My life lessons started early on from confrontations on the streets of Philadelphia with no formal training. I looked into various forms of martial arts through the years and found that not one was all-inclusive for real confrontations. Another thing about sticking just simply martial arts in general is that they are classroom based, what I call a close environment as appose to an open environment where you are in street clothes, placed in real life situations. Closed environment training is usually by the numbers in the beginning then move to instinctive forms of the numbered techniques. With the numbered techniques, there might be a drill where two students practice a counter to an attack working through a series of attacks. The underlying issue is that many people will lose interest before moving into the instinctive level, which is when you “do” rather than “think” than “do” as in the OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act). Many of these people believe at this point they have a good skill level because of the training but have never been in a violent encounter, which is the number one phobia, interpersonal human aggression. When asked what form of self-defense best I will reply as is stated above, none of them outside of may be Krav Maga. Krav Maga works with human instinct rather than doing something that is not natural. With that laid out, I have been teaching self-defense training professionally for the past 12 years. My classes are eight hours long where the main focus is empty hand tactics to stop an attack and get away or to stop without the use of weapons or to transition to a weapon. Referring to the Force Continuum escalation of force is empty hand to impact device to firearm. One of the universal weapons for personal protection is a device known as a Kubaton. The Kubaton (see link below) is legal to carry in most states but usually not permitted on airplanes or in courtrooms. To get around these restrictions many companies offer a tactical pen, which are both a pen and an impact device. Also flashlights such as Mini-Mag brand flashlight is great too.

No matter what your decision is for self-defense your number one tool is your brain followed by how fast you can get out of Dodge. I am a highly trained person but will avoid confrontations to no end unless backed into a corner and physically defending me is the last option but if the need arises, I will “do” not “think” and “do.”

I mention that I teach, in the trans and gay community I offer free eight hour long classes in my area but do charge for travel expenses when classes are outside a 50 mile radius of where I live.

The image above is me (on the left) teaching in male mode back several years. The woman is practicing a technique to circumvent a 200LB male from him grabbing her. The end goal is to smash his head into her knee and scrap his hand on the concrete.

References

Kubaton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubotan

Tactical pen example http://www.knifecent...KUdatarq=crtpen

Recommended book: Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion http://www.amazon.co...86548668&sr=8-1

Suggestion for home training: COUNTER-BLADE CONCEPTS (DVD) by Michael Janich http://www.staysafem...uct.php?proid=7

Open/Close environment from; Sharpening the Warriors Edge (book) by Bruce Siddle