Even some of the the better knife-defense videos make me cringe.  In my opinion, knife defense is largely misunderstood.   Most knife defense "techniques" presume that the person being attacked sees the knife and knows the trajectory of the attack with enough precision to execute a complex motor skill requiring balance, coordination of multiple muscle-groups, and precise small-bone manipulation with perfected timing.  What if you don't see the knife? What if your first confirmation of knowing the knife is present is feeling it pierce your body?  Many knife attack survivors say they did not know a knife was present until after the attack; the thought they were being punched!  In my opinion is is a generous statement to say that most knife defense programs do not adequately address the hard questions and encompass your options. 
Be introspective and ask questions about your training:

• Is what you've been taught complicated and flashy?
• Do you have difficulty doing it in a safe training environment?
• Does is cover the most probable scenarios?
• What about starting behind the curve, from the stab or slash already making contact with your body?
• Does it address observing and acting upon seeing someone draw the weapon from concealment?
• Does the training address all of your options and take into consideration your personal attributes?
  
• Does the training address the different timelines of the attack? An enraged person getting out of his car, pulling a knife out and stomping towards you with intent from a distance can differ from someone ambushing you with repeated stabs with your back turned away from them.

We are going to go through and provide as many options as we can for what we consider to be the most probable situations and attacks in a near-future training. 
This is your session.  Let us know what your concerns are, what you want to see in the training.  Comment on this page and our Facebook page.  

I wanted to follow up on Evan's previous blog post and expand on the comment I made to it. Lately I've found myself increasingly frustrated by close-minded instructors. Maybe it's because I've been fortunate to train in a martial arts style that prides itself on integrating concepts from multiple styles and constantly evolving itself. Or it could be from training with excellent instructors, like Masters Robert and Elizabeth. Whatever the reason, I firmly believe that an instructor who adopts a close-minded attitude does a disservice to his students. Nowhere are the consequences of this more severe than in the realm of self-defense.

As instructors we have a responsibility to present our students with concepts and techniques that are functional, relevant, and, most importantly, in the proper context. We should constantly evaluate the material we teach and adjust as necessary. Any system/style that fails to review its teachings on a regular basis runs the risk of becoming irrelevant, nonfunctional, and out of context. At NOVA Self Defense we have found ourselves reviewing drills and concepts after every class or seminar and discussing ways to modify them for a specific audience or improve their effectiveness.

Never let your ego or tradition prevent you from obtaining new knowledge. Cross-training is not just a way of getting a better workout. I recently read Bruce Clayton's book Shotokan's Secret. In the book he says "We must climb other mountains in order to see our own." To me this reflects the idea that training other styles / systems / sports / etc. will enhance your understanding of your primary training and provide new concepts with which to improve that training. He goes on to debunk several other myths or misperceptions about karate, including the idea that karate is empty-handed, that sparring trains you for combat, and that techniques must not be changed. (The original masters continually tweaked and changed the techniques and katas!) This book is a must read for any martial artist.

So I charge you with this. Never accept any self-defense training at face value. Always question the relevance and effectiveness of what is being presented. If something does not seem to make sense, don't assume you are just misunderstanding something. Question your instructors, look for alternative training to broaden your horizons. Climb those other mountains.

Last weekend Scott and I went down to Raleigh, NC to train with Masters Robert First and Elizabeth Roman at the Shiwa Dojo. They are both 6th degree black belts in Cuong Nhu, an in integrated martial arts style comprised of Shotokan Karate, boxing, judo, wing chun, aikido, vovinam, and tai chi.  They were my first introduction to the martial arts world and the path that has led me to where I am.  They are fantastic people that continuously improve their communities and they have a tremendous amount of knowledge about martial arts and self-defense.  Something that I really respect about their training is that they continuously evolve what they do.  In the combative training world, it's easy to get caught up in "we do XYZ this particular way, because that's how we've always done it."  Regardless of what type of training you do (weight training, self defense, martial arts, etc) it is important to ask the question, is this progressive or a routine?  Another thing I like about the way they train is how they articulate what it is they are working on.  If they are working on kata, they are clear that they are working on art and form, not combat.  If they are working on stick-training, they are clear as to what the goal is- learning the mechanics of certain strikes.  When we were working on Scott's black belt demo (a choreographed demonstration of attacks/techniques) multiple times I heard them say something along the lines of this isn't what you would actually do, we're just modifying it a bit so that your audience can see and understand what strike you just executed.  Some people advocate that training in a martial art can negatively affect your self-defense skills and abilities. I don't necessarily agree.  Martial arts training can provide you with desirable attributes and a good skill-set.  I think the bigger issue is martial arts instructors that either do not know the difference between martial arts and self-defense, or do not properly articulate the difference to their students. 

