I wanted to illustrate a few examples of how pepper spray or other irritants can have varying effects.  In the first video the spray was not debilitating. Yes, it was a cheap shot to unload a canister of spray in the guys face then sucker punch and challenge him to fight, but that's not the point.  Although he hesitated a bit before engaging into the fight, he was still able to engage and fight and the spray alone did not render him unable or unwilling to fight.  It is unclear if the sucker punch or the spray slowed him a bit, but he was still able to fight, throw chairs, and engage with the instigator.

(please note, videos were removed from youtube; I will repost when I get a new channel up and running!)

In the second video, the kid who gets sprayed freaks out and falls to the ground screaming- I cut the portions leading up to this, he was definitely the crying, screaming type.  The spray 100% did it's job by taking the fight and resistance out of the kid, giving the officer a safe means of getting control of him.

Quick tip about evaluating your tools:
Consider context when you look at videos like this to see the varying effects of something ubiquitous, like pepper spray:

Consider what you know, don't know, and is unknowable:

• What brand or strength was the spray?
• Was it a direct hit? Was the recipient reactive to the spray?
• Was the canister expired, sitting in somebody's car for 10 years before being used?
• Was this an experiment with bros attempting to one-up the cast of Jackass 3?
• Was anybody in the video being violent or aggressive towards someone else?

You can find many examples of this happening with video searches of pepper spray, but I only consider the effects credible where they were used in a violent or escalating encounter, particularly when the subject sprayed was being overly aggressive or violent. In my opinion, people doing training exercises being sprayed also does not count, since in that moment their life did not depend on fighting through the irritant, and they consented to it and in some cases may have been more mentally prepared for what they were about to have happen.

If pepper spray is something that you carry, please do some research on the varying effects, which from what I have seen run from: no effect, slight hesitation, causing rage, to complete debilitation- and if you do end up having to use it, get the hell out of there immediately, rather than waiting to see the extent of the effect or lack thereof.

Train smart & stay safe,

Evan D.
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense

A couple weeks ago I attended a 2-day training session at the Kembativz Civilian Training Center in Fredericksburg, VA, lead by Kelly McCann.  Kelly has been a leading figure in the self-defense industry for a long time, but this was my first opportunity to train with him and his team.

The facility itself was awesome; huge matted space in an open area.  From what I understand they used to run a Muay Thai and CrossFit program out of their location; they also have a bar attached to the training area!

Regarding the seminar, I can’t speak to whether the content covered was the norm for a McCann seminar since this was my first one; however, this being last seminar to be held at this facility before closing up shop and making his business mobile, it was apparent that many of the participants in the room had trained with him before, and many traveled a long ways to make it to this one.

What I was most impressed with was with how Kelly, Michelle, Bart, and the rest of his team conducted themselves as professionals.  The entire session he & his crew were providing feedback, getting hands-on, and improving how we were learning as we practiced the combative sequences and movements that they taught. If you didn't quite get something, they saw it, provided constructive hands-on feedback, & helped you get there.

One really cool thing we did was experience some combatives in a vehicle.  It was really interesting to see how things varied from sedan to SUV,even the differences in each model as to how your options and movement changed, and how the size and agility of the participants factored into each drill.

So, what about the rest of the seminar, what was covered?  No spoiler alerts here.  If you want to know, go train with him yourself!  All I can say is that it was well worth it for me get to the seminar, and many people who traveled the country to get there would likely say the same.

One more thing-Kelly is different.  It’s clear that he cares about every person in the room, is invested in everyone’s improvement, and treats everyone as a friend.  That’s something that stands out.  I’m looking forward to training with them again.

Evan D.
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense

My girlfriend no longer feels safe taking the metro.  She's always expressed that it has been sketchy for women, as far as being harassed by sleazy guys, but now with constant delays, broken down trains, and overcrowding on a regular basis and no assurance of this improving for at least several months, many people riding the metro are pissed and more aggressive than usual.  

It’s important to think about your options when you are in a potentially confined space.  I talked to Liz about some things she could do pre-emptively if things kick-off in a bad way and she becomes targeted for violence or gets caught up in someone else’s aggression-think mob/riot attack.   Everything that we have done for training still stands with the main goal being escape, but when something is building up this could be an opportunity to ready a force multiplier that provides your some range, such pepper spray, to aid in getting away-contrast this to an immediate attack, where you would not likely have time to access a self-defense tool.

Rather than clipping it her keychain and wishing her the best of luck I walked her through how she could nonchalantly access and get it at the ready, and we practiced accessing it, unlocking it, and firing it at a target, to get her familiar with how it works and its range.

