After Self-Defense...

Here are the key stages of what to do after a self-defense incident. These are the big action points In our classes and workshops we go into detail in each stage of what to expect and what actions can be taken.

Not everything is about the techniques. Don’t ignore this very important level of training.

⚠️ 1. Ensure Your Immediate Safety

🚔 2. Contact Law Enforcement

⚖️ 3. Understand Legal Considerations

🧠 4. Emotional and Psychological Aftercare

🩹 5. Follow-Up and Learning

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The BIG 4...

In our self-defense workshops we create a simple structure of purpose. The #1 purpose over everything is to get home safe to your loved ones. This may be way of running away, avoiding a confrontation, talking your way out of something, or actual physical fighting. When we act we need to know the BIG 4!

The BIG 4 targets for self-defense are: the eyes, the neck/throat, the groin, and the ankles. Let’s explore the importance of each of these targets.

(1) EYES: Damage the eyes and you damage your attacker’s vision. He can no longer attack what he cannot properly see or focus on. Once the vision is impaired, get out of there.

(2) NECK/THROAT: The neck involves the rear and the sides of the throat while the throat focuses on the front (adam’s apple/larynax). Damage to the throat involves airway destruction thus causing breathing difficulty. If your attacker is too worried about breathing, he is not going to focus on you. Get out of there. The sides and rear of the neck involve whiplash and/or nerve damage resulting in mental confusion and possible unconsciousness. Again, get out of there.

(3) GROIN: Attacks to the groin, although easy to understand, are not so simple in reality. Yes there is intense pain but it is only for a moment. After which, the attacker is going to be really pissed off. The goal here is to cause damage to the testicles, resulting in a bent over position that now gives me access to the eyes, neck/throat. See above and then get out of there.

(4) ANKLES: Structural damage to the ankles is fairly easy to pull off. We want to cause at least a sprain, if not a full-on break of the ankle. No ankle, no standing, no running. Get out of there.

TIP: To cause actual damage to the BIG 4 requires not just reading about it but actual, on-going, physical practice in a multitude of ways and under a variety of conditions. If you are interested in this. Give us a call or click the button below.

"The BEST" Fighting Art

Everyone always asks me, “David, what is the best fighting art?” Or similarly, “What is the most effective martial art?” Although these are legit questions, the answer is not so straight forward.

First off, let’s define “fighting/martial art.” A fighting/martial art is simply a codified system of combat practices for a variety of reasons: ranging from exercise and mental/spiritual development to street fighting and self-defense to law enforcement and all out warfare. It has a broad scoping range. And this is fundamentally what we need to understand to answer the question above.

You see, there is no, ONE, best art. The best art for you may not be the best art for me. We have to consider why we are practicing in the first place Then we have find out what art best suits our body type and peaks our interests. For me, early on, I knew I wanted something that was self-defense/reality based. But that is me. You may want focus and calmness - that would lead to a different practice. Both are good. Both are correct. But they are very different. In either case, nothing will happen if you don't go out and try something. Ya gotta get started to find what you like. Remember, the journey is the fun part.

TIP: When considering an art and you find a school, always ask to observe a class or see if you can take a free intro class. Also, ask the students in the class why they like it. Are they having fun? Are they learning what you want?

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Common Self-Defense Scenarios

No matter how much you try to avoid a confrontation, sometimes being in the right spot at the wrong time just happens. And that’s when we may have to defend ourselves. Through no fault of your own, you may be attacked and that is why you need to prepare yourself mentally, emotionally and physically for these common self-defense scenarios:

• Home Intruder

• Bar Fight

• Street Criminals

• the Sucker Puncher

• Multiple Attackers

• Sexual Assault

• Crowd Fight/Rumble

• Bully

• Ambush/Road Rage

• Animals

TIP: All of these scenarios may involve physical defense but they all have slightly different tactics and strategies. Additionally these scenarios may be combined in some circumstances; for example a home intrusion by multiple attackers. In any case, preparing ahead of time for specific scenarios helps stack the odds in your favor.

