The “You Know What Really Hurts?” Game

by Loren W. Christensen

Once as a cop I helped arrest an extremely violent and mentally deranged Thai man who had jump-kicked a preacher in the jaw in the middle of his sermon. Afterwards, the man, who we later learned was a professional kick boxer, climbed up into the church attic, stripped nearly naked, and lay down on his back. After he kicked the first responding officer in the face, another officer and I picked up an old mattress lying in a corner, charged the man, and dropped it on him. We draped ourselves over the heavy mattress as other officers quickly applied restraints to his protruding hands and ankles.

It’s not hard to turn common items into dynamic weapons of self-defense or restraint. In the movie Zorro, Don Diego (played by Anthony Hopkins) asked Alejandro Murrieta (played by Antonio Banderas) if he knew how to use a sword. Alejandro answered, “Yes, the pointy end goes into the other man.” The same simple strategy applies to any item you can pick up: the lamp goes into the man’s face. The kitchen knife goes into the man’s shoulder. The ream of copy machine paper goes upside the man’s ear.

Right now, improvised weapons surround you, and I can say this without knowing where you’re reading this. At first, you might have to think about it a little when considering an object, but soon you will see its utility, no matter what it is.


Types of Improvised Weapons

Look around you right now for these things.

Edged weapons to slice, rake, and gouge: knife, metal-edged ruler, corner of a CD box, cheese grader, scissors

Pointed weapons to stab, gouge, ram and poke: knife, pin, pen, pencil, fork, staple, pointy ceramic

Impact weapons to slam, hammer, smash, ram, and throw: purse, grocery bag, keys, lamp, heavy sculpture, coffee cup, rolled-up magazine, hot coffee

Flexible weapons to whip, flick, strike, and restrain: pants belt, scarf, rolled-up jacket, rope


The “You Know What Really Hurts?” Game

Some people might argue that the following is a sick game. Maybe, but it’s also an easy and fun way to begin seeing common objects as potential weapons that might save your life. Here’s how it’s done.

Your coworker is leaning over your cubicle wall. “You know what really hurts?” she asks. “This stapler slammed against Mr. Johnson’s forehead.”

“You know what would really hurt?” you counter. “This copy machine dropped on that warehouse bully’s groin.”

You’re dining with a friend. “You know what would really hurt?” you say. “This Tabasco sauce thrown into the eyes of an attacker.”

Your lunch partner says, “You know what would really hurt? My burger shoved into a guy’s face followed by this napkin dispenser slammed into his ear.”

Yes, it’s a little sick, but it gets you thinking outside the parameters of what common objects are designed for.

You can even play the game by yourself.

You’re carrying a bag of groceries to your car. You ask yourself, “You know what would really hurt? This can of Hungry Man soup smashed into a mugger’s cheekbone.”

You look down at the magazine you’re reading. You ask yourself, “You know what would really hurt? This magazine rolled into a tight tube and slapped across a guy’s Adam’s apple.”

Try it. It’s fun, and you will soon see everyday objects as your personal cache of weapons.

Loren Christensen is the author of two dozen Paladin books and videos, including Deadly Force Encounters, Speed Training, and The Brutal Art of Ripping, Poking, and Pressing Vital Targets. Loren was a military policeman in Saigon during the Vietnam War and retired from the Portland, Oregon, Police Department after more than two decades of service. He can be contacted through his website at www.lwcbooks.com.

Volume 2 of Crucible All-Access Training Now Available

Horizontal Shooting and Tactics, Volume 2 of the Crucible All-Access Training series, is now available from Paladin Press. In this new DVD, Crucible's lead firearms instructor John Buchanan offers the strategy and tools needed not just to survive, but rather to prevail in the face of armed opponents.

For a quick sample of what's in the video, click below:

War: What Is It Good For?

by Ray Lyman

All my life I have been drawn to history, in particular military and political history, rather like some people are drawn to athletics, the wonders of nature, the arts, religion, video gaming, or Internet pornography. The first books I read as a child were books about the world wars, and I soon learned that my very existence was determined by the events of those wars. Through my early reading, I discovered shortly after just how influential an institution war actually is and how all the nations on Earth came into existence through war.

War has produced more significant changes in human affairs than anything else in the history of man. America is a supreme example of this, a country quite literally made by war and conflict, both internal and external.

• The American colonies survived through endemic warfare with the French and Spanish colonies of North America and their respective Native American allies.

• American independence was won through war—and a bitter war it was, waged against not only Britain and her hired German allies, but also against a significant faction of our own countrymen who fought for the loyalist cause.

