(Disclaimer: The following tips on combat survival are not my own ideas. These are the combat tips Mr. Tim Larkin, founder of the system called 'Target Focus Training'. These are e-mail letters that I have received daily in my e-mail box. I hope the lessons that are imparted in here will help you be safe in the streets. Enjoy reading!)Combat Training Principles -- Secrets For Staying Alive
When 'Rules' Don't Apply
Thanks for opting in to my Combat Training Principles
Newsletter.
Below is the first issue of what I trust will be the
most useful ezine you'll ever receive, packed with
insights into a world you may not have had much
exposure to.
In this newsletter I'm not just going to give you a
few techniques to ward off a local thug. Nope. You
see, when you train in my system I guarantee that what
you learn will keep you alive should you ever become
involved in a violent confrontation.
But to do that, you need to know something about
principles -- about the 'why' -- of what you're doing,
as well as the techniques. It's training your mind
along with your body. Without it, you're doing what
everyone else is doing -- just learning techniques for
specific situations. And in an upcoming issue I'll
explain why this is recipe for DISASTER.
So ... welcome aboard. Let's get started.
"Your Critical Decision"
**************************************************
"The indispensable first step to getting the things
you want out of life is this: decide what you want."
-Ben Stein
**************************************************
There are many constants throughout life and the
above quote truly defines one of the most critical
steps in your pursuit of any endeavor. So before we
even consider the principles of any good fighting
system or martial art, you must first answer this
question:
"What is my goal for this training -- to enhance my
athletic competition skills or to learn to effectively
deal with potentially lethal physical attacks from one
or more thugs hell-bent on harming me and/or someone I
love?"
It truly amazes me how many people just stumble into
various martial arts or combat sports never having
once considered the above question. Yet your answer to
that question makes all the difference in determining
whether you really get what you want from training.
Here's why.
If you answered "for competition", then understand
you'll find numerous martial arts and combat sports
that provide excellent instruction and challenging
forms of competition. There you can SAFELY match your
skill level against another competitor, within agreed
upon RULES and under the supervision of a judge or
referee.
The combat sport athlete has my greatest respect, and
you can certainly learn some very effective lessons in
competitive strategy and tactics from these sports and
disciplines. I know many of you may also enjoy the
sometimes-extensive physical training these arts
require in order to excel in competition.
Unfortunately, if "sport fighting" is your thing ...
if it's your answer to my first question, well, you
won't find this newsletter of much use. In fact, you
may even want to unsubscribe and save your inbox
clutter. No hard feelings. If you'd like, finish this
issue, though, to understand a little more of the
reasons "why".
Now, let's return to the question.
If you answered that your goal for training IS to
learn to effectively deal with real life or death
threats, then you've come to the right place.
You see, in upcoming issues I'll throw some
provocative stuff at you, give you insights you've
likely never been exposed to, challenge other stuff
you may hold as absolute.
It's my goal with this newsletter to arm you with the
necessary information to confidently seek out the most
effective hand-to-hand combat training.
But before we move on ...
There's one more group I must address. In fact, it's
these individuals that I really hope to reach with
this first issue of my newsletter.
The group? Well, it's those of you who answered the
question, "I want to train for BOTH athletic
competition AND life or death attacks."
Why am I concerned?
It's simply this ... YOU CAN'T DO IT!
---------------
That's right. And the reason is very simple: "You do
what you train."
Let me repeat that -- "You do what you train."
----------------------
If you train in a combat sport or martial art that
has rules restricting you for reasons of safety during
competition, then you'll react to a violent criminal
assault ...
--- Restricted By Those Very Same Rules!
But understand, those rules only apply to you. Not to
your assailant. He has NO restrictions.
That's why you must to be extremely careful when
physically training for self-protection.
You see, there's a coding process that gets
'installed' when training -- and it's this process
that ultimately determines your responses under
stress.
Examples? There are many.
But one of the more disturbing involved a major
police department's firearms training program.
The range where this city's police officers performed
their firearms training was run by a rangemaster more
concerned about keeping his range clean ... than
keeping his officers alive!
During practice with their revolvers, the officers
were required to shoot all six rounds, then eject
these spent cartridges into their hands and put them
into their pockets.
This 'RULE' was enforced because the rangemaster
didn't want his pristine range littered with empty
cartridges.
