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Great vid, and interesting take on the issue stating the obvious. I am that guy, because of PTSD And a motorcyclist. Gapping = fighting measure First punch = intercept
Growing up and working in NYC I can tell you that "crossing the street" can keep you safe. You are walking up a block and you can see that on the corner there is a group of young men just hanging out. As you get closer you see the 40's in paper bags. You look at the corner across the street and it's empty. This is a great time to cross the street and continue to mind your own business. Might not be a fancy word like "situational awareness" but it is very effective
@@CaneFu Sure if you want to get cutesy, if a lion has its head laying on the ground with the mouth wide open and you stumble blindly into it and it chomps onto it, entirely possible.
Situational Awareness is the 1st step in avoiding a bad scene. You're right, it's not the be all end all, but a fight avoided is a fight won in my book.
@@kaufmanat1 Not at all. Just saying your chances rise or fall with proper awareness. The blame is always with the instigator. "Don't start no shit, won't be no shit."
@@kaufmanat1 yes I would say that it had like 50% truth as it was never the victims fault but they sure as shit didn't improve their odds. It's like dressing up like a deer and walking around in the woods. Should a hunter be able to tell your not a deer. Ya he should see that you are a bi pedal human who is dressed in brown and has 12 point antlers on his head. Yes but if you get shot I will blame the hunter but you were asking for it...
@@trevorbirkbeck4011 dunno if it is the same argument. I would assume that a hunter shooting some dumbass running around the forest in a deer costume did it by accident. A rapist or a thief taking advantage of their victim's naivete isn't the same thing as someone who is put in a position of making an accidental error of judgement.
Situational awareness has helped me alot over the years knowing when the danger is coming is the best way to avoid life and death situations without resorting to violence
Awareness buys you time, and times gives you options. Of course that means nothing if you don't have the strength, skill and tools to protect yourself.
@@Misana Hey just keep your tools on your person and lock your dang doors! LOL ...and everywhere is a transitional space...especially in Brazil and Houston. God bless y'all.
I WAS 'that guy' shortly after getting back from Afghanistan. Until I was out with a friend, and she said something to me that made me start to change. She reminded me that I was living in a world that didn't exist and ignoring the one that did. There's a difference between situational awareness and straight up paranoia
So why is this fool conflating situation awareness with paranoia?? He's going to get people killed. Especially younger kids trying to learn. It's all full of contradictions and if I didn't already have experience in real time and listened to him I could easily be dead. Someone young especially in the state that he was a cop and trained cops with a horrendous murder rate and crime is getting no favours from his bullshit advice. He's actually pretty evil. Making sure those that aren't aware stay unaware. That's why there's so many murdahs and pillaging to say the least. His track record shows judging by the state of his state in which he had authority. Anyone that really keeps their head on a swivel doesn't actually need to look. Every video I watch this fool makes the more I can't stand his fraud ass.
More people were dying in Chicago then Afghanistan during our time there. So being aware of your surroundings stateside is not irrational. Looking for IEDs or hearing a sound in distance thinking it was a mortar launch stateside would be.
While it does make some sense, it's also a kinda dumb line. What about women? Elderly? Handicapped or just plain weak? The whole purpose of a firearm is to multiply your force.
Gun disarm is low percentage. Even if it is a big wrestler dude vs an old lady who dosen't hessitate to pull the trigger, i bet my money on the one who is holding the gun at the first place. Even a skilled guy 8 times out 10 get shot disarming an airsoft pistol
Most don’t have the determination to USE the weapon. This has to be decided long before you are in the situation. It has to be your code. Mental preparation.
I have talked to my daughter quite a bit about 'situational awareness'. Meaning, don't be buried in your phone while walking through a parking lot. Just being aware of your surroundings so if something weird is going on, it catches your attention. For example, a few weeks ago, I was walking through a Walmart parking lot and a couple of Walmart employees were just standing, looking at something. This caught my attention as unusual so I started looking around. A couple more employees several yards away were acting similar. Then i noticed more employees doing the same. When I tracked down what they were all focused on. A couple employees were involved in a verbal confrontation with a man and the other employees were watching incase things got physical. Most people didn't even notice something was going on. To me, 'situational awareness' simply means having a sixth sense of your surroundings.
Right, just pay attention to what's going on around you. You are in a parking lot, not your living room. I look for behavior that doesn't make sense. When someone exits a car, they should head toward the store, not across the lot towards you, for example.
I really appreciate this. I may never stand by the elevator buttons again. I also love the assertion that you're in the fight before there is physical engagement. To that end, I've had a few occasions when I've used movement to determine if I was in a fight WAY before the assailant was in range. I've observed someone walking parallel to me, even across the street, matching my pace, and stopped or slowed down, then sped up again, to see what they would do. If they echoed those changes, I've either turned and stood and stared at them or, if they were closer, shouted at them, demanding to know what they wanted. In each instance, they knew they had lost the element of surprise and disengaged. As with many of the things mentioned, I don't have a name for that, but it's part of what I have called "situational awareness" in the past.
Had a similar situation. Awareness & the willingness to trust my gut helped. There's a slightly sketchy underpass I go through on my way home. I always check my surroundings at night before I head down to it. I saw a guy walking in the other direction. 10 seconds later, I turned to see him doubling back and walking with a quicker pace towards the underpass. I turned the corner where there's a small stretch of path that's out of sight. From there, I took an alternative route down some stairs and back onto the original street I'd just left, then jogged towards a more populated area. I don't know for sure that the guy intended to do anything untoward, but it was very questionable. It cost me about 5 minutes in extra walking, but I'm glad I did it. Trust your gut.
@@hard2hurt respectfully, this is one of your worst takes. Walking while on your phone or with both headphones in blasting music just isn’t worth getting picked to be assaulted and robbed, and your quality of life won’t suffer from not doing that.
The situational awareness of a 19 year old private at 3am is the reason I'm here watching your video and not splattered across the dirt in a dark street in Gahzni Afghanistan. Dude in a Suicide vest was walking through the woods behind us and this private just so happened to be watching him until he saw the guy take a picture of the convoy and throw the phone behind him and start running towards us. Dude waxed him with the .50cal and woke everyone up before the Suicide bomber gave us a way worse way to wake up.
@@kermitmurder5536 I promise you that you are going to be a wayyyy softer target in a robbery if your head is in your phone with headphones than the guy who is looking around paying attention and listening. The point he tries to make in the video doesn't even make sense. Maintaining situational awareness verifiably saves lives MASSIVELY more than being able to fight good.
@@WAViolenceLLC did we not watch the same video? Mike literally says that situational awareness is important, the point of the video is that telling someone to "be more situationally aware" is useless advice.
@@WAViolenceLLCKind of true, although you probably wouldn't even know you are being robbed until it's too late. They won't just announce it, even if you didn't have headphones on or looking at your phone, if they were just walking past you and reached for you, its too late. It's a wrestle, and if they have friends you are getting jumped regardless of your awareness. Unless you plan on walking to the other side of the road every time someone is walking on the same sidewalk as you.
Situational awareness has been key to my survival as a pilot and driver and rider of cars and ebikes. Self-defense, I don't know, but it has kept me from finding out in sketchy places.
For anybody that grew up in a rough/dangerous area then this is pretty much built in. It's not something you practice or are consciously aware of. Your subconscious brain just does, like Robocop scanning every new environment he enters, but subtly. Even the way you walk can deter or attract potential attackers or muggers. Over many years I developed and 'anti-crime target' walk. So much so that people start to think I'M the criminal sometimes. 🤣 Call it 'situational awareness', call it street smarts, call it common sense, etc, but it definitely is a factor that muggers, junkies, rapists target. Some people are just born marks for criminals.
Yo no lie, this is one of the best videos you’ve ever put out in my opinion. The elevator part in particular was inspired. I love the concrete examples of non-distance based reactionary gaps. It’s something I’ve thought about in other terms but never really crystallized in my head as another form of reactionary gap.
Exactly! Sitting facing the door in a restaurant is cliché. This is the first I've heard of standing away from the elevator buttons. I never really thought about it..
If you ride a bike use a helmet, not only you will be safer but you have the chance to headbutt someone or if you have it in hands you can use it as a weapon
Had to pause the video as these comments now show on screen and rotate through. This one came up. Thank you for saying that. It’s one of the more compelling reasons I’ve heard for wearing a bike helmet. It’s just a great idea!
You always bring more to the conversation. I’ve heard so many “self-Defense Masters” bring up this very point. What they don’t take into account is that sometimes we’re just tired mentally and physically. Imagine pulling a double at work, and then having to go right after to go pay bills or run errands. “Situational awareness” will go out the window just because of fatigue. I really admire your ability to give and teach a message in a fun, clear, and concise way. Keep doing what you do!!!!
