Suhail Algosaibi, owner and founder of Zen Do Bahrain Kickboxing Club, recently launched his own book on self defence, the first of its kind in Bahrain. Entitled The Ultimate Self-Defence Handbook, How To Defend Yourself in Bahrain and Abroad, the book covers the whole gamut of self-defence, starting well before trouble actually happens, and finally dealing with it when it does happen.

“It’s sort of a general self-improvement guide,” says Suhail. “I think there is a lot of misinformation out there, and a lot of fear, and this book is about empowering people and giving them confidence.”

Suhail maintains that you don’t have to be a martial arts expert to be good at self-defence. “One of the sections in the book explains that self defence is really only 10% physical and 90% non-physical,” he says. “For example, people still don’t lock their doors or their cars, and a lot of attacks happen because of the ignorance of the victim rather than the cleverness of the attacker.

Criminals will always look for an easy target, so locking doors, concealing valuables, and even moving with confidence can deter an attack.”

The book explains how to spot and avoid trouble as much as how to manage it, but if the unthinkable happens, Suhail explains that most complicated and elaborate techniques taught in many martial arts simply won’t work.

“When you’re attacked, you get an adrenaline rush, and a certain ‘fight or flight’ part of your brain takes over, which can only remember basic instinctual moves. The book explains how this works, and what you can do in those situations. There are only five or six very simple, but very effective techniques in the book that easy to learn and remember, and they can be done by the average person.”