KerwinBenson.com Hidden Gems of Martial Arts

Let's talk bottle defense ...

A big brute is coming your way, fast. He has a knife out. He looks menacing. He yells profanities at you as he flashes the knife.

You see a bottle nearby -- maybe a beer bottle. Without hesitation, you pick it up, and slam it against the edge of the table, in order to break it and have a sharp-edged weapon. Now, you ...

Wait!

(I don't mean that you wait for anything. I mean, Wait! as in hold on, this is not a realistic scenario.)

This Isn't Enter the Dragon

It's not always easy.

And believe me, it won't look menacing if you have to pound the bottle five times, to break it. In fact, your aggressor might feel an extra boost of confidence at seeing your inept attempts to break one bottle.

So, what should you do?

1. Don't break the bottle, and THEN fight. Start fighting as soon as the bottle is in your hand ... or even before. Avoid wasting the extra motions required to break the bottle. You probably don't have time anyway.

If you really have to fight in such a serious encounter, a much more worthwhile pursuit would be to try to break the bottle 'on' your attacker. This could do a lot of damage. (Are you ready to deal with the legal and moral consequences of your actions?)

2. If you still fancy yourself as a bottle breaker, then practice. I guarantee that a real bottle won't break as cleanly as the sugar bottles used on TV shows.

I worry about shards of glass flying, not at your attacker, but at you.

Smash! You slam the bottle onto the corner of a cement wall. The shards scatter ... some in your leg ... a nice piece in your arm ... one small nugget zips into your eye. Yuck.

Hmmm ... Metaphoirically, when looking at the bottle, maybe a 'bat' is better than a 'knife.'