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Defending Your Zone

Here’s A Scenario:

You and your wife are walking along a familiar street one night. Other couples pass by, and then, somehow, you two are alone…except for the shady-looking stranger looming ahead. You watch him approach, instinctively knowing that something is wrong, but disbelief stops you from acting. Suddenly, he’s in your face, brandishing a weapon and demanding something from you.

You can’t hear him because your mind is screaming, “This can’t be happening to me!” But it is, and all that locker room bravado with your buddies talking about what ass-kickers and name-takers you all are seems to drain from you right along with the blood from your extremities. Your stomach churns, your bowels loosen, and you want to run, but it’s too late. You and your loved one are at the mercy of your assailant.

Think This Can’t Happen To You? Don’t be so sure. Being caught off-guard and flat-footed can happen to the best of us at any time and literally in milliseconds. But there was a moment in the above scenario where you could have prevented all of this– the moment the attacker entered your Zone.

My Zone?

The Zone is an invisible perimeter that martial artists, fighters, and tactical instructors use to define the point at which an opponent becomes a threat. Various fighting systems address this concept differently. It’s been called everything from one’s “area of awareness” to one’s “tactical arena,” but the Zone is simply one’s personal space.

Getting too close or invading that space should provoke one of several responses depending on the degree of the threat. One question that inevitably arises is “how close is too close?” Marital artist and tactical instructor Scott Hollingsworth sums it up this way: “If someone’s close enough to dance with, they’re too damn close.”

The Colors of Danger

In an effort to be a little more specific, other fighting systems have envisioned several concentric rings of different colors to represent increasing degrees of danger.

The outermost ring is called the Green Zone and begins at a radius of 15 feet from your body (or up to 30 feet in areas of known danger) and extending, presumably, to infinity. This is considered a safe area. Anyone 15 feet or further from you is not an immediate threat.

Within the Green Zone is the Blue Zone, a ring located between five and fifteen feet from your body. This is an awareness zone. Anyone entering should be assessed as either a threat or non-threat.

The innermost ring is the Red Zone, representing the area that is within a five-foot radius from your body. The moment someone enters this zone in a threatening way, they must be dealt with quickly and decisively.

The Purpose of the Zone System

The objective of any zone system is two-fold:

  • First, the Zone provides a circle of awareness around your body. Being aware of your opponent’s position relative to your own gives you time to assess your situation.
  • Second, the Zone eliminates indecision. If someone you perceive as a threat crosses your line, you react…period. You do not concern yourself with dilemmas of morality or legality. You issue a warning when someone approaches your Red Zone, and then simply react once they cross it.

Training

Making use of the Zone concept does not require long hours in a dojo or years to master, but it does require some preparation in advance. The middle of a violent altercation with some crazed lunatic is probably not the best time to start thinking about being prepared.

Spend some hours with a friend in your back yard learning to judge distances. Discover how long it actually takes for someone to reach you from fifteen feet away (it will likely surprise you how quickly a person can close from 15 feet). Discuss scenarios and practice some basic defense techniques from various distances to better understand how to start defending your zone.

By training in this way you can attain a higher level of confidence and commitment which can greatly enhance your chances of success in a street fight.

True Story

A man who we’ll call Joe was walking his date back to his truck late at night after a movie. As they walked up the ramp of the parking garage, Joe noticed a suspicious-looking male approaching from ahead.

The man started talking to Joe as he approached Joe’s outer zone, asking the time, waving his hands, and generally trying to distract Joe as he closed the distance.

About the time the man entered Joe’s Blue Zone, Joe stopped, sensing something was wrong. He took a single step forward, putting his date behind him, and pointing directly at the man with his right hand. “That’s far enough,” was Joe’s only comment.

The man stopped, somewhat stunned by Joe’s directness. He spread his arms and tried to smile at Joe disarmingly. It was then that Joe heard a sound off to his right – a second assailant was coming up from Joe’s blind side.

