The following url is a link to an article on how fear is recognized in
the eyes. This might be another signal that predators subconsciously
use to select their victims.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6719954/

In order to learn effective self-defense skills it's important to have an understanding of motor-skill research. Essentially this helps us understand how the body responds to a given stimulus. This in turn helps us understand which techniques will most likely be effective under the stress of a real assault and which ones won't.

One aspect of motor-skill research is the understanding of reflexes, instinctive responses to an attack.

Motor-skill researcher, Richard Schmidt has broken the common reflexes down into 4 basic categories:

M1 Reflex
M2 Reflex
Triggered Reaction
M3 Reflex

M1 Reflex is the monosynaptic stretch reflex which occurs when a muscle is suddenly and unexpectedly placed under a load. This is the fastest known reflex. The knee-jerk reflex or patellar reflex(stretch reflex) is an M1 Reflex.

M2 Reflex is the polysynaptic functional stretch reflex. Because it includes more synapses and goes further up the spinal cord it's a bit slower than the M1 Reflex.

Triggered Reaction is slower than M1 & M2 Reflexes because it involves many more synapses. The cross-extensor reflex (withdrawal reflex) falls into this category. This is commonly seen when a person touches a hot stove, hits their thumb with a hammer, or stubs their toe on the door jam. Generally the stimulus is tactile in nature, such as something that causes pain. However, some sounds and some visual cues can also cause this reflex. This is seen when someone gets startled (jumps) during a loud sound or when someone sneaks up behind them and yells. It can also include someone sneaking up behind you and touching you suddenly. Generally, during a triggered reaction the hands will move toward the center of the body to instinctively protect the head and torso or they will move toward the site of the injury or away from the source of pain. Example, when touching a hot stove the burned hand moves away from the source (stove) toward the center of the body and the opposite hand meets it there while attempting to cover it (protect it). In the case of a car accident, the driver will have a tendency to convulsively lock the arms out in order to protect themselves from impacting the steering wheel, dash, or windshield. The passenger may bring the hands up to protect the head and torso or even reach for the dash or door in an effort to keep themselves from impacting the dashboard or windshield. Since most people have not been taught anything else they will usually fall back onto these general instinctive responses / reflexes.

All of the above reflexes are involuntary, meaning that occur without conscious thought. They are referred to as "simple reflexes" by some researchers.

M3 Reflex is a voluntary reaction-time reflex and is the slowest of the reflexes. This is referred to as a "conditioned reflex" by some researchers. For our purpose, this is the category that trained defensive or protective flinch responses fall into. Generally, the stimulus is visual in nature but can also be based on tactile or auditory cues. This could include seeing our car about to hit a tree or seeing another car about to crash into ours. In regards to self-defense it could include seeing a punch coming at our head or even seeing the attacker tensing his arm or making a fist prior to the attack. Essentially, we perceive the possible threat, identify it as an actual threat, and then activate a motor-program. However, in regards to self-defense this is where things get tricky. If we have tons of different motor-programs, say 10 defenses against a straight punch, 10 different defenses against a round punch, 10 different defenses against a knife attack, etc. etc. then it's going to take some extra time for us to choose the appropriate motor-program (response) for that particular attack. Also, if we have been training a bunch of unnatural blocking movements, we have the same problem. By the time the practitioner has actually chosen the appropriate blocking technique it's likely they will have already been hit by the attacker.

The key to real self-defense is to attempt to turn the M3 Reflexes into "automatic responses" which will essentially make them equivalent to Triggered Reactions. How do we do that? Simple! We train with natural gross-motor movements that are often activated during Triggered Reactions. We minimize our physical options and make those options applicable to dozens of different situations and different types of attacks. We train our brain to perceive and identify the threat sooner. Example, instead of waiting to see a punch coming at us before we respond, we should learn to identify
verbal and non-verbal cues that normally occur prior to the attack. Then we respond to those cues rather than an actual attack. We then train these basic responses over and over again through various adrenal / stress inoculation drills until they become spontaneous.

