By Master Talib Fehlhaber

Founder and Chief Master Instructor of the Rapid Defence Martial Arts
Academy, Norwich, UK. Holder of a 5th level Black Belt in Wing Chun Kung Fu
with over 30 years of practical martial arts experience.

www.rapid-defence.com

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INDEX:

Bonus Material 1 – Quick facts on bad guys and their typical methods

1. Martial Arts is NOT equal to Self Defence

2. Deeper than Down - taking the fight to the ground
3. Show Me The Money?
4. Kicking disasters
5. Weapons are not the answer – You are.
6. Inter-Personal Violence is never personal.
7. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Bonus Material 2 – Self-Defence Tips That Could Safe Your Life

Bonus Material 3 - Vital Targets on the Human Body

The information contained herein is for information

purposes only. You must always consult a medical doctor
before undertaking any kind of exercise. Make sure to
receive advice as to the legal situation in your respective
country of residence regarding self-defence and the law. The
author can and will not accept any liability for any injury
and loss resulting from the inappropriate use of this
information.

© Copyright Material – All rights reserved by Talib Fehlhaber 2

 Here are some quick facts on bad guys and their typical methods:

 The majority of criminals do not look the part. They look like everyone else.
 Being a criminal doesn't make you fearless. In fact, these "geniuses" are
usually cowards who are just as afraid as those they attack
 Bad guys prey on people they perceive as "soft targets."
 Most criminals are extremely lazy, and won't work hard at committing a
crime.
 The easiest, fastest and least challenging way is what a bad guy looks for.
 The majority of bad guys flee or give up at the first hint of trouble or
resistance.
 A lot of criminals take great pride in what they do.
 The phrase "like attracts like" is very true in the criminal world.
 Criminals don't expect much resistance from a victim; they rely on fear and
intimidation to get the job done.
 Most bad guys have extremely poor plans, and usually no back up plans.
 Criminals can often be thrown out of sync very easily because they expect
little or no resistance.
 Many of your everyday actions can determine whether or not you will become
a target.
 Approximately 5 percent of the population commit the majority of all crimes.
 If you are perceived as strong, confident and posing a challenge, your chances
of becoming a victim decrease dramatically.
 At some point in your life, you probably were the target of a crime and didn't
even know it. The smallest actions you took prevented a bad guy from
carrying out his plan.

These tips apply to the majority of crimes and criminals. However, every situation is
unique and can possibly have a different outcome, so remember to stay alert and listen
to your instincts

© Copyright Material – All rights reserved by Talib Fehlhaber 3

OK, now you had your little appetizer please read on of the 7 Deadly
Self-Defence Sins and How To Survive them…

1. Martial Arts is NOT the same as Self Defence.

This is perhaps THE biggest misconception when it comes to anyone looking to learn
how to defend themselves. Although most martial arts have come out of some kind of
military tradition, many have developed into competition sports, like Judo or Kick
Boxing, or into ritualized styles that focus on health, discipline and well being. This is
not to say that learning and practicing any of these might not give you an edge when
facing a potential attacker, but so does playing football, which makes you fit enough
to either run for the hills or to give your attacker a good kick in the ‘nether regions’.

So what’s the “ultimate” martial arts style, you might ask. Short answer: There isn’t
one. It’s like asking, ‘what’s the ultimate car’ or the ‘what’s the ultimate holiday
destination’. They all serve their purpose and are all “right” for the one using it. A
delivery truck and a sports car are not better or worse than each other, they are just
made for different things and so are martial arts styles.

Generally speaking all martial arts can be divided into three broad categories.
First there are the ‘martial sports’, like Judo, Kick Boxing, Boxing, Wrestling, etc.
whose aim it is to get you fit and co-ordinated and, if you like win some medals.