BONUS TIP: I need to make it clear that avoiding confrontation whenever you can is the best logical solution. Recognize a scenario and remove yourself from it as soon as possible. If you are not there, you deny the other party any opportunity to harm you.

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Chi Power

“Chi” is commonly described as the body’s internal life force/energy. It is a free-flowing, bioenergetic system that has an impact on the Mind, Body and Spirit connection. I have experienced some crazy examples of “chi” in use during my years of training - mainly during meditation and focus sessions.

Unfortunately, this concept of “chi” has been abused by a variety of “masters” to attract and exploit gullible followers. Convincing students that they can harness and manipulate their “chi” like the “force” in Star Wars is not ethical and in self-defense will lead to serious injury.

Real self-defense training involves:

1. Physically: honing the body thorough practice, hard work and sweat

2. Mentally: stabilizing the mind to be able to work in a high-pressure/high-stakes situation

3. Emotionally: calming oneself to be focused and in the present, (this is where learning “chi” with meditation comes in handy)

TIP: use common sense when deciding what to learn in the martial arts. If it looks and feels like a sci-fi or fantasy movie, it probably isn’t real. Do your research. Trust your instincts.

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Gotta take a hit

”Everybody has a plan, until they get hit in the face.”

Never have truer words ever been spoken. Being able to take a hit and give a hit is crucial for your self-defense survival. In my first summer training with my private instructor, we were doing some sparring and I walked head-on into his fist. It hit me in the nose and took me clean off of my feet. I can remember the shock, awe and embarrassment. I got up yelling and complaining at him. He looked at me and said in an amused yet befuddled way, “Have you never been hit before?” I tried to quickly cover my tracks, because although I was a blackbelt, it was true, I had never been squarely hit in the face before with intent and with a bare fist. He saw right through my deception. LOL. The rest of that summer, every time we practiced, he hit me square in face.

Two things happened during that time. First, I learned to take a hit. Second, I learned to keep my eyes open so that I could block his fist.

TIP: When you practice you need contact. You need to feel what a hit feels like and be able to keep going. This doesn’t mean get out there and just whack away at each other. LOL. We all have families and jobs waiting for us the next day. Be smart. Start with padded body vests and gloves. Then as you get better, remove the gloves. Once you have that conditioned, go no pads and gloves but just slap each other. Feel the hits. Set the intent.

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Get Out There

The bulk of my training happened in the ‘80s and maybe surprisingly NOT in a dojo. The majority of my training was always outside. And yes, “the dojo” is wherever you are . True. But what I am getting at here is that if you are - for the majority of your time - training inside, you need to change that and get out there!

You need to experience the not so perfect conditions of being out in the elements. What are we talking about? Well, for starters: the weather. Do you know how you perform in hot, humid sticky heat? How about bone chilling, numbing cold? Have you ever fought someone in a rain storm? These factors all change the way you have to approach being attacked.

Then we have terrain. Wet grass is awful. Might as well be ice. Speaking of, if you trample on snow enough, it compacts and does become ice. Ever fight on a hillside? Or standing in a shallow river bed? How about on the cliffs of a rock quarry? Or in a large oak tree? The beach? These are all areas that I had to learn in when I was training. My first class with my private instructor was outside, of course, in his backyard which was a sloping hillside filled with walnuts. Not easy to stand. Horrible to fall on. Lots of lessons to be learned.

TIP: the more you can experience operating in an environment that is not conducive to your well being, the better you become at handling adverse situations. An attacker, is not going to wait for ideal weather or conditions to go after you. It’s most likely going to happen in the worst possible location and at the worst possible time. You have to be prepared.

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The 1-Hour Self-Defense Class...(bro seriously?)

We have all seen it. That flyer on a bulletin board in the local gym, coffee shop or college campus center, “Learn Self-Defense…1-hour class to keep you safe!” Now look. Any learning is probably a good thing. And I like to think that we can learn something from everything we do. But most of these “learn self-defense” seminars are just lacking in the following areas:

• TIME: you cannot learn, retain and use effectively skills that you have only been practiced for an hour on a random Saturday. Any skill set has to be practiced as much as possible for it to sink into the muscle memory, let alone to be used under pressure when fighting for your life.

