Updated Boxing Section
I’ve just updated our boxing section with a new training drill and a section on boxing for the street. I’ve also made the self defense training and strategy sections a bit clearer, and will be making plenty more additions in the coming week. So check back soon!
When most people use the term self defense they use it to refer to defense against a physical attack. With so much of our lives moving onto the web, the idea of self defense needs to be expanded to encompass our computers and the internet. CNN recently published an article on how Chinese hackers (most likely the Chinese government) were able to gain access to Gmail accounts via a backdoor created for the US government to spy on Gmail users suspected of connections to terrorism. The article points out that if the US government can intercept or steal your emails, so can foreign governments and hackers.
The best solution is to encrypt your emails. That way, even if they’re stolen from your computer or your online account (Gmail, Hotmail, etc.) the hacker will be unable to read them. Encrypting your emails is easy. The only catch is that whoever you’re sending them to will need to be able to decrypt them. So both you and the people you email will need to install software to encrypt and decrypt emails. Fortunately, this is very easy, and there is no good excuse for not doing it. Unlike with physical self defense, setting up email encryption takes just a few minutes…and you’re done. Here’s how to do it for free with Mozilla’s Thunderbird mail client:
1. If you don’t already have Thunderbird you can download it here. It’s an excellent, free mail client that functions like Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail.
2. Install GNU Privacy Guard on your computer. You can download it here (and here for Mac users). This will allow your computer to encrypt and decrypt files.
3. Download the Enigmail add on for Thunderbird. Here’s the link for both Windows and Mac users. This add on will give Thudnerbird the ability to encrypt and decrypt email using GNU Privacy Guard.
4. After you install it, you will have an OpenPGP option in Thunderbird. Select Key Management, then Generate a New Key Pair, and follow the instructions.
5. After you’ve created your public and private encryption keys, right click your key and email it to your contacts. Ask your contacts to follow these steps, and send you their public keys. Now you’ll be able to send and receive encrypted emails that hackers, corporations, and governments will not be able to read!
Jab & Stab
All empty hand vs. knife defenses are problematic. The guy with the knife has a huge advantage. With that said, there is one unskilled attack, common in prisons, that is harder to deal with than the rest…the jab and stab, shove and stab, or sewing machine. In this attack the attacker uses his lead arm to shove you and keep you away from the knife wielding arm while he repeatedly stabs you.
Sewing Machine
Even if you manage to block the first stab the attacker just pulls back cutting your arm, or continues to stab you faster than you can block. So what do you do? Here’s a solution as good as any: The Jab & Stab Defense.
I traveled to Cambodia last year and found a number of interesting depictions of Cambodian martial arts on a temple wall in Siem Reap. I just came across the images and realized I had forgotten to post them:
For anyone interested in Southeast Asia, Cambodia is a fantastic destination. The temples of Angkor were incredible, the food was fantastic, and the people were extraordinarily friendly. Of course the images above are crude and uninteresting compared to the temples of Angkor…
…but this is a martial arts blog.
New Images
We took hundreds of new pictures a few weeks ago…much better than the quality we’ve had on the site so far. I’ve updated our page on the Fundamental Five with links to 4 new technique pages: the eye strike, crash, takedown defense, and clinch entry. I’ll add plenty more new sequences this week, along with clarifying and improving already existing pages. More soon…
