Improvised Weapons for Self Defence: Everyday Items That Could Save Your Life

Could your pen, keys, or handbag actually save your life? In this episode, Julie Waite (women's safety advocate) and Dene Josham (self-defence expert and former celebrity bodyguard) explore the power of improvised weapons — everyday items you already carry that can help protect you in a self-defence situation.

From street encounters to terror attacks and home invasions, they explain how mindset, awareness, and quick thinking matter more than brute strength. You’ll learn how to identify, practise with, and legally use improvised tools to stay safe.

“Self-defence isn’t about what you carry — it’s about how you think.” – Dene Josham

🎧 Want to feel safer, stronger, and more prepared?
Join our community of women taking back control of their safety — and get instant access to our free self defense and safety tip downloads.

👉 Head to Streetwise Defence to grab your free resources and start your journey today.

💡 PS – As a podcast listener, you also get 25% off our 7 Day Self Defence for Women course. Just use the code PODCAST25 when you’re ready.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Self-Defense and Improvised Weapons
• 1:11 Understanding Improvised Weapons
• 2:34 Examples of Improvised Weapons in Different Environments
• 3:03 Using Everyday Items for Self-Defense
• 10:35 Mindset and Awareness in Self-Defense
• 13:01 Responding to Threats in Various Scenarios
• 14:14 Improvised Weapons in Crisis Situations
• 19:43 Home Invasion: Prioritizing Safety
• 22:23 Using Improvised Weapons at Home
• 26:05 Legal Considerations in Self-Defense
• 29:51 Effective Use of Improvised Weapons

Transcript

Julie Waite (00:01)

Imagine you're out walking the dog, carrying your shopping home or even just enjoying a hot drink and suddenly you're under threat. What can you do? In today's episode, we're talking about something that could make all the difference, improvised weapons. These are everyday items you already have in your hands or around you. And with the right mindset, they can become powerful tools for self-defense. Welcome to Self Defence for Women, Live an Empowered Life.

the podcast that helps you stay safe, feel strong, and take control of your personal security, both physically and emotionally. I'm Julie Waite, Women's Self Defence Advocate, and alongside me is Dene Josham, Self Defence Instructor with 30 years experience and former bodyguard of Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and Russell Crowe. Together, we're here to share real-world strategies, expert insights, and practical tips to help you build confidence, set boundaries, and navigate the world with strength.

Just before we start, have a small request. If you find our podcast helpful, please hit the subscribe button and leave us a review. We're a new podcast and it really helps us reach more women like you.

So let's start by just understanding what an improvised weapon is. I think sometimes you'd hear the word weapon and you'd what does that mean? I'm carrying a gun or a knife, but it's an improvised weapon. So can you just explain what that is to us?

Dene - Streetwise Defence (01:24)

Yeah, an improvised weapon is an everyday object that is obviously accessible to you that you could potentially use as a weapon to defend yourself. There's always that little bit of confusion. Like an everyday object, for one example is a pen. I could use that as a weapon as it is. But if I modified that by, I put masking tape around it so I could get a really good grip or I sharpen the end and I've actually modified it to be a weapon with the intention to use it as a weapon. But if that's just a pen laying around on some

was attacking me and I just picked it up and I used it then that is an improvised weapon.

Julie Waite (02:00)

Yeah,

and just to be clear that if you were to modify it, then certainly in the UK would not be legal to use. So improvised weapon, it is legal. if you was to pick up the, going with the pen example, if you was to pick up a pen and use that to defend yourself, then that would be legal. Like if you did what Dene had said in terms of like sharpening it up or putting tape on it, that is not legal because it's not improvised anymore. It's then.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (02:09)

Yeah.

Julie Waite (02:29)

even is adapted. So just wanted to get that clear from the outset

Dene - Streetwise Defence (02:29)

adapted.

Julie Waite (02:34)

Okay, so let's break this down into some different environments and we'll give some examples of improvised weapons. We're going to look at three different environments. We're going to look at like out and about on the street. We're going to look at using improvised weapons in situations such as a terror attack. And we're going to look at using them in the home if you're being attacked in your home. And then we'll give at the end, we'll give some advice on how to use them.

effectively and how you can start to think about them as part of your self-defense strategy. So Dene, could you give us some examples of items that you could use if you're out and about, you know, walking along that you might be able to use to defend yourself?

Dene - Streetwise Defence (03:19)

Yeah.