Then they are the ‘martial arts’ like Karate, Jiu Jitsu and Wing Chun (a style of Kung
Fu practiced by the late movie star Bruce Lee) who aim to teach self-discipline,
confidence and some fighting related applications. Not all of what you are going to
learn there will necessarily be practical or effective when running into a 6”, 5’ “pissed
off Samoan”.
Finally there are what I like to term the ‘killing arts’ which do not waste any time
with superfluous forms, graduations or uniforms. They are typically taught to special
Police and Military units and rely on highly effective fighting concepts like nerve
strikes and the use of real and improvised weapons. They have one objective and that
is to get the job done without any regard for rules, traditions or ethics.

It is hence important to understand that what the intended training goal is. If you want
get a bit fitter, maybe lose some weight and pick up some nifty self-defence tricks
then stick to the first two categories. If all you want to do is to learn how to defend
yourself without all the frills you might want to look for a specialized course or
training centre.

All of these have one thing in common in that they will all give you a greater sense of
confidence (justified or not) and more awareness which translates in to an improved
body language and demeanour. This is a key point in preventing confrontations as
thugs and bullies look for victims not opponents.

But remember: No matter what you end up choosing to train in, it is always
about the singer and not the song. As they say: “You is it!”

© Copyright Material – All rights reserved by Talib Fehlhaber 4

2. Deeper than Down - taking the fight to the ground

There is an urban myth in some parts of the martial arts world that something
like 90% of all fights will go to the ground.
Like with any assumption this one also has the makings of a rude awakening. Fights
can end in many different ways and I am not sure where the statistical basis for this
claim is. Even if you are a grappler or wrestler there are no guarantees that you will
end up on the floor and in fact you shouldn’t.

It is true that many altercations do end up with the participants rolling around in the
mud, but that doesn’t make it the unavoidable outcome. What’s more, to always aim,
expect or assume that a fight will go the ground can have serious consequences for
both parties. First of all interpersonal physical violence his highly unpredictable as
there are countless variables that can not be foreseen. And even if they could it would
be near impossible to accommodate them, i.e. thinking about everything that could go
wrong, as there would hardly be any time to do anything else. But let’s just look at
some of the dangers and challenges you are faced with if a fight was to go to the
ground, whether out of choice or necessity.
Once down there you become immediately vulnerable to the otherwise uninvolved
opportunist, who might just decide to take penalty shots at your head for no reason
other than “a bit of fun”. Drink plays a particular crucial role here as even only a
moderate amount of alcohol can significantly reduce someone’s inhibition to callously
inflict injury without provocation. This immediately highlights the fact that you will
lose much of your environmental awareness once you are on the ground, especially so
if you had a few pints yourself. And other than a tournament venue there are no
referees or medical staff on stand by to help you in a grimy pub toilet.
And even if you are alone with your opponent you will literally find yourself in a very
tight spot if he (or she) suddenly produces a sharp object.

So from a self-defence perspective it is absolutely paramount to AVOID going to the

ground as much as possible. If for any reason you do find yourself on the ground or
you are on your way there your first concern is to make sure to get back on your feet
ASAP using any means necessary.

3. Show Me The Money

It is our lack of awareness that gets us into mostly avoidable situations.

The problem we as law abiding and tax paying citizens have is that for most part we
rarely if ever experience raw and unprovoked acts of physical violence or even verbal
abuse. We get our kicks in movies and video games, others however might like to
take it a step further and get a kick out of some unsuspecting pedestrian.
For most of us bad things only ever happen to “other people”, it’s something you hear
on the news or read in the papers. This almost blissful false sense of security is all the
worst if somebody suddenly rips you out of your comfort zone by shouting at you and
thereby whipping themselves into an adrenalin monster that will be hard to deal with.

But what to do? Prevention is known to be better than cure and half of self-defence is
conflict avoidance and failing that, the other half is spend with conflict management.

© Copyright Material – All rights reserved by Talib Fehlhaber 5

It’s a bit like “the art of fighting without fighting”. What I am talking about is
awareness.

