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The Ultimate Guide To Fighting

and Winning

BOB PIERCE

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The Ultimate Guide

To Fighting and Winning

Bob Pierce

President, FightFast.com Copyright, 2007, Fight Fast Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Ultimate Guide To Fighting and Winning

By Bob Pierce, President, FightFast.com

Part 1

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” –Amrose Redmoon

Dear Friend:

This course is about to take your raw fighting skills to fearsome levels and put you ahead of 99% of most other guys on the streets today – even if you’ve NEVER been in a fight before in your life.

I’m not joking. Not one bit. Because this guide is “Part One” of nearly 18-years of research.

And I’m talking about the “roll-up-your-sleeves and get sweaty” kind of research that included:

1. FBI and CIA personal combat “white papers” that I spent

YEARS poring over and dissecting with a fine tooth comb… 2. Mountains of sensitive police reports, on specific violent

crimes. A couple days with this material and I guarantee that you’d have a different outlook on your fellow citizen. I spent years studying these often gruesome reports, (so you know just how warped my mind has become), and the result was a

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highly detailed breakdown of what kinds of personal combat strategies were actually working…

3. One-on-one in-depth interviews with accomplished martial artists… bar-room bouncers… hardened street fighters… “hot-duty” combat soldiers… back-alley bare-knuckle “cage” brawlers… black bag military “elimination” forces… and ice-cold steely-eyed black operative killers. Most of these guys live in a different world than you and I, but their hard-core experience and knowledge was worth getting the hell scared outta me…

4. The breakdown and analysis of hundreds (maybe thousands) of actual violent streetfights videotaped while they happened. This research was crucial to my study because it allowed me to strip away much of the fiction that pops up after a fight. Wild B.S. stories were suddenly completely debunked with a couple minutes of video. I can’t tell you how much this has confirmed and enhanced my research.

NOBODY has ever completed this kind of “real-world”

analysis. I want to assure you that this report isn’t just a collection of “Bob Pierces’s opinions”. Nope. You’re getting just raw facts based on actual data compiled over many years and distilled down into this book.

Now I want to be clear that I had initially approached this as a complete rookie -- no “martial arts” background to cloud my judgment… no axe to grind… no favoring one specific “fight system” over another. None of that crap.

I was also trained and educated to be highly analytical – to use what worked and to throw out what didn’t. And that’s exactly what I did. If it succeeded on the street, I studied it to death and passed it along to you. If it didn’t work, I found out why and told you about it.

Okay… why am I doing this? Well, let’s just say I had one hell of a burning desire to know exactly how to fight and WIN –

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without all the bull and baggage. Now I’d love to bore you with all the “why I did it” details, but I won’t. But trust me… I had a damn good reason for doing this. It may have taken me nearly 18-years to complete the job, but it was worth every minute of my time.

So right now you hold in your hot little hands my blood, sweat and tears. This is without a doubt some of the most powerful “personal combat” information you’ll ever learn.

And what you’ll discover will astonish you. Please read on…

“You can prevent your opponent from defeating you through

defense, but you cannot defeat him without taking the offensive.” – Sun Tzu

Fight Myths First let’s start with some entertainment that doubles as

education. I’ve listed some “fight myths” that have been floating around for years. You’ll now be one of the few people on earth who knows with 100% certainty that these “truths” are really ugly rumors, urban myths, and just plain ol’ damned lies.

Here they are:

1. Martial Artists Win Streetfights: Listen: I don't like to "knock" the martial arts. They all have something valuable to offer. We owe them a debt of gratitude for getting us where we are today, and they're better than nothing. BUT...unfortunately, many of the arts being widely taught today are ancient arts, developed for another time and place in history, for specific conditions and circumstances that simply do not exist in the world you'll be fighting in today.

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As one instructor put it: “Martial Arts is what you do with somebody while street fighting is what you do to somebody.” I wish I could take credit for that quote.

Okay…. There are really 4 types of martial arts schools out there:

a. True Martial Arts- This is learning the “art” for its own sake. Think of it like learning to sculpt or paint because you enjoy it as an artistic discipline – not because you’re looking to become a highly-paid advertising mogul…

b. MMA Schools – Refers to “sport fight” training – which is NOT the same as studying street fighting. Remember that the ultimate goal in sports combat is NOT the same as a real street fight. In street fighting the goal is to “end the threat as quickly as possible” – in MMA it’s to “make money as quickly as possible”. Promoters don’t want every fight to end in 3 to 6 seconds (as most street fights do), so they strip away the most effective fight moves.

c. Martial Combat – This is type of training (also known as true street fighting) that I cover in this report cover. Martial Combat has one goal in mind – to end the threat as quickly as possible. There are NO rules – and every confrontation could end in serious injury or death.

d. “Belt Factory”- I’m betting this is the kind of training with which you’re most familiar. Which boy hasn’t dreamed of one day emerging from a Dojo wearing a black belt and kicking ass on anyone who dares cross him? Which parent hasn’t believed that the local dojo will help their son learn to defend himself? Well that’s just plain false security because “belt factories” aren’t teaching an invincible Martial Combat streetfighting system. Nope… sorry… they are teaching Martial

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Arts. Nothing wrong with that, but one has little to do with the other.

Statistics show that your average “store front” black belt

does not have a much better chance at winning a street fight than any other average guy.

Shocked? Well don’t be. Most martial arts concentrate on discipline and complicated “fine motor” techniques that go straight out the window when “crunch time” hits. And many martial arts techniques are simply no longer useful. Breaking pine boards in half for example was originally developed to train warriors how to shatter an opponent’s protective wooden chest plate. Can’t think of many street thugs today wearing that. The high flying roundhouse kick was developed to knock a man off his horse. Might work for a guy on his Harley…

2. The 5-Minute Fist Fight. This is a big one and it’s

important that you get this Hollywood version of fighting out of your head. We’ve all been exposed to movies where the hero is endlessly fist-fighting. Yes, one big-gulp and a large popcorn later, he’s still going at it. But here’s a reality check for you. Nearly every actual street fight lasts for no more than 3 to 8 seconds! That’s right. It’s all over with in less time than it took for you to read this paragraph. Once you understand this, you can appreciate just how little time you have to recognize what’s going on and take decisive action to win. The key is what you do in the time leading up to that 3-8 seconds burst.

3. The One-Touch Death Move. This is a close cousin to

the “One Touch Knock Out”, both of which are very misleading. It’s time to stop concentrating on specific fight techniques and begin focusing in on key targets and strategies.

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For example, it’d be tough for someone to sell you a “trademarked death blow” that was nothing more than a simple shove --wouldn’t it? Yet this would indeed be a highly effective “death move” if your opponent happened to be standing at the edge of a high cliff.

You see my point. Yes it is possible to kill an opponent with one punch. In fact, as there are situations where as little as 5-pounds of pressure can end up in death. But what I’m teaching you here is what’s “probable” and not “possible”.

It’s why you don’t see basketball players taking most of their shots from half court. Sure, it’s possible they’ll make it, but a good driving lay-up is far more probable. If you follow some basic fight principles (which I’ll cover in a little bit) it’ll be highly probable that you’ll win.

Oh… and by the way… there are no “trademarked” fight moves – only trademarked fight names. And anyone can trademark a name. In fact, I’m considering trademarking that shove-em-off-the-cliff move as the “Bob Pierce One-Touch Death Move”.

4. The Predictable Reaction. I hear this nonsense all the

time and what’s scary is that plenty of fight systems on the market today are based on this myth. It goes something like this; Hit him here, and he’ll do this… then strike him here, and he’ll do that… then throw a blow here, and he’ll drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes. And that’s it… you win. Don’t believe it. My research shows that you’re in for a big surprise if you buy into this regimented “step-by-step” theory of fighting. People – especially those facing a threatening and volatile situation – are wildly unpredictable.

5. The Man-To-Man Fight. Another grand illusion. Most

guys imagine (and train for) a fight against one man. Well

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you can’t depend on that. Stats prove that more times than not your opponent will have “back up” – friends willing to help take you down and kick in your head. This is why it’s critical that you first make quick and effective decisions early on to end the as fight quickly as possible and prepare for more than one adversary.

6. The Convenient Fighting Environment. Dojo training

often lulls one into the sense that you’ll always have plenty of fighting room… that your opponent will calmly approach you, bow, and ask if you’re ready… and that the ground will always be nicely padded. The reality is different. I’ve found that most fights occur in tight quarters (a bathroom, between cars, etc), with little or no room for flying kicks or fancy moves. They’ll be no light, furniture in the way, and rough concrete floors to strip meat off your bones. Ouch!

7. The “Undefeatable” System. This is another good one. A

series of fighting techniques that can’t be beat -- yeah right. Don’t believe it. As I’ve pointed out, fighting has more to do with proper target acquisition (i.e., hit him in the side of the neck where all the blood and nerves to his brain run), than it has to do with any specific moves and techniques (i.e., a spinning roundhouse kick). So the idea that a collection of techniques is “undefeatable” just isn’t possible.

