 Back in a previous video we covered the topic of situational awareness or being aware of what and who is around you What to take into consideration in case a self-defense situation arises and any safety measures that you can take Today I wanted to talk about one of those specific environments and take a look at self-defense in the parking lot You know, you're in a dojo. It's a very controlled setting. You've got air conditioning You've got four walls a roof above your head sometimes padded floors. It's a safe controlled environment Outside it's a very very different scenario. You've got different types of terrain. You've got weather to deal with you've got heat You've got obstacles other people It is not a controlled environment and this is where you're most likely to encounter a problem in an uncontrolled environment So always take stock of where you are. So I like to always whenever I go somewhere new I don't care if it's indoors or outdoors or a place I've been too many times or brand new You walk in and I just like to survey. You don't have to be obvious about it You know, don't be scoping around but kind of you walk in take a look around notice lots of people Traffic any holes or slippery areas in the floor anything like that. I want to talk about terrain terrain to me is a big big Factor because your footing is everything if you don't have balance if you don't have a solid stance or footing You have a big problem and you're probably going to wind up on the ground or even losing So what I like to do I have a habit whenever I walk in somewhere. I just kind of take stock of the ground You know, I just kind of check traction. So even right here. It's a little bit slippery. There's some loose gravel You've got construction right here. So in the parking lot obviously we have pavement and concrete There might be construction through scrabble This could very easily kick up and slip on you if you're not careful curbs So now you have a terrain difference in terms of level. So big difference You're fighting on here. It's very easy to step down and fall rolling ankle even going the other way tripping over it You've got loose gravel. You've got tree roots. You've got trees Okay, there could be stumps that you don't see loose sticks rocks grass. So grass alone is kind of versatile in itself I mean, you know, this is a dry day summary day. It's You know, it's pretty it's got some decent traction, but you don't know if it's loose or not It could kick up it could rip up on you. Also, there's a big difference between dry grass and wet grass You know, you don't totally lose your traction Grass can become slippery. So if it's been raining if it's early in the day and there's dew or moisture anywhere You're near a pond or a lake or canal all of this can drastically affect your footing even Parking lines the paint strips those get wet. Those can be very slippery. I had an incident once before I was on crutches and the crutch hit the paint strip and I slipped on it got to be careful So my first thing I do is I walk anywhere I check my footing all the time and you can be very discreet about just kind of check your traction And just ask yourself, well, I'd be able to run on this why be able to fight on this? Am I in a slippery hazard? Just be aware of the kind of traction and footing and terrain you have to deal with Because you never know when something's gonna break out where you're gonna be standing Let's talk about the obvious thing in the parking lot Parking cars you've got two types of cars deal with here You've got parked cars which can be obstacles or tools and you also have moving cars driving cars So not only not only do you have the risk of running into an obstacle fighting up against the car you have to watch out for moving traffic and If someone's not aware of you cars drive by all the time And if someone's not aware of you you can easily get hit. So your opponent is not your only threat You've got pedestrian traffic and you've got cars too. You really got to watch out for that Some safe practices you can take obviously Just keep an eye on what's around you are there a lot of people is the parking lot empty if the parking lot Is empty keep track of you know at any possible dark spots corners just anything to be aware of Also, there's a lot of little tools you can get self-defense tools. I personally like the coupon You know, it's basically a key chain It's a little steel rod or aluminum rod and it could be used for soft targets ice throats Growing it could also be used for wrist locks if you train with it a little bit So it's kind of a nice subtle tool to have on you I'm gonna list this in the description below if you're interested I recommend picking one up there. They're pretty cheap and they're really handy to have on you I've also got a few other items down there that are good for personal self-defense that you might keep on you Just give yourself an edge a little bit of advantage of something happens Weather let's get back to weather a little bit. It talked about wet grass, but Just look at the big picture. Okay, today's a nice bright sunny day But especially in areas like if it's arid or South Florida where it's really humid it gets hot and You might not be aware of it at the time adrenaline is running But that heat bearing down on you if the