I’m a military veteran and one of the first things they teach is situational awareness and it’s more about spotting anomalies in your field of vision, so you can process that information categorically. This was crucial for seeing ambushes coming, or seeing a certain individual who is acting strangely , like a suicide bomber, or a car bomb speeding toward your Gaurd post before they come within blast radius distance.
@@dragonballjiujitsu i think you missed the point (unless i misunderstood you) he isn't saying situational awesomeness is out of the picture. Only that people who come looking for self defense instruction are usually already practicing that so telling them to become self aware is useless. Tell them what the next step is
I believe the whole situational awareness dialogue is good in the beginning for those who have absolutely none. But to be branded as the be all end all is folly. Great video as usual!
During the elevator part all I could think was: Ok, I would be creating a reactionary gap for my self, but if the other person also has situational awareness I would be raising a big red alert to him. In a crazy scenario two people would start a fight purely out of paranoia lol
If you simply move in an elevator a sane person isn't going to care. Only people who're already insane are going to react to that badly. I think he's right; most people have enough self-awareness, but what he forgets is that some people flat out don't and should be reminded. This guy shouldn't be encouraging people to stop telling people to be more self-aware just because some people hyperfocusing on stuff like that might make you paranoid. The inverse of hyperfocusing on being self-aware is being completely unaware, which can get you killed or hurt. Idk but one seems worse to me. Either way, doing anything too much is usually bad, it doesn't mean people should do nothing.
I'm that guy that sits with his back toward the door. I leaned that technique from Wild Bill Hickock who was killed by some drifter as he sat playing cards at a saloon table with his back TOWARD the door. Interesting factoid - The cards Wild Bill was holding at the time were a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights which became known as "the dead man's hand."
This was the most genius sponsored ad I've ever seen. You melded the ad perfectly into the video never felt like I needed to skip forward or close the video. Very impressive
Really like the backpack move to conceal that you are pulling out a weapon. you can use it to block attacks, even throw it at them to disorient them. and then following up with your weapon
Great video, situational awareness is important, but it's not a preventative, it just gives you more time, this video perfectly explains proper usage of situational awareness and I'm really glad I watched it
When I was taking Krav Maga, my instructor taught us _this_ and _called it_ situational awareness, along with just being aware of what's going on around you. There's a mantra in Krav Maga that goes "it's better to avoid than to de-escalate, it's better to de-escalate than to run, it's better to run than to fight, it's better to fight than to die." I can say that this hierarchy escalates quickly. Once you can't avoid, moving to de-escalation is right on you and typically not viable if you don't know how to negotiate or _there is no negotiating with this person,_ and running is almost certainly not an option in many cases and that's from accounts with the officers and Marines I trained with in class. Sh1t goes bad, quick. This "reactionary gap" is what I've always meant as a part of situational awareness. Get off the center line, move around if you can, but most importantly, know when it's about to be _fuhking on,_ and be more aggressive than the other guy. Don't kill the guy if you can manage it, but certainly make him wish he didn't try it. This is why you see a lot of these "techniques" done on the internet and think "this would never actually work, fights don't go like that" and you'd be right, but it is with this understanding of distance management; you _give_ yourself the ability to react with a "technique" (even if I do believe these "techniques" are largely bs). Krav Maga- self defense in general- is about managing that space, trying to stay in control of the situation (watching his hands, his breathing, his eye movements and where he fixes his gaze, how he's positioning his feet and his body), and when they finally do attack, you've already done the calculus on how you're going to respond. And it's not like you have 80 moves in your head like "if he does this, I'm going to go full Captain Krav and spinner whirlwind death kick him in the face" it's "this guy is going to try to grab me, most likely, I need to defuse that- try to strike him hard on one of the knock out buttons, but be ready to sprawl and fight on the ground." It's mental preparedness for the average non-violent, non-combative person that doesn't normally get into confrontations to persuade their mind to be _extremely_ violent. You start going through the flow chart of "what's happening right now" in your mind and it hypnotizes you to be aggressive when zero hour hits. And again, you have to *train these combatives* and *spar appropriately* in order for this to really sink in and work for you. Not least to mention, you need to be physically fit and capable of enacting this violence if you're serious about it working.
@@ryanjones3043 It seems like a couple of people read it. I feel like this was faster to read than watching a 10 minute video with an ad. This is going to sound like I think I'm way more knowledgeable than I am; I feel like like my comment is a good adjunct to the topic of the video and explanation of what I and many others have been taught was "situational awareness."
This is a great comment. It does highlight the problem that untrained people and the physically unfit aren't in much of a position to defend themselves
Cool bike. Proper footwork when riding a bike: raise your inside pedal when turning, not the outside pedal. Makes it easier to lean into a turn. Also reduces risk of a pedal tip hitting the pavement, causing a spill. 0:56.
@Michael Malorin ❤️ for sure. Things are much brighter now than they were for me. I just wish more if our brothers and sisters could experience the power of healing and take their lives back.
I'm ex army. I still have fun, I'm just smart about it but also confident enough that I don't let it get in the way of life. If stuff happens it happens. We do what we have to and move on after.
Being an older woman, I really appreciated this video and another of his I watched. It made me realize I’ve been doing all the right things in listening to my gut and being aware of my surroundings, especially when I’m in a parking lot. The video where he talks about woods next to a Walmart parking lot?!… my town has one with that same scenario and I’m always on alert.
Awesome video. Title instantly grabs the attention, snappy intro, solid advice, humour and perfectly integrated product promotion. This might be your best one yet
I have avoided problems a lot by ''situational awareness'' - it works. I say that as a British person; here we normally don't come across guns, but there are plenty of knives/edged weapons in urban areas primarily. Overall, edged weapon use tends to be mostly confined to large cities and by younger people. Avoiding trouble is a sensible option - always. There are some instances where we do have to have to be ''hard to hurt''. Here in the UK, I don't feel, most of the time, under threat. That's good. I like this guys approach and do agree with him. Distance is good. Useful videos sir. Thank you for posting. God bles you all in the USA. PS I was in the British Police some years ago, so I have often got out of trouble by ''jaw jaw not war war'' ; admittedly sometimes we have to directly confront. Some great advice here. Thanks🙂
Always love your content, Icy Mike, but today as a TaijiQuan practicioner who actually takes himself "seriously" (or at least my training), I'm extra gratified to hear you saying the words- "being happier and less stressed out is probably the *most* realistic Self-Defense" because that's exactly what we teach. Oss as always, ☯️🙏☯️
Good, practical lesson. Thank you. The initial training of awareness (as you say, "condition yellow") is energy costly, but if you train yourself consistently, for short periods, and then build up, it is completely plausible. That is essentially what we did for ourselves when we learned to drive a car. We are basically at condition yellow anytime we are driving. When we first learned to drive, paying attention to everything was tiring, but over time we learn to do it without draining our energy. Our brain uses less and less glucose as it is trained. Most of us dissociate during driving, but can instantly respond to changing traffic conditions (provided we are not too checked out). This is what I teach in psychiatric hospitals. "Mind the gap" is a solid, usable chunk of advice.
I appreciate these focus on not trying to be novel with generalization. by being specific with THINGS to do. Defining situational awareness as practical. Being aware of WHAT situation, environment you're walking into so you know what tools to use, what the temperature of the water is, what kind of animals are in the bushes. Very useful info here, as always!
Great information as always, but the highlight of the video for me (even funnier than trying to advertise your sponsor's bike as a drive-by-bike) was the BJJ in the elevator bit. That and the 'HAHAHAHA! Idiot.' at the end. You crack me up Icy Mike! Thanks for the consistently great content.
Lol Aventon is so lucky to have you as a sponsor. At 4:49 , "they have this throttle feature on the left handle bar leaving my weapon hand free...". That is a selling point they probably never thought about. Now hopefully they have a left handed version
1. Elevator scenario: I'm imagining 2 people who have just watched this video getting onto the same elevator, turning and facing one another, each thinking the other has become a threat. :-) 2. The last few mins of your video, you've kinda given away the basic intro concept in The Gift of Fear, by Gavin de Becker.
By far best actual self defense video I've seen in general from anyone This is also a good way to relate the threat triangle they teach in the Navy to real world. Basically you can legally act defensively when the three sides of the threat are met: capability, opportunity, intent. Capability is weaponry, could be a gun or knife or anything but its straight forward. Opportunity is distance and position, which is relative to what their capability and whatever vulnerable people/equipment is around and again is another fairly easily distinguishable factor. The last part, intent, is easy to discern in a military capacity but much harder outside of a position you're guarding. This vid covers some great examples of figuring out intent, and also both denying opportunity and when the opportunity side is met (to know when to throw the first punch or whatever). 10/10 video!
Nice ad! Still not sure why situational awareness is so bad though. I’ll rewatch it and see if I can figure out what your trying to say - and learn some more features of your sponsor’s bike!
im so glad you made this exact vid. i get so tired of old men who live comfortably in surburban environments lurking SD videos just to gaslight people with "the best SD is situational awareness!" or "just run!" as if it matters to psychos if they're spotted or not. they might also cite random (usually wrong) statistics that ofc assume that everyone's risk factors are the same and especially vulnerable people dont exist.
