In spite of what you may hear on TV and in the papers the vast majority of people never have a fight in their loves, never get mugged or attacked and never need fighting skills. The vast majority of people have enough on their plates trying to juggle work, having fun etc so fighting skills are pretty low down in the order of things they think they need, though they are in fact pretty important, as the saying goes "Its better to have the skill and never use it than to not have the skill and need it"
   In this blog I shall be writing about Self Protection as opposed to Self Defence. With Self Protection you apply concepts so that you minimise the occurrence of situations where you may need to go to the last resort which will be your Self Defence skills namely applying strikes, kicks etc.
   I would like to describe three basic areas of Self Protection these are

  1. Avoidance/Awareness
  2. Aspects you need to control. SPACE, DISTANCE and TIME
  3. Barriers-The Fence and The Guard

Avoidance
   Applying avoidance skill is easy

  • If a bar you are going to has a bad reputation for violence or thuggish behavior...AVOID IT
  • If you know an area is a no go for whatever reason...AVOID IT
  • If you know a person/group is a psycho/bad news then you guessed it...AVOID THEM

   Use your common sense and trust your gut reaction it is usually right. Be aware, look around where you are, get a feel for the atmosphere, if it feels wrong then leave.

Aspects you need to control. SPACE, DISTANCE and TIME
   You must attempt to control all three of these if you lose two or more of them then the probability of you being hurt go through the roof. You attacker will have already sussed you out then decided to attack you and will have already taken control of these.
   Here is a scenario that you may find familiar. You are sitting, relaxing in a bar. Unknown to you your attacker has decided to have a go at you because you had been seen talking to his girlfriend. he being the jealous type has been sitting staring at you whilst working himself up to come over. he is now controlling time, he has decided when to confront, threaten and when to attack. Next he will come over and try to crowd you or hem you in, he is now controlling space. Now is when he attempts ot control distance and get into the position that he wants.
   Now is when you should take control of all three. First of all is space, as soon as you are aware of any hint of an encounter you should stand up and get into as much space as possible. Move away from obstacles etc. You are now making him have to think on his feet, already his plan is having to change. He has lost the advantage of space
   As he advances to intimidate or shout at you, move. This way he looses the distance that he wants. If you can not touch him he will struggle to touch you, so by keeping mobile you now control distance.
   Finally is time, he has some game plan for when he attacks, there will almost certainly be some verbals. This is when he may decide to hit you, if you walk away of even pre-emptively strike him you have changed the timing of his plan. You may have forced him to attack you sooner than he wants or thrown his plan into disarray.

Barriers. The Fence and The Guard
   When you have taken all possible precautions to avoid a confrontation but the aggressor will not back away and it appears that it will still "kick off". There is a non physical barrier called "The Fence and a physical barrier called "The Guard"
   Simply put the fence is a visual barrier you put up between yourself and the aggressor. Stand with open hand facing him at chest level with fingers pointing towards his eyes. At this time if you think that you can not talk them out of attacking you then you must tell them to "STAY BACK" or "TALK TO ME FROM THERE" etc. Make sure you say it firmly and with confidence. Use it to gain control and maintain distance, space and time. If they continue to come forward then you must use "The Guard".
   The Guard is physical, if your assailant is too close or continues to move in after you have told them to stay back use your open hands to push him hard and say again, "STAY THERE" or "GET BACK". You are now taking control and there can be no hesitation in you now. yhour assailant now knows that you mean business, he can either attack or back down/apologies.