Wow, it's been too long since I updated my lens, life, family, work, etc are my excuse.

I'll start posting Prophet Abrasif stories here starting tomorrow morning, with a fable per day.

For those who have no idea who Prophet Abrasif is, read on...

Prophet Abrasif(TM) is a fictional character created by Marc Ste Marie (our beloved MP from the Senshido forum) and his fables are based on his and other Senshido instructors' experiences.

Abrasif stories are a fun way to learn about Personal Protection and I am now in charge of continuing the Crusty One's legacy by writing new fables.

Hey guys,

I was interviewed a couple of weeks ago by Fit N Style magazine (www.fitnstyle.com) journalist Elie Maksoudian regarding Senshido.

The guy is an amazing person who personally used many of Senshido's principles unknowingly as well as de-escalated numerous fights.

This interview was on page 38 and 39 of the April issue of Fit n' Style, which I scanned and posted here for your perusal (A Big thank you to Elie for having me on this issue and to the magazine for the permission to post the scanned pages online). The guy threatening me is my cousin Tony, and the knife is real, his idea for being more realistic the fuck head!

Fit N Style magazine is distributed free of charge to all major gyms, SPAs, and health centers in Lebanon and has 13,000 copies per month.

Please access the articles by visiting the following page and clicking on the thumbnails:

www.senshido.net/aboutus.html

Hey everyone,

Let me share these very interesting scenarios that I found in the Playstation 2 videogame "Yakuza"; this gives you an interesting insight on how these organized criminal families scam and mug and intimidate their victims.
These scenarios were posted a loooooong time ago on the Senshido forum, but I've decided to rework them and give some pointers on how to improve on their wickedness:

The Knight-in-shiny-armor-falls-asleep Scenario:

This setup uses the male victim's need to be a hero and save the damsel in distress. You will need the following: A pretty Female TP, the designated "victim", a regular looking bad guy TP, a couple of passersby, some location that looks like a busy street next to a small alley, a location looking like a shady bar in that alley, a barman TP, a bouncer TP, a few shots of your favorite poison (I like white sambuca :D)

The designated victim walks the busy street, when a pretty woman comes to him and says "Please help me, this drunk guy is following me and won't take no for an answer". The drunken stalker comes into the picture and starts harassing the girl verbally, and the latter further pleas for the good guy's help. Since the other guy looks like a tiny twig and is also drunk, the victim's dic... euh ego swells and he tells him to fuck off in one way or another. The drunk leaves the other way and gets into a shop or a cab. The grateful girl hugs and kisses the good guy on the cheek and says she wants to thank him. If the good guy rejects the advances, the girl hugs him again and tries to pickpocket him. If the good guy doesn't notice this, he fails. If he notices and tries to reclaim his things or is accusing or aggressive, the woman will scream "He's a pervert! He pinched my butt" and passersby will intervene. One of the witnesses is a bad guy, who will push the victim around and tell him "She's my sister you fuck, if you don't want this to get ugly, gimme a some money". Failure at deescalating will result in him pulling out a knife of gun and use it to further threaten the good guy.

If the good guy accepts the hot woman's invitation, she takes him into the dark alley's bar to buy him a few drinks, and get to know him better. The drink is poured and the barman asks a question, while the girl spikes the shot with a salt pill (hey, don't use real drugs such as valium or you're in for some baaaad hangover. Salt pills work just fine, as the taste will be a dead giveaway that you have been royally screwed). If there is no opportunity for spiking the drink, the girl will try to get the good guy as drunk as possible in as little time as possible using flirting (drink this shot off my breast, blab la bla). If the good guy notices her or the barman spiking the drink and refuses to drink and confronts either, the bouncer and the barman will try to escalate the situation and start a fight. Barman has a shotgun under the bar, girl has a knife, and bouncer is unarmed but can grab a stool and smash someone's head in with it.

At any point in the bar scene or fight, the original drunk guy and the two passersby can make an entry and try to stir some shit, the drunk trying his antics again by harassing the girl, the passersby trying the stare-me-down routine, etc. Hell, be creative! Run with it and let me know!

The Unwilling Groper Scenario:

You will need two perps, a guy and a girl. The girl bumps into the victim who is speaking on the phone with his boss then screams "He groped my ass!" The "boyfriend" comes over and threatens to take the good guy to the cops/ beat you up/ whatever, unless you give him money (between 50 to 150 USD). Go! Both bad guys have either a gun or a knife.

The Glassman Breaks Scenario:

3 or 4 guys walk around looking for someone to bump into. As soon as one of them bumps the victim, he falls to the ground screaming "My shoulder! He dislocated my fucking shoulder! I don't think I'm gonna make it!" (Haha!) The faker's buddies start hollering "Oh my God! You broke his shoulder! We need to take him to a hospital! Give us a ride/ money/ help us carry him to a cab/ pay the medical expenses!"

If you cannot deescalate, try to give them valid reasons to visit the hospital Mwahahahahahaha!

The Contact Lenses Crusher Scenario:

The victim walks around in a not-so-busy street and passes not far from someone seemingly looking for something on the ground. As soon as the victim passes by the perp, he screams "You crushed my contact lenses! I had them ordered from Germany! You bastard, give me 200 USD!"

He is armed with a knife that he will pull out if the good guy is not cooperative enough. If you cant deescalate, I suggest you fix the guy's eye problem with a deep gouges.

Well, that's all for now, I am gonna think of a few more scenarios and post them right up!

BTW, "Yakuza" is a good game, not perfect graphically or game play wise, but still very interesting. The story alone has nice twists and turns and the scenarios alone are worth the purchase.