There are alot of misconception about situational awareness. If you are aware of your surroundings it gives you time, time gives you options. But it is not a self defense tool it's a mindset that is part of self defense, but it will never replace punching somone, or a gun. Ultimately if you are aware of everything but have not idea what to do you will loss. I try to keep aware of my surroundings because I can, but it as self defense advice with out anything else is about as good as run, you hit the nail on the head.
I didn’t think I was going to agree with you at the start of this video. But it turns out you make some really good points and I actually learned something. Thanks!
@@dragonballjiujitsu my man, he ain’t making fun of anything that works. He’s making fun of making it your personality. You can be in condition yellow and also not make it an all encompassing aspect of who you are as a person.
I was a self defense teacher. I taught the concept of "avoiding the sucker punch by creating a safe distance" all the time. First time one of my pupils got himself into an altercation he was knocked out cold with the opponents first punch. You can talk about that all day. But nobody learns this without experiencing it himself. But the first time somebody attacks you out of the blue could be your last. So how to learn it the safe way? Boxing sparring teaches you the very same thing: You get a real awareness for the distance. A subconscious one. An automattical awareness you couldnt switch off, even if you would like to do so.
One thing that I’ve always had trouble with is when is self defence needed because when the other guy throws the first punch it’s too late. This really helped thanks
*Jim’s Wife* I can actually say something I normally don’t get to say in response to this video, and that’s “Hey, wow, I learned something new today that I DIDN’T think of before!” Your use of the backpack to conceal drawing your knife followed by having it at “murdery stab-level” in the elevator was brilliant. Love it and WILL use it!
Walk into a restaurant or through a mall. Walk into a place where people have to stand in line. Pay attention to how many people are looking at their phones for more than a second. Those are the people that don't have any situational awareness. Best example.
I don't know if I'm aware of the situation, per se, but I am aware that you might want to raise your saddle height on that bike so you can avoid screwing up your knees with inadequate leg extension (the saddle's tilt and fore-aft position look like they'd be uncomfortable, too). I really dislike those rim brakes on an e-bike as well, but I am admittedly biased as a former bike mechanic who had to fix far too many of those cheaply built budget e-bikes to ever be a fan of them.
Great video. You show that situational awareness is useless if you aren’t acting on it. The reactionary gap is the act, and you demonstrate that really good.
3:02 , no sir, if you do, is because someone taught you that, or because you already have the situational awareness mindset without any teachings (but it's not the majority of people) 4:40, keeping the hands free is situational awareness, it's part of the package. 6:20, knowing this distance rule is situational awareness. Reactionary gap is a rule of situational awareness. 10:10 - you are absolutely right 14:00 - No people usually doesn't 14: 48 - Very nice advice! So you gave us a very nice class about situational awareness under the title of "Situational Awareness is Not the Answer to Self Defense"
I must have been watching these videos too long. I was asked by the slightly drunk guy in the middle of the park alley to read his ID number, because he can't make it out and he needs to give it to somebody on the phone. My first reaction was, it's a trap! He wants me to focus on the ID he holds and sucker punch me, my second reaction was: I'm an idiot, it's Poland where I live, the guy genuinely needs help, I spelled the ID numbre for him, he repeated it number by number on the phone, said thank you, I sid you're welcome and we went our ways both happier.
The best thing is not to violate 3 rules: Don’t do stupid things. Don’t go stupid places. Don’t be out at stupid times. You can get away with breaking 1, but all 3 puts you at risk.
And for clarity, the tips given in the video are very good after you get in a possible situation. But I find the three rules help prevent you from being in a situation where situational awareness is heightened.
@@lazyman7505 If you are continually violating all three, that would mean you are doing stupid things at stupid times while in stupid places. If you are doing that every time, you need to seek counseling.
Jeff Cooper's Color Code What's your current condition? The most important means of surviving a lethal confrontation, according to Cooper, is neither the weapon nor the martial skills. The primary tool is the combat mindset, set forth in his book, Principles of Personal Defense.
I couldn't stop laughing at sensei seth getting shot lmao i love it when you're this playful in your videos, learned about the concept of "reactionary gap " and got to laugh, plus, that bike does look pretty darn good! Shoutout to sensei seth and hard2hurt
I prefer giving people Ocular Patdowns. Then I assess whether or not they're a threat. If they are, I usually just go with a quick head kick. Or a liver kick if they really piss me off. Seriously. Don't mess with me bro.
"guys that don't know how to wrestle but carry a gun" ...I was just attacked personally from halfway across the country, no amount of reactionary distance was gonna stop that lol. From my time in the military, I think reactionary distance is INCREDIBLY important, especially if you have a gun. I used to do security forces type stuff in the middle east, and I was in charge of a team guarding a pier, searching vehicles and people. I made sure to stand well behind where I had the guy doing personnel searches, so if something happened i had a good 30 feet to work with; if you pulled some shit, even at a dead sprint there was no way you were reaching me, especially considering that behind me on an elevated concrete platform was a guy with an M4, although chances are i would have been able to draw and engage with my m9 before he could have chambered around and turned on his optic lmao. Carrying in condition 3 is fucking dumb.
Your closing statement about following your "gut"/instinct reminds me of something that Rory Miller mentions in one of his books (Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected. 2011): "Intuition is difficult to train because you never know when it works. If you get a bad feeling and avoid the ambush in the dark alley... nothing happens. In psychological parlance this is a negative (nothing happened) reward (and that's good). Negative reward, the absence of possible pain, is one of the slowest ways to teach."
Aventon has been a great deal for years now. Debating still getting one. It would definitely help with getting me back to commuting to and from work as my cardio is shot since having covid. Can't really commute to work in the mountains here when half my ride I'd be walking up hills.
Absolutely love this conversation. Thank you for sharing. "There is no first punch in karate" is a semi-controversial statement that has been misunderstood as "You have to wait for the attacker to hit you before you react" And... who doesn't love BJJ in an elevator?
@@dragonballjiujitsu it also means you die at 40 of a heart attack from high blood pressure, or gets you put in prison after too many times over reacting on false positives, because you've keyed yourself up to view every possible interaction only in the context of violence.
Yes! And like, seriously-dudes who think you should always be ready for an attack; talk to a professional. It will truly help you. There’s nothing wrong with therapy, and if you feel that way-you probably need it. Not in a judgemental way, in a caring way.
@@dragonballjiujitsu It's not. It's really bad for you. And I work in a dangerous job where I have to have awareness or I could die. And I've been deployed to combat zones. And learning to turn that off is a big deal.
@@dragonballjiujitsu Being 46 and alive is a pretty standard thing bud. Unless you work in a very dangerous line and have spent lots of time in dangerous areas, and even still it's more common to be
I am "that guy" that is all about situational awareness. 25 years in military special ops followed by 15 years as a cop. I give my wife shit all the time about wearing ear buds while running. PAY ATTENTION AND QUIT BEING A FUCKING IDIOT TARGET. Yeah, it doesn't go over well with her or most regular people. She and others can become victims, but I won't because I generally can recognize when the the potential danger level is higher and I take appropriate steps instead of bumbling along thinking nothing will ever happen. I love the videos covering mindset and preparation when you are surprised, but how about avoiding being surprised?
Kind of disagree here. In day to day life you probably don't have to worry about too much, but you should at least understand where you are. Years ago I had a friend that was from the U.K. that had come over for education and didn't know what some parts of Boston are like, especially at night. He had his headphones in listening to music not paying attention, then he woke up without his phone/wallet. People don't jump you from the front. You wouldn't walk through some deep woods without being mindful of bears, don't make that mistake in poor neighborhoods at night. Edit: Maybe we are on the same page here, it just took a few extra minutes to grab the context. I'll leave the comment up regardless. Edit2: I really need to start watching the whole video before I start formulating a reply. Talking about getting space and throwing the first punch etc, I said already that you don't get jumped from the front, but sometimes it's set up that way. This is what I used to deal with growing up pretty much exactly. How it works is: someone will start talking to you directly in front of you > the other guy punches you in the back of the head while you respond, or slams you from behind. The only time I've seen different, is when everyone knew each other. So probably if some random dude starts talking to you and trying to get your attention, be mindful of that. Honestly though, I've NEVER seen this stuff go on after I left the city. If you are pretty sure you are alone though, always always always always throw the 1st punch. Even if you aren't. If you don't get the 1st punch, you might not get the 2nd.
Actually day to day life is pretty dangerous. In the US things are very violent here. We got people being robbed at gas stations. We have burglars following people from the store and attacking them at home. We have constant shootings and protests. Murder has been on the rise over thee past 2 years. It's dangerous to go outside.
I've spent a lot of time in cities and walked alone many times. One thing I've noticed is the long shadows streetlights create can tell you if there's anyone approaching you.