The first spray attempt didn't hit our target, too far away.  It shot out with more pressure than I expected though, the target was about 12 feet away.  Then I had her try again to a closer target and told her to paint a horizontal line at the target, telling her that would ideally be your target’s eye-line.  As it sprayed it misted from the canister and the mist came back towards our faces… so there’s that. Fortunately it didn’t get into our eyes. It’s important to note that using it outdoors with a stronger wind could have rendered that effect

The intent of this post is not to promote or denounce the use of pepper spray-it of course can fail, be used against you, have no effect, enrage, or incapacitate a person. You can never know the effect it will have-but it should never be a crutch.

Just a post on how to think outside the box and understand what tools could be used in certain situations, and emphasize that you should learn how to effectively use something if you are going to carry it, to increase your useful options.

Train smart, stay safe, & keep your cool while waiting for that blue line,

Evan D.
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense

I was recently interviewed by the local news and was asked if there was increased attendance at my self-defense classes as a result of the 9 recent attacks on women in the Arlington area.  A few female participants in recent classes suggested that this string of violence was the motivation behind their signing up; however, I still see an alarming problem with denial in the local community.  A lot of people think, it will never happen to me, and I hope for their sake, that they are right.

I read the forums on news stories and forums to see what some of the average, untrained citizens think about these attacks.  When something like this happens people tend to write it off as an anomaly.  Then, as more and more similar attacks happen, people want to rationalize it and believe that it is a single attacker- 1 guy victimizing multiple women in arlington, with the mindset of:

I hope the police catch the guy doing this, then Arlington will be safe again! Or 
Arlington needs to put a police officer on every street corner! 

People want to deny the possibility that these attacks are happening at an alarming rate and in their own neighborhood.  At all points in this denial process the responsibility of doing something is pushed off to someone else.

People who do not train and have zero understanding of personal safety need to understand that the police cannot be at all places at all time. 

I personally believe that these type of attacks are becoming more prevalent because people are becoming increasingly less-aware of their surroundings and unaware of how the decisions they make provide opportunity for these attacks to happen.

Your personal safety is your own responsibility and the decisions you make and fail to make have consequences. 

• Texting, checking emails, playing around on Facebook when you are in transitional spaces/commuting
  
• Wearing headphones when you are walking down the street
  
• Dressing in provocative clothing and/or clothing that makes you less-mobile 
  
• Walking by yourself late at night after a night out drinking.
  
• Deciding to jog in the evening hours because it's cooler (in the summer months)
  

You have every right to partake in every activity on this list; however, it attracts unwanted attention.
  
You cannot ever know if you will be attacked, but by learning about the process of victim selection, how to improve your awareness and mindset prior to the attack, and learning some solid self-defense skills you can improve your chances of avoiding an assault and improve your ability to fight back if you are ever presented with unavoidable violence.

Train smart, stay safe, and put the damn phone away when you're getting around!

Evan D.
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense

New locations:

• We are expanding into DC with sessions planned for CrossFit Key Bridge, in Georgetown!  We plan to offer 2-session courses on weeknights here as well as an occasional weekend seminar.
  
• We’re excited to announce that we will be teaming up with a local martial arts dojo in Arlington VA to work with them on practical self-defense skills and safely injecting elements of scenarios and modifying their skill-set to introduce them to how we provide skills more useful to counter violence.
  

New training:

• Next weekend I will be attending a seminar with  Kelly McCann, which happens to be the final weekend seminar to be offered at his legendary Kembativz Crucible location.  I’ve heard good things about his training and am looking forward to learning some new skills and gaining insight from one of the most well-respected combatives experts in the field.
• We are also replacing our introductory self-defense class with a 2-session class introductory class.  We usually have two lead coaches at these, so it's a great opportunity for beginners to get a basic introduction to personal defense and offer a follow-up session to help ingrain some of the movements.

Oh, and lastly, we recently received a reward from thumbtack for being the best self-defense instructor iDC area!   I’d like to thank those of you that helped make this possible and those who still support us in what we do.

Stay safe & keep learning,

Evan D. 
Owner/Lead Coach 
NOVA Self Defense.

The other night my buddy Mike, a few bourbons in, was commenting on how he reads my blog and was saying something about how one of my last ones, "was all like, look, assess, kick your ass!”   Though not the exact verbiage for a concept that I teach, what Mike did stumble upon, however, is a methodology in alignment with what some attackers use when selecting their intended victims, sometimes referred to the predatory "interview process."




The type of attack- think predatory meaning the person wants something from you and plans to take it from you or harm you with the intent of not getting caught.  The process leading up to the attack being different than a situation of irrational, emotionally fueled anger, i.e. a road-rage event where the person could be less concerned with getting caught because of the attack being emotionally charged.

Look- whether or not the intended victim is aware, there is a phase where the attacker is looking them over.

Assess-upon looking the person over, an assessment is made as to whether or not to attack.  This could be predetermined or have variables factored in.  Predetermined meaning, the next person walking down this alleyway is getting mugged.  Variables to be considered by the attacker: how likely is it that I will get caught? Is she an easy target? Lacking awareness, head down, fixated on phone, alone, not physically imposing.