• In America’s first decades as a republic, war secured for her freedom of the seas and international respect in conflicts with Revolutionary France and the Islamic pirates of the North African Barbary coast.

• War established U.S. sovereignty over the old Northwest Territory (the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota) from the British-backed Indian confederations of Blue Jacket and Tecumseh.

• War achieved the independence and annexation of Texas.

• War decided whether Mexico or the United States would be the dominant power in the American Southwest and which national flag would fly over California.

• War ended chattel slavery in the United States once and for all, an issue that had divided the nation along sectional lines for 50 years, and freed three and half million slaves.

• War made the United States a world power at Manila Bay and Santiago Bay, Cuba.

• U.S. entry into World War I transformed America into the world’s wealthiest creditor nation, turned the tide against the Kaiser’s superbly led imperial army at the gates of Paris, and gave Woodrow Wilson the power to join with the other major victors in redrawing the map of Europe and to proclaim the dubious right of national self-determination, a cause that would be taken up a generation later by Adolf Hitler.

• An act of war on Pearl Harbor set loose the American industrial dynamo that ended a decade-long Great Depression, mobilized 12 million men and women into the armed forces, built the largest navy the world had ever known with 130 aircraft carriers (today there are 11 on active service) and a score of battleships, manufactured 250,000 aircraft of all types, and supplied two grand-scale wars being waged on five continents and two oceans and the material needs of all our allies.

• Americans at war saved South Korea from Communist invasion and delayed by a decade the Communist conquest of Indochina, and the threat of war saved Western Europe from Soviet domination.

• War liberated Kuwait and deposed Saddam Hussein and the Afghan Taliban.

For better or worse, since 1942 war has been the engine of American technological and social change, giving a jump start to the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, women’s rights, the flight to the suburbs, the airline industry, juvenile crime, biker gangs, gay liberation, the interstate highway system, Alaskan and Hawaiian statehood, computers and telecommunications, the space program, the welfare state, deficit spending and the imperial presidency among other things. And the United States is but one example of this in the long run of history.

I have been asked to write a monthly column for the Paladin Planet. In the next installment, I will be examining the four reasons why nations, ethnic enclaves, and tribal groups go to war. After reading it, you will be able to span all of recorded history and apply these reasons to any and all conflicts from the ancient world to the present day.

Of course, The Lyman Report will be about much more than war. In it, I will discuss a far-ranging array of topics, including history, current events, the political process, book reviews, and even movie picks (this month’s pick: Sea of Sand, a gritty 1958 war film about the Long Range Desert Group, arguably the most successful and elite of the numerous special operations units in World War II; available in DVD from Amazon). So stay tuned.


Ray Lyman worked for Paladin Press for more than 20 years, and one of the functions he so ably filled was chief historian. In the days before Google, Ray was our go-to guy on any historical question, especially military history. Through this column, Ray is simply resuming that role.

Fierce and Female: An Interview with Dr. Ruthless

What happens when you combine primal self-defense methods with the insights of a psychotherapist and the heart of a warrior? Meet Dr. Ruthless, also known as Melissa Soalt. An award-winning women’s self-defense expert and Black Belt Hall of Fame recipient, Dr. Ruthless emerged at the forefront of the women’s self-defense movement in the mid-1980s and has created her own “Dharma of Defense.” You can see her in action in her Paladin Press DVD, Fierce and Female.

Her teachings encompass the physical and spiritual dimensions of self-defense. She unabashedly advocates for women to leverage their killer instinct—not for the sake of destruction, but to preserve and protect life. In this interview, conducted by Brooke Axtell, Dr. Ruthless shares her perspective on the female warrior spirit and why we must learn to mobilize our survival instinct and forge fear into fire.

Q: What attracted you to training in self-defense and teaching other women how to defend themselves?

A: In my late teens, I lived in the Middle East and traveled around Asia. I was attacked multiple times and violently groped. I learned I was a scrappy bitch. I successfully fought off rape attempts in Israel and Pakistan, and I suffered a lot of indignities. Women who have been violated know what it’s like to be reduced to anti-matter. It’s utterly dehumanizing. I also witnessed appalling inequities, the ways in which women are controlled by men. This birthed my undying reverence for female disobedience and the need for women’s self defense.

When I came home, I began training in martial arts. Then a decade later, in the middle of the night, a rapist broke into my home. He had cut the power and phone lines. I heard the creaking floorboards as he headed for my bed, knife in hand. Fortunately my screams sent him fleeing before he reached me. That was a terrifying event. It propelled me from martial arts to the more practical, down-and-dirty methods.

