Toughen Up Self-Defense Training Tips

Self-defense instructors often encourage students to interrupt or discourage victimization by “pretending to be tough.”   Tiny, out-of-shape women, for example, are advised to stand tall, take an aggressive stance, sneer and blurt out insults and vulgarities in an attempt to intimidate a larger, stronger predator into backing off.

It makes sense on the surface.  “The Law Of The Jungle,” states that predators target their prey on the basis of their perception of their willingness or ability to fight back.  They are in search of the passive, weak and meak.  So, in theory, the “tougher” you come across the less likely a criminal will follow through on his attempts to victimize you.

In my self-defense program this is called “Defiance,” and it’s one of five response options available to you in a confrontation.  And SOMETIMES it IS the fight thing to do.  Projecting the image of a tough gal or tough guy CAN send a bully, mugger or rapist searching for a easier target.

But should you ALWAYS do the defiance thing?  Is it really that simple?  Do you think advice like this has the potential to backfire?

In reality people who “pretend to be tough” have to consider two factors of success:

1.  Will my”bluff” be convincing?

2.  What will I do if the my bluff only makes matters worse?

People who are confused or doubtful about their response options, no matter how convincingly they attempt to come across, will not project the signals that they need to discourage aggressive behavior.  Just like you can’t fake strength or endurance, it is also very difficult to fake the “non-victim” behaviors and body language that will send a potential assailant looking for someone else.

When you know EXACTLY what your response options are and you are confident in your ability to carry them out, you will project very different “signals” to the nutballs, retards and shitheads that get off on victimizing people.  The knowledge and experience you gain through the active study and ongoing practice of self-defense will have a significant impact on your “circle of influence” and your ability to defuse a volatile  situation.

Bottom line?… Defiance and de-escalation skills are not about bullshitting, bluffing or pretending.  They are skills to be learned.  They are enhanced only by a “legitimate” knowledge of your options and your ability to carry them out. 

Solution?  Keep studying the dynamics of self-defense and if you’re not already… get started on an intelligent, on-going combative training program.

There, I’ve said my piece… I feel better now.

What does morality have to do with self-defense?

Well a lot actually.  People’s behavior is directed and controlled by their beliefs and values.  There are a couple reasons why I think its important to clarify, and perhaps correct or modify your beliefs and values, if you want to develop an effective self-defense strategy.

First of all, you have to get clear on your belief in your god-given right to feel safe and secure in your life.  You have to be clear on your right to stand up and protect yourself even if it means challenging, confronting, injuring or even killing your attacker.

Believe it or not, some people have a hard time with that.  There are people who will allow themselves to be bullied, victimized and abused because they don’t feel that they are important or deserving enough to be protected.  That’s just plain wrong.

Violence, in and of itself is not necessarily, “BAD.”  Violence can actually be “GOOD.”  Its a matter or application and context.

Is it BAD for a child to fight off a pedophile trying to drag her into his vehicle?  Is it BAD for a woman to inflict a serious injury on a rapist or serial killer?  Is it bad for a good Samaritan to intervene on behalf of a weak, defenseless victim being pounded on by some dysfunctional piece of criminal shit on a street corner?  I DON’T THINK SO!  It’s good!

Violence is only either good or bad as a result of the context in which it’s applied.  If you don’t have a crystal clear sense of this “righteous application of violence,” your ability to successfully protect yourself and your loved ones is in jeopardy.

The second thing that you need to do is sit down and take a good, hard look at what is worth fighting for and what isn’t.  People have been killed trying to protect trivial possessions or fighting over issues that aren’t worth fighting for.

When a stressful incident activates our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight response) our thinking and decision making skills deteriorate.  Sometimes, in a confrontation we panic and either fight for something that isn’t worth fighting for or fail to protect what IS significant and important in our lives.  Sometimes we lay down and give up and then spend the rest of our lives wishing we’d fought back.

For the purpose of our discussion, lets get clear on a couple of definitions:

Values are what we place great importance on in our lives.

Belief is our sense of certainty about the way thinks are.

Your efforts to think about this and figure it out BEFORE you find yourself in a threatening situation is crucial.  I encourage you to do some soul searching and examine your beliefs and values about self-defense by answering these questions:

1.  What do I believe about my right to protect myself from physical harm; even if it means hurting or killing another human being?

2.  What do I have in my life that’s worth fighting for, even if it means that I might be beaten and seriously injured trying to protect it?

3.  What do I have in my life that is NOT worth fighting for and running the risk of death or a serious injury if I do?

4.  What would I lose or miss out on if I was killed or seriously injured by the violent actions of another person?  What am I prepared to do, so that never happens to me?

5.  What am I prepared to do TODAY to prepare myself for a threatening encounter that may or may not happen to me in the future?

6.  What are the positive benefits I can gain in my life by investing time and energy into self-defense training even if I end up never having to defend myself?

People behave, whether deliberately or by default, on the basis of the values and belief’s.  You need to examine your values and belief’s and determine whether they are “empowering” in that they help you get what you want out of life or “disempowering” in that they prevent you from achieving it.

If you have disempowering belief’s, that compromise your ability to successfully defending yourself,  you need to change them.  Belief’s are like habits, the best way to change a bad one is to replace it with a good one.  Once you do, seek out evidence to reinforce the validity that your chosen belief is true.

What do you believe about your ability to defend yourself?

Belief And Value Clarification Exercise

Grab a pen and paper, or fire up a blank document file on your computer and brainstorm a list of the beliefs that you have about your personal safety and your right to feel safe and secure.

Here’s a few examples to get you started:

• I have the right to be left alone, not be hassled, harassed, bullied or taken advantage of by others.
• I have the moral and legal right to protect myself and my family, even if it means injuring another person.
• My physical, mental and emotional well-being is important enough for me to take the necessary steps to protect it.
• My body is sacred and I have the right to maintain, condition and protect it.
• I am totally responsible for ensuring my own personal safety.
• My health and my family are my top priority and I will do anything to protect them.
• My religious beliefs are in harmony with my right and willingness to do what I have to protect myself.

… you get the idea.

Getting clear in your own head about your values and beliefs about self-defense and personal safety BEFORE something happens will have a significant impact on your performance in a confrontation.

Enff said.

In a self-defense encounter, there are essentially FIVE response strategies available to you in dealing with a violent or volatile situation.   Far too often, self-defense advice comes in the form of “tactics” or specific things that you should do to bring about a certain outcome.  The problem with a “tactical approach” is that the tactic may not necessesariliy produce the result you want. 