Kick your ass- if the decision is made to attack you, the attacker may attack you immediately without warning or may utilize some dialogue to set up the attack.  The dialogue could be deceptive in nature, such as a distraction, or aggressive and demanding.  The physical attack is not intended to be a back-and-forth ordeal like on TV or the movies.  If you take a look at predatory attacks captured on CCTV with a broad span of the area, you will see that things happen fast.  When the decision is made the bad guys are in-action and moving with ferocity and aggression, potentially with weapons or multiple attackers if the resources are present.  A criminal who does not want to get caught or hurt is not looking for a fair fight. Lee Morrison discusses these stages as: an elongated stare, the attacker attempts to make contact, then ambushes or attacks out of deception.

One of your front line preventative measures against this model of behavior is your situational awareness, which is how you take in information and analyze the world around you.

Be particularly in tune with your awareness in locations where attacks are more frequent, for example, areas that people come and go from easily: gas stations, ATMs, convenience stores, bus stops, metro stations, parking lots. Other areas of particular concern areas just off the beaten path: streets, parking lots, and structures that are right off of higher traffic areas, where someone could more easily attack from a more discrete area with less risk of getting caught.

Awareness tips:

Pre-planning:  with today’s world of GPS, Google maps, Google Earth, etc., it is easier to assess new places that you have to travel to and get an idea of the layout prior to your arrival. 

• Where could you park that’s close to your location and appears to be safe relative to where you are going?  
  
• What is the best route for walking from that metro station to the building you need to get to?  
  
• If you have to grocery shop at night: ladies, consider asking the grocery bagger to walk you to your car.
  

In the moment: assess your immediate environment.

• Are you in a high-crime neighborhood?  Is this area sketchy?
  
• Is it dark outside? 
  
• Do you see anyone that makes you uncomfortable-for example: someone looking at you more than or differently than the norm, or that gives you the creeps.
  
• Look for things that give you a bad vibe or require more investigation
• If you get an unsettling feeling and you have the ability to remove yourself, get out of there!
• When getting away prior to contact is not an option you may have to escalate to other measures which could be verbal or physical depending on your situation

A little bit of planning and thought ahead of time goes a long ways towards keeping you safe and preventing situations that could be avoided by staying in tune with your world.

Train smart, keep learning, & stay safe,

Evan D.
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense

One of my coaches, Malcolm, made a great point at our women’s self-defense class recently.  

“No is a complete sentence that does not require justification.”

We always have a verbal component to our self-defense courses where we put everyone through a few gray-area verbal/social situations.  In one variant of the scenarios an individual comes up (non-aggressively) to engage you and ask for money.

You have to respond appropriately with the intent of disengaging from the person and going on your way using the 3E’s of being Elusive- Empathy Excuse Exit.

As with saying “NO” it can be uncomfortable at first, but it’s extremely useful practice and it is something you WILL USE.  So how can you build upon this practice for free in your own time?

Practice saying and meaning “NO!" when the opportunity is presented!

Malcolm mentioned that you can practice saying and meaning NO when a telemarketer tries to sell you something you don’t want!  When it’s someone in your social circle it is a good idea to be polite in your response, but when someone is pushing their boundaries on multiple unwanted call attempts (for example, a cable company that rhymes with Sox and a consumer review site that rhymes with Shmelp), say,

“NO.  I’m not interested.” rather than, “Sorry, I’m not interested.”  And when they ask again, say NO again, affirmatively.

I’ve gotten so good at saying “NO” that I’ve graduated to electronic recording telemarketers.  Now I have to push random buttons to then get connected to a human to say NO, stop calling.

Keep thinking, keep learning, keep training,

Evan D.
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense

I stress it at every class I teach, this introductory session should be the beginning of your self-defense education and training, not a check in the box for "learn self-defense."  Since many of the intro sessions I teach happen to be in CrossFit gyms, I often make the analogy to fitness with the self-defense movements that we teach and say,

"Think of this like we just showed you how to do a push-up. You're not done with push-ups. Go practice some push-ups on your own time and get really good at them. Make it something that you do from now on."

Here are a few of the biggest problems that I see with a one-time introductory class:

One and done!  Not getting multiple sessions to build upon the mechanics- you see the movements one time and you practice them only the number of reps we show during the session.  In my multiple session courses we build in tons of reps working fundamentals, variations, and add in stressors to push the students once they have shown some fundamental proficiency.  I notice a significant increase in striking power and movement for individuals who work out regularly and do multiple training sessions.

My personal relation to this issue is when I train with experienced Crossfitter at the gym I go to, Danny Hale, which happens about once every 2-3 months. He works a skill-set that is difficult for me personally, the olympic lift, snatch.  I improve throughout the practice time, but I can't expect to continue to improve and own those skills if I don't work them regularly and put in the hours of training after the initial session is over!

