Night Vision and the Eye
When talking about tactical equipment, the discussion eventually turns to night vision devices and which ones are best, how they work, etc. What I usually find is very few people understand the basics of the eye, and how to improve the ability to operate at night without NVD. The discussion starts with the anatomy of […]
Hand-to-Hand Styles: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
In my last work, I tackled some concepts and principles about effective training. I talked a little about simplicity, functionality, and reality. In this, and a few of the following pieces, I will be discussing specific styles of combat training/martial arts. * I will only be discussing those arts and methods I am familiar with. […]
Level the Playing Field
John Steinbeck, one of the great 20th century American authors, reputedly summarized age-old combat wisdom with the following words: “If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.” It is a human being’s nature to seek the greatest possible competitive advantage in a situation of conflict. For example, MMA fighters, boxers, and wrestlers, […]
Motivation
Motivation…what does that word really mean to you? It’s a word that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but instead of trying to find a permanent definition for it, how about we define an easier word? Excuse. What’s the definition of excuse? For me it can be summed […]
Hand-to-Hand Styles: The Keys to Effective Training
Un-armed self-defense is a nasty and chaotic business. With the world as it is today, it really benefits every member of society to have some sort of training to protect themselves and their family if need be. Now, I tend to live by the principle that “If you find yourself in a fair fight, your […]
Situational Awareness
Situational Awareness has many definitions. The most widely accepted seems to be Endsley’s “the perception of elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future.” Boiling that down, it essentially means knowing what is going on around you and what actions you may need to take to achieve a predetermined outcome.
“That One Thing” and “Give me my 5 minutes”
Why do we train? I, as most good instructors, continue to go to various training courses, many of which can seem to be a basic type of class. I try to blend in, but inevitably someone will learn about my background and ask why I would ever be there in the first place. It seems people have this mis-notion that if you have a certain resume you shouldn’t have to take another class in your life.
The Dance of Violence
A violent encounter is like a dance. You will have one person leading the action and the other person following. Criminals are used to being in the lead, and they depend on you to follow the dance.