I try to stay away from forums where people post comments.  Mainly because they are negative and are full of arm-chair quarterbacks talking about what they "would do."  Recently in Arlington VA an attack hit close to home for many in a “safe” area. A 23 year old girl was attacked at knife point and raped while jogging in the evening a trail along Four Mile Run. This is a horrid event that nobody ever deserves to have happen.  I cannot even begin to explain how this makes my blood boil. Even the thought of this being a short distance from where I live makes me livid.

When reading about this, something else that really irked me was how others were commenting on the article.  People who have no experience or understanding of violence or how it happens should not give "advice" on what to do to defend yourself.

In the ever-extending comment list, a consensus was made that carrying a can of spray paint and a whistle was a good idea for a woman to defend herself from a knife attack. The logic was that the bad guy will not only run away, but will be “marked” for the police to identify. Seriously?  Other unknowing commenters affirmed that “making noise” using a whistle would make the attacker “less comfortable” in a rape scenario, so maybe he would flee.  There were other terrible ideas, but it will make my brain hurt even more if I repeat them here.  Rather than delving into how absurd these suggestions are, let’s look at them from a tactical standpoint:

If I decide:  Yes, I’m going to carry a whistle and spray paint can with me while I run.

Here are a few things to ponder:
When the knife attack is in-action, will my whistle already be readied at my lips?  
How will the whistle stop the attack that is already happening?  
Will my spray paint can be in-hand, finger on the button, oriented at the eye-level of the attacker?
It will, during the duration of my entire run? Hmm…  
Have I practiced spraying a person with spray paint at close range? Have I practiced at all? 
Is it raining out? 
Is the wind blowing?  
What if it gets in my eyes instead?
Have I practiced using/accessing my tools so while someone is trying to attack me (under stress)?

Now, here’s the kicker… lets substitute the absurd suggestions for more-desirable tools.  Maybe a knife, gun, pepper spray, or clubbing device.  Similar questions apply.  

Having a weapon/tool does not make you “safe” without training. You still need to know how to weather the ambush to get back into the fight and/or access what you are carrying.  Everyone wants a quick-fix.  Five minutes of browsing Amazon to purchase a self-defense weapon that will ease all of your worries.  The real issue is training and education. Get an understanding of awareness, learn how violent attacks happen, and how you can respond to defend yourself and get out of danger.  The way we train, using the S.P.E.A.R. System, can give you a VERY effective skill-set in a very short amount of time.

The Annual Combatives Camp is an end user course built around the fundamentals of S.P.E.A.R. System. Each year there is a different theme and usually a few special guests. This year Rodney King, the founder of Crazy Monkey Defense, and Zach Even-Esh, Underground Strength Coach, will be present. If you've never made it to a training event offered by Tony Blauer, this is a great opportunity. The event will be in Vienna, Virginia held at CrossFit Rubicon.

“At core, men are afraid women will laugh at them, while at core, women are afraid men will kill them.” 
      -Gavin de Becker, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence

Since summertime is a busy time of year filled with vacation and travels, we’ve decided to outline some suggested summer reading material. Our first suggestion is, The Gift of Fear, written by an industry expert on violent behavior, Gavin DeBecker.  In this book, DeBecker explains how to identify the subtle, pre-incident indicators of violence.  The audiobook version of The Gift of Fear plays out like a suspense thriller and is full of useful information: advice on what to do if you are being stalked, how you should act when you are approached by a stranger, and many other self-defense relevant concepts. One of the key points of this book is listening to your intuition.
Some of the Pre-incident indicators discussed are:

• Forced Teaming- a person assuming a common bond that does not exist
  
• Too many Details-excessive details when lying
  
• Not accepting “NO”-not accepting or respecting your decision
• Giving unsolicited help or an unsolicited promise

This video recently generated some buzz on the PDR Facebook forum as a means to generate ideas from individuals in the self-defense world. The scenario is that  the girl with the gray sweatshirt (we will refer to her as "Gray") supposedly bashed the other girl ("Red Hat") on Twitter. 