Information Overload & retention of information- we can show you a ton of stuff in a 3-4 hour session, but most people seem to have limits to what they can absorb and internalize in a single session unless they take good notes.

Partnering with another beginner- at a one-time training session for beginners you will likely pair up with someone who does not move aggressively and possibly not even athletically. At a beginner's intro seminar, most of the participants will be very unfamiliar with moving aggressively and therefore less capable of moving realistically replicate the attacks. A result of this can be the slowing down your learning curve and not getting a good mental model of what the attacks we are training for look for.Alternatively- you might get paired with an an energy level well-beyond your comfort zone (this isn't always a bad thing and it's easy to adjust this in real-time). 

I had a girl in my last women's session come up after and say, 
"Hey, this is great, but is there a way I can do this with more aggression and resistance, against a man as the attacker?"

The answer to that is, yes.  Take a multiple session course, work the skills you learn on your own time, & look at this like a learning process rather than a destination.  After years and years of training, I still approach the subject of self-defense training as a student eager to learn and integrate new ideas after we have questioned, tested, and decided where the new skills fit in.  

Though these issues are present it's still worth getting started with an intro session. Everyone has to start somewhere and some training is better than none!

We want you to take the skills that work for you and practice them until you own them.

Train smart, stay safe, & keep learning,
Evan D.
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense
www.novaselfdefense.com

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In reading Jack Canfield’s, The Success Principles, Canfield discusses a concept derived from LA based psychotherapist, Dr. Robert Resnick, which teaches a simple formula for success that shows how your response to an event, which is the only thing you control, impacts the outcome of the event.


What I appreciate about this concept is how well it also relates with success in life and personal defense.

Event:  good or bad, the Event is occurrence that affects you directly or indirectly.
Response:  the response is what you personally do in response to said event; this could be a physical response, the emotional handing of event, or taking no action at all as the event unfolds.  Your Response is the only thing you control.
The Outcome is the net result of the Event plus your Response.  Both in life and personal defense, your Outcome to an Event can vary greatly depending on how you respond.

A real-world example:
Event: You get laid off from your job on short notice.
Response:  you sulk, complain to your friends and family about how the system is not fair, pin the blame on others, and binge drink for two weeks.
Outcome:  you've still lost your job, have lost motivation, have done nothing to improve your position, and your friends don’t want to be around you anymore because you're a downer.

Alternatively:
Response:  your response is, “Good, now I have the time to pursue what I've always wanted to do!” You're fired up, networking, and pursuing leads for the work you always wanted to do but wouldn't take the risk to get into before.
Outcome:  the outcome is always unknowable, but someone who looks at something positively and takes action is more likely to identify opportunities to improve his or her position.

Reframed in a personal defense perspective, some of the only things you bring with you into the Event are your pre-fight mindset, prior knowledge, relevant training. Since your response is the only thing you can control when the event is unfolding some of the best options for improving how you respond are continually educating yourself, improving your attitude, and taking responsibility for every event you end up in. 

Train smart,stay safe, & keep learning

Evan D.
NOVA Self Defense
Owner/Lead Coach
www.novaselfdefense.com

Training recap from renown author and self-defense instructor, Rory Miller. Written by Malcolm Rivers, coach at NOVA Self Defense.

Though I had read several of his books, emailed with him and followed his blog, my first seminar with renowned self-defense author and teacher Rory Miller certainly wasn't what one might expect when initially meeting someone. We were discussing what we loved about martial arts and what we wanted from training partners and mid-sentence Rory changed direction and asked: 

“Can I be mean to you?” I replied “sure” and Rory lightly slapped me in the face. “Now, you smack me.” I obliged and within 10 minutes of meeting each other, ice and one major social taboo (face touching among adult males) had been broken. We both smirked and a fascinating journey into the ethical, legal, mental, emotional and physical journey into the concept of violence began. 

Rory Miller serves, for me, as a sort of martial bullshit-o-meter. He's experienced and skeptical, while not quite a pessimist, and he's very much focused on keeping people grounded in their understanding of the difference between martial arts training and engaging in unavoidable, potentially injurious violence experienced with predatory criminals. He has trained and he has fought and he understands, through experience, what training does, and does not cover. His goal is to function as a guide to efficient, realistic ways to acquire the capacity and capability for real world violence that have the highest probability of transferring to worst case scenarios.

Rory is also comfortable with how many answers he doesn’t have because our answers can’t be his and his can’t be ours. He urges us to search for our own solutions based on what we knew about ourselves and though it is a bit uncomfortable at first, I eventually got to the point that I enjoyed the feeling that there was no guru and that there is no map. There is only what we come up with, how we tweak it, and what it does or may do because self-defense is all about ordinary people taking the power and responsibility to avoid, escape or destroy those who would make them victims.

Miller’s methods are broken into four primary ways of relaying information, principles and skills: teaching, training, playing and conditioning.

• Teaching is conceptual and doesn't really come out in fights but it’s good for legal information and ethical processes: two essential components which must be ironed out before anything goes physical.
  