Yeah, just looking at yourself, what you carry, what is on your person's, big example isn't it, is keys. Everyone always carries keys. They're a great thing you could use as an improvised weapon. That key there, imagine in.

that on soft tissue, the kind of damage that could create. It's not very nice. But that's the reality. Again, a pen. When I used to do the bodyguarding stuff, when we were down in London, I know some of the guys used to carry ⁓ a pen, but it was a metal pen. And I'd have it their pocket, in the jean pocket, because obviously in the UK, private security, you're not allowed to carry any kind of firearms or weapons or anything like that. But some of the guys would carry a metal pen, just a normal pen, not a couverton or

baton or anything like that it was just a pen and the reason they carried that because they realized that in a situation that was something that might be able to help them if they needed that.

Julie Waite (04:17)

Okay. I just want, before we kind of give some more examples, you picked up the keys there and it just made me think, so many women have asked us this and I know I have, I don't know when this has been taught to people. It seems to be some kind of subconscious thing that women, all women I know seem to know this, but they know the wrong way of carrying keys. So.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (04:25)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Julie Waite (04:41)

We always

get asked this, can you show us the wrong way of carrying keys? It's kind of like the channel in the inner Wolverine by like getting there. Can you just demonstrate the wrong way to use keys? I don't know where it comes from.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (04:44)

Yeah. ⁓

Yeah, do you know what think, personally what I think it

is is because most people think a physical response is a punch. So hence people always say to me, oh yeah you carry keys and you do this and you put them between your knuckles like that. Yeah, yeah.

Julie Waite (05:00)

Right.

People think they have a key and I have done

that before I knew what I know now I would walk along with the keys if I'm walking home at night something I'd walk along with the keys and it's actually quite difficult to get the keys in that position and it feels like they're going to drop and fall out or not even be straight so even before I knew what I know now there was kind of like a little question mark in my head going is this really going to work? But do you want to tell us why that?

Dene - Streetwise Defence (05:12)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Julie Waite (05:35)

wouldn't work and then show us obviously or describe some people see this on YouTube and can watch it. For those that are listening, it's the wrong way is to have like two or three keys between each finger and make a fist and go to punch with it. That's the wrong way because...

Dene - Streetwise Defence (05:36)

Yeah.

That's

Yeah.

Yeah,

there's a better way. I'm not going to say anything's wrong because you know, someone did that and it worked great. Don't dismiss anything. But from from having it like that, that is actually with intention as well, because you wouldn't naturally carry your keys like that. So if you did have to go to, yeah, if you did have to go to court, you've got your keys in between your fingers and you've made a fist a bit like a Wolverine hand, you know, when it bit like that. So

Julie Waite (05:57)

Right, OK. OK. Yeah.

Just describe it, yeah.

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (06:19)

and I think that comes from people thinking you have to punch to defend yourself, when reality is most people aren't comfortable with punching, obviously you've got to be a bit more trained in that. It's more natural and more easier to hold it, like for people who can't see, like you're gonna put it into your key in the house, you know, got it between your thumb and forefinger and you go.

Julie Waite (06:40)

Yeah. You've just got one key

in your hand. Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (06:43)

Yeah, one key in your

hand. So for people who can see, all my other keys would be grasped in my hand. I've got my main key that I'm gonna go into my house or my car and I hold it within my thumb and forefinger like that. Because also, I've got more control over that. I can move it and also I can conceal it. Yeah, can rake, yeah, you can rake the face, the throat, anything like that. Also because you can't really see it there.

Julie Waite (07:01)

Yeah, you can jab with it. Yeah, you could hide it and you could jab into the soft tissue areas of the face and the throat.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (07:13)

And if I'm walking along, I've got it concealed. If somebody was to jump out on me and attack me, then that's gonna have more effect in my opinion because it's not seen. you imagine somebody grabs you, you flail, you've got your keys in your hand and you rake that key down somebody's face, then it's gonna have more impact because that person, what the heck was that? If you're walking around like this, way out in front of you like a weapon, people are gonna see that.

Julie Waite (07:31)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (07:38)

know, deception in that element works in our favor so we can conceal it. And it's a natural way we carry our keys. And also, like I said a minute ago, you've got more movement, you're more control over it rather than, you know, put it in between your knuckles.

Julie Waite (07:48)

Yeah.