In most cases, if the skills are based on natural neuropathways they are generally easy to learn, easy to retain, and easy to use for the majority of average non- athletic individuals. Those who are athletic will have a definite advantage.


Copyright 2006 - Steve Zorn

While it's true that "self-defense" is offered in many martial arts schools and even some fitness facilities, we must ask ourselves if it's really self-defense that's being taught. Are the students of these schools and facilities really learning to protect themselves or are they just learning simplified martial arts under the disguise of "self-defense"?

I cannot honestly answer this question as it pertains to each and every facility making such claims, but what I can do is provide simple guidelines to help you, the reader, decide if your school or facility is teaching real self-defense or some fake imitation.

As previous articles have pointed out, there is a difference between martial arts and self-defense. While there may be some similarities in the physical applications between the two, this is generally where the similarities stop. Martial arts self-defense programs, what I refer to as traditional self-defense, generally over-emphasize the physical skills while under-emphasizing or even neglecting the psychological and analytical skills needed to deal with life-threatening situations. The belief is that it's the physical skills that determine the outcome of the altercation when, in fact, it's what the student does before the situation turns physical that will determine the ultimate outcome. While physical skills are vitally important, they are the least important of all real self-defense skills.

Self-defense is about staying out of harm's way. It's about learning to detect possible violent situations and dealing with them before they turn violent. Self-defense is NOT about letting someone physically assault you so you can, in turn, defend yourself. Once this is understood, self-defense can be approached in a direct and realistic manner.

So, what does real self-defense training consist of? That's the question I intend to address. The first step to answering this question involves analyzing violent situations and then reverse-engineering them. In other words, we must take a look at how violent situations occur in the first place so that we can learn how to prevent them from escalating to a physical level. Analyzing the situations in this manner can help us understand that there are so many more things we can do prior to using last-ditch physical skills. In other words, while physical skills are necessary, they should be used last and least.

Let's start from the beginning. How can we prevent potentially violent situations? That's easy, we AVOID such situations. To AVOID situations we must be AWARE of such situations before they happen. So, the first step to dealing with violent situations is using common-sense awareness & avoidance strategies. Ultimately, awareness leads to avoidance and avoidance leads to prevention. Understanding this is the key to real self-defense. If we are aware of potentially violent situations before they happen and we avoid those situations, it's highly unlikely that we would ever have to physically protect ourselves. In short, awareness strategies should form the foundation of any realistic self-defense program that is designed to protect lives. Any program neglecting this foundational area is not based on reality.

What about other necessary skills when awareness & avoidance fails? What about methods of escape? Obviously we don't live in a perfect world. While we may have excellent awareness & avoidance skills there is still a chance that we might find ourselves in potentially violent situations. Based on this fact, we must have a solid understanding of how and when to escape.

What about verbal and non-verbal de-escalation strategies? As we know, conflict resolution is about learning effective communication skills in order to successfully deal with conflict in our lives. Wouldn't potentially violent situations be considered an extreme form of personal conflict? This being the case, doesn't it make sense that we should first attempt to resolve such conflict in a non-violent manner if at all possible?

As we can see, there are many steps that can be taken to be aware of and ultimately avoid potentially violent situations. When those situations can not be avoided, there are still steps that we can take to avoid possible physical altercations. Simply put, physical survival skills should be used only as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted.

Don't be fooled by imitation "self-defense" systems that only teach physical skills and avoid or neglect the most important components of all, the non-physical skills. As I have pointed out, a system based solely on physical skills does not prepare the student for the realities of violent altercations. In fact, it does not provide the student with options and instead conditions them to rely on physical skills regardless of the level of threat.

If self-defense is truly the goal, I recommend that you search out an instructor or a system that offers a comprehensive program including an emphasis on non-physical skills. As our lives may someday depend on our training, we should make sure that our training provides us with the necessary skills to not only survive but to win!

Copyright© 2005, Steve Zorn - Personal Safety Unlimited