• Training can provide great skills and is more accessible during violence but is hard to apply in initial violent encounters.
• Playing (yes, the fun kind) is an amazing way of experimenting with ideas and convincing your brain, through the stimulus-response relationship of the act and resulting enjoyment, that using physical skills, even dangerous ones, against another human being is worthwhile. 
• Conditioning, also referred to as “emotional engineering,” is the most high percentage way to install responses, even to sudden violence. Conditioning is effective, even in first encounters, and is as simple as stimulus, response, and reward. 

Ultimately Miller just hands us the tools, it’s we who must build our own self-defense structures and strategies. Empowering people to create their own answers and find their own ways is the point of all this and it’s not lost on Miller or those who have the pleasure to learn from him.

Rory Miller is the author of:Meditations on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence
Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected

I just completed my third run of my 4-session self-defense course of this course and I can say that each course has evolved immensely thus far.  As a professional it is in my opinion paramount to question ideas, go against group- think, and offering up different rationales of training and continually evolving.

Questioning ideas means asking, 

"Why do we do it this way? What are the alternatives?"
"How does this make the student safer?"
"How can I make this more efficient?"
"How can we improve the delivery so that they remember what we showed them?"
"How can we motivate them to find what works for them and invest in their education and potential?"

It means exploring and researching and training in things you don't believe are as good as your current training and investigating opposing ideas because of the 1 or 2 take-aways that will improve your overall knowledge and depth as a professional.  It means de-briefing and tearing apart what you just did rather than patting yourself on the back to find out what can be improved.

The field of personal defense will always have fundamentals that will be important priorities: mindset, cultivating awareness, and the mechanics and dynamics of defending and attacking, but the presentation itself should always be exploring improvement and never be static or complacent.  "Good enough" is not in my vocabulary.

Evan D
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense



 

How do you deal with fight, flight, freeze or fear during the chaos of a potentially dangerous encounter?

First. let's define these terms:

The fight or flight response, first described by Walter Bradford Cannon in the early 1900’s, is physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived threat, whether it be an attack or other threat to survival.  Fight or flight has since been further defined as fight, flight or freeze.

The freeze response is a reaction to most commonly related to when a prey animal has been caught and completely overcome by the predator (in the case of humans it could be an attacker) and it is thought that it may still be possible for the prey to escape by feigning death so that the predator stops the attack.  Freezing can also be drawn out as a moment of disbelief or denial leading to in-action, or it can be a short hesitation before going to your training or something in the realm of your skill-set, whether that be running, striking, or (hopefully not) cowering in fear. Something immediate yet out of your norm and comfort zone can cause a freeze or hesitation.

Since fear is the term not usually included with the other three above let’s define it a bit further and delineate what fear is and what it is not.  Fear is not anxiety.  “I’m afraid to go outside because there are bad people and bad things that happen out there.” This is anxiety, which is different from fear.  Anything positive you can do to deal with anxiety can increase your quality of life. Fear itself is not panic. Fear can build up and lead to panic, but the two are different.  When you are panicking you are irrational and unproductive.  Fear can be defined in many ways, but simplified for self-defense, think of fear as an alarm system for imminent danger to your wellbeing.

A simple solution for dealing with the 4’Fs when you are in the moment is:

Keep thinking-Keep breathing-Keep moving

Keep thinking is the most important concept, however, I have had situations where I know I need to think, but have found myself holding my breath and therefore not thinking.  Taking a breath can aid in your ability to think, especially in situations where there is a build-up rather than an immediate physical action.  You are always assessing, what can I do next? You are analyzing your immediate situation for opportunities for attack, escape, or other strategies.

Keep breathing-you are breathing to facilitate your thinking if you have not taken action, such as in a freeze or fear moment.  If you are moving and taking action, you are breathing to fuel your body with oxygen so that you can run faster, hit harder, and continue thinking.

Keep moving- very simply, keep hitting, keep running, or get into action if you are not moving yet.

Train smart & stay safe,

Evan D.
Owner Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense
www.novaselfdefense.com

We recently conducted one of our Kid-Safe seminars for families of Fort Belvoir.  Kid-Safe is an educational safety training with the goals of educating parents about how to talk to their kids about safety and teaching kids some simple tips on how to deal with the issue of strangers.  The kids get a lot of practice in some simple verbal and physical role-play drills when we verbally engage them and have them respond appropriately and run away to get help or yell and fight back to escape.  At the end of the session we role-play scenarios of attempting to grab and pick up the kids wearing padded protective gear, which gives them a chance to put what they learned to test full speed, beating up on us, which is a blast for them.  We were pleased to find out that several of the kids had been offered similar training in school, since this was not their first time experiencing this training some of them were able to get into action quicker.


