Englishman Lee Morrison developed a system of self-defense and self-defense for survival in a big city, based on many years of personal experience.

At the age of 14, Lee left home in order to realize himself in life. At first, he had a very difficult time - he spent the night right on the street, interrupted by odd jobs. But these tests quickly helped him to understand that active actions lead a person to success. Nature gave Lee a powerful physique, so getting a job as a bouncer in a nightclub was not difficult for him. Years of work introduced Lee Morrison to the English criminal world in detail. This man participated in numerous fights with bandits, robbers and just thugs who crawl out onto the streets of a big city at night. And for the sake of fun, they are ready to deprive a casual passer-by of not only their wallet, but also their life.

The experience and subtle understanding of the psychology of a street fight, gained in his youth, was very useful to Lee Morrison in adulthood. Today, in the world of self-defense, he is known as a famous personal safety trainer. From now on, he is committed to passing on his rich experience to everyone, traveling around the world and conducting self-defense trainings.

EASY PEASY

The first advice from Lee Morrison is to learn to distinguish between the concepts: "self-defense" and "self-defense". Self-defense is a set of actions that you can take BEFORE you are attacked. In turn, self-defense explains how to act if an attack by a criminal is inevitable.

First of all, you need to learn how to manage the threat. On the street, you should always be careful. You must control the space around you all the time, assessing the threat of people walking past, teaches Lee Morrison. - In the event that you have headphones in your ears, and your eyes look at the phone on which you are typing SMS, you are not able to foresee the danger in time. But if you are on the alert, you will notice in time that a certain stranger is purposefully walking towards you, without slowing down. You must not let anyone get too close to you. A hand outstretched in time can save you a lot of trouble. You have to control the situation and understand what kind of behavior of people around you can pose a threat to you, says the Briton.

Lee Morrison advises to always walk confidently on the street. Representatives of the criminal world know "body language" very well. Therefore, they literally determine at a glance who you are - a victim or a predator.

If you look like food, you will be eaten, the expert explains. - If you resemble a lion, then they will not come close to you.

An intelligent person who has mastered the simple rules of self-defense will, first of all, try to avoid danger. If it is possible to turn away from unambiguous strangers standing on the road, then a smart person will do so. And, of course, you can minimize unwanted meetings without going out into the street at night.

If three tall guys suddenly came at you from around the corner, then the best self-defense in this case is to turn around and run away, advises Lee Morrison. - Think about the consequences of a fight. They are not always good for health. Strangers, of course, have a chance to get what they deserve from you. But there is also a non-zero chance that you may be maimed or even killed. In addition, the scumbag you beat may meet you later with your family and take revenge ... Therefore, The best way to live without problems - not to create them, - the expert believes.

TALK AS SELF-DEFENSE

The last self-defense technique is talking. People who can speak the language of gopniks often negate the threat. However, the wisdom of conducting such conversations, most respectable citizens are not trained. There are several simple rules for communicating with this category of the population, and the main rule is not to make excuses in any case. First of all, if aggressive young people come up to you, they will try to “download” you. That is, make you guilty, and punish you for this guilt. According to the concepts of "loch", you can do whatever you want. Therefore, your task is to prove that you are not a sucker at all. In a conversation with gopniks, you need to forget about the existence of the “not” particle in the Russian language. Do not respond to provocations, look into the eyes, speak in a confident voice, and smile slightly at the end of the phrase. Such behavior, firstly, shows the gopniks that you are not afraid of them, and secondly, it indicates that you are not at all an ordinary man in the street. If they have no reason to cling to you, then they will leave you behind, since “collision without a reason” is called “lawlessness”. To create "chaos" according to the concepts is very bad. For this they can be punished even in the actual thieves' environment. (It's amazing how British gopniks are similar in their behavior to our domestic brothers in mind).

BE FIRST

Having mastered the rules for managing the threat, you should learn how to manage the physical threat, in other words, learn self-defense.

