Situational Awareness is Not the Answer to Self Defense

I am riding the Aventon Soltera single speed. The Aventon Sinch and folding step through Sinch are also featured briefly in the video.

Get hard2hurt merch here!

Please consider supporting hard2hurt and get exclusive content available only on Patreon.

Follow Mike:

DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on them, hard2hurt receives a small commission. This helps support the hard2hurt channel and allows us to continue to make videos like this. Thanks for supporting us and stay hard2hurt.

Music:

Title Song is Lying Low

[stans]

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

[burnerjack]

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.

[kevinfernandoguillen]

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"

[KnightJiuJitsu]

Just here for the elevator BJJ. The bikes are pretty dope too though.

[SuperUncleRyan]

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.

[JohnDoe-ymtq]

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

[dascyne]

Mike: "Most people have enough situational awareness."

Mike has never met my wife, her sister and their friends.

[charlescollier]

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.

[pridecorps]

Lmao. The end where Seth was like "I was wondering why we needed safety glasses, these are foam. I'm an idiot" was priceless 😂

[doughochstatter]

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.

[WAViolenceLLC]

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.

[Docinaplane]

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.

[GlitchyRijndael]

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.

[Dragon]

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!!!!

[freedomsmarch]

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.

[angeld]

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

[raydrexler]

“React to your gut” is the best “situational awareness “ advice I’ve ever hear or given. Thanks and be safe.

[Outdoors]

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!

[musashidanmcgrath]

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.

[stephbuck]

Solid. I've generally held to the belief that most fights are won by the first person to realize they're in a fight.