Human societies are fascinated with strength and power. Obvious personal power especially — height, musculature, and a hair-trigger willingness to do violence or self protection are eternally impressive to us. We all desire what those attributes grant those who have them: to be respected, to inspire awe, and perhaps fear. When we are intimidated, we […] Read More
You can tell how serious someone is about really dropping a man by where they place themselves to get the job done and where they land when it comes to antisocial confrontation. Angry or aggressive fighters will go toe-to-toe, literally stepping up to the man and then reaching out with their limbs to cover the […] Read More
The use of pain from debilitating injury in life-or-death situations is completely unreliable because everyone’s pain tolerance is different and completely unpredictable. Some people will quit, some will overcome, and others will shrug it off as if nothing happened. In the absence of debilitating injury, pain is really just asking the other person to capitulate. […] Read More
Last night, during our monthly conference call between Master Instructors and Mastery Program members, a question about our Target Focus Training principles came up: “How do I tell someone about what we do in such a way that it doesn’t sound crazy?” We have no shortage of material that talks (and shows) all about what […] Read More
If we are accurate and correct—if we hit a square-inch of important anatomy with enough force to break it—we inflict a debilitating injury. One major self protection lesson is that when it comes to blunt force trauma, injured people move in response to their injury. Neurologically, organisms move away from negative stimuli—broken ribs and a […] Read More
I get inundated with emails pointing to different self-defense classes and training videos, all asking for my opinion on whether it’s the real deal or not. There are a lot of different flavors of Kool-Aid out there (ours included) – A veritable rainbow of “ultimate” and “unbeatable” systems. But who has the real Kool-Aid? Well, […] Read More
I’ve often referred to our approach to life or death self-defense as a “nuclear weapon.” It’s uncompromising, total, and devastating — just like lighting a nuke off in a city. We don’t work in half-measures. There’s no “taking it back” in violence. The injuries we talk about inflicting will be life-altering for the man, provided […] Read More
In a violent conflict, the ONLY thing that means anything is causing an injury. Causing trauma puts you in control. That is why injury is the most fundamental and important concept in violence. It is the common thread woven through the fabric of every violent encounter. To be successful in violent conflict, you need to […] Read More
People talk about self-defense technique as if it is the foundation of fighting and violence. And sure, technique is essential to learning how to fight effectively, such as knowing a specific joint to target and how or practicing a certain punch or strike so it’s ready when you need it. But self-defense techniques are also […] Read More
Going toe-to-toe, blow-for-blow with someone who is bigger, faster and stronger is an incredibly iffy proposition. Unless you have the conditioning to go the distance (to outlast the struggle and have the ability to “take a punch” or twenty), the physical strength to overpower him, and enough fighting skill to bob, weave, block, counter and […] Read More