Here’s a question: What happens when two students of this “undefeatable system” meet in a fight? Hmmm. Guess that means they’ll be kicking their own asses.

8. The Floating Warrior. More Hollywood cult crap that

you shouldn’t buy into. There is simply no internal meditation or external training method that can defy the laws of physics. I’ve seen companies actually selling

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videos on how to “will” yourself lighter (or heavier) so that you can float away, or can’t be picked up, or some such thing. Well here’s a shocker… there’s never been ANY proof that any of those techniques have ever worked.

But hang on… the laws of physics are different than the laws of the human mind. Because surefooted confidence, clearly telecast “alpha signals”, and forcing an opponent “back on his heels” can go miles to (1.) persuading an adversary (especially a “Predator”) that he shouldn’t mess with you or (2.) ending the fight with YOU on top. I’ll talk more about this in a bit, but for now, forget about floating through the treetops.

9. Most Fights Go To The Ground. Most guys are

surprised to discover that this is a myth -- but it is. In fact, most street fights and personal combat situations do NOT end up on the ground. Yes, someone ends up on the ground alright, and it’s the loser – with the winner (or winners) standing over him stomping on his head. So why is this myth so common? Well, it comes from the study of police reports. You see, most cops who struggle with an adversary end up on the ground.

Now hold on – doesn’t that contradict what I just said? No, it doesn’t. Because the goal of law enforcement is to “contain, control, comply” (also known as the 3 C’s) – which, by the way, requires more skill than simply winning a street fight. In other words a cop can’t simply eye jab, ear slap, then move in for a knock-out head butt because a dangerous criminal is resisting you. No, an officer’s goal is NOT to end a fight in 3 seconds, but instead to use “reasonable and proportionate escalation of force” to control and contain his subject.

This is different than what happens in a real world street fight and it’s why the stats on “going to the ground” have been skewed. Cops’ rules of engagement are

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different – so, of the 70 DVD titles I’ve produced, about 15 of them are designed to help law enforcement address the more complex and highly effective “contain, control, and comply” techniques.

Use these techniques on your drunken brother-in-law when you want him out of your house but don’t want to hurt him too bad. When he sobers up he’ll thank you for not landing him in the hospital.

10. Bullies Are Social Deviants and Cowards: On the

contrary, recent studies suggest that the majority of bullies are often socially popular and often considered “successful” in life. They typically are NOT outcasts, but in reality are often confident and popular. Over the course of a year, statistics show that 14% of boys have been a victim of bully threat or attack. I suspect the true percentage is much higher since there’s a good number that won’t raise their hand and gladly volunteer this information. “Oh yes… I’ve been humiliated. That’s me.”

You get the picture. This 14% represents boys who admitted being a victim.

Bullies get much satisfaction by hurting and humiliating people who don’t accept their dominance. They WILL fight when challenged – so giving someone advice to “stand up to a bully” will almost certainly mean a physical fight. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stand up to a bully, but it’s good to know what you’re in for. In other words – never bluff with a bully. If you stand up, you better be ready to fight. And bullies usually have some fight experience.

11. Diplomacy Works Best – It’s a nice thought, but

unfortunately your adversary is rarely a reasonable person. First let me cover the three types of opponents you’ll face

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and what motivates them – then maybe you’ll understand where diplomacy will work – and where it won’t. a. The Bully – We covered this a bit already, but his

primary motivation is to dominate you and prove that he’s the “top-dog”. In other words, bullies pick fights to either protect or improve their “perceived” social standing. Submitting to a bully’s wishes can get you out of a fight, but if you’re in a position where you need to demonstrate your own authority (a cop, a firefighter, a soldier leading men in combat, etc), simply submitting to a bully may not be a good option for you.

b. The Predator – This is someone who’s not necessarily looking for a fight, he’s looking for something you’ve got. You have money… a car… a woman… something… and he wants it. Or perhaps you’re caught up in the random violence of a gang “initiation”. Stats show that once you’re targeted by this guy, you won’t be able to “reason” your way out of a fight. You’ve got two choices: 1.) give him what he wants, or… 2.) fight. If it’s your wallet, throw it one way and run the other. If it’s your wife or girlfriend he wants… well… I suspect you’ll want to fight. And I’ll cover some specifics on that topic in a bit. The predator is the least likely to be drawn into “diplomacy”.

c. The “Emotionally Hijacked” – Also known as a “badger”. This is the guy who explodes in anger because you cut him off in traffic… dinged his car… slighted him in front of his girlfriend… or told him he couldn’t drink your last beer. It’s likely that more than one person has suggested that he take on “anger management” counseling (which he got angry about), as his behavior often runs to extremes. The good news is that the badger is one character who responds well to specific “reasoning” methods. I cover those techniques in great detail in my book.

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12. Your friends will back you up. Ha! I’m sad to say this

is not true. We’d all like to believe our buddies will back us up, but research shows that they’re more likely to pick their noses than pick a fight. In fact, crowd behavior studies show that the more friends and bystanders are hanging around, the less likely it is that you’ll get help in a fight.

The technical term for this is “dilution of responsibility”, but I think they should change that name to something less technical like: “I thought someone else would take care of it”.

Now, on the other hand, if you have just ONE friend and no crowd of bystanders, you actually may get some help. But the facts have shown over and over that individuals inside a crowd are less likely to act.

A “gang” mentality is different. They will back each other up because it’s part of their “job”.

13. Ignore them and they’ll go away: This is a common

tactic, especially with women who feel they’re being followed. They simply put on the blinders and hope for the best. “Oh goodness, I hope that bad man goes away”. Bad tactic. Don’t ignore a predator you suspect is “scoping” you. Believe it or not, your best bet is to let him know that you ARE aware of him.

Look at him directly. Watch him. Let him know you’re aware of his presence. Once a predator suspects you know his real intentions, it strips away much of the motivation to attack since the element of surprise has been taken away – and surprise is one of the predator’s most powerful tools. He knows he can’t surprise you, and now you’re perceived as less of an easy mark.

Of course eyeballing a bully will have the opposite effect and will probably result in the “what are YOU

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looking at?” response. So this tactic is to be used when you suspect a predator.

14. Police are there to protect you: Now with all due

respect to law enforcement, they are not your personal body guards. They can’t be. Here are three reasons we have cops. a. Deterrence – This is their main purpose. They patrol

the streets and convince less-than-stellar citizens that criminal activity is a bad idea -- not because it’s wrong, but because they might get caught. Deterrence depends on people’s reluctance to take a chance. It’s like the store owner (and this is a true story) who kept getting robbed and ripped off, so he placed an obvious cardboard cutout of police officer in a highly visible part of his store. It completely eliminated the robberies and dramatically reduced shoplifting. It worked not because anyone was afraid of a cardboard cutout, but because it placed a seed of doubt in the mind of the potential criminal.

b. Mop up – Okay… this sounds lousy, but much of a cop’s time is spent traveling to crime scenes, talking with victims, writing up reports and “mopping up” the blood. Now this has almost nothing to do with preventing crimes, except for the fact that good police work can eventually lead to getting specific criminals off the streets.

c. Apprehension – Here’s where cops earn their paycheck. It takes guts to put your ass on the line and hunt down a dangerous criminal. Most of us avoid this kind of confrontation, but cops purposely put themselves into it. In reality the mop-up and apprehension are both just another form of deterrence. The idea that a cop will investigate and try to catch

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them is a powerful reason many people don’t get involved in crime.

Most people are shocked to discover that the police do

not have the ability (nor the legal obligation) to protect individuals. Existing by the simpleton motto of “let the cops handle it” is a risky way to live. The harsh reality is that YOU are responsible for your own protection -- and for that of your loved ones – not the cops.

15. All You Need Is One (Or Two) Fighting Techniques

– This is a common theory that has some truth to it. But I want to dispel the foolish notion that knowing less is better than knowing more. This just isn’t true. Because following this kind of logic would indicate that, for example, you’d be better off using an uneducated bag-lady as your investment broker than a guy with a Master’s Degree in Finance. I’d put my money on the Master’s degree – but that’s just me.

Well, the same is true with fighting techniques. You’re better off knowing more than less, as it gives you the flexibility of using multiple methods to attack specific targets. Remember… one of the most crucial keys to fighting and winning is proper target acquisition. In other words, you’ll be far more effective with a crudely executed, but accurate, kick to your opponent’s nut-sack than you’d be with a really pretty roundhouse kick that missed the mark.

Okay… maybe it sounds like I’m contradicting myself, but I’m not. Stay with me here.

Because the reason that many “store front” martial artists and “dojo educated” fighters LOSE against an experienced street fighter is that, in the heat of battle, they are trying to use and remember specific MOVES (typically complex fine motor skill techniques) rather than

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targeting. They should be viewing their opponent as a group of vulnerable targets, and then take advantage of the most exposed targets as quickly as possible by any means necessary (something called Target Awareness).

