BE SAFE, BE STREET SMART! ..and what is Krav Maga?

How to be aware, stay safe and defend yourself when traveling solo?
What is KRAV MAGA and how it can help you to be safe?

Dear Readers,

Bad luck...

As most of you know my previous post was about bad luck - lots of it, which I'm sure made some of you laugh, even in tears, as it really was surreal, for sure, and now, years later I laugh at it too, it was hilarious! I kind of end up to these sticky situations, but good thing is, I also know how to get out of them!

Really bad luck and bad people...

Sometimes, when you travel, especially if you are a female and traveling alone, bad luck is not the only thing that can ruin your trips.

Sometimes it can be bad people. And you may end up into a situation where you most certainly don’t feel like laughing – on the contrary!

On this post I tell you about my dear hobby, Krav Maga and how that helps me and could also help you to avoid dangerous situations, and, if you do end up into one, survive it as a winner.

Goal 1: Learn how to avoid dangerous, threatening situations and be street smart
Goal 2: If you and up into one, know what to do so that you don’t get hurt and if necessary you know how to defend yourself.

CONTENT OF THIS BLOG POST:

1.What is Krav Maga?

A. Background 

B. Krav Maga for Women

2. Interview of Krav Maga Instructor, Jonna Vainikainen 

3. Some IMPORTANT general safety advice for female solo traveler... including some real life stories of what has happened to me on my travels...

May sound serious and even boring, but it's not!

  READ THE BLOG POST! 

                        Any of these instructions may even SAVE YOUR LIFE one day!        

*****

1. WHAT IS KRAV MAGA?

A. Background:

Krav Maga is a self-defense system developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It is known for its focus on real-world situations and its extremely efficient and brutal counter-attacks. It's about emphasizing threat neutralization, simultaneous defensive and counter-attacks with aggression.

Attacks are aimed at the most vulnerable parts of the body, and training is not limited to techniques that avoid severe injury. Drills provide maximum safety to students by the use of protective equipment and the use of reasonable force. While training we learn to defend against all variety of attacks and are taught to counter in the quickest and most efficient way.

It's about...

*Maximum effectiveness and efficiency in order to neutralize the opponent's attack as quickly as possible.

*Maintaining awareness of surroundings while dealing with the threat in order to look for escape routes, further attackers, objects that could be used to defend or help attack, and so on.

Krav Maga encourages students to avoid confrontation. 

If this is impossible or unsafe, it promotes finishing a fight as quickly as possible.

*Targeting attacks to the body's most vulnerable points, such as: the eyes, face, solar plexus, groin, ribs, knee, foot, fingers, liver, etc.

Training can also cover the study and development of situational awareness to develop an understanding of one's surroundings, learning to understand the psychology of a street confrontation, and identifying potential threats before an attack occurs. It may also cover ways to deal with physical and verbal methods to avoid violence whenever possible.

Good Krav Maga training consists of the following parts: Technical, tactical, physical and mental.

My Krav Maga practice:

I’m only on the P1 level, i.e. 1st level practitioner. It means that I've passed the first, basic training course and now trained almost for two years. The actual test to pass the basic training course of 10 weeks and to get to level P1 was 3 hours of full on training, so it really isn't easy. You get kicked, punched in the head, strangled - all controlled, naturally.However, it may save my life one day, so totally worth every drop of sweat and bruise that I get, and, you know what - without them, you wouldn't be able to react in a real situation as pain would freeze you!
At this point, I'd like to emphasize that Krav Maga is never to be used just to hurt someone, but only to defend yourself or some other person if necessary, and before using force, always, at first, try to solve situation verbally. 

I practice Krav Maga in order to get in better shape, get street smart and to be able to defend myself - not because I want to get to certain level, levels are only one way to express your skills to other trainers so that we know what the opponent can and cannot do.

B. Krav-maga.com/krav-maga-for-women:

                                                          

Why women should practice Krav-Maga?

Why is it important?

1. Physical health
Confidence is important. False confidence is dangerous. All our practitioners are introduced to the realities of violence and the necessity of accurately assessing the situation.

As with many types of physical training, Krav Maga will have a positive effect on overall fitness levels. The difference between Krav Maga and traditional workouts? You will never get bored. You can build: Strength, endurance, stamina, power, core strength & toning and improved coordination & balance.

2. Physical self-defense

For women, in particular, Krav Maga is particularly effective because the skills are designed to address the realities of violence when power, size, and strength are factors.