Problem was -- in a REAL life or death gunfight, an
officer must reload his or her weapon as fast as
possible. And to do that with a revolver, you
obviously just dump the empty cartridges on the ground
while quickly reloading with your free hand.
But surely these highly trained police officers would
not let their training impact them negatively in a
real situation, right?
Unfortunately, it wasn't until 2 officers were shot
dead in a gunfight that the facts were revealed ...
--- "You do what you train."
Both dead officers were found with empty cartridges
in their hands, EXACTLY as they trained on the range,
even though they faced a life or death situation where
those extra seconds may have been the difference.
So return to my initial question, and make your
decision: "What is your goal for training?"
Until next time,
************************************************************************************
Combat Training Principles -- Secrets For Staying Alive
When 'Rules' Don't Apply
"Almost Every Conflict Is Won -- Or Lost -- With
This One Weapon"
**************************************************
"Its not the size of the dog in the fight, its the
size of the fight in the dog."
- Mark Twain
**************************************************
To truly prepare yourself for life or death
confrontations you must take inventory of those
weapons readily available to you.
When my trainers ask new clients to list the
"weapons" at their disposal, they give a variety of
answers. Most tend to focus on either the actual
weapons they carry on their person or objects they use
on a day-to-day basis that might be utilized as
improvised weapons (briefcase, umbrella, pen, etc.).
This response is not confined to the
"unsophisticated" trainee, either. Extremely
competent, well-trained military commandos and special
law enforcement personnel I train give the exact same
answers!
The difference is these operators usually categorize
the weapons available to them as primary (rifle or
submachine gun) and secondary (side arm, knives, etc).
In both cases, however, the highly trained operator
and the uninitiated almost ALWAYS fail to list their
most powerful weapon.
That weapon is ... Their MIND!
----
Unfortunately today, very little effort is made to
properly train your mind for violent confrontation. In
fact most martial arts and combat sports go out of
their way to actually negate this "primary weapon
system" by focusing on defensive-based training. Their
programs revolve around REACTING to your attacker's
actions rather than focusing your actions on DEFEATING
the threat.
This defensive thinking causes you to hesitate as
your mind tries to figure out what is happening rather
than focusing on "targets" of opportunity.
By constantly drilling on blocks and on counters to
attacks, and through being told never to initiate
action, your mind habitually attempts to protect you
by reacting to what is happening -- rather than
helping you to defeat your attacker.
Correct training of your mind is the CRITICAL
component that unleashes your ability to take
advantage of all the other weapons available to you.
Give your mind the wrong command ... and you
hesitate; hesitation causes fear; and fear causes you
to freeze, leading to an often-disastrous result in a
true life or death struggle with a violent thug.
Many people give lip service to offensive or
aggressive thought training.
But in my 20-plus years of training clients, I've
seen a mere handful of instructors who can competently
instruct offensive/aggressive thought training coupled
with effective hand-to-hand and hand-to-weapon
training.
I hope the industry changes in the future -- but I'm
not holding my breath.
Occasionally, I do get clients who come to me with
naturally aggressive or offensive thought processes.
For example, I recently trained a female CEO who had
fought off an attack in Paris.
She was traveling in a car with her husband through
the busy streets of that city when they were assaulted
by criminals on a motorcycle. The guy on the back of
the motorcycle jumped off at a stop, broke into the
back seat of their car and attempted to steal her
laptop.
She immediately attacked the first target she saw --
which just happened to be his helmet chinstrap. She
grabbed it and repeatedly slammed his head into the
door. He dropped the laptop as her husband sped off.
She sought out my services not because she had failed
but because she was annoyed she couldn't think of a
BETTER target to attack!
With that mindset, 50% of my work was done. She
excelled in training and is now more prepared to use
her already-perfect mindset to summons better targets
and weapons.
As in the Mark Twain quote above, by focusing first
on correctly training your most important "weapons
system" -- your MIND -- you significantly increase
your ability to take out anyone threatening you or
your loved ones.
Until next time,
************************************************************************************
Combat Training Principles -- Secrets For Staying Alive
When 'Rules' Don't Apply
"The One, Little-Used Training Principle That'll Leapfrog Your
Combat Fighting Progress"
******************************************************
"The way to avoid what is strong is to strike what is
weak."