And I think the thing with punching, and this is something we talk about in our training, is we don't teach any punching in our self-defense training for a number of reasons. One being that you can very easily damage your hand. Two being that it's just not impactful enough to cause damage, even if you've got some keys between your hands. know, thinking of myself as a woman, you know,

I've done a bit of boxing with you, but I can't strike hard enough to cause damage on someone. ⁓ So it's just not going to be an effective way to use the key, trying to punch at someone with a key. But if you've got, like you said, if you've got one single key in your hand and you can jab and go for like the throat, the eyes, the soft tissue, the groin areas, then that is generally going to be a more effective

Dene - Streetwise Defence (08:38)

Yeah.

Julie Waite (08:53)

way to use it.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (08:54)

Yeah, definitely. it's looking at the dynamics and the actual physical motion of it and breaking it down slowly so you can go, well, what is going to work and what's going to be more effective and what's more realistic between whoever we're training. You know, and it's different for men, different for different genders, different for women. And it's looking at that realistically as well. And we're not training fighters. We're training to be able to do a physical response to get away. Yeah, to survive. Yeah. And that's end goal is survival. Get back to the people who love and care for

Julie Waite (09:19)

to survive, yeah.

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (09:24)

or

not be a black belt or a ninja or a UFC fighter.

Julie Waite (09:29)

In my mind with the boxing thing, I've always thought, you know, boxing is a sport and you see a boxing match and you see guys that are trained and can take a lot of punches from someone who is a really, really good hitter. So if they can take all them punches, then someone like me who's not trained in punching, I'm not going to make much impact with a couple of punches on someone. And that's why we train like a different approach about learning the bodies.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (09:35)

Yeah.

Yeah? Yeah?

Yeah.

Yeah. ⁓

Yeah.

Julie Waite (09:59)

vulnerabilities and then targeting those and then this with the improvised weapons is kind of like taking that ⁓ in a slightly different direction if you've got something on you that you can use.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (10:01)

Yeah.

Also the women that I've trained with, some high elite women, UK champions, world champions, they're phenomenal as well. But for the sort of, not the average person, but the normal person, it's not realistic. And like you said, then it's a combat sport, a form of violence, yes, but we're talking about real things in a real world that really work for everybody.

Julie Waite (10:26)

No.

Yeah, yeah.

so getting back to the improvised weapons, we've said the keys, pens, the pencils, things like if you've got a hard water bottle or a flask, if you're carrying that, if you've gone out running or you're walking along and you've got that, it's kind of easily accessible in the side pocket of your bag, something like that can work. Yeah, if you wear a belt, yeah. mean, obviously you've got to get it off then, that's a bit of a...

Dene - Streetwise Defence (10:45)

Yeah, anything.

Yeah. Your belt, what about your belt? You know, you got a belt, yeah? If you did get the chance. Yeah.

Julie Waite (11:04)

fiddly bit but

Dene - Streetwise Defence (11:05)

Yeah, of course, yeah.

Julie Waite (11:07)

dog leads is one and there was i saw something in the news must be within the last year of a woman who ⁓ a man attacked her by knife point in a park and started to sexually assault her she had a dog lead i'm assuming a dog was off lead running around somewhere she had a dog lead in her hand and she swung it at him

as a weapon, it's just what she had to hand. She swung it at him, hit him with it and he actually ran off and didn't complete the assault. So, you know, I know myself as a dog walker, the end of the lead, that metal bit of the lead, if you're swinging that around, that could do some damage. So good on her for thinking to do that in the moment. But if you've got a bit of head start by thinking about this now, that kind of helps you a bit more.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (11:39)

Brilliant, brilliant, good on her. Wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And also how much strength, you know, if you've got a dog lead, there's a bit of weight on there, like you said, end bits, you know, how much physical strength you can swing that around. And if you did catch somebody in the facial area, you know, and you caught them in the eye, that's going to cause a lot of problems, lot of damage, potentially giving you the chance to get away.

Julie Waite (12:02)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it is.

So, and then if you're wearing heels, then that's something that you could think about as well as an improvised weapon.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (12:21)

Yeah, that just reminds me of the 80s and 90s when I used to do security on pubs and clubs and I have seen it where, and this is social violence, so...

could have been avoided where two guys have been fighting and one of the girlfriends have took the stiletto shoes off you know and started hitting the guy with it so you know depending obviously what's going on would you have that time to get your shoe off it depends that's one of those big topics where you really dive into it you know you could have been you could be on the floor you might be sure you might come off it might be there you might be able to grab it and then use that stiletto or that shoe depending how that shoe looks and what it is to whether that be effective and it might help you

Julie Waite (12:40)

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so it's really just, I think it's starting to get that mindset of just noticing things around you and what you could use when you're out and about what you could use.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (13:09)

Yeah, thinking a little bit.