• TECHNIQUE: anything being taught needs to be the most basic, raw version so that it can be learned quickly and be retained by the student. Overly complex combinations are just not gonna work for the average person.

• TACTICS: most seminars try to teach the overly complex physical skills and they lack any real tactical training for the student. Tactical training is teaching critical skills for handling high -stress, real-world situations by combining physical, mental and emotional strategies. This is crucial for self-defense success.

With this in mind, I created the PCC’s Self-Defense 101 Workshops. These are real self-defense workshops designed to be easily learned over 3-hours of training that builds simple, effective techniques and tactics to get your home safe. But don’t take my word for it, read what my client Sarah had to say about:

“I live in the Pittsburgh area and have taken many self defense courses in my life. I have always enjoyed them but this was a whole new experience. It is hands on and the education is not based as much around technique as much as training your brain to be ready. Because of this, the education soaks in easier and I know it will be available if I’m ever in the position to need it. Anyone who is looking to feel safer should enroll.”

— — Sarah Joy McKenzie, Owner-Operator at Hand in Hand Weddings and Events, LLC

TIP: PCC self-defense 101 workshops for men and women

If you are worried about your safety but don't feel you have the time to invest in weekly self-defense classes, then consider one of our Self-Defense 101 Workshops.

18 Natural Weapons

When we discuss weapons, we usually mean external tools that help us defend verses an attacker. But the human body actually has 18 (give or take) natural weapons that can also be used if need be:

1. The fists - punching is a key skill, learning to not break the hand even more so

2. The palm heels - dense and tough, much safer way to strike

3. The fingers - poking/gouging/gripping

4. The elbows - includes hitting with the dense forearm muscle area and the pointy tip

5. The shoulders - it’s good enough for the NFL, it’s good enough for me, lol - love shoulder butting

6. The legs - crucial for any type of throw, displacement and/or takedown

7. The hips - body checking is real

8. The knees - your built in sledge hammer

9. The shins - roughly 18” margin of error when you hit with the shin bone

10. The feet - used for tripping, pinning, etc.

11. The heels - used when kicking/stomping

12. The balls of the feet - various kicks use this area

13. The outside edges of the feet - effective for various precise kicks

14. The inside edges of the feet - tripping and sweeping

15. The teeth - biting

16. The head - although head butting can be effective in areas, I’d rather use my head for thinking than hitting

17. The whole body - your applied body weight is a weapon, used in takedowns, throws, reversals, etc.

18. The environment - wherever you go there you are…use what’s around you to your advantage; landscape, lighting, objects, etc.

TIP: everything on this list has to be a developed skill set - knowing what to use when and how is the key! We can help you with that. Feel free to check us out and get 2-FREE lessons. Just click the button below.

INJURY

Avoid damage. Cause damage. Simply put, that in a nutshell is self-defense. Your attacker in a self-defense situation is a bully times 10. An asocial predator who is determined to cause you harm. The only thing that will stop them is if you fight back. And not just scratch at him or bite. But actually injure the function(s) of his body.

Your attacker needs to have something break, stop working or need immediate medical attention to fix. ONLY when this happens, will the attacker no longer focus on you. It’s not like the movies or TV where one hit and they are out cold. Injury gives you opportunity. Opportunity to attack again (if need be), to get away, and to survive.

TIP: You need to know anatomy. For every action you do there should be a known cause-effect. If you hit him in the liver you should know what happens. If I crack him over the head, I should expect XYZ result. If I stab the hamstring I should understand how this will affect them.

We are we are for those who seek...something more.  Those who want...something different

If this sounds different from most self-defense that is being taught you are right.. If you are tired of the same old martial arts training. If you are tired of breaking boards. Then I invite you to try us on for size. See how we offer more; see how we are different.