Many make the huge mistake of thinking about technique before target. They display their “swooning crane” technique and a couple seconds later, the experienced streetfighter has them demonstrating the “unconscious crane” technique.

On the other hand, a completely inexperienced fighter will typically have 1 or 2 moves. They are:

a. Right hand “haymaker” b. Left hand “haymaker”

C’mon… you can do better than that. In fact, I’ve got over 70 titles that’ll quickly show you tons of moves and sneaky “dirty trick” attacks. Your adversary won’t know what hit him.

Because, after countless interviews with some of the most dangerous fighters on the planet, I discovered that ALL these fighters were very quick to see open targets, (or to make them open), then utilize any one of an arsenal of techniques to attack those open targets. Having more fighting tools simply allows a fighter to more quickly exploit “open” targets.

So it comes down to this. a. You must have more than 1-2 techniques. You want

at least a few dozen ways to attack your adversary’s targets…

b. You need to have at least a handful of techniques for each of the “four ranges” of fighting, including:

a. Long Range – pick up on 3 good long kicks. Like I said, we’ve got an arsenal of kicks to choose from – use the ones that fits you best.

b. Medium range – choose 3 good punches and short kicks and learn the ear slap, eye jab, and the

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palm in the face. These simple techniques can (and often do) end the fight in a couple of seconds, but you should never count on it. For instance, I’ve personally seen a fight where the guys’ eyeball was hanging from his head and he still kept fighting. Drugs, alcohol, and just plain insanity can mean that you’ll have to keep going to end it. (This brings up another important point… you NEVER want to stand back and “evaluate” how the fight’s going).

c. Close Range – This is where you’ll be able to end it. There are a lot of vicious and devastating techniques I can show you in this range, including specialized knees shots, wicked elbow strikes, and fight-ending headbutts. Experienced fighters typically use special tactics to get in close, and then use one of these brutal techniques to end it. It’s lights out, game over.

d. Grappling – Yes, I said that research shows that most fights don’t go to the ground unless you’re in a “contain, control, comply” mode. But it does happen, so you need to have some aces up your sleeve. We’ve got a number of excellent ground fighting dvds.

16. All Military Fight Systems Can Be Trusted. Let me

tell you a “dirty little secret” about some military combat systems being sold today. Recently there’s been a rash of “experts” who’ve “trained” the military in their secret system.

Here’s the scoop. They’ve offered a few military guys some free training in their system. That’s it. Free seminars or workshops to military personnel is almost always a marketing ploy and a “resume building” exercise. They can now turn around and advertise that their system is

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used by “military experts”. Keep your eyes open for this nonsense. Just because someone trained military people does NOT make it special.

Another thing, most soldiers will admit that much of the hand to hand stuff is absolutely worthless to them because 100% of their job is to fight at a distance using hi-tech weaponry -- NOT hand-to-hand systems.

This is exactly why I’ve personally sought out special military units that indeed depend heavily on hand-to-hand fighting.

And believe me, these guys exist. I even got some of them to talk. They sneak around behind enemy lines quietly “taking care of business” without firing weapons and drawing a bunch of attention to themselves. Real live bad-asses that’d make Rambo look like a pussy.

17. Sport Fighting Is Just Like Personal Combat. Many

think that a trained boxer, cage fighter, Mixed Martial Artist, or kickboxer is the same as being a trained street fighter. Not true. Let me ask… who do YOU think would win a spontaneous street fight -- a champion MMA fighter or some ex-con street-brawler raised in the toughest area of east LA?

I’d put my money on the ex-con. Because as brutal as it may appear, an MMA fight really IS different than a street fight.

First, a pay-per-view “cage” fight (also called a mixed-martial-arts or MMA fight) is about making money for the promoters. They can’t allow every fight to be over within 3-8 seconds. They’d lose their audience -- and advertisers -- fast. So, in an MMA fight there’s no quick “fight ending” moves allowed -- which is what a street fight is ALL about.

Also, promoters have got to take some effort to protect the fighters. They wouldn’t be “sanctioned” for long with

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a continuous stream of dead bodies being hauled out of the ring.

So, here’s 16 moves that are outlawed in most sanctioned MMA fights -- but used in most street fights:

a. Eye gouging. b. Groin strikes (the ever popular “sack-attack”) c. Throat strikes (which can easily be lethal). d. Grabbing the trachea e. Biting (alright… Tyson DID try this once). f. Clawing, twisting, or pinching the flesh. g. Stomping, kneeing or kicking a grounded opponent. h. Strikes to spine or back of head (also easily lethal). i. Striking downward, using the point of the elbow. j. Head butt (think of a “bowling ball in the face”). k. Hair pulling. l. Kicking the kidney with the heel. m. Grabbing the clavicle n. Small joint manipulations (such as fingers) o. Weapons and improvised weapons. p. Multiple attackers (except in WWF).

“I dislike death; however there are some things I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are times when I will not avoid danger.” –

Mencius

Okay, like I said, maybe there are some exceptions to this

in “World Wrestling” situations. I mean they DO use folding chairs and multiple attackers while the ref “isn’t looking”.

But seriously… what wins a “match-fight” is strength, size, speed, endurance, and skill. In “personal combat” or street fighting, it’s the use of deception, distraction, disruption and destruction (the four Ds) that wins.

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Think about this. When Mike Tyson went to prison – they separated him from the general prison population for his own protection. Why? I mean bad-ass Mike Tyson was the most feared Heavy Weight boxer at the time – what did he have to worry about? Well, even Tyson knew that the fight rules in prison were different than in the ring. In fact, just like on the streets, there are NO rules. Anything goes, and you’ve got to be resourceful to survive.

Now granted, some skinny little con would have little chance at beating Tyson in the ring under existing boxing rules. But a sport fighter who doesn’t understand the big “Four Ds” is at a serious disadvantage in any street fight. This is why size, strength, and endurance are not huge factors in a street fight – it’s about your skills in the Four Ds.

Sure feels good to get some of that off my chest. In my next installment -- “Part Two” of this Ultimate Guide --

I’ll get into some real meat and potatoes on what WINS a street fight.

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” - George Washington

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The Ultimate Guide To Fighting and Winning

Part 2

“You might as well stand and fight because if you run, you will

only die tired.” – Vern Jocque (USMC).

This is “Part Two” of my Ultimate fight guide – which indicates there’s a “Part One”. If you haven’t read “Part One” of this guide – I encourage you to read it first before continuing on.

Please, you don’t want to take a “ready-fire-aim” approach to this. Start at the beginning. You’ll initiate a powerful confidence-building process to discovering the true secrets to fighting and WINNING a “real-world” streetfight -- even if you’ve NEVER been in a fight before in your life.

Okay… lecture over -- let’s move onto some fighting statistics. Now these fight stats, (as well as the fight myths we’ve already

covered), are a heck of a lot of fun to learn about -- but let’s not forget there’s a larger picture here. Sure, entertainment is fine -- but the real reason I’m revealing to you the results of my 18 years of fight research is so that you can start to separate fact from fantasy… strip away the smoke and mirrors… and dispel once and for all the utter B.S. that is preventing you from protecting yourself and your loved ones.

Don’t skip over any of this. Like the six-million-dollar-man, we’re in a process of “re-building” you -- minus all the bionics (although I’d sure like just one of those arms).

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Ultimately I’m leading you to an exciting finish – where the clouds of indecision will evaporate and you’ll know precisely what to do in a confrontation – and EXACTLY how to win any fight… against anyone… of any size.

Let’s continue on…

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”

– George Patton

Street Fighting Stats:

Once again, this is what 18 years of extensive research – I’m talking FBI files… CIA white papers… hardcore police reports… and real street-fights caught on video… shows to be true. So I want to assure you that I haven’t just made this stuff up.

Anyway, here’s “just the facts”… and it’ll help to start clearing things up for you.

1.) He’s So Big. Your adversary will most likely be taller and

larger than you. Now again, I want to point out again that everything here is based on probability. For example, Shaquille O’Neil is probably not going to be confronted by someone bigger and stronger than him as there are maybe 3 other people on the planet that fit that description. But it is possible.

Anyway, statistics show that you’re most likely to be drawn into a confrontation with someone bigger than you -- and the reasons may be obvious. Your adversary likes the idea that he will easily be able to harm and control you with little or no injury to himself. It’s rare indeed that an individual will engage you in a confrontation because he

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wants to be hurt (unless of course he’s “into it”), so it’s a safe to bet that anyone seriously threatening you and your family will be bigger than you.

There is one exception to this rule – it’s something called “Small Man’s Syndrome or the “Napoleon Complex”. This is when a smaller man attempts to enhance or maintain his self image by continually challenging larger men for the most minor of reasons (even NO reason). His small stature makes him a highly sensitive person -- a hybrid of a bully and an emotionally highjacked individual -- who reacts with violence to the smallest of real or imagined slights.

