Tag Archives: situational awareness

Coulda Killed Ya (A.I.F)

Posted on by
Reply

I have a confession to make.  And after my last post on the 13 Deadly Sins of Fitness this seems to be becoming a theme!

Here goes… sometimes I let my situational awareness slip and find myself in a position where a person with bad intentions could take advantage.  Ever happen to you?danger

Let me back up a little bit and tell you what brought this confession about.  This morning as I sat in my car beside the pump at a busy gas station waiting for the attendant to come over and fill up the tank (yes, there is no self-service in NJ!), I sort of drifted.  It seemed to take forever for the guy to come over to the car so I let my attention wander while I was waiting.  As I was lost in my thoughts about the million and a half things going on in my life, I was suddenly startled out of my reverie by the attendant at the window asking if he could help me.  I flinched slightly (think I covered it up pretty well), and then told him to please fill up the tank with regular.

As he walked away to gas up my car, it occurred to me – he coulda killed me!  I was completely not paying attention and did not even notice him amble up to my car window.  Had he been a bad guy (insert your own bad guy of choice here), I would have been in serious doo-doo (yes, that’s a technical term).

Not only was I embarrassed that he startled me, but I was pissed at my own lack of vigilance .  I usually pride myself on my awareness skills and rarely, if ever, do people sneak up on me.  But rather than chalking it up as just “one of those things” I figured I would write about it as a lesson, not just for you guys, but for me as well.

So what is the moral of the story?  As I tell all my martial arts students and the women in my Women’s Self Defense workshops….

A.I.F!

Awareness is Fundamental.  This is the basic requirement to keep yourself and those around you safe from harm.  Yes, I probably could have beaten up the gas station attendant had he attacked me, but that’s not the point.  The best way to stay safe is to be aware enough to avoid a potentially bad situation to begin with.  So, here’s your homework (and mine!):

When you are out in public, whether it’s at work, at school, in a mall, walking in a park or down a busy street, or – GASP – at a gas station waiting at the pump, you must keep your awareness up.

How do you do this?

1) Look around!  Keep your head and eyes scanning the environment.  Use wide angle vision.

2) Do not fixate all your attention on one task, especially if it takes your eyes off the environment around you.  Look up every once in a while and note the position of people in your general vicinity.  As I am writing this post I am sitting in a Panera nursing a delicious cup of dark roast coffee.  My eyes are on the computer screen and keyboard, but also scanning around me.

3) Keep your ears open!  Rather than blasting music in your ears with your ipod as you walk, run, or sit in public, keep your ears open and listening around you.

4) Listen to your gut!  If something feels wrong, it probably is.  Do not ignore the hair raising on the back of your neck or the feeling in the pit of your stomach that something is off.  Ever feel like someone is staring at you and when you turn around, they are?  You have the primal ability to know when you are in danger.  Do not disregard this sense, it can save your life!

 

 

 

11 Self Defense Tips for Women

Posted on by
Reply

1) Know Your Outcome

You must have it in your mind that no matter what, you will fight and you will survive.  You will get home safe.  This is your ultimate goal.  Additionally, you must also know in advance what you are willing to do, how far you are willing to go, in order to protect yourself.

2) Action First

Do not allow yourself to get pulled into “paralysis by analysis”.  It doesn’t matter (right now) why this is happening to you, only that it IS happening and you must take action NOW.  You can analyze and Monday Morning Quarterback yourself when you are home safe.

3) Do the Math!

If you are attacked by only one opponent, but you doubt yourself, you are outnumbered!

Women Self Defense

4) Breathe and Move

Intense stress wreaks havoc on the body.  Heart rate and blood pressure elevate.  Vision narrows.  Blood roars in your ears.  Your breathing gets faster and higher in your chest, or you may even hold your breath as your heart pounds.  You freeze.  The way to break this cycle of destruction is to sharply exhale and MOVE!

5) Keep Your S.A.

S.A. stands for situational awareness.  Do not walk in public with you head down buried in your cell phone.  Do not run with headphones on oblivious to your surroundings.  Do not walk to your car alone at night without knowing where your keys are!

6) Stand Tall

This is a corollary to the one above.  Stand up straight and walk with confidence.  Keep your eyes scanning around you and look like you are aware.  This signals to a potential attacker that maybe you are not a good target and they will move on to someone else less likely to notice them.

7) C.W.C.T

This stands for Closest Weapon Closest Target.  Do not fixate and focus on a particular target.  Do not over analyze where you should strike your attacker.  Just strike fast, hard, and often.  Hit the closest thing on him with the nearest weapon you have whether that is your fist, foot, knee, elbow, purse, keys, etc.  Also, ladies, please note that the groin is not always the best target.  Yes, it hurts, but guys are trained from birth to protect that area.  Make sure you have more in your bag of tricks than just a groin shot.

8) Get Away!

Remember your outcome in #1.  Your job is not to subdue your attacker and hold him for a citizen’s arrest.  Your job is also not to beat him to a pulp.  Your one and only job (assuming you are by yourself) is to get away as soon as possible, as fast as possible and to a safe location.

9) Be the Momma Bear

Remember that you are powerful.  When you see a bear in the woods, are you scared?  Yes, of course.  When you see a Momma Bear with 2 cubs in the woods, are you more scared or less scared?  MORE!

10) Who Do You Love?

Building on the Momma Bear concept above – even if you are alone, you still must fight and survive for your your kids, your family, your loved ones.  If you don’t fight, who will protect and nurture them when you are gone?  Get it into your head to fight.  Always.

11) Beware of Normalcy Bias

I owe this one to my good friend, Josh Sager of the New Jersey Personal Defense Academy.  From Josh’s article on Normalcy Bias:

“In layman’s terms, normalcy bias is the condition where a person’s fear manifests itself so acutely that they cannot process a traumatic event and, essentially, blocks it out of their mind. ”  I highly suggest you read the entire article HERE.

As the father of 2 young girls, women’s self defense is a subject very near and dear to my heart.  Over the past 15 years I have taught women’s self defense workshops to schools, clubs, companies, MOMs groups, church groups, and women from all walks of life who simply want to know more, be more confident, and learn the mindset, psychology, and skills that will help them survive in the event they are attacked.

To book a Women’s Self Defense Workshop for your organization, please contact me HERE.

 

Jon Haas, “The Warrior Coach” has been training in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu for more than 25 years and is currently ranked as a Kudan (9th degree black belt) under Jack Hoban Shidoshi. He has also trained in Okinawan Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Russian Systema, BJJ, Krav Maga, as well as Internal Martial Arts of Yiquan and Aiki.He is also a certified Underground Strength Coach-Level 2, an ACE and FMS certified Personal Trainer and the founder of Warrior Fitness Training Systems. In 2008, Jon wrote the book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts, and since then has created numerous other online training and coaching programs helping people around the world become the strongest, most capable versions of themselves!