Yeah,

thinking a bit differently on your environment and what's accessible to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Julie Waite (13:18)

Yeah, hot drinks as well if you're walking along. Everyone's walking along with a coffee these days, me included. So

it'd be, you know, you could flip the lid off that and throw that in someone's face.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (13:29)

Yeah, they're their Costa coffee and this is no advertising for them, but you know like a Costa coffee summat, you've got a hot cup and they're quite squeezy aren't they? You know could soon pop the top and you know do that. So yeah, there's that as well.

Julie Waite (13:44)

Okay, so the other scenario that we get asked about is what to do in a terror attack in like, I guess specifically a knife attack. I mean, a lot of these cases, your best scenario in the advice is to run and hide. But if you are in a situation where you can't run and hide, for example, you're trapped in a shopping center or you're trapped in a cafe or

Dene - Streetwise Defence (14:04)

Yeah. Yeah.

Julie Waite (14:14)

there's something happening that you is it's going to impact on you and you have to do something then there are there is a case for using improvised weapons here and the London Bridge knife terror attack is something where people did use improvised weapons to to to bring the attacker down

Dene - Streetwise Defence (14:19)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

people got

involved because bystanders and they wanted to help and I've just pulled it up on the here it says during the London Bridge terror attack bystanders used a variety of improvised weapons to subdue the attacker these included and if I say this right ⁓ a narwhal tusks a chair a fire extinguisher and ⁓

ornamental pike. There you go. That's some random stuff. Yeah. I've seen it.

Julie Waite (15:05)

some interesting things that people add on them but whatever you've got

it's like...

Dene - Streetwise Defence (15:12)

I've seen that

with a guy with a tusk and it was a distancing thing and he was using it to keep that distance obviously from getting to him and whoever. And like I said, if you're in a cafe or a shop or something, using that environment as well, improvise weapons, but also using things like he did there to keep that distance, it be a, yeah, it could be a table that you blocked something, you put an obstacle, an obstacle in a way, or like a chair or something that, yeah.

Julie Waite (15:31)

Yeah, flip the table over, pick up a chair. Yeah, use the chair to...

hold that up to keep them back.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (15:42)

They'll be like, someone's got a knife, can he use that chair to keep him back?

Julie Waite (15:46)

Yeah, yeah. And I think no one can tell anyone else how to react in these kind of situations. And if you kind of run and hide, then that's what you need to do. If you feel like you want to go and try and help to bring the person down, generally it needs a group of people, I think, to do it, to take on someone like that. But certainly...

Dene - Streetwise Defence (15:58)

⁓ yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, strength in numbers.

Julie Waite (16:16)

think fire extinguishers are a good one if you can actually activate it and spray it in their face or use it as a blunt weapon.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (16:21)

Yeah,

definitely. I just looked at it bit, I didn't read at the end and it said, use these objects to distract the attacker, blind him and keep him at bay until the police arrive. So yeah, like in a fire extinguisher, you can imagine, depending on what it is, it's a powder-slust extinguisher, obviously, that's gonna, in the eyes, could potentially work against their breathing, like you're saying, an blunt object.

Julie Waite (16:48)

Yeah, yeah.

And just distract them while someone else then, you know, might be able to get in and do something to take them down.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (16:52)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Bye!

Things I've seen and you know, like there's probably a lot of videos out there as well that I've looked at and probably other people listening and then you see something like that and one person gets involved and suddenly another person and then they swarm, know, one goes in there and as soon as that person's engaged with that person, there's two or three people, four, five, six, and they swarm and they, you know, come in and pin down and restrained. So yeah, and also maybe in that situation, if you was to get involved, is to look around, who's around you, who can engage with you? Go, right, are we going to do this? Are we coming together as a team?

Julie Waite (17:07)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (17:27)

like the London Bridge thing, can imagine, the guy picked up that, the other guy had the fire extinguisher and they're all looking at each other going, right, we're gonna try and get this guy under control.

Julie Waite (17:33)

Yeah.

Yeah. Then things like if you've got a bag or coat even, it depends, like could you, for example, if you had a thick coat, could you wrap it around your arm, you know, to try and like protect yourself? If someone's, you know, coming at you in a knife attack situation, you're trying to defend yourself. It depends what kind of personality you are.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (17:54)

Yeah.