situation goes on long enough that you could put yourself at risk You know for possible heat stroke exertion Overheating just got to be aware of that Slip-sided that if you're somewhere where it gets really cold snow. That's an extra terrain concern Now you've got ice to worry about snow slippery and grass Big big concern if it's raining, you know, everything might be slippery You might not be able to get a grip on things it might even impair your vision weather Takes a big effect on you. You don't have any of that indoors or inside of the dojo train with so keep that in mind Let's talk about the difference between day and night right now is daytime. Okay visibility is excellent Something you might not take into account the Sun that suckers bright You find yourself in a self-defense situation to fight with somebody try not to be in a position If possible where the Sun is right in your eyes You don't want that kind of impairment if you can maneuver it Maybe if you're kind of sizing each other up or you're trying to kind of maneuver the situation Maybe turn try to get them where they're facing the Sun anything anything that can aid you and your advantage do it It's only gonna help you at the very least it helps you see a little bit better than them at night It's a little bit of a different story. Obviously, you don't have the Sun to give you this kind of clarity But most parking lots will have street lamps or some sort of street lights That's good, but they're really only there to give you visibility driving and getting to your car One concern and a lot of people aren't aware of this really depends on what type of lights there are if you see the light is orange that is typically sodium vapor lamp now Might that's not like a big deal but what the big deal about that is is sodium vapor lamps have a very very low color rendering and color profile and They all also operate on a different frequency than our eyes are accustomed to at night time So there's a lot of detail our eyes will miss so that could be the difference of seeing somebody in the shadows or not There's a dark spot and somebody's hiding in it or Steve We're just standing in it with the sodium vapor lamp. You might not see them now if it's a blue lamp Then that's more LED and LEDs are gonna give you much better clarity They're gonna be brighter sharper and you're gonna see a wider color spectrum So that will affect visibility. So basically blue or white or LED lights Those are better be careful with the orange lights If it's orange just be aware that the dark spots you might not be able to see everything that's going on in them Now as you can see we're standing here in an open parking lot lots of maneuverability You know parking is light right now, but even if there's a lot of cars, they're still open space Clear visibility might not be the same case in a closed parking lot or a parking structure You've got different terrain considerations there. You've got closing spaces usually a lot more packed with cars You've got pillars you've got a lot more hiding spots even sound gets distorted it echoes a lot So if you try to call for help you might not be clear So just be aware of the difference between open lot and parking garage very different environments So if you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in a situation where you have to defend yourself in the parking lot You can't escape it the fight's gonna happen. All right, what are we working with now? Well, let's go back to the cars. You've got parked cars You know if you're caught up against them you've got things like the glass to worry about you know heads hands body parts Elbows can go through the glass that can really hurt you or you can use that against them But it's very dangerous. You also have side mirrors if you're sliding up against the cars watch out for those kidneys Watch out. That's gonna hurt it might even stop your momentum if you're trying to slip away That might even impede your movement usually against them if you can obviously If you're in any drive-thru area moving cars are a very very very big hazard They might not see you especially if you're coming pop it around the corner or if someone falls down You know cars are a hazard If the fight goes to the ground Between cars you're not gonna be visible. Okay, people walking around might not see you So make a lot of noise call for help scream yell Say call the police because if someone does see you it might not necessarily be clear Who's attacking who especially if you're ground fighting and especially if you do have martial arts experience and you're using it Call for help call for police make it know make as much rack as you can because you might not be visible And if you're not visible, you're definitely on your own and also these got a lot less space maneuver between cars You know if you're in a really tight spot, you're not gonna be able to pull any reversals or you know a lot of Rolls you're gonna be tight-knit space so watch out for that if you're ground fighting in the open area Again moving cars. You're now lower on the visibility line. A car might not see you So do your damage get back up on your feet as soon as possible. Okay, we've talked about our obvious hazards You know, you've got the terrain considerations weather Trees and environment park