Any self-defense system should begin with a clear “doctrine” or an overall mission or philosophy about what you want to accomplish in a volatile situation.  Before you can select the most appropriate “tactics” to apply, you need a broader undstanding of the strategies you are trying to implement. 

I define a strategy as: a general game plan based on principles, rules and concepts that affect your ability to produce a desired result.

Before we get too deeply into the discussion of self-defense response strategies, it’s probably a good idea to give you an overview of what they are.

In one set of circumstances, a specific strategy might be your best bet at dealing effectively with a situation.  In other circumstances, that same stratey could backfire big time and make matters much worse.  Its important to know when and when not to apply a given strategy.

For now though, I’ll just give you a list to keep in mind when we’re exploring response options in more detail.

1. Compliance

Compliance is simply giving in or cooperating to the predatory demands of your assailant.  Some things in life aren’t worth fighting for. Property for example is seldom worth the risk of being killed or sustaining a serious injury trying to protect it.

2. Escape

Escape is simple putting as much distance between yourself and your assailant(s) as possible. Sometimes, the solution to a self-defense situation is a simple matter of running like you’ve never run before and keep running until you are out of harms way.

3. De-escalation

De-escalation is the use of communication to lower the intensity of a situation that has not yet turned violent.  It involves defusing an emotionally charged situation before it escalates to the point of a fight.

4. Defiance

Defiance is based on the fact that predators seek out a potential victim that they believe is unable or unwilling to resist.  They are looking for an “inferior victim” who they feel that they can dominate and control.  Defiance is the act of projecting a strong, defiant and even aggressive demeanor to call the assailant’s bluff and send him looking for a more cooperative victim.

5. Fighting

Fighting back is what most people think of when they think about self-defense.  In actuality, fighting is a small part of dealing with volatile situations but it is a very, very important part. The more competent you are at physically dealing with a violent situation the safer you will be.

It is important however that you realize that there are different degrees of physical response options to deal with a resistive of violent situation and bring it under control.  You need a range of physical response options from restraining someone, netralizing his ability to fight without inflicting a serious injury or, in worste case scenarios, resorting to methods that could seriously injure or even kill your attacker.

I’ll leave it at that for now.  Later, I will get into the circumstances that will point you in the direction of one response strategy over another. I’ll also tell you when each strategy is a bad idea that can backfire and make matters worse and provide you with guidelines and instructions to carry out each strategy for maximum effect.

Feel free to comment.

Every self-defense situation, every street fight, every act of interpersonal violence is not a life-or-death encounter.

Quite often self-defense instructors get a little carried away and “pretend” that every conflict in life that turns physical, or has the potential to, should be considered a life or death situation.

They argue that to respond in a manner that is less-than-lethal is to dilute your fighting skills, expose yourself to unnecessary risk and compromise your “survival” in a street encounter.”

My main response to that type of advice is… “BULLSHIT!”  Give your head a shake “ninja-boy” and take a good hard look at the real world.

Sure, I don’t deny that there are situations in the real world of interpersonal violence that need to be taken very, very seriously.  They may even require a response that is likely to cause the death or a serious injury to your assailant… but then again, there are also a lot of situations that don’t.

If you take such an over simplistic view of life and lump ALL self-defense scenarios into life-or-death, do-or-die, kill-or-be-killed responses, you are going to get yourself in a heap of trouble.

If you have some time on your hands, fire up Google or your favorite search engine and run a search on “street fight video clips.”

You’ll come up with a list of sites that offer short video clips and market DVD’s that contain thousands of “real world encounters caught on tape” depicting people involved in knock-down-drag-out scraps.  Girls on girls, guys on guys, girls fighting guys, multiple attackers etc.

(we won’t even get into the adult-oriented “catfight stuff,” I’m just doing this to prove my point… bear with me)

Let me ask you this?  How many of those fights result in a death or serious injury?  How many of them end up with the loser being crippled or permanently disfigured?

Or, do  you notice that in most of these incidents, the combatants pick themselves up, dust themselves off and go their separate ways with not much more than a bruise ego, a fat lip, a shiner or a handful of hair missing?

How practical, moral or realistic would it have been if one of those combatants produced a knife and slashed their opponent’s throat?  Or perhaps gouged out an eye or slammed their opponent’s face into the curb?  Probably a bit excessive don’t you think?

Don’t get me wrong, there ARE some serious confrontations out there.  Threats so severe that if you don’t do something extreme and aggressive, somebody is going to get killed or seriously injured.  That too is a reality that you should include in your self-defense thinking and training.  The law allows for self-preservation and in those rare cases you are legally and morally justified to take a life to preserve your own or someone else’s.

Once again…  I’m NOT saying that deadly force is never appropriate or justified, because sometimes it is.

What I’m saying is…  if you want a realistic and functional self-defense skill set, you need to be able to respond to a variety of encounters.

Allow me to offer up three degree’s physical response for your consideration.  Which one you resort to will be dictated by your “Reasonably Perceived Vulnerability.” (I wrote an earlier post on this subject if you haven’t read it already)

Control and Restraint

This level of response involves subduing and controlling a resistive or aggressive individual who is not particularly threatening to you. Perhaps it is a drunken buddy or relative or a person smaller or weaker than you.

Control and restraint tactics include joint locks, holds and pinning methods that will restrain the individual for your safety and his (or hers) without busting them up or creating a serious injury.  You’d be surprised how often these types of scenarios occur.

Street Fighting

Although a street fight CAN be a life-or-death situation, in most cases they are not.  I consider a street fight to be a “scuffle or a scrap.”  It quite often takes the form of a punch-out or wrestling match but seldom escalates to something that is likely to result in death or a serious injury.

In cases such as these, you’ll probably find your most appropriate response is to neutralize your assailant with strikes, kicks, vascular chokes or submissions.  Hard strikes to nerve motor centers in the major muscles can cause cramps that will take the fight out of your assailant without a serious injury.  Stunning techniques can be applied to leave your opponent daze but uninjured.

Having response options that are suitable to the degree of vulnerability you perceive yourself to be in are safer because you will be less hesitant to bring the matter under control quickly and efficiently before it escalates to a more serous encounter.

Life or Death (Deadly Force Encounters)

Deadly force is justified when you reasonably perceive yourself or someone else to be in imminent danger or death or a serious, disfiguring or permanent injury.