I think. Yeah.

Julie Waite (18:05)

as to,

Dene - Streetwise Defence (18:05)

Yeah.

Julie Waite (18:05)

know, are you the person that's going to get up and go and try and take them down? You know, are you just like, are you scared and you just want to try and like get a bag in front of yourself or what have you got that can help, you know, put a barrier between you and them?

Dene - Streetwise Defence (18:08)

Yeah.

it's

⁓

Yeah.

This is one of them uncomfortable things like I always say people is you've got to look at it and analyze it before anything ever happens. So we'd look in a situation like you go, obviously you need to know yourself. What am I prepared to do or not do? That's running away. That's fine. You know, there's no shame in that. And as you know, you do what's looking, you're looking after you. If it is to get involved, depending on why they're attacking you or whoever, do I get a chance to get my coat off around my arm or is it better that I try and run or use run around a car? So it's looking at it really analytical to go, okay, depending on where you are.

what's going on, then what could I do, could I use my bag, you know, could I use that to block or, you know, and then also it's being realistic to go, it's good to think about these and that really helps us and benefits us, practice as well, kind of like pressure testing them or just how would that actually work, because sometimes when we think about things, they're very different from actually doing them in the physical world.

Julie Waite (19:14)

Yeah, yeah. So then we've got another scenario which is in the home. This would be where someone has broken into your home and is trying to attack you. And this could be a burglar that's decided they are going to go physical to try and, for whatever reason they might have, try and get you to show them where a safe is or whatever it is. It could be a stalker.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (19:20)

Yeah.

Julie Waite (19:43)

that's broken into your house and is trying to attack you. It could be an abusive ex or a domestic abuse incident. But we just want to be clear and make a distinction between if someone breaks into your home, then the best thing to do is to avoid confrontation with them. So get to a safe room or get to a room where you can lock the door.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (20:09)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Julie Waite (20:13)

and

call the police maybe make some noise so that they know that you're aware but try not to confront them

Dene - Streetwise Defence (20:15)

think this is... Yeah.

I think this is a big one as well and we're always trying to discuss this because

You know, yeah, your home is your castle and that and you know, I there's guys watching this as well. And it's like that reality is like if I'm upstairs with my family and somebody is downstairs and they've broken in, am I going to go downstairs? Well, reality is the most important thing is my family and myself. They can take it for me. They can take the car. They can take everything. They can take the whole house. Who cares? I can replace it, you know, insurances or if I can't, I'm still alive. My family's still alive. If I go downstairs and I could escalate.

situation that person for whatever reasons is in there you know it could be somebody who might be a drug addict who needs a laptop for their next hit you know they're quite desperate and imagine I come downstairs face to face with a person you know if they are drug addict and they're struggling and they look and I look at them and catch each other's eye and I'm like look take the laptop do whatever you want but just please go I will not tell the police I've got insurance I'm not going to tell anybody just go are they going to believe me or have I just scaled it up

because that person there could be on probation. And then he's thinking, well, you're going to identify me because you're you're to go straight to the police. And then all of sudden I've upped it from, he just wanted my laptop to actually, he might want to stop me because I can identify him now. And if I identify him, he might be going, or he or she, or who might be going back to prison for the next four or five years. So it's like, hang on a minute. What's my priority? My family and my safety, not my laptop. Yeah, I know it's my house and I'm not, you know, it costs pride and all that. Yes.

Julie Waite (21:32)

Hmm. ⁓

Dene - Streetwise Defence (21:55)

about what's really important.

Julie Waite (21:58)

I think so when we talk about improvised weapons now in the home this is if someone is trying to attack you so that is slightly different it's slightly different so if you can avoid confronting whoever's in your home if you can get to a safe room call the police that's great if then for example they're trying to get into the safe room or they're not there to burgle the house they're there to hurt you

Dene - Streetwise Defence (22:05)

Yeah, yeah, and also, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's a different for me.

Julie Waite (22:24)

then that is when you

then could bring in improvised weapons in the home and there's actually loads of things in the home that you could use.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (22:29)

Yeah,

just before we go on from that, just it's one of those ones where I think it's important as well if well you need to have an open conversation with the people in your house.

Okay, look at what happens if somebody did break in, what are we all gonna do? Even down to like, what happens if the fire alarm goes off at two in the morning? Because that's a personal safety issue. And just make sure everybody's on the same page. So if that was ever to happen, which I've got to say, but I hope it doesn't, you all know what you're gonna do and you're gonna work together as a team or as a partnership or whatever. Or if even if you're on your own, you thought about it, you go, right, I'm gonna lock my door and barricade it. But if they are gonna come and physically try and hurt you, then obviously what can you use around you? What is accessible to us?