Tony Blauer asked students/coaches to take a stab at the following questions:

1. What's the moral? 
2. What are we learning as humans/coaches? 
3. How are we (you) as coaches turning this into education/lessons? 
4. What's the problem with 'just' cataloging' pre-contact cues? 
5. If she hadnt attacked her and they just spoke would you have seen the pre-contact cues?
6. What was the most important pre-contact cue? 

Recently, combative expert Tim Larkin, who was Black Belt Magazine's 2011 Self-Defense Instructor of the year was at the airport in Las Vegas, ready to board a plan to the UK, and was denied entry into the country. The reasoning was that he was deemed a security risk because he was planning to teach his program. Mr Larkin gets lots of flak in general for people misinterpreting and misunderstanding his program. In essence, he teaches human destruction, but what everybody seems to neglect is that he prefaces that it is only proper to use his information in the face of criminal, asocial violence. Regardless of these facts, Mr. Larkin is no longer making people safer in the UK, which is unfortunate for those who really need training. To reiterate what fellow PDR coach Jake Steinmann said, the take home here for self-defense instructors is to carefully put out your message as to what it is you are teaching and why your students need it.

We just finished up with a health and wellness fair for a large organization located in downtown Arlington Virginia. There were about twenty vendors with booths set up with everything from health foods to financial planning. Many of the employees were excited to see this as a course offering for their health and wellness week and were eager to talk to us about what we were going to teach. The self-defense seminar we put on for them was a hit. It was a receptive group of attendees and I think pretty much everyone came away with with a new perspective on mindset and self defense. We look forward to putting on more personal defense seminars for them in the future!

I recall a conversation with a security officer I had a while back. We were talking about self-defense training and he told me, "I don't need self-defense, I have this." He proceeded to place his backpack on the security counter we were standing at, unzipped a side compartment, dug around a bit and pulled out a small leather case; he gently unbuttoned and eased out a shiny miniature stun-gun the size of a Zippo (unlike the Zach Morris 1980's cellphone stun-gun pictured here) and proceeded to click it and zap the air. I nodded politely and said, "seven seconds." It took this man seven seconds to access his personal defense weapon. Seven seconds is a lifetime during a moment in time where violence is escalating or your are suddenly attacked. Thinking that having a self-defense tool equals having a self-defense skill-set can be a dangerous mistake. You don't have seven seconds in the street to dig through your bag or purse to prepare your weapon. 

NOVA Self Defense Newsletter

Understanding the ways real attacks happen is extremely important. In Personal Defense Readiness, startle-flinch conversion off of a primary initiation attacks is something we train extensively. That being said, only knowing how to weather the ambush is simply not enough. It is critical to build and refine your skill-set, and practice to refine your motions, and train under stress/pressure to test your ability to perform.

This is a good video clip from a while back, where Coach Blauer discusses pre-contact cues. This is an important concept in our PDR training. The model for most self-defense systems is stimulus, response. If he does "X, I do "Y," but doing so is improbable in the ambush moment. The model for our training is stimulus, stimulus, stimulus response.

I feel like I learned a great deal on Saturday.  I have taken one or two martial arts style courses, and the steps felt too formalized.  I've been in situations that call for a fast response, and in no way would I have had the time or presence of mind to recite steps in my head prior to needing to act.  Hopefully I'll never irritate someone enough to need to use the skills you've taught us, but, should I find myself facing an angry adversary, I know my odds of a successful outcome have increased significantly thanks to just that one class so far. 

-Christine Picaut, Arlington VA




I attended the 4 hour Women’s Self Defense training last Saturday.  The class was great.  The time went by so quickly that it is now difficult for me to tell you how the time was allocated, but I will give you a brief summary of the training I received and my thoughts.

