Workout safety (stranger danger)

It's pretty quiet where I live - not a lot happens. Well, the woman across the street was having an affair so her husband took a chainsaw and leveled their garden in the middle of the night when he found out but that's about it.

Unless you count the mental hospital where they keep the likes of the Yorkshire Ripper which is just up the road. They do a check of the escape alarm every Monday at 10am. In theory if you hear the alarm you go indoors and lock yourself in. i often wonder what happens if some psycho nutter escapes at 10am on a Monday but again .... nothing really to worry about.

I guess what I mean is there are risks everywhere - deranged neighbours with chainsaws, serial murderers living just up the road and bad people looking out for runners but we just have to balance the risks as best we can. I perceive (rightly or wrongly) the risk to me to be low but I minimise the risk as best I can while still allowing myself to enjoy life.

Of course one day I could be running through the woods and find myself flanked by a man with a chainsaw and a guy wearing a manic grin while in the distance I can hear an alarm going off but while the chance remains low, it won't impact on how I conduct my life.

Just be sensible to minimise the risk; don't advertise where you go to complete strangers on the interweb, if you live in a dodgy area, don't go out running when there's no one else about (apart from the muggers, I mean) and above all else, don't wear a bra that doubles as a holster - jesus wept, I've enough trouble with my HRM rubbing!

It's pretty quiet where I live - not a lot happens. Well, the woman across the street was having an affair so her husband took a chainsaw and leveled their garden in the middle of the night when he found out but that's about it.

Unless you count the mental hospital where they keep the likes of the Yorkshire Ripper which is just up the road. They do a check of the escape alarm every Monday at 10am. In theory if you hear the alarm you go indoors and lock yourself in. i often wonder what happens if some psycho nutter escapes at 10am on a Monday but again .... nothing really to worry about.

I guess what I mean is there are risks everywhere - deranged neighbours with chainsaws, serial murderers living just up the road and bad people looking out for runners but we just have to balance the risks as best we can. I perceive (rightly or wrongly) the risk to me to be low but I minimise the risk as best I can while still allowing myself to enjoy life.

Of course one day I could be running through the woods and find myself flanked by a man with a chainsaw and a guy wearing a manic grin while in the distance I can hear an alarm going off but while the chance remains low, it won't impact on how I conduct my life.

Just be sensible to minimise the risk; don't advertise where you go to complete strangers on the interweb, if you live in a dodgy area, don't go out running when there's no one else about (apart from the muggers, I mean) and above all else, don't wear a bra that doubles as a holster - jesus wept, I've enough trouble with my HRM rubbing!

Lol! It's quite pretty around Rampton way isn't it? And I hear they rarely have escapes.....

We're near the other one, Broadmoor - I forgot the UK was full of dangerous psychos ... might have to retract my post lol

It's pretty quiet where I live - not a lot happens. Well, the woman across the street was having an affair so her husband took a chainsaw and leveled their garden in the middle of the night when he found out but that's about it.

Unless you count the mental hospital where they keep the likes of the Yorkshire Ripper which is just up the road. They do a check of the escape alarm every Monday at 10am. In theory if you hear the alarm you go indoors and lock yourself in. i often wonder what happens if some psycho nutter escapes at 10am on a Monday but again .... nothing really to worry about.

I guess what I mean is there are risks everywhere - deranged neighbours with chainsaws, serial murderers living just up the road and bad people looking out for runners but we just have to balance the risks as best we can. I perceive (rightly or wrongly) the risk to me to be low but I minimise the risk as best I can while still allowing myself to enjoy life.

Of course one day I could be running through the woods and find myself flanked by a man with a chainsaw and a guy wearing a manic grin while in the distance I can hear an alarm going off but while the chance remains low, it won't impact on how I conduct my life.

Just be sensible to minimise the risk; don't advertise where you go to complete strangers on the interweb, if you live in a dodgy area, don't go out running when there's no one else about (apart from the muggers, I mean) and above all else, don't wear a bra that doubles as a holster - jesus wept, I've enough trouble with my HRM rubbing!

Lol! It's quite pretty around Rampton way isn't it? And I hear they rarely have escapes.....

We're near the other one, Broadmoor - I forgot the UK was full of dangerous psychos ... might have to retract my post lol

FOOL!!!!! You just told everyone where you live!!! Now they're going to come roofie your water.

It's pretty quiet where I live - not a lot happens. Well, the woman across the street was having an affair so her husband took a chainsaw and leveled their garden in the middle of the night when he found out but that's about it.

Unless you count the mental hospital where they keep the likes of the Yorkshire Ripper which is just up the road. They do a check of the escape alarm every Monday at 10am. In theory if you hear the alarm you go indoors and lock yourself in. i often wonder what happens if some psycho nutter escapes at 10am on a Monday but again .... nothing really to worry about.

I guess what I mean is there are risks everywhere - deranged neighbours with chainsaws, serial murderers living just up the road and bad people looking out for runners but we just have to balance the risks as best we can. I perceive (rightly or wrongly) the risk to me to be low but I minimise the risk as best I can while still allowing myself to enjoy life.