3. Psychological aspect

As you've probably realized by now, Krav Maga is, indeed, tough self-defense system and is no child's play. However, don't be afraid of it, it's not your enemy, being helpless, victim and bad people are, and that is exactly it would be good to know at least the basics. 

(Readers: For your information, there are photos here of situations that have been acted by me, and my son who has practiced Aikido for 9 years and Krav Maga for 3 years, please, do not try to do this without proper instructions and protection.)                                                                           

2. INTERVIEW OF Jonna Vainikainen, Krav Maga Instructor

(Blog writer's questions are marked as "Q")

Q. How long have you trained Krav Maga and what is your level in it?

I have trained Krav Maga since 1998 and my level is Expert 1 (Krav Maga Global).

Readers: for your information, my instructor, Jonna Vainikainen, who during the interview was Expert 1 is now presumably the 4th woman in the entire world to have achieved Expert 2 level.

- - -
(Source: Wikipedia)

Blogger's comments about levels & categories

The grades are divided into 3 main categories/levels:

Practitioner (P), Graduate (G) and Expert (E) and they have 5 ranks. 

Practitioner: Grades P1 through to P5 are the student levels and make up the majority of the Krav Maga community.

Graduate: provides students to demonstrate a proficiency in all of the P level techniques before advancing. The majority of instructors hold a G level grade and are civilian instructors. The Graduate syllabus also builds on the Practitioner syllabus by focusing more on developing fighting skills. 

The Expert grades cover more advanced military and 3rd party protection techniques as well as advanced sparring and fighting skills. People who hold these ranks tend to teach also in other sectors such as military and law enforcement in addition to civilian. In order to progress to Expert level, one has to demonstrate proficiency in all of the Practitioner and Graduate syllabi and have excellent fighting skills. 

Master rank is beyond Expert 5, but this rank is held by only a small number of individuals and reserved only for those who have dedicated a lifetime to Krav Maga and made valuable contributions to teaching and promoting the style.

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Q. Why did you start Krav Maga training in the first place?

I've always been interested in self-defense and martial arts. In 1998 Krav Maga was quite a new thing in Finland and I wanted to have a go. And here I am almost 20 years after…


Q. Could you give some tips for solo traveling women (regardless of the destination) on how to avoid a situation where they may feel threatened?
It is self-evident not to go to insecure places and if you see a potential risk, choose another route. It is also important to prevent possible situations:

Think also about your posture and body language; when you walk tall and look self-confident there is a smaller chance of being attacked.

And yes, self-defense training gives you tools; mentally, physically, technically and tactically. You can think self-defense skills like insurance, it is good to have one, but it’s better if you never need to use it.


Q. So, how would you advise female to do if she ends up to a place where she is alone in a threatening situation? Are there any simple “tricks” for her to defend herself, say, for example in a situation where a drunken male is trying to corner her up and is basically harassing her already? Would you give a different kind of instructions if it was a robbery situation?

Set and keep your boundaries

Don’t let anyone come near you unless you want to

Tell the person to keep away verbally and physically by using a correct body language, tone, and words. Don’t let anyone grab you and release your immediately if you get caught.

There are no special tricks, but if you cannot release yourself otherwise, kick to the shin or groin area or fingers to the eyes can do the trick and give you enough time to escape.
The easiest way is to give what a robber wants. You can shut your credit cards and buy a new purse or bag. But you can’t buy a life. But if you have a gut feeling that the money or your purse is not enough – then you have to fight as hard as you can. In robbery situations…if you don’t need it – leave it!

Women are independent, travel around the world while they are offered less protection than in past generations. Of course, it is good to find out the potential risks of the destination before the trip.

Think what to wear e.g. does your clothing hinder you of protecting yourself or jewelry or bag tempt potential attackers and thieves.


Q. You travel quite a bit, don’t you?  Have you ever been in a real life situation where you had to use your skills to eliminate a danger?

I have traveled quite a bit, but fortunately, I have always traveled safely. One advantage of training Krav Maga is to foresee and prevent potential risks and dangers.

Q. Is there such thing as overreacting in such situation, especially for an untrained person?
Especially in Finland, we have been thought to think that unless life is in danger, we are not allowed to take action and defend ourselves since there have been occasions wherein the defender has ended up being accused of an assault.

The most important thing to remember is that being attacked is not your fault and you have a right to defend yourself against unjust assault.

What you can do and how you can defend yourself in different situations varies in different countries. By training self-defense, you can increase your abilities to act properly.

Q. Especially when traveling in countries with completely different culture, women may not have same kind position and rights as they have in Finland, and top of that, there may very well also be a language barrier.
What can a woman do, if she feels threatened by a man but they don’t have a mutual language?Just saying "No" may not be enough at all.