2.) He’s So High. That’s right, over half of the time your

adversary will be high as a kite on drugs and/or alcohol. Of course that’s a two edged sword. You’ve got a better chance at winning against a high-flyer -- chiefly because their reflexes are so poor. But on the other hand, if he wasn’t so high, then the fight probably would never have occurred. But then again… uh... jeeze… I think I need a drink…

3.) The Haymaker. If you allow him to initiate the fight,

90% of the time your opponent will throw a looping right hook – a “haymaker” -- to your head. Like I said, most guys on the street have two moves -- a right haymaker and a left haymaker. And since most people are right handed… well… you get it -- what an arsenal!

This one fact alone can go a long way to being prepared -- and it’s why a lot of experienced fighters will automatically begin to circle toward an opponent’s left side before a confrontation even begins. Why? Well it’s tough for a right-hander to get a good haymaker shot if you’re on his left side And if he turns to try to get a good

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shot – just continue to circle to your right so that you can stay on his left side. An old boxing trick that’s simple.

So, as you can see, having even a few dirty tricks up your sleeve can go a long way to winning a fight. Most guys you’ll meet are very limited in their number of options. Use that fact to your advantage.

4.) One, Two, Three You’re Out. The average fight is just 3

to 8 seconds long. I know I already mentioned, but I just want to continue to impress you with this.

I personally was shocked to discover this as – after watching many John Wayne movies in my youth -- I was convinced most fist fights raged on for hours. Nope… it’s more like, wham… bam… boom…fight over. Once you realize how fast it’ll be over, you’ll be far less likely to politely allow your adversary to “hit first” – which is a bad strategy my friend.

5.) Ground Fighting. I want to further clarify of one of my

previous “fight myths” which states that most fights do not go to the ground. While it is indeed true -- most street fights do NOT go to the ground – that’s only true for fights lasting less than 12 seconds. And most fights last only 3-8 seconds (remember wham… bam… boom?). So my research shows that at second number 13 there’s a high probability the fight will end up on ground.

What does this means for you? Well… it couldn’t hurt to have a few ground fighting tricks up your sleeve.

6.) Getting Hurt. The longer the fight, the higher the chances

of serious injury or death. Yep, the longer it takes you to end it, the better chance of you getting really hurt or killed.

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Unfortunately many martial artists make the mistake of “displaying” their skills. I mean… sure… they paid good money to learn those fancy moves. They’ve even got a pretty belt to prove it. So please, could everyone form a little circle to watch some cool reverse roundhouse kicking skills.

Meanwhile, his adversary moves in and lands a couple simple well placed shots and suddenly this “martial artist” is on the ground unconscious. His opponent’s technique may not have required a lot of skill, and were not very “pretty”, but that doesn’t matter. At this point he can only hope that his adversary and his buddies don’t decide to start stomping on his head. Because lying on the ground unconscious does not necessarily mean your opponent is done with you.

So get this idea in your skull – end the fight as quickly as possible for your own good.

7.) The Melon Shot. Most of the time your adversary will be

a “head hunter” – meaning that he will almost exclusively be targeting your head. Now I’m not suggesting that the head is not a good target, but for Pete’s sake it isn’t the only target.

What’s more is that the head is often the best defended target, which means you should look for numerous other targets around the body (target awareness). The smart fighter will typically attack open “high value” targets, like the groin, inside knee, neck, outside thigh, etc. I’ll cover some more targets later on, but my point is that your opponent will most likely be head-hunting and that you should consider many other targets.

8.) The Classic Shove. Important to know this. A shove is

typically an initiation for an attack This is extremely

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common for the “Emotionally Hijacked” or the “Bully” and its purpose is to build up his confidence and ego to just before striking.

It’s rare that a “Predator” will use this, as he’s very careful not to announce his intentions (“hello… I’m going to rob you… but I’ll start it out with this little shove.”). No. A predator’s main strategy is surprise.

Anyway, if an adversary shoves you, look out! Statistics show that it is highly probable his next move will be a strike -- and typically that strike happens within a second or two after the shove.

Now a common question that I receive is: “so what should I do if someone shoves me?” Okay… let me be clear about this. You’ve got some solid info on your side – namely that you’re probably about a second or two away from getting hit. You don’t have to be a seasoned cage fighter to figure out that standing there and doing nothing is not your best course of action – unless of course getting hit upside the head with a haymaker is your idea of a viable strategy. You’ve got other options -- and believe it or not, simply running is one of those options.

Regardless of the option you choose, you must use the shove as a “trigger” to prompt immediate and decisive action.

9.) Admiring Your Work. Here’s another stunning fight

fact. MOST rookie fighters will suddenly stop their attack to “assess” the damage – especially if they are winning the fight.

Bad move. It’s a big-time rookie mistake and it often plays out

something like this: an Emotionally Hijacked person shoves you. You wisely recognize that you’re about to be

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hit, so you strike first with a forearm shot to the side of the neck (nice choice) – then you stand back and wait for this bum to crumble into a heap -- calling you “master” and begging for mercy.

Don’t count on it!... more Hollywood baloney! Stats prove that, given the chance, an opponent will

often quickly recover from his initial shock and dismay -- then start to return fire. That’s bad news for you because by stopping and “accessing” the damage, you’ve literally given away a couple of your most important tools for winning this fight – surprise and continual pressure.

So here’s a piece of advice. Once the fight is on, do NOT stop until the threat is removed -- whether that threat is removed because you’ve escaped… because your adversary is on the ground writhing in pain… or because he’s unconscious. No matter, you’ll want to get out of there as quickly as possible. Do Not wait for him to recover… do NOT wait for his buddies to show up… and do NOT wait for emotionally “pumped up” bystanders to attack you. Do what you gotta do, then leave the area as quickly as possible.

Fighters who “strike and assess” can (and do) end up hurt or dead.

10.) Beginner’s Can’t Hurt You. As I’ve already suggested,

most adversaries you’ll face will NOT be well-trained fighters. This is good news, because it means that having some fundamental fight knowledge (like you’re learning here), will put you one or two steps ahead of your opponent. And the over 70 DVD training courses I’ve got available will really secure your position.

Of course this doesn’t mean you can’t be hurt by an untrained fighter.

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One “Fight-Fast” instructor -- Mark Hatmaker (also known as the “Professor Of Grappling”) -- points out that he’s witnessed complete rookies (with no fight experience at all), worm their way out of “impossible” Brazilian ground fighting holds.

“The Professor” suggests that even highly experienced fighters should always avoid trouble if they can – even against an inexperienced fighter – as there is simply no guarantee of the final outcome. Understand that ALL personal combat is a desperate life-and-death struggle where anything can happen.

So you have to assume that your opponent will fight for his life, just as YOU should fight for yours. There is no such thing as a “casual” ass-kicking. It’s an all out fight or nothing -- and the end result can mean serious permanent injury or death.

11.) The Stomp. One of the latest dancing crazes is called the

“head-stomp”. As you’ve probably guessed, it’s a dance on your head. Because research shows that if you get knocked down to the ground -- especially against multiple attackers -- your head is likely to be viewed as a rugby ball in open field.

Experienced street fighters know to stay off the ground and on their feet – or else! Of course ground fighting can and does happen, which means here at Fight-Fast Inc. we’ve created instructional material to deal with it. One of the most effective packages is “Street Safe III”. It focuses on a number of ugly techniques designed to get an opponent off of you quickly so that you can get back onto your feet. In fact, since being on the ground is so serious, (it often means getting kicked unconscious in a matter of seconds), the techniques demonstrated in “Street Safe III” are some

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of the most vicious and brutal you’ll learn anywhere. As a result, I won’t release “Street Safe III” without a signed “waiver”. Yeah… it’s that nasty!

12.) The Block-head. If you’re busy blocking incoming blows, you’re in a bad position. Because that’s the exact opposite position you want to be in. You want your opponent to be attempting to block – not yourself.

Having a mindset of blocking punches and kicks means that you are on the defensive… reacting rather than acting… pedaling backwards… off balance… and not able to effectively counter attack.

Now with all due respect, I’ve seen a LOT of martial artists endlessly practicing parries (which is the redirection of incoming shots), and blocks. That’s all well and good… but it’s kinda like a NASCAR driver concentrating his valuable training on building an extra-durable roll cage. As he careens 180 mph out of control off that first turn, it suddenly dawns on him that maybe he should have practiced driving. It’s the same with fighting. Experienced street fighters rarely concentrate their efforts on “blocks and parries” but instead defend their soft targets with space or the proper execution of an offensive attack.

Now, I’m not suggesting you make no effort to block, because there IS value in it. But, you won’t win a fight with blocking and parrying alone, and, if you find yourself doing this, it usually indicates you’re in big trouble.

13.) You Will Get Cut. Almost any street fighter worth his

salt will advise you to run like hell in the face of a knife (with a gun you sometimes want to actually close the distance).

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Understandably, there are times when you can’t simply run away. You’ve got your family, or girlfriend, or other loved ones with you.

But know this: If you’re forced to fight a man armed with a blade, you WILL be cut. It’s that simple.

