October 23, 209- Austin, TX- As students, we all bet our lives on our instruction for reality based self defense. Think about it. Self defense is not martial arts. It is used to detect, deter or defend against a violent, potentially life ending attack. It is meant for the 3% of society who want to kill us and do harm to our families. Murderers, rapists, home invaders, gang members, stalkers, mean people, workplace violence, kidnapping, car jacking or just a plain street fighters are the ones who will bring this kind of fight to us. As always, I have to give credit to the master instructors that I train under, especially Tony Blauer, Tony Torres and Tom Arcuri as many of these concepts are taken directly from my own training.
No offense or disrespect to any instructor but who are they? What do they teach? Have they or their students used the tactics taught to defend themselves or their families violent attacks? Do they train for real life scenarios? Do they train under stress and with full contact? Are the tactics taught just theory or does everyone test them against full contact fights that come by surprise by bad guys that really fight? Many martial arts have nothing to do with self defense in a real life context. Consider these definitions:
Martial arts are systems of codified practices and traditions of training. While they may be studied for various reasons. In addition, some martial arts are linked to beliefs. Many arts are also practiced competitively, but may also take the form of dance.
Self-defense is the act of defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force is available in many jurisdictions, but the interpretation varies widely. To be aquitted of any kind of physical harm-related crime (such asassault and battery and homicide) using the self-defense justification, one must prove legal provocation, meaning that one must prove that they were in a position where not using self-defense would most likely lead to significant injury to life, limb, or property.
No offense to martial arts instructors. I love martial arts and practice several myself but everything has its place. Some things work in the dojo but you would or could never use them in the street. As a self defense coach and instructor I have to switch hats and teach my students gross motor skill movements that are fast, effective and accessible in a real fight, attack or ambush. My goal is to give everyone something from my seminars and classes that they can use right away and not to create a self perpetuating situation where a student has to come to class twice a week, for years to learn the best stuff. I make it easy and simple and teach the same stuff to women, men, mature kids, military and law enforcement.
We employ the latest phycological research, fear management, conflict management, recognition, non violent postures, choice speech and if necessary effective self defense tactics that work in real life. I lecture on use of force, imminent jeopardy and the legal ramifications of using self defense. In a real fight you have thee fights to consider:
-The fight with yourself before the actual fight begins (emotional)
-The fight with the bad guy
-The fight in court (civilly) or with law enforcement (criminally)
I have been involved in reality self defense 'systems' that purport to be reality based. It sounded good to me and I thought I was getting the real deal but upon reflection; I may have wasted some time and money. It all comes down to this: if you have a system that sets up a predetermined attack and it is rehearsed by students under controlled situations, it is not realistic. If it is called reality then set up as a cognitive drill it may not be 'real' reality. Real fights are ugly, mean, fast and often by surprise. They look like this video below..
If you notice, the fights look very similar.. Ugly and unrefined. No fancy moves by either person. The attacks initiated a haymaker punch or dirty tackle as Primary Initiation Attack (PIA). This is a compilation of attacks from all over and it gives us some insight to how fights really happen.
Do you train for these kinds of attacks in your self defense training? When you train- does the "bad guy" act appropriately? It is important. Maybe even life and death important.
I was recently certified as a Ballistic Micro Fight Instructor at Blauer Tactical Systems in Virginia Beach. This is an additional certification under the Personal Defense Readiness (PDR) system. Take a look at this video and pay particular attention to the attacks and responses by the students. This is as close to real as you get. Tony Blauer created High Gear Suits that allow for a full range of movement in a full-on fight so that students can fight force on force and minimize injury. High Gear is the only option for those who want to train at full speed and practice tactics full contact without serious injury.
Summit Self Defense has integrated PDR's principals into its self defense system. We deliver realistic training to women, men, military and law enforcement locally, nationally and internationally. We have a number of certified instructors and we specialize in all self defense options such as: personal safety, verbal de-escalation tactics, threat recognition, use of force curriculum, women's self defense, hand to hand combatitives, gun deployment, concealed handgun licensing, Taser deployment and OC use and deployment.
We have schools and training locally in the following metro areas: Austin, Albuquerque and San Francisco. We also train locally in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Santa Fe and the Bay Area and South of San Francisco as far as Monterey.
We travel nationwide to deliver a variety of training to corporations (both as a speaker/trainer and workplace violence training and response), groups, organizations, law enforcement agencies, military units and individuals who need a diversity of self defense or combatitive options for their vulnerabilities and environments.
Robb Hamic, Chief Instructor and founder
Summit Self Defense
512-284-0087 (cellular)