- Sun Tzu
******************************************************
When most people think of martial arts training they
envision a class arranged in rows going through
various punching and kicking drills.
Form is emphasized to an incredible degree. I
remember early on in my martial arts training being
told by a master that until I had performed a movement
1,000 times (in this case it was a traditional reverse
punch) I would not be able to understand, nor properly
use, this strike.
So for much of my youth I would spend hour after hour
performing the various punches, kicks, and techniques
I'd been taught, until I acquired 'proficiency' in my
performance of these movements.
Often QUANTITY was emphasized over QUALITY. In fact
looking back on these training experiences I believe
the main goal was FATIGUE.
This often produced humorous results. Whenever I was
able to sneak a glance around the room, I'd notice the
agony on the faces of my fellow students as they
executed say, a high roundhouse kick, for the umpty-
umth time, -- a kick that now barely rose above knee
level!
The instructors were very SPECIFIC when it came to
form. Everything had to look just so -- and you were
judged by your ability to reproduce this look. You
were instructed in use of your natural body weapons
but the emphasis was on form rather than function.
The subject of whether or not this particular strike
was effective or even biomechanically correct was
never addressed. Any such questions were dismissed
with some vague reference to the art being this way
for 1000's of years, blah, blah, and blah...
Here were just some of the questions I had about
those methods:
1. What was the purpose of these drills? To make me
a better fighter? And if so, how?
2. What was the point of doing a drill to fatigue?
What did I learn from that? Did it make me better at
that drill?
3. How did the movements I learned work under the
stress of a real fight?
4. Why are some of the ways you're teaching me to
use my body seemingly more prone to hurting me than my
attacker?
Unfortunately I got nowhere asking these and other
similar questions. It took me many years of WRONG
training to find out how to correctly train my skills
for maximum fighting effectiveness under stress.
The difference is dramatic ... as are the results.
When you train with me, especially those with
extensive martial arts training, you'll be surprised how
little I correct you on 'form'. I'll rarely have you
performing 'drills'. And I never instruct you to
'memorize' a technique.
But I am very strict on whether or not you are using
your body weapons to correctly strike the targets on
your attacker. I am also a 'stickler' on the proper
biomechanical use of those body weapons you use to
execute your strikes.
Why?
Because the ONLY thing that matters when you are in a
real fight is that you -- HIT YOUR TARGETS!
The focus is not "how you look" when you execute a
one-knuckle punch to your attacker's temple, but...
--- DID YOU HIT THE TEMPLE?
How you look when you strike is a very minor concern.
I do address how you look in training but in a very
specific manner. One that helps you to more
effectively hit your targets while generating the
MAXIMUM amount of force with each of your strikes.
Still, one of the most difficult things for me to
'unlearn' from a trained martial artist or fighter is
the formatic drills their prior training inculcated in
them.
Often I'll watch as a highly trained individual
executes a picture-perfect kick or punch during a
training session, a blow that rightfully sends the
partner reeling backwards due to the force. Then,
however, I watch them stand in place (again, often in
a picture-perfect stance) rather than DYNAMICALLY
moving with their attacker.
With my training you won't make the same mistake.
Focus on what your goal is -- DESTROYING the other guy.
In order to do that you need to ensure you hit your targets.
If you can focus on that FIRST, I'll help you look
good doing it later.
Until next time,
****************************************************************
Combat Training Principles -- Secrets For Staying Alive
When 'Rules' Don't Apply
"Almost Every Conflict Is Won -- Or Lost -- With
This One Weapon"
**************************************************
"Its not the size of the dog in the fight, its the
size of the fight in the dog."
- Mark Twain
**************************************************
To truly prepare yourself for life or death
confrontations you must take inventory of those
weapons readily available to you.
When my trainers ask new clients to list the
"weapons" at their disposal, they give a variety of
answers. Most tend to focus on either the actual
weapons they carry on their person or objects they use
on a day-to-day basis that might be utilized as
improvised weapons (briefcase, umbrella, pen, etc.).
This response is not confined to the
"unsophisticated" trainee, either. Extremely
competent, well-trained military commandos and special
law enforcement personnel I train give the exact same
answers!
The difference is these operators usually categorize
the weapons available to them as primary (rifle or
submachine gun) and secondary (side arm, knives, etc).