Controlling The Encounter

Without taking his eyes off the first man, Joe pointed his right hand in the direction of the second attacker. Joe’s left hand slipped under his jacket to the small of his back and remained there. Joe nodded to the first man, “Tell him to stop right where he’s at, now!” The first man hesitated for only an instant, his eyes now locked on Joe’s left hand.

The man looked in the direction of his partner who was still off to Joe’s side and shook his head once. He then slowly raised his arms and backed away. “It’s cool, man…” was the man’s only comment before he turned and ran off. The unseen person to Joe’s right fled down a nearby stairwell.

Did the fact that Joe had a loaded Walther PPK .380 handgun tucked in the small of his back and that Joe was also a Tactical Training Instructor help get him out of that situation? It probably didn’t hurt, but did the bad guys or even Joe’s girlfriend know any of that? Nope.

What the bad guys did know was that Joe seemed very aware of his situation and was prepared for a confrontation. Joe reacted to a violation of his zone aggressively and immediately and it was that reaction which repelled his attackers.

The Bottom Line?

Weapons and defense training are immensely beneficial and are like ammunition, but the real weapon is your mind. It’s your mind that must be decisive, confident, and alert so you are prepared for any situation that calls for defending your zone. Because of this, major part of being prepared is understanding the Zone itself.

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124 thoughts on “Defending Your Zone”

  1. Good story, faultless, totally legal, no room for any Police Officer to say it could have been handled differently or that too much force was used. Simply a perfect solution to a dangerous situation. It is convenient to be able to carry a weapon legally, please Americans, spare a little thought for Australians where any knife longer than 3 inches is forbidden and any type of spring or gravity assistance in a knife is so illegal you can go to prison. I carry a blade at all times, I trained in how to use it, but more importantly, I learned physiology, I know where to put it, where the blood flow, nerves and tendons are. A gun makes life so much simpler. In Australia the threat of a ‘victim’ having a gun simply does not even enter the mind of a criminal, the criminal has a knife, the victim may have one, two criminals, a criminal advantage. The only solution would be to take out the man in front and do it fast, level the playing field, but if his accomplice runs the legal mess left behind is horrific. You’re lucky if no one sees or there are no CCTV cameras because the potential victim is now the criminal. Americans are fortunate to live in a war zone where deadly force is a legal option.

  2. My brother and I were at a bar years ago. I noticed my brother outnumbered by several guys, so I walked out to see what was going on. When I walked outside to see what was happening some more guys showed up. Literally we were outnumbered 12 against 2. The guys my brother was arguing with at first started getting more hostile so I put my hand on the small of my back and told the guys if y’all jump him y’all are going to regret it. One of the guys asked me what do you have a gun? I said I don’t know jump him and you guys will find out. A few seconds later the punks started telling each other come on it’s not worth it, let’s go back inside. All along all I had was a bic lighter in my hand, but all it takes is to be very confident and stern with the way you say something and carry yourself and be aware of your surroundings at ALL times. I’m sure I saved my brother a trip to the hospital or worse.

  3. Absolutely spot on. A favoured attack method in my neck of the woods would have been an individual approaching asking for a cigarette while an accomplice would be hiding behind a hedge waiting to pounce from behind. My response to that possibility would be to immediately take out the cigarette requester without saying a word and then wait to deal with the accomplice. Maybe the individual was genuinely looking for a cigarette or light for one? Too bad! Time to stop smoking!!

  4. Great story. Stuff like this happens all the time. Best to be aware. Especially when you have somebody else under your wings.

  5. At 21 feet (that is my orange zone) a determined man with a knife will cut me. I will start shooting. if he/she/it is closer. I will NOT THREATEN, I WILL shoot until the threat (or threats) are down and out of the fight. I have been in to many fights, and have been hurt to many times to do otherwise. I am 72 years old and I do not move as well as I used to. Believe me, I will use the disparity in age as the best of my ability. By the way, I also walk with a cane (and am not afraid to use it to defend myself.

