Protective Tactics 101

[Tez3]

Hi, Don! It's probably an occupational hazard, but I think you seem to be stuck in Motivational SalesSpeak(TM) mode

You can't motivate me, I'm British.

 

[JowGaWolf]

When will you or someone you love be violently assaulted? Imagine it is Friday, and you learn that someone you love will be attacked on Monday.

For me it depends on the family member they are attacking. Some will break your arm, the others may shoot you, or hunt you down with their boys and then shoot you. Some will get beaten up without a doubt.

The good news there is that most people, full of adrenaline, at even 3 yards will not hit cranial ocular cavity nor even thoracic cavity.

That's the thing about guns, you don't have to have to hit those areas on the first shot. How many bullets does a gun hold? Well that's the maximum times that they get to shoot at you, and that's the maximum times you get to try to avoid being shot. Your more than welcome to try to roll the dice on those odds, but even stray bullets sometimes find a mark. I can show you tons of video footage of store clerks being hit with bullets from that range. I can equally show you videos of store clerks hitting robbers at that range as well. Don't make the assumption that criminals don't shot at the gun range or practice shooting the guns they own.

 

[Tez3]

For me it depends on the family member they are attacking.

You know that doesn't read well don't you?

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Mr. Mattocks, I can understand your skepticism. After all, one can devote a lifetime to mastering the martial arts, and I too continue along that path. How then can I suggest that there is an alternative solution when it comes to protection of one's self and family? Simple. In my experience and study, survival of real life violence requires just that, simplicity. Protective Tactics 101 is easy, it works, and virtually anyone can do it. So, if I may be so bold, may I suggest that you consider it not be your opinion that there is no such thing, rather, in your experience, you have found no such thing. I will admit, however, like most valuable concepts in life, it requires only five minutes to learn, and a lifetime to master. The good news is, survival doesn't require mastery.

You talk like a commercial.

 

[JowGaWolf]

You know that doesn't read well don't you?

Yeah, but it reads right lol. Lets just say for some, self-defense isn't going to be an issue as much as staying out of legal situations. lol

 

[geezer]

Man, I'd love to go to a seminar that would enable me to promote myself like that without feeling embarrassed and ashamed. What I really need is a way to sell everyone on what I teach and charge an arm and a leg while I'm at it, without feeling bad for the poor mark.

Can you get a prescription for a jumbo-sized bottle of sociopathy pills? You know, something that inflates your ego and eliminates all traces of empathy. Yeah, like whatever it is Trump takes. Or Hillary. ....Sell me a jar of that and I'll figure out the rest on my own.

...or maybe I'd rather not?

 

[JowGaWolf]

Man, I'd love to go to a seminar that would enable me to promote myself like that without feeling embarrassed and ashamed. What I really need is a way to sell everyone on what I teach and charge an arm and a leg while I'm at it, without feeling bad for the poor mark.

Can you get a prescription for a jumbo-sized bottle of sociopathy pills? You know, something that inflates your ego and eliminates all traces of empathy. Yeah, like whatever it is Trump takes. Or Hillary. ....Sell me a jar of that and I'll figure out the rest on my own.

...or maybe I'd rather not?

ha ha ha.. yeah I wish I could sell Jow Ga like that. Unfortunately the statements of hard work, bruises, and sweat seems to kill off a lot of the potential members.

 

[Don Johnson]

Tough crowd. Thank you all for your input. Never in my past have I been beaten up by so many Masters and Grandmasters at the same time. I find it overwhelming, and exciting at the same time. I strive to always seek out those who are more knowledgeable than I.

It appears that everyone on this forum is a very experienced martial artist. That is awesome. You are already experts in self defense. As such, you would likely learn nothing new at my events in the way of physical skills. In fact, you would certainly find the physical skills very basic, fundamental, and easy.

In "SalesSpeak", experienced martial artist are not my target market. You don't need the self defense skills that I teach. Protective Tactics 101 would not expand nor improve upon the self defense that you have already mastered.

