[AntiTrace]

Not how-to guides. In this age of free information all you need is an idea and you can figure the rest out.

1. Lockpicking - Rarely use. Only when jimmying doors will not work due to door frame contruction or lock type.
A decent lockpick set will only set you back about 50 bones. there are resources all over the internet on how to learn it. I build a practice board by installing 5 different lock types on a 2x4. It never fails to start to a conversation when people see it leaning against the wall in my living room, and everyone wants to see it in action. Ive gone to the rescue of 3 lizards who had locked themselves out of the house, two resulting in bangs.

2. Jimmying doors - Use a couple times a month
day one version of lockpicking.
Anyone can figure this out with about 5 minutes of experimenting, and it works on about 90% of doors as long as the deadbolt isnt locked. One of those skills that is so easy to learn, yet still impresses the hell out of women when you use it.

3. Handcuff picking/shimming - Applied once in real life situation

Very hard skill to learn. Ill put it above lockpicking in terms of difficulty. However it is invaluable. Can be done with nothing more than a bobby pin or a hair barrette. It is a perishable skill to an extent. I used to be extremely fast, now I could still do it but it would probably take me longer. And having a couple sets of handcuffs in your house never hurts. Make sure your practicing on legit police grade handcuffs though.

Oh and double-lock that bitch. Because I GUARANTEE you that when you are handcuffed for real, it will be double-locked.

4.) Breaking zip cuffs/escaping from being tied up/escaping from duct tape- Never applied in real life situation except as a kid playing war games

Zip cuffs - Dont let anyone lie to you here, not everyone can break zip cuffs. If your not the bottom 10% of men in terms of strength, you can do it. It is mainly about posturing and getting the zip ties as tight as possible before attempting to break them. You can shim that as well.

Tied up - Initial posturing is key, you want to keep your hands positioned in a way that will give you as much room as possible once you are fully tied up. Place your hands like you are praying. Press outward with your knuckles slightly and open up the bottom of your hands as much as possible while hiding what you are doing from the top view. Attempt to catch the first line of rope underneath your thumbs. This will give you a couple of inches of free play after you relax. Rope is probably the worst way to restrain someone, incredibly easy to escape and leaves them with a valuable tool.

Duct tape - inital posturing is key again. same basic technique as ropes. can also be broke using one single strike against the body in some cases.

5.) Firearms skills

You want to be able to pick up just about any firearm and be able to fire it at least once. I would also review military tactics mainly focusing on urban enviroments and room clearing. Too many dumb-asses get killed with their own weapons because they do not know what they are doing.

6.) Basic Wilderness Skills

Go camping for a weekend, but only bring a knife, a basic survival kit, and a survival book or two. Dont even bring food. You can go far longer than a couple days without food, and you wont even feel hungry after the second day. It will force you to actually apply some skills without killing you.

Make sure weather is in your favor, you dont want to be caught in a real survival situation on your first go. You will be amazed how much you will learn. And the first time you make a fire on your own is an enlightening experience.



What skills do you have that make you valuable when the shit hits the fan? Situations that range from mild nuances such as locking yourself out of your house, or when your knee deep in the shit stuck in a hostage situation. Im always up for learning something to new so lets hear them.

[Walnuts]

I bought a lock pick set about a month ago and I couldn't pick a fucking £2.50 padlock.

[ABDada]

#5 is important, but there's a corollary to it: being able to defend against firearms when unarmed.

Example: you're kneeling and someone has a gun to your head.

There are plenty of YouTube videos available that show the basics in disarming an aggressor, even if you don't have a firearm yourself. If you have a group of guys you do any outdoor activity with (frisbee, surfing, etc), it's not a bad idea to practice some of those moves with them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q42Y73-AgaY

Better yet, take some Krav Maga classes.

[Cincinnatus]

Great post.

I really like the idea of mounting a few different locks to a 2x4 for practice. I've always wanted to learn how to lockpick, and am keen on acquiring some picks, but I will warn members here: possession of lockpicks can be construed legally as "possession of burglary tools" or some such nonsense, in some jurisdictions.

