need to make these important decisions before the pressure is on!  If you wait to make your decisions while being the victim of a violent assault, then you may freeze or overreact because of the stress.  If you freeze, you could potentially lose your life or become gravely injured because you are unable to respond.  If you overreact, you could lose all your money and valuable possessions due to very expensive legal fees.  You may possibly live the rest of your life in prison.  None of these outcomes are good.  Make your decision while you have the time to think.  If you decide that you are capable of using a weapon, then you should take the time to pick the right one(s) to carry. Choosing the Right Weapon When choosing weapons for self defense, you must know and follow your local, state and federal laws.  Though staying alive is your primary concern, living in prison is not the future you want.  You should have options within the law that allow you to protect yourself.  If you do not, then move somewhere else that does.  Not every county, city or state has laws that are favorable to defending yourself. Some weapons are permitted in areas where others are not.  Examples of this are gun free zones, airport terminals and schools. You should consider what weapons you can have with you if you are in an area where your primary weapon is not allowed.   I carry a firearm most places, but when I am in the post office, I have a knife.  When I am on the plane, I have a flashlight and a tactical pen.  Know what you need and adjust to your environment. Understand the pros and cons for each weapon you consider.  Training is necessary for all types of self defense, but some weapons will require more training.  Firearms in particular, require lots of training not only for effective use, but also for safe use and handling.  Owning a firearm is a big responsibly and the ramifications of lacking discipline or making a mistake can be severe.  Some weapons such as pepper spray have limited effectiveness and may not stop an attacker.  With pepper spray, it is also easy to unintentionally spray yourself.  Other weapons, such as small impact weapons, require you to be very close to your attacker in order to use them.  This proximity puts you in more danger.  Understanding the pros and cons of each will help you decide which weapon to carry as well as how best to use each one. There are several different levels of force for the weapons types you can carry.  These types range from a weapon that is not likely to permanently injure someone to something that is likely to seriously injure or kill.  In regards to self defense, the following categories of weapons will be the most relative for you to consider: Non-lethal weapons - These weapons include pepper spray and tear gas.  They are not designed to kill or cause serious bodily injury.  Though they can kill someone in very rare situations, it is not likely and the chances are very remote. Less-than-lethal weapons -  These include impact weapons such as clubs, batons, keychains, flashlights as well as electronic devices such as stun guns and tasers. Though they are not designed or used with the intent to seriously injure or kill, they do have a greater likelihood of leading to serious injury or death than non-lethal weapons.  A strike to the thigh with a baton could simply make an attacker drop due to pain, but a blow to the head could easily kill him. Lethal weapons - These include weapons like knives, swords, and firearms which are designed to cause serious bodily injury or death, and are likely to do so.  No, your hands are not included, no matter how awesome your skills are. There are other weapons that fall into additional categories, but most of those are more appropriate for law enforcement or military use and are therefore not discussed here. You must know what the intended use is for each weapon and only use it when that use is necessary for your survival.  The amount of force you use to defend yourself must be proportional to that which is being used against you.  Your choice in weapon is related to this fact.  Because weapons fall into different categories of force, the appropriate use of each one varies.   If you are carrying a lethal weapon, but the situation you find yourself in only calls for a small amount of force, then you may not be able to (legally) use your weapon.  If you use it, you will be taking a big risk, and may end up in jail. Your choice of weapon has serious implications.  To avoid criminal charges, you want to use a weapon that fits the circumstance.  A common misconception with firearms use is that someone will plan to fire a warning shot or just shoot someone in the leg to wound them.  The problem here is that the defender is indicating that the lethal weapon was used in a situation wherein the immediate use of deadly force was not necessary.  For example: The warning shot could hit an unintended target, or the defender could accidentally kill the attacker when it was not justifiable to do so.  Your weapon and the amount of force it produces when used should match that of your threat. No weapon will answer all of your self defense needs.  Violent encounters occur in many different situations, and the appropriate responses for each vary in the amount of force you should use to defend yourself.  Though varying circumstances can change what is legally justifiable, you probably should not shoot someone only for yelling at you, even if you feel like he deserves it.  On the other hand, misting someone with pepper spray who is shooting at you is probably not enough.  The truth is, you will need more than one weapon and the ability to use your natural weapons (empty hands) in order to be well prepared for self defense. Get Training with your Weapon Just like driving a car requires instruction and practice, so does using a weapon.  Though it may be easy to pick up a bat and hit someone with it, it is harder to do that without getting hit or tackled in the process.  Proper training will give you a better chance of stopping your attacker and help you minimize any injuries that you may sustain in the process. You need training to be safe, so that you do not hurt yourself or others unintentionally.  One mistake with a firearm or a knife and you can be seriously injured.  Even with pepper spray you need to know by feel how to aim the spray.  The last thing you need to do when being attacked is to spray yourself in the face.  Get proper instruction and training so that you can handle and use your weapon safely. You need training to be effective, so that you will survive.  In order to get the best use of your weapon, you need to train how to use it and develop skill to access it and use it quickly.  Even at close range, shooting and hitting a target while you are under stress is hard.  You need to learn how to use your weapons and practice with them so that you are less likely to make a mistake.  Since you are carrying a weapon to protect yourself when the potential ramifications of failure means you could lose your life, you should take the time to develop your skills. The greater the complexity of the weapon, the more instruction, practice and training you will need.  Even with pepper spray, you will need to learn to draw the canister and spray at a target.  Though the overall concept is the same for a firearm, there is a lot more detail in doing this safely and effectively.  Don’t let that stop you.  Invest the time it takes.  If you do, then you will be prepared when you need the skill.

