THE DAY I BECAME A SUPERHERO

The first thing I did was look at my wife and our two children.

And in that instant, as I saw them standing there terrified, I knew I had to act. It was the look in their eyes that made me want to rip apart those two men who were threatening my family. I didn’t rip them apart.

Instead, I disarmed them. And, of course, I beat them senseless afterwards before the police arrived.

If you are thinking by now that I’m some big muscle man, the Hulk type, you couldn’t be more wrong.

I’m an accountant and before this happening I had never dealt with physical violence. I don’t have the body of a super hero and I’m nothing special when it comes to physical force. But when it comes to my family, I am prepared to do whatever it takes to protect them.

My story started a couple of months ago when my best friend and his wife were attacked on the street at night. The men who attacked them stole their wallets and put my friend in the emergency ward.

I still remember that call from his wife when she called me to come to the hospital. She was sobbing uncontrollably. I remember going to see him and how badly he looked. But the thing that gave me nightmares afterwards was the talk I had with him. He told me that the most traumatizing thing was not the beating. Nor the fact that those men had stolen all their money.It was the fact that he hadn’t been able to protect his wife. He felt he had failed her.

That got me thinking about my family.

Would I be able to protect them from harm? Or I would be obliged to stand and watch while they are being hurt? I felt powerless in that moment because I knew I wasn’t equipped to protect them. I didn’t know the first thing about self defense.

I’m also a bit overweight and haven’t lifted a weight since high school.

What I needed was a system built for people like me. When you need to learn something about fighting there is no-one better to turn to than the Israelis. Not only are they surrounded by enemies but girls as young as 16 are expected to serve in the armed forces.

So I turned to ex-Israeli special forces turned self-defense expert Frank Bell. If he can teach a 16 year old girl to take down a grown man, he can teach me to take on the world.

By using the science of the bodies natural movement it allows someone of any size, strength or mobility to be lethal.

Through his system I learned:

• The dos and don’ts when somebody points a gun at you (this can save your life)
• The single best move you can use to defend yourself (this will be your default move)
• The ridiculously vulnerable spots on the human body (hit any of these are watch your attacker crumble)

It took me only an hour to learn his system. And it was the most well spent hour in my life. Because when I was standing in that shop, watching the two men pointing their guns at my family, I knew exactly what I had to do. And I did it.

The policemen congratulated me and the cashier didn’t cease thanking me for saving the day. But the best part was the way my family looked at me.

From that moment on, to them I became a real life super-hero.