My willingness to come forward on this thread was/is not motivated by a desire to "sell" anyone here. To the contrary, my motivation is simply to inform as to my system which is being marketed across the U.S., and chat with other first class instructors around the country to gain input, expertise, and feedback.

This thread has already offered me some valuable insight into thoughts concerning my marketing. Even more valuable, would be your input and feedback of my event and system itself. I am an instructor sometimes, a student always.

I value your time and expertise. As such, I'm now extending the offer to any and all of the expert martial artist who belong to this forum to attend my weekend training event, at absolutely no charge. I would even welcome you to save the expense of a hotel and stay in my guest house by the pool. All I would ask in exchange is your honest feedback and input how to improve the event.

Here is a short video from another experienced martial artist who attended my weekend immersion training. In fact, he pointed something out that improved one of the tactics I teach.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Tough crowd. Thank you all for your input. Never in my past have I been beaten up by so many Masters and Grandmasters at the same time. I find it overwhelming, and exciting at the same time. I strive to always seek out those who are more knowledgeable than I.

It appears that everyone on this forum is a very experienced martial artist. That is awesome. You are already experts in self defense. As such, you would likely learn nothing new at my events in the way of physical skills. In fact, you would certainly find the physical skills very basic, fundamental, and easy.

In "SalesSpeak", experienced martial artist are not my target market. You don't need the self defense skills that I teach. Protective Tactics 101 would not expand nor improve upon the self defense that you have already mastered.

My willingness to come forward on this thread was/is not motivated by a desire to "sell" anyone here. To the contrary, my motivation is simply to inform as to my system which is being marketed across the U.S., and chat with other first class instructors around the country to gain input, expertise, and feedback.

This thread has already offered me some valuable insight into thoughts concerning my marketing. Even more valuable, would be your input and feedback of my event and system itself. I am an instructor sometimes, a student always.

I value your time and expertise. As such, I'm now extending the offer to any and all of the expert martial artist who belong to this forum to attend my weekend training event, at absolutely no charge. I would even welcome you to save the expense of a hotel and stay in my guest house by the pool. All I would ask in exchange is your honest feedback and input how to improve the event.

Here is a short video from another experienced martial artist who attended my weekend immersion training. In fact, he pointed something out that improved one of the tactics I teach.

If you hold one of these seminars near Lexington, let me know. I'll come out and offer my feedback.

FYI - the "grandmaster" and "master" labels you see by our names are not indicative of any claimed martial art rank. It's just a feature of the forum software that grants forum titles based on how many posts you have made. I have 35 years of martial arts training and dan ranks in a few arts, but I make no claims of being a master. I'm just a guy who's been around enough to have some ideas about what works. We do have some beginners on this forum, but the members who have posted in this particular thread range from about a decade up to over four decades of experience. Some of them hold relatively high ranks, but I don't think any of them claim master status.

 

[jks9199]

A small clarification --- the ranking under our usernames is not our "martial arts" ranking. It's just a ranking here on MartialTalk, a fun way of recognizing activity. I don't consider myself a master, let alone a grandmaster...

I'm also going to raise a flag on the idea that everyone -- or possibly anyone! -- is an expert on self defense. I'll refer you to the dozens of threads on the topic for more details, but it's enough to say that most here will agree that martial arts and self defense are not synonymous, and that most of us can, at best, claim to be knowledgeable about a small slice of that huge and complex pie.

I hope that if anyone is able to take you up on your generous offer, they'll report back.

 

[Don Johnson]

If you hold one of these seminars near Lexington, let me know. I'll come out and offer my feedback.

FYI - the "grandmaster" and "master" labels you see by our names are not indicative of any claimed martial art rank. It's just a feature of the forum software that grants forum titles based on how many posts you have made. I have 35 years of martial arts training and dan ranks in a few arts, but I make no claims of being a master. I'm just a guy who's been around enough to have some ideas about what works. We do have some beginners on this forum, but the members who have posted in this particular thread range from about a decade up to over four decades of experience. Some of them hold relatively high ranks, but I don't think any of them claim master status.