To be able to defend against a knife attack, we must understand as much about edged weapon attacks as we can.  Knowing the mechanics of a how a knife is used and learning about the dynamics of an edged weapon attack will add a dimension to this understanding. What is an Edged Weapon? When considering the threat of edged weapons, there are more than just knives.  It is a category of weapons.  For the purpose of developing a defense against edged weapons, we can include conventional knives, blades, etc. as well as other objects that cause damage similar to a knife or blade in the same category.  These include things like homemade shanks, pens, pencils, scissors, screwdrivers, nails and anything else that can pierce flesh with a thrust.  This category also includes keys, keychains, fragments of glass, metal, plastic, eating utensils, sawing tools, and anything else that can cut or tear flesh. Having this wider definition of edged weapons will prevent you from underestimating the threat.  Often people who have been victims of knife attacks, say they did not even know they were being stabbed when it happened.  This is in part because it can be hard to detect a knife, especially when one is unexpectedly attacked.  But even if you do not see a knife, it does not mean it is not there.  If you acknowledge that other common implements can do the same damage as a knife, perhaps you will expect edged weapons to be involved in any assault and respond accordingly. Knife Grips The manner in which a knife is gripped can change the dynamics of an attack.  Knife grips largely differ in whether the knife tip is pointing forward from the hand or reversed.  Each grip offers slightly different advantages and variations in edge direction, such as turned inward or outward also create different problems for the defender. forward grip - In the forward grip, also known as a hammer grip, the knife is pointing forward from the hand.  The forward grip allows lots of maneuverability and a slightly better reach than the reverse grip. reverse grip - In the reverse grip, also known as the icepick grip, the knife is pointing downward from the hand.  In a reverse grip, the primary attack can be a thrust, but with the blade turned inward, it can also become a hook.  This is especially problematic if the defender attempts to block and gets his arm caught in the hook.  Any attempt to pull the arm back can lead to a fillet of his arm. palming - Whether the knife is held in a forward or reverse grip, the attacker can conceal the knife inside the palm and along the underside of the forearm using a method called palming.  This is simply intended to make it harder to see that the attacker is armed.  Not recognizing that a knife is present can lead to fatal mistakes by the unaware defender. Knife Strikes Knife attacks include a variety of strikes that each have unique properties.  Some strikes require low effort from the attacker and do little damage, but serve as a means to setup a more substantial attack. Other strikes are used to inflict maximum damage through deep penetration and devastating structural damage. jab -  The jab is a quick movement that requires little commitment.  Just like a boxing jab, the knife jab is simply a quick attack wherein the knife is extended rapidly and retracted even faster.   The jab can be used to initiate a more committed attack or to test the reaction of the defender. flick - The flick is often seen as a jabbing movement with a quick extension of the wrist.  It can be used to attack the eyes, rip a chunk of flesh off the hands and arms, or simply used to create a flinch response and setup a more significant attack.  The flick is really just a variation of the jab, and has many of the same properties. cut - The cut is more of a hacking or chopping motion that is seen more prominently in larger blades.  Imagine the hacking motion of a machete.  It’s function is to cleave through flesh and bone. slash - The slash is a drawing motion, wherein the blade edge is pulled across a target.  Imagine the action it takes to cut a steak.  This drawing action allows the cutting edge to penetrate deeply. fillet - A fillet is similar to a slash but often occurs when an edge cuts to the bone then shears off flesh as it scrapes along the bone.  This is common in defensive wounds where the defender raises his arm to block an incoming attack and the blade slashes then slides down along the arm. thrust - A thrust often gets deeper penetration than a slash or cut, especially with a smaller knife.  This can make it potentially more lethal than a slash depending on the blade size.  A thrust is very hard to defend against because the attacker only has to point at you in order to be successful. An attack can include more than one of these types of strikes. Knife Attack Dynamics Knife Attack Angles Common patterns of delivery are seen in knife attacks.  