Also a huge fan of firearms. I try to make it to the range as often as possible. Planning on acquiring my concealed carry permit in the coming months, though I'll probably have to buy a new pistol. Model 1911 .45's aren't exactly small.

(04-07-2012 09:37 AM)ABDada Wrote:  

take some Krav Maga classes.

YES.

I've been telling guys this for a while now. Krav maga lessons can be hard to find in some parts of the United States, but if they're locally available to the men of this forum, I highly suggest taking them.

[AntiTrace]

(04-07-2012 09:40 AM)MSW2007 Wrote:  

Model 1911 .45's aren't exactly small.

I've been telling guys this for a while now. Krav maga lessons can be hard to find in some parts of the United States, but if they're locally available to the men of this forum, I highly suggest taking them.

love the 1911s. just a beautiful looking firearm.

Ill look into krav maga, i definitely need some martial experience to round out my skills a bit.

Walnuts Wrote:

I bought a lock pick set about a month ago and I couldn't pick a fucking £2.50 padlock.

buy a lock which allows you to remove the tumblers. when i started it was impossible for me to do deadbolts. I removed all pins but one and then kept adding them until I could do a whole lock.

do that for each of the most common locks. that method allowed me to pick every lock that accessed my friends house while he sat in the living room with the TV off listening. 6 locks in 10 minutes and the only one he heard was the deadbolt on the the door he was sitting about 4 feet from.

[ABDada]

With the increase in viewership of MMA and UFC, I'd think that Krav Maga would be getting more popular. The KM gym I go to (I have never had the time to take a regular class schedule) is one of two in Chicago that I'm aware of, but I've heard there are at least 20 MA gyms that also teach some Krav Maga. It surprises me that there are so few in such a big urban area, especially one with high crime.

I'm definitely going to enroll in a regular class in 2013 when my travel schedule calms down. This spring I'm considering enrolling in a beginner's course at a circus/aerial gym like http://www.aloftloft.com. Some of my overly masculine guy friends think it's a homo sport, but (a) it's exactly the type of work out that few guys get, and (b) it's populated with more women than men.

When I was 23 a gal I was dating bought me a gift certificate for 3 months of ballet, and I figured what the hell, I may as well check it out. Instead of dancing all prettylike, the instructor physically destroyed me so quickly in the first week that I dropped out completely. I was also very surprised to see 2 pro-am football players and 2 pro soccer players in the class after mine, so maybe the fancy feminine type sports aren't all that feminine. More research is definitely needed, and my particular ballet class was ALL women, ALL fit, and ALL pretty. I was weak then, and if I continued, I could see myself crying after an hour of the abuse they call ballet training.

Lastly, check your local MA gyms and see if they offer Kendo, or Chinese Stick Fighting. If you think you're all tough and strong, do a one-time beginners introduction to see how weak and slow you really are. I dropped out of that halfway through my beginner's session, but now that I've lost body fat and gained muscle, I think I may want to try it again. At worst, one of the plates can go all mommy on my baby-crying ass while I sit in bed for 3 days recovering.

[Twister]

Be careful with the lockpicks and slim-jims. If you are outside of your house with them, you can be arrested for possession of burglary tools.

[AntiTrace]

(04-07-2012 12:46 PM)Twister Wrote:  

Be careful with the lockpicks and slim-jims. If you are outside of your house with them, you can be arrested for possession of burglary tools.

Ive heard of this. I have a lock pick set in my car that serves the majority of my purposes, but I only carry one my person when i have a set job that needs to gets done.

Bobby pins and barrettes arent illegal to carry anywhere that I know of. You dont need a lock pick set to pick locks.

[billy]

(04-07-2012 08:43 AM)AntiTrace Wrote:  

N
Zip cuffs - Dont let anyone lie to you here, not everyone can break zip cuffs. If your not the bottom 10% of men in terms of strength, you can do it. It is mainly about posturing and getting the zip ties as tight as possible before attempting to break them. You can shim that as well.

Any one who knows what they are doing will zip tie you up with at least 3 cable ties behind your back this is extremely hard to get out of, espescially with a hood covered in white spirit on your head, I know this from experience.