If you're interested in setting up a safety and kid-self defense seminar, you can read more about Kid-Safe here

Train smart & stay safe,

Coach Evan
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense

We had a great question after a group of ladies role-played our Ask-Tell-Make scenario.  One woman asked, “Can I go straight to yelling?” In other words, can I go straight to MAKE?

As a quick recap, Ask-Tell-Make is a means for dealing with unwanted encroachment when you do not know the person's intent but it does not seem immediately dangerous.  

Students respond to unwanted attention the following escalating manner: 
ASK- a polite response, “No thanks, I'm fine.”
TELL- a firm, irritated response, “I-said-NO.”
MAKE- projecting loudly in a rude manner, “Back up!”  or “Back the f**k up!”  

In each stage the individual's hands are out as a body-language barrier giving emphasis the verbal message of don't come any closer.

As mentioned in the initial post, this can be uncomfortable because we are socially programmed to be polite.

So, about this person who does not seem immediately dangerous, what could his intent be? 

• Non-harmful, innocent, or oblivious: the attempt is to offer help with something or ask you a question (time, directions, small-talk,etc.)
• Sexual interest in you and attempting to converse with and pick you up.
• Malicious intent and feeling you out to see if you are an easy target

The purpose of Ask-Tell-Make is two-fold: 

1. You are assessing this person’s intention through his verbal and nonverbal cues.
2. You are progressively scaling up the intensity of your response if he fails to acknowledge your assertion of NO. 

But is there ever a time when you can skip Ask & Tell and go straight to MAKING the person stop?  That is:   
"Can I go straight to MAKE?"

If you feel that you are in immediate danger, YES.  If somebody is encroaching into your space or does something that quickly escalates your discomfort and gut-feeling, you can go straight to “MAKE” by yelling, “back up”, “back off” "back the f**k up" or anything that is pertinent to the situation.  

An assertive or more aggressive verbal response can deter a less-motivated pursuer’s attempt to close distance and also prepare you mentally to fight by helping to snap you out of the downward spiral of denial “...no, this isn't happening.." 

A verbal assertion can be effective for individuals who are not committed to an attack.  However, “MAKE” can also mean physically halting their attempt into your personal space by any reasonable means necessary.  

If the person is persistent on closing distance into your physical space, a more aggressive response of “MAKE” such as physically halting their attempt into your personal space by shoving or even striking pre-emptively are options to consider, especially if you feel doing so would be necessary to facilitate your escape.

The takeaway message, when appropriate:  going straight to MAKE can deter a less-motivated encroacher, but more importantly, it helps to kicks you into action.

The Ask-Tell-Make sequence is useful as an example of using your voice to assert yourself; the context and your judgment will determine where you start in that sequence, if at all.  Using your voice assertively and preemptively is a useful tool for self-protection; however, there is no single solution that fits all scenarios.  Use your judgment, be mentally ready, and always be ready to act!

Train smart & stay safe,

Evan D.
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense
www.novaselfdefense.com

If you are looking for a fun, active, self-defense training experience, setting up a self-defense party is a unique way to have a good time while learning some potentially life-saving skills. 

For people who might be uncomfortable in a group seminar environment, learning with a group of friends or family is a comfortable alternative. 

I recently conducted two self-defense parties:

• A sweet 16 birthday party for a girl whose mother had trained with us and enjoyed the experience
• and a bachelorette party for a group of ladies that wanted a fun, athletic activity

Both groups had a great time with the training; in fact the bachelorette group may have had too much fun doing our Ask-Tell-Make verbal scenario, when they role-played creepy dudes persistently encroaching on each other!

For these sessions we can come to you or hold the training at one of our facilities in Falls Church, Virginia.  
Email or call us for more information! 

[email protected]  or 919-302-0440

Train smart, stay safe, & have fun,

Evan D
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense
www.novaselfdefense.com

2015 has been all about being consistent and going back to fundamentals for me.  I have been going back to the enjoyment of being a student.  I’ve hired a boxing coach to help me refine my striking fundamentals. I’ve started working on my Judo and grappling, which has been a humbling experience, and I’ve also delved into Japanese Kempo, a stand-up martial arts style which is reminiscent of Cuong Nhu, the style I used to practice regularly.  The school I’ve been training with does a lot of light-contact sparring, which for me is good for improving my cardio and timing.  Part of this transition back to being a student is to make me comfortable with being outside my comfort zone.  Soon I will be taking some private lessons in Defense Lab, and I also plan to seek out some combative training with Kelly McCann to further broaden my perspective.
I'll post an update on the Defense Lab training once I get some hands on training in it!



Evan D
NOVA Self Defense 
Owner/Lead Coach
www.novaselfdefense.com

I almost dropped a guy this weekend.  And by that, I mean was a millisecond away from preemptively striking him in the throat.  The setup: you’re outside of a building talking to a friend before getting into your car to go home. Someone slowly walks by dressed peculiarly for the location, you look at your friend like…that’s weird, and the guy walks on by.  Reengaging in your conversation the stranger doubles back and slowly walks up to you without saying anything, at arm’s reach, still closing distance he stares at you then places one hand into his pocket, fishes around for something and withdraws his hand and extends it towards the center of your body while moving towards you.  What do you do?