Take care and post comments, flames, death threats, etc on the forum or on the blog.

G.

Hey guys, I hope you're reading for the second batch of Scenarios ;)

First, the narrative, as two of the scenarios happened, the first to me (before I became an Affiliate Instructor yet a few years after discovering and started training in Senshido), and the second to my friend "N", a Lebanese Sanda kickboxing champion. (Both scenarios occurred in Lebanon)

Narrative for Scenario 1: Beggar Deception and Encroaching: A few years ago, I was walking the streets next to my Alma Mater, the American University of Beirut, while I see a tall, gawky guy coming from the opposite direction (but on the same sidewalk) make eye contact as he passed by, then greeting me and asking me how I've been doing, and that he'd missed me, etc. My reaction was a cautious hello, and my hands assumed the Jack Benny stance, as I had no idea who the guy was, and was pretty confident that he was trying to scam me or something (the energy wasn't quite right). As I replied that he must be confusing me with someone else and that I didn't know him, he changed his strategy, stopped pretending he knew me, and started begging me: "Please, I need money to get back to my town in the north, I'm begging you give me a thousand pound for the fare (around 70 U.S cents)". He faked crying and started begging, to the point where I had a passive stance up. The guy was annoying the hell outta me but then again, it was possible that he was telling the truth, and I didn't want to posture or threaten or anything (Not my approach anyways). Giving him a thou would not ruin me financially, and since I had the money in my shirt's front pocket, I just did, and then tactically disengaged before going on my merry way.

Narrative for Scenario 2: Beware of the hot sexy decoy: My friend was driving around, going from Beirut to his house a few kilometers away. On the way, he picks up a cute chick who was hitchhiking. The girl started talking, and then asked him for around 20USD. My friend said "Yeah sure, but why should I?" She said "What would you like in exchange?" (Implying sexual gratification). My friend said "Nothing, I was just asking" and gave her the money, later dropping her at the place she wanted to go to. Before leaving, the girl turns and told my friend, "You're a nice guy, next time, don't pick up just anyone, there are some dangerous people out there". As "N" was driving away, the girl went into a car that was following them. If my buddy had fucked up, tried to score, or if the chick didn't have a conscience, he would have been mugged, stabbed, or beaten up by the girl and her gang who was following in the car. (My friend told me that she had one of her hands, I think the left hand, in her pocket and was fidgeting something, probably a knife)

Let us make these real life events into proper scenarios:

Scenario 1: Beggar Deception and Encroaching. (Single Armed Attacker, One of two Innocent Bystanders). You're walking the streets in a neighborhood that is well-known to you, and you're in good physical and mental conditions. The not-too-shabbily-dressed Beggar (SAA) is moving on the same lane but coming from the opposite direction. As you're walking towards him, he makes facial expressions that shows he might know you, and stays "Hello, how are you doing, it's been a long time" as he's at your level. If you acknowledge this, he then starts asking you about the family, who's seeing, etc. If you acknowledge his little game, he might propose to go for a coffee or lunch. If you still agree, he'll take you to a good place, eat, and escape before the bill comes, either by deception (I need to use the toilet) or by thanking you and leaving very fast, not letting you the time to tell him to pay for his share. If you tell him you don't know him, he'll break down and start crying, begging you for money, a cab fare, etc. If you try to leave, he might encroach on your space and beg you louder, crying, etc, generally making a scene. If you are insulting in you're telling him to fuck himself, he may pull out a knife or gun and threaten you, humiliating you before taking your valuables. If you push him around and there are any witnesses, they might intervene, and see you as the bad, cold bastard, and come to the defense of the bad guy, thus creating a multiple attacker situation (this could be part of a larger attack dynamic, with the beggar being a decoy and the passersby his buddies) The beggar can also pretend you hit him, and start yelling bloody murder, which will result in more people coming up (Baddie can try to settle out of court by telling you he'll forget about the whole incident if you pay him a small compensation of $50-$100). Play with it and let me know how you did it! That ought to be fun :D

Scenario 2: Beware the hot sexy decoy. Here is another scenario that ought to be fun. You need 3 guys and a girl as TPs, 2 cars, and a deserted parking lot. This is a fun distraction-pincer-carjacking-mugging combo scenario :D Weapons possible for use are baseball bat, three knives, and a gun. You're in your car, waiting for the traffic light to go green; it's around 7 PM in a fairly safe (but deserted) part of town. The bad guys are three males in a car behind you and one scantily clad or dressed in attention-grabbing-pants-distorting clothes female baddie. She is the decoy that is waiting on the sidewalk, either hitchhiking (NEVER pick up hitchhiker God damn it!) or waiting for something (a pigeon) and comes over to the passenger side and engages in conversation with you, first asking the time or a cigarette or to light her cig with your car lighter, then flirting with you. The bad guys will move if they feel that the victim is focusing on the girl. The driver will stay in the car, while both passengers will leave the vehicle silently. One will approach from behind the girl and start talking harshly to her and threatening you for hitting on his girlfriend (he might wanna try to grab your collar through the front passenger's seat from your car. Meanwhile, the other baddie would have snuck up behind you, opened the driver seat door of your car, thrown a leather or large vest/ bag you're your head, dragged you out of the vehicle while beating you senseless, aided by the other guy and possibly by the girl armed with a gun. All the male baddies (the irate boyfriend, the driver, and the carjacker) have knives in their pockets, the girl has a gun in her bag or in some other place, and there is a baseball bat in the gang's car, in the front seat leg space. Objective is to survive! If you are engaged with one bad guy, the other one on foot or the girl will try to steal your car. The remaining baddie(s) will then run back to their own getaway vehicle, make a U turn and exit the scene.

