Your personal protection is based on a 3-legged stool. Remove one of the legs and your structure becomes unstable. Attitude, knowledge and practice go hand-in-hand.

Right now, with this short article, we will focus on the knowledge leg. You can spend years and thousands of dollars learning traditional martial arts. That is good for confidence and exercise, but not necessarily for an assault. Much of the training in traditional martial arts will not teach you street smarts and how to defend yourself against a mugger or a rapist. That will raise the cackles on a lot of martial artists, but it is the truth as I see it.

Traditional martial arts teach Kata's, which are a series of specific movements which are carried out in a set form. It all depends on the style and what they choose to call it. They put you through exercises, examples, and kumite (or sparring) where you learn to pull your punches. After all you don't want to hurt your training partner. I agree with that, I've been there but it does condition you to pull back your punches and kicks.

You will learn powerful blocks, spinning back kicks and beautiful Hollywood style flying kicks. All of those techniques the street fighters love to see, as they don't work in the real world. You will just end up getting hurt or killed. Then another street fighter will triumph over a black belt.

Most women aren't interested, or have the time, to spend an hour or two a night going to the dojo or training center. You have a family to take care of and other responsibilities. You just can't fit much more into your day or night.

Women can also find themselves in their own comfort zone. They have spent most of their lives feeling fairly secure. Occasionally things will cross their minds like..."what if?" But really most women become comfortable in their daily lives and routines.

Many women only think about such terrible things as assault, rape or robbery when they read about it in the newspaper or hear it on the news. They may have a moment of outrage for victims and sometimes internalize how terrible they must feel.

Then they get back to their own life where their state of mind is involved within their own personal comfort zone. I'm not sure if it's denial, anger, or fear or just going about their business as usual.

But what would happen if you were assaulted? How would you react? Most women don't really know what to do so they freeze up. Sure there may be some struggle but it's not focused and the creep is able to handle it and controls the situation. But the assault continues and you get violated one way or another.

One of my students had this to say: "What I have learned especially from your CDs so far, is to think ahead. To think about those "what ifs" and what could happen. The absolute best thing about your CDs, I think, is how you get me (us) to think beyond that first self-defense move and to keep those moves going, to think beyond the target, hit hard, be aggressive then quickly get to safety."

What we teach is very direct and very decisive. It doesn't take years to master. We teach you how to use the built-in weapons you already possess. Then we show you how, where, and why you strike in a certain way. But we always keep it basic and simple. I like simplicity and I believe most people appreciate it.

People freeze because they don't know what to do next. That is why we keep it simple. We help you get past that point of indecision and show you what your next logical move should be. You learn to strike from whatever position you find your body in. You never need to get set in some form of a stance. That is a waste of time and energy and will only get you hurt.

Our program can be learned in the comfort of your own home. This eliminates your need to hunt down an instructor and having to workout with people you don't know. Invite a friend over or work out with your spouse. Let them feel comfortable with what you are trying to do and learn.

Common sense and reason should tell you of the need to understand the principals we teach. Don't dwell on the negativity, which may be all around you. Concentrate on the positive attributes we talk about. If you always look for the good, in any situation, you will find it.

Be alert and aware of your surroundings. That's key. Too often we get preoccupied with things in our minds. Then we don't think to be aware of our environment and personal safety. Maybe we get complacent because nothing bad has ever really happened to us.

Learn to follow your instincts; if you get an odd sensation about someone walking towards you, it's okay and reasonable to walk across the street...or take an alternate route. Listening to your instincts is very important.

The bottom line is to always be alert, aware and to come home safe to your family. It's nice to know if something bad like an attempted rape or an assault were to happen to you, you would have the knowledge to walk away and come home; leaving the creep in the hospital and then in jail.

Ken Keiscome provides an effective, easy-to-learn system showing how to protect you from rape, assault or any violent crime with just a few, focused moves.