Tony, Thank you. I don't have anything scheduled back in KY yet. When I was in KY in Oct, 32 people purchased my system and several have already made the drive to attend my weekend training. One, who lives in Fishers KY, he and his son have already attended both PT101 at my place in NW Indiana and our partner firearm training facility in Nevada with us. He is re-attending in June and bringing his wife and both sons. It is about a 5 hour drive from you, but again, you'd be welcome to stay at my place to save some cash.

 

[Don Johnson]

A small clarification --- the ranking under our usernames is not our "martial arts" ranking. It's just a ranking here on MartialTalk, a fun way of recognizing activity. I don't consider myself a master, let alone a grandmaster...

Though the ranking of usernames may be for fun, I believe humility is most certainly a quality of a true master. Great to see it. One of my instructors says, "Your ego is not your amigo"

I hope that if anyone is able to take you up on your generous offer, they'll report back.

Thank you. I hope so too.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Out of curiosity, what is your primary art and what is your ranking in it (if it has rankings), or your experience with it. Curious what kind of background you come from to synthesize it into a 2 day seminar and expect it to be successful, as almost every SD instructor I know (including myself) considers those types of things to actually be detrimental to the student's longterm safety.

 

[Don Johnson]

Out of curiosity, what is your primary art and what is your ranking in it (if it has rankings), or your experience with it. Curious what kind of background you come from to synthesize it into a 2 day seminar and expect it to be successful, as almost every SD instructor I know (including myself) considers those types of things to actually be detrimental to the student's longterm safety.

33 years TaeKwonDo and Hapkido. 21 years Kali and Jujitsu. In the 90's, over 500 students per week attended the traditional martial arts classes that I taught in my small town facility. More importantly, a focused effort on street defense specifically for past 18 years. I believe that a focus on primary basics could never be detrimental.

 

[JowGaWolf]

33 years TaeKwonDo and Hapkido. 21 years Kali and Jujitsu. In the 90's, over 500 students per week attended the traditional martial arts classes that I taught in my small town facility. More importantly, a focused effort on street defense specifically for past 18 years. I believe that a focus on primary basics could never be detrimental.

What's the difference in focus between how you taught the martial arts classes vs the self-defense classes?

 

[Buka]

Don, you're a hell of a salesman. I'd go to one of your seminars just because. Also because I liked Glengarry Glen Ross.

I kinda wish I had your gift.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

33 years TaeKwonDo and Hapkido. 21 years Kali and Jujitsu. In the 90's, over 500 students per week attended the traditional martial arts classes that I taught in my small town facility. More importantly, a focused effort on street defense specifically for past 18 years. I believe that a focus on primary basics could never be detrimental.

I can definitely see how those arts could be combined to teach the martial parts of self defense pretty effectively.

Regarding your last statement, I agree, a focus on the basics is not detrimental. However, I find that 2 day seminars are, especially if they are being marketed to people who don't practice. What happens often is these people learn a lot during the seminar, but either don't have motivation or a way to practice what they were taught, and even if they do don't have an instructor to inform them that they are doing something incorrectly. This results in them only getting two days of practice at the seminar, not getting any more useful practice, and forgetting most of what they learn in a month. That part isn't detrimental so much as non-beneficial and a waste of money IMO. However, it also can give them a false sense of confidence and may convince them that they no longer need to attend SD classes at a school, which would be much more beneficial, because they are convinced that they now know a lot, despite not actually having it ingrained in their muscle memory.

It also could result in them engaging in more risky behaviors due to their confidence, unless a large portion of the seminar is focused on
A: legality
B: limitations of what they learned
C: the importance of continuous practice, and help finding a long term SD school
D: the fact that even with this knowledge, it isn't engrained into them, and even when it is, there is no guarantee that they will freeze up when something happens (among other possibilities that relate to point B).