Scenario 3: Elevator Gangbang homosexual rape: Well, it seems I'm not the only insane guy out there; my beloved Training Partners (My cousin Tony, my bro Karim, my friend Sail and my private student Serge) ganged up on me and created one spooky scenario that got my ass kicked so bad my grandkids will be talking about it to their grandkids (If humanity survive and all that). I'll first get this out of my chest; I had one hell of an A-dump during that one. You need an elevator or something to delimit a 2x3 meters space simulating an elevator, 4 male bad guys, and 4 knives. First, the background: You are visiting your girlfriend/ friend/ relative at the hospital where s/he is hospitalized for something or another. You are talking to the person on your mobile phone while waiting for the lift to get to where you are and to take you up to the 3d floor. The trap: The first bad guy is standing next to the elevator, also talking on his mobile, and would enter the elevator after you. Before the doors would close, the rest would enter as well, first one, and before the lift closes, the remaining two. A few seconds after the elevator's ascent, while the 2 closest guys would talk to the victim about hospitals, the third would initiate physical contact in an attempt to sexually arouse the defendant, and the fourth guy would stop the elevator.

I'm gonna break from my normal scenario building steps to show you how it happened to me. It went pretty fucking badly for me. Here are the steps:

As the guys packed themselves in the elevator, I was trapped in the corner. When Karim and Tony (to my right and front respectively) started talking to me, Serge (on my left) started caressing my neck and telling me that I was a hunk and that he wanted to have some fun. As soon as Sail (the last baddie, standing next to the buttons) heard that, he stopped the lift in midcourse.

I tried to talk my way out of the elevator "Guys, I'm honored by your compliments, how about I buy you coffee before we actually do it?" But noooo, they didn't want anything to do with it. So I fucking freaked out and palm struck Karim and Tony, shredding them and escaped the lift, while technically, was inescapable unless I could run across walls and steel doors. So, I had to redo it, with Serge and Sail drawing their knives and threatening me with them, while Karim helm my arms and Tony took me down.

Holy fuck I fucking freaked out!

How would you guys have handled it?

Dear all,

I'm proud to announce that Senshido.NET, in collaboration with SCORA (The Standing Committee on Reproductive Health including AIDS), is organizing, in celebration of Women's Day 2008, a FREE "Safe For Life" Rape Prevention and Women Self Defense seminar over two days, at the American University of Beirut (AUB), on March 10 and 11, 2008. The seminar will teach participants about the oft-neglected psychological, emotional, and behavioral aspects of self defense, as well as our award-winning physical retaliation methodologies.

You can download the poster here: www.senshido.net/Senshido_Empowerment.pdf (Thank you Kenny for the idea back in Montreal)

The seminar will start at 6 PM SHARP and end at around 8:30 PM, for both days. I will announce the seminar room location ASAP.

Looking forward to helping you get safer and more confident.

Take care,

G.

Ok guys, these three scenarios were created by lil ole me a year and a half ago, while I was falling asleep at work ;)

Feedback appreciated!

Abbreviations used:

- SA= Single Attacker/Aggressor

- MA= Multiple Attackers/Aggressors

- IC/ICs= Innocent Civilian/Civilians

Scenarios:

1- Beggar deception and attack, armed (knives) MA situation: you are going home carrying a bag of groceries weighting 2 kilos, it is 6h30 pm and you are feeling ok. On the side of the street, sitting on the sidewalk is a Syrian (Can be any ethnic group most commonly found begging in your country/ neighborhood) child beggar asking for alms. Unknown to the defender, the beggar is the decoy, who will get your attention and grab your hand or pants or clothes while nagging you for some change. AT THIS POINT (MORE ON THAT LATER) THE DEFENDER CANNOT ATTACK THE CHILD, AND MUST TRY TO REGAIN CONTROL OF THE SITUATION WITHOUT GETTING TOO PHYSICAL (NO STRIKES OR SHOVES ALLOWED). Should the defender fail at this and strikes the child, two gentlemen will interfere and accuse you of attacking a defenseless kid. Here, the child will shout stuff like he tried to rob me or wanted me to suck his dick or tried to kidnap me. If the defender spends more than 5 seconds struggling to get free from the kid, the attacker (child's Aniki, Japanese for Big Bro, Yakuza jargon meaning handler or mentor) will come over and accuse you of trying to brutalize his kid. He will threaten you with a knife (pulled during the discussion) by putting it at your throat. If you don't disengage or terminate the assault within 5 seconds, the kid will tackle you from behind and pull a knife and stab you multiple times in the back, groin, and abdomen region. (At this point, the defendant is allowed to attack the child). The objective is to try to avoid the beggar at first, disengage if not, escape without getting attention of 2 ICs, de-escalation or terminate the main aggressor, if possible without being blindsided by the kid and stabbed. People needed for scenario: 1 kid (or 1 small stature adult), one mugger, 2 wooden/ metal training knives, 1 defender, 2 ICs, one bag filled with shit weighting 2 kilos