As I said, sometimes, it is necessary to take a life to preserve one… but these cases are rare. I think “deadly force tactics” are an important part of a realistic approach to self-defense but you also need another skills.

Sometimes bones have to be broken, windpipes crushed, testicles “gripped and ripped.”  But ALL THE TIME?  Give me a break.

Note: If you’re interested in developing a strong foundation of “ballistic fighting skills,” I encourage you to check out my Toughen Up Training Guides at http://www.ToughenUp.com/

There is a balancing act between under-estimating and over-estimating the severity or threat potential of a physical encounter.  Responding appropriately will only happen as a preparation, common sense and a self-defense response suitable for the situation.

Please feel free to add your two cents (agree, disagree, challenge or call BS) in the comment section.

I got an email from a frustrated subscriber with a very common question, “How Do I Prevent Myself From Freezing In A Confrontation?”  What happens if I’m paralyzed and unable to act in the terror of a violent situation?  He went on to provide me with a bit of background information:

Hi Randy:

Hope things are going well for you.  I receive your emails and wanted to ask you a question. I am a 5′ 6″ male, and may have similar issues as a woman in a self-defense situation. Except I have virtually no money to take (joke).

Anyway, I got interested in your site because I believe you address real situations and possibilities.  I read your “how to drop a bad guy” post, but in addition to the strength and height disadvantage, I tend to freeze up. I know this from being approached by people selling things on the street and  from a fight I was in. I wonder if you did or could address the “intimidation factor.”

Also, I have an acquaintance that likes to joke around when he sees me, presumably to show his dominance. He is 6′4, and picks me up by the lapels, grabs me from behind and lifts me up, acts as if he’s mad and pushes my shoulder,  and other stuff.  It occurs to me that this could be a common thing to do to a shorter weaker guy (on the street).

How do people of my stature prevent being intimidated about dealing with situations like these? If you’re interested in knowing, I am 41, and the people you deal with daily, are generally people I have a hard time dealing with whenever I run into them.

Recently I had a run in with a guy at a gas station who accused me at looking at his girlfriend.  I often find guys stare me down and try to impose their dominance with eye contact and getting in your space.  I even had a guy who squeezed my hand in a hand shake with the intention of either hurting me or breaking bones.

NO, I am NOT a troublemaker; these things happened over a period of years mostly, but it seems like a “guy” thing.

I even decided to volunteer to help in a juvenile detention center. When I was leaving, one of the teenagers stepped in front of me and said “now what are you going to do.”  I was thinking I can’t believe I have to go through this shit when I am here to help this jerk-off.  The volunteer manager told me I give off a sense of fear.

Randy, I appreciate your time in responding!!!! I do intend to buy your punching program, but what good is it to a guy who freezes up?

Here is my Response:

Thanks for writing.  Your problem is not at all uncommon.  In fact, not too long ago, I asked my readers what their single most “burning question” was that they wanted answered about self-defense.

The concern about “freezing up” in a confrontation came up over and over again.  Psychologists call it “hyper vigilance.”  I call it “the deer in the head lights syndrome.” or a “Brain Fart!”  Its a common self-defense concern that CAN be addressed and corrected.

You raise TWO issues however… one is in relation to the fear of hyper vigilance.  The other is a Victim Selection issue.

Freezing Up

Freezing up is caused by a lack of knowledge, a lack of training and/or a lack of self-confidence. There are two dynamics at work that can cause you to enter a hyper vigilant state:  Not knowing what to do or a lack of confidence in your ability to successfully carry it out.

First the “not knowing what to do” issue….

I’ll try not to get too complicated here but when something happens to you, your brain must detect, analyze and make sense of what’s happening.  It will then apply a solution based on your existing knowledge, experience and training. (How long that process takes is known as “Survival Reaction Time.”

In a stressful situation, such as a fight or confrontation, your stress response will kick in and your ability for creative and logical thinking is dramatically impaired.  So if you haven’t “pre-considered” your options, you could be in trouble.

If you are well-trained, you have already created a number of “self-defense solutions” and a response will be immediately available to you. The most appropriate response will be drawn from your “short term memory” (conscious thinking) and you will do it.

You see something happen, recognize it, decide what to do about it and then respond quickly and decisively.

If something happens that you are confused about, and you don’t have an obvious response, your brain must now access long term memory and scroll through all past knowledge and experience in search for an appropriate response.  This will definitely slow down your “Survival Reaction Time.”

You may  end up choosing a poor response (under reacting or over reaction) or, if your brain doesn’t find anything, it enters a  “looping process” and you freeze up. (not reacting at all)

The solution to the problem of freezing up is to do exactly what YOU are doing now… Start learning everything you can about self-defense and use “What-If” scenarios to mentally play out possible situations in your mind, decided in advance how you would like to respond to them.  (Perhaps I should qualify this a bit and tell you to learn everything you can about legitimate self-defense and the science of performance.  There is a lot of bullshit out there masquerading as legitmate fighting advice)

Lack of Confidence

The second issue that can cause people to freeze up in a critical situation is a lack of confidence.  You may be confronted and “know” what you are “supposed to do” but lack confidence in your ability to effectively pull it off.

Experience tells us that we do not attempt skills we lack confidence in while frightened and under stress.  You feel unable to control the situation or afraid that if your efforts fail it will only make matters worse… so you do nothing.

You can’t “fake” confidence.  It has to be “bought and paid for.”  Fortunately with the right training program, confidence can and will be enhanced by ongoing combative training.

I disagree with many self-defense instructors who tell their students to “pretend” to be strong, confident and capable even though they’re not. There’s a lot of advice in the personal development field about “pretending that you are already the person you’d like to be.” 

But when I guy’s preparing to kick your ass… that advice will only take you so far.  You can’t fake “athletic qualities” that you gain from combative training (which is what a predator picks up on) any more than you can fake a 300 pound bench press or 100 push-ups.

The key here is to undertake ongoing combative training to change yourself: you ability to perform (fight), the signals you project to others and the way you feel about yourself.  There is no better way to bolster your self-confidence than to get into great, functional shape.

Victim Selection

The other issue is the dynamics of “Victim Selection.”  The “rough housing,” challenges and bullying behavior you describe leads me to believe that you are being targeted as victim.  You are projecting “signals” of a victim mentality.