It begins with simple things like avoiding public displays of money at cash machines,
stores, banks, or when getting on the bus. Or when walking, jogging or while
commuting not to wear headphones, as this shuts you off from the outside world and
makes you even more vulnerable to sudden, unprovoked violence and attack.

If you are ever in the unenviable position of being held up and the mugger asks for
your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you,
chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he
will go for the wallet/purse. Leg it!

4. Kicking Disasters

Contrary to popular belief kicking someone in a fight could get you into more
trouble than its worth.
There has never been a time in modern history were martial arts moves have been
more popularised in movies, computer games and TV shows than they are today. This
“pop culture” however, more than not, gives us a distorted perception of what to do or
how people might react in a violent confrontation. It is important to remember that all
of the stuff in these shows and flicks is scripted, rehearsed and performed by actors
and experienced stunt men and women. The vast majority of what is being displayed
is achieved with the help of wires, camera tricks and special effects because it has to
look good. As a rule it is safe to say that the more you can actually see what and how
something is happening in a fight scene the less realistic it actually is.

Anyway, standing on one leg or making laboured animal noises will not impress
anybody especially once they have decided to victimize you. Surviving a fight is all
about deception and exploiting your opponent’s weaknesses and not to show off
and/or to further antagonise your assailant.

Although kicks are in many ways the trademark moves of what most people associate
with martial arts, there are kicks and then there are kicks. As mentioned before many
martial arts systems perform kicks and other acrobatics to stay fit or to preserve some
cultural heritage. In the context of street self-defence however, kicks can become a
liability especially if environmental factors conspire against you.
So how should kicks be used? In functional fighting systems kicks are either used as a
distraction or as a follow up tool. They should never be used to start a fight nor should
they be used above your own or your opponents waist. The classical and often fatal
trick of kicking someone’s knife out of their hands has proven to be as impractical as
it is dangerous to the defender and should be avoided at all cost. Also be very aware
of your environment when trying to kick. This would include slippery surfaces you
might be standing on as well as restricting clothing such as tight fighting jeans or
skirts. You are always more balanced and mobile while your feet are firmly placed on
the floor, no matter how cool you think you would look when kicking some to the
head. As the late move star and real life martial artist Bruce Lee said “I’ll kick you in
the head as much as I punch you in the foot”.

© Copyright Material – All rights reserved by Talib Fehlhaber 6

5. Weapons Are Not The Answer – You Are

As mentioned before there are many more factors that will have an impact on your
performance, when it comes to face off a real and imminent threat to you and/or your
loved ones. We live in an increasingly violent and threatening world were random
unprovoked violence is on the rise. If you live in the United States you have the
option (in many states) to arm yourself with a legal fire arm. Although this might not
be a guarantee for anything it could give you an unexpected edge and might even safe
your life.
A word of caution: Weapons are dangerous and require respect, training and a lot of
care. Simply carrying a weapon (fire arm or otherwise) doesn’t give you an automatic
advantage. You need to invest a considerable amount of training and practice to make
it your own. Also, a weapon will always escalate a confrontation to the point of no
return. So, if you are not prepared to use it don’t even bother to carry it as it can
endanger you as much as it can help you.
On the other hand if you are being faced by an armed attacker your first priority
should be to escape the situation and to avoid the weapon as much as possible. Don’t
try to be brave or prove anything try to stay alive for as long as possible.

If you live in Europe or wish to travel there the situation is completely different to that
in the USA with regards to the use and ownership of weapons. Firstly, you do not
have the right to bear arms, au contraire; the vast majority of European countries ban
the use, possession and import of live fire arms, fire arm parts and ammunition under
threat of severe prison terms. There are exceptions for owning hunting rifles and guns
for personal protection professionals, but these are tightly regulated. Even items that
are designed for self protection like martial arts weapons, Tasers or CS Gas, Mace and
Pepper Sprays are increasingly banned across Europe and their possession often
carries a prison sentence. In fact anything that can be used as an offensive weapon, i.e
inflicting bodily harm, can become a legal pitfall for its owner/user.
The point here is that even if you were able to freely purchase and own such items
they are in no way a guarantee to stop or prevent an imminent threat or attack. In
some cases these items have even become a danger for their owners as they can either
mal function or can be used against them by their attackers.
One of my teachers used to say to me once that ‘you either have a weapon or you are
one’. In many ways being able to defend yourself effectively seems the only option
left to you and even then you could face a judge if whatever you did is somehow
deemed “excessive”, i.e. outside that legal grey area known as “reasonable force”.

