In the previous part of this series where we discuss the role physical fitness plays in self-defense, we looked at how common it is that fights last more than a couple of seconds, and that thinking you will be fine in a violent encounter without the ability to walk across a parking lot without having a heart attack may lead to bad outcomes

Today, we will look at the single best reason to have a modicum of physical fitness for self defense. Take a look at the following picture:

It is a snapshot of a recent incident where LE had to interact with someone who was hostile. I couldn’t find a good video of the incident (you can find it on the IG page of BJJ black belt Tom Deblass), but the pic works. The suspect is telling the cops to come at him. One of the cops says “he has cauliflower ears. I’m not getting close”. 

For those outside the grappling world, cauliflower ears are a condition where your ears have been so badly mangled that they have been compressed in on itself. It generally stems from a lot of heavy duty grappling against big and tough people. You earn cauliflower ears the hard way. For those who know, they are a mark that the person with them probably can fight, and fight really well. 

So the cops recognized the sign, and rather than blindly wade in and most likely get beaten up, they all kept their distance and were ready to use ranged weapons like a Taser or a gun rather than go hands on with this dude. 

What does that have to do with our subject concept today? Everything. The fight with the suspect and cops did not happen because the cops understood the signal and made a choice to go in a different route. Criminals do the same thing. 

There have been many, many studies on this, and all the data supports each other. When incarcerated criminals are given random pictures of people walking on the street, and ask which of those they would victimize, it is essentially 100% accurate in what any of the criminals choose. By seeing someone, they instantly know who would be a good victim (i.e. an easy mark) vs who would not be. If you look like prey, you will be treated as prey. 

The SINGLE BEST WAY TO SURVIVE A VIOLENT CRIMINAL ASSAULT is that you don’t get into one. Period. There is no argument to be made against that. You win every fight you don’t get in. So if we can avoid the situation entirely, it does not matter how good a fighter we are, how good a shooter, what kind of gear we have on. All of that is superfluous if we never get picked as a victim by any bad guy anywhere.

And the SINGLE BEST WAY TO GET DESELECTED AS A VICTIM BY ANY BAD GUY IS TO NOT LOOK LIKE A VICTIM. Again, simple and elementary to understand this. Don’t look like an easy victim and most bad guys will find someone else to victimize. We all understand this. We make quick slice snapshots of people we meet every day, and we make those calculations constantly – “man, that guy looks tough”, or “wow, that guy looks like if someone sneezed he would be knocked over”. Why would criminals, who do this all the time because it is their chosen vocation, not be making the same decisions? All of us know that that fat guy, moving down the sidewalk really slowly and wheezing does not scare anyone. Why would he scare off a violent criminal actor who most likely has already experienced massive violence in his life? The VCA will not only NOT be scared, he will be encouraged to go after that guy, because he knows it is an easy pick. 

And again, it is simple to understand who looks more like prey. Can anyone argue that someone morbidly obese, who is waddling down the street because they are so physically out of shape, and their feet have rotated outward (one of the most common effects of poor physical condition and something that bad guys will look for), is going to be deselected because a bad guy is worried?

NOT

ON

YOUR

LIFE

 And it may very well be your life. So choose wisely. If you are not willing to do a bit of work and make yourself look less like a victim, then you better be hoping that luck follows you around, because that is the only way you are going to come out okay. 

Choose wisely in how you conduct yourself, how you live your life, and most importantly, who you listen to. Because if someone is telling you it’s okay to look like a victim, they do not have your best interest at heart, and they are only caring about their own internal rationalization to support their personal sloth and laziness.