Subscribed the best advice is personalized your options and what is your goal. For some people self defense can be getting a scary dog as a companion, others a gun, others learning to grapple. Each person is different from other people.
Well being aware is good, but you can't be on edge to the degree that you would need to be to catch a coming ambush or something all the time, that's literally what PTSD is... Basically it is a very bad adaptation for most people. And it's exhausting mentally. Maintaining that awareness isn't easy, that's why in the military they try not to put you in a situation where you have to do that for very long, and if you are in a situation where you have to do that for an extended you're dramatically more likely to mess it up.
@@freedomsmarch4948 I had PTSD. Well probably still have it, but it's got a lot milder over the years. As a veteran I'll ask you, what was your MOS? When did you deploy? Look there's nothing wrong with being aware of your surroundings. But when you're so aware that you see threats all the time that you're hyper-vigilent? That's when a survival adaptation that might have helped your ass in theater isn't helping. As for me I was a 2621 in the Marines, deployed to Fallujah in 2008 (when things were still pretty intense) and Al Asad in 2009 (when they were a lot less intense) I also served as a 13F in the national guard for several years after I got out of the Marines.
@@freedomsmarch4948 PTSD is a psychological adaptation to stress. You adapt to become more able to see threats and more able to react to them. But when those threats aren't present and you're still being ambushed in your brain every time a car backfires or mortared every time fireworks go off or terrified every time a street is quiet when it's normally busy? Those are all good things in theater. They don't help you stateside.
I disagree. Situational awareness is a very critical thing to "SELF DEFENSE" guys just take this and wanna play badass and that isn't what it means. It means if I'm in my car in a bad neighborhood how fast will I be able to pull off if someone trys to approach. It's an extremely boring mentality yes but it will keep you safe
I think that Jeff Cooper's '4 Conditions' cast a very long shadow, even into unarmed martial arts - as witnessed by the focus on 'situational awareness'. Also, if you enjoy bicycling, you and your family should take some vacation i Holland or Denmark: we rule bicycling for fun and pleasure, no lie.
LOL. Unfortunately, and full disclosure, I am that guy with my back to the wall, eyes on the door! LOL. And yes, I was in the service. 4 years active duty, 6 years guard and reserves. And also, I am the guy with the "head on a swivel", but that is just because I am absolutely neurotic in crowded places! But I am trying to reform myself! But I completely agree with everything you say. I don't bring it up, I don't talk to anyone about it, and I sure as hell don't want to hear some KMart Killer talking to me about how to be more situationally aware! LOL. It is just anxiety, and a stress response. It doesn't make me safer, it only makes me feel safer. Thank you again for all the great content! Following the link now!
SO I've watched about 3 videos of yours, and in every one of them you're disrespecting folks. You do have some good things to say but only after you make grossly oversimplified statements, ( which usually occur just before you go on to the five minute product endorsement. I see through it. It sounds cool to put down situational awareness in a goofy voice, and it sounds good to say using your brain is not a part of self defense, but then you either do what you said is stupid, or, prove that what you just denied has merit. For instance; what good does it do to keep your weapon hand free if your not going to pay attention to what's going on around you? You shot the guy in the back. What did that prove? It proved he wasn't paying attention. In another video you say all knife defenses suck and then you turn around use FMA knife defenses and principals. I guess you put others down so you can offer the illusion of coming up with new things that others have already taught? Maybe those were the only videos you do that in? Im not going to try and find out.
1. Frankly speaking the bike ad is really convincing, the back red light, the good speed, the left hand throttle, very well presented and in a fun way Sir! 2. "You're already fighting". Yes.. Koreans have the word ki-ssaum (litt.: energy fight) relating to verbal (and non-verbal) fight/competition... and what you mentioned is part of it, I think.
@@ScrotumJoe34 Sometimes you cant avoid a fight but if you can see the fight coming you can use the element of surprise. Cleary it wont win you the fight but in real life a fight can be you getting rocked from behind and never even knowing what happened.
I KNEW you were gonna do a drive by LOL Nearly 27 years in LE. I teach just about everything but I’m not “that guy” who pretends to know everything. I like to learn from everyone. Your points on where to stand in an elevator and why…well done. I learned something new. Thank you.
I like this because it's something concrete to do. I felt like other places would just say "pay attention to your surroundings" but that's relatively vague and it's easy to get distracted. This is something clear that you can think through versus "am I paying enough attention?"
I quite enjoy your approach to sponsorship in this video, and it's probably better too. Rather than an ad section that people just skip, you just use the sponsored item as a prop and example throughout. Pretty nice, lad.
If you think riding bikes is fun and interesting, go to www.avantlink.com/click.php?tt=cl&merchant_id=a41b063c-52a4-4d87-8f09-d6c71998ed15&website_id=0ca7f891-690f-4f81-a44f-42190b5d7c79&url=www.aventon.com
you should do a video for self defense from a wheelchair/ someone who is disabled
Say rudimentary like that again
I like it bike
Great vid, and interesting take on the issue stating the obvious.
I am that guy, because of PTSD
And a motorcyclist.
Gapping = fighting measure
First punch = intercept
This video reminded of of that 90s song by Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta lol Enjoy!
Growing up and working in NYC I can tell you that "crossing the street" can keep you safe. You are walking up a block and you can see that on the corner there is a group of young men just hanging out. As you get closer you see the 40's in paper bags. You look at the corner across the street and it's empty. This is a great time to cross the street and continue to mind your own business. Might not be a fancy word like "situational awareness" but it is very effective
So in other words you are saying, "Don't walk into the middle of a group of drunks".....how profound.
@@CaneFu
How about "don't walk into a lion's mouth". That profound enough for ya?
@@georgieman1910 NO, you should have said, "don't stick your head in a lion's mouth" as "walking into a lion's mouth" isn't really possible
@@CaneFu
Sure if you want to get cutesy, if a lion has its head laying on the ground with the mouth wide open and you stumble blindly into it and it chomps onto it, entirely possible.
@@CaneFu Just common sense that is often lost on people
Situational Awareness is the 1st step in avoiding a bad scene.
You're right, it's not the be all end all, but a fight avoided is a fight won in my book.
So you're saying victim blaming... Kind had a kernel of truth.
@@kaufmanat1 Not at all. Just saying your chances rise or fall with proper awareness.
The blame is always with the instigator.
"Don't start no shit, won't be no shit."
Agreed
@@kaufmanat1 yes I would say that it had like 50% truth as it was never the victims fault but they sure as shit didn't improve their odds. It's like dressing up like a deer and walking around in the woods. Should a hunter be able to tell your not a deer. Ya he should see that you are a bi pedal human who is dressed in brown and has 12 point antlers on his head. Yes but if you get shot I will blame the hunter but you were asking for it...
@@trevorbirkbeck4011 dunno if it is the same argument. I would assume that a hunter shooting some dumbass running around the forest in a deer costume did it by accident. A rapist or a thief taking advantage of their victim's naivete isn't the same thing as someone who is put in a position of making an accidental error of judgement.
Just here for the elevator BJJ. The bikes are pretty dope too though.
Video idea?
Eli in the house!
Personally, I just use my parkour and stay stuck to the ceiling of all elevators.
Use the elevator hand rails as "high ground" and change the attack angle
@@hard2hurt I'm sure you've seen the "car jiu-jitsu" competitions. Could do a similar deal.
Situational awareness has helped me alot over the years knowing when the danger is coming is the best way to avoid life and death situations without resorting to violence
Awareness buys you time, and times gives you options. Of course that means nothing if you don't have the strength, skill and tools to protect yourself.
Do you know John?
@@Misana Hey just keep your tools on your person and lock your dang doors! LOL
...and everywhere is a transitional space...especially in Brazil and Houston.
God bless y'all.
You just quoted John word for word from "Active Self Protection"....are you a parrot?
@@CaneFu Two guys on a motorcycle must have stolen your sense of humor.
@@Misana ASP!
I WAS 'that guy' shortly after getting back from Afghanistan. Until I was out with a friend, and she said something to me that made me start to change. She reminded me that I was living in a world that didn't exist and ignoring the one that did. There's a difference between situational awareness and straight up paranoia
So why is this fool conflating situation awareness with paranoia??
He's going to get people killed.
Especially younger kids trying to learn.
It's all full of contradictions and if I didn't already have experience in real time and listened to him I could easily be dead.
Someone young especially in the state that he was a cop and trained cops with a horrendous murder rate and crime is getting no favours from his bullshit advice.
He's actually pretty evil.
Making sure those that aren't aware stay unaware.
That's why there's so many murdahs and pillaging to say the least.
His track record shows judging by the state of his state in which he had authority.
Anyone that really keeps their head on a swivel doesn't actually need to look.
Every video I watch this fool makes the more I can't stand his fraud ass.
That is common among veterans.