[joehoya]

Let me make a skill recommendation here.

Personal Safety Awareness. Learn to be aware of your surrounding, detect danger, and extract yourself from the situation. I know that all of the other skills are cooler and more Chuck Norris like, but this is one that is much more likely to save your life.

When I travel in Latin America (hell, when I am in DC, Vegas or Chicago too) I am absolutely ASTOUNDED by how few people are exercising any significant awareness of their surroundings. Most travelers I see have no concept of threat detection (besides the occasional "I am afraid of brown people"), establishing clear exit/escape plans, and managing their appearance/demeanor to lower the chances that they will be a victim of crime.

So many guys seem to have gotten there personal protection strategies from action movies. I see guys that never sit with there back to the window/door in a restaurant, who then proceed to get completely shitfaced and stumble home just asking to be robbed.

I have seen guys walk around poor neighborhoods and areas that are known to have thieves who prey on tourists, wearing gold chains, pinky rings and Rolex watches just because they want to impress the ladies. I have seen an American disrespect an obvious drug dealer/gang leader in a strip club in front of his crew, whose only reason for still having a pulse was because the American's local driver pulled him out of the club and profusely apologized to the drug dealer.

While the Firearms, lockpicking, Krav Maga, stuff is cool, learn to develop some basic street smarts. You will use it sooner and it will keep you alive longer.

[AntiTrace]

(04-07-2012 02:14 PM)billy Wrote:  

(04-07-2012 08:43 AM)AntiTrace Wrote:  

N
Zip cuffs - Dont let anyone lie to you here, not everyone can break zip cuffs. If your not the bottom 10% of men in terms of strength, you can do it. It is mainly about posturing and getting the zip ties as tight as possible before attempting to break them. You can shim that as well.

Any one who knows what they are doing will zip tie you up with at least 3 cable ties behind your back this is extremely hard to get out of, espescially with a hood covered in white spirit on your head, I know this from experience.

yeah zip ties are easy as hell to break if your tied in front. But only amateurs will zip tie with your hands in front of you. Triple zip ties and a hood? now thats a bad fucking day.

And ill second the personal awareness skills. I wanted to go into that and negotiation skills, but felt it was better to focus on more physical skills.

[SpiderKing]

Hey Joe,

Thanks for adding this overlooked skill.
Are there some resources to learn more about this?
Searches keep coming up with women's self defense links

(04-07-2012 03:34 PM)joehoya Wrote:  

Let me make a skill recommendation here.

Personal Safety Awareness. Learn to be aware of your surrounding, detect danger, and extract yourself from the situation. I know that all of the other skills are cooler and more Chuck Norris like, but this is one that is much more likely to save your life.

[Anon-A-Moose]

(04-07-2012 09:37 AM)ABDada Wrote:  

#5 is important, but there's a corollary to it: being able to defend against firearms when unarmed.

Example: you're kneeling and someone has a gun to your head.

There are plenty of YouTube videos available that show the basics in disarming an aggressor, even if you don't have a firearm yourself. If you have a group of guys you do any outdoor activity with (frisbee, surfing, etc), it's not a bad idea to practice some of those moves with them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q42Y73-AgaY

Better yet, take some Krav Maga classes.

first point I'd agree with 100%. Second part I agree with 10%. Trusting a youtube video for your life is not exactly a great idea. I used to teach gun defense, and it's very high-risk.
Success depends on spontaneous action, element of surprise, and the amount of visibility of the action. If you're turned, and your hand is at the corner of hteir peripheral vision, and a short distance from the actual gun, a sharp move to knock it away usually can work. if you're facing head-on, and you try the same thing, you're dead.

Other things I'd add to this list: be able to pull yourself up from a ledge/cliff, change a tire, and fix a blown radiator hose with the materials on you.

[Aliblahba]

[Kitsune]

Skills for oh-shit situations:

- Get money.
- get food.
- Get water.
- Get shelter.
- get out of the shit-zone.
- Defend what is important.
- rebuild better than before.

Most 'survival stuff' can literally be accomplished by having a memory stick full of important documents, a vehicle and somewhere to go to. People really jump the gun when it comes to 'preparedness' in my experience, jumping in at the real deep end when there is no need to.