“Street Safe I” instructor Paul Vunak, (a world expert on knife disarming), proved this point by wiping red paint on a training knife blade. Even with his astonishing disarming skills, he was rarely able to disarm a determined fighter without getting red paint on himself.

His advice is this: Don’t waste your time trying to avoid getting cut but rather use it to concentrate on eliminating the threat. And the threat is NOT the knife but the person holding it.

“Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Internal Myths: Okay… it’s time to get into a very scary place – inside your

own mind. Because that’s where the real fight takes place. It’s time to clear

away some of the cobwebs hanging around in your cranium and take a fresh perspective.

Now I don’t want to get too technical, but my research uncovered something extremely important – a thing called “cognitive dissonance”. This is nothing but a fancy way to say that a person’s actual beliefs don’t match up with their actions.

This can cause extreme discomfort and indecision – something you don’t want rattling around in your head during a fight. To win,

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you must be clear-headed, know exactly what to do, and then do it with decisive action. You can’t afford to be “working things out” inside your head while facing down an adversary.

So, let’s begin to change some beliefs that you may be hanging onto – and may ultimately hurt you. Some of these beliefs are nothing but simplistic myths instilled in us as young boys – yet we still hang onto them as grown men.

Here are four of the most common examples -- although I’m sure as you examine your beliefs, you’ll come up with plenty more. I’m avoiding the sugar coating here – and you should do the same with yourself. Because hanging onto baggage and childish notions will result in deadly hesitation in the heat of battle. Let’s take a look:

A. John Wayne Syndrome – a “real man” never backs down.

Now, there are people who actually live to fight. In my 18-years of research I’ve met plenty of them – and I can positively say that spending any kind of time with them means that they’ll be continually looking to you for “back-up”. If you want to be friends with this type of guy then you’d better be prepared to take many trips to the hospital and jail. They will break into their own version of “West Side Story” at the slightest indication of insult or reproach. These guys actually believe that a real man never backs down -- and his actions match his belief. I may not happen to agree with his notions, but the man acts on his beliefs. There is NO internal conflict here.

On the other hand, if you’re not one of these “fight-at-the-drop-of-a-hat” guys, and yet you still believe that a “real man” never backs down – then you’ve got a problem. You must try to match up your beliefs with your actions.

That doesn’t mean I’m suggesting you start fighting more. No. It means I’m suggesting that you re-evaluate your beliefs.

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Here’s something that may help. Do mental exercises of situations in which you would and would not fight. For example, a freeway driver flips you the bird. Now, if you subscribe to the John Wayne Syndrome, you’d pull your car off of the road and fight – no matter if the guy is twice your size and wearing a “Hell’s Angels” jacket. You’re belief system demands that you duke it out right there on the side of the freeway.

If this is what you’d really do, then fine, your actions really do match your beliefs. Like I said, no internal conflict here. But, if your actions would be different, then you must be honest with yourself up front – before that scene plays itself out – and come to grips that maybe you really don’t believe that a real man “never” backs down.

The key here is an honest mental evaluation of the differences in your fantasies versus what you’d really do down here on planet earth. It will save you a lot of mental torture.

Here’s a real life example. I personally received a call from one Fight-Fast customer who suffered mental anguish because he backed down from a fight, despite watching many self-defense Fight-Fast videos and feeling that he was a well trained fighter.

Now, I personally believe he did the right thing – and I told him that. Nobody went to jail, the hospital, or the morgue. His opponent was a stranger and there was almost certainly no chance he’d ever see him again. The outcome of that confrontation turned out better than he could expect.

But, because somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind he hung onto this foolish notion that “real men don’t back down” – this guy suffered a lot of grief and sleepless nights. He simply never had done an honest evaluation of his own personal beliefs.

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Here’s another way to think about this. Let’s say that the President of the United States – while whizzing by in his motorcade -- is insulted and challenged by an angry citizen. Should the president really get out of his car and fight this guy? Should he feel ashamed for not doing so? According to the John Wayne Syndrome believer, the answer should be a resounding “yes”.

Now this example is obviously ridiculous only to make a point. Sit down and come to grips with your own beliefs beforehand – it’ll save you from making a stupid decision or the agony of dealing with internal conflict.

B. Never Hit First – Another notion from childhood – because

what’s the first thing that your dad or a teacher asked you after a fight? Wasn’t it “who hit who first?”

Well research proves that hitting first means you’ve got a damn good chance to win the fight. You’ve initiated surprise, dismay, got the guy back on his heels, and have an excellent opportunity to keep up the pressure until you can end the threat. Everything you want.

Oh… but wait… that’s right… you can’t hit first. Teacher said so.

It’s time to grow up and get away from this kind of thinking – it’s just plain dangerous.

Let’s forget fist-fighting for a second and think about it as a gun fight. Would you allow an armed opponent the first shot? I sure hope not. Same goes with hand-to-hand combat. Do NOT freely give away your main advantage because of some misguided idea.

C. Fair Fight – This is more common than you’d imagine.

Stuff like don’t hit a guy with glasses… no hair pulling… no biting… no eye gouging… and so on. If you actually

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believe this, you need to add one more to the list… no fighting.

It’s like the British officers who were so disgusted with the way “unchivalrous” American colonials fought. Those savages actually “unfairly” shot at them from behind trees and bushes. How uncouth.

Let me be clear… in a fight you want an unfair advantage. You never want to purposely give away anything that may give your adversary the edge.

In one of the videotaped street fights I researched, there was a young man who had his face nearly bit off in a vicious attack. He kept screaming out “no fair… he’s biting… he’s biting…”

I still get shivers thinking about that poor kid. I only hope you will not be as naïve. You must assume

that your adversary will do anything – and that he plays by NO rules. I know it’s an ugly thought, but you must treat every fight like it’s a life or death battle. The idea that you can somehow remain a “gentleman” puts you in an extremely vulnerable position.

D. Fight Your Fear – Fear is information; it’s not to be

controlled or eliminated and is certainly not your enemy. Acting in spite of your fear is something called “courage”.

I’ve see too many “fight systems” that talk about “getting rid of fear”. Wrong-o. Understand that fear itself is a healthy emotion that’s protecting you.

You’d probably agree that being fearful of walking on the edge of a cliff is a fairly natural emotion to have – especially knowing that the “Bob Pierce One-Touch Death Move” is out there. It’s simply your body’s way of protecting you.

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The idea that you need to get rid of it is foolish, and will either result in “brain freeze” or will simply put you in greater danger. The key is to “listen” to fear rather than deny it or attempt to suppress it.

Use fear as a way to trigger “external focus” – the key to avoiding “brain freeze” or the deer in headlights phenomena. You can’t afford to stand there drooling while waiting to “snap out of it”. I’ve got a whole section on this external focus technique in an upcoming chapter. It’s one of the most powerful ways to taking the fight to your adversary, and winning.

Okay… let’s conclude this “internal myth” stuff for now. Use

what you’ve learned to do some serious self-analyzing. Discover “gray areas” and where your indecision lies. Because with just 3-8 seconds to win a fight, indecision and hesitation can mean the difference between prevailing (and walking away), or taking that losers ride to the hospital… or worse… the morgue.

How’s that for positive ending? There’s a lot more exciting material coming your way, and it’ll

start getting increasingly advanced and specific. You’re experiencing a process of becoming a respected and confident protector of yourself and your loved ones. That’s a powerful transformation. And believe me… there’s no need to shout it from a mountain top. Everyone around you will begin to notice.

“I thoroughly disapprove of duels. I consider them unwise and I know they are dangerous. Also, sinful. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead

him to a quite place -- and kill him.” – Mark Twain

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The Ultimate Guide To Fighting and Winning

Part 3

“In war there is no substitute for victory.”

- General Douglas Macarthur

You’ve got the pleasure of getting “Part Three” of my Ultimate fight guide.

Things are starting to accelerate now – so don’t jump ahead of yourself. If you haven’t checked out “Part One” or “Part Two”, you’ll need to read both of them first – before you’ll get a full understanding of Part Three.

Because I’m sure you’ve gotten away with things like (for example) putting together a kid’s bike without even glancing at the directions, (“oh, I see… that’s the back wheel”). But when it comes to protecting yourself and the lives of your loved ones, the stakes are simply too high. Do yourself a favor and read the directions… from the beginning.

Okay… moving on. It’s time to take a look at types of “mental maps” that people

use to handle a dangerous confrontation.

“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready

to visit violence on those who would harm us.” – George Orwell

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Handling Danger: Four “Mental-Maps”. Now, I don’t want to oversimplify human species (“you see

kids, the food goes in this end and then it later comes out on that end”), but let’s have a little fun and break people down into four basic groups – because the reality is that people handle danger in roughly four different ways.

These four groups are at the extremes in styles -- and the average person is rarely at one extreme or the other and will sometimes even switch maps, depending on their state of mind at the time. But in general this will help you recognize how your personality leans and your own specific strengths and weaknesses.