More people were dying in Chicago then Afghanistan during our time there. So being aware of your surroundings stateside is not irrational. Looking for IEDs or hearing a sound in distance thinking it was a mortar launch stateside would be.
Well i live in germany thats slowly changing to being afghanistan, so yeah maybe that world will exist here soon enough
It doesn't exist to her because of people like you. Thank you for your service, and don't drop your guard entirely.
I loved this line "If you brought a gun, but you don't know how to wrestle, congratulations you just brought a gun for the other guy"
Most people are not foolish enough to rush a guy with a loaded weapon trained on them.
While it does make some sense, it's also a kinda dumb line. What about women? Elderly? Handicapped or just plain weak? The whole purpose of a firearm is to multiply your force.
Gun disarm is low percentage. Even if it is a big wrestler dude vs an old lady who dosen't hessitate to pull the trigger, i bet my money on the one who is holding the gun at the first place.
Even a skilled guy 8 times out 10 get shot disarming an airsoft pistol
Most don’t have the determination to USE the weapon. This has to be decided long before you are in the situation. It has to be your code. Mental preparation.
Many criminals search you when they rob you, so they can find your gun before you use it.
I have talked to my daughter quite a bit about 'situational awareness'. Meaning, don't be buried in your phone while walking through a parking lot. Just being aware of your surroundings so if something weird is going on, it catches your attention. For example, a few weeks ago, I was walking through a Walmart parking lot and a couple of Walmart employees were just standing, looking at something. This caught my attention as unusual so I started looking around. A couple more employees several yards away were acting similar. Then i noticed more employees doing the same. When I tracked down what they were all focused on. A couple employees were involved in a verbal confrontation with a man and the other employees were watching incase things got physical. Most people didn't even notice something was going on. To me, 'situational awareness' simply means having a sixth sense of your surroundings.
Exactly some people choose to ignore these these thing, I do the same, check people's bodylanguage
Right, just pay attention to what's going on around you. You are in a parking lot, not your living room. I look for behavior that doesn't make sense. When someone exits a car, they should head toward the store, not across the lot towards you, for example.
Lmao. The end where Seth was like "I was wondering why we needed safety glasses, these are foam. I'm an idiot" was priceless 😂
He's an amazing sport! I want one, too. :-D
@@jamielondon6436 Oh yeah, those two make great content together. Lol
@@pridecorps Yes, but where can I get one for myself? ;-)
LMAO
LOL!
I really appreciate this. I may never stand by the elevator buttons again. I also love the assertion that you're in the fight before there is physical engagement. To that end, I've had a few occasions when I've used movement to determine if I was in a fight WAY before the assailant was in range. I've observed someone walking parallel to me, even across the street, matching my pace, and stopped or slowed down, then sped up again, to see what they would do. If they echoed those changes, I've either turned and stood and stared at them or, if they were closer, shouted at them, demanding to know what they wanted. In each instance, they knew they had lost the element of surprise and disengaged. As with many of the things mentioned, I don't have a name for that, but it's part of what I have called "situational awareness" in the past.
Had a similar situation. Awareness & the willingness to trust my gut helped.
There's a slightly sketchy underpass I go through on my way home. I always check my surroundings at night before I head down to it. I saw a guy walking in the other direction. 10 seconds later, I turned to see him doubling back and walking with a quicker pace towards the underpass. I turned the corner where there's a small stretch of path that's out of sight. From there, I took an alternative route down some stairs and back onto the original street I'd just left, then jogged towards a more populated area.
I don't know for sure that the guy intended to do anything untoward, but it was very questionable. It cost me about 5 minutes in extra walking, but I'm glad I did it. Trust your gut.
@@defragsbin Well done! Always, always, ALWAYS trust your gut.
Mike: "Most people have enough situational awareness."
Mike has never met my wife, her sister and their friends.
You would be surprised what they pick up on when it matters
@@hard2hurt You've got a good point there, now that I think about it.
@@hard2hurt by then its too late, and now they're already )*(#$*('ed and suffer the consequences.
@@hard2hurt You'd be surprised at what my girlfriend *doesn't* pick up on when it matters
@@hard2hurt respectfully, this is one of your worst takes. Walking while on your phone or with both headphones in blasting music just isn’t worth getting picked to be assaulted and robbed, and your quality of life won’t suffer from not doing that.
The situational awareness of a 19 year old private at 3am is the reason I'm here watching your video and not splattered across the dirt in a dark street in Gahzni Afghanistan. Dude in a Suicide vest was walking through the woods behind us and this private just so happened to be watching him until he saw the guy take a picture of the convoy and throw the phone behind him and start running towards us. Dude waxed him with the .50cal and woke everyone up before the Suicide bomber gave us a way worse way to wake up.
He means situational awareness in the civilian world. The world of the military *necessitates* situational awareness, as the private illustrated.
Mike litteraly said situational awareness is important for self defense, its just useless advice
@@kermitmurder5536 I promise you that you are going to be a wayyyy softer target in a robbery if your head is in your phone with headphones than the guy who is looking around paying attention and listening. The point he tries to make in the video doesn't even make sense. Maintaining situational awareness verifiably saves lives MASSIVELY more than being able to fight good.
@@WAViolenceLLC did we not watch the same video? Mike literally says that situational awareness is important, the point of the video is that telling someone to "be more situationally aware" is useless advice.
@@WAViolenceLLCKind of true, although you probably wouldn't even know you are being robbed until it's too late. They won't just announce it, even if you didn't have headphones on or looking at your phone, if they were just walking past you and reached for you, its too late. It's a wrestle, and if they have friends you are getting jumped regardless of your awareness. Unless you plan on walking to the other side of the road every time someone is walking on the same sidewalk as you.
Situational awareness has been key to my survival as a pilot and driver and rider of cars and ebikes. Self-defense, I don't know, but it has kept me from finding out in sketchy places.
Agree, it has protected me to a good age too, I avoid mixing with certain people, avoid certain places. It is a lifesaver.
For anybody that grew up in a rough/dangerous area then this is pretty much built in. It's not something you practice or are consciously aware of. Your subconscious brain just does, like Robocop scanning every new environment he enters, but subtly. Even the way you walk can deter or attract potential attackers or muggers. Over many years I developed and 'anti-crime target' walk. So much so that people start to think I'M the criminal sometimes. 🤣
Call it 'situational awareness', call it street smarts, call it common sense, etc, but it definitely is a factor that muggers, junkies, rapists target. Some people are just born marks for criminals.
Yo no lie, this is one of the best videos you’ve ever put out in my opinion. The elevator part in particular was inspired.
I love the concrete examples of non-distance based reactionary gaps. It’s something I’ve thought about in other terms but never really crystallized in my head as another form of reactionary gap.
the backpack to cover the draw was pretty genius, idk why i've never seen anyone talk about that before
Agreed. This was a great one
Yeah this is some less common info with quality presentation.
Exactly! Sitting facing the door in a restaurant is cliché. This is the first I've heard of standing away from the elevator buttons. I never really thought about it..
“React to your gut” is the best “situational awareness “ advice I’ve ever hear or given. Thanks and be safe.
If you ride a bike use a helmet, not only you will be safer but you have the chance to headbutt someone or if you have it in hands you can use it as a weapon
Had to pause the video as these comments now show on screen and rotate through. This one came up. Thank you for saying that. It’s one of the more compelling reasons I’ve heard for wearing a bike helmet. It’s just a great idea!
You always bring more to the conversation. I’ve heard so many “self-Defense Masters” bring up this very point. What they don’t take into account is that sometimes we’re just tired mentally and physically. Imagine pulling a double at work, and then having to go right after to go pay bills or run errands. “Situational awareness” will go out the window just because of fatigue. I really admire your ability to give and teach a message in a fun, clear, and concise way. Keep doing what you do!!!!
I’m a military veteran and one of the first things they teach is situational awareness and it’s more about spotting anomalies in your field of vision, so you can process that information categorically. This was crucial for seeing ambushes coming, or seeing a certain individual who is acting strangely , like a suicide bomber, or a car bomb speeding toward your Gaurd post before they come within blast radius distance.
The other issue is that it's difficult to do for any length of time. That's the reason you rotate people who are on guard.
@@dragonballjiujitsu indeed
As a fellow military veteran I agree 100%
@@tomeralper2827 How do you deal with fatigue? Or with the fact that a lot of those adaptations are actually bad in the long run?
@@dragonballjiujitsu i think you missed the point (unless i misunderstood you) he isn't saying situational awesomeness is out of the picture. Only that people who come looking for self defense instruction are usually already practicing that so telling them to become self aware is useless. Tell them what the next step is
I believe the whole situational awareness dialogue is good in the beginning for those who have absolutely none. But to be branded as the be all end all is folly. Great video as usual!
Solid. I've generally held to the belief that most fights are won by the first person to realize they're in a fight.