You need to have determination and persistence.
Body language and the tone are more important than the language. 
In some countries looking in the eyes can be interpreted as a signal or approval to approach or bad behavior so it something to avoid – even though we have always been taught otherwise. Dark sunglasses can be a solution to this and prevent us doing an unintentional mistake.

Q. Do you think women were safer if they took a self-defense course/lessons?

Yes, definitely.
The actual course “makes you think” and can give ideas and solutions how to protect yourself. But you need to train regularly to gain proper self-defense skills.


Q. There are many different types of fighting/martial art and self-defense training courses. 

How can a woman decide which one to take in order to defend herself, in this case, say, when traveling?
What is your recommendation? Krav Maga or something else?

If you want to learn self-defense, train self-defense.
If you want to compete, then a competitive martial art can be something for you.
In self-defense classes: you learn to defend yourself in different situations e.g. indoors, outdoors, standing, on the ground, against one or multiple armed or unarmed attackers.
Situations that can happen in the everyday life – not in the ring.
Of course my recommendation for self-defense training is Krav Maga (Krav Maga Global).
In Krav Maga Global we teach not only to deal with various types of attacks, we also teach women the appropriate mental capabilities to support their physical readiness to fight.

Q. Would you advise men differently than women?

To some extent, yes. 

In general, self-defense is the same, but Krav Maga has been developed to meet the specific needs of each type of individual.

What women encounter are different types of harassment and stalking and they are typically more likely to face slaps, attacks at closer range, grabs, pulling and pushing and attacks on the ground. It is important to learn how to deal these kinds of threats and attacks. Women are generally smaller, differently fostered and mentally different than men. In addition, women usually carry more bags and jewelry and have longer hair, nails and that kind of clothing that can be a disadvantage in a self-defense situation.

But, on the other hand, women can easily surprise the attacker and by learning Krav Maga they can turn their disadvantages into advantages.

Thank you so much, Jonna!

I'm sure my readers are as grateful for these tips as am I. Krav Maga has brought, already after this little time, some confidence when traveling alone. Also, I've noticed that my awareness of the surroundings is on another level after we've practiced situations where you get attacked without a warning.

Think in advance, avoid situations, don't be provocative - or provoked, walk away, change your route if anything suspicious is on sight.And, make noise if you do end up into an altercation, that way you get other people's attention and the attacker may get scared and even run away. 

As simple as shouting out loud may work.
Whatever you do, don't freeze - react!                                                                  

3. Some general safety advice for a female solo traveler and some examples of real life...

1. If you go out for drinks, even with your friends, always keep the drink in your own hand. 

Real life story:

This happened to me about 13 years ago:
I was talking to some Bulgarian guys in a night club around 11 pm and next thing I remember was waking up from the toilet at 4.30. I had my belongings with me, luckily!
The night club was nearly empty, I had no idea where I was as we went there with my friends and we stayed at the hotel in another town. I was so confused, didn't even realize until next day that someone "spiced up" my drinks. After all I had about 3 drinks all night.

What happened then? Well, not one person spoke English at that time of the night. One old (like about 80-90 yrs) poor man, sleeping on the ground pointed me through the park and said "taxi" - if only I had money to give him to show my appreciation, but had to keep them all to my taxi.

That park was DARK and looked really suspicious, but that was all I had, so to the park I went. Thank God I had my hotel room (old-fashioned) key with me, as one good tip is to put the key inside your fist so that the key sticks out between your fingers, so that if someone attacks you, you can punch them with the fist that has key sticking out, at least it a) hurts b) leaves marks.

So I managed to get a taxi. I didn't tell the driver that I don't have enough money to drive to another town wherein we stayed at. My cell phone was dead (no battery left and no connection anyway) so I couldn't even call my friends. Taxi driver was, indeed, a bit upset with me not having enough money, but let me go.

Another lesson: NEVER LEAVE YOUR FRIENDS ALONE! (well, for obvious reasons I'm not friends with them anymore!)

2. If you need a ride, take an official taxi, if possible.

Take a photo of taxis number if you are in a country that even taxis aren't always that trustworthy and send the photo to someone, pretend to talk on your phone during the ride, you may even pretend telling someone: "By the way, I'm in a taxi, on my way to the restaurant called..." This way it's riskier to taxi driver to do anything as there is someone out there who knows where you are. 