Q: You have a unique approach to self-defense. How would you describe your “Dharma of Defense”? How did it evolve?

A: My paradigm evolved from decades of immersion in the study of self-defense and the warrior mindset. Warrior paradigms are traditionally male. This mindset is dispassionate, detached, and steely. It doesn’t fully connect to women. So my approach defines a female warrior paradigm, which is far more primordial. It addresses female realities (spiritual, physical, emotional) and helps women capitalize on their greatest strengths. It is rooted in my concept of Fierce Love and the radical ability to turn fear into fire. It’s a fusion of primal self-defense—which plugs into elemental powers and capacities—and the resolute heart of the female warrior.

We need to honor ourselves with a larger view of spirituality that includes this fearsome potential. My paradigm closes the divide between our “higher” and “baser” (animal) selves and imparts a unifying, more wholesome and lustier self-persona. I view this as part of the Fighting Eros of Life.

My work is born out of two very deep feelings: love and fury. Women must know they too can be dangerous creatures and not just feel like the endangered ones.

Q: Can you tell us about the fighting methods you teach?

A: Attacks against women happen at terrifyingly close range. The predator will use his greater size and strength to dominate his intended prey and gain compliance or control.

I want women to have the option to fight. Tight quarters calls for explosive, instinctive, uncomplicated in-fighting skills that rip from our lower center of gravity and base of power, from our hips, legs, and core. I teach women smart timing strategies, how to harness the formidable charge of fear and adrenaline, refashion their bodies into decisive penetrating weapons (plus how to wield handy weapons), and counterattack to escape.

If a female chooses to fight back, she needs to be armed with this ferocity and skill. The killer instinct, nestled within ferocity, not only helps fund a woman’s fight, but it can also help a woman kill her own fear, which is sometimes necessary.

Q: You speak extensively about awakening the warrior spirit in women. What is the warrior spirit and how can women reconnect with this?

A: The female warrior spirit has always existed. It is a primordial seed that needs to be released from the field of potentials and realized in our waking dimension. We need to grasp its memory, this elemental power from our prehistoric past, and bring it into the present. With the courage it liberates, we can create far more equitable and enlightened societies.

I abhor war. But we can reject war and embrace the warrior spirit. We don’t have to relinquish our ideals for a just, compassionate world, but we also need other tools. We need to own this choice to aggressively even violently fight back to protect what we hold sacred.

One way to connect with this spirit is by tapping into our lineage. When women hear real accounts of female warriors and “deadly dames” throughout history, they begin to cultivate new ways of imaging themselves and can internalize this spirit.

Q: In your experience training women, what are the inner obstacles or beliefs that keep women from aggressively resisting attack?

A: It comes down to fear or socialization—much of it is rooted in the myth of female defenselessness or other internalized beliefs: “I’m too small; too weak; don’t have it in me.” Some internal conflicts stem from a religious ideal that disallows force or where self-love and this expression of power do not extend to the woman or mother—only to protecting the child.

In the context of self-defense, these diminishing beliefs become obstacles, the “inner muggers” that can put a choke hold on female force or create potentially lethal hesitation. Conflicts need to be reconciled in advance. For example, “I’m a worker for peace. You want me to slam what?” This is imperative because all systems must be GO.

When women answer the question, what is worth fighting for, and define their sacred boundaries, ferocity naturally arises. This ferocity doesn’t just gift us with strength, but it also dissolves inhibitions and arouses the will. So it’s a superpower.

We need to be willing to fight for what we value most. I don’t see this in opposition to the calling to make the world a better place. On the contrary, when women receive the warrior spirit and reap its muscle and might, this not only saves lives, but it also helps heal the ills and indignities imposed by fear. So it’s a curative tonic.

Q: What kind of mindset shift needs to happen for women to fully embrace their capacity to fight?

A: It’s a monumental shift in stance: from ask to take. Women have traditionally been groomed in the virtue of asking, of “May I?” whereas men have been entitled to take. Sexual assault is violent entitlement, is taking without consent. Historically, taking and ownership have been privileges of men.

Effectively resisting attack hinges on women giving themselves permission, without apology, to not only be aggressive, but to take control. Gloria Steinem once remarked that taking is, in itself, empowerment for women. Nowhere is this more true than in fight-back self-defense when now may be the only time that matters and you literally have to take charge. When the only way out is through you have to counterattack and become the huntress not the hunted.