If self-defense begins with the fact that someone shakes you by the breasts, then you are already losing, Lee Morrison is sure. - If avoiding a collision is impossible, attack first. Techniques in a street fight should be very simple. After all, it is necessary to act in a state of stress and disorientation. The easiest way is to hit the head. Strong enough to make the enemy unconscious. I will not choke him, grab him or use other fighting or boxing techniques. Nothing. Hit him in the head and just turn off his "computer". You have to hit hard before he hits you,” says Morrison.

A fight in a bar while watching a football match and being attacked by a mugger on the street are completely different situations. In order to repel a street predator, you need to understand its psychology.

The predator is looking for a prey, which he easily distinguishes from the crowd. The main feature of the victim is the lack of self-confidence. Go to a big supermarket and watch people's behavior. Think about which of them you would choose as your victim if you intended to commit a robbery. You will quickly understand what the victim looks like and intuitively try to be different.

Street scum attack either from a dark corner behind, or come up to ask something. If a person walks towards you, looking around, asking something, you should be on your guard. A passer-by who really wants to ask something will not look around. He will look into your eyes. And the one who checks is looking around - whether there are witnesses of the attack or surveillance cameras nearby.

Anyone who just wants to ask how to get there will stop a step away from you. Anyone who wants to attack will come close, put his right foot back, taking a striking position and, asking how to get there, quietly take his hand back, where he has a knife or pistol hidden. Then he will plunge the weapon into your stomach with lightning speed. He diverts your attention with questions to attack and quickly take you down without waiting for your resistance.

You can identify the threat by the characteristic behavior of criminals. For example, you are standing in the parking lot of a supermarket. You open the trunk and put your purchases in it. Suddenly you notice a certain man who is looking at you. He doesn't have shopping bags. He doesn't put anything in the trunk of the car. He doesn't really know what he's doing here. If you notice him and look him in the eyes, then he most likely will not choose you.

If you were walking down the street, and someone sat down in front of you, then got up and followed you, crossed the intersection, just like you, this is a threat. Rapid footsteps behind your back, which sound quickly approaching from behind, can also mean a threat. Or in a packed nightclub, when you're heading to the toilet, a certain guy suddenly appears in front of you, blocking your way. What else do you need to understand that you have a problem?

Learn to hit hard, advises Lee Morrison. - You must put all the weight of your body into the blow, then it will be crushing. If you just hit with your hand, this may not be enough to turn off the “computer” of the criminal. The successful outcome of an unpleasant meeting on the street for you is 90% dependent on you. If you could not convince the criminal not to attack you with a word, then you must hit first. But it is also important to experience aggression and be anti-social. That is, you must become a predator. The bastard must be opposed to the same bastard. You need to become a bastard for a while. This is not the time to think about morality, your life is at stake here. Remember this.

You have to train the predator in you,” Morrison continues. - If I walk down a dark street and see two people there, and at the same time I feel like a bigger predator than them, my body shows it, and they feel it. This makes me a hard target to attack. The second important aspect in attack is your thoughts. It is important to hit hard because your life depends on it - these are the emotions that should set you up to hit. Explode! Stun the predator: "Don't touch me you bastard! Just touch me!" You have to let the predator feel that he attacked the wrong one.

After hitting, do not stop, except in those cases when the enemy immediately gives up and is ready to run away from you with all his might. Let him go. Let it fly away. There is no exchange of blows in a street fight like in martial arts. A street fight is only your punch. Hit after hit, don't stop. Someone wants to sew you up. Imagine how your family is grieving at your funeral. This will add fury to your actions. It's all asocial, but it works.

GET USED TO PAIN

Lee Morrison at one time reached such a level of skill in a street fight that he often went for a walk along the nooks and crannies with his friend, specifically looking for scumbags. On the latter, the Englishman practiced simple, but very effective street fighting techniques.