During the elevator part all I could think was: Ok, I would be creating a reactionary gap for my self, but if the other person also has situational awareness I would be raising a big red alert to him. In a crazy scenario two people would start a fight purely out of paranoia lol
If you simply move in an elevator a sane person isn't going to care. Only people who're already insane are going to react to that badly. I think he's right; most people have enough self-awareness, but what he forgets is that some people flat out don't and should be reminded. This guy shouldn't be encouraging people to stop telling people to be more self-aware just because some people hyperfocusing on stuff like that might make you paranoid. The inverse of hyperfocusing on being self-aware is being completely unaware, which can get you killed or hurt. Idk but one seems worse to me. Either way, doing anything too much is usually bad, it doesn't mean people should do nothing.
I'm that guy that sits with his back toward the door. I leaned that technique from Wild Bill Hickock who was killed by some drifter as he sat playing cards at a saloon table with his back TOWARD the door. Interesting factoid - The cards Wild Bill was holding at the time were a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights which became known as "the dead man's hand."
This was the most genius sponsored ad I've ever seen. You melded the ad perfectly into the video never felt like I needed to skip forward or close the video. Very impressive
Really like the backpack move to conceal that you are pulling out a weapon. you can use it to block attacks, even throw it at them to disorient them. and then following up with your weapon
Seth looks so betrayed, but I feel like any of these guys that hang out with you on a regular basis shouldn't be surprised by bicycle drive bys.
😂😂😂
You forget that Seth is actually a nice guy! ;-)
Great video, situational awareness is important, but it's not a preventative, it just gives you more time, this video perfectly explains proper usage of situational awareness and I'm really glad I watched it
When I was taking Krav Maga, my instructor taught us _this_ and _called it_ situational awareness, along with just being aware of what's going on around you. There's a mantra in Krav Maga that goes "it's better to avoid than to de-escalate, it's better to de-escalate than to run, it's better to run than to fight, it's better to fight than to die." I can say that this hierarchy escalates quickly. Once you can't avoid, moving to de-escalation is right on you and typically not viable if you don't know how to negotiate or _there is no negotiating with this person,_ and running is almost certainly not an option in many cases and that's from accounts with the officers and Marines I trained with in class. Sh1t goes bad, quick. This "reactionary gap" is what I've always meant as a part of situational awareness. Get off the center line, move around if you can, but most importantly, know when it's about to be _fuhking on,_ and be more aggressive than the other guy. Don't kill the guy if you can manage it, but certainly make him wish he didn't try it. This is why you see a lot of these "techniques" done on the internet and think "this would never actually work, fights don't go like that" and you'd be right, but it is with this understanding of distance management; you _give_ yourself the ability to react with a "technique" (even if I do believe these "techniques" are largely bs). Krav Maga- self defense in general- is about managing that space, trying to stay in control of the situation (watching his hands, his breathing, his eye movements and where he fixes his gaze, how he's positioning his feet and his body), and when they finally do attack, you've already done the calculus on how you're going to respond. And it's not like you have 80 moves in your head like "if he does this, I'm going to go full Captain Krav and spinner whirlwind death kick him in the face" it's "this guy is going to try to grab me, most likely, I need to defuse that- try to strike him hard on one of the knock out buttons, but be ready to sprawl and fight on the ground." It's mental preparedness for the average non-violent, non-combative person that doesn't normally get into confrontations to persuade their mind to be _extremely_ violent. You start going through the flow chart of "what's happening right now" in your mind and it hypnotizes you to be aggressive when zero hour hits. And again, you have to *train these combatives* and *spar appropriately* in order for this to really sink in and work for you. Not least to mention, you need to be physically fit and capable of enacting this violence if you're serious about it working.
No one’s going to read this probably well written book….
@@ryanjones3043 It seems like a couple of people read it. I feel like this was faster to read than watching a 10 minute video with an ad. This is going to sound like I think I'm way more knowledgeable than I am; I feel like like my comment is a good adjunct to the topic of the video and explanation of what I and many others have been taught was "situational awareness."
I fully agree.
This is a great comment. It does highlight the problem that untrained people and the physically unfit aren't in much of a position to defend themselves
@@patwxdaddy out of millions your like the 5th
Cool bike. Proper footwork when riding a bike: raise your inside pedal when turning, not the outside pedal. Makes it easier to lean into a turn. Also reduces risk of a pedal tip hitting the pavement, causing a spill. 0:56.
The military makes a lot of my fellow veteran stop having fun and live the “situational awareness” aka hyper vigilante trauma induced lifestyle.
I know that feel
@Michael Malorin ❤️ for sure. Things are much brighter now than they were for me. I just wish more if our brothers and sisters could experience the power of healing and take their lives back.
Life is supposed to be fun for men, men have to hold the lines
Cover Your ASP
I'm ex army. I still have fun, I'm just smart about it but also confident enough that I don't let it get in the way of life. If stuff happens it happens. We do what we have to and move on after.
Being an older woman, I really appreciated this video and another of his I watched. It made me realize I’ve been doing all the right things in listening to my gut and being aware of my surroundings, especially when I’m in a parking lot. The video where he talks about woods next to a Walmart parking lot?!… my town has one with that same scenario and I’m always on alert.
Best sponsor ever I’ve been looking for a new bike
Guy just gave me a situational awareness game.
Awesome video. Title instantly grabs the attention, snappy intro, solid advice, humour and perfectly integrated product promotion.
This might be your best one yet
I have avoided problems a lot by ''situational awareness'' - it works. I say that as a British person; here we normally don't come across guns, but there are plenty of knives/edged weapons in urban areas primarily. Overall, edged weapon use tends to be mostly confined to large cities and by younger people. Avoiding trouble is a sensible option - always. There are some instances where we do have to have to be ''hard to hurt''. Here in the UK, I don't feel, most of the time, under threat. That's good. I like this guys approach and do agree with him. Distance is good. Useful videos sir. Thank you for posting. God bles you all in the USA. PS I was in the British Police some years ago, so I have often got out of trouble by ''jaw jaw not war war'' ; admittedly sometimes we have to directly confront. Some great advice here. Thanks🙂
Always love your content, Icy Mike, but today as a TaijiQuan practicioner who actually takes himself "seriously" (or at least my training), I'm extra gratified to hear you saying the words- "being happier and less stressed out is probably the *most* realistic Self-Defense" because that's exactly what we teach. Oss as always, ☯️🙏☯️
Good, practical lesson. Thank you. The initial training of awareness (as you say, "condition yellow") is energy costly, but if you train yourself consistently, for short periods, and then build up, it is completely plausible. That is essentially what we did for ourselves when we learned to drive a car. We are basically at condition yellow anytime we are driving. When we first learned to drive, paying attention to everything was tiring, but over time we learn to do it without draining our energy. Our brain uses less and less glucose as it is trained. Most of us dissociate during driving, but can instantly respond to changing traffic conditions (provided we are not too checked out). This is what I teach in psychiatric hospitals. "Mind the gap" is a solid, usable chunk of advice.
I appreciate these focus on not trying to be novel with generalization. by being specific with THINGS to do. Defining situational awareness as practical. Being aware of WHAT situation, environment you're walking into so you know what tools to use, what the temperature of the water is, what kind of animals are in the bushes. Very useful info here, as always!
I loved when you said that you're a recovering situational awareness guy. That was me. Thanks for this.
Great information as always, but the highlight of the video for me (even funnier than trying to advertise your sponsor's bike as a drive-by-bike) was the BJJ in the elevator bit. That and the 'HAHAHAHA! Idiot.' at the end. You crack me up Icy Mike! Thanks for the consistently great content.
Lol Aventon is so lucky to have you as a sponsor. At 4:49 , "they have this throttle feature on the left handle bar leaving my weapon hand free...". That is a selling point they probably never thought about. Now hopefully they have a left handed version
1. Elevator scenario: I'm imagining 2 people who have just watched this video getting onto the same elevator, turning and facing one another, each thinking the other has become a threat. :-)
2. The last few mins of your video, you've kinda given away the basic intro concept in The Gift of Fear, by Gavin de Becker.
By far best actual self defense video I've seen in general from anyone
This is also a good way to relate the threat triangle they teach in the Navy to real world. Basically you can legally act defensively when the three sides of the threat are met: capability, opportunity, intent. Capability is weaponry, could be a gun or knife or anything but its straight forward. Opportunity is distance and position, which is relative to what their capability and whatever vulnerable people/equipment is around and again is another fairly easily distinguishable factor. The last part, intent, is easy to discern in a military capacity but much harder outside of a position you're guarding. This vid covers some great examples of figuring out intent, and also both denying opportunity and when the opportunity side is met (to know when to throw the first punch or whatever).
10/10 video!
"Condition Yellow is not a personality." 🤣 Nailed it lol.