For a female, this is the ultimate reversal. Until recent times, this wielding of forceful resistance, especially in the face of control and fear, has been largely unthinkable. Forbidden. For many, it remains counterintuitive—so it takes learning and unlearning.

Q: If you could say anything to encourage women to pursue self-defense, what would you say?

A: “Do it! Here’s the deal: regardless of technique or method, you are the weapon—the delivery system. Everything else is a tool, a force multiplier. Once this is fully understood, the need to acquire skill and cultivate our will becomes luminously clear. And to truly take our bodies back, this learning is vital.

Women are called to help the world, but as we challenge the old systems there will be violence and opposition. We need to lionize ourselves and be prepared. We need to mobilize our courage to burn down apocryphal myths and attitudes that perpetuate rape and violent entitlements. Fighting back is not the only or always the best solution, but it is a significant piece in the war to combat violence against women.

When women confront their deep-seated fears, which all women feel to some extent, when they realize their primal self-defending powers and consciously embrace the willful warrior spirit, it changes everything. Far beyond its life and dignity-saving benefits, the embodiment of the Fierce Female is vital to liberation itself, to shifting self perceptions, creating new internal power states, and to re-balancing the world.

“In the end it doesn’t matter how you get here—whether you’re pushed by fear or pulled by power—what matters is that you arrive.”


Melissa Soalt is the author of Paladin’s Fierce and Female DVD. She has blogged for The Huffington Post and has been featured and cited in diverse media outlets including The View, NBC Nightly News, SELF, The Wall Street Journal, BUST, Black Belt magazine, India’s The HINDU, and for the Committee to Protect Journalists. Visit her at www.dr-ruthless.com and join her on her Facebook Page, where she posts like mad with self-defense tips, tools, and warrior wisdom. She is at work on her first book for women.

Should gun control be a liberal vs. conservative issue?

The recent revelation that David Brock, head of the virulently antigun organization Media Matters, goes about his business in Washington, D.C., with a Glock-armed bodyguard is just another episode of high-profile individuals who preach the evils of private gun ownership while enjoying the safety and security that firearms can bring to their lives. John Lott points out a couple more notorious examples involving actress Rosie O’Donnell and then Chicago mayor Richard Daley, but it doesn’t take investigative journalism to uncover this sort of hypocrisy. The fact is, you can enact all the gun control measures on the planet and it won’t affect the comfortable security enjoyed by wealthy actors or powerful politicians. They live in secure communities, use private transportation, and participate in heavily policed public functions—safe environments all, and much of it thanks to the presence of armed men and women whose job it is to make it so.

It’s easy to look at these characters—Brock, O’Donnell, Daley—and conclude, “liberal hypocrites.” But gun control doesn’t have to be a liberal vs. conservative or Democrat vs. Republican issue. There are plenty of self-identified liberals and liberal organizations who see gun control for what it is and is not. Private gun ownership is not a political issue. It’s not a public safety issue. It’s a class issue. The 1 percent will be protected by force of arms no matter how much or how little gun control the government imposes. The 99 percent require the protection of the Second Amendment to enjoy equal opportunity for safety and security in a sometimes dangerous world.

The late environmentalist Ed Abbey got it when he wrote this brief, powerful essay. The gay rights group Pink Pistols gets it. This group obviously gets it! So if you ever find yourself engaged in yet another frustrating debate with an advocate of gun control, don’t cite information from the NRA’s website to make your case. It will get you nowhere. Cite these sources, and others like them, instead. Perspectives have a better chance of evolving when the talking points come from seemingly like-minded sources.


Today in History:
March 6, 1836: The Alamo fell to an early morning assault by 1,800 Mexican soldatos under Generals Manuel Fernandez Castrillon and Martin Perfecto de Cos. The battle was finished by sunrise, less than 90 minutes after it began. All 183 defenders under Colonel William Barrett Travis were killed either in the fighting or executed in its immediate aftermath, many making their last stands against cavalry lancers outside the walls of the mission in a futile attempt to escape. Mexican losses were estimated as anywhere from 300 to 600 killed and wounded.

The Power Factor in Solo Training

On January 5, 2012, on this blog I wrote about the strength factor and its usefulness in fighting. Here I’d like to focus on the power factor. 

The power factor is expressed when a technique is executed perfectly, both technically and in timing. It is that synergy that occurs when body mechanics, timing, intent, strength, and speed all meet, which causes the technique to succeed. So to be clear, we are talking about skill training. Of course, no blog post could cover all aspects of this subject adequately. Instead, I’ll share with you a few drills that can help establish the mind-body link in your solo training, thereby improving the conditions through which you may express that power factor.