In both cases, however, the highly trained operator
and the uninitiated almost ALWAYS fail to list their
most powerful weapon.
That weapon is ... Their MIND!
----
Unfortunately today, very little effort is made to
properly train your mind for violent confrontation. In
fact most martial arts and combat sports go out of
their way to actually negate this "primary weapon
system" by focusing on defensive-based training. Their
programs revolve around REACTING to your attacker's
actions rather than focusing your actions on DEFEATING
the threat.
This defensive thinking causes you to hesitate as
your mind tries to figure out what is happening rather
than focusing on "targets" of opportunity.
By constantly drilling on blocks and on counters to
attacks, and through being told never to initiate
action, your mind habitually attempts to protect you
by reacting to what is happening -- rather than
helping you to defeat your attacker.
Correct training of your mind is the CRITICAL
component that unleashes your ability to take
advantage of all the other weapons available to you.
Give your mind the wrong command ... and you
hesitate; hesitation causes fear; and fear causes you
to freeze, leading to an often-disastrous result in a
true life or death struggle with a violent thug.
Many people give lip service to offensive or
aggressive thought training.
But in my 20-plus years of training clients, I've
seen a mere handful of instructors who can competently
instruct offensive/aggressive thought training coupled
with effective hand-to-hand and hand-to-weapon
training.
I hope the industry changes in the future -- but I'm
not holding my breath.
Occasionally, I do get clients who come to me with
naturally aggressive or offensive thought processes.
For example, I recently trained a female CEO who had
fought off an attack in Paris.
She was traveling in a car with her husband through
the busy streets of that city when they were assaulted
by criminals on a motorcycle. The guy on the back of
the motorcycle jumped off at a stop, broke into the
back seat of their car and attempted to steal her
laptop.
She immediately attacked the first target she saw --
which just happened to be his helmet chinstrap. She
grabbed it and repeatedly slammed his head into the
door. He dropped the laptop as her husband sped off.
She sought out my services not because she had failed
but because she was annoyed she couldn't think of a
BETTER target to attack!
With that mindset, 50% of my work was done. She
excelled in training and is now more prepared to use
her already-perfect mindset to summons better targets
and weapons.
As in the Mark Twain quote above, by focusing first
on correctly training your most important "weapons
system" -- your MIND -- you significantly increase
your ability to take out anyone threatening you or
your loved ones.
Until next time,
*******************************************************
Combat Training Principles -- Secrets For Staying Alive
When 'Rules' Don't Apply
"The One, Little-Used Training Principle That'll Leapfrog Your
Combat Fighting Progress"
******************************************************
"The way to avoid what is strong is to strike what is
weak."
- Sun Tzu
******************************************************
When most people think of martial arts training they
envision a class arranged in rows going through
various punching and kicking drills.
Form is emphasized to an incredible degree. I
remember early on in my martial arts training being
told by a master that until I had performed a movement
1,000 times (in this case it was a traditional reverse
punch) I would not be able to understand, nor properly
use, this strike.
So for much of my youth I would spend hour after hour
performing the various punches, kicks, and techniques
I'd been taught, until I acquired 'proficiency' in my
performance of these movements.
Often QUANTITY was emphasized over QUALITY. In fact
looking back on these training experiences I believe
the main goal was FATIGUE.
This often produced humorous results. Whenever I was
able to sneak a glance around the room, I'd notice the
agony on the faces of my fellow students as they
executed say, a high roundhouse kick, for the umpty-
umth time, -- a kick that now barely rose above knee
level!
The instructors were very SPECIFIC when it came to
form. Everything had to look just so -- and you were
judged by your ability to reproduce this look. You
were instructed in use of your natural body weapons
but the emphasis was on form rather than function.
The subject of whether or not this particular strike
was effective or even biomechanically correct was
never addressed. Any such questions were dismissed
with some vague reference to the art being this way
for 1000's of years, blah, blah, and blah...
Here were just some of the questions I had about
those methods:
1. What was the purpose of these drills? To make me
a better fighter? And if so, how?
2. What was the point of doing a drill to fatigue?
What did I learn from that? Did it make me better at
that drill?
3. How did the movements I learned work under the
stress of a real fight?
4. Why are some of the ways you're teaching me to
use my body seemingly more prone to hurting me than my
attacker?
