Which threat do you feel is the most dangerous in a real street fight?

• Knife attack?
• Handgun?
• Baseball bat?
• Multiple attackers?

Well, there’s not a one of them that I’d like to face on a Friday night out with my family, but the “trick answer” is…

…The Attack You Don’t See!

When your brain is locked into “ultra-adrenaline” mode, one of the primary limitations you’ll experience is tunnel-vision where your senses don’t pick up on cues outside of the immediate threat you’re dealing with.  Primarily I’m talking about the “pre-fight” stage where you have someone “woofing” on your or threatening you in some way.

Your brain is trying to deal with…

• “Is he going to hit me?”
• “Should I hit him?”
• “What’s he going to do?”
• “Are other people watching me?”
• “Is my wife/kid/companion safe?”

And in this stage of bewilderment and guesswork, you’re not able to see any of that signs of attack that may already be headed your way.

• The unseen hand in the coat pocket that’s feeling for a trigger.
• The unseen clenched fist that’s gearing up for a haymaker.
• The unseen thugs coming up behind you to increase your attacker’s odds.
• The unseen tire iron that was just pulled out of the trunk of the car to the side of you.
• The unseen razor blade hidden in the palm of a hand.

But How Can Your Prepare For An Attack You Can’t See?

It’s not easy. The brain isn’t easily re-programmed after eons of biological programming.

However, here’s a “self defense training exercise” to help you prepare for the “unseen” street attack…

A couple times a day, when you’re out in public and talking to someone (like a store clerk, postal worker, co-worker, etc.), make a mental note of just these 3 things:

1. The number of rings on both their hands
2. The activity that the person to their immediate left and right is doing
3. Any activity happening immediately behind you.

It only takes a few seconds to accomplish all of these tasks and if you do it right, using your peripheral vision and conscious listening, the person you’re talking to won’t even know you’re paying attention to anything other than him or her.

Doing this exercise just a couple times a day will train you to be more aware in one-on-one contact of taking notice of what’s in someone’s hands and the activity in a 360 degree circle around you.

As a practiced skill, this is a truly powerful self defense technique because it helps you make a faster, more effective strike decision while hopefully lessening your chances of being surprised by an unseen attack.

After picking up a black body suit and 2 plastic Ninja swords to unleash an unsuspecting fury on any foolish householder not willing to fork over the loot (that’s my boy!), I noticed something…

…Halloween stores are a “Close Combat Trainer’s” PARADISE when it comes to training for edged weapon defense!
Now I’m NOT talking about grabbing your own Ninja outfit for your next trip to the mat with your training partner.

But once you open your eyes to the incredible props that are available to you for just these few short weeks out of the year, you’ll see that you can make your edged weapon defense training more realistic for just a few measly bucks.

Here are a few things I found at my local store…

Training Knife: $2.50

I’ve seen training knives go for as much as $20 in martial arts catalogs.  But the rubber ones these days look so incredibly realistic, silver blade and all, that it makes little sense to invest in expensive training models.

Look for one that already looks “bloody” like the one at my local shop.  This added effect that’s meant to scare the Hell out of other trick-or-treaters adds visual realism to edged weapon defense training.

Fake Blood: $.99

Sorry…defending yourself from an edged weapon doesn’t work as perfectly as it does in the movies or on training DVD’s where you’re able to easily kick the knife out of your attacker’s hand.

In a real knife fight, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get cut at some point and blood has a dual drawback for the defender…

For one, the sight of a large amount of blood can be enough to put you into shock and make you less effective at defending yourself.

And second, blood is slippery and can make it harder for you to grasp your attacker’s hand and stop the stabbing.

Stage blood looks and feels like the real thing and is a GREAT training tool for your edged weapon training.

Stock up now while it’s only about a buck and during your training, put some on your hands and forearms (the most likely spots you’d get cut) right before defending from your attacker’s knife attack.

Fake Machete: $12.95

Oh, you thought that people are only attacked by 4″ pocket knives?

6 years ago, a woman in my upscale neighborhood was attacked by a man with a machete…in her own driveway

Particularly for soldiers, the chances of facing an attacker weilding a machete aren’t as uncommon as you may think.

At my local Holloween shop, I found a great fake machete that was relatively heavy, durable, and even had an inner chamber where the blood oozed around the blade.

(Call me twisted if you must, but the more realistic my edged weapon defense training, the better!)

Red Lipstick Makeup: $.50

Here’s one of my favorite edged weapon training tips…

Grab several inexpensive red lipstick makeup containers from your local store.  Since these are for kids, the lipstick is meant to wash out of clothes easily.

Next, right before your edged weapon training session with your partner, apply some of the lipstick to the edge of your rubber training knife.

NOW when you go through your knife disarm training, the red lipstick marks on your clothes will show you EXACTLY where you would have been cut had you been using a REAL knife!

Realism is a key component when it comes to training to defend against a knife and as you can see, just a few dollars and a little creativity around Halloween time is all you need to take your edged weapon defense training to the next level.

Oh, and here’s a “Bonus Tip”: Wait until the day AFTER Halloween and you’ll probably find each of these items at about 50% off…IF there are any left on the shelves!