It began with a verbal seminar, discussing things like: intuition-paying attention to the gut feeling that something isn’t right, awareness-pay attention to your surroundings, how to respond prior to a potential threat to possibly avoid a physical altercation.  We then went over basic strikes and techniques for how to respond if grabbed from behind.  There were 3 trainers and approximately 12 students.  For many of the techniques the girls partnered one-on-one and practice the moves while the trainers “floated” around the room observing and assisting to make sure everyone was getting it.  Once we practiced with other the girls, they had us line up and practice the move on each of the 3 trainers.  Since physical interaction as well as the strike placement will be somewhat different with each “attacker” we practiced the moves at different heights, angles, etc.  Also, throughout the physical portion of the training there was a lot of emphasis on the physiology of the attack.  For instance, the trainer would have us standing with our back to our partner and the partner would come up from behind as if they were going to choke us.  Initially we had to just stand there and take it, focusing on the sounds, sights, and feelings that we experienced prior to and during the course of the attack.  We repeated this exercise and at an unknown point a trainer would sneak in and perform the “surprise” choke hold.  I actually surprised myself during this exercise.  While doing it with my female partner, I did as instructed and just stood there focusing on the sounds, feelings, etc.  But when one of the male trainers came up behind me & performed the choke, it felt real and my immediate reaction was to perform the defensive move which I had learned at a previous training with NOVA Self Defense.  Although I wasn’t exactly following that day’s instructions it was good to see that when I felt threatened I reacted appropriately.  After going through various techniques, the class ended with the trainers putting on their padded suits and “attacking” the students.  Each student took a turn with each trainer.  The attack began with a verbal confrontation, we had to determine whether we could escape, verbally de-escalate, or would have to become physical.  If it became physical the attack didn’t end until the trainer was on the ground and the student was safely out of reach of the attacker.

The training was fun and informative.  Of course, when I got home I tried out some of my “skills” on my husband.  He was surprised at how easily I could free myself from his grasp.  This course doesn’t teach you to try to overpower your opponent, that isn’t realistic in many cases when a woman is up against a man.  It does however focus on using your body’s natural responses as a defense mechanism both from recognizing the danger all the way through the physical aspect.  I do think the more training a person gets, the better her chances are in surviving a real life situation.  I have now attended two seminars as well as a 12 week course.  I intend to continue taking at least one seminar a year just to retain the information that I have learned and stay current on any improvements. I also plan to have my daughter Amanda take a course like this as soon as she is old enough.

-Christi Campbell, Amissville, VA

_Last week I decided to take a different route to work for a few days to see if it would shorten my commute. It always amazes me what you have time to notice while sitting in traffic at 7:30 AM, pre-coffee no less. Every morning I saw the same woman walking down the sidewalk, headphones on and staring at her phone as she walked. She was very consistent. If I was running a few minutes later than normal, she would be a little further down the road by the time I passed her. Now imagine if instead of a bored commuter, I had been a mugger or rapist. How hard would it have been to target this person? Not only was she completely unaware of her environment, but she was extremely predictable.

When are you most vulnerable? Many people go through their daily lives oblivious to the dangerous situations they may be putting themselves in. For example, if you own a business, do you bring money in and out of your store on the same day every week or month? Or maybe you work nights in the city and you walk alone to your car at the same time every night? Often people attribute violent attacks to random acts, but in reality further questioning after the fact reveals several indicators that could have served as a warning. One of these factors often is the predictability of the victim.

Soldiers and diplomats receive training that teaches them to vary their patterns of activity, travel routes, timing, etc. to make it difficult for those who mean them harm. However, sometimes that's not practical and a pattern of activity still exists. In those cases, they take special precautions knowing that they face a higher level of risk when conducting predictable routines. What special precautions can you take during the predictable and vulnerable parts of your day? Perhaps it's as simple as showing that you are aware, and not walking around staring at the sidewalk. Most criminals prefer the easy, oblivious targets. Don't be one! Think from the perspective of an attacker. When would you attack yourself? During those moments consider taking some extra precautions yourself.

Awareness is probably the most important self-defense skill, and fortunately, one that is easy to learn and anyone can use.

Scott

“Technique.” The word doesn’t sound right in the realm of self-defense.  In the dictionary technique is defined as:
       "A way of carrying out a particular task, especially the execution or performance of an artistic work or a scientific procedure.”
       There’s nothing artistic about violence or defending yourself from an attack. If all of your practice happens from a perfect stance, what happens when you can’t get to your perfect stance?If all of your strikes are practiced with your attacker in front of you, what happens when you’re blindsided? Two combative experts that I have a lot of respect for have interesting perspectives on technique. At a recent PDR Coach’s Certification, I recall Tony Blauer saying,
      “The pursuit of technique gets in the way of action.”
 Tim Larkin's book,How to Survive the Most Critical 5 Seconds of Your life, Mr Larkin states,
       “Technique is like obsessively polishing an empty gun.”
 To state in another way, the technique is not what is important, only the outcome matters. Make a resolute decision to act, and commit to it. Think about your training. Are you fixated on how good your punches/kicks look and feel?  Are you obsessing over proper techniques or intricate motions? Or are you analyzing trajectories, training your non-dominant side, training off-balance and from compromised positions? We are.