There’s a skeleton in my closet.

Well, more like a skeleton in my family tree.

You see, I have a cousin who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and got into drugs early on.

All attempts to turn him from the “dark side” failed. He just KNEW he was a drug-dealer and that’s that.

Guess he didn’t believe the judge when she told him about the “3 strikes” rule.

3rd time he was sent to the big house in Arizona!

He was in for nearly a year (out on good behavior), and while we’re not really close family, I couldn’t help ask him one of the biggest questions I’ve always had…

…what are the SECRETS to surviving prison?

We all fear it, don’t we?

One day you’re coming home from work, thinking of kissing your kids on the cheek and finding out what the Mrs. has planned for dinner and then *WHAM*…

…some innocent bystander stepped into the road while you were changing the radio dial!

A few months later, you’re doing time for the crime (It happens! Hell…people have been put in jail for killing muggers for crying out loud!)

Anyway, just in case you ever get put in the slammer, here are the tips my cousin shared with me:

Staying In Shape In Prison

If you’re small and weak, or fat and out of shape, you’re easy pickings for the bullies looking to add some ego points to their cell-cred.

Use your time during lockdown in your cell to do pushups, crunches and handstand presses to keep your upper body strong and your abs tight.

Out in the yard, STAY AWAY from the iron pit Unless you’re already stacked with muscle like a steroid-juiced mutant!

This is where the big boys hang out and they don’t take kindly to pipsqueeks entering their territory.

Avoiding Prison Rape

If you’re seen as weak and you’re in a high security prison, you’re likely to be targeted for assault.

There are different “classes” of violation in prison and your goal is to be in the “men’s” group.

These are the guys who have never been “penetrated”. Once you are, you lose your status and you’re on the “fair game” list. Not good.

If you’re targeted, fight back as viciously and loudly as possible.

One other thing…that tough guy that’s befriending you and showing you the ropes out of the kindness of your heart?

He’s setting you up!

One option you have is to STRIKE FIRST!

Fighting In Prison

Unless you’ve been brought up in a gang and are experienced in fighting, you’re about to get schooled quick.

That haymaker punch you used in high school will get you stomped on quick in prison.

You need to take this predator out with ONE STRIKE!

Two things will happen:

1. You’re likely to get paid back for the beating. Deal with it and stand your ground.

Weakness is the worst attribute you can have in prison and you’re guaranteed to attract many more attempts at taking you down if you’re easy prey.

2. You’ll at least have some respect that you took out a respected player in the system and that’s the start of moving up the scale.

If you don’t know how to drop a seasoned gangbanger twice your size, it’s not as hard as you think.

I cover some of the most brutal “one-shot destroyers” in my book “Street Fighting Uncaged” at www.StreetFightingUncaged.com.

This “how-to” guide shows in graphic detail the most vulnerable spots on the human body and the simplest way to use them to your advantage to cripple, maim, or even kill a grown man intent on making you his “queen”.

Using these techniques will help protect your life (and your “manhood”) but it may also buy you a possibility of getting into a competing gang for protection.

Take it.

It’s always important to note that when you’re fighting in built-up areas, one of the most important survival principles is to gain access to a weapon.  If you’re in the city, there should be plenty of improvised weapons around you (such as bricks, sticks, metal bars, etc.) and if you’re a soldier, you will most likely have your weapon with you when fighting.  In built up areas, however, it’s also very easy to lose your weapon due to the confined space you’re fighting in.

Built up areas often offer multiple environmental obstacles and it’s easy to trip, fall, bang into a wall or other obstacle.  If you have a weapon, you’re at a great risk of losing it and the same goes for your attacker if he’s armed.  At some point in a close-quarters struggle you or he might lose your weapon.  Your first impulse will be to try and recover it, or to fight for possession of it… and that can actually get you killed!  Here’s why…

You see, the one mistake almost every fighter makes when fighting in built-up areas, especially if he lacks training, is to focus on the weapon instead of the real threat.  The weapon, by itself, can’t hurt you.  It’s the man who can hurt you, and he’s the real enemy.  If it looks like it’s going to be a life-or-death struggle to gain access to a loose weapon, especially when you’re cramped for space follow these principles instead:

Fighting in Built Up Areas -
Weapon Retention Tip #1:

Stop worrying about the weapon and start worrying about the man.  As long as your force multiplier is on the ground or the floor, it can’t hurt you.

Fighting in Built Up Areas -
Weapon Retention Tip #2:

Use his own survival impulse against him.  He’ll go for the weapon instinctively.  While he’s focused on the bait, you can target him more effectively.

Fighting in Built Up Areas -
Weapon Retention Tip #3:

Use your combatives.  Football kick your enemy while he’s struggling to get that fallen weapon.  Rain hammerfist blows down on him.  Knee him.  Overwhelm him while he’s still thinking of that weapon he’s never going to reach.

Fighting in Built Up Areas -
Weapon Retention Tip #4:

Once your enemy is on the defensive, you can recover the weapon to finish him off or take it and escape.

When it comes to your self defense training, think outside the box and outside your traditional training environment and the hazards you may face such as those when fighting in built-up areas.

No, I’m not going to launch into some “anti-martial arts” rant about how it’s ineffective in a real street fight (though I have my opinions).

But the problem I have with most martial arts systems is that they teach their students how to defend themselves completely BACKWARDS!

Let me explain…

If you’ve ever taken a single class in a “martial art”, then you know that your training begins with learning how to get in the perfect stance to strike from…the perfect punching form…blocking…a fancy schmancy takedown…etc.

Eventually you progress to more advanced strikes, kicks, katas, and even more fancy schmancy takedowns.  And then finally, if you’re in a very progressive school…you MAY (if you’re darned lucky) get into how to actually AVOID using those techniques. You see…

…A “Fight” Is What Happens When
All Things Have Gone WRONG!

You weren’t able to identify and avoid a bad situation…

…you weren’t able to talk down the 300 lb gorilla snorting in your face because he thought you were checking out his girlfriend

…you let your attacker get too close to you and woke up in a hospital bed

…you let your ego get the best of you and decided to “stand up” for your wife when some guy made a comment

…the list goes on.

I’ve never attended (or even heard of) a self defense program that STARTED by taking you out behind the school to show you how to walk around a corner of a building in a way that doesn’t let a waiting attacker catch you by surprise…

…or how to use your car windows as a mirror to see what’s going on around you while you’re approaching it in a parking lot…

…or how to set aside your ego to talk down the guy at the bar who thought you were looking at his girlfriend.

I’m sure they’re out there. You may even attend one or be that kind of instructor.  I’ve just not seen it yet.

The number of potentially dangerous situations are limitless, but learning how to avoid a fight should be the very FIRST thing martial arts instructors teach in their schools.

Not in place of, but rather along side the techniques that can be used should avoidance and de-escalation fail.