Then why are emojis yellow
@@Fullyautomagic they were invented by japanese ...
he is the edgiest of them all very cool personality
Good implementation of the sponsor, not disrupting and keeping the content intresting
Nice ad! Still not sure why situational awareness is so bad though. I’ll rewatch it and see if I can figure out what your trying to say - and learn some more features of your sponsor’s bike!
Nobody said situational awareness is bad. This is a video about how important it is and how to improve it lol.
@@hard2hurt "Best case scenario, situational awareness is pointless." -- Icy Mike; first 30 seconds of this video. Yep. Super-clear messaging there.
im so glad you made this exact vid. i get so tired of old men who live comfortably in surburban environments lurking SD videos just to gaslight people with "the best SD is situational awareness!" or "just run!" as if it matters to psychos if they're spotted or not. they might also cite random (usually wrong) statistics that ofc assume that everyone's risk factors are the same and especially vulnerable people dont exist.
There are alot of misconception about situational awareness. If you are aware of your surroundings it gives you time, time gives you options. But it is not a self defense tool it's a mindset that is part of self defense, but it will never replace punching somone, or a gun.
Ultimately if you are aware of everything but have not idea what to do you will loss.
I try to keep aware of my surroundings because I can, but it as self defense advice with out anything else is about as good as run, you hit the nail on the head.
Thank you John.
I didn’t think I was going to agree with you at the start of this video. But it turns out you make some really good points and I actually learned something. Thanks!
“Condition yellow is not a personality”
Oh man, me 5 years ago would have been fucking heated hearing that 😂
@@dragonballjiujitsu my man, he ain’t making fun of anything that works. He’s making fun of making it your personality. You can be in condition yellow and also not make it an all encompassing aspect of who you are as a person.
Sensei Seth ride-by bit and the elevator bjj is very instructive. Will never forget reaction gap. Good teaching skills as always Mike.
Least favorite video yet… for no reason at all
Click the dislike button twice then.
If your honest, it was funny though
One of the best (and funniest) videos Mike has made yet. Love it! The drive-by was priceless.
Damn, this is a wakeup call. I currently am the guy always talking about not sitting with my back to the door lmao
I think it's more like a step on the way. We're just not on Icy Mike's level, yet. ;-)
"that includes listening to you" Ah HAHAHAHA! Gold mate, GOLD.
I'm that guy! I would have been int the NFL if I didnt hurt my knee. I only watch UA-cam 15 seconds at a time. Situational AWARENESS!
Me got more situational awareness. And broke both my legs before going NFL.
That's why I train day and night to attack people in 14s or less.
You're doomed, man. Don't even get close to me!
I was a self defense teacher. I taught the concept of "avoiding the sucker punch by creating a safe distance" all the time. First time one of my pupils got himself into an altercation he was knocked out cold with the opponents first punch.
You can talk about that all day. But nobody learns this without experiencing it himself. But the first time somebody attacks you out of the blue could be your last. So how to learn it the safe way?
Boxing sparring teaches you the very same thing: You get a real awareness for the distance. A subconscious one. An automattical awareness you couldnt switch off, even if you would like to do so.
Holy shit the elevator guard pulling in short shorts had me bout to bust.
Phrasing!
One thing that I’ve always had trouble with is when is self defence needed because when the other guy throws the first punch it’s too late. This really helped thanks
The bjj in the elevator killed me lol. You hit my boy seth bro!
*Jim’s Wife* I can actually say something I normally don’t get to say in response to this video, and that’s “Hey, wow, I learned something new today that I DIDN’T think of before!” Your use of the backpack to conceal drawing your knife followed by having it at “murdery stab-level” in the elevator was brilliant. Love it and WILL use it!
Umm hopefully you will not.
Walk into a restaurant or through a mall. Walk into a place where people have to stand in line. Pay attention to how many people are looking at their phones for more than a second. Those are the people that don't have any situational awareness. Best example.
I don't know if I'm aware of the situation, per se, but I am aware that you might want to raise your saddle height on that bike so you can avoid screwing up your knees with inadequate leg extension (the saddle's tilt and fore-aft position look like they'd be uncomfortable, too). I really dislike those rim brakes on an e-bike as well, but I am admittedly biased as a former bike mechanic who had to fix far too many of those cheaply built budget e-bikes to ever be a fan of them.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. From my medical background but it applies here.
Great video. You show that situational awareness is useless if you aren’t acting on it. The reactionary gap is the act, and you demonstrate that really good.
I'm that guy. Though I legitimately have hyper-vigilance. It's a common symptom of ptsd.
3:02 , no sir, if you do, is because someone taught you that, or because you already have the situational awareness mindset without any teachings (but it's not the majority of people)
4:40, keeping the hands free is situational awareness, it's part of the package.
6:20, knowing this distance rule is situational awareness.
Reactionary gap is a rule of situational awareness.
10:10 - you are absolutely right
14:00 - No people usually doesn't
14: 48 - Very nice advice!
So you gave us a very nice class about situational awareness under the title of "Situational Awareness is Not the Answer to Self Defense"
All those time stamps and you missed the most crucial point lol
I must have been watching these videos too long. I was asked by the slightly drunk guy in the middle of the park alley to read his ID number, because he can't make it out and he needs to give it to somebody on the phone. My first reaction was, it's a trap! He wants me to focus on the ID he holds and sucker punch me, my second reaction was: I'm an idiot, it's Poland where I live, the guy genuinely needs help, I spelled the ID numbre for him, he repeated it number by number on the phone, said thank you, I sid you're welcome and we went our ways both happier.
I think that was a decent reaction. Step one, threat assessment. The result of that assessment is allowed to be "not a threat."
vyderka: You're a fool, you should have kicked his ass; better to be safe that sorry.
"this is a sponsor video" that right there is great situational awareness!
The best thing is not to violate 3 rules:
Don’t do stupid things.
Don’t go stupid places.
Don’t be out at stupid times.
You can get away with breaking 1, but all 3 puts you at risk.
And for clarity, the tips given in the video are very good after you get in a possible situation. But I find the three rules help prevent you from being in a situation where situational awareness is heightened.
So, essentially, lock yourself at home and never come out?
@@lazyman7505 how the fuck did you get there from here
@@lazyman7505
If you are continually violating all three, that would mean you are doing stupid things at stupid times while in stupid places.
If you are doing that every time, you need to seek counseling.
That is really good advice. I'm stealing it, thanks! :-)
Jeff Cooper's Color Code What's your current condition? The most important means of surviving a lethal confrontation, according to Cooper, is neither the weapon nor the martial skills. The primary tool is the combat mindset, set forth in his book, Principles of Personal Defense.
I couldn't stop laughing at sensei seth getting shot lmao i love it when you're this playful in your videos, learned about the concept of "reactionary gap " and got to laugh, plus, that bike does look pretty darn good! Shoutout to sensei seth and hard2hurt
Looking forward to meeting you in October. Can’t wait to train with you guys 💪🏻 the lineup for the seminar is 🔥
I prefer giving people Ocular Patdowns. Then I assess whether or not they're a threat. If they are, I usually just go with a quick head kick. Or a liver kick if they really piss me off. Seriously. Don't mess with me bro.
And then parents drag you and your buddies out of the playground...
Lol. Good one.
@@lazyman7505 *OverYourHead.gif*
Part of the reason that I kept watching this video is seeing Mike having ridiculous fun on his cool new bike.
"guys that don't know how to wrestle but carry a gun" ...I was just attacked personally from halfway across the country, no amount of reactionary distance was gonna stop that lol.
From my time in the military, I think reactionary distance is INCREDIBLY important, especially if you have a gun. I used to do security forces type stuff in the middle east, and I was in charge of a team guarding a pier, searching vehicles and people. I made sure to stand well behind where I had the guy doing personnel searches, so if something happened i had a good 30 feet to work with; if you pulled some shit, even at a dead sprint there was no way you were reaching me, especially considering that behind me on an elevated concrete platform was a guy with an M4, although chances are i would have been able to draw and engage with my m9 before he could have chambered around and turned on his optic lmao. Carrying in condition 3 is fucking dumb.
Good comment. Also, Condition 1 is the best, IMO.
Your closing statement about following your "gut"/instinct reminds me of something that Rory Miller mentions in one of his books (Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected. 2011):
"Intuition is difficult to train because you never know when it works. If you get a bad feeling and avoid the ambush in the dark alley... nothing happens. In psychological parlance this is a negative (nothing happened) reward (and that's good). Negative reward, the absence of possible pain, is one of the slowest ways to teach."
Aventon has been a great deal for years now. Debating still getting one. It would definitely help with getting me back to commuting to and from work as my cardio is shot since having covid. Can't really commute to work in the mountains here when half my ride I'd be walking up hills.
could popping a folding bike into your backpack (while walking in rough terrain) work, or is it too much weight?
@@redactedcanceledcensored6890 they're too big and unwieldy, unless maybe you're talking monkey bike.
Absolutely love this conversation. Thank you for sharing.