2- Carjacking, armed (gun and knife) SA: You are returning to your car, parked in the darkness, after a long night with friends. You are somewhat tipsy (make defender drink 3-4 shots of vodka and wait 4-5 minutes before the scenario), and have a bad wrist (tendinitis, it is tightly wrapped to simulate injury). The armed SA is sitting/leaning against a wall/ walking in the vicinity of your car. He is partially (or totally) hidden by the shadows or is crouching behind another vehicle. You objective is simple: get into the car and drive away. His objective: when you go into the car or as soon as you feel that the defender has detected you, you either distract first (have a light bro? or anything else) or directly pull the gun away and control the distance with your other arm (or use my Snake gun knife combo stance). His objective: mug, tie up, get car keys, kidnap, torture/rape, kill. The SA has a rope. The defender has a wooden or carton replica of the car key. The scenario is successful if: the Defender escapes the scene, detects and intercept, or terminate the SA. Objective of mugger is first material, but later (when valuables are obtained and car key is secure) becomes opportunity rape/torture/kidnapping. People and equipment needed: 1 SA, 1 defender, 1 gun, 1 knife, 1 wooden/carton car key replica, 1 car (preferably), bandages, rope

3- Co-worker Carnage, armed (meat cleaver) SA: Your co-worker was selling company secrets to a competitor and you blew the whistle on him this morning after finding out. He swore he would kill you for this. Sadly, he escaped into the Chouf mountains (or the Bekaa valley or the Keserwan region, let's not be sectarian here!) before he was arrested. He is known for a history of domestic violence and is prone to fits of rage. The time: 8 pm, you're leaving the office building where you were cross examined by your boss and the company's IT specialists, it was a long day spent answering questions by nerdy people and relentless superiors and you're extremely tired (do some 50 squats and spin around for 30 seconds to replicate that). The attack occurs while you're entering your car. The SA violently lapel grabs you, swears incoherently and attacks before you can talk your way out of it. Because he is on cocaine and heroine (from the Bekaa lol!) you have to go overkill. The weapon he uses is a medium size extremely sharp meat cleaver. Because of its weight, the trauma is both blunt and sharp; if the weapon impacts on a limp, you consider it broken and useless. He cannot stab but he can slice and saw you up very quickly. The scenario is a success if you evade, avoid, defuse or terminate. You cannot use the car to escape because he just slashed your tires, so once you terminate the assault you must call the cops, wait for them to arrive, explain the situation, and accompany them to the station. Two cops will arrive after 2 minutes during which the SA will go into respiratory failure. YOU MUST NOT LET THAT HAPPEN AND YOU CANNOT FLEE THE SCENE. This can happen when the cops are present; they will do nothing and charge you with murder if he dies. ANOTHER POSSIBILITY: SA gets up while cops arrive and accuses you of being the criminal. You must defuse situation. YOU CANNOT PREEMPT OR TERMINATE THE COPS! Number of people needed: 1 SA, 1 defender, 2 cops with AK47/Rifles/M-16s/ Weapons usually employed by the Police in your country/ state, a pair of handcuffs or rope, 1 (fake) meat cleaver.

Everyone dreads the purchase of training equipment for RBSD training: Many of us (especially the married- with-children-and-a- mortgage type) cannot afford to buy a training suit worth 1,000 USD or a special training knife worth 400 USD. Although the above mentioned equipment might be good to great, many of us (especially those living in countries where such equipment are equal or more than a month' salary) may not afford them.

So, unless you make 40 to 50 thousands USD per month, the most you can spend on RBSD training gear ranges from as little as 20 to 100 USD a month.

The purpose of this article is to help the reader make his own inexpensive (and relatively durable) training gear.

Let us start with making an economical (under 5 USD per knife) yet resilient training knife.

Material needed:

- A wad of A4 printing paper (Cost: quasi-free if you own a printer or fax. 5 USD per pack of 50 sheets, can be used to make other knives or scratch paper)

- A roll of clear scotch%u2026 NO, NOT THE WHISKEY! That's for after the training, when you're in your bathtub, listening to God Save the Queen. God, I love that anthem, makes me wish I was British. Ahem! So, I was saying some scotch adhesive tape that can be used to make two knife trainers. (Cost: 1 USD)

- Another roll of brown or darker and larger adhesive tape that can be used to make two knife trainers as well. (Cost: 2 USD)

- 50 cm worth of aluminum foil (optional) (Free if you're married and have a wife that cooks. A 50 feet aluminum foil costs less than 3 USD in Lebanon and can be reused)

- Two 7 to 10 cm long stripes of sand paper (optional. Cost: 3 USD maximum)

- A tube of super glue (optional. Cost: 2 USD maximum)

- Small bamboo stick, 20 cm long (optional. A 2 meter long bamboo tube, with a 1 cm diameter costs less than 1 USD)

Tools needed:

1- A Hammer (A maximum of 10 USD will get you a good hammer that'll last many years, unless you pound the squid with it. Mwahahahahha! I wanted to make this joke for years :D )

2- 20 minutes of your precious time

3- A hard surface that you don't mind bashing with your hammer (Not your squid ;) )

Instructions:

First, take the A4 papers (20 pages should be enough) and roll them, squeezing them as hard as you can.

Then, while maintaining pressure on the roll, start taping the bottom with the dark-colored adhesive tape, also squeezing it to the best of your ability. (Requesting some friend's help would be optimal here, s/he squeezes the roll while you add more pressure and loop tape around it. Still not talking about the squid%u2026 oh forget it!)

After covering the entire roll (pay special attention to the top and bottom ends of the cylinder-shaped object) with the larger (darker) adhesive tape, use the hammer to flatten half the "tube" obtained. Make sure you hammer it forcefully from both sides.

You should now have something looking like a knife. Make sure to reinforce the knife obtained with more dark tape (especially the "blade" or flattened part, that might be subject to bending if you hit something hard like a wall or a skull with it).