Predators (criminals, bullies etc.) select their victims on the basis of their perception of your ability or willingness to fight back or stand up for yourself.  They will often “test or interview” you prior to a predatory act to select or rule you out as a suitable target.

This assessment usually happens at a subconscious level and most often the “dirt bag” doesn’t know he’s doing it.

People who are constantly picked on and targeted are selected because of the signals and body language that they give off.

The way you move, walk, carry yourself and interact with others affects whether you project a victim profile or not.  Essentially, people who walk with confidence and ease, move with coordination and balance and basically project “athletic qualities” are seldom selected.  People who are attentive to their environment and aware of their surroundings are also unlikely to be targeted. (I wrote about this in a previous victim selection post)

That’s why people undertake the study of self-defense to deal with incidents of bullying and victimization but they usually never get the chance.  Their effort to prepare themselves for the “next time” an incident occurs… changes the profile that they project to the outside world. They no longer project the profile of a victim but instead send signals of someone ready, willing and able to defend him or herself.

The incidents of confrontaiton stop for a couple of reason.  First of all, regular training builds athletic qualities that cause you to move and carry yourself differently.  As your fitness, muslce tone and fighting skills improve… so does your self-confidence. This projects a “hardened target” or a “don’t-mess-with-me” profile to a potential assailant.

Secondly, through studying self-defense and getting clear in your head EXACTLY what your options are to deal with a variety of scenarios you project a degree of confidence and assertiveness when “tested” by a potential assailant.  You FAIL the test and send the predator on his way to search for a more suitable target.

The solution to the “rough housing” that you describe is not a matter of slick tricks and physical fighting tactics.  You’re not going to grab someone by a secret nerve point on the wrist and pin him to the floor.  You’re not going to blast a bone-crushing punch into the nose of your buddy because he’s trying to be funny.

The solution is assertiveness and mental preparation.  Its informing the person right then and there that you don’t appreciate the behavior and to knock it off.  You don’t have to be rude or aggressive but you should be assertive and get your point across:  “Leave me alone!”

The EASY answer?  Start training on a regular basis and the changes in your fitness, athletic qualities and self-confidence will quickly improve.  You’ll project a very different profile to a potential assailant and terminate the vast majority of confrontations before they happen.

Secondly, keep reading, learning and thinking about self defense. Give your brain a “road map” of what to do and how to handle volatile situations.  Have a plan A, a plan B and a plan C in mind that you can draw on in a volatile situation.

I’ll be laying out more details of my “Self-Defense Response Options” component in the blog. It will explain exactly what you need to know to make street smart decisions in dicey situations.

My advice to you is to get my Toughen Up Training Guides (or another high-quality self-defense “training” resource) and use them to set up a regular self-defense workout program.  Secondly keep reading and studying everything you can get your hands on about on self-defense (blogs, articles, books, seminars) and educate yourself about the dynamics and response options to volatile situations.

I hope this is helpful to you… If you have any other questions please feel free to email me.

Take care, train smart and stay safe…

Randy

All self-defense techniques are NOT created equal!

Being a “skillful martial artist” does not necessary translate to effective performance in a street fight or self-defense encounter.  I get A LOT of email, even from experienced “fighters,” about the “fear of fear.”  They are concerned that despite their fitness or technical skill that the terror and chaos of a “real knock down drag out street fight” will cause them to “freeze up” or perform poorly.

They question whether their self-defense skills will stand up to the test of the full-blown chaos and confusion of a life or death street fight.

This is an important enough issue to take a serious look at so why don’t we?

How the heck do you “turn fear into strength?”

You’ve heard it before:  “make fear your friend,” “turn fear into power…” “FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real” and my favorite, “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Whats up with that?  Talk about skirting an issue!  Am I to believe that I can learn how to eliminate fear from combative or volatile situations?

Sounds like a bunch of new age bullshit don’t it? How can you “pretend” not to be afraid when you are?  How can you possibly benefit from being afraid of something? 

Well, for once there is some science behind the hype.

I’m going to tell you why fear and stress can actually make you stronger, faster and tougher if and only if you understand it, expect it, accept it and build it into your self-defense response system.

Fear creates anxiety which creates stress. Stress is a given in violent or volatile situatons.  And like it or not, it’s going to impact your performance.  It’s the way we’re wired.

That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how smart you were when selecting techniques to work on for self-defense.

Fight, Flight or Freeze?

When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, referred to as the “Fight or Flight Response,” a wide range of physical and biochemical changes take place.

If properly managed, your stress response is a powerful survival mechanism that will help you withstand, fight off or escape a violent situation.

Among many other things it will help you:

• React faster,
• Become stronger
• Be more resilient to pain
• Bleed slower
• Run fast 

However, it will also:

• limit or distort your perceptions,
• make you less coordinated and
• make you “dumber” (less capable of logical or creative thinking)

If you ignore, deny or misunderstand the reality of stress performance when designing a self-defense response system and your training methods, you’re in for a whole lot of trouble in a street fight.

What Is “Self-Defense Stress?”

The fear of interpersonal violence is a “Universal Human Phobia.”  Unless you are ultra-ultra-confident (or have a screw loose), the thought of being victimized is frightening.  We NEED to feel safe and secure in the world before we can enjoy other aspects of our life.

Fear and stress are normal when we perceive a discrepancy between a threat and our ability to control it.  This is especially true under conditions where the outcome has the potential for death, injury, degradation, victimization, embarrassment etc.

Expect that you’ll be “shitting your pants” in a violent encounter because, like it or not, it’s going to happen.  Accept it, prepare for it and turn it to your advantage.

The Symptoms Of Stress

Stress causes a variety of psychological and physiological changes. Without getting into the specifics of those changes, the affects of intense stress on performance fall into three categories:

Perceptual Distortion - loss of peripheral vision and depth perception, hearing may be blocked or impaired, changes in pain sensitivity, etc.

Cognitive Impairment- the emotional centers in the brain become dominant and creative or logical thinking are impaired.   You may halucinate, experience time distortion (slow motion or fast motion), you may even forget what you did or “remember” something that didn’t happen.

Motor Skill Deterioration - the ability to perform certain physical actions is impaired by stress. Actions requiring eye-hand coordination, precision or coordination are likely to fail.  However, other actions will actually be enhanced by stress.

Each of these categories could form an article (or book) of their own.  However, for the purposes of this post, I’ll confine myself the selection and performance of physical skills.

