Charlotte Self Defense on television

My apologies to my international readers but this post probably won't be of much help to you guys.

Fight Survival is currently being featured on our local cable access channel 21 here in Charlotte for a 13 week series entitled "How To Be Your Own Bodyguard." It runs on Tuesday nights at 10:30 pm for 30 minutes at a time.

We focus on a mix of self protection - the awareness and avoidance strategies used by professional close protection officers to avoid getting in trouble in the first place - and self defense - the hands on physical fighting techniques as taught in my Fight Survival classes.

Our first episode went to air a week ago and I've heard nothing but positive reviews. If you live in the local market and want to check it out please do so and let us have your feedback.

Pet Peeve

I was at the bookstore the other day and perused the ones alleging to teach self defense. Sadly, judging by the material within, most of the authors last fights had to be over Tonka trucks in the sandpit at day care.

Can we clear this one up for once? You cannot teach girls wrist locks and armlocks and call it self defense. Well, alright, you can, but you should be sued for misrepresentation when you do.

To begin with there isn't any such thing as an armlock. The technique is actually an armbreak. Remember that all of these techniques derived from fighting for one's life, oft times on a battlefield. Why, in the middle of a battlefield would you take two of your arms to tie up one of the enemy's? How long are you going to do that in the middle of a war going on? Till he cries "uncle" or gives in?

Nope, you broke their arm and thus rendered them "hors du combat" and you moved on to tackle the next guy.

Look at the above picture. What do you honestly think would happen if the "mugger" just stood up? Look at the inverted grip? If he just violently yanked his arm free could she hang on or would she get sliced as the knife passed through her hands, arm and armpit?

Somewhere along the line the breaks became misconstrued as pain compliance techniques...probably because in training you'd take them to the point where the joint started to break - thus causing pain - at which point your training partner would cry out and let you know.

Alright, I'll admit it. I've used them as pain compliance when removing someone from a club and controlling subjects whilst a military police officer. Here's the deal though, I still have to big enough and accomplished enough that when I let the subject go, and he decides to fight, that I can do the job and knock him out if necessary or, a cop, I'm going to control the arm long enough to get cuffs on.

What is our hapless female victim to do? She's being attacked by a rapist (and let's hope there's only one of them) and she puts the lock on him. Now what? You going to lecture him on the error of his ways and hope he repents? You going to wait till the police come all the time controlling this struggling man with superior upper body strength to yours? Are you hoping he cries "Uncle" and accepts defeat? Are you going to take it to it's logical conclusion and break the joint? Could you? Have you ever heard one break? Do you have any idea how strong you have to be to pull it off?

Bottom line is if you are much smaller than your opponent you're not putting locks on him if he doesn't want you to...at least not until you've hit him enough times to stun him. If it takes that to put it on, why not just stun him and make scarce anyway?

Nick

Who's Trying to Kill You?

I had to laugh. I saw yet another "unmade waterbed" aka an obese guy at the range with a gun a few weeks ago. Alright, I'll be politically correct, I won't say he was overweight, let's just say he was about two feet too short for where he tipped the scales.

He had a cigarette in his mouth, a gut that had obviously been "built" over years of eating trans fats and drinking beer and was scarfing down a plate of barbecue, slaw and bread rolls.

He talked to me while I was waiting till I got my own plate of food and started going on about the need to defend himself, and how he was shooting as much as he could in a bid to be ready when the bad guys came "a breakin into his house."

I had to bite my lip so damn hard I drew blood in a bid not to burst out laughing. The only guy trying to kill this guy was himself. Close on 100 pounds overweight, a smoker, a heavy drinker and none to careful about his food intake I couldn't help but think the stress of someone even trying to kick his door in would initiate the heart attack that would kill him.

What a shame. All those years on the range and all those rounds fired learning to kill someone when he was killing himself.

So, how about you? Is your diet as good as it could be? Do you smoke? Do you get so drunk a fifteen year old could kick your ass? Who is out to get you?

I guess what I'm trying to say is beware the enemy within.

Nick

Welcome to my first blog. Why another one? Aren't there enough already? Well sure, self defense is a broad subject but it's also a very local one.

Remember last year when the FBI published their crime stats and all the papers were reporting an increase in violent crime? Readers in small towns are seeing that and thinking of investing in alarms etc but in reality it may be nothing more than two rival drug gangs at war in Washington DC. That will definitely cause the numbers to spike but how does that effect the guy in the mountains? Not one bit.

So it is with Charlotte. Crimes are local and trends are local. There may be a spate of car jackings in San Clemente CA whereas here we might be seeing an increase in home invasions. Now, someone in Charlotte has a way of keeping abreast with what is going on and, unlike in the media which will relish in reporting it, picking up some measures to beat it.

Stay tuned. Not only will I cover the local stuff but I'll also talk about self protection and martial arts as well...subjects I've been passionate about for over thirty years.

If you're a cop, a security professional, a body guard, bouncer or concerned citizen you'll get a heap of relevant info so sit back and enjoy the ride.