  6. At 21 feet (that is my orange zone) a determined man with a knife will cut me. I will start shooting. if he/she/it is closer. I will NOT THREATEN, I WILL shoot until the threat (or threats) are down and out of the fight. I have been in to many fights, and have been hurt to many times to do otherwise. I am 72 years old and I do not move as well as I used to. Believe me, I will use the disparity in age as the best of my ability. By the way, I also walk with a cane (and am not afraid to use it to defend myself. I am a retired (30 year) police officer.

  7. Something that most people don’t think about but it does happen I tell my girlsl always be aware of their surroundings

  8. great story and its so amazingly true that the mind plays a vital role in winning or overcoming any confrontation successfully.

    my question is,in many cases people hit the panic button as soon as they realise they are in a life threatining situation/confrontation; How do you compose, divert or reverse your panic to a confident, focused you.

  9. Back in the mid 1970s I was bow fishing at lake Michigan in down town Chicago, around 4:00 AM. While walking along the wall looking for large carp I noticed two guys standing by a parked car. One guy started the car and arranged it so that he could get out from between the cars parked in front and behind him. Second guy started towards me trying to hide the baseball bat behind him while asking what I had there. I immediately pointed the bow with fishing at him at half draw and informed him that it was a 50 Lb hunting bow. He decided that now would be a good time for them to leave the area.

  10. This is good stuff for sure. I have studied martial arts for many years. The greatest part of my training is when my sensei taught close quarters combat. This was the best training I have acquired its saved my behind several times. It’s all about leverage and key pressure points. Thank fight fast yall are awesome.

    ✌✊
    Mike

  11. Good information and handled well, but not everyone that passes through one zone is a threat. Granted the man in this storey was deffintly doing everything he could to create a distraction for his partner. One does need to be careful that they don’t wrongfully accuse everyone who crosses their path being up to no good.

  12. I have learn this in fencing classes as the masters circles . This alone with or without weapons can make all the difference when confronted by either a single or multiple opponents and even if it doesn’t scare them off as it did in this story it allows you to assess each one seperately and decide in a split second who is the higher threat and needs to be dealt with first . Usually it leader , once he is dealt with the others mostly run what is left is for you to walk away or run as quickly as possible . Since most weapons that can take out multiple attackers are illegal basic self defense with bare hands is all that is needed to gain enough control to make most thugs wet themselves . You don’t need to become a brown or black belt the basics are enough and the DVDs that TRS have are a very good start . The circle of awareness is the very first step to staying safe as you will in many cases be able to avoid a fight in the first place , which is what we all want anyway . But it does hurt to learn a little bit more and know how to use it well for that just in case situation .

  13. That scenario happens quite a lot, especially in the cities. The only different thing I would have done is actually pulled my firearm so they could see it and know that I am not bluffing. This way they are not thinking, do I have a firearm or not. Some fools will actually think you are bluffing with just your hands inside your jacket. If it is illegal to carry a firearm in a city that you are in, don’t. Carry a legal Knife instead or actually know how to fight.

  14. I’ve been on your “hot-list” for years. I have DVDs describing how to protect myself in the event some bad guy comes at me. Here is what happened to me:

    I was fed up with the kids, so I decided to take a l-o-n-g walk. This was in Culver City, CA. At night. I headed west, toward the ocean. Pretty soon I became aware of someone shadowing me. When I slowed down, so did the person. If I walked faster, he sped up, too. I crossed the street. He followed. Now we were in a particularly dark area and he was right behind me. I popped out my spring action knife — courtesy of TRS, of course — spun around, stuck my knife right under his chin and growled, “You REALLY want a part of me, SUCKER?”

    Even in the dim light, I could see that the guy went stark white. His eyes grew really large and he backed away, hands up in front of him, and gasping, “NO, NO!” Then he turned and ran like hell.

    I kept walking and ended my walk at the Santa Monica Pier. I stood for a while, listening to the ocean. Then I called my wife — who was at home by that time — to come pick me up.

    Thanks, TRS.

  15. I watch everyone of your videos and practice everything I’m being taught. It makes more aware of my surroundings. I’m grateful for your support and training.