The techniques built into the Toughen Up Combative Training programs are “gross motor skills.” Simple, large-muscle actions that will be stronger and more powerful in stressful, adrenaline-charged situations.

If you want to be effective in the stress and chaos of a street fight, here are some things to keep in mind. 

The KYSS Principle (Keep Your System Simple!)

Why is it that so many martial artists get beat up in street fights? I’m sorry to burst your bubble if you thought otherwise but the fact is that many people, even after years of training, have been thumped by “unskilled,” intoxicated adversaries. How can that be?

If you confuse sparring with fighting you’re in for a rude awakening.  If you train with a distorted mental map of what you can and can’t do in a real-life, knockdown, drag-out, anything-goes street fight you might be in for a surprise when the shit hits the fan.

The more clearly you understand the realities of a “fight” and the effects of being in one, the better you can prepare yourself for the demands and chaos of personal combat.

Motor Skills Classification

A “motor skill” is a fancy name for physical actions, tactics or techniques. They can be divided into three categories:

Fine Motor Skills - are actions involving small muscles, dexterity and eye-hand coordination. The ability to perform fine motor skills deteriorates at low to moderate levels of stress.

Complex Motor Skills - are actions that combine three or more steps or actions in a sequence requiring timing and coordination. At high levels of stress, the ability to perform these skills is also impaired. Many martial arts techniques are complex motor skills. This explains why techniques that may work fine in low-stress training sessions fail in a high-stress street-fight.

Gross motor skills- are simple, large-muscle group actions like squats, push-ups and push/pull-type movements.  Unlike fine and complex motor skills, gross motor skills DO NOT deteriorate under stress.  In fact, they are enhanced by the affects of fear and stress.

The strikes and kicks I’ve written about in the Toughen Up Training Guidesand this blog are gross motorskills.  They’ve been intentionally selected on that basis.

It makes total sense to rely predominantly on gross motor skills when designing a self-defense response system that you know will be applied in stressful circumstances.

So before you fill your “tool box” with a pile of fancy-schmancy-bullshit-fighting-techniques, think long and hard about what will stand up to the stress of a street fight.  Then use them as a foundation for your training and self-defense game plan.

Enuff said… (for now)

Take care, train smart and toughen up…

Randy

At the “core” of our desire to study self-defense is a need to improve and protect ourselves and the people we care about.  We “need” to feel safe and secure in the world if we want to live our lives fully. 

Intelligent, ongoing self-defense training will have a huge, positive impact on your health, sense of security and personality.  Those improvements can and will “spill over” into other aspects of your life in a positive way.

Self-Defense Psychology addresses the mental, emotional and behavioral benefits available to us through the study and practice of self-defense.

There are four “branches” of psychology that I address in my approach to self-defense training:

1.  Response-ability

2.  Motivation

3.  Mental Toughness

4.  Self-Esteem

#1 Response-ability: 

Response-ability is “your ability to respond” to the challenges and problems that you encounter in your life.  It’s accepting full and direct responsibility for your health, your personal safety and the results you produce.
Through the study and practice of self-defense you accept full ownership and responsibility for your health, protection and essentially your destiny.

Nobody can fight your battles for you.  You probably won’t be attacked in the company of other people.  Predators separate and isolate the intended victims.  The only person you can rely on to protect you but you. 

Response-ability is taking full responsibility for your safety, your training and learning what you need to know in order to achieve that.

Just like you can’t pay someone to workout for you, you can’t rely on other people for your health and protection.  That’s why it’s called “SELF” defense. 

Unless you have a 24/7 bodyguard on the payroll, you’re going to have to protect yourself.  It sounds obvious, but taking full responsibility for your personal safety is the foundation of achieving what you need to feel and be safe.

#2 Motivation: 

Motivation is the emotional force that propels your to take action.  What is it about self-defense that has you searching for a solution? 

People do things either to avoid pain or gain pleasure. 

Self-defense in particular, is usually “pain driven,” in that people undertake the study of self-defense to avoid being victimized, injured, embarrassed, abused etc. 

Other people might be “pleasure oriented” and look at their self-defense training for the benefits that it offers… it could be a fun and interesting way to get into shape, an enjoyable hobby, something to make you look fitter, feel healthier etc.

There are four forms of motivation that I address in my curriculum.

Motivation to learn - what motivates your interest in self-defense in the first place?  There are many people who don’t give their personal safety a second thought.  Obviously, since you’re reading this, self-defense IS of interest to you.  What is it about self-defense that interest you and how much of a commitment do you have to find the answers or solutions that you seek?

Motivation to train - motivation to take action on a consistent basis is another aspect of your training.  We all struggle with diets, exercise programs and actions that we want to take to achieve the things we want in life.  I believe that one of the most profound and significant benefits of self-defense comes from implementing a regular, consistent, on-going training program.

Motivation to apply - a lot of people know what to do, but that doesn’t mean that they do it.  Self-defense and personal safety is about incorporating proactive rituals, habits and behaviors into you life that will improve your safety and reduce the potential of being targeted for a violent crime or abusive situation.  People are usually victimized when the least expect it.  If you only “activate” safety behaviors when you think that you need them, the probability of being caught of guard is significant. 

Motivation to act - If you do encounter a bad situation, are you motivated enough to apply what you know to protect yourself and resolve your situation?  Are you driven enough to fight the fight and keep on fighting until its done?  Are you solved enough to never give up?  Motivation to act is taking the actions that need to be taken at the time of a confrontation.

#3 Mental Toughness -

“Toughness is a measure of health and is evidenced specifically in terms of increases in flexibility, responsiveness, strength and resiliency.  Increases in toughness can occur physically mentally and emotionally.” Dr. James’s Loher, Toughness Training For Life

Mental Toughness is an important aspect of your performance in a critical incident, such as a street fight.  However, it is much more than that. There are significant physical, mental and emotional benefits that can be achieved by the effective balance of stress and recovery that comes from a well-designed combative training program.

Mental toughness “occurs in response to periodic exposure to progressively increasing cycles of physical and/or emotional stress alternating with regular periods of recover.” 

#4 Self-Esteem - the degree of one’s self-esteem has a significant impact on your confidence, your behavior and the quality of your life.

“Self-esteem has two interrelated components. One is a basic confidence in the face of life’s challenges: self-efficacy. The other is a sense of being worthy of happiness: self-respect. ”

Self-efficacy means confidence in the function of the mind, in my ability to think, understand, learn, chose and make decisions; confidence in my ability to understand the facts of reality that fall within the sphere of my interests and needs; self-trust and self-reliance.”