[Walnuts]

I had to change a tire yesterday, it's really not that difficult. It was my first time and I did just fine with no prior knowledge of tire changing and my 2 friends laughing their asses off at my piece of shit car the whole time.

[joehoya]

(04-08-2012 08:46 PM)SpiderKing Wrote:  

Hey Joe,

Thanks for adding this overlooked skill.
Are there some resources to learn more about this?
Searches keep coming up with women's self defense links
...

Actually, the women's self-defense stuff is usually a pretty good source. The GOOD women's self-defense sites emphasize awareness, avoidance, and evasion over H2H combat techniques. There was this OLD PBS special (like from the late '80s or 90s) by a former Chicago Police Detective named JJ Bittenbinder. It had some of of the most informative advice regarding personal protection that I have ever seen.

A lot of what I learned was just growing up in the city with people (especially cops) who had BTDT. Opening your eyes and watching body language helps a lot too.

[felipeelabogado]

I thought about this one for awhile and here is my list. Redneck 101:
1. How to handle physical pain/ take a punch and or asswhooping. So many guys I meet have never even been in a real fight. I don't care how much you train and in what style if you have not had your ass kicked you will hesitate, go out and get into a real fight. Once you have taken a few punches and know that you are not made of glass you will be much more confident in yourself. Fear creates lack of confidence. If you go out and get your assed kicked by the biggest baddest dude you can, then everything after that is cake, you won't be afraid to stand up for yourself or be in dodgy situations without cowering in fear because you will know that whatever happens you have probably seen worse. I have kicked a few asses and have had my ass kicked a few times and because of that I am not afraid of much. I don't like to fight and will diffuse a situation as much as I can but when it gets to the point where you have no choice you will act calmly and without fear.
2. Know how to use a firearm. "God made all men, Sam Colt made them equal" This is for those situations where your life is on the line and no amount of kung fu is going to save your ass. BIG CAVEAT, if you are going to carry a gun you better damn well know how to use and and WHEN to use it without hesitation. I have carried for 15 years and have only pulled it out one time and I was slowly squeezing the trigger when the guy turned and ran. My possessions and possibly my life were on the line that night. Don't ever pull a gun unless you are ready to kill someone right then and there. I got jumped by 4 dudes one time and had the shit kicked out of me but I did not get my gun out of the truck because I knew once they were done kicking my ass they would leave me alone, they weren't robbing me or threatening to kill me so I took an asswhooping and moved on. As for what gun, well that's a personal choice. I prefer bigger, I carry an HK45 full size, but to each his own.
3. Know how to kill an animal, dress it, butcher it and cook and eat it. I will never go hungry because of this skill. The killin part is easy but the dressing and butchering take a bit of learning, but all animals are pretty much the same, deer, squirrel, hogs, cats, dogs whatever once you learn how to dress and butcher one mammal they all will be similar, birds and reptiles are a bit different. (not to mention that this will connect you to your most primitive self, the true Alpha hunter, this is what nature intended you to do, tap into that energy and feel it, nothing like it the power of life and death over another creature they die, you eat) yum.
4. Know how to fix shit. Take time to learn how things work. Cars, plumbing, appliances, small engines etc... I work on my own cars not because I have to but because I LIKE getting my hands dirty and solving a problem. I can fix just about anything with a socket set, a few wrenches, screwdrivers and GOOGLE. Seriously instructions on how to fix anything are out there, just read them and figure it out. At a MINIMUM, learn how to change your own oil, replace a battery, fix a flat, change sparkplugs.
5. Learn how to build something with some wood and nails. It doesn't have to be pretty or even great but the sense of accomplishment you get from making something from scratch is hard to beat. I'm not very good at this but I can and have built shit. It just wasnt very pretty, but was sturdy and functional.
6. Be ok being alone with your thoughts, without tv, internet, or other distractions. Very good insight into yourself can be gained by spending a weekend alone camping or somewhere without any way to distract yourself. Wherever you go, there you are so you better know WHO you are.
7. Know your limits and push them. Push yourself physically to the limits at least periodically, not where you THINK your limits are but go beyond till your puking and literally fell like your going to die. It's surprising how much further you can push yourself than you think you can.