Regardless of grip, often repeated thrusts are seen along the same line of attack.  For the forward grip, the attacks are typically low thrusts to the body or high punch-like thrusts to the neck.  These neck attacks are often on the left side because it is more convenient for the more common right-handed attacker.  With the reverse grip, attacks tend to be downward thrusts at the neck and chest area, repeated along the same line of attack.  Sometimes the attacker with grab or off balance the victim with the empty hand and then repeated attack with the knife. Though some angles of attack are common, there are other options that make allow for multiple angles in one attack.We have a saying in our knife training: With every thrust there is a slash and with every slash there is a thrust.   This is simply a observation that multiple strikes can be repeated quickly by linking the movements of both a thrust and a slash in succession.  This is economy of motion, and it can lead to more damage, quicker. Knife Carry Locations and Concealment The most common place for a knife to be carried is hidden somewhere along the waistband.  The weapon is either secured in a pocket or somehow secured to the belt or waistband of the pants.  A knife is sometimes carried inside the waistband or outside.  Often, it will be concealed under an untucked shirt.  This area of carry lends to the frequency of low line attacks.  The knife can be drawn from concealment and a low attack can immediately be delivered.  Not only is waistband area a convenient place for the attacker to access, but it is also harder for the victim to see when the two are close. Edged weapons are also hidden inside hats or hair, around the neck and chest area, or inside socks or shoes. Knives can be easily camouflaged inside a paper bag or folded newspaper, so that it can be ready in the hand and even used while remaining concealed. Back in the 90’s, thugs in New York would often carry razor blades in the mouth and spit them out when needed.  The razors from a box cutter are used not only because they are easier to conceal than a larger knife, but also because you can be slashed with the razor and not know you are cut.  They would simply pinch the razor between the thumb and index finger or hold it between their ring and middle finger.  Small corners of razors can be broken off and taped to the hands to resemble a bandaged area, but then be used to slap at the victim or slash at the neck during a clinch.  Though the cuts with these fragments are not deep, they can be demoralizing. Unexpected Dangers Someone may catch you off guard using an unexpected method of deploying an edged weapon.  For example: Fish hooks or razor blades can be inserted from inside a baseball cap so that they protrude from the back of the cap facing upward.  With a quick flip of the hat the attacker can target the eyes and face of his victim.  Some criminals even sew fish hooks protruding from the back of their jeans pant legs to injure a police officer during a "pat-down" search.  Though you may not need to pat-down anyone (without their consent), you may grab someone by the arm or leg during a violent confrontation.  The advantages to most of these methods are that it is harder to see that there is a weapon and the existence of the threat is unexpected. Sometimes the threat is even worse than you would expect.  In traveling the Philippines and Indonesia for training, I have met a few old fighters who had hard, sharpened thumbnails they would use for attacking the throat, eyes, and ears. They literally had claws.  Though technically they are unarmed, the threat of their touch is deadly.  Sometimes those old men would even add poison to the tip of their nails and use a scuffle as an opportunity to get in and introduce it to their opponent.  When in close, they would jam their poisoned thumbnail into the ears, eyes, or even the mouth of an opponent. In many cases, an attack may start as an empty handed assault, but later become a knife attack.  This is why we must always assume an edged weapon is involved in an attack.  Assuming otherwise, could leave you exposed. Conclusion If you are going to defend yourself against a threat, you need to know as much as you can about that threat.  You need to understand the significance of the threat as well as the dynamics involved.  Without understanding the threat you will have a difficult time successfully protecting yourself. Knife attacks have some unique factors that are critical to consider when learning to prepare against them.  These factors are further complicated by the various grips and strikes that can be used with the knife as well as the options to conceal and camouflage them. This article is only an introduction to the issues that make training to defend against a knife attack difficult.  In upcoming articles, I will discuss more details about the solutions and methods we use in training to survive an attack.