This just happened to me and it is the closest I have ever been to preemptively striking someone. 
These are fragments of my thought patterns which occur in micro-seconds:

What the f- is this guy doing? Where’s his hand going? Knife? Gun? Shit.  (Then I visualize my movement) I see my strike materialize, move in, open hand strike to the throat, close the distance and follow up so that whatever is in his pocket doesn't get to me… then, there was one more thought)

We were standing right outside of the dojo when this happened. This sequence was patterned strike we practiced during our training session.  This was not an aggressive encounter; it was slow, confusing, and extremely socially uncomfortable, but in no way aggressive.

I hesitated and didn't hit him. My oh-shit alarm was all over the place but I had one lingering thought that caused me to hold back.

Micro-second, micro-thought: my girlfriend works in the same shopping center and yesterday she told me of a guy that came into the store & made her seriously uncomfortable. He wasn't dangerous, just very strange, but had a legitimate reason to be there. This thought entered my head & I had to know for sure.

Had I hit first I would have struck the landlord’s son in the throat.  Had it been a real situation with a weapon I may have lost my strategic advantage because of waiting to see what was presented.  This encounter could have ended terribly for me.

In this situation it was not an attack, it was a “what the f-?” social encounter where a stranger who gave me a bad vibe approached in an uncomfortable manner and offered an empty hand for the most awkward handshake I've ever experienced.  Then I asked a few targeted questions to confirm he was the landlord’s son.\

• Consider what can be lost if you don't strike first.
• Consider what can be lost if you preemptively strike and doing so was wrong for the situation. 

You have to weigh everything you know and what your intuition tells you. 

Worst case scenario on this hit-first: strike to throat or hitting his head on pavement leads to injury, death, or brain damage to an unarmed man.  Then dealing with the emotional and legal repercussions of injuring or killing an unarmed man and a legal battle to articulate why I thought he was armed and decided to preemptively strike him given my vast training background.  Worst case scenario: this event may have changed my life forever, for the worse.

Worst case scenario on not striking first if it had been a lethal encounter: death or injury of getting shot or stabbed if he was successful if I was unable to counter the attack.  That’s also no good.

If you err on the side of caution, you could get hurt – maybe worse.  If you err on the side of “hit first ask questions later,” you could end up with a lawsuit or worse. It’s a difficult gray area that I will discuss more about in a future post.  To conclude for now, I am not against pre-emptive striking, but you better have a damn good reason for doing it and need to be able to justify why you did it.

Next blog will be about tips for improving your perception and decision making prior to making a preemptive decision.

If you found this article useful please feel free to share it.

Train smart, stay safe.

Evan D. 
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense
www.novaselfdefense.com

Striking is something that can be practiced multiple different ways.  In a short session I get the best results out of my students by having them practice the mechanics slowly, then having them build up to hitting as hard as they safely can to a striking pad.  If time permits I'll add in a stressor to their environment and have the student access their strike under stress (i.e. breaking away from a grab then flowing into multiple strikes).

Initially I am less concerned with how the form for the student looks looks because my goal is for them to figure out and feel what works best for them.  Some people exhibit non-intuitive footwork paired to their striking and it’s not something they can correct in a two-hour session.  Building sound fundamentals takes time and effort and if you're serious about training, it is a must-have for a complete self-defense skill set.

For those who know how to move well from previous athletic experience or sports, it’s easy to tie into whatever sport or activity they have practice with, and show how simple it is to adapt that movement to hitting someone as hard as you can. For example, tennis players tend to have an easier time learning elbow strikes because of their familiarity with moving their feet and hips together.



Here are a few of my favorite strike-improvement training strategies that I use and teach to clients in private self defense lessons:

• Slow-motion striking: practicing slow mechanics so that the student is more conscious of his/her body movement.

• Cycling of strikes: patterning how to cycle palm strikes, hammer-fists, and elbows quickly with forward pressure.

• Resistance band striking: anchor two resistance bands looped together to a wall or anchor point and go through the motion of your linear strikes.
• Hitting a heavy bag
• Hitting focus mitts: pros- you get to work footwork, movement, covering up, targeting, striking, and combinations.  Cons: you need a training partner that knows how to move & how to hold pads.
• Slam-ball throws: grab a 15lb slam-ball (it’s a heavy rubberized ball that does not bounce much when you throw it against the ground/wall) and throw it against a wall repeatedly using the mechanics of a palm strike.

As for becoming a blur, I’ll be creating a DVD for improving your striking and mechanics in the next 6 months. Stay tuned!

Train smart & stay safe,

Evan Dzierzynski
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense
www.novaselfdefense.com

Though I’ve somewhat modified my position on using keys as an improvised weapon to attack an attacker’s eyes, I’m still not enthused about the idea. 