Nathaniel Branden The Six Pillars Of Self-Esteem

This definition of self-esteem is an excellent tool to understand why self-defense training can make such a positive impact on a person’s emotional and psychological state. Let’s apply that definition to self-defense training:

Self-Efficacy

Evolution has wired us to detect and respond to threatening situations. In the days of cavemen and dinosaurs, that was a good thing. However, in modern times, that wiring can backfire when we generate fear, anxiety and stress in response to situations that are not physically dangerous or threatening. This can create symptoms and perceptions that compromise our self-confidence.

Proper self-defense training develops the knowledge, skill and willingness to resolve legitimate threats to our personal safety. You begin to satisfy your need for security and gain a sense of control over the events in your life. You become more capable of discriminating between REAL threats and the “pain-in-the-ass” variety that can suck so much enjoyment out of life.

Setting and achieving self-defense goals provides you with a process that can be applied to anything else you want to accomplish. It builds a general sense of competence which leads to a general sense of confidence.

Self-Respect

When you engage in self-defense training, what messages do you think are conveyed to your conscious and unconscious mind? What are you saying to yourself when you decide to dedicate time and energy to your health, your competence and your protection? When you are prepared to stand up for yourself, assert your rights and even injure your assailant to protect yourself, what does that say about your value and importance?

Keep in mind too that intelligent self-defense training is vigorous enough to strengthen and tone your muscles, burn up excess body fat and generate positive hormonal responses that make a significant impact on the way you feel about yourself. Need I say more?

Take care, train smart and toughen up…

Randy

Motivation is a significant aspect of “Self-Defense Psychology.”  When we think of motivation, we think of at least four different areas:

1.   Motivation to Learn (reading, studying, taking classes, watching DVD’s and reading my Blog )

2.   Motivation to Train (on going and focus effort to develop skills and athletic qualities)

3.   Motivation to Apply what you know (adopting a proactive lifestyle by avoiding dangerous or vulnerable situations)

4.  Motivation to Act (doing what you have to do when you encounter a volatile or violent situation)

I’ll focus on the second one, “Motivation To Train” in this post.  I believe that the training process is the essence of achieving everything that is achievable through the study of self-defense and martial arts.

I recently got an email from a client who had been on a consistent training streak but “fell off the wagon” and got sidetracked.  He asked me what he could do about regaining his motivation to train.  Here’s my response:

Procrastination and avoidance behavior is very common when implementing a regular training program.

It’s difficult for me to tell you what you need to do to regain your motivation to train. There are a number of reasons why you may be finding it hard to stay on track or get back into your training.

Difficulty in maintaining your training motivation is a very common problem.

Motivational Strategies

Here are some pointers to consider to regain your motivation to train.

Be very specific about what you want to achieve through your training and WHY you want to workout. Everyone’s reasons are different.  What are yours?

Strategy:  Write out a concise description of EXACTLY what you want to achieve as a result of your training and why?  Getting into better shape is not enough, you need to know why you want to be in better shape.

Are you over-training?

Often people, in their desire for quick results, training too long, too often or two intensely and they simply burn out… They start getting bored, or they get injured or they feel tired and even get ill.  If this is the case its a good idea to take some time off and allow your body to recover. Your motivation will come back.  If you are over-training, you’ll find your zeal for working out begins to fade, you may even come down with a cold or flu like symptoms. 

A good technique to determine over-training is to take your resting heart rate first thing in the morning.  If you wake up with an elevated heart rate, it’s probably a good idea to take a day off for recovery.

Strategy:  Take a break, don’t workout for a couple weeks to a month.  Depending on how long you’ve been training, it may take a substantial period of time for your body to recover.

Do you have a WRITTEN workout plan?

Do you have a specific, well-planned workout routine or are you working out randomly and haphazardly.  If you workout without a specific plan or structure to your workout its difficult to stay motivated.  Your workout should have a beginning, middle and end.  Going to the gym (or wherever you workout) and just throwing a bunch of haphazard drills and exercises together becomes boring fast.

Strategy:  Design a written workout plan listing the activities, exercises in the order that you will do them and include time frames, repetitions and how many sets of each activity.  If you need some training suggestions check out my Toughen Up Training Guides for some ideas.

Are you bored?

If you do have a routine, are you sticking with the exact same workout for an extended period of time?  If you do, you’ll probably get bored and the benefits you get from it will be less and less.

The body adapts to any training demand that is placed on it.  The better shape you’re in, the faster it adapts.  Its important to mix up your training every once in a while with different exercises and activities.  You shouldn’t stick with any workout routine for more than 4 weeks without some kind of variation.

Strategy:  Do some research and get creative about twists and variations you can put into your workouts to keep them fresh and interesting. Learn something new and incorporate it into your workouts.  Buy a new book or video or take a seminar and increase your knowledge of different training methods. (Check out my Toughen Up Training Guides for some training ideas)

Are you consistent?

Do you sit around waiting for motivation to find you?  It probably won’t.  If you workout at any and all times of the day, whenever the mood strikes you and you or try to squeeze your training into all of the other things in your schedule, you will find it difficult staying motivated.

Imagine if you sat around waiting for the motivation to hit you to go to work.  How long do you think you would keep your job?  Chances are… not very long.  Working out is the same.  Don’t wait for the mood to hit you before training.  Start training and you’ll get in the mood.

The best way to maintain a long-term training program is to try and stick to the same time every day… So when that pre-determine time comes up, you just do it.  It soon becomes a ritual and you’ll do it without having to force yourself. You will workout automatically.

Strategy:  Pick a time of day to workout and stick with it.  The best way is to workout earlier in the day… Making your workout a top priority in your day ensures that you will not get side tracked, interrupted or distracted by other things.  Psychologist tell us that it takes about 60 days to establish a habit.

If you can’t workout early, then pick a time of day and stick to it.  Start with a very small and easy routine and do it religiously.

Do you measure your training?

How do you know you’re getting anywhere with your training?  After figuring out what you want to achieve through your training, decide how it can be measured and monitored.  Is it to loose weight, do more repetitions, train longer, accomplish more in less time?  Find a way to track it, preferably in writing.

Strategy:  Buy a scribbler and use it exclusively to record your training results.  A training log allows you to assess your results and see if what you are doing is producing the results that you are after. Recording your workouts and goals on a calendar also works well to stay motivated.

