Actions speak louder than words. His response is canned and inadequate.

His angry wrist grab brought me back to old hours of practicing wrist grab defenses and a one particularly funny occasion. We had a student who was stoutly built mechanic with arms and hands of steel. If he decided to pick on you with his full strength, he could make all but the most senior students look very silly when trying to practice these techniques.

One day, he was showing off his strong grip a bit too much with the newer students and so our Sensei reappeared from somewhere (no one noticed him sneak off for a moment,) stopped the class and announced he was going to demonstrate a method that absolutely anyone in the class, boy, girl, young or old could use to break out of this guys wrist grab.

The student was asked to come grab our Sensei's wrist, which he did, looking rather defiantly. Then our Sensei reached into his gi for a second, held his hand under the student's bare forearm and flicked on a Bic lighter. The student let go instantly with a rather 'less than manly' yell.

Our instructor then explained how 'self defense' is not about overpowering your opponent. It's about out maneuvering your opponent. Sometimes you do that with your body but first and foremost you must always use your mind.


With great power comes Awesome irresponsibility.