Because one of the biggest secrets to winning a dangerous confrontation is to simply learn how to overcome indecision and unreasonable hesitation. The Predator, the Bully, and the Emotionally Hijacked all depend on stunned victims willing to stand by helplessly -- like confused spring lambs on their way to slaughter.

So let’s cover four extremes on how people deal with confrontation so you can begin an honest evaluation of yourself. They are: 1) the Reasoner… 2) the Survivor… 3) the Dominator and… 4) the Virtuous Protector.

Let’s take a look at each one.

1.) The Reasoner: A person using the “Reasoner Mental-Map” tries to negotiate his way out of trouble. His motto is “can’t we all just get along?”. Let’s dig a little deeper into this particular mental map.

The Reasoner believes that all people are essentially good and rational -- meaning that they think it’s possible to resolve any conflict by simply tapping into their opponent’s “better angels”. He believes that if he’s simply nice to other people, they will be nice to him – because (he believes) nobody really wants conflict. Yes indeed, he’s a

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“reasonable” person living in a world of “reasonable” people.

This is the most dangerous of mental maps. Why? Because the outlook truly does not reflect reality.

Everyone is NOT your friend. The world really CAN be a dangerous place with people who will rob, rape, and kill you for little or no reason, then sit down to a hot meal without thinking twice about you.

Yes, the world is indeed filled with bad and dangerously irrational people.

Think about it this way – just how far would this Reasoner mindset work in, say… prison. You guessed it – this nice reasonable person will quickly have his Jello stolen and soon afterward become the jailhouse “bitch”.

Or, let’s say, the Reasoner was hauled in front of the likes of an Uday Hussein for some infraction of his rules. (“I swear I didn’t know she was one of your girlfriends”). Be as reasonable as you want – but I’m pretty sure you’re in for a very special ending.

Now, these illustrations may seem ridiculous, but I’m making a point. Being the Reasoner can be a good way to avoid trouble against equally reasonable folks -- but will NOT work against the tens of thousands of dangerous psychopaths walking today’s streets.

The Reasoner is the most vulnerable of all the mental maps because, when confronted by true evil, he tends to crumble into dismay and panic – unable to reconcile his naïve “nice guy” beliefs with the reality that someone really wants to hurt or kill him.

2.) The Survivor: This mental map is a total commitment

toward “self preservation”. The motto is “don’t tread on me – but go ahead and tread on him”.

A person running on this particular mental-map software has a more realistic version of the world and

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understands that everyone is not his friend… that some people may just hurt him for the “thrill” of it.

Okay… this has advantages because at least the Survivor will do whatever it takes to survive – as an individual he’s willing to lie, cheat, and if necessary, fight his way out of confrontation. So, yes… he’s better equipped to realistically deal with confrontation than the Reasoner.

But he’s a lone wolf. He believes he’s responsible for just one person –

himself -- which means you should forget about depending on him for back-up (“hey... where’d he go?”). You’ll be “thrown to the wolves” as fast as he can run for cover.

Unfortunately, our modern media and even law enforcement has reinforced this Survivor “stay out of it” mindset.

We’ve all heard it… “don’t get involved”… “call the police”… or “just bend over and let him do whatever he wants”.

I once had a CPR class where the instructor was actively encouraging students “not to get involved” in helping strangers in need as it may result in a law suit (most states have since passed certain “Good Samaritan” laws to protect good citizens trying to help others).

That instructor was certainly a Survivor alright. Imagine depending on him to save your life!

It’s an attitude that has permeated our culture – and has resulted in able bodied men standing by and watching while innocent people are attacked.

Today’s “metro-man” can’t be bothered -- he adjusts his beret and moves on.

Now don’t get me wrong. I understand that there’s always another ridiculous side to this. Like the swimmer who was hauled from the water by Good Samaritans who then proceeded to pound on his chest for ten minutes

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trying to “help him breath”. Turned out the swimmer was fine – except for the broken sternum and cracked ribs that resulted from the beating.

In the same vein… I’m not encouraging you to jump in on bickering couples. No. That can be a BIG mistake. But I want you think about this: What if your mother, daughter, or sister was attacked and you later discovered that some “Survivor” guy stood by and did nothing? I don’t know about you, but I’d be tempted to do more than steal his Jello.

3.) The Dominator: This guy looks upon himself as the

“universal police”. His motto is “don’t disrespect me or my friends”. He is often a self-absorbed person who is very sensitive to disrespect and will act on any slight -- real or imagined.

People fear him for the simple reason that he’ll fight at the drop of a hat.

The Dominator is not necessarily a bully or a disruptive rowdy (although he can be) -- he does understand right from wrong -- but he’s ego-driven and will definitely “back up” his friends, rarely allowing thugs and bullies to take advantage of him or loved ones.

On the other hand, the Dominator is somehow always in continual conflict with others – often far too involved in other people’s business -- which puts him in a position to be imprisoned, permanently injured, or killed.

For example – and this is a true story – I had a friend who perfectly matched this Dominator description. “Big Joe” truly believed he was the “big brother” of all his friends, relatives, even casual acquaintances. As a result he was continually in the middle of conflict. One evening at a restaurant in Memphis, Joe “broke up” an argument between two guys and even rousted one of the fighters out of the restaurant.

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That guy promptly went to his car, got a knife -- and stabbed Joe to death.

Now, Joe was a friend of mine, so it’s tough for me to be objective about this, but I must – so let’s take a look.

First, Big Joe’s fighting strategy was poor because he broke the cardinal rule of “not sticking around” after a fight. But, secondly, his Dominator mindset put him in a position of danger. A couple strangers arguing at a restaurant was not something he should have gotten involved in. It really was none of his business.

Dominators who do not change their ways rarely make it to old age.

4.) The Virtuous Protector: Okay… this may sound a bit

“corny” -- like a knight in shining armor is about to ride up on a white stallion -- but stay with me here. This is (in my humble opinion) the highest form of mental maps. His motto is “speak softly and carry a big stick”.

Many experienced streetfighters (who survive) eventually advance from a bully to some form of a Virtuous Protector. The “school of hard knocks” has taught the Virtuous Protector the real dangers of fighting, so he deeply understands what’s important to fight for -- and especially what’s not. He’s not overly concerned about slights or insults and is much more rational in dealing with confrontation.

He knows from experience that any fight can end in jail, serious injury or death, but, on the other hand he doesn’t hesitate when a situation requires action. In old school terms he may be described as a “stand up guy” or a “code of the west guy”.

He WILL help others when he’s truly needed. The Virtuous Protector has a strong sense of right and

wrong and will not brag about his fighting abilities or push

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people around. Like a bag of tea (as the old saying goes) he doesn’t “show his strength until he’s in hot water”.

To become a Virtuous Protector you do not need to be a recovering bully… a streetfighter covered in scars… or even a guy who owns a white horse.

On the contrary, a virtuous protector is driven by deeply entrenched values, not fleeting emotions or feelings. He is crystal clear on what’s worth fighting for and insults or slights do not provoke him unless it’s strategically critical to do so. He has no problem avoiding (even running from) a confrontation that’s not in his best interest.

This person is acutely aware of the consequences of personal combat and doesn’t allow critical decisions to be dictated by feelings of fear, anger, or shame.

As humans, it’s in our nature to be emotional and -- unless you’re an android – your emotions are NOT directly under your control.

But, your actions are. The virtuous protector focuses on managing his

behavior – not managing his emotions.

In conclusion, these four groups are “artificial constructs”, meant to help guide you in your own self discovery process. These are NOT psychological profiles meant to define a personality because, like I said, one man may use all four of these mental maps at different times. So clearly the mental map is more useful as a general “gauge” of future behavior. As you progress in your fighting abilities, you’ll hopefully also progress toward a more virtuous person who uses his skills wisely and justly.

Let’s move on to a subject that scares the crap outta most

rookies – FEAR.

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“There are no extraordinary men, just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to

deal with.” – Admiral William “Bull” Halsey

Dealing With Fear Let’s talk a little about public speaking. Hold on… this is relevant to fighting. Because several studies have shown “public speaking” to be the average person’s #1 fear. Some polls actually show that “death” ranks below “public speaking” in terms of sheer terror (so you can imagine how “death while public speaking” ranks). Anyway, the solution to fear of speaking is to simply PRACTICE and REPETITION. The more public speaking you do, the more “de-sensitized” you’ll become -- and the less you’ll fear. Now onto fear of fighting. Fear of fighting is more common than you’d think – even among experienced fighters. Only a stone-cold sociopath has no fear in a confrontation. I’ve interviewed hundreds of hardcore combat soldiers and seasoned streetfighters and found that nearly every one of them admitted to being fearful in every single fight. Surprised? Well don’t be, because these guys understood that they could easily be killed. So, they felt fear – sometimes extreme fear -- in every confrontation. For example, Tom Proctor is a “cage” fighter who’s been in over 300 streetfights and illegal “pit” fights. Jim West has been U.S. Special Forces combat soldier and has been in over 600 bloody streetfights. But here’s the thing: Both Tom and Jim openly admit to having fear every time they fought, but it lessened over time.