Of course one day I could be running through the woods and find myself flanked by a man with a chainsaw and a guy wearing a manic grin while in the distance I can hear an alarm going off but while the chance remains low, it won't impact on how I conduct my life.

Just be sensible to minimise the risk; don't advertise where you go to complete strangers on the interweb, if you live in a dodgy area, don't go out running when there's no one else about (apart from the muggers, I mean) and above all else, don't wear a bra that doubles as a holster - jesus wept, I've enough trouble with my HRM rubbing!

Lol! It's quite pretty around Rampton way isn't it? And I hear they rarely have escapes.....

We're near the other one, Broadmoor - I forgot the UK was full of dangerous psychos ... might have to retract my post lol

Of course, silly me, it's the Cray Brothers and the Moors murderers in Rampton isn't it?

lots of people study calculus in high school and never use it again for the rest of their lives. but if they have to, they will still retain a passing familiarity with it.

why is that different than self-defense training?

A point I made upthread was around maintaining currency, routine self defence takes a couple of hours a week to retain confidence. That's before you get to the idea of a personal weapon. When I used to shoot practical pistol and combat rifle competitively it took a lot of time, and a lot of lead, to sustain the skillset to an adequate level.

I'd observe that was competitive, when I've had to carry in an operational environment, where there was a very credible threat, it still took a lot of time, and quite realistic training.

I'm implying that when given a choice, an assailant will generally pick a more appealing target over a lesser one. Which is why 80% of rape victims are women under 30. I don't have stats specifically on joggers in pink, tight-fitting shorts vs. camo sweatpants.. but like the saying goes, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

I don't think you really understand how sexual assailants target their victims. again, rape (as is being described in this thread) is largely a crime of opportunity. if the perpetrator has an opportunity he will take it, regardless of whether the victim is wearing sweatpants or yoga pants.

Opportunity no doubt plays a part, but arousal initiates the drive. Which is why elderly women are a lower risk demographic for rape, even though they're an easier opportunity -- the appeal is less.

A woman running in camo tactical pants is probably perceived as a harder opportunity than one in tight shorts, because not only does she look harder to control, you can't tell if she's packing a weapon like you can with tight shorts. So ugly, masculine clothes can act as a deterrant. Bonus points for wearing a grey wig. :bigsmile:

actually, rape in elderlies is more common than you would think. your statistics from which you are basing your ludicrous opinions off of only include reported assaults.

as for the rest of your response... I stand by my assessment that you do not know what you are talking about when it comes to victimology.

Erm... okay I'll try to follow your train of thought here...

Firstly, I know a little bit about victimology. I'm a postgraduate psychologist with specialism in abnormal psychology and significant work experience in inpatient forensic environments, both mental health units as well as custodial settings. I spent a good ten years working for the UK probation service as a specialist with mentally disordered offenders.

I agree to the point that all rapes are under-reported, meaning that the official statistics are only the tip of the iceberg rather than the full story. I think most people would appreciate that simple fact. Of all reported rape cases there will also be social groups who are EVEN less likely to report an assault or rape, and one could agree that due to shame etc the elderly would fall into that category (as would men or certain groups of ethnic minorities).

However, fact remains that most perpetrators are known to the victim, not strangers.

The media makes a huge story out of it whenever you have an elderly lady being attacked in her own home etc, such as this case which got a lot of attention by the press in the UK... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2402971/Rape-victim-93-speaks-17-year-old-boy-charged-assault-elderly-womans-home.html
However that does not mean that these cases are in any way "frequent" by any stretch of the imagination... well certainly not in the UK, I can't speak for US statistics.

From my frequent involvement in adult safeguarding work, POVA investigations (Protection of Vulnerable Adults) into Elder Abuse, in the vast majority of cases the perpetrator of the abuse (be it physical, psychological or financial) is a family member or care home staff, not a stranger. This is also supported by statistics, and these statistics are gleaned not only from reported cases but also taking into consideration information from anonymous calls to elder abuse phone lines etc.
http://www.elderabuse.org.uk/Mainpages/Services/services_dloads.html#Prevalence

I would be very interested to hear about your knowledge or professional experience of vicimology that made you come to the conclusions that you came to.

I'm relatively sure you're arguing the same side as the person you quoted

While I agree on the self-defense part - I remember my self-defense courses from college but doubt I'd react fast enough to make them useful without regular practice - I definitely disagree about carrying. Get a gun that's simple to operate, and most can shoot well enough to scare someone off with a couple of hours of training and an hour or so of practice once a month to maintain familiarity with the gun. The important thing is to train safety so the person carrying doesn't fire accidentally.

Let's be real - most times, just aiming a gun at someone will be enough to get them to back off. If it doesn't, just firing the gun, even if you miss will scare off a good percentage of the ones that didn't take off when they saw the gun. If not, you're still probably going to be shooting at close range the vast majority of the time - 7 yds and less is typical. You don't need hardly any skill to hit someone at that range. You're going to miss because you don't have combat training and you don't cope well with the adrenaline rush and the fear, not because of lack of training at the gun range.