Fight Fast Blog

I’m sure many of you heard about the old lady from New Hampshire who fought off an intruder with a bat yesterday.

The story hit cable news because of its unusual nature (the intruder was naked), but the story has some great lessons to learn from. Check out the Video on Fox News.

First of all it shows how brazen criminals can be. Who knows what this guy was after but whatever it was he wasn’t afraid break into a home in the buff. Everyone must take their home security seriously.

The other lesson is that with smart self defense strategies you can defend against a stronger more able bodied attacker.

The 70 year old lady in the video is seen using a cane yet she was still able to defend herself.

How was this possible? Very simply she gave herself an advantage in the situation by arming herself with a long heavy improvised weapon, a baseball bat.

The bat gave her the upper hand. It doesn’t take much strength to swing a bat and the impact you can make is much greater due to the length of the bat and the weight it has. It’s simple physics.

Okay that’s pretty basic it doesn’t take a genius to figure this out but it is a great reminder of the power of self defense weapons weapons even improvised ones.

I always say that the worst kind of fight is a fair one (unless you’re in a boxing ring). Having a weapon for self defense is a great way to instantly give yourself the advantage.

And it doesn’t always have to be something clunky like a baseball bat. Sure a bat is a great weapon to protect you in your home (this little old lady is a perfect example), but if you out and about on a normal day you have to be resourceful and find weapons where most people wouldn’t.

Here is a quick list to get your brain thinking about self defense weapons:

-car keys between your fingers

-throwing something from your pockets or purse at their face

-Using a large cup at a bar or restaurant as a striking tool

-Using your belt as a flail or choking tool

-throwing fist full of dirt or gravel in an attackers eyes

There are tons of other things around that can be used to distract and destroy your opponent

Never forget the psychological effect of any sort of weapon. If they don’t have a weapon they will instantly realize you have the upper hand.

This works in reverse too. If you find yourself being attacked by a person with a weapon your first instinct should be to find a weapon of your own to use to level the playing field and erode his confidence.

In self defense the longer the weapon the better. Distance is crucial to your safety. Think about it…if he has an 8 inch knife and you have a 12 inch stick you can keep him at a safe distance. And if you had a 24 inch stick you have a real upper hand.

A great self defense fighter can find a weapon almost anywhere. So unless you are being jumped from behind or totally surprised you should start thinking real quick about what you can use other than your body to defend yourself.

One last word of advice from an ex-gang enforcer and great Fightfast self defense instructor, Diallo Frazier, “metal on skin, metal always wins.”

If you want to learn more about improvised weapons checkout a hub page on “2 Strange but Effective Self Defense Weapons”

Oh and before you forget go buy your grandma a Louisville Slugger, I may save her life.

Stay Smart and Stay Safe,

Bob Pierce

Head Honcho

Fightfast.com

Hey All,

The most rewarding part of my job is hearing back from customers who have found my instructional products useful.

I get mail all the time from customers who have been impressed with the quality of my self defense products and amazed by the amount of information the instructors pack into each video.

Many of these letters are just sent to thank us for making a good product (something you can’t just take for granted these days). They often say how simple we make self defense, or how easy to learn it was and some other nice words.

I love hearing this positive feed-back and so do the instructors.

But… even better that that I often get letters from customers who tell me a story about how the information in our self defense videos got them out of some serious trouble.

These are the kinds of stories I tell my friends and anyone I can get to lend their ear because you guys have some truly amazing stories to tell.

One of my favorites was from a guy from Southern California.

I have to abbreviate his real name because he is a guard at a high security prison and his safety and privacy means a lot me. So for the rest of the story we’ll call him Vernon B.

The inmates Vernon works with are the kinds of guys you don’t want to get cornered by.

Most of them have life sentences and, according to Tom, take any chance they can get to hurt or try to kill the guards.

Anyways Vernon said he is always looking to learn new and better ways to defend himself but because of the long hours he must work he gets very little time to take a traditional martial arts class

Vernon came across one of our self defense videos featuring Frank Cucci (Frank was a member of the elite Navy Seal Team Six)

He bought the video and started learning the brutal and effective self defense moves Frank teaches.

After watching Vernon started using these tricks in some pretty serious incidents.

Those tricks made sure Vernon and his partner walked away virtually unscathed. Something guys in their line of work can’t take for granted.

If you have bought any of our self defense products and have used the information to protect yourself and your loved ones please tell me about it.

I love to hear your stories. The most important thing is that your stories can inspire others to take their self defense into their own hands. Give us a call at 1-800-899-8153, or drop me a line at Bob-removebeforesending-@trsdirect.com. Oh and please remove the text between the dashes, I hate spam as much as you do.

Oh and don’t worry I won’t share it with anyone unless you tell me its okay. Your privacy and safety is my number 1 concern (after all that’s why I’m in this business).

Please contribute to the FightFast community. Who knows? The life saving experience you have had with self defense might help someone else save their own life.

Stay Smart and Stay Safe,

Bob Pierce

Head Honcho

Fightfast.com

Hey All,

I recently read a blog from another guy in the self defense industry who said,

“self defense is kind of like a Hail Mary pass at a football game. Not all that likely to work but something to try.”

I know many people wonder about this, and think…

“jeez how can I possibly defend myself from a predator who’s been in more fights and is meaner and probably bigger than me.”

Most of us have thought this before. The truth is you can equip yourself – quickly and easily – to have the best possible chance to defeating a predator

To be fair the guy I quoted at the top was making the point that avoidance is the best policy to stay safe, which I wholeheartedly agree with.

