Story by Maribel Z K

As part of our women’s series, this video addresses the resistance some women have to learning self-defense for everyday safety and of course, the Zombie Apocalypse. Why should men have all the fun?

Many women tend to defer self-defense to the men in their lives. Some are afraid to get hurt. Some believe that women are weaker than men and believe it to be a disadvantage to self-defense that cannot be overcome. If you or a woman in your life have some of these beliefs, I encourage you to watch this video. I could go on and on about this but for now, I offer up a few of my thoughts and look forward to hearing yours.

As always, you can can find us (and Like us!) on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and iTunes (links are on the top menu).

Story by Maribel Z K

Do you have the skills and determination to be one of the last people on Earth?

Prove it.

Try out for this new show and compete to win ownership shares in one of Vivos Shelters’ Luxury state-of-the-art underground shelters. 

Deadline June 20.

Let us know also if you choose to apply, we’d love to share our knowledge with you! And there might even be some swag (from us, not them) if you get on the show… Spread the word and invite some worthy competitors.

Best of luck, Thrivalists! Be awesome. ~ You’re already ahead by keeping our company

Who’s in?

Story by Maribel Z K

It’s important to know your enemy. The good thing is zombies are more or less built like their living version — us. In other words, they are built like us and hence have similar “structural weaknesses”. Since they don’t react to pain and bleeding doesn’t bother or injure them, it’s a good idea to break their structure and limit or stop their movement if you can’t go for their brains. Following on a earlier video by John that discusses the ideal traits of an anti-zombie martial art, I talk about the concept of “structural incapacitation.” The Internet is replete with self defense videos with a lot of jargon that is basically Greek to the average human. This video discusses the basics of human structure and two targets that an unarmed person can use with little strength or training to take down a zombie or aggressive human and get away safely.

Continue reading “Zombies are Us: Basic Targets for Structural Incapacitation (video)” »

Story by John Moore

Zombies are attacking, your gun jams, you don’t have time to get to your knife – what kind of empty hand self defense tactics are you going to use?

In this video, one of the martial arts expert co-founders of the Zombie Prep Network examines the CQB tactics that are unique to a zombie survival situation.

It’s less about an unarmed combat style than about practicing skills and tactics which are most like to work against single or multiple pain-resistant attackers.

The video breaks it down, but here are the basics:

Continue reading “What Is The Best Martial Art For Zombie Defense?” »

Story by John Moore

We get it, you’re  fan of Michonne from the Walking Dead and you think the katana is the ultimate bad-ass zombie survival weapon. Or maybe you’ve seen YouTube videos of dudes hacking up a ballistics gelatin zombie dummy with a samurai sword – awesome. But a katana is one of those things, like many weapons, where not knowing how to use it properly can do more harm than good.

You can seriously harm yourself with a sharpened katana, and most sword schools won’t let you touch a sharp one (Shinken) until you’re  blackbelt. Wanna use a sword to slice up some zombs? Great – get yourself a practice weapon and get yourself some training.

In this video, I show you basic grip, drawing and cutting with a katana. YouTube videos should not replace one on one instruction, and you should get a whole lot of training – and train safe.

Continue reading “Katana Zombie Survival Weapon Training” »

Story by John Moore

No matter what happens after the zombie horde rises, your survival needs will remain the same. As human beings we all need shelter, food, water, and safety. Fire is also a primary survival tool which can provide us with warmth, purified water, and heat for cooking (perhaps even a weapon).

We here at the Zombie Prep Network are big on skills. Having a bugout bag full of survivalist goodies and not knowing how to use them is silly.

As the apocalypse goes on, long-term survival skills will be paramount to your continued enjoyment of our newly target-rich environment. Hunting, foraging, and living in a debris hut are activities which may not be your best long-term survival strategy.

The following video examines the “skillz that will pay the billz” long-term and help you become a zpoc thrivalist ™.

Continue reading “What Skills Do You Need To Survive The Zombie Apocalypse?” »

Story by John Moore

Preparing to survive an onslaught of zombies means firearms training. Going to the range is great, but all shooters should do regular (daily) dry fire training. This builds proper muscle memory and good shooting mechanics.

However, dry fire training with a real gun can be problematic, and lacks some feedback.

Enter the SIRT training pistol from Next Level Training – it’s got frikkin lasers.

Continue reading “SIRT Training Pistol – Next Level Training – Zombie Prep Review” »

Story by Maribel Z K

May the 4th be with you!

A simple physics lesson: Force = mass x acceleration.

Here are 4 ways that can help you increase the centrifugal force of the blow / strike against an approaching zombie. (NOTE: centrifugal force does not actually exist, according to physicists. However, it can still be applied…  very Jedi, don’t you think?)

1) Increase your arm and shoulder strength so you can lift a heavier weapon for your strike. While it might be easier to swing a lighter weapon faster, a heavier weapon swung at the same speed will hurt more (think George Foreman’s cross punch versus Manny Pacquiao’s). The weight of the weapon should preferably be at the business end (the part that hits the target). We’ll cover more about this in the future.

2) Improve your ability to estimate spacing and distance so you can swing something long (yes har har), without hitting yourself in the face and hitting your target with the sweet spot of the weapon. By swinging a longer weapon, you increase the force of your  strike. Stay tuned for future articles on this.

3) Increase your legs AND abdominal/core/back strength so you can swing a weapon faster.  Contrary to what you might think, your arms do not determine the force of your blow. The force of a circular strike starts from the center, which is you, starting from your feet, through your core to your arms and weapon (which is an extension of you). If you watch a  pro golfer or baseball player, you will see that their feet move before they twist their body. By starting your twist from your feet, to your core, to your arms and  hands, you can maximize the amount of force you can generate. If you think you’re not that strong, improve your strike speed. Stay tuned for a future demo video on this.

Mass x acceleration = Force, 4 X 2 = 6 but so is 2 X 4 = 6.

4) Increase your grip strength (lower arm muscles and fingers). It’s no good to be able to lift a heavy weapon or swing a weapon fast or slow, if you can’t hang on to it. Unless you’re an avid climber or body builder, this is a weak point for most people (especially if you work on computers all day). We’ll address ways to improve your grip strength in a future post. While a strong grip may not massively increase the force of your strike, it will help you execute more than one strike with the same weapon. Good grip strength will also come in handy when you start to get sweaty, bloody hands and arms and your weapon starts slippin’ and a-slidin’.

P.S. being a person of smaller stature and weight, I’m a huge fan of the use of acceleration to increase force. In my opinion, there’s only so much mass that my skeleton can handle or that I can accumulate from body building. With acceleration, not only can you deliver a hard blow, you can also get more blows in when the zombies attack.

Image of zombie lego clone. Source: http://leg-godt.tumblr.com/post/2911814596/lego-zombie-clone-trooper-or-is-he-a-clone