Once a friend and I saw two characteristic types of criminals. We stopped close to them. They began to look at us, clearly intending to attack. I said to my friend: "Let's hit at the same time whichever one of them comes up first." Soon the criminals went to us. The one who was closer to us received a double blow to the jaw - I hit with my left hand, and my friend with my right. He fell, and his comrade immediately timidly sat down, raised his hands up, babbled something, then rushed to his heels. One woman who saw the whole scene from her window called me and a friend animals. But there are no rules on the street. We neutralized one enemy physically, and the second mentally.

In the face of a physical threat, an unprepared person becomes as if paralyzed by fear. He cannot connect two words and looks like a suitable victim for a street bandit, which unties the hands of the latter. You can overcome the fear of pain if you get used to it. Morrison recommends this exercise: simulate group fights with your friends, in which several people beat one. Interestingly, in his trainings, Morrison himself acts as such a pear. The purpose of this exercise is to simulate an unpleasant situation, to find a way to escape from the ring of attackers and get used to the pain. After all, what does not kill us makes us stronger and more experienced.

A knife, sparkling in the hands of a scumbag, often has a paralyzing effect on the psyche of an unprepared person. This is a terrible weapon and it is better to avoid direct physical collision with such a subject. But at the stage when the knife is not on alert, and it is impossible to retreat, there is a chance to provide decent resistance. Quickly go behind the opponent's back from the side of the unarmed hand and strike him with a series of blows with an open palm at the base of the skull, followed by knocking the opponent to the ground. Avoiding the knife should be practiced in pairs with a change of partner, so as not to get hung up on the same weight and height of a potential opponent.

HOW TO "TAPE" A BIT?

It's easy to defend against a person who has a bat in his hand. You must control the distance - do not let him come. In front of Morrison, when there were massive street riots in England, one person died because of his own stupidity. The guy broke the window on the second floor of the house. The door opened, and an imposing-looking man came out of the house, he was holding a bat on his shoulder. The guy, instead of somehow smoothing out the conflict, came close to this man and began to provoke him with shouts: “Well, what are you going to do?”. A few seconds later he received a powerful blow with a bat in the forehead (the man did not even swing - he hit "from the shoulder"). The guy dropped dead.

It's hard to believe, but you have an advantage when your opponent is armed with a bat or stick. Especially if he has a bat. First, he has an emotional attachment to the weapon. If in a fight he drops the bat, he bends down to pick it up instead of defending himself. At this moment, you need to pounce on him, and beat him until he breaks. Secondly, the opponent's actions with a bat are limited by his own weapon, which, moreover, exaggerates self-confidence. The exception is when a person is specially trained to strike with this weapon. Or he knows how to fight with a rifle with a bayonet and will use them with a bat. It is difficult to predict the techniques of a person who, unlike you, knows how to handle weapons.

If an opponent comes towards you with a bat lowered in his right hand, then the most likely way he will strike is with a swing and a blow to the head area. If the victim deflects, he will return the bat in an arc back and still hit the head. How to resist these blows?

The most dangerous part of the bat is its end, since this part develops the most maximum speed when swinging. If you expose your hand to a blow, it will be broken. But there is another option for confrontation. It is necessary to hit the opponent in the middle of the hand at the moment when he only swings. Thus, the weapon is behind the “victim” and the enemy cannot use it. In the meantime, grabbing the enemy’s hand, you need to beat him in the jaw, knee in the stomach, bite his ear, and so on. At the same time, break it psychologically, for example, with abuse and threats. Make him afraid of you. Beat him physically and mentally. Do not forget that at this moment your life depends on your actions.

When a person becomes self-confident, this state changes his whole life. He quits a boring job and calmly settles down for another. He meets a girl he likes. Others begin to treat him differently, because self-confidence makes a person different, says Lee Morrison. - Confidence makes you a harder target to attack. Outwardly, you look like a predator. But do not forget that even the largest predators can also be polite or affectionate creatures. The lioness is gentle with her cubs, but look at her while hunting. There must be a balance. You must remember that violence looks the same. If a thief is trying to take your wallet and you fought back and it was caught on camera, then when you look at the footage, you will see that you look ugly because you are acting antisocial.