But…not all of us have the luxury of being able to avoid dangerous places or situation.

Not all of us can live in a gated community, or on the nice side of town. Sometimes we have to walk back to our car in an empty lot late at night, or walk down a dark alley for some reason. This is just life.

Should we avoid dangerous places if at all possible? Of course we should.

And most of us do. It’s common sense. But all of us will get into bad situations once in a while.

And I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want my personal safety to be resting on “a Hail Mary pass at a football game.”

The good news is it doesn’t have to.

By learning effective, easy and efficient self defense techniques taught by someone with real world experience, who has tested and perfected those techniques in the heat of battle or street fights, you can and will prepare yourself for those dangerous situations.

STEP #1: Develop “Triggers”

The first step is to become mentally prepared by using something I like to call personal triggers. These triggers will make sure you are ready for action on a moment’s notice and make sure you know exactly what to do in any situation. For more on triggers keep up with my blog I’ll be talking about it in depth in the next weeks

STEP #2: Understand or define what “Self Defense” means

The next step is to really understand what self defense is all about. There are a lot of misconceptions out there. To clear this up you should check out an article I wrote about the difference between self defense and martial arts.

Once you’ve got a firm basis on what your goals are and when you should act you must arm yourself with some ‘tools’ of the trade. These tools will be focused on inflicting maximum damage to specific TARGETS on an attacker’s body. They should not be too heavily focused on the techniques of the move, which will be fairly simple.

To get you started I’ve put together a package I call 15 Brutal Fight Enders, that I’m giving away for free. These simple to use move will give you a strong basis on which you can build one nasty and effective self defense system.

Remember Hail Mary’s are for church and football games, not self defense. By taking these two steps you’ll no longer be relying on a “Hail Mary.” You will however be making your attacker wish he did a few more.

Don’t forget to sign up for the 15 Brutal Fight Enders. My business partner isn’t too happy that I’m giving them away for free, and I can’t guarantee they will be up next week.

Stay Smart and Stay Safe,

Bob Pierce

Head Honcho

Fightfast.com

Hey Guys,

If you read the last blog you know I was talking about the importance of targets and the throat and neck in particular. If you haven’t read it yet scroll down and get caught up. This post will be much more useful if you know where I’m coming from.

Anyways today I’m going to show you step by step how to execute a devastating but simple throat strike. This is a great tool to have in your self-defense arsenal.

Before I get right into it remember this is not a move to practice full speed on a sparring partner who doesn’t have neck and throat protection. This is not kid stuff, you can really hurt someone this way (that’s why it’s so effective for self-defense).

The throat strike should be a self-defense tool you use when you are in the punching range. Don’t think that this is your silver bullet or that you should get in there and try to use this strike no matter what.

But if you find yourself in the punching range or maybe a little tighter in but you still aren’t tied up or grappling use a throat strike.

To learn how follow the steps below.

Step 1:

Strike the throat right in the little notch above the collar bone. You can strike it with one finger, your thumb or your whole hand. I prefer the thumb as is demonstrated in the picture.

Step 2:

Apply pressure inward and down as hard as you can. Really dig it in.

This will cause tons of pain and the thought that you are willing to crush his throat is going to distract most attackers and give you the upper hand.

Step 3:

Everyone’s natural reaction to this pressure point is to move away, usually backwards. Take this opportunity to take them to the ground or escape.

Step 4 A:

If you want to take them to the ground you can either hit the throat strike while simultaneously sweeping the feet or applying pressure to their low back (as seen in the picture).

The trick is to drive the thumb in while simultaneously pulling the attackers waist towards you. He will lose all his balance and go to the ground.

Step 4 B:

Depending on your situation you can often escape immediately once they are retreating backwards. You have to decide for your own whether to follow up or escape.

Stay tuned for the next post.

Stay Smart and Stay Safe,

Bob Pierce

President

Fightfast.com

The key to any great self defense strategy is the targets you aim to hit.

One of your prime targets should always be the throat and neck.

Here’s Why:

-First off it’s an easy target to hit. It is rarely protected, it can almost always be seen, and the shoulder and skull form a ‘v’ that will direct your blow to the neck even if it isn’t perfectly aimed.

-The neck carries tons of nerves to the brain which you can stun someone, often causing an involuntary collapse of the body (it only lasts a few seconds but it can mean all the difference).

-The esophagus and ‘adam’s apple’ are extremely sensitive. One good hit can send a real message that you are not fooling around. You can also make them choke for a second with a good strike

-The knockout strike. You should not base your offense on hoping for a knockout strike but…when aiming for the neck you may strike the base of the skull just right to end the fight then and there.

-Finally the throat grab (which is a lethal strike) is highly effective and relatively easy to do.

Why is focusing on a high value target so important?

In a self defense situation where you are fighting for your life you have to aim for the most devastating targets for two reasons:

1. The average fight lasts 3-5 seconds so you don’t have time to mess around with failed or blocked shots at the body or head (which is always defended) if you don’t hit a high value target he will

2. High value targets give you the best shot at ending a fight quickly with you on top. Don’t forget you are not in a boxing match or karate tournament points don’t matter. High value targets end street fights (there are no bells).

Also, focusing on a target and not on a particular punch or kick changes the way you fight.

Instead of picking a move to use and looking for a target to hit it with (could be a good or bad target), you focus on high value targets and use whatever move it takes to strike the one that’s open.

This is how fights are won.

In the next post I’ll show you one of the best techniques for striking the throat.

Oh, and don’t forget to check me out on twitter @bobfightfast.

Stay tuned for the next post,

Bob Pierce

Head Honcho

Fightfast.com