It is now time to use the aluminum foil: wrap it around the blade segment, making sure to cover the point or edge. (This will make the blade more life-like) Follow this up by wrapping the aluminum-covered blade and edge with clear "scotch" tape.

Finally, take the two sand paper strips and glue them to the edge of the blade, not forgetting to merge them at the tip of the trainer; this is an optional part, for those who are looking for an even more realistic (and painful) experience.

Acid testing the cheap training knife:

Make sure that the training knife is hard enough by stabbing a brick wall 3 or 4 times: if it doesn't bend, then you are quasi certain that the point won't collapse while impacting your Training Partner (TP). To test the sandpapered blade, select a carton and slash it hard. If it tears through it, you might want to soften up the sandpaper by rubbing it against something you don't like, for example your neighbor's fence or your mother in law%u2026's car. Seriously, you want to TP to "feel the burn" not lose body parts.

The only problem with the knife is that it might bend when grabbed by your TP or yourself during knife defense and/ or knife drills (especially the infamous "Saving Private Ryan" knife drill). You can either use a bamboo core to prevent this from happening or make another knife when this one gets destroyed.

Comments? Marriage proposals? Divorce papers? Flames of Recca? haha, that's a joke for the Anime freaks out there ;)

Let me have it!

Tools and techniques, hmmmm, that's a tough one.

Marc St Marie, our beloved Malevolent Preacher on the Senshido Forum and Senshido Founder Richard Dimitri posted a few lines about that about 5 years ago (copy paste this link to read: http://senshido.savi.ca/viewtopic.php?t=923).

This small article is me trying to chime in my 2 cents ;)

Let's start with some definitions and examples:

A technique is as follows, use response A to attack X, continue with combo B,C, and D, or shift to E or F if the bad guy does Y or Z attack. For example, Mr. Bad Guy grabs your lapel, and you reply with a wrist grab, wrist lock, and punch to the head. If he tries to punch you while you go for the lock, you elbow and punch him.

Those with street experience can recognize that this approach, although valid, is sometimes flawed; Although each individual response may be effective, there is a possibility that the defendant might either continue with his combo despite it being inappropriate because of muscle memory programming or freezes if a new unmapped attack is used.

Let us imagine for a moment that the bad guy, struggling in the wrist lock, gets closer to the defendant before the latter can finish the combo, grabs the good guy's ear and tries to rip it off. If the defendant never envisioned this possibility, he may freeze and get victimized, attempt to "force" the technique risking injury, or improvise and survive. Sadly, those who improvise are few and far between, with the majority either freezing or trying to go with the original technique (either by muscle memory or by desperation) and therefore get hurt unnecessarily.

On the other hand, a tool is an attack concept. For example, boxers don't parry the attacker's right hand with their own right hand, and then proceed with a right cross and a left hand uppercut. A boxer knows that his tools are the jab, the direct, the hook, the uppercut, and some small variations of the latter. Boxers also understand footwork, bobbing and weaving, parries, slips, forward drive, etc.

At Senshido, we have a saying: "Rather than provide technical aspects for people to use in particular situations, we provide analytical skills that will be useful in any situation." That's why we believe in using tools, tactics, strategies and concepts as opposed to techniques.

So, if some guy grabs my lapel, instead of a head butt knee elbow combo, or a wristlock or some fancy technique. First, I'd assess the situation: What does the guy want? Maybe he's mistaken me for someone else. Is he alone or does he have a pack of bloodthirsty quarterbacks with him, sharpening their knives and telling him "Hey man, keep a piece of him for us". After a tactical assessment, I will use Senshido's 5 principles of Physical Retaliation and the tools best suited for the moment: Spitting, elbowing, raking, gouging, kneeing, head butting, takedowns, joint locks, running away, using a distraction, utilizing a weapon, etc. IT DEPENDS! Maybe he's too far away for an eye gouge, but not far enough for a rake or a bite or me drawing my kalashnikov and shooting his ass (Just Joking!). It really depends on the situation.

Hell, this is hard to explain using the written word and without visual aids, but I hope you somewhat got an idea. I'm put a short clip in a week or so showing the difference and demonstrating Senshido's Five Principles of Physical retaliation. The principles are simple and will maximize your physical response:

1- Economy of Motion
2- Non Telegraphic Movements
3- Closest Weapon To Closest Target
4- Tactile Sensitivity
5- Primary Targets

More about them soon!

Guys, we all know that a street fight (unless it is avoided with awareness and ran from with evasion) begins as an assault on the mind, psychological violence, intimidation, stare downs, etc. prior to going physical. Being adept at defusing, deescalation, verbal dissuasion is crucial in surviving and evading violence.

But suppose those tactics failed or were not usable (think multiple attackers looking for a piece of your ass), then you need to take out the big guns of physical retaliation.

The good thing about the different stances used at Senshido is that they allow you to land a preemptive strike or use the 5 principles to physically retaliate upon intercepting or getting hit. Very few out there can withstand a full power palm strike to the jaw or a vicious eye/ face rake followed by a shaving elbow combo. Or a well-executed Shredder.

BUT SUPPOSE THEY DO, or their wearing a motorcycle helmet (bye bye shredder and primary targets :( ). You are in your fighting stance, and so is the terminator-looking bad guy. What do you do?

If you do not have a support system, the fight might end badly for you. I didn't say you will lose the fight, just that it will take more sweat, blood, and pain from your part to survive.

