A rather serious subject--Self defense for women.

A good friend of mine, who has been teaching Martial Arts for 40+ years, has produced a collection of instructional videos, of various subjects.  When we first met, it was his Whip Basics videos that taught me about whip cracking for sport.  I found that his teaching, over all of the you tube videos out there were concise, simple, and complete.  SAFE.  There is no bravado, no showing off, no look-what-I-can-do examples, leaving you guessing as to how to do it. He made no promises, he just taught you what he knew.  He showed you with good, clear video, plenty of examples, and really great explanations.  He wants to see you succeed.  He is approachable.  He is more than willing to help you.  He's Robby Amper.

About 1 year later, he decided to try a video how to on Nunchaku Basics.  Again, I was not disappointed with yet another means to exercise and gain coordination added to my routine of sporatic hobbies.  Slow, easy instruction with Robby's very calm way of teaching made the video perfect for myself and even my kids.  He made it accessible to anyone and even though nunchaku was not a particular interest to me, it was something I wanted to do, to hone my coordination for my whip cracking.  Not being very coordinated overall myself, it was worth it to try and practice.  It helped with the control, concentration, and even patience.  I will never be a Bruce Lee, unless of course, Bruce could have been fat redhead with ADD and cankles, but I can keep from whacking myself in the back with my whip, I can execute a crack, I can hit a target better than I ever could before, and I can figure stuff out without damaging myself.  I have these tools to succeed.

When he told me about his idea for a self defense video for women, I was skeptical at first.  There is so much information out there on technique, that I really wasn't sure he could make something different than what was already there.  My thoughts were, that in order to really be prepared to survive an attack, being a black belt in martial arts was the way to go.  If you didn't know any, you beat someone with a hairbrush and hoped for the best.  He says otherwise and he says it unlike anyone else.

Knowing Robby personally, I can say this:  He does not lie to you. He genuinely cares about helping people and he is not afraid to get his hands dirty to save a life.  From the sidelines, I've watched this project unfold, listened to the schematics, offered advice and opinions of my own, asked questions, and it is different.  It is for everyone--fat, thin, in shape, out of shape, old and young.   It is raw, scary, truth.  He makes no promises, no guarantees, but he provides tools.

You can hand someone a hammer who has never held a hammer and set them in front of a project involving removing nails.  One of two things will happen.  Failure completely, or the nails may or may not be pulled with a lot of pain and blood as a result.  Or, you can explain what the hammer does, how it works, how to be safe with it, and allow the person to practice with it before taking on the project and get a much better result, even success.  This is what is happening here. This is why it's different.

Robby said, "You won't find pink gym shoes and a jumpsuit here.  The attacker will not follow a script.  They won't be stopped because you are yelling or kicking or saying no.  They do not care if you are pretty or ugly, big or little, dressed provocatively or plainly, rich or poor.  They care about being in control."

The question to be answered then, is, what tools do you have to screw that up for your attacker?  And, are you willing to learn what these tools are? Are you willing to practice with these tools to accomplish your project?

Here is your proverbial hammer.  Stay Alive. To be released September 1, 2016.  Translated into 6 languages.   Because, safety and awareness is universal.