The manifestation of my aggression will look exactly the same as the aggression of the person who tried to rob me. The only difference is the reason for the aggression. Street criminals are predators because they want to "eat" other people. You must be a predator in order to protect yourself and your loved ones. At the moment of confrontation with antisocial individuals, you must also be antisocial so that they understand that you are not a victim. But when the conflict is over, you must again become a normal person. Don't forget about it, the expert advises.

A man with a weapon is no more armed than a musician with a piano.
There's no point in owning a weapon if you're clumsy with it.
Colonel Jeff Cooper

Dangerous situations in modern world there are many: street skirmishes, attacks by robbers, civil unrest ... To ensure a safe life, special skills and abilities are needed. And in order to apply them in a timely manner, you need to be informed, attentive, and most importantly, self-confident.

But blind self-confidence from the category “I am confident in myself, which means nothing will happen to me” can lead to carelessness, which will not result in the best consequences.

You must clearly understand when you are safe, and when it is time to use self-defense techniques.

A well-known scheme in self-defense circles called “Security Codes” will help you figure this out. The author of this applied system is Colonel Jeff Cooper, who stood at the origins of practical shooting in America. He used a security code scheme to prepare soldiers for military action. Also, this scheme is used and regularly analyzed at their seminars by such self-defense specialists as the Englishman Lee Morrison, the American Kelly McCann, our compatriot Maxim Stepanov.

How will the security code system be useful to you? Of course, with its help you will not hit harder and dodge better. But it will give you a very important understanding of the structure of the conflict situation.

Understand the main thing: self-defense begins long before the fist of the aggressor went straight to your face.

Are you being beaten? So you made a mistake by ignoring previous security codes. How to avoid an attack? At what point do you decide on your actions? When to start a fight and what to do after? Your common sense will provide answers to these questions, and the diagram will help organize your thoughts.

1. White code

You think you are safe (for example, sleeping at home, behind a door with a bunch of bolts). Your apartment is on alarm. Since you are absolutely relaxed, you are most vulnerable at this very moment - you are not ready to react to danger. If you trusted fate and carelessly walk along a dark street in a hood and with a player, typing sms on your smartphone, you are in a white code.

2. Code yellow

You carefully and concentratedly examine the space around, whether it be a street, a parking lot, an entrance to an entrance. You are not "on edge", but you are ready to recognize the potential danger.

3. Red code

You saw the threat, managed to assess it and quickly look for ways to ensure your safety. You still have time to make the right decision - to run away, close the door locks in the car, get a weapon, and so on.

4. Code red

There is an attack. The danger is maximum. You are forced to defend your life and must use every opportunity to do so. This is the action phase.

Now let's consider a situation from life and analyze where which code is applicable.

So, you left the apartment and closed the door behind you (with all the locks). You are in code yellow. Yes, it's yellow, not white. You must be careful and alert. This does not mean at all that you are now paranoid, who is only looking for where a CIA agent or another robber has hidden. You're just "turned on".

You walk briskly to the parking lot where your Mustang is parked and notice that several young people are rubbing near your car. Suppose you spotted them and they spotted you, but the distance between you is still decent. This is a red code. If you saw a friend in one of them, you are again in the yellow code. And if not, you have a few seconds to make the right decision.

Suppose you misjudged or completely ignored the threat and went to drive the punks away from your car. You approached the company, a conversation began ... As soon as you determined by indirect signs that the situation was developing critically (you were given a harsh answer to the question, someone stood behind you, a knife flashed in the hand of one of the guys), - you recognizes a red code and must act immediately. If you did not recognize the situation in time and waited for the attack of one of the hooligans, you thereby cut your chances of survival dozens of times and “dived” into the red zone. What can I say - fight for life with full dedication and maximum efficiency.

We have already told you what to do when facing multiple opponents. Now let's remind: beat.