What is a support system? As its name implies, it is a system that acts as a backup in case you screw up (probably by not capitalizing on the bad guy's flinch and ending the fight fast and furiously).

Ok, what the heck makes up a support system?

To me, as a Senshido guy, my support system needs to include the following tools, to allow me to survive in the following ranges: Hand strikes for the boxing range, leg strikes for the kicking range, clinch work for the grappling range, and ground tactics for groundfighting. (The trapping range is covered extensively in the Personal Protection program and is therefore needs little additions).

Boxing:
One must understand how the sweet science works, by sparring and training in boxing yet modifying the strikes to be doable with open hands (thus avoidance broken knuckles some boxers experience in street fights). Boxing also teaches you about the importance of getting hit and keeping on fighting. Integrating finger jabs and rakes into the sweet science will allow you to at least survive in this range long enough to either run away or get closer and land the kill.

Kicking range:
Here, no surprise, you will learn to kick. Forget about the high kicks and other spinning bullshit, I believe you need to learn how to give as well as receive and block modified Thai low kicks, soccer kicks, and front kicks. This doesn't mean you should keep your hands down. Do that and you'll learn one of the striking arts' trademark: The K.O .

Clinch work:
Combining Judo, Freestyle/ Greco-Roman/ Catch Wrestling, and BJJ's throws, takedowns, and standup controls should give you a good understanding of standup grappling. Some prefer pure Judo, other BJJ, while the rest swears by Western Wrestling. To each his own or better yet, learn from all and find your approach.

Groundfighting:
Here, no two ways about it: You need an art that is well versed in submissions and done under stress. In my opinion, I prefer BJJ and Catch Wrestling to Judo and Sambo but then again I only took Judo as a child and found it boring. I cant wait for my knee to heal completely before enrolling with some good Judo guys (We don't have Sambo in Lebanon).

While striking is relatively easier to learn and use, grappling arts may take longer with the novice, because they require more tactile sensitivity than striking.

In the end, it is crucial to blend all these ranges together, not saying "when at striking distance, I do boxing, when at grappling I do Judo, and on the ground I do Catch Wrestling". Wrong. One needs to train all of these ranges and tools simultaneously, to be proficient or at least manage in all the ranges.

As I said in a previous article, the one range that one should be most proficient in, in my opinion, is the trapping/ CQC range. But this doesn't mean your grappling or boxing should suffer and become weak. Here, you'll have some smart asses who come and say "Jack of all trades, master at none". But as we know, fighting is but one trade, as Prophet Abrasif said it in his Bibles of Hand To Hand Combat. So, stop reading my rants and go and train you lucky bastards (I can't do grappling before another 2 months and I'm limited to sloppy boxing because of my injury. Tabernak!)

Hey guys, I've decided to make my articles sharable in an easy and attractive way. Just email me at info@senshido.net requesting your favorite article in pdf format and you'll receive it shortly. Ain't that sweet?

Plus, I'm gonna rewrite the article on military HTHC including some points answering FAQs and comments on the said article. It will be available within the next couple of days.

And I'm gonna have an article on support systems out soon as well.

Meanwhile, have patience!

Dear friends, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly regarding gun disarms. But today's rant is not about proper gun disarming tactics, but rather outlines a few forgotten important facts about firearms.

1- Understanding the damage a bullet can do. Most people think that it is just the bullet that can hurt you. Sadly, these people do not take into consideration two other important factors: a) The blast effect, which might or might not deafen/ shock you if you do not expect it - or really mess you up if it goes off next to your ear or in enclosed spaces - and b) The burning gases used in the shooting process, that WILL scorch your skin if close to your body.

2- Gripping the gun: If you are faced by a revolver wielding opponent, and successfully perform your favorite move to strip the gun away, you are rewarded with a nice bonus: Revolvers have barrels, and by controlling the gun itself during the disarm, you may probably grip the barrel convulsively. This prevents a second bullet from getting aligned in front of the firing mechanism. You still have to deal with the first bullet that may or may not be forcefully sent your (or someone else's) way, unless one of your fingers jammed the hammer (ouch, That ought to hurt!).

3- In case the perp uses a semi automatic pistol, you're in for a bad surprise: If s/he manages to get a shot off while you are holding the slide, the first thing you may experience is a red hot ejected brass cartridge. Another probable nastiness is the slide ripping through your hand after it ejects the expended shell.

4- The worst thing that can happen to you is to be held at gun point with an automatic pistol, you know the type, a Glock with a 30-round magazine. Here, one screw up and you're Swiss cheese.

Ok, now it's your turn: Do you agree, disagree or have anything to add to this topic? Then, please do and it will be my pleasure to have a discussion with you.

Take care, and stay safe.

G.

We have all heard the now-popular bravado made by Martial Arts as well as Reality Based Self Defense Instructors "I have trained the Commandos/ The Marines/ The SEALs/ The Spetznaz/ The Alien Invading Stormtroopers/ The Killer Kangaroos/ The Psychopathic Penguins".

Truth is that the claim, while quite possibly true (except maybe for training the Psycho Penguins), does not mean anything at all.

WHAT? HOW? HOW DARE HE SAY THAT? INFIDEL! TO THE STAKES!

Bear with me. In the 21st Century, what is the soldier's main weapon? Yup. The Assault Rifle. And his backup weapon? No, not his knife. His backup weapon is his squad of buddies, who will use cover fire, grenades, and battle tactics to allow their brethren to accomplish their mission.