6. Inter-Personal Violence is Never Personal

A fight or an attack is never fair, even or easy. There are many internal as well as
external factors that can and will make a confrontation something you will dread.
There will many unexpected factors and surprises that you have never even thought of
and they will all rush you within seconds. This is simply the reality of raw undiluted
inter-personal violence, which in the eyes of most people always seem to happen to
“other people”.

© Copyright Material – All rights reserved by Talib Fehlhaber 7

There has to be no rime or reason why somebody wants to harm, humiliate or bully
you. Often times it is not even personal as someone is picking a fight with you, they
might simply fancy their chances to take out some pinned up anger or frustration on a
random person that just happens to be you. You simply happened to be at the
wrong/right time at wrong/right place. Remember that at a time when the one
dominant thought screaming through your mind will be: – “WHY ME!” it’s nothing
personal and the key is to deal with the situation decisive and without hesitation.
If you waver, doubt or hesitate it might be you who is “picking up his teeth with
broken fingers”. Don’t let it be you, put your opponent down before he does or get out
of there. It is not about winning a fight but to survive the attack, if you can escape
then get out before his friends turn up, there is no shame in that.

7. Failing To Plan Is Planning To Fail

Like with most human endeavours planning is everything. If you are caught with your
proverbial pants down, i.e. without even a faintest clue about what to do in that given
situation you are going down and it ain’t gonna be pretty.

When I teach my self-defence courses I often compare it to “First Aid” training. If

you have ever attended First Aid courses you know that everything taught is pretty
much procedure. For example, you have your primary and secondary survey to make
sure you don’t become a casualty as well. Self-Defence scenarios can be approached
in much the same way as a lot of violent and abusive behaviour follows more or less
common and predictable patterns.

For this reason I like to briefly introduce the three most common violent behaviour
scenarios. Not all violent situations follow these patterns exactly and sometimes they
can even change from one to another and/or fuse.

1. The Ambush
This is the stuff you read about in the news paper the next day. In this scenario
you are being literally ambushed i.e. attacked out of a dark door way or in a
deserted car park without any warning. Let’s hope that you have some martial
arts or military type combat training you can fall back on. Otherwise it’s going
to be grim for you. The key here is prevention rather than cure. Avoid dark
and deserted places especially if you had something to drink.
2. The Challenge
This scenario describes some typical male macho behaviour whereby some
guy is challenging you to step outside to settle the dispute “like men”. Of
course he forgets to mention that several of his friends are already waiting for
you tooled up with baseball bats and Stanley knives to turn you into
Hamburger meat. If you’re dumb enough to follow the invitation you deserve
everything you get.
3. The Interview
This is perhaps the most common of male vs. male confrontational scenarios.
It is called ‘the interview’ as it is a question based set-up in which the
aggressor is asking repeated nonsense questions to intimidate you. You
will hear things like “What are you looking at?” or “Do you think I’m funny?”
etc. Again, all of these questions are designed to catch you off guard and to

© Copyright Material – All rights reserved by Talib Fehlhaber 8

 intimidate. DO NOT try to engage into a conversation by answering. The more
you try to pacify that person the more he will convince himself that you will
loose and grow into that “Adrenaline Monster” which is going to be hard to
handle.

