Scott Jackson - The Weapon

Well, I’m up for something new.

LIFE’s producer Tim Van Dyk, invited me to his workout gym that specializes in self-defense. For months he’s been nagging me, shadow boxing in the hall of LIFE, pretending to knee people in places that you wouldn’t want to be kneed.

Appealing huh? Obviously Tim is a Krav disciple.

It’s called Krav Maga. Their website says "You may be human, but are you - a weapon"? Haha! A weapon...me?

Well I checked in, waiting to see how many punks would be there half my age, getting a kick out of me. Get it - kick out of me? Ya, well we did a short floor workout of running and crunches and push-ups, then got into the actual self-defense fighting system for the Israeli Defense Forces.

The instructor said, "this is not boxing, or MMA, or UFC. This is street fighting. It’s not about courtesy and there are no rules." Huh, no rules?

My partner was Shane - a 20-year old tank of a kid who works with the OPP.

For one routine, I held a pad against my chest while Shane pelted me with jabs for a minute, absorbed by the pad. Then I held the pad down, a little lower than my crotch, and with brutal force Shane brought a kick up toward the pad. (Very blessed to have the pad in position.) The last technique taught us how to remove an attacker who grabs you by the throat.

An hour of sweat, a sore neck and thankfully no broken bones. But ya, I think I’d go back.