Preliminary considerations:

Many newer cars no longer require the use of a key to enter the vehicle or start the engine. In this case advocate having two free hands for transition into and out of the vehicle.  The flip-side of this is that your house key is very likely a physical, metal key that requires manipulation to unlock your door.

The Danger of Transition time:

Aim to minimize the time that you would be digging through a purse, bag, or pockets looking for your keys.  This transition time can provide a larger window of opportunity for an undesired person to make contact while your awareness is shifted to focusing on locating your keys. In these instances my advice is to have your keys readied if you need them.

Are you a janitor?  Not literally, but does your keychain have 45 keys, tassels, rabbits feet, and other non-functional junk that make it burdensome to carry and practically useless to employ as a potential weapon?  Lose the extra keys and unnecessary objects – they cost you time.  And that is time when your guard is down.

Many women in my classes have asked about the keys-between-the-fingers defense.  You're not Wolverine.  There, I said it.  Go ahead and hit something with keys in your hand in that silly configuration then come tell me how it felt.  It’s flimsy, difficult to aim, and is not functional.  If you still feel like Wolverine with this grip, I’ll buy you a costume & we can post your picture wearing it on my blog.

When and How to Use Your Keys:

If you had to use your key as a weapon the objective would be to cause soft-tissue damage to the eye(s) to facilitate your escape, but there are a few things that should be considered.


The fight is likely an ambush with someone bigger, faster, and stronger who is likely selecting you at a time when they perceive you as vulnerable.

Even if you master quick transition time and maintain perfect situational awareness while finding your keys, other factors that may inhibit your key’s effectiveness to attacker’s eyes are: having a non-compliant moving target, aiming a very small weapon to a small target, inadvertently striking ridge of the eyebrow instead of the eye, and the startle-reflex of the eyes blinking and musculature that can protect the attacker’s eyes.

What I’ve read from a few sources is to hold the keys with about 1/4 to 1/2 inch extending between your thumb and index finger.  To see how this worked I tested this multiple times in a completely static environment.

The test:
Could I accurately hit my target, the eye of “BOB” my creepy “Body Opponent Bag” in a safe, static environment? In this example nothing was moving, there was zero stress, and I would get zero reaction, movement, energy, or response from my opponent.

-Pros to this test: I’m using my usual house key to strike a 3-dimensional target shaped somewhat like a human, set at an average adult male height, and I’m making contact at full speed.

-Partial list of cons to this test: there’s zero stress, I’m not being attacked, I’m pre-emptively attacking a static target, and Bob can’t tell me how effective my key-jabs are or whether he would be still able to fight if this was for real.


So how’d I do?

Not as great as I thought I would given that I am fairly coordinated & have a lot of training. At first it was harder than I had anticipated to effectively hit the eye at full speed.  My first several reps my index finger knuckles bounced off the ridge of the eyebrow, missing the eye completely.

After several reps, some minor adjustments helped.  I played with coming in at a diagonal angle, grabbing the neck in a clinch, aiming my thumb to the corner of the eye, and ripping outward.  These adjustments got some decent, yet still completely questionable results.

So, after these considerations and flawed tests, is using your keys as a weapon something I would suggest? 

My breakdown:

If I have my keys in my right hand and the attack happens, I feel that I could maybe dig a key into the eye if I grab the person and clinch around the head/neck with my other hand (to keep him from escaping/turning his head), but if I can do that I could likely slam my elbow into the face or throat repeatedly, since that’s inside the realm of my skill set. 

So why would I go for a lower percentage shot with a smaller weapon to smaller target? I wouldn’t.

If I had to choose between something that was occasionally “decent” in a safe, controlled environment and a palm strike or elbow that has more a much greater chance of doing damage even if my aim is not perfect I'll prioritize the strike.  Do what works for you - if keys are not for you, find something that you can pull off with consistently effective results.

Would I advocate keys as a weapon for someone who has significantly less speed, strength, and training than me? No, not really. 

My exception would be this:

Using your keys as a weapon could be a valid option if your keys are held in hand at the time of the attack and you have practiced the mechanics of how to do it to a 3-dimensional target while adding stress.

But hey, don't take my word for it.  Go to Dick’s Sporting Goods & try it for yourself; they usually have a “BOB” on display.  See how you do on pre-emptively jamming a key into a static target under the moderate fear of getting asked to leave by a high-school age store manager.

My takeaway from this blog post is that there is no end-all be-all to any self-defense concept.  There will always be situations where it works and situations where it fails.  The best thing you can do is broaden your perspective and try things out as realistically as possible to see if they can work for you.  Advice can be a good thing, but more valuable is learning and trying things out for yourself.

If you found this article interesting please share it with others.

Train smart & stay safe,
Evan Dzierzynski
Owner/Lead Coach
www.novaselfdefense.com

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