1. Hit hard, two-three-hit hand combinations from those that you are best at. For example, like this: right straight and immediately left on the side. Grip the attacker by the collar - hit the “hammer fist” with the base of a clenched fist and immediately move to the flank to deal with the next aggressor.

2. If they had the initiative, cover your head with your hands (most likely, they will beat it there) and again to point 1.

3. Run as soon as possible. As soon as you fled the scene - ran a sufficient distance - you went into the red code. Why not yellow? Because after a fight, your adrenaline levels go off scale, and you are not able to adequately assess what is happening around you. Therefore, be as careful as possible. As soon as you find yourself in a really safe place - for example, in your apartment or in the company of a police patrol - you can take a breath, you are now in the yellow code.

You still do not understand why you need these codes? Understand the main thing - they illustrate your condition and show at what stage of the development of events you have real chances to avoid danger, where you need to make a decision, and where, without hesitation, act. Most hazards can be avoided by being in the "on state" of the yellow code. I saw a potential danger - make a decision about your further actions right there, do not wait until the threat becomes relevant, because you are in the red code. Waited for the critical stage of physical confrontation - act. This is a red code. The fight has stopped, you're safe - don't relax. You are in code yellow - check your battle wounds, call your friends, call the police, an ambulance if necessary. Well, you can call your mom...

Think at your leisure about this model - it can make your life safer and give you grounds for self-confidence.

One of the masters of his craft, who had a significant impact on the formation of "", is the British self-defense specialist Lee Morrison.

Lee is a charismatic, very fast, explosive and tough person with his own special energy and a very methodologically competent instructor.

He is the creator of the Urban Combatives (UC) real combat system, which he has been teaching since 1999. The basis for UC was more than 22 years of the author's experience in various Asian and Western martial arts, as well as experience as a security guard in bars and clubs, many of which were far from the most prosperous.

On this moment, in addition to private and group lessons back in the UK, Lee travels extensively around other countries, training civilians as well as police, rescuers and security guards.

The Urban Combatives program is dedicated to "cultivating" good personal safety skills. In his system, Morrison relies entirely on the realism of the techniques being worked out, and preaches the principle of "nothing more". Everything is tight and tight. This makes it possible in a fairly short time to prepare a person so that he can respond with violence to violence, if such a need occurs.

Li divides the skills necessary for a person into “soft” (threat awareness, avoidance, attention to warning signs, self-confidence expressed non-verbally) and “hard” ones that support them (purely physical combat elements that are easy to learn and applicable in a stressful situation).

A few important points that Lee Morrison emphasizes when teaching:

– If there is an opportunity to avoid a fight, use it.

- If a fight is unavoidable, then hit first and hit hard.

– Put your body weight into the punch and hit through the target.

– Hit in the head to damage the "computer".

– Do not telegraph your intention to strike. The posture should not look aggressive and express readiness. The attack is fast, sudden and powerful.

– Don't bet on a single hit. Attack in series.

– Be aware of your surroundings. Know how to recognize a potential threat. For example: a person in the parking lot, but he has no bags, no keys, and at the same time he is heading towards you ... or if a person, asking you about something, looks around suspiciously ...

– If a person is alone and behaves aggressively, then as a rule this can mean the following: a) he has accomplices nearby, b) he has a weapon.

– 90% - mental preparation. This is the internal attitude of the predator, a clear intention, antisocial behavior (because any violence is essentially antisocial), the certainty that it is I who will win; "". 10% - technology. These are the simplest tough tricks that can be performed under stress.

– The two main elements of your technique are impact and attitude.

— Fatigue represents fear. When you feel fear, you already feel weak. Three things you should never show in a fight: don't show you're scared; do not show that you are hurt; don't show that you are tired. Hide it from the enemy.

Konstantin Larin

Lee Morrison- The "guru" of street fighting, one of the creators of the modern "urban battle". An expert with 32 years of martial arts teaching experience with 12 years of experience as a bouncer in bars, pubs and restaurants around the United Kingdom. Years of constant search, meetings and joint training with such universally recognized martial arts masters as Charles Nelson, Jim Grover and Paul Wunak, led Morrison to create the Urban Combatives system, which allows almost any of us to master the skills of street self-defense in a fairly short time.

