Self-Defense Tip 74 Everyday Objects as Weapons of Self-Defense: Hit and Grab Easier Than Just Grab Alone

Strike an attacker before attempting to disarm him/her, strike with any weapon of opportunity!

Having an “arm extender” in a physical altercation is better than being empty-handed.

Even if your arm extender is such that striking with it won’t disable the attacker (a rolled-up magazine or a piece of clothing, for example), you can use it to set up a decisive empty-hand action.

Your strikes, by slowing down the attack, let you position yourself to do something disabling to the assailant. If you can’t knock out the assailant, you may have to grapple for control of the assailant’s weapon.

Hitting the attacker makes it easier (not easy, just easier) to grab the weapon hand. It is easier to do this with an arm extender than with your empty hands.

Now, something for you to practice:

Have your training partner take a practice knife and attack you. Your partner should be wearing a helmet with face shield and hand- and forearm protection.

You try to disarm him with your bare hands — without getting a serious “cut” or “stab,” of course. After a few tries, take a rolled-up magazine and try this again. This time strike whatever target is near you (the weapon hand, the empty hand, the face) until you are in a position to disarm or disable your partner.

Which was easier — using an empty hand or using an arm extender, even one as flimsy as a rolled-up magazine?

Now if, when attacked by a knife fighter, you had your Unbreakable® Umbrella with you, then your defense would be simpler and safer. You would not need to grab the weapon hand. Every whack with your Unbreakable® Umbrella has a good chance to be both disarming and disabling. It does not matter whether you strike the armed hand or the unarmed hand, a kneecap, a throat, or an eye orbit, or whether you stab the trunk. The Unbreakable® Umbrella powerfully applied to any hand, wrist, forearm, elbow, or knee, even to the meat of the limbs or the trunk, leaves a “strong and lasting impression.” In good hands, it leaves a bone-crunching, bloody strong impression. . . . For examples, see Self-Defense Tip #75 — Everyday Objects as Weapons of Self-Defense: Why Unbreakable® Umbrella? and Self-Defense Tip #107 — Self-Defense with the Unbreakable® Telescopic Umbrella.

Attention:
Applying any of the techniques mentioned above is your sole responsibility.

Neither Never-Thought-of-It LLC nor the author of this self-defense tip, nor persons pictured in this self-defense tip, make any representation, warranty, or guarantee that the techniques described or shown in this tip will be safe, effective, or legal in any self-defense situation or otherwise.

The reader or viewer assumes all risks and hazards of injury or death to herself, himself, or others, as well as any resultant liability for the use of the techniques and methods contained in this self-defense tip.

Specific self-defense responses demonstrated or described in this self-defense tip may not be justified in certain situations in light of all the circumstances or under the applicable federal, state, or local law. Neither Never-Thought-of-It LLC nor the author of this self-defense tip makes any representation or warranty regarding the legality or appropriateness of any techniques described or demonstrated in this self-defense tip.

Self-defense tip from Thomas Kurz, co-author of Basic Instincts of Self-Defense and author of Science of Sports Training, Stretching Scientifically, and Flexibility Express.

For a complete list of our products, click here.