Unfortunately I got nowhere asking these and other
similar questions. It took me many years of WRONG
training to find out how to correctly train my skills
for maximum fighting effectiveness under stress.
The difference is dramatic ... as are the results.
When you train with me, especially those with
extensive martial arts training, you'll be surprised how
little I correct you on 'form'. I'll rarely have you
performing 'drills'. And I never instruct you to
'memorize' a technique.
But I am very strict on whether or not you are using
your body weapons to correctly strike the targets on
your attacker. I am also a 'stickler' on the proper
biomechanical use of those body weapons you use to
execute your strikes.
Why?
Because the ONLY thing that matters when you are in a
real fight is that you -- HIT YOUR TARGETS!
The focus is not "how you look" when you execute a
one-knuckle punch to your attacker's temple, but...
--- DID YOU HIT THE TEMPLE?
How you look when you strike is a very minor concern.
I do address how you look in training but in a very
specific manner. One that helps you to more
effectively hit your targets while generating the
MAXIMUM amount of force with each of your strikes.
Still, one of the most difficult things for me to
'unlearn' from a trained martial artist or fighter is
the formatic drills their prior training inculcated in
them.
Often I'll watch as a highly trained individual
executes a picture-perfect kick or punch during a
training session, a blow that rightfully sends the
partner reeling backwards due to the force. Then,
however, I watch them stand in place (again, often in
a picture-perfect stance) rather than DYNAMICALLY
moving with their attacker.
With my training you won't make the same mistake.
Focus on what your goal is -- DESTROYING the other guy.
In order to do that you need to ensure you hit your targets.
If you can focus on that FIRST, I'll help you look
good doing it later.
Until next time,
*********************************************************
Combat Training Principles -- Secrets For Staying Alive
When 'Rules' Don't Apply
"Your Roadmap To Destroying The Other Guy"
******************************************************
"Hit quickly, hit hard and keep right on hitting. Give
the enemy no rest, no opportunity to consolidate his
forces and hit back at you. This is the shortest road
to victory"
-- General Holland M. 'Howlin' Mad Smith, USMC
******************************************************
Most instructors don't advocate 'hitting first' and
following the above quote's advice. They get enmeshed
in self-defense laws, spiritual, and social morays
surrounding the issue of such a seemingly aggressive
approach.
We have already established that fighting is not
something that is entered into for any reason other
than to stop an attacker whom otherwise would do you
serious, life-threatening, physical harm.
Let's take a brief look at this 'hit first' principle.
In a violent confrontation you have 2 choices:
1) You may CAUSE the other guy to respond to your
action or,
2) You may REACT to the action of the other guy.
If you choose the latter you are taking a defensive
and potentially, a very dangerous method of self-
protection.
It requires that you watch the other guy initiate the
attack, quickly figure out what is happening and then
be able to effectively COUNTER that attack.
Essentially with this choice, you allow the other guy
to control the fight and then attempt to wrest control
after the fact.
There are some very interesting options when using
this 'counter' strategy but any way you look at this
it is a defensive approach.
An educated fighter, however, understands that if he
is the first to strike his target then he will control
the situation.
So even though the other guy moves first to say, throw
a punch to the face, the fighter keys off of the
movement and kicks the other guy's bladder before the
punch even get halfway to the face.
As the other guy reacts to the blow, the fighter
delivers yet another strike to a specific target, then
another -- until the other guy is no longer a threat.
What gives this fighter the confidence to IGNORE the
attack and focus on his target of choice?
That confidence is a result of a specific
understanding of the human body's nervous system and
how to manipulate the spinal reflex reactions designed
to protect the body.
The same reactions that automatically pull your hand
off a hot surface can be triggered to destroy the other guy
and completely shut down his ability to fight.
This literally becomes your 'roadmap to destroying
the other guy'. The specific methods used to maximize
this knowledge go beyond the scope of this newsletter.
Suffice it to say that a competent instructor can give
you a tremendous advantage by utilizing this
knowledge. With it you can make rapid progress in your
ability to control a violent confrontation.
This knowledge breeds confidence that in turn, breeds
your desire to 'hit first'. I can't say it any better
than Howlin' Smith but I'll add that learning about
spinal reflex reactions is your shortest road to
victory in a life or death fight.
Until next time,
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