Do you reward yourself?

Establish time limits and deadlines for your goals and reward yourself when you meet them.  Break your goals down into small, “doable” sub-goals and when you achieve them give yourself something that you want.

Be specific about what the reward is… It might be buying yourself something, or allowing yourself to do something special or enjoyable.

Strategy:  Set a deadline and a measurable standard to meet so you can tell when you reach your goal.  Write out a very specific description of what you will give yourself when you achieve it.  If its applicable, find a picture of what you want, or something that symbolizes it, and put it up where you can see it on a daily basis.

Different people are motivated by different things… Each of us needs to find out the most effective strategy or strategies that will motivate us to take consistent action toward our training goals.

Good luck with your training.  Take care, train smart and stay safe…

Randy

I’ve written that there are various degree’s of physical response to an effective self-defense response.  Some incidents might be minor in nature but serious enough to merit a physical response.

Others require an aggressive response, but without the need to injure your opponent in order to terminate the encounter and bring it under control before things get carried away and escalate to a more serious, more dangerous situation.

Then there are those times when it is crucial to quickly and decisively take that Mo-Fo out… Fast and hard.   ”Drop’m like a bag of shit!”  ”Thump’m and dump’m,” “Stun Till You’re Done,” “Bop’m and Drop’m” … uh, you get the point.

In serious situations you may need to inflict as much damage as possible in order to interrupt the attack and destroy your attacker’s willingness and ability to continue.  Then.. you need to get your ass outta there…

Often, in those types of scenarios, its not a matter of learning “killer techniques” or some secret “green-beret-death-touch“… It’s a matter of taking your “meat-and-potato” hitting skills, the same one’s you’ve mastered through daily training using my Toughen Up Training Guides and direct them to vulnerable parts of you’re assailant’s anatomy that will give you the biggest bang for your buck.

The same punch can be delivered to the windpipe to kill, to the jaw for a knockout, to a nerve center for a muscle cramp or to the torso to knock your opponent back.

The Four N’s 

In serious situations where your life is on the line, consider “The Four “N’s” as your best-bet targets to get yourself out of a serious situation:

#1 The Neck

The most dangerous and vulnerable place to strike someone is in the neck.  At the front of the neck is the windpipe.  A solid strike here can cause pain, gagging, the inability to breath.  If struck forcefully enough, it can be deadly.

In less severe situations, a solid shot to the nerve centers on the side of the neck can overload your attacker’s brain with sensory stimulus and leave him unconscious or in a semi-conscious state.

#2 The Nuts  -

Ask any guy out there what a solid shot to the “family jewels” will do.  I think that you will get the consensus that it’ll take the fight out of most of us.  For maximum results,  strike upward into the groin with the foot, shin bone or knee to “crush” the testicles against the pelvis and create maximum injury. (sounds gross don’t it?)

#3 The Nose -

A solid shot to the nose will stun your attacker and cause closing, tearing and swelling of the eyes.  Forget about this notion of “driving the nose bone into your attacker’s brain.”  Its an urban myth.  The nose is comprised of bendy cartilage and the likelihood of it being used to impale the brain is highly unlikely.

Something you can expect though is profuse bleeding.  Normally, a bleeding opponent in a self-defense encounter is not an advantage. However, in a multiple attacker situation, the vision of their buddy spurting blood from both nostrils can create a significant psychological impact on the rest of your attackers and terminate the fight.  (I wrote an eBook on Multiple Assailant Street Fights.  You can check it out at http://www.ToughenUp.com/ )

#4 The kNees -

Although not officially an “N-word,” its close enough.  A solid strike to the knee joint, in particular from the side, can result in intense pain, a possible dislocation and can put your attacker down fast.  This is a great target to consider if you’ve determined that an escape attempt is in order.  Not too many people will be able to keep up to you if you apply a “stun and run” tactic with a solid stomp into your attacker knee joint.

Bottom line?  Lets keep in simple… I’ll leave it at that.

Note:  You noticed that I didn’t include the eyes as a primary target.  There are a couple reasons for that… First of all it doesn’t start with “N” so it didn’t fit the acronym! (just kidding)

But more importantly, vision is our predominant survival sense and as such, the nervous system is wired to flinch and defend against something coming at the eyes.  That’s as true for you as it is for your attacker and the likelihood of him blocking, turning away or avoiding an eye attack is high.

Also, when you’re under a lot of stress (which you will be), your ability to perform precise and accurate movement is impaired.  The ability to thrust your fingers out and hit something as small and mobile as an eyeball is highly unlikely.

When the eyes are attacked in a serious street encounter, it usually takes the form of a gouge or clawing action, not an eye jab.

There you have it.  Just remember, it’s not only how hard you hit but where you hit that affect’s your ability to incapacitate a violent attacker.

I recently received some excellent comments from Glenn Olson, a Power Punching Guide customer after publishing an aricle on kicking and knee strikes. 

He wrote,

“In my experience women and children should normally avoid hitting with the fist, as they can’t seem to maintain proper form under stress or just don’t have the mass. My orthopedic surgeon often says that martial artists are his best customers due to injuries through improper striking.”

That raised an issue that I’ve been meaning to discuss.  Perhaps now is as good a time as any.

I have written many times that the most common injury sustained in a street fight is “broken hands.”  Unless you are a highly-trained, highly-conditioned fighter, there is a good chance that all that power that you will generate can cause as much injury to you as the person you are hitting.  So lets take a look at that.

The reason I am such an advocate for punching is that it is, in my opinion the best way to implement ongoing combative training to condition your body and develop athletic qualities that will carry over into self-defense. 

I consider proper punching skills to be the foundation of a combative training system. Punching allows you to develop skills and qualities that are extremely important in a fight… and they can be incorporated into sparring with boxing gloves and hitting heavy bags, focus pads, Thai pads etc.

When we do that type of training, what is the first thing we should do?  PROTECT THE HANDS.  It would be silly to participate in this type of training without the protection offered from bag gloves, boxing gloves and hand wraps. Accumulative trauma and injury to the knuckles, wrists and structures of the hand would be inevitable.

That’s got to tell you something about punching someone in a street fight. 

I’ve been in a my share of scuffles in the real world and you know what?… I’ve seldom blasted someone in the head with a clenched-fisted punch that didn’t hurt.  I’m not saying I was injured… but I sure thought I was at the time. Youch!

So, why don’t we consider open-handed strikes for Combative Training? 