Look back at modern history, and count people who have used hand to hand combat or knives to kill an enemy. How many? What? Speak up! There is not definite number? Truth is that number can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

BUT HEY! THEY HAVE USED KNIVES TECHNIQUES TAUGHT TO THEM BY XYZ SYSTEM! MASTER/ INSTRUCTOR SO AND SO ASSURED ME! Reality check: Special Forces operatives use something called SILENCED WEAPONS to remove sentries. Ouuuhhh, but I though the XYZ Special Forces fought in urban/ jungle/ desert warfare against their enemy, the ABC Commandos, and then used super secret hand to hand combat techniques.

Wake up, and smell the coffee. Drop the fantasy. In war, you will use the easiest, most efficient, and least dangerous method to kill the opposition. And no, it is not BJJ/ KAPAP/ Krav Maga/ Muay Thai/ Woushoumyonplo etc. It is a simple conical piece of metal that travels through the air at subsonic or supersonic speeds, and is called a bullet. And a soldier has at least 100 of those with him, and he will never run out of them before he is either: a) killed b) wounded c) rescued and d) supplied with more bullets.

Some have said that because of terrorism, we are fighting close quarters. True, the U.S Army and Marines and fighting house to house in Iraq. True, the Lebanese Army fought against the Terrorist Sunni Militia Fatah El Islam in Nahr El Bared, North Lebanon, in Summer of 2007, and successfully crushed the bastards. Listen to this: A friend of mine was a surgeon who took care of the wounded Lebanese commandos, and passed on the stories; Vicious close quarters battles with machine gun and assault weapons fire, along with small explosives were common place. Even though the brave soldiers fought against the terrorists in the narrow streets of the camp, and did room clearing to make sure the evildoers were dead, not a single soldier or terrorist threw a single kick, did a single arm bar, or attempted a single choke, takedown, eye gouge, palm strike, etc.

Why?

Because, although they may have been at arm distance, it is simpler to move one muscle (trigger finger) than 10 (INSERT FAVORITE TECHNIQUE HERE)

I laugh when I see and read about Krav Maga and KAPAP articles showing so-called battlefield tested techniques. When did the IDF tested them? In the Golan heights? In Lebanon? In my humble opinion, it's all a scare tactic, based on the famed invincibility of the Israeli Army to sell more DVDs and Books, and seminars after 9/11.

I have developed a hand to hand combat system for the military. It is very simple and it will cost you nothing. It is called teamwork. If you are being choked by a bad guy, and your weapon is empty, your handgun has jammed, your knife is broken, have no fear. Your buddy will put two in the guy's head, and you will buy him a drink later.

Ok, too simple huh? How about this?

1- The assault rifle barrel stab in the face/ throat/ chest, followed by a bullet combo. This will solve most attacks coming from the front

2- The face rip, eye gouge throat crush and bite combo will take care of assholes from the side and back. Oh yeah, I forgot. We can make it easier: Pull gun, shoot bad guy in head or stab the bastard in the face until your buddy shoots him twice for good measure.

3- He's down? Forget the ground and pound, or the armbar, or the face smash against the concrete ground, just shoot the bastard twice.

Of course, in the event that the soldier is alone, weaponless, and butt naked in the center of the enemy camp, I can teach him the Senshido Battlefield Combatives, the modified version of Senshido's civilian methodology. And it is a very good curriculum, that can be learned in under 15 hours. But guys, seriously, hand to hand combat training for the military has only one objective: To increase morale and aggressiveness. No soldier is gonna find himself weaponless, and buddy less, and facing an enemy. Maybe unless the Killer Kangaroos and the Psychotic Penguins attacked the soldiers while they were having a shower, in the middle of the night, while on shore leave and visiting some women of devious virtue in a shoddy part of town.

So, in summary, Military combatives is a cute idea, but Commanders would rather have their troops do some more scenario training or range firing instead of wasting money on training them in the invincible art of Who Flung Poo by Master Dick Wang.

Were you offended, amused or educated by this article? I wanna know about it! Post your comment!

Many RBSD instructors recommend maintaining one's distance while fighting, some during unarmed combat, while others prefer to implement this strategy during an encounter with the Blade.

We at Senshido believe in the saying "Distance creates opportunities...for your opponent(s)".

Let us analyze that saying by asking ourselves the following question: What are the advantages of fighting in close quarters as opposed to more conventional striking ranges?

The following points will explain why Close Quarters Combat (CQC) is preferable:

1- You have tactile sensitivity: You can interpret your opponent's "energy" (his/ her movements) and intercept them by flinching naturally

2- Most people dont know how to fight close quarters: People are used to striking, be it punches, kicks, etc from medium to long range and are not used to fighting "up close and personal". While engaged in those ranges, punches and kicks are smothered and will do reduced damage to the defender

3- In the CQC range, you will feel if your opponent is trying to access a concealed weapon and intercept his/ her movement(s), thus limiting the change of getting stabbed/ slashed/ shot

4- In the CQC, you have access to gross motor skills that will allow you to end the fight quickly and with relative ease. The tools are raking, gouging, kneeing, elbowing, spitting, biting, small joint manipulations, chokes, neck cranks, etc. In a word, in the CQC, as well as in the grappling and groundfighting ranges, you can use the Shredder

5- In the CQC range, if your opponent is armed with a blade or shank or edged weapon, you can control the weapon hand and terminate/ disarm easier than if you were at a distance

6- Most fights start in the CQC range, not in the kicking range. If your opponent shoves you away, he may be trying to access a hidden weapon to use against you.

The disadvantages of CQC are:

1- If you're up against a grappler, you might be taken down or submitted.