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The fear never went away, just lessened. So here’s the good news. All you have to do is survive 600 or so streetfights and multiple years of lethal combat and your fear will be lessened. Okay… that’s probably not realistic for you or anyone else who plans on staying alive and out of prison. Unlike the fear of public speaking, it’s a lot harder to simply “practice” your way out of the fear of fighting. But there is a recent solution to this “practice” problem. Spec Op trainer, John Nottingham has developed specific “aggression drills” which are extremely valuable to maintaining a state of readiness while avoiding “brain freeze”. His “Viper” package demonstrates a live training exercise in which students (some of whom are experienced martial artists) are subjected to intensive threats, verbal abuse and insults from a man in a “padded fight suit”. It’s all for show -- and I suspect the guy in the suit is really some kind of S&M nut -- but it’s kinda like flying in a “simulator”… it sure feels real. Now the graphic language and the adrenaline dump you experience while viewing “Viper” makes it sometimes difficult to watch, but it’s extremely useful training. And the poor “victims” of the padded-suit guy in this Viper demonstration group PROVES why this kind of real world “adrenaline dump training” actually works. Most of the new students – even the experienced martial artists – did not perform well under the “real world” pressure. When confronted by a large, intimidating figure shouting threats and obscenities in their face

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most students folded like a cheap card table and the later were unable to describe even simple details of the experience. In fact, most couldn’t answer the question, “was the adversary armed with a knife or gun?” They simply didn’t know. When the yelling and threats started, their brain became as impenetrable as a frozen turkey. So this “adrenaline training” is a very effective method to get you to focus externally, not internally on your “inside voice”. Okay… so what exactly do I mean by “inside voice” -- or more technically -- your “internal dialogue”? Well, I kinda like what Jonathan Haidt -- an Associate Professor of Psychology over at the University of Virginia – describes as the motor-mouth vs the elephant. Haidt compares that voice inside your head – your internal dialogue -- to a little guy sitting on top of an elephant pretending he’s in control. As Haidt puts it: “The rider represents conscious controlled thought. The elephant represents everything else and includes the gut feelings, visceral reactions, emotions, and intuitions that comprise much of the automatic system.” And the working relationship between little man and elephant? Haidt points out that “They don’t always work together well.” The little guy ontop loves to talk… ramble… and bark orders to create the impression that he’s running the show. He gets most of the attention – and can even sometimes convince the elephant to pick up a log, or move a boulder. But the reality is that it’s the elephant who makes the final decision and does the work – the little guy is more of a nuisance “along for the ride”. And when the elephant simply ignores the little guy and does what he wants, the little guy rationalizes it (“I actually wanted him to

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throw that log ontop my house”) denying that he is actually NOT in control of the elephant. So it is with your internal dialogue. That voice rambles on and on, but has very little to do with productive tasks. In fact this internal dialogue can be absolutely destructive to decisive action. Why? Well let me explain with another simple example. You’re standing in long line at the ATM when a guy cuts-in near the front of the line. You gently point out to him that the line starts “back there”. Seems reasonable enough, but unfortunately you’re dealing with an emotionally hijacked fellow who just came from a drunken brawl with his girlfriend. He quickly turns your way screaming obscenities and vowing to “kick your ass” as he starts toward you. And here’s where that little bastard start babbling off desperate questions like “Did I really insult this guy?”… “Why is this happening to ME?”… “Who is this guy?”… “Maybe I did something wrong?”… “What should I say?”… “Should I do something?”… “I am going to get hurt?”… “I wonder if my life insurance is paid up”… and on and on. It was fine to let the “little guy” think he was in control while standing in line, but now that you’re in trouble – this cat’s only confusing the elephant. He’s tying things up and distracting the elephant from taking immediate action. It’s a HUGE disadvantage that results in hesitation and “brain freeze”. Yeah… that dreaded deer in the headlights. Now don’t get me wrong, conscious controlled thought (the “little guy”) is one of the things that put us on the top of the food chain.

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Building bridges, writing software, and balancing our check book all depend on the “little guy”. Dealing with immediate danger requires the more primitive elephant. The mistake happens when we mix the duties up. The elephant shouldn’t be involved with taxes (unless you’re fist fighting with an IRS agent), and the little guy shouldn’t deal with a predator (unless he’s doing his taxes). Okay, at the risk of beating a dead horse I want to point out to you, again, that you have about 1-8 seconds to act. You don’t have the luxury of time. There’s a clear threat coming your way. You can’t even read this warning before it’ll all be over. Now unless you’re a Zen master, you’re never going to shut this little guy up – but you can put him to work. The simple key to controlling him – and this is BIG… is to direct your thoughts to an “external focus” of potential targets. You must initiate Target Awareness. Seeking out and gathering “target acquisition” info almost instantly begins to focus and channel your internal dialogue – suddenly forcing the “little guy” to start talking strategy instead of allowing him to overwhelm the mind with introspective panic. Now it’s the elephant who’s in charge with the little guy put to work asking questions like:

“He’s approaching me -- is he in range?”… “Is there anything in his hands?”… “What targets are open?”… “Are there any friends around?”… “Now… what targets are open?”…

“Is anyone behind me?”… “What targets are open now?”… “Do I have an escape route”… “What targets are open now?”

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Hopefully you’ve noted the need to continually evaluate which targets are open. A common rookie mistake is to focus in on one target and then try to “wait” for it to open up or even strike at it when it’s not open. This is called Target Focus and it’s the wrong way to choose targets. You’ll need every shot to count big, so keep your target acquisition fluid and in a state of constant flux -- because that is what’s happening in real life. Don’t bet that one target will remain open. Instead – at the very least -- keep in mind the “high value” targets -- the side of the neck, throat, eyes, inside thigh, outside thigh, groin, and the angle of the chin. Always, always, maintain target awareness during a fight. Here’s a specific target hint for you. Your opponent – even if he’s NEVER been in a fight -- will likely be on guard for a right punch to the face – so it’s wise to do something he’s not expecting. Also…

1.) Do not pay attention to the yelling and verbal threats. It’s easy to allow the verbal side of your brain, (which is where the “little guy” lives), to get caught up listening to (and preparing a response to) insults and verbal abuse. Ignore this. I know that’s often easier said than done – but if you maintain your thoughts and energy on external targets, it will automatically “phase out” this interference and avoid activating your internal dialogue.

2.) Do not look into his eyes. It’s the same principle at work here. Staring him down triggers all kinds of internal mumbling that only distracts you from your target awareness. Don’t do it. Sure, it looks tough when a couple of boxers stare each other down face-to-face a couple weeks before the bout, but that’s a bad idea in a street fight.

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A good streetfighter wants you to “buy into” his distractions. Mad-dog staring... insults… yelling… the whole works. It’s doubtful he knows the science of internal dialogue, but he does understand that it’s easier to win after he “gets into your head”. So I can’t stress this external target awareness enough. It’s a simple solution to a big problem. This is why so many martial artists -- even accomplished black belts -- have their asses handed to them in a real street fight. They wake up (if they wake up) wondering what the hell happened. Well in the well-lit dojo they’ve trained with plenty of room on padded floors. They bow politely. Their opponent also bows politely, and then comes at him in a predictable manner. But later on, in the tiny dimly-lit bathroom at the local mini-mart, this same martial artist is suddenly confronted by some big dude screaming threats, insults and foul language about taking his parking space. Confusion hits, the “internal dialogue” goes berserk, and all that cozy training flushes right down the toilet. Fade to black. Now don’t get me wrong, studying martial arts is better than spending your time on the couch watching reruns of “Gilligan’s Island”, but these classes won’t teach you how to get around this internal dialogue or how to use fear to your advantage. That’s why you’re here. You’re getting stuff that really works – in the “real world”. I’m giving you pearls here. Anyway… the actual physiology of fear is a simple “sympathetic system” prompting from the brain -- more commonly referred to as “fight or flight”.

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If you learn anything, remember this: fear is part of the “autonomic” response system. You have NO direct control over it. It’s like trying to control your digestive system with “willpower”. You can’t. As the saying goes, xyz@#!! happens -- and it happens automatically. And so it is with fear. You simply cannot stop the physiological factors that come with fear. The heart rate immediately increases, mental focus on the adversary increases, peripheral vision narrows, and a whole bunch of other physical “alarms” go off. Combat soldiers or police officers involved in a fire-fight laughingly refer to one physical response as the “300cc check” – which is simply a nice way of saying “pissing your pants”. Really… it’s your body’s way of dumping excess baggage to help in the “fight or flight”. Here are some more, (perhaps less embarrassing) physical responses that happen automatically when the body feels threatened.

1.) Increased heart rate… 2.) Increase in blood pressure… 3.) Face goes white (your blood is rushing from your skin to

your muscles)… 4.) Blood is drained from the brain’s cortex (responsible for

rational thinking), which is why there’s a loss of “higher thinking”…

5.) The brain’s “primitive emotional centers” are fired up and take charge…

6.) Flood of endorphins shoots through your body, making you more resistant to pain….

