Origins

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Origins on classification

 Every time someone asks me what I do for a living, it is always followed by “What style of Martial arts is it?”.  Well, Defensive tactics or street tactics or even Personal security or personal bodyguarding doesn’t really fit into a simple classification.  Every time you see a “New” Martial art or system, I can pretty much guarantee that it was not completely developed or engineered from the ground up with no experience or background in some style of Martial arts.

I’m humble enough to claim that I didn’t make this system that I teach.  Will I teach it to you exactly as it was taught to me?  Definitely not!  (well, maybe some parts)  The reason for the change in the way we teach the arts is, for the most part, improving them.  The things that were taught to me may not be the best way to do things, so the natural progression is usually as follows:

  1. I don’t know a damn thing about fighting and therefore, this is the only stuff that even matters.
  2. I’m learning and I really doubt that I can be effective or that some of this stuff even works.
  3. I’m getting super good and realize what my strengths and weaknesses are and therefore, realize what some of the strengths and weaknesses are in this “system” or “art” that I have learned.
  4. I’ve been training and learning for years and now I’m only going to practice what matters to me.
  5. Lastly, for those who decide to teach. We either fit in with the classical way of thinking “This has to be done exactly as I was taught” or the new way of thinking (Which usually involves the words “Mixed martial arts” or the word “Tactical”) or we decide that with our experience, we can change things and make them more relevant.

I do realize that I did not engineer all the things that I teach, but rather altered the way that I teach them.  I’ve always had the knack of building personal relationships with people and figuring out what they need to be taught and what they don’t need.  I can gauge a person’s personality and with some of them, there are ways to teach and physical techniques you should or shouldn’t teach those individuals.

Everyone is different and unique in their own way, be it physical or mental in capacity.  Hence the name Individualized tactical concepts.   These concepts are drawn from my experience and I present them to you in an individualized fashion.  Does this mean it’s the best stuff available?  I highly doubt it because  I do not claim to know everything there is when it comes to fighting arts and systems. There are so many different classical martial arts, mixed martial arts, tactical systems, real world street fighters and prison inmates with a wealth of knowledge in violence.  The knowledge is infinite, and we will never be able to even scratch the surface of them in this lifetime.  For one to simply say that they are the best and know what’s best in this whole wide world would be foolish.  We should really acknowledge those who educated us and realize that it isn’t the only stuff in the world.

I’ve noticed a few different arts in the tactical system I have been taught.  Like I was explaining, it is normal to see that sort of thing.  Now, you’re probably wondering what it is that I have seen in the system that I teach, so I’ll tell you.

  1. I’ve seen a good bit of Filipino martial arts, especially with edged and impact weapon defense and even with the gun disarming movements.
  2. Muay Thai kickboxing. Elbows, round kicks, shin blocks etc..
  3. Karate, especially the sidekicks.
  4. Pressure point control tactics. (It’s big on the central nervous system disruption concepts)
  5. The Spear system (I’m pretty sure)

Those are just some of the ones I have noticed during my 16 years of experience with it.   Hypothetically speaking, It’s a bastard system.  Just like MMA.  Usually despised by the “Old head” martial artists and embraced by the free thinkers.   What makes this different from what I’ve seen?

Really, it’s the way that it’s used.  Martial arts really puts an emphasis on the techniques.  You learn the vast amount of techniques then you are supposed to recall them at the right moment.  This makes them technique based arts.  The difference is that I teach objectives.  Instead of just using a technique, countering a technique, using another and hoping it will work, I teach how to have an objective of gaining immediate control and then finding and end to the confrontation.  So, really, it’s an objective based art.  It’s the CONCEPT behind everything that dictates the way it is used.

I can really go down the rabbit hole on this concept, but I will save that for later.  My point to all this is: It’s really hard to answer the question “What martial art is it?”, and quite hard to explain how it is different from something like the very popular “Mixed martial arts”.  I should know.  When it was first presented to me, I was already 15+ years in with martial arts and the concept blew my mind.

 

Quiet Professionals

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Ah, Testosterone and tactical training.  Can’t forget Martial Arts too.  Want to be a competitive badass, want to be famous, want to have a position of power over others or do you want everyone to know that you’re an INSTRUCTOR?  If you do, you’re probably nowhere near being a QUIET PROFESSIONAL.

I get it, we all got into learning how to defend ourselves for a reason.  For most of us, it was something that we had to do to in order to feel safe, to feel normal because of past traumas.  For others it was something your parents made you do so that you can grow up with more confidence and discipline.  There’s also those that go into it because they want to be some sort of badass, wanting everyone to know about their well deserved “Higher status”.  I’ll give you an example of the last sort of person.

There was this guy in my old home town,  He would always tell people he carried weapons, how he was going to carry twin pistols on the small of his back and how he was going to go to a bodyguard school.  Listening to him talk was painful really.  We weren’t friends, but somehow I would occasionally see him out and he was almost always talking to his friends about himself.  At the time, I was actually going to a Defensive tactics and Bodyguarding academy.  I never said a thing to him about any of it.  See, I get it, we all go through the different stages, I didn’t want to talk about it with someone I didn’t know.  I didn’t want people asking me the same kinds of questions everyone else had for me.  I didn’t derive any pleasure from it.  That was over 15 years ago.  To this day I find myself around some people talking and arguing about Self-defense techniques, which guns are better and why and which gym was crap and why.  I’m past that point.  I have nothing to prove to anyone.  I know I’ve helped people live a better life and that’s all I need.

Recently, I discovered a guy on Instagram that actually made a living off of trashing other peoples Self-defense videos.  Granted, most of the videos were obviously sham Martial arts, with people flying back from a mere touch, but he did showcase a real tactical instructor and bashed him because he was showing someone how to gain the upper hand against someone sticking him up with a gun.  His tactics were good, he had a higher understanding of the human physiology, but this “Karate influencer” relentlessly bashed him for something he thought would get other people killed.  By reading the comments, you can clearly see that people were feeding into it too.   He thought he knew better and he wanted to showcase himself as being a better, all while making a living from it.  Now that, folks, is the exact opposite of being a Quiet professional.  You don’t see Navy Seals brag about killing people do you?  They are perfect examples of what a Quiet professional should be.

Don’t take credit, don’t brag, do your job and just be proud of yourself for all the good that you do.  Be professional and know that you don’t have to be loud, because that behavior exudes confidence and professionalism.  That’s something that everyone respects.

Knives vs Permanent markers: Is the pen mightier than the sword?

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Almost everyone I know who is into personal protection training carries some type of weapon to protect themselves.  Let’s just say, in this article, it is a knife since it is the most popular. We learn how to defend ourselves in hopes that we never have to use what we have learned on other people.  […]

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