The founder of the Self-Defense 100% club, Max Stepanov, has long nurtured the idea of ​​inviting Lee Morrison to Moscow. And now, thanks to his efforts, Lee is in the capital. In the gym of the Self-Defense 100% club, he conducts a two-day seminar on the psychology of conflict, the strategy and tactics of street self-defense, the use of improvised objects, defense against group attack and defense against attack with cold weapons. Of course, I could not miss this event and gladly joined the group of instructors and students who decided to take part in the seminar.

The first day

On the first day, Lee introduced us to the basics of Urban Combatives. As it turns out, he doesn't like it very much. self-defense term, since it implies that the attack has already occurred and the victim of the attack needs to use defensive tactics, which drastically reduces his chances of success. Instead of this pre-losing behavior, Morrison suggests using preemptive attack based on 3-4 well placed and brought to automatic blows. In addition, the adept of his system needs to master "threat control", i.e. learn to avoid potentially dangerous places and gatherings, "turn on" your senses (sight, hearing, smell) and the natural instinct of danger. It is also necessary to learn how to read "body language" in order to guess in advance about the criminal intentions of a potential aggressor.

The first day of the seminar was devoted to all this: a theoretical part, a demonstration of various conflict scenarios, and then practical exercises: finger strikes on the eyes, strikes with the base of the palm, hammer hand, elbows and knees, grips and grips that help to use the aggressor as a human shield . And attacks, attacks, attacks with a scream and a mother tongue (for verbal suppression!), with a release of energy, powerful and leaving no chance for the attacker ...

Second day

The second day turned out to be even more meaningful. Lee's views on edged weapons defense and group attack were voiced. He agrees with the opinion of most experts that a knife in the hands of a psychopath or a scumbag - terrible weapon and direct physical contact with such a subject is best avoided. But at the stage when the knife is not put on alert, and it is impossible to retreat, there is a chance to provide decent resistance. How exactly to do this was shown by Morrison in his usual manner: quickly, concretely and convincingly, with an approach from the side behind the back with an unarmed hand, delivering a series of blows with an open palm to the base of the skull and then knocking the opponent to the ground. We practiced escapes from the knife in pairs, changing partners so as not to get hung up on a certain weight and height.

We just caught our breath, and Morrison is already introducing us to the tactics of protecting against group attack. In a group attack, the main task is not to miss a blow to the head and not to be knocked down. If you fall, group up and protect your head, groin area, and back as much as possible. Having solved this problem, try to stand up and break through the gap in the ranks of the opponents, and then, as they say, "Run Forrest, run!". Each of us was able to be in the shoes of a victim who is simultaneously beaten by 5 to 10 people, squeezed in a corner or dumped on the floor. The release of adrenaline is such that after doing the exercise you get up on the “half-bent”. It’s good that the head was protected by a helmet with a visor, there was a cap in the mouth, and a shell covered the “interlegs”, otherwise injuries would definitely not have been avoided. By the way, Morrison is an adept in the use of protective ammunition, since it is she who allows you to practice the technique in full contact without the risk of serious injury. The training helmet he invented was tested in 700 sparring matches, and in all this time there were only two knockouts (the helmet can be seen on the video posted on the Urban Combatives website).

Six hours of classes flew by in an instant, it was time to say goodbye to the master, especially since he really wanted to watch the fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Monson in the company of Max Stepanov, which was broadcast that day. As a memento, Morrison presented each participant with an autographed diploma, and also took a picture with all the participants of the seminar and thanked them for their productive and productive work. He noted with satisfaction the high potential of the Russian instructors and promised to definitely come to Moscow again, since in two days he shared only a small fraction of his knowledge.

Well, we will look forward to the next meeting with this wonderful fighter and coach, but for now we will comprehend and work out the material received first hand.