{"id":33257,"date":"2015-01-14T02:11:45","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T08:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/?p=33257"},"modified":"2015-01-14T02:11:45","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T08:11:45","slug":"the-bigger-they-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/the-bigger-they-are\/33257\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bigger They Are\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheBiggerTheyAre\"In season 7 of The Best Defense<\/em>, we included an episode that we\u2019ve wanted to do for a long time\u2013one that addresses self-defense for children<\/a>. If you are a parent, you know that you would do anything to keep your child safe. With that goal in mind, two of the simplest and most powerful things you can do are to: 1) talk to your child about the realities of crime, violence, and sexual predators so he or she understands and accepts the fact that the threat is real, and 2) teach your child to fight back.<\/p>\n

In The Best Defense<\/em>, Mike Seeklander did a great job of explaining point 1 and what you need to do to talk to your child. Watch that information and apply it with your children.<\/p>\n

With regard to the second point, I am a big believer in teaching kids practical kicks as primary self-defense weapons. Because adults are larger and stronger than children, children need to\u00a0focus on using\u00a0their \u201cbig guns.\u201d Legs are stronger and longer than arms, so they give kids a very good fighting chance against an adult\u2013especially if the kicks target the adult\u2019s shins and ankles. As the old saying goes, \u201cIf you can\u2019t see, can\u2019t breathe, and can\u2019t walk, you can\u2019t fight.\u201d Powerful, direct low-line kicks are a great approach to achieving the \u201ccan\u2019t walk\u201d effect. They are also easily learned because they are a natural extension of sports activities familiar to every kid\u2013like soccer and kickball. Best of all, they don\u2019t have to \u201cfinish\u201d the fight; they just have to cause enough pain and damage to create an opportunity for escape.<\/p>\n

With all that said, low-line kicks are by no means only <\/em>for kids. Disparity of size and strength is a challenge that everyone needs to be concerned about in self-defense. If you are of smaller stature or simply end up being targeted by a larger attacker, your strikes to the head, body, and groin may not do the job. Vicious low-line kicks to the shins, knees, and ankles\u2013especially when delivered with footwear chosen specifically for its \u201cweaponized\u201d properties\u2013can be a much better choice.<\/p>\n

For these reasons, my approach to unarmed self-defense, Damithurt Silat (\u201cdamn, it hurts a lot\u201d) focuses a lot on low-line kicks, foot traps, and leg destructions. If you\u2019re interested in learning more about my \u201ctake\u201d on this topic, here\u2019s an excerpt from Practical Unarmed Combatives Volume 3<\/em><\/a>, which focuses on it exclusively.<\/p>\n

httpvh:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tfmZcz3z-r4<\/p>\n

No matter what size or age you are, you owe it to yourself to make practical kicking skills part of your personal-defense skill set.<\/p>\n

Stay safe,<\/p>\n

Mike<\/p>\n

About Michael Janich:<\/strong><\/em>
\n \"Janich200x200\"Michael Janich is the co-host of The Best Defense and a noted personal-defense instructor, author of numerous books and instructional videos, and founder of the Martial Blade Concepts (MBC) system of edged-weapon tactics. A decorated U.S. Army veteran, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) intelligence officer, and former POW\/MIA investigation team leader, Janich is also one of the most accomplished videographers in the tactical industry. He is currently the Special Projects Coordinator for the Spyderco knife company and a partner in Stay Safe Media.<\/em><\/p>\n

To train with Janich and learn more about his classes, click here….<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Janich is a big believer in teaching kids practical kicks as primary self-defense weapons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":33259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[116,1,11],"tags":[3271,643,252,14],"class_list":["post-33257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bloggers","category-featured","category-michael-janich","tag-defensive-training","tag-personal-defense","tag-self-defense","tag-the-best-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}