Julie Waite (23:09)

Yeah, so I think, you know, if you're upstairs in your bedroom, then there's the classic kind of keeping the baseball bat under the bed. I know a lot of people do that or the cricket bat. And I just had a quick look online before to see, you know, is like looking for like for legal instances of where this has happened. I found a fairly recent one. The headline was Judge Bax.

I can't even read it. Judge back's baseball bat beating of burglar. That's a classic news headline, isn't it? But the story behind that was that a burglar had broken in and the guy had attacked, attacked and defended himself. I think, I don't think the burglar was actually attacking him. I think he was just going, he was near him and he said, I was scared that he was going to hit me. So he hit him.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (23:39)

Right. ⁓

Julie Waite (24:03)

first with the baseball bat and he actually did quite a lot of damage but the judge backed the the homeowner and the burglar got I think a year. Now a lot of this will depend the legal will depend on the judge in the court and a different judge might have seen that differently and might have said you've gone too far and you didn't have to do that but again it's I mean we'll talk separately on the legal.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (24:05)

Bye.

Right.

Yeah.

Julie Waite (24:32)

part of it but it's just making sure that if you have if there are things lying around and you feel under threat you are able to use them.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (24:43)

Yeah, I suppose, I know we're gonna touch on legal but it's why it's in my head. It's like, you, you you got a baseball bat there. know, lucky, it's pretty lucky the guys didn't, you know, what the judge ruled on that because it could have gone the other way. And it's a difficult one, isn't it? Because you've, you know, still got to stay safe. So whatever you deem necessary is necessary in your mind. And you have to defend that potentially in the court of law. So it's difficult. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

Julie Waite (25:06)

And when you've got adrenaline, you know, it's in the middle of the night, you've got adrenaline going and

you know, when you sit down and discuss it like now, you think, well maybe he didn't have to use the baseball bat, but if it was the middle of the night and there's a guy in your house and you don't know what is going on, then I think you, it's difficult, isn't it?

Dene - Streetwise Defence (25:15)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Adrenaline fear.

Yeah, adrenaline fear takes over. don't know what, if you can't work out why they're in there and then you you go into pure survival mode, which is understandable. might just go on my baseball bat. Yeah. want to just, is he coming there to kill me or what? I don't know. It's just a difficult one.

Julie Waite (25:39)

I mean legally you're supposed to

act reasonably ⁓ proportionate and it needs to be necessary, reasonable, proportionate. Those are kind of the main criteria that they use. And that's very, very subjective from one individual to the next. But we always say the most important thing is that you come out of that situation safe.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (25:55)

Yeah.

Massive.

Julie Waite (26:05)

and then you have to deal with the legal consequences afterwards, and that's your judgment as to what you do in the moment. You'd hope that as a good kind of law-abiding citizen, your response is gonna just automatically be proportionate, but adrenaline can affect things. you you can use improvised weapons in the home to defend yourself. Having things like the baseball bat, the cricket bat,

Dene - Streetwise Defence (26:09)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Julie Waite (26:32)

If you were in the kitchen and someone's trying to attack you in the kitchen, obviously there's a lot of things there. Knife, rolling pin, pan, there's loads, DIY things that you've got lying, you might have lying around, a hammer, a screwdriver. There's loads of different things you could use in the home.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (26:52)

Yeah,

you could use nearly anything if you got a little bit creative with how you'd use that.

Julie Waite (26:58)

Yeah.

So it's not, it's not a nice topic to talk about or think about. None of this stuff is. No. But, that, and that's why, you know, when we teach self-defense in our workshops and our online courses, the physical is always the last element in our, we spend so much time on like awareness and prevention because there is an awful lot you can do there. So, no.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (27:04)

No, no. None of the physical ever is. None of it is.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Nobody wins, they? There's

no good outcome in any physical response, even if you walk away without a scratch on you because it's traumatic. You could have hurt somebody else, which, okay, if they're viewed as a bad person, you might be okay with that. But again, it's not nice. None of it's nice.

Julie Waite (27:30)

No. Yeah.