[Aliblahba]

^^^ I think guys born post 1990 have never even heard of these skills. My "oh-shit skills came from being brought up on the side of a mountain, and improved greatly in the military. I got my first rifle at age 10, spent the first season with dad teaching me safety, then was own my own after that.

The Corps taught me a higher level of situational awareness. It proved invaluable over the years traveling solo. My friends are amazed I can go to some shithole 3rd world, get fucked up, and not get rolled or raped. Even in a drunken stupor, I'm still on a level above the rest of the tourists. I go on autopilot, and let years of training do the rest.

I don't see many guys coming outta high school with any trade training under their belt. They'd rather sing in chorus, and dream of rubbing their peters against the fat girl they duet with. Taking a shop class and learning to work on your own shit is invaluable. The skill alone can save you thousands over the years. Singing will make you gay, and your vocal chords will be destroyed by the 9" cock shoved down your throat.

Us useful males don't sweat the small shit, like an ass-whooping. Shit happens. Now days, guys "oh-shit" skill is using their iphone to navigate to the nearest Starbucks, when the one their ran outta fat free organic tofu raised cow milk for their fat free faggalicious frappe fagga latte. They need it to wash down the experimental drugs prescribed because of the "flu" they got from their life partner.

Oh, how good is to be born in the '70's.

[Screwston]

This is a good thread. Why haven't more guys replied?

[Tengen]

Cracked.com article

The 6 Most Badass Skills You Can Learn in Under a Week

[AntiTrace]

(04-12-2012 07:54 PM)Tengen Wrote:  

Cracked.com article

The 6 Most Badass Skills You Can Learn in Under a Week

Well two of the 6 have been covered. Lock picking and urban escape and evasion.

I would love to do the stunt driving school. Some hardcore driving skills could easily come in handy.

That and the human lie detector. I am sure a lot of people that get into the game have been exposed to the basic eye cues. It goes beyond just being able to recognize lies though. Just being able to read exactly what a person is feeling based upon their body language and eye contact is mint. What is that TV show that is based around that idea?
\n
I also wanted to second Aliblahba's point on not sweating the small shit. 99% of the problems that average person encounters is not even worth worrying about, let alone letting your blood pressure spike for it. But I guess after dodging EFPs and being pinned down by a machine gun nest not much back here in the States is going to bother me.

[Tengen]

(04-12-2012 08:16 PM)AntiTrace Wrote:  

Just being able to read exactly what a person is feeling based upon their body language and eye contact is mint. What is that TV show that is based around that idea?

That TV show was Lie to Me. It's based on real scientific research done by Dr Paul Ekman.

I've got his book "Telling Lies" and have done his METT and SETT training. But at the same time i find it's only marginally useful; once you learn how to read faces you actually find that most people are pretty obvious with their emotions and wear their hearts on their sleeves. It's only useful if they feeling an emotion strongly AND they are trying to hide it.

[Aliblahba]

Here's a used method for the elite whilst in austere environments:


   

http://www.bullionbullscanada.com/bullet...ram-wafers

These guys carry breakable bullion coins, along with cash. Learn how to assemble a bugout bag, memorize your escape routes, from the hotel, to the airport, or friendly embassy. Allied embassies have agreements to keep you safe until they can get out out, or to your nations representatives. Learn which they are, and map them out.

Know this though, that airports and embassies become hotspots when shit hits the fan, so you need a fallback, like a trusted local that can squirrel you away until things settle, or the nearest border you can cross without issue.

[Veloce]

Great post. I'd learn every "Oh-shit" skill that I can if I could. Probably top of the list is Free Running and Parkour. I'd like to see any LAPD keep up with some kid that knew his back alleys and could do that spiderman shit.

The only skills I'd lay claim to are whole animal butchery and lock picking. Dressing and butchering an animal isn't hard if you've got someone next to you walking you through and and you just go slow.

Ironically, I find new locks easier to pick. Old locks and their parts move around more, making the pins harder to align properly.