Combat Arts & Safety

Developing Awareness for Personal Safety

With over 30 years of experience in the security industry and a lifelong passion for martial arts, I'm often asked what the most effective self-defence and combat techniques are for improving personal safety. After training in several styles of martial arts, I've come to realise there's no single martial art or course that guarantees personal safety or protection in any given situation.

The only effective personal safety skill is to avoid putting yourself in a critical situation. Martial arts or self-defence is only required if you fail to achieve this.

While combat training is valuable for conditioning both mind and body, the most essential self-defence skill is situational awareness. By scanning for potential threats, you can identify risks early and take steps to avoid critical situations. With practice, we learn to subconsciously spot anomalies and trust our intuition on safety issues.

“Awareness of your environment should always be prioritised over physical engagement.”

Learning Combat Arts

Learning any combat style is a smart move and can provide several benefits. Regular training in combat arts helps improve overall physical fitness through the active practice and conditioning required. The movements and techniques will challenge you mentally and physically, forcing you to think and react in new ways. With dedicated training, you will develop skills that could prove invaluable should you ever need to defend yourself or someone else.

Each combat art (karate, judo, jujitsu, taekwondo, kung fu, etc) will have their own unique techniques and areas of focus. But no matter the style, practising combat arts boosts strength, endurance, flexibility, balance, coordination, and confidence. All of these benefits translate directly into better self-defence capability.

Self-Defence Courses

Self-defence courses are great for quickly achieving tangible skills and boosting confidence. In just a short period of time, you can learn simple yet effective techniques like strikes, blocks, and escapes. The training will make you more aware of vulnerable spots on an attacker's body and how to target them. You'll also practice using your voice as a self-defence mechanism, which can surprise an attacker and attract help.

However, these are combat skills that require continued effort. Without regular practice, your reactions will become slower and techniques rustier. Remembering different techniques and the skills to deliver them effectively diminishes rapidly once training stops. While a good self-defence course will give you a taste of the basics, and what you are capable of, to genuinely improve your safety you need to commit to ongoing training. Self-defence (like effective security) is a process, not a one-time purchase.

Situational Awareness and Combat Arts

Now into the real important stuff –

Situational awareness means being attentive to what is going on around you - whether you are at home, work, or anywhere in between. It means noticing details and paying attention to your instincts. Are people around you acting suspiciously? Do you notice anything out of the ordinary? Is the area well-lit and populated?

Practising situational awareness improves your chances of identifying potential threats and affords you the time and opportunity to take action to avoid them; like identifying a person loitering in a parking garage or being aware of someone following you down a quiet street. Situational awareness gives you the time to evaluate what you are seeing and leave the area or get help. It also helps you avoid dangerous spaces altogether.

Being aware of exits and potential hiding spots can also be useful if a dangerous situation unfolds. You will already know the quickest escape route or the best place to take cover. Advanced preparation can make all the difference in an emergency.

“Many self-defence experts consider situational awareness to be even more critical than physical techniques. After all, the best way to handle a dangerous situation is to avoid it entirely.”

Seeing the Unexpected

Being more aware of your surroundings allows you to notice things that are out of the ordinary or don't seem quite right. This skill takes practice, but over time you'll get better at picking up on inconsistencies or odd events.

For example, as you walk down the street, you might notice a car driving slowly and repeatedly circling the block. In a store, you spot a person whose clothes don't match the weather. These are subtle signs that something may be amiss.

As you develop situational awareness skills, you will start to notice things that do not directly apply to you; however, still pose a risk such as a window left open or valuables on the front seat of a vehicle. This is because you are scanning your environment more effectively, noticing more risks and improving your personal safety. 

Practising situational awareness regularly makes you more attuned to pick up on inconsistencies in your surroundings. This allows you to be proactive about your safety, rather than being caught unaware if an unfortunate event were to occur. Noticing the unexpected through situational awareness is a valuable skill that takes time but pays dividends by keeping you safe.

“Even the most highly skilled and experienced fighters can be caught off guard if they fail to properly read their environment and maintain awareness. ”

Remember, the Attacker is Ready, You Are Not.

When a random act of aggression (surprise attack) occurs, there are at least two actors. You, and your assailant.

Generally, your assailant will be mentally and physically prepared for the confrontation, they chose the time and place and will have selected the option that they believe offers them the highest chance of success. Whereas you are starting with a surprise.

First you need to understand what has just happened, then work through all the variables, select the best options to defend yourself, and apply them in a split second. You are so far on the back foot; you may as well be walking backwards.

If you can reverse engineer this situation, you are on the path to avoiding it.

Your assailant chose you… Why?

What were you doing? Where were you? What time of day was it? Were you distracted?

What made your assailant believe that you were their best choice?   

No matter how much training someone has, if they are complacent and unaware, they can still be vulnerable.

Practice situational awareness until it becomes second nature. Make it a habit to stay alert to your surroundings, especially in unfamiliar or risky areas. Don't be distracted. Trust your instincts if something seems off. And be ready to take appropriate defensive action if needed. With preparation and awareness on your side, you will significantly reduce your chances of being the victim of a surprise attack.

Practice

Learning how to read your environment is a skill you will develop quickly once you start practicing.

These are some ideas to start with;

Out for dinner or a show

• Where are the exits, how many are there, and which would you use in an emergency?

• Where did you park? Will it be safe to return to your vehicle, down a poorly lit lane?

• Did you walk to the location? How do you identify if you are being followed?  

At a bar

• What is your physical state? A bit to drink, tired, sad, excited.

• What are you doing that will attract attention? Being loud, aggressive, or angry.

Heading home from work

• Does your route change depend on the time of day or season? One path during summer may not be the safest in winter.

• Are you distracted? On your phone or using headphones.

• Is anyone watching you as you arrive? Stop and look around.

Make Situational Awareness a Habit

As someone with extensive experience in the security industry and martial arts, I train my security guards to focus on developing their situational awareness skills over that of combat or self-defence courses for personal safety. While learning a combat style or taking a self-defence course can provide useful skills, those skills require ongoing, correct practice to be effective. The best self-defence is being aware of your surroundings at all times.

Practice noticing details, exits, potential dangers, and anything out of the ordinary. With time, you'll instinctively become more observant and prepared to act if needed. Avoid complacency and getting caught off guard.

Your personal safety starts with you. It requires vigilant awareness and smart decisions. Consider combat or self-defence training as helpful additions to your toolkit, but not replacements for situational awareness. Focus on developing the life-long habit of paying attention to your surroundings.

That skill could one day save your life.