Before moving into those drills, it is important to understand how power is generated through the body. The method is generally the same for most martial skills, but we’ll be using a simple punch as an example. The fighter begins the sequence of events the moment he steps toward the target with the intention of striking it. As the power is pushed from the ground up, it is rotated first through the legs, then through the hips, and finally through the shoulders in sequentially shortened arcs. The summation of these forces leads to the arm being forcefully extended with great torquing power into the target. The better we get at this type of coordination, the more powerful our techniques become. The more powerful our techniques, the sooner we finish the fight.

Drill 1
Since we already know that power starts from the ground up, we will first look at a simple technique to improve that aspect of our punch. This technique will take advantage of the triple extension, which happens at the ankle, knee, and hip joints.  Sports scientists have long known this is the basis of human locomotion and the foundation for athletic power. The triple extension is most easily seen in squatting or dead lifting motions. In fact, simply becoming stronger in the squat or dead lift generally improves your athletic ability, regardless of your sport. 

Definitely do your squats and dead lifts but also include this simple visualization next time you work the heavy bag or any striking target to improve your power factor.  Stand slightly farther away from the target than you normally would; the distance should be enough that you must shuffle forward to reach the target but not so far that you must lean to reach it. Once you’ve decided to strike, visualize a giant hand pushing  your hips toward the target.  This drill will teach you how to get more drive by bringing more awareness to the hips and that triple extension.

Drill 2
Once good forward drive has been developed, we need to start focusing on increasing the centrifugal force initially developed by our forward impetus through the rotation of your body. To get a better picture of what I mean, look back at the squat and the triple extension which occurs as we go up. Shuffling forward is nothing more than a squat going forward in a split stance, very much like a sprinter taking off. Through that split stance, we see the first and largest arc of rotation as the leg drive is channeled through our hips. If we couple the forward push of our hip with the complementary pull from the opposite shoulder, we will see an often dramatic increase in punching power. 

This time stand in front of the heavy bag, where you will reach it easily. Once you’ve decided to strike, initiate the blow with pull from the shoulder opposite the striking hand. For a right-handed punch, it will be the left shoulder that will go back. If you’re having trouble engaging the muscles for the pull, doing pull ups and rows will bring a lot of awareness to that area and also increase your punching power.

Drill 3
The final phase of a punch has to do a lot with accuracy as well as follow-through.  You will notice as you work your heavy bag sometimes it “pops” but doesn’t move much and other times it swings but doesn’t make much noise. This has to do with landing your punches at the appropriate distance. Too close, and it becomes a push, swinging it. Too far, and you cause it to spin. Landing it in the perfect distance has a distinct sound and feeling. It also doesn’t move much since the energy has been effectively transferred into the bag. Once you know how to hit the bag well, increase the penetration of your blows by visualizing punching through the bag. Remember, it should pop and not swing or spin. For those who have not yet mastered the heavy bag but wish to work something that may later improve this aspect of their punch, try clapping push-ups.  

There you have it, folks: three easy drills you can incorporate into your solo training to improve your power factor. Please remember that we’ve only scratched the tip of the iceberg here and,  never forget the old boxing adage, “not only can you make it land, but can you make it hurt.”





Guro Tony Torre is featured in the new Paladin DVD, Filipino Dirty Boxing. In the video Torre blends the traditional with the modern to form a comprehensive fighting system designed to enhance any fighter’s training regimen. To see Tony in action, click on the video link below.

Meet the Paladin Staff: Donna H.

Donna H. is everyone’s favorite at Paladin: as the company accountant, she’s the one who writes all the checks.

Donna is a free spirit who brings her own style to Paladin. Before starting at Paladin in 2005, she ran two businesses that had absolutely nothing to with her current bookkeeping “skills.” The first was a business called DNAJ (Donna’s Nifty Ass Jeans), which provided custom-designed jeans to the Native American entertainment community and private individuals from the festival circuit. The second business was professional beadwork, which also was geared to Native American entertainers and groups, as well as to Midwestern trading posts and private collectors.

Donna participates in the Annie Oakleys, a group of women who meet monthly for target practice at the Boulder Rifle Club. Given her artistic background, her interests, not surprisingly, are museums, galleries, live theater, ballet, and most live performances of any kind. A proud member of the Longmont Senior Center, Donna calls herself a “pretty good” amateur photographer. She’s also quite modest about her talents.