By Melissa Soalt (a.k.a. Dr. Ruthless)

Ever since the dawn of time, human beings have felt safer and more powerful with weapons in their hands. Even back in the Stone Age, thick gnarly sticks and piles of ready-to-heave rocks no doubt provided extra protection against hostile invaders. While a stick or club may seem primitive when compared to modern day weapons, the fact is that low-tech tools will never be passé. They’re always ready and don’t malfunction or require as many specialized skills. Swinging and striking with stick-like implement (for example a bat or golf club) are fairly natural movements.

Of course, more sophisticated weaponry can be highly effective. After all, technology should work for us. Why run the risk of going physical and ruining my make up if I can zap a bad guy with my stun gun, or spritz him with my pepper spray and still make it to dinner on time?

But over-relying on your firearm, pepper spray or blaring body alarm can be dangerous. Assailants can pop up when you least expect them: as you bite into your burger, leave a bathroom stall, put the kids in the car or tuck yourself into bed. If violence strikes and self defense becomes necessary, your body and whatever is within arms reach are all you can initially count on. Even if you’re carrying a weapon you may not be able to access it immediately. And weapons must often be used in conjunction with body-based skills. A determined pepper sprayed or even shot assailant may be able to continue attacking for seconds or longer — long enough to inflict serious harm.

Self defense means adapting and expanding, not restricting, our options. To be prepared, you must own your world. Borrow the mindset of an eight-year-old bully — the one who terrorizes other kids and teachers with his cafeteria tray — and learn to turn ordinary objects into "weapons of convenience." Kids and bad guys shouldn’t be the only ones doing this!

For example, as an ex-city dweller who frequently ventured home late at night, I’d often stop at a convenience store and pick up a cup of piping hot black coffee. After parking, I’d pop the lid and walk home with coffee in hand. If I were physically assaulted, my first — and hopefully last — move would be to throw hot coffee in the face of my attacker. Similarly, handfuls of dirt, noxious household products (for example, oven cleaner or Raid) or your handy fire extinguisher when aimed at the eyes of a violent aggressor could buy you enough time to escape or get help.

While these images are distasteful, glimpsing them now and using foresight is far better than gaining knowledge through hindsight.

If you react instantaneously and know how to use your body to generate power, a letter opener or pen in hand can become a lethal weapon. Almost any item that has weight, mass, edges or points can be an improvised self defense tool when used against a vulnerable target. The list is endless: the edge of your soup can, that Italian marble vase or heavy brass candlestick can all be struck against the head. Similarly, books and even tightly rolled magazines can be thrust into an assailant’s throat. And for you campers, a nice rock inside a sock can make a dandy weapon.

If assaulted at home and you cannot immediately escape, there’s kitchen implements galore. Choose from pots and pans or, as a last resort, cutlery. Even your appliances can aid you. Picture this: A woman huddles in the corner of her kitchen as a would-be rapist closes in when suddenly she jumps up and SLAMS his face with the freezer door or handy cast iron pot cover. He stumbles back, stunned, and she flees.

Furnishings and objects can also become protective barriers. A physician friend shielded himself from his patient’s oncoming knife with his briefcase. Another quick thinker pinned a knife-wielding thug to the wall with a patio chair. Even junk on the street can be used to shield and strike in self defense — when worn on the hand, metal garbage can lids will add zest to any palm strike!

Here’s your homework: Wherever you are right now, imagine you are about to be ambushed. Give yourself a maximum of three seconds to get a "weapon" (or shielding object that could double as a weapon) in your hands, with the emotional readiness to use it. Simultaneously be aware of and start maneuvering toward an exit or escape route.

Practice this often and you’ll be better prepared.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Melissa Soalt (a.k.a. Dr. Ruthless ®) was named Black Belt Magazine’s 2003 Woman Of The Year. A veteran instructor of practical and full-force self defense for women, her no-nonsense methods have been featured on The View, NBC Nightly News, and in over two dozen publications. A former psychotherapist specializing in working with trauma, Soalt is also a columnist for the bi-monthly magazine, "Self Defense For Women." To learn more about her message and methods, and her FIERCE & FEMALE videos, visit her website at www.dr-ruthless.com