Some times I do.  In particular for women… Many women feel more comfortable delivering a palm strike than a clenched-fisted punch.  So I let them.  You can easily deliver the straight punches and hooks with open hands, making contact with the heel of the open hand.

However, my experience has been that open-hand training on impact equipment doesn’t work so well.  Blasting a heavy bag, for example, with a palm strike is OK once in a while but if you do it too often you’ll quickly stress the small bones in your wrists and it will lead to chronic injuries.  Most men don’t have the wrist flexibility to deliver this type of strike any way.

So here’s what I’m telling you… the fist is the best “weapon” to use in training because it can be protected with combative equipment like hand wraps, bag gloves, boxing gloves etc.  Accumulative injury potential can be kept to a minimum during training.

Learning to punch teaches you the fundamental body mechanics of ANY upper body strike, whether using your palms, forearms, elbows, or a weapon.

Here’s an example from law enforcement.  I found the progress of police officers improved DRAMATICALLY in baton training when I spent some time teaching them how to punch first.  Stance, balance, weight distribution, body rotation, coordination, power generation, cover hands, breathing improved as a natural consequence of the combative training drills I put them through… By the time we got the the “traditional” law enforcement techniques, they had a strong foundation of movement and power generation. 

Baton skills for example improved dramatically if the student developed solid punching basics first.

So maybe the point that I’m meandering toward here is this… Punching is the best way to train the dynamics of your striking skills.  However, in a street fight, those body mechanics, will serve you well when modified to striking techniques more suitable in a street fight.

Here are some examples of how you can modify some existing punching skills in a street encounter.

Replace The Fist With A Palm Strike

With very little modification, impact in a lead punch, cross and hook punch can be made with the open hand.  Draw the fingers back, tuck the thumb in along side the hand so that it doesn’t get jambed and make contact with the heel of the hand.

An open handed “hook punch” with the cupped palm across the ear can also have a devastating affect (broken eardrum) in a street fight with a low injury potential to the striker.

Use Brachial Stuns

The brachial stun is a technique used in law enforcement that overloads the brain with sensory input that can result in a knockout or semi-consciousness.   In this technique, the forearm is driven into the cluster of sensory nerves on either side of the subject’s neck.  This results in a “mental stun” that will allow you to regain control of the situation with a low likelihood of injuring either the subject or the striker.

Guess what boys and girls… The brachial stun is nothing more than a hook punch, where the arm is extended and contact is made with the wrist or meaty part of the forearm.  Other than that the striking dynamics are the same.  If you have a solid hook punch, you’ll have a solid brachial stun.

Consider the Hammer Fist

I might be letting the cat out of the bag here, but I’ll be adding another striking technique to the power punching manual. (included in future versions of the guide)   It’s called the “hammerfist.”  The hammer fist is a striking tactic that can be delivered in various fighting positions and at various angles… (many that wouldn’t be conducive to other types of punches).

It works great in impact drills on the heavy bag and focus pads.

The advantage of the hammer fist is that you’re making contact with the muscle tissue at the bottom of your clenched fist.  This allows you to generate significant impact without the bone-on-bone contact of a knuckle strike.

Use Your Forearms

In the Power Punching Guide, I discuss forearm strikes for a very deliberate reason.  First of all, they’ll teach you how to master body rotation and whole-body striking dynamics fast.  Secondly, they are EXCELLENT street fighting techniques.

The forearm is a far more durable striking weapon than ANY hand strike and is excellent in a close quarters encounter either standing or on the ground.

This is not the same as an “elbow strike” though. In an elbow strike, contact is made with bony point of the elbow itself.  If your elbows aren’t conditioned and you bonk someone on the coconut with it, you could chip the bone.

Also elbows cut.  Even light contact to an opponent’s head and face with your elbow will split your opponent wide open.  And in the rare exception of a multiple attacker scenario (where you are trying to psyche out the rest of the pack by inflicting a painful and visible injury), cutting someone open in a street fight is not a great idea.

It doesn’t nothing to control the opponent, makes him as slippery as a bar of soap and you now run the risk of catching whatever infectious critters that the guy might have floating around in his blood stream.

Punch Smart

Oh yeah, if you think you’ll hurt your hand punching someone in the head, don’t hit’m in the head…  With all that I’ve said about these simple, common sense modifications… there’s nothing wrong with punching in a street fight if you know what you’re doing.

If you practice what I’ve written about in the Toughen Up Manuals (or you are actively involved in a combative system of your own), you’re going to get pretty damn good at punching.

You’ll have the punching power, accuracy and precision to land those sledgehammer shots just about anywhere any time you want. 

Punch the side of the opponent’s jaw.  This is a flat surface and because the head and jaw rotate, the “snapping” of the opponents head to the side will amplify the striking energy and rattle his brain.  It will most likely K.O. the bastard.

In a life or death encounter, punch the neck. This should be reserved ONLY for serious encounters where deadly force can be legally and morally justified.

Punch the torso.  A solid punch to the chest will knock your opponent back, a punch to the solar plexus (the cluster of nerves at the base of the sternum… where you gut meets your rib cage) will have your opponent gasping for air.

A punch to the front of the shoulder (brachial plexus tie-in) while inflict tremendous pain and will temporarily incapacitate the assailant’s shoulder, arm and hand.

Use A Weapon

There is little mystery about fighting with weapons.  A weapon is merely an extension of your empty handed skills.  I am constantly asked about using kubatons for example… I used to sell them at my self-defense seminars.  The best way to use oneeffectively is not to learn a bunch of exotic kubaton-specific techniques… but to hold it tightly in your hand and punch with it.

I have been teaching weapons for decades and carry an ASP baton on duty as a police officer.  That baton is the middle ground between my bare hands and my firearm… I’d better be able to hit with it.  In order to do that, do you think I pound on a heavy bag with my baton every day?

Nope… I don’t have to… My punching practice gives me all the striking skills I need with a baton, a kubaton or any other kind of weapon.  So my point here… If you get yourself into a serious, life-threatening situation… consider a weapon.

So here’s what I’m saying… Punching is the best way to learn striking skills that can be used safely as an effective means of ongoing combative training.  However, when you hit in a street fight… hit smart. Modify your existing and well-established striking skills by opening the hands, using your forearms, and punching more vulnerable and strategic parts of your attacker’s body.

In the meantime… take care, PUNCH smart and stay safe…

Randy