Real life story

This happened about 20 yrs ago.
When I lived in Australia, a girl I knew almost got raped by a taxi driver. She remembered the number of the taxi. She had no proof, but it was very obvious that something happened, she was shaking when she came to the night club where we were waiting for her. Once her brother found out about this, he gathered his friends and they went to look for the taxi. And... they found it. The driver saw them coming and run away, and these guys were so angry, so they turned his small taxi upside down! Imagine that! What a revenge. Of course, the right thing to do would've been to call the police, but they were young (as was I at the time) and they also knew that there was nothing police could do as the girl had no proof - but she had the taxi's number! I bet that driver never attacks another girl, at least not in his taxi anyway...

3. Take a ride, rather than walk on night time, if possible, ask your ride from your hotel if that is where you're staying. There are cars that look like taxis but aren't really taxis and people may really get hurt and, at least, robbed if get into one.

4. Keep your wallet and valuables out of sight, especially if night time and walking on the streets - and don't put your purse into your jeans etc. pocket, put it to somewhere safe (inside your sweater etc.) and don't keep all your money and credit cards in one place.


5. Don't leave your suitcases or any belongings unguarded at the airports, public transportation etc. (or other places for that matter, even in hotels, make sure that a staff member actually takes your bags somewhere safe, so that no one can take it or put anything into it). You may lose them or end up being a courier to some illegal items and end up even into prison - this has happened, we've all heard those horror stories.

6. This may sound like an odd advice but don't look like a tourist, try to blend in. 
Tourists are the easiest targets. If you have to look at the map, look inside a cafe etc. not in the middle of the street as then those who are looking for victims notice you, follow you when they see that you might be a bit lost, then offer you help and moment later you find yourself either mugged, robbed or even more lost than before anyway... or worse, but let's not even go there.

7. Always let someone know where you're going. Whether it's your family at home, or hotel receptionist, who you already know to some extent etc. and tell them when are you planning to come back. So that if you don't come back, and people start to look for you, at least they know where to begin.

8. As much as you like making new friends, don't trust people too easily - not everyone is as nice as you are. You really can't tell whether especially men are really just willing to be your friends or do they have another motive...


9. Be prepared! Make sure that if you end up losing your money, passports etc. you have someone to contact to get more money, you have stored a photocopy of your passport to internet etc. - i.e. prepare for the worst case scenario. This also includes: make sure you have proper traveler's insurance! Know the emergency number, it may not be 112 in all countries!

10. Know at least basics on how to defend yourself if you end up into a situation wherein your personal boundaries aren't being respected. The most important advice is: leave, immediately if you feel that something is not right. Quite often your intuition is right. If you feel like you are not able to walk away, try get other peoples attention, scream if you have to, that may scare the attacker away. If you have to physically defend yourself, aim to the eyes, groin area, punch the chin or plexus. 

Hopefully, though, you never need these tips.
Naturally, there are many other smart tips and tricks to take into account when traveling, whether you're a male or female traveler, solo or not. These were just examples of what came to my mind. *

I would love to read your comments and tips as well as your real life stories, so please, leave a comment or comment on this on Twitter!

*****

Just because I warned you here of some of the situations that may end up badly, it doesn't mean that it would happen to you. It just means that you have to be street smart, be prepared and know how to defend yourself in case you do end up into a bad situation, whether it's just a threat or even an assault, or maybe there is an accident or you get sick... React - don't freeze!

Don't stop traveling just because these might happen - just be prepared and you find traveling, even more, fun as then you feel safer and also, your loved ones are more comfortable when you travel because you've taken precautions and don't take unnecessary risks. 

I wish you all safe travels, happy days and if anyone tries to hurt you, remember, you have a right to defend yourself - no one has right to come to your personal space or touch you unless you give them a permission. 

Good luck and happy travels!

With love,
*****
Mia

Next blog post...On my next blog post I will tell you hilarious stories about what it was like when two women, originally from Canada, now living in Amsterdam came to Finland and got to experience some really original, natural Finnish things - something that they probably will never forget - and me neither.

Lots of fun pictures coming to that post as well - don't miss it!

Who were those visitors?
Well, that I will reveal in 3 weeks when I post my next blog. Let's just say that she really has traveled a lot, also roads less traveled and you might know her from our travelers' chat on Twitter... so don't go anywhere, some crazy, fun stories still coming up!

Due date for publishing the next blog is August 14, 2016, so have patience people, it's worth waiting, just like are any other good things in life!

...You know how the world may sometimes feel like it's messed up, everything seems to be up side down?
Perhaps you are then visiting the country down under?
Or maybe you need to check yourself, it might be you who is up side down - not the world! 😉