Unfortunately, most seminars do not focus on these as they are not overly popular, and based on what you have stated in this thread so far I would assume that you do not stress B &C as much as you should (this is just an assumption as I haven't actually attended one).

 

[Don Johnson]

What's the difference in focus between how you taught the martial arts classes vs the self-defense classes?

When I taught martial arts classes, the primary focus was the character development of the individual. That included tradition, respect, discipline, fitness, continual development of foundation skills and building upon those skills, progressive achievement of rank. It also included 36 life skills taught monthly over 36 months.

When I teach self-defense classes, the focus is on survival in the street. That does not include form, style, memorization, sport, rules, compliance techniques nor fine motor skills. It does include an emphasis on preparation and prevention, developing the necessary mindsets, basic skills such as distance management, base, use of full body, strongest available tools striking only vulnerable targets to create trauma, momentum, assumption of multiple attackers and weapons, force on force stress inoculation, legal implications and strategies to protect oneself criminally and civilly. The weekend is 20 hours of instruction plus there are over 100 pre-event and follow-up 3-5 minutes micro training videos delivered each 1-3 days over a full year. Re-attendance is encouraged, and higher level training is included as a bonus.

 

[Don Johnson]

I can definitely see how those arts could be combined to teach the martial parts of self defense pretty effectively.

Regarding your last statement, I agree, a focus on the basics is not detrimental. However, I find that 2 day seminars are, especially if they are being marketed to people who don't practice. What happens often is these people learn a lot during the seminar, but either don't have motivation or a way to practice what they were taught, and even if they do don't have an instructor to inform them that they are doing something incorrectly. This results in them only getting two days of practice at the seminar, not getting any more useful practice, and forgetting most of what they learn in a month. That part isn't detrimental so much as non-beneficial and a waste of money IMO. However, it also can give them a false sense of confidence and may convince them that they no longer need to attend SD classes at a school, which would be much more beneficial, because they are convinced that they now know a lot, despite not actually having it ingrained in their muscle memory.

It also could result in them engaging in more risky behaviors due to their confidence, unless a large portion of the seminar is focused on
A: legality
B: limitations of what they learned
C: the importance of continuous practice, and help finding a long term SD school
D: the fact that even with this knowledge, it isn't engrained into them, and even when it is, there is no guarantee that they will freeze up when something happens (among other possibilities that relate to point B).

Unfortunately, most seminars do not focus on these as they are not overly popular, and based on what you have stated in this thread so far I would assume that you do not stress B &C as much as you should (this is just an assumption as I haven't actually attended one).

Excellent points, and precisely some of the distinctions that make my event fairly unique. I discovered many of the same shortfalls in the SD seminar world. In addition, far too many gimmicky tricks, gadgets, skills that require memorization, fine motor skills, and too much practice. There would be no possible way that a student attending a typical SD seminar without years of study could flow from one skill or technique to another in a stressful, dynamic real life scenario. I had just finished replying to Jowgawolf with a brief description of some of what is included in my weekend training, then I read your post. Sounds like we are on the same page. As for the freeze up, our progressive force on force scenarios have done wonders to help students overcome it.

 

[JowGaWolf]

When I taught martial arts classes, the primary focus was the character development of the individual. That included tradition, respect, discipline, fitness, continual development of foundation skills and building upon those skills, progressive achievement of rank. It also included 36 life skills taught monthly over 36 months.

When I teach self-defense classes, the focus is on survival in the street. That does not include form, style, memorization, sport, rules, compliance techniques nor fine motor skills. It does include an emphasis on preparation and prevention, developing the necessary mindsets, basic skills such as distance management, base, use of full body, strongest available tools striking only vulnerable targets to create trauma, momentum, assumption of multiple attackers and weapons, force on force stress inoculation, legal implications and strategies to protect oneself criminally and civilly. The weekend is 20 hours of instruction plus there are over 100 pre-event and follow-up 3-5 minutes micro training videos delivered each 1-3 days over a full year. Re-attendance is encouraged, and higher level training is included as a bonus.

Thanks. That puts things into perspective for me.