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Two examples of the speed of events involved in a shooting and the minute amount of reaction time that a defender has to try and counter the threat - counter the quick draw? Cover? Draw and fire back (obviously not legally available to UK civilians) ?  It's hugely situational and books could be written about this subject matter /moment on the timeline alone. I present this here merely as an introduction to consider for new students before further study. The first is in a police context and the second, civilian. First example: From the YT channel "Patrick": "In this video, the reality of reaction time and the OODA loop in police shootings is demonstrated.. As well as showing the speed at which a threat can get off a shot while you are trying to decide whether they are armed. Many people doubt the logic behind Police training. Sadly, many have attended police funerals of those officers who were killed by suspects bringing a firearm out of a vehicle." Video:

   or "don't bring a stick to a car fight..." all over a parking space. Insane.

  - quote from Bob Knight. It's always great to get mail from a trainee that has the dedication to train on their own and really commit to perfecting their skills. I had an email recently from one person who is investing in equipment to train with at home during the current restrictions in the absence of workshops and we had a conversation about this subject. I was reminded of this quote from Knight above. Are you passive about training and learning? Failure to solo practice - whatever the lack of resources is losing a huge potential source of self improvement and progress. Physical skills degrade over time - they need to be reinforced constantly. This process is life long. Making time in your schedule to regulary revise key skills will always deliver rewards. It doesn't need to be a huge undertaking, just a few minutes or an hour a few times a week if possible to go over basic ideas. Practice footwork, a strike, a kick, grappling ideas, visualise a scenario - anything. Think o

The past month's workshops have focused on developing mastery of basic, aggressive unarmed skillsets that target the attacker's face – specifically the eyes. Both open and closed hand (fist) tactics have been explored. This extra skillset uses open hands. It is easy to learn, effective with consistant practice and is low risk to apply for a person with little training. The set is ideal as a tactic for women trainees as it doesn't rely on strength alone but rather aggression and inflicting pain and damage. This article is shared for information purposes only as an add on skillset to the work you've already done to play with – experiment for yourselves with adding it to existing ideas or as a stand alone set up. The training dummy has been set to 6 feet to simulate size differential to the trainee who is 5' 4” – never assume equal size or numbers! The context of the confrontation is not covered in this article . A clear attack is assumed for technique purposes o

 Article by: Wendy L. Patrick, JD, Ph.D.   Not paranoia, but preparedness. How to separate the helpful from the harmful.   Strangers often turn into friends, co-workers, or even life partners. We are motivated to view others positively, because of this potential for building productive relationships. Yet sensing danger should curtail your initial level of courtesy.   Strangers Are Statistically Safe As we prepare to head into April, which is   Sexual Assault   Awareness Month, we begin with the observation that most strangers are safe — or at least harmless. As strange as it sounds to put it that way, statistically speaking, it is true. Yet it is precisely because the   majority   of people are harmless that we extend the benefit of the doubt to those who are   not . To put the danger into perspective, I have spent the last 20-plus years prosecuting the exceptions to the harmless stranger rule. And those exceptions will keep myself and my colleagues in the District Attorney's Offic

 Article by Gia Milinovich Women go through life feeling vulnerable to attack, but my boxing training taught me that it's possible to live without fear   J ust over a month ago I was confronted with a situation that strikes fear into pretty much everyone: in the early hours of the morning,   I discovered an intruder   inside my house. The moment I saw him, time slowed down, Matrix-like. My sense of hearing felt almost bionic as I strained to hear if there was anyone else in the house. Detecting no one and realising it was just the two of us, I snapped into fast forward. A primal, violent feeling surged through me; everything around me disappeared except for this man. I roared, and rushed six feet forwards, pounding my fist into his face. I felt no pain, nothing. The adrenaline coursing through me sharpened my vision – I could see individual grey hairs on the side of his head, but I can't remember if I punched him more than once. In fact, after that first punch, I became so over

Shaq vs black belt sport wrestlers. So basically Shaq's strategy here consists of : 1 - Lie on top of opponent 2 - Wait for the struggling to stop. These are elite level  combat athletes strugging to cope with a larger opponent who is nowhere near as well trained as they are. Remember this any time you hear the mantra of "Using technique alone you can beat larger opponents" being sold to you as self defence. If you are a small person being attacked by a much larger, more powerful  criminal would taking them to the floor and attempting to wrestle them be a realistic option for you? Your first thought should be to break free and get away - how you achieve this is subject to the use of justifiable and reasonable force. There are so many variables at play in a mixed person (s) violent struggle. Technique and training is only one of them.  Never drink the "Martial Marketing Cool Aid"  No one thing works for everyone, all the time. No promises, no guarantees, just opt

Tonight's topics will be: Footwork, Aggression, Bareknuckle, SDMS tactics and skills. This is our last workshop prior to "Lockdown 2.0" - next date will be in December. Further updates and all content will be posted here as we move away from using Facebook and Twitter.  See you all later! J

  Student notes: Presented as a learning situation rather than a "this is how you do it" example. Compare with workshop drilling experience. "Your name's not down and your not coming in " set up. Defender is allowing the problem to be waaayy too close to him. There is no control of space. How would you seek to control that problem? How effective is the control of the arm?  Did the knock out occur at the right time?