As crime rates increase, life in America’s big cities can be scary at times for many people.
To reduce the risk of conflict with violent people, it is important to know what to do in potentially dangerous situations.
Renner Gracie, head jiu-jitsu instructor at California’s Gracie University, shares the most effective self-defense moves, especially when the equipment is out of reach or knocked over by an assailant. Ta.
New York City woman punched in the face on the street: TikTok sounds the alarm about horrific assault
Gracie, whose family founded Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, identified four stages of assault in an interview with FOX News Digital.
These consist of: Identify unsuspecting targets. Overwhelm and isolate the target. It’s controlling and exhausting. and carry out the attack.
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey trains with Renner Gracie at Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Torrance, California in 2015. (Hans Gutknecht/Media News Group/Los Angeles Daily News)
“In almost all cases of predatory attacks, the perpetrator looks for an opportunity where bystanders are least likely to intervene and have the highest chance of getting away with carrying out the attack,” Gracie said.
Safety in the New Year: Self-defense experts share tips for surviving a gunfight
Experts offered the following tips for avoiding and avoiding potentially dangerous altercations.

Gracie said perpetrators “will look for opportunities where bystanders are least likely to intervene.” (St. Petersburg)
1. Be aware of your surroundings
Gracie stressed the need for people to remain vigilant when bystanders are unlikely to intervene.
“Even if you don’t have a weapon or a security mechanism, your hands should be free,” he said.
More women use firearms for self-defense, lose weight: Protecting ‘life for dear life’
“They need to observe their surroundings,” he added. “While moving from one point to another, you should not be on your phone or be distracted as an attack could take place.”
He also said, “If you have the tools at your disposal, those tools are probably the most prepared.”

People should be especially aware of their surroundings when bystander intervention is low, Gracie suggested. (St. Petersburg)
2. Stay confident
Gracie says one of the biggest benefits of learning a self-defense technique like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the boost in confidence it provides.
“When you start unlocking your body’s potential, your entire aura changes,” he says. “The way you walk, your surroundings, and your eye contact with potential attackers.”
8 ways to protect people you know who live alone
Eye contact can also be used as a deterrent tactic for potential attackers, since posture and eye contact are the “earliest indicators” of resistance from a target, Gracie said.
“If you’re looking straight at someone walking down the sidewalk in the opposite direction, and you’re looking straight at them without looking away, they’re on your radar; they’re on your radar. I know that,” he said.

“The simple ability to look someone in the eye is an extremely important and underrated self-defense strategy and safety element.” (St. Petersburg)
“The simple ability to look someone in the eye is an extremely important and underrated self-defense strategy and safety element.”
If a predator doesn’t want to get caught, Gracie said, early detection of a potential attack may cause it to think twice.
A surge in random violence is “not random,” says an expert on how to protect yourself
In other words, “I’m not going to attack her because she’s not the easy target I want,” he said.
“Advisers are constantly investigating the challenges, or lack of challenges, of potential targets.”
3. Set language boundaries
Another indicator of resistance, Gracie says, is verbal assertiveness and boundary-setting.
“If someone invades your personal space, you have to set boundaries,” he said. “At first, it might be a cold argument, like, ‘Hey, don’t come any closer, stay where you are.'”
Gracie and his wife Eve Torres’ appearance on “The Ingraham Angle” on March 1 demonstrated this kind of escalation in boundary-setting.

Renner Gracie (right) and his wife Eve Torres appeared on Fox News Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle” on March 1, 2024, to demonstrate boundary-setting. (Fox News)
Torres gave two verbal warnings to the attacker, played by Gracie, to back away before yelling, “Back off!”
“At that moment, I knew she was willing to go to war,” Gracie said on the show. “And it turns out that for me, the attacker, she wasn’t the easy target I expected.”
While these tips are “important pre-emptive measures for self-defense,” Gracie told Fox News Digital that he feels this challenge is capable of enforcing them.
Click here to sign up for our lifestyle newsletter
“If women want to develop their innate boundary-setting abilities in uncertain interactions with potential predators, they need to develop skills that give them the confidence to protect themselves and avoid going to the hospital at all costs. The onus is on women to learn,” he said. He said.
The ultimate goal is to survive the fight without injury, Gracie said.
4. Improve your self-defense skills
Despite using tools such as pepper spray and stun guns, Gracie stressed that the only skills that are truly reliable are those “acquired into muscle memory.”
This can happen with intensive practice of self-defense techniques like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which he says “uses leverage and does not rely on having a physical advantage over the target.” Told.

Coach Renner Gracie looks on during the filming of ‘The Return of The Ultimate Fighter’ at UFC APEX on April 29, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“And what I’m talking about here is strength, speed, power, size. Because most of the time, attackers target someone they feel is physically inferior to them. Because I will.”
During an attack, Gracie said, a reaction called the “amygdala hijack” triggers the self-preservation part of the brain, activating “purely primitive survival instincts.”
8 important tips to keep your home safe while traveling on vacation
Even if that happens, jiu-jitsu will still “show up,” he said.
He added: “Jiu-jitsu is so popular because it takes just a few minutes for men, women and children to acquire the core skills that allow them to defend themselves in violent physical conflict.” “It only takes weeks to months,” he added.

Renner Gracie and Eve Torres recently demonstrated self-defense techniques on “The Ingraham Angle.” (Fox News)
In the “Ingraham Angle” segment, Gracie and Torres demonstrated how an attacker would throw a punch.
In response, Torres raised his hands and stepped back, then lunged at Gracie and hugged her around the waist.

Gracie University has 264 certified training centers around the world offering a variety of self-defense courses. Renner Gracie is on the right. (Image/FOX News)
“She’s wrapped around my waist and her head is buried in my chest,” he said. “She can reach her, but this punch has no power.”
He continued: “She will stay here until she feels she has a chance to exit, and then she will leave.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
She noted that this and other important strategies are taught in Gracie College’s Women’s Empowerment Program.
Gracie University has 264 certified training centers around the world offering a variety of self-defense courses.
For more lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle..