2- You cant disengage as swiftly as if you were away

3- The other guy can gouge/ tear/ rake/ elbow... you as well (Yikes!)

As always, those are guidelines, and nothing is edged in stone. Sometimes, it might be more tactical to be at a distance. At other times, being Close Quarters is your only option.

Take care, and let me know what you think of this short stub.

G.

P.S: Sorry, my Tools VS Techniques will be out in the weekend. Have patience ;) and give me your impressions!

Welcome to my first Senshido article! My name is Georges Z. Fahmy and I'm the Senshido Affiliate Instructor for the Greater Middle East Area, spanning from North Africa to Indian subcontinent.

Like many people out there, I turned to Self Defense to avoid, escape, or survive violence (in my case, High School Bullying). To help you guys and gals avoid the hassles I went through, and save you time and money, I've decided to write this article to outline what you should be looking for in a Self Defense school/ system/ method.

First of all, I prefer the term Personal Protection or Protective Offense to Self Defense, for the former is proactive (placing you mentally in control of the situation) while the latter is reactive (makes you feel like a victim waiting for something to happen before choosing a response).

Choosing to train in Traditional Martial Arts (TMA) schools, like Karate, Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do, Wing Chun, Kali, Aikido, Systema, etc should not be your objective if you seek to learn Personal Protection (PP). Although the abovementioned styles and systems are beautiful, culturally rich and allow their users to become disciplined, these methodologies have remained fixed in time, not evolving with the rising tide of violence, or are found lacking in one or more aspects. I personally trained in Chinese Kung Fu while a child (from age 10 to 15) and am proud to say that the art has allowed me to be flexible, fit, as well as disciplined. Sadly, it did not help me in learning effective and realistic PP.

Combat Sports like Muay Thai, Boxing, Kick Boxing, Wrestling (Greco-Roman, Freestyle, or Catch-As-Catch-Can), Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Sambo, and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA, also called Vale Tudo), among others, are very beneficial in developing a fighter's toolbox. However, these arts and systems while allowing you to dominate a single, unarmed opponent, do not fare as well against multiples or armed aggressors. Additionally, it lacks the crucial pre-contact (psychological, emotional, and behavioral) as well as post-contact (evasion, legality, revenge and other factors) aspects a respected Self Defense methodology must have to be complete. I personally favor and wholeheartedly recommend training in MMA, as well as BJJ and Catch-Wrestling, for they teaches an individual useful tools, covers striking, grappling, and submissions, conditions its aficionados to full contact full speed training, and provides a great workout.

The third category people encounter while looking for Self Defense instruction are Reality Based Self Defense (RBSD) programs. The name itself, as Richard Dimitri, Senshido's founder, states, is an oxymoron: RBSD as opposed to what? Unreality Based Self Defense? Nevertheless, many so called RBSD schools are just TMA repackaged, without uniforms and belts. Others are taken from Military systems (Krav Maga, Kapap, WWII Combatives) and may not be applicable by civilians because of numerous factors (such as legal, use of force, etc).

How do you distinguish between the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly?

Well, for a PP methodology to be efficient, applicable by anyone (regardless of sex, age, build, strength%u2026), and realistic, it needs to cover the all-important trinity of emotional, behavioral and psychological training. Cover, not dabble in, not mention, fully cover.

These three elements have to be addressed across the three phases of combat, namely the Pre-Contact, Contact, and Post-Contact aspects.

Allow me to outline each phase in detail:

- Pre-Contact phase includes awareness training, fear/ anger/ adrenal management, evasion and escape tactics, understanding the criminal mind, tactical assessment of one's environment, and much more

- Contact phase includes one's ability to protect oneself and others from armed as well as unarmed assaults while covering the ballistic, kinetic, edged, striking, kicking, close quarters, grappling, and ground fighting ranges against one or more aggressors

- Post-Contact includes the legally of one's actions, talking to the police, preventing revenge attacks, debriefing and analyzing the confrontation for enhancing one's survivability, etc

For one to be ready to survive modern violence, I believe it is vital to train full speed, full force, with intent, while replicating realistic scenarios that induce an adrenaline dump similar to the one experienced in actual life. If what you do works under these conditions, then it is a realistic PP training methodology. If it doesn't, then it isn't and you need to change what you're doing.

I have searched for a methodology that fully integrates all these aforementioned crucial elements and am glad to have discovered Senshido in 2002. After comparing it to other, more technical RBSD approaches, I decided to train in it and one day become an instructor. This great honor was mine in December 2006 and became responsible for the Greater Middle East Area since that day.

I will leave you with one of Senshido's sayings and will see you in a few days for a new article.

Take care and stay safe.

Georges Z. Fahmy

Senshido saying of the week: "Rather than provide technical aspects for people to use in specific situations, we provide analytical skills that will be useful in any situation"

Do you have any questions, comments or are you looking for training and seminars in the Greater Middle East Area? Visit my site www.senshido.net , email me at info@senshido.net, or call me on + 961 3 499 712.

Hey guys, our bro over in Washington D.C just was a host on Blogtalkradio, with The Phenomenal Women Radio Show and it was great! Click on the link to download and listen Glenn give advice on what criminals don't want you know:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TPWG/2008/01/03/Get-Home-Safely-Get-out-of-negitive-situations

Hey guys! This is an article written by Carla Henoud on Senshido, on December 3, 2007, in Lebanon's leading French Language Newspaper "L'Orient Le Jour".

Please copy/paste the following link (www.senshido.net/aboutus.html) in your browser to read both the Page 1 spoof and the page 16's complete article (Article in French, English translation included)