But it's necessary, you do need to know these things because this stuff happens all the time unfortunately, that's the world we live in at the moment. And if you do want to, we've just got a few more bits, we'll talk to you about how to use improvised weapons most effectively. But if you do want to take a look at our self-defense training, our online courses, we've got a fantastic course called Seven Day Self Defence for Women.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (27:43)

Yeah.

Julie Waite (28:09)

And that's where you learn over the course of seven days, learn, it's such a big program that you learn loads, you learn all the prevention and you learn the physical and there's like over, there's over an hour of physical demonstrations, videos showing like how to get out of strangulation, hair grabs, if you're pinned on the floor, if someone's got a bag on your head, all those different things.

We've got all the prevention as well and awareness and getting the right mindset, understanding different types of violence. So there's loads in there and it's like, it's about an hour a day over seven days and you will really, it's really empowering and it's really changes your view on like how powerful you are. So take a look at that.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (28:45)

Yeah.

Yeah, it's a life skill and that,

yeah, it's a life skill that we all need and obviously it's great that we can share that and also anybody who does that can share that onto people around them, kids, family members, partners, whoever it is. And also just like, know, Julie sort of hand holds you through that process day by day and breaks it down, which I think is, you know, it's evolved into what it is now and it's, yes, it's very, it's worth looking at, definitely.

Julie Waite (29:02)

is.

Yeah. And as

a podcast listener, can get 25 % extra discount using the code PODCAST25. So we'll link that below. So just a few tips on how to use an improvised weapon most effectively. Where should people be aiming for Dene if they've got the pen or the keys or the baseball bat, whatever it is, how can they do the most damage, I guess?

Dene - Streetwise Defence (29:46)

Yeah. Yeah.

Well,

like we always say, if in that situation it's extreme and you're physically...

in harm's way then it's soft tissue area because of how much and how quickly you can cause damage that can potentially help you get a chance to get away. know when you start looking at baseball bat things like that for me not trying to go too much into a baseball bat is are you strong enough to swing it if somebody blocks it okay that could be a block and then as soon as that distance is closed down from you know the distance where you can swing it and they're close enough you can't really swing it 20 to any effectiveness so it's looking like

Julie Waite (30:14)

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (30:27)

I've

got a baseball bat. It's like, all right, you've probably got one swing hit if that person runs at you. And so it's looking at it a little bit. Take your time to look and go what would be really effective, but definitely the soft tissue area because, you know, like we talk about in the course, if somebody's, you know, six foot six, 20 stone on steroids and on drugs, you know, you think a punch or a kick is going to stop him. It might do, but you're going to have to be pretty good. and, you know, so it's like, okay, what damage can I cause that person?

Julie Waite (30:30)

Yeah, yeah.

Hmm.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (30:57)

to create that chance or it might be to even shut the system down to interfere with how the body works to chance to get away. Hence why we're not martial arts focused because yeah there's other elements we have to consider.

Julie Waite (31:12)

So

it's when you talk about soft tissue areas, it's eyes, throat, groin, face, all the squishy stuff.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (31:16)

Yeah, or this kind of head, head, or, yeah,

yeah, you know, it doesn't take a genius to work out what soft tissue areas are going to be very effective when you look at what the body is like and where the vulnerabilities are, face, head, neck.

Julie Waite (31:28)

Yeah. It doesn't matter how strong someone is, their eyes

aren't ever going to be any stronger than your eyes. Then, like I was just thinking about what you said there with the baseball bat and coming back, kind of coming back to our training, we, when we do the training, we always say that your hands are the most effective weapons that you've got. And we stand by that and the mind. Yeah. We stand by that.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (31:34)

No, no.

Yeah.

Yeah. And that one. And the mind, yeah.

Julie Waite (31:57)

This is like a side topic of improvised weapons. you'd be kind of case of using both. I mean, like the baseball bat situation, it might be more of ⁓ like a position, like a standoff thing. you've got the baseball bat, it makes you look and feel more powerful. You might, like you said, you might get one swing out of it. And if then you're close up to them, that's when you'd go to your hands and be doing the different strategies that we teach.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (31:59)

Yeah, yeah.

could be, yeah.