"There is no first punch in karate" is a semi-controversial statement that has been misunderstood as "You have to wait for the attacker to hit you before you react"
And... who doesn't love BJJ in an elevator?
“Situational Awareness is the answer”
“That will be $50. Thank you.”
Dude i love your channel. So glad i found it. Thanks for bringing your knowledge and experience to us.
Super glad to see that you're aware of this situation in the self defense community. Good SA bro 😂
I like this guy . He has a lot of experience and knowledge on the topic of self defence. But he is entertaining and fun . Keep it going. Thanks
"I live my life in condition yello!"
That's called anxiety. Go to a psychiatrist!
@@dragonballjiujitsu it also means you die at 40 of a heart attack from high blood pressure, or gets you put in prison after too many times over reacting on false positives, because you've keyed yourself up to view every possible interaction only in the context of violence.
@@dragonballjiujitsu cope and seethe on a few more comments bud
Yes! And like, seriously-dudes who think you should always be ready for an attack; talk to a professional. It will truly help you. There’s nothing wrong with therapy, and if you feel that way-you probably need it. Not in a judgemental way, in a caring way.
@@dragonballjiujitsu It's not. It's really bad for you. And I work in a dangerous job where I have to have awareness or I could die. And I've been deployed to combat zones. And learning to turn that off is a big deal.
@@dragonballjiujitsu Being 46 and alive is a pretty standard thing bud. Unless you work in a very dangerous line and have spent lots of time in dangerous areas, and even still it's more common to be
I am "that guy" that is all about situational awareness. 25 years in military special ops followed by 15 years as a cop. I give my wife shit all the time about wearing ear buds while running. PAY ATTENTION AND QUIT BEING A FUCKING IDIOT TARGET. Yeah, it doesn't go over well with her or most regular people. She and others can become victims, but I won't because I generally can recognize when the the potential danger level is higher and I take appropriate steps instead of bumbling along thinking nothing will ever happen. I love the videos covering mindset and preparation when you are surprised, but how about avoiding being surprised?
Kind of disagree here. In day to day life you probably don't have to worry about too much, but you should at least understand where you are. Years ago I had a friend that was from the U.K. that had come over for education and didn't know what some parts of Boston are like, especially at night. He had his headphones in listening to music not paying attention, then he woke up without his phone/wallet. People don't jump you from the front. You wouldn't walk through some deep woods without being mindful of bears, don't make that mistake in poor neighborhoods at night.
Edit: Maybe we are on the same page here, it just took a few extra minutes to grab the context. I'll leave the comment up regardless.
Edit2: I really need to start watching the whole video before I start formulating a reply. Talking about getting space and throwing the first punch etc, I said already that you don't get jumped from the front, but sometimes it's set up that way. This is what I used to deal with growing up pretty much exactly. How it works is: someone will start talking to you directly in front of you > the other guy punches you in the back of the head while you respond, or slams you from behind. The only time I've seen different, is when everyone knew each other. So probably if some random dude starts talking to you and trying to get your attention, be mindful of that. Honestly though, I've NEVER seen this stuff go on after I left the city.
If you are pretty sure you are alone though, always always always always throw the 1st punch. Even if you aren't. If you don't get the 1st punch, you might not get the 2nd.
Actually day to day life is pretty dangerous. In the US things are very violent here. We got people being robbed at gas stations. We have burglars following people from the store and attacking them at home. We have constant shootings and protests. Murder has been on the rise over thee past 2 years. It's dangerous to go outside.
Not going into areas that are known to be dangerous is much better advice than "situational awareness"
i saw the first couple sentences you wrote and knew you didnt watch the video lmao
@@clownboyyyy the click bait statements get me every time lmao
I've spent a lot of time in cities and walked alone many times. One thing I've noticed is the long shadows streetlights create can tell you if there's anyone approaching you.
I love the use of formal customs to gauge a person's state of mind. Brilliant
I love how he says teaching situational awareness is dangerous while showing you how to be situationally aware. You’re being quite pedantic.
Subscribed the best advice is personalized your options and what is your goal. For some people self defense can be getting a scary dog as a companion, others a gun, others learning to grapple. Each person is different from other people.
Having fun while honing your situational awareness is also possible. They aren’t mutually exclusive.
Well being aware is good, but you can't be on edge to the degree that you would need to be to catch a coming ambush or something all the time, that's literally what PTSD is... Basically it is a very bad adaptation for most people. And it's exhausting mentally. Maintaining that awareness isn't easy, that's why in the military they try not to put you in a situation where you have to do that for very long, and if you are in a situation where you have to do that for an extended you're dramatically more likely to mess it up.
@@davidpeters6743 as a veteran, i can tell you that is NOT what PTSD is.
@@freedomsmarch4948 I had PTSD. Well probably still have it, but it's got a lot milder over the years. As a veteran I'll ask you, what was your MOS? When did you deploy? Look there's nothing wrong with being aware of your surroundings. But when you're so aware that you see threats all the time that you're hyper-vigilent? That's when a survival adaptation that might have helped your ass in theater isn't helping. As for me I was a 2621 in the Marines, deployed to Fallujah in 2008 (when things were still pretty intense) and Al Asad in 2009 (when they were a lot less intense) I also served as a 13F in the national guard for several years after I got out of the Marines.
@@freedomsmarch4948 PTSD is a psychological adaptation to stress. You adapt to become more able to see threats and more able to react to them. But when those threats aren't present and you're still being ambushed in your brain every time a car backfires or mortared every time fireworks go off or terrified every time a street is quiet when it's normally busy? Those are all good things in theater. They don't help you stateside.
I disagree. Situational awareness is a very critical thing to "SELF DEFENSE" guys just take this and wanna play badass and that isn't what it means. It means if I'm in my car in a bad neighborhood how fast will I be able to pull off if someone trys to approach. It's an extremely boring mentality yes but it will keep you safe
I think that Jeff Cooper's '4 Conditions' cast a very long shadow, even into unarmed martial arts - as witnessed by the focus on 'situational awareness'.
Also, if you enjoy bicycling, you and your family should take some vacation i Holland or Denmark: we rule bicycling for fun and pleasure, no lie.
@@dragonballjiujitsu did you not even fucking watch the video lmao
LOL. Unfortunately, and full disclosure, I am that guy with my back to the wall, eyes on the door! LOL. And yes, I was in the service. 4 years active duty, 6 years guard and reserves. And also, I am the guy with the "head on a swivel", but that is just because I am absolutely neurotic in crowded places! But I am trying to reform myself! But I completely agree with everything you say. I don't bring it up, I don't talk to anyone about it, and I sure as hell don't want to hear some KMart Killer talking to me about how to be more situationally aware! LOL. It is just anxiety, and a stress response. It doesn't make me safer, it only makes me feel safer. Thank you again for all the great content! Following the link now!
SO I've watched about 3 videos of yours, and in every one of them you're disrespecting folks. You do have some good things to say but only after you make grossly oversimplified statements, ( which usually occur just before you go on to the five minute product endorsement. I see through it. It sounds cool to put down situational awareness in a goofy voice, and it sounds good to say using your brain is not a part of self defense, but then you either do what you said is stupid, or, prove that what you just denied has merit. For instance; what good does it do to keep your weapon hand free if your not going to pay attention to what's going on around you? You shot the guy in the back. What did that prove? It proved he wasn't paying attention. In another video you say all knife defenses suck and then you turn around use FMA knife defenses and principals. I guess you put others down so you can offer the illusion of coming up with new things that others have already taught? Maybe those were the only videos you do that in? Im not going to try and find out.
1. Frankly speaking the bike ad is really convincing, the back red light, the good speed, the left hand throttle, very well presented and in a fun way Sir!
2. "You're already fighting". Yes.. Koreans have the word ki-ssaum (litt.: energy fight) relating to verbal (and non-verbal) fight/competition... and what you mentioned is part of it, I think.
Building a house isn't fun but we do it because its optimal for survival.
Situational Awareness is to avoid having to use self defense.
@@WakeUpUniverse66 BEST THING TO DO IN A FIGHT IS TO NOT GET IN ONE DUDE!!!
@@ScrotumJoe34 Sometimes you cant avoid a fight but if you can see the fight coming you can use the element of surprise. Cleary it wont win you the fight but in real life a fight can be you getting rocked from behind and never even knowing what happened.
I KNEW you were gonna do a drive by LOL
Nearly 27 years in LE. I teach just about everything but I’m not “that guy” who pretends to know everything. I like to learn from everyone. Your points on where to stand in an elevator and why…well done. I learned something new. Thank you.
I like this because it's something concrete to do. I felt like other places would just say "pay attention to your surroundings" but that's relatively vague and it's easy to get distracted. This is something clear that you can think through versus "am I paying enough attention?"
Bingo
I quite enjoy your approach to sponsorship in this video, and it's probably better too. Rather than an ad section that people just skip, you just use the sponsored item as a prop and example throughout. Pretty nice, lad.