Stick, Pipe and Bat Attacks

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 25th Jun 2018

A baseball bat, or similar stick-like weapon, is not as easily concealed as a knife or a gun, which means it’s unlikely to be a weapon that an attacker has on them, as part of their everyday carry. This means that it will likely need to be fetched before an attack– such as a tire iron, retrieved from the trunk of a car – or found, e.g. a piece of pipe lying on the ground, a pool or snooker cue in a bar, etc. Otherwise, it’s part of a pre-planned assault, such as a weapon to be used in a...Click To Read More

Knives In Context

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 18th Jun 2018

Everything works within its own context. Despite the claims of some systems/individuals that a particular solution or approach will always work, anyone who has a first-hand experience of violence will tell you that there are times when things that have worked well in a number of situations, aren’t necessarily going to work in every one. I see effective self-defense training, as teaching individuals how to recognize, create, and adapt to the situations they find themselves in, rather than blindly trying to fit square pegs in round holes, because all they have—and have been given—are square pegs. Violence is context-driven, and...Click To Read More

Time And Place

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 11th Jun 2018

In instances of stranger-related violence and crime – where the aggressor is unknown to the victim –  perhaps the most significant component is the location where the interaction takes place. Crime isn’t evenly spread across a geography, it is concentrated in “hot-spots”, even down to the house level e.g. those working in law-enforcement will tell you there are homes they are repeatedly called to etc. However, locations aren’t static; they are dynamic things which possess life-cycles i.e. different types of crime will happen at different times of day. City centers host a disproportionate amount of crime, however the type of...Click To Read More

Leg Grabs For Judo & Self-Defense

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 4th Jun 2018

In 2013, the rules of IJF competitive Judo changed, disallowing any grabs to the legs, or the pants of the GI (the blue or white uniform that competitors wear). Whilst, I understand the reasons for doing so, what was lost, were a number of throws, and controls that from a self-defense perspective were extremely useful, and effective. As I don’t teach competitive Judoka anymore, and my focus is purely on self-defense and reality-based fighting, I still teach and allow grabs to the legs and the pants in my training. In this article I want to look at some of the...Click To Read More