Yeah.

it could be absurd. when they spill out, somebody said to me, I've got my golf club. I was like, great. Have you got enough room to swing? How big is it? I'm like, how big is your house? You know, depending on where you are, go, okay, that could be a distance thing. You know, you could keep a distance and like, you know, right, go leave me, you know, as as yeah, threatening the super aggressive, whatever, because you don't want to go physical, but you've got that. But realizing chances are you've probably got one swing with that. And then you're to be up close. Forget that these

Julie Waite (32:44)

threatening, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, something like the pen or the keys, could get, that would be up close and you could get more, more kind of damage with that if you manage to keep hold of it and you don't drop it. If you're shaking, you know, that's, that's one thing. If you are a bit shaky and you drop it, it's remembering then you've still got your hands, you're able to scratch claw.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (32:57)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's another thing. Yeah.

as well not being solely focused like, I've got my scissors or I've got my pen. It's like, I've dropped it. it's like, okay, it's gone. And realizing as well, is ⁓ physical confrontation. It's horrible. It's up close and personal. It's not nice. It's...

Julie Waite (33:23)

Yeah.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (33:36)

Yeah, it's horrible. it's like realizing the reality as well. That's why we're all like avoid, avoid, avoid. But if you can't, you have to prepare psychologically as well. That, you know, it is a physical potential of physical battle and it could be a fight for your life. So for me, making the mindset as well and realize that to go, yeah, why, why family, friends, people I love, care, my dog, my cat.

Julie Waite (34:00)

Just

a quick note on carrying actual weapons, depending on where you are in the world will depend on the legality of carrying weapons. Here in the UK, you can't carry weapons. again, we're talking about improvising everyday items. We're not talking about carrying a knife or anything like that. That's not legal. And if you are in a country where it's legal to carry a weapon, I guess that's a whole other topic, but...

Dene - Streetwise Defence (34:05)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Massive,

yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the...

Julie Waite (34:28)

you need to make sure you're very well trained in that and practice regularly with that for it to be effective. Not just like getting

something, putting it in the drawer, or and then never thinking about it again.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (34:37)

Yeah, I've got that, yeah, yeah.

And also, know, like, know in America, obviously, they can carry weapons, and it's all about going down on a range and practicing, but when you're under pressure and stuff, know, with stuff I've done over my security career, that, you know, realizing how much distance do you actually need to pull out a weapon, draw it.

discharge it, fire it, whatever you want to call it, and how quick that distance can shut down. And then you're under, you're adrenalized, you're under pressure, everything like that. know, it's right on the range when things pop up and you go, bam, but you know, hit the targets. But when somebody's screaming, running at you with a knife and you're trying to get your weapon out, it's like, so it's pressure testing it as well, realizing, you know, using it under a bit of duress, you know, in a safe environment where you know, you're safe, but pressure testing it to be adrenalized, to be under that time restraint of somebody running at you you think,

I've got to use this or use that.

Julie Waite (35:30)

Okay, so we've a lot there, a lot to think about. We always like to give you some actions to take away to put this into practice, make it practical in your life. So first off, how about just taking a look around where you are now and thinking, what could I use? If something happened right now, what could I use? And then thinking about your different environments. If I'm in the car, what could I use when I'm walking to work?

when I'm in my home, wherever it might be, and just getting into that frame of mind of just noticing things and then thinking, right, okay, I could use this or that. And it's in there then if you ever need it, it's kind of like in the back of your mind.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (36:11)

Yeah.

And it's not to rely on them, it's just like an added extra. Yeah, yeah.

Julie Waite (36:17)

No, it's an extra thing that you could

use. Then maybe even practice gripping your keys. So if you've always been of the mindset, this kind of self-defense urban myth that you carry your keys like Wolverine, like I used to try holding it in a different way and maybe just try that as you're walking along, you might have your hand in your pocket and maybe just try holding your key in that way and see how it feels or a pen. And then the third thing really is just to remember that like

Confidence and mindset is so important and you don't have to rely on improvised weapons. You've got your hands, you've got your mindset and those are enough to defend yourself. These are like an added extra, an added bonus that you might use.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (37:03)

Yeah, I think it's a topic that always comes up, so it's nice to cover it and try and expand on that to give people a viewpoint on it.

Julie Waite (37:12)

Okay,

so if you enjoyed the podcast, we would love it if you could give us a review. If you're on Apple, Spotify or Amazon Music, then subscribe and then you'll see our podcasts popping up every week. Take a look at our online courses. The Seven Day Self Defence for Women course is just full of information and detail like this that really helps you learn how to protect yourself and look after each other and stay safe.

Dene - Streetwise Defence (37:40)

⁓

Can I say as well, please share this with other people you know, other women, whether you're a man or not, with family members, other people in your community, please share this to help other people as well. Thank you.

Julie Waite (37:51)

right,

thank you. See you next time.