Violence towards women

Unlike violence (physical or verbal) of male vs. male, violence towards women is
different in that a very high percentage of women are assaulted by someone they
know out of their circle of friends, family and/or work colleagues. Most violence and
abusive behaviour towards women is sexually motivated and as a woman you must
act earlier and very decisive. If you allow someone to become “comfortable” by
making inappropriate remarks and comments regarding your body, it will be much
harder to deter that person to go to “phase two” and start uninvited physical contact.
Don’t concern yourself as to how you appear or how you come across, if that person
or people around you might think that you are a bit of a “bitch” then that’s ok. Better
that than he alternative.
Remember: Bullies and thugs look for victims not opponents.

So what can you do to avoid or deal with these and other situations? The following is
a 5 Point Exit Strategy that will give you a certain level of control. It’s not a silver
bullet or a guarantee for anything, but certainly better than being clueless.

The Five Point Exit Strategy

1. Don’t Be There
Try to avoid crime Hot Spots, like dark alley ways, multi story car parks or parks at
night especially if you are alone and/or if you had too much to drink.

2. Get Out!
Once you find yourself in an unsafe place or volatile environment just leave. If you
are in a bar or restaurant and it is starting to get unpleasant simply vacate the
premises.

3. Negotiate
If you can’t help but being there and can’t just leave because it might be your birthday
party, etc. then try to give the loudmouth a way out. I have found that often a person
might not so much be bend on fighting if he/she has a way to get out without loosing
face. This is particularly effective if that person is under the influence of alcohol. Try
to appease your antagonist without dropping your guard and watch out for his friends.

4. Rumble!
If all else has failed then you have to resort to one of the basic human responses, when
faced with an imminent threat or danger. Its either going to be fight or flight and there
is very little in-between. I use the maxim of preparing for the worst, whilst hoping for
the best. If it kicks off you must act fast and decisive, any hesitation can cost you
dearly. Remember that if you are kind to your opponent you are usually cruel to
yourself. Worry about the consequences later and try to stay alive first. And if you
still have any doubts do it for your loved ones, think of what they will be going

© Copyright Material – All rights reserved by Talib Fehlhaber 9

through if you end up in hospital or worse. Either escape or fight back, whatever you
decide to do, do it quickly and don’t stop until you are safe. If you have decided to
fight and the other person no longer poses a threat get out of there equally fast.

5. The Aftermath
After all has been said and done it is usually far from over. You may have to deal with
the Police or that person’s friends. Make sure to vacate the premises to avoid further
reprisals. You may also experience a heighten state of fear or awareness for several
days after the altercation. This is normal and should wear off after about a week or so,
if it doesn’t you might want to seek counselling.

Keep

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Bonus

Materials

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 10 Hands On Self-Defence Tips That Could Save your Life

1. If a mugger asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it
away from you.... Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse
than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. Leg it!

2. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to
be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at night!

3. When out for a walk, jog or while commuting, try to go with a friend. If you go out to
exercise alone don't wear headphones. This reduces your ability to detect an
attacker approaching from behind.

4. Avoid walking alone at night when you are upset or have been drinking. Your
awareness level is likely to be low.

5. Have your keys ready while approaching your house or vehicle or even while
taking a stroll. If you spot a potential assailant, you can hurry into your car or house.
Keys can also be an effective personal safety weapon. A personal defence weapon
is useless if it is at the bottom of a purse or pocket.

6. If you spot a suspicious person or group of people, go around them as opposed

to walking through them. Consider crossing the street.

7. If someone asks for the time or directions or tries to initiate a conversation,

remember that you do not have to answer. If you do, keep it brief and move on. If
you become suspicious, you may instruct the person to keep his distance.

8. Consider your clothing and footwear for defence and escape capabilities.

9. Avoid public displays of money at cash machines, stores, banks, getting on

the bus, etc.

10. If you carry a handbag tuck it under your arm. It is best to keep money in your
pockets. If someone does grab your purse let it go. Property is not worth getting
hurt over.

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 Vital Targets on the Human Body

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© Copyright Material – All rights reserved by Talib Fehlhaber 13