cars as well as moving cars, you know, that's the obvious stuff Now let's get down to the finer detail. What other tools can you use at your disposal? What's around you? Well, let's look around first of all This could be a weapon could be defense. You could throw it. You could swing it You could trip over it. So you got to watch out for that. It could be used against you. Also, what else do you have? You've got possibly shopping carts signs Are you carrying groceries groceries could be a weapon if you've got a plastic bag that hangs down You can swing that especially if it has weight to it at the very least you can throw it up Be the traction get them to bring their hands up might buy you split second to run or get a kick in or something So whatever you're holding you can use as a tool. You could have loose rocks and sticks water bottles cans Shopping carts. There's a whole bunch of things just take stock in your environment chairs There's always something you can look at and use and also be aware of what could be used against you Environments are usually rich with detail. Take advantage of that detail. What about the person themselves? What are they wearing? What are you wearing? Are you wearing clothes shoes sneakers high heels? If you're in high heels watch out for drains, you know You don't want to run across the drain in high heels. You don't want to drop your keys on there either Then you've really got a problem. So are you wearing flip-flops? You you're not gonna have a lot of rotation and be able to run with flip-flops. What are they wearing? Are they wearing a hoodie or a shirt that you can grab, you know, especially judo and brazilian jiu-jitsu? There's a lot of ghee chokes. They're wearing a jacket. Hey, that stuff will work great Especially with zippers across the neckline all that that could be effective if they're just wearing a t-shirt You know, what are they wearing? What can you hold on to? We're in South Florida people might wear suntan lotion skin can be slippery So gripping might be an issue just kind of look at the person are they wearing shoes or they wearing flip-flops? What can you use against them? What do you have to worry about being used against you? Get out of there escape if you have a coupon go for the eyes go for the throw go for soft targets Just at least if they're grabbing you get out of that grab and run Call the cops go to safety go to another store if anything is open. Don't just stay there Your goal is to escape. You're not there to combat improve yourself. Your goal is to escape and survive So let's talk about the escape for a second This kind of goes back to the beginning of this video when I mentioned when you first go to an environment Take stock of what's around you check your traction check the people check the obstacles Check escape routes. Just kind of know ahead of time if there was a situation or an emergency Where could you go? You know, I mean it might be obvious. I'm in a big wide open space But even right here I could run this way easily I can go that way a little bit if I want to go inside, but there's a wall there can't really run this way We've got water so that's really not an exit path. It's not a good one for me I can you know, just kind of see what's around you if you're in a parking garage again You're to have even limited spaces So when you get to a new place or environment in your parking lot just kind of in them back your head thinking If something happens for whatever reason whatever emergency where can I go? What is available for me and where am I locked off of you want to avoid being caught in corners? You know one be void anywhere where you can't run water is going to be a problem again Survey and having the back of your mind a plan B if something were to happen So those are just some of the observations I've seen and then I can look I mean just here in this environment I look around this is what I'm noticing now. I'm in South Florida. You know, we're pretty flat land around here What if you live somewhere with Hills, you know, there's a lot of parking lots that have only Unlevel grounding you've got potholes. You've got Hills. You've got ramps all that will drastically change the situation So I'm actually kind of curious. What else can you guys add? What other hazards in the parking lot or tools? Can you guys think of that would aid your escape or your self-defense situation? The gritty thought of being in a situation like this in the parking lot can be very scary There's a lot at play a lot to take into consideration If you are able to avoid the situation obviously that is best But if something happens try to use that environment as much as you can and remember the goal is to escape and get the safety Don't try to stay in your ground. Don't try to prove yourself and punish them get away and leave Hopefully if any of our viewers can pull at least one idea out of this and is able to defend themselves or even better yet Avoid the situation altogether, then it was all worth it. Thank you so much for watching As always we appreciate all of our viewers the more this channel grows the more we can do and present to you all So I please ask all of you share subscribe send us to all your friends Let's get this community bigger so we can do more of these. Thank you so much for your support