7.) Your fine motor skills deteriorate, (say goodbye to that cool-looking spinning back kick), and your gross motor skills become enhanced. You become stronger. Yes, the

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“inhibitors” that normally protect you from straining or pulling muscles are suppressed so that you can have max use of your strength.

8.) Your peripheral vision narrows, (tunnel vision) which helps you focus on your target. Carnivores (tigers for example) have eyes in the front for better target acquisition (better depth perception), while prey (a cute little bunny rabbit) has eyes on the side for improved peripheral vision and superior predator detection.

9.) Hearing impaired to avoid distraction… 10.) Leg and hand tremors (which are actually your nerves getting

ready for “action”… because a lower neural threshold means quicker reaction time)…

11.) Eyes and pupils will widen (for visual acuity)… Now, of course the military is interested in just how all this affects their soldiers, so let’s take a look at the research for sympathetic response as it relates to heart rate for soldiers in combat:

1.) An adult at rest typically has a heart rate of 60-70 beats per minute. During a confrontation, the heart rate will quickly rise to 115 beats per minute. This is where a person starts to loose his fine motor skills and dexterity.

2.) At 145 bpm higher level thinking begins to disappear. Taking action, such as running or fighting will (surprisingly) actually level off this increasing heart rate. Not acting and allowing your “internal dialogue” to run wild will result in a rapidly increasing heart rate.

3.) At 220 bpm you enter into “hyper vigilance” or the classic deer in the headlights syndrome. It’s where the internal dialogue has complete dominance over your brain. It’s kinda like that movie “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers” as once this “hyper vigilance” takes hold of your brain, it’s tough to overcome it. The trick is to act soon than later -- at around the 115-145 bpm stage -- before the aliens melt your brain.

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So use the sympathetic system’s physical “signals” (often called fear) as clear alarms to begin an EXTERNAL focus on the potential threat. This is KEY. It’s an early warning system and a powerful ally. Now there’s plenty of DVD programs, books, and combat course designed to control, manage or eliminate fear. This is nonsense. As I’ve mentioned, human beings are emotional creatures which makes it (by design) impossible to control your emotions. If you could control your emotions, wouldn’t everyone just choose a constant state of bliss, (and put the pharmaceutical, alcohol and illicit drug industries out of business overnight)? The problem is that today’s mamby-pamby “feeling” based therapies have us all believing that any sort of uncomfortable or negative feeling must be eliminated as quickly as possible. More crap. It’s like the king who convinced himself (and a surprising number of his subjects) that he could eliminate ocean tide. His delusion became obvious only when the tide ignored his commands to halt (“I said stop right there… gurgle, gurgle, gurgle…”). And attempting to control emotions like fear and anger is similar. Don’t waste your time trying to control them. Instead recognize that these emotions are purposely uncomfortable because they’re designed to prompt you into taking some kind of action. So what does all this psycho-babble have to do with fighting? Well I’m getting to that. There are two big mistakes than can cause us to freeze:

1. Having no plan of action (such as “what’s my target”) and thus becoming stuck in indecision…

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2. Attempting to manage emotions instead of dealing with the cause. Because trying to get rid of an emotion (fear for example), only amplifies it. Using internal dialog to fix internal dialog, (“don’t be afraid… don’t be afraid… don’t be afraid”), is kinda like “bleeding” a person who’s sick from blood loss.

Fear can give us vital information; it prepares us for flight or fight, and motivates us to take action. Instead of wrestling with our fear, simply acknowledge it, then do what needs to be done. We don’t have to give in to fear, or try to squash it, simply feel it, and move on. This is how to overcome fear. You’re taking action in spite of your fear… and this is as good as it gets.

“Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Overcoming Fear Another voice you should listen to is your “intuition”. This is not the same voice telling you to bet your house on the lottery. No. Ignore that one. Intuition is your subconscious performing “rapid cognition” – the processing of mountains of external information to form a quick conclusion. The study of this is relatively new but researchers are already discovering the subconscious’s incredible ability to quickly “thin slice” a lot of information and form an often accurate and subtle conclusion that “something’s wrong”. Cops often experience this when “acting on a hunch”. I’m sure you yourself have had the feeling that “something’s not quite right” about a situation. Well this is your brain “thin slicing” everything

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that’s going on around you. If it detects trouble, you may get a “gut feeling” as well as some other subtle “signs” like sweaty palms… jittery stomach… and the feeling that something’s not “quite right”. Now unless there’s a girl in a mini-skirt nearby, you shouldn’t ignore these signs. It may be your subconscious trying to tell you there’s trouble. So let’s dig a little deeper into this idea of using external focus to manage fear.

2.) Breathing - concentrate on calming deep breaths to keep your heart rate down and out of the “hyper vigilance” stage. This is highly effective in “de-escalation” situations where for instance, a badger is venting. It’ll help you keep your cool, keep you in the game, and it’s a sure way to keep your head clear and avoid a panicking internal dialogue. On the other hand, if a guy shoves you, well, that’s a bad time to be doing breathing exercises.

3.) Look for targets of opportunity. Like I said, this is a HUGE piece of advice. It’s a simple way to avoid “locking up” with internal dialogue and instead concentrating on target acquisition. Here’s some specific examples. Quickly assess these targets, determine what’s open to you right now, and decide how you’ll attack them:

a. Neck – side of the neck is a “knock out” area. The good news is that the shoulder and head offer a natural “funnel” that’ll guide your hand directly into his neck – which means it’s a “high percentage” shot. People rarely protect their neck properly and so even a poorly executed shot can often mean instant knock out.

b. Groin – believe it or not, research shows that most guys do NOT protect their groin. They are so “indoctrinated” with the idea that they’ll be punched

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in the face that they leave themselves wide open for one of the most devastating strikes. So forget about focusing so much on getting in that right hook to the head, (which he’ll be expecting), and start looking for an OPEN target.

c. Inside knee – very vulnerable. One good kick to the inside of the knee can end a fight instantly.

d. Outside thigh – a favorite target of Muay Thai fighters is to kick you in the nerve running down the outside of your leg. Even a well conditioned fighter can’t stand more than a couple good shin kicks to this nerve before buckling.

So my point is that you should immediately shift your thoughts to scanning for targets to get away from the internal dialogue. Let’s just say some guy’s walking toward you. You feel a threat. You should immediately check to see if the guy’s got a weapon in his hands… if anyone’s with him… potential routes of escape… then begin your “target acquisition”. Target focus vs Target awareness. You should avoid complete immersion in “missile lock” on one specific target (“head hunters” do this) as you’re typically in a state of flux where you need to be flexible and able to change your targets. Do a quick once-over of the neck, groin, inside knee, outside thigh and others targets to decide which one you’ll go for. This external focus and target acquisition really works. Now it’s important that you begin learning how to properly execute specific fighting techniques so that your targets and strikes are most effective. That’s where the 70 different Fight-Fast DVD packages come in. I’ll get more into that next time.

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But for now, the four techniques I just talked about will get you out of a pinch. You’ll get scary-good is when you create your very own tailor-made collection of fool-proof nasty tricks that’ll work for you every time. First you’ll need to understand the “wire frame” on which it all hangs. And so far, you should be getting a pretty good idea of that wire frame.

“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be;

for without victory there is no survival.” – Winston Churchill

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The Ultimate Guide To Fighting and Winning

Part 4

“God grants liberty to those who love it,

and are always ready to guard and defend it.” – Daniel Webster

This is Part Four of my Fight Guide. I’ve put over 18-years of

research into this 5-part guide, so don’t skip ahead to the year twelve here. Check out Parts 1-3 first – it’ll be one of the smartest moves you’ve ever made. Like I said -- read them all first, then come back here.

But if you’ve already read Part 1-3 congratulations. You’re well on your way to understanding how to fight and WIN.

Next I want to discuss some specific tactics that really work on the street.

“Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.” – Sun Tzu

The “Four Ds” Of Personal Combat:

Now we’re getting into some advanced stuff here. This “Four D’s” was one of my own biggest “ah-ha” experiences because it explains why some guys -- even little guys (who may look like they’d have trouble winning a fight at a quilter’s convention),

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consistently WON real-world street fights against larger more aggressive opponents.

It boiled down to this. These guys were consistently good in four specific skills – namely: 1) Deception… 2) Distraction… 3) Disruption… and 4) Destruction. This is exciting “meat and potatoes” stuff about actually winning a streetfight. The best part is that – unlike “sport fighting” – these skills have very little to do with size, strength, and physical skill. Let’s take a look:

2. Deception: Nothing but a fancy word for “lying” (although I’ll admit deception does sound much nicer).

If you think you’ll have trouble lying to a guy who wants to hurt you or your family, then you’ll have trouble with this. But for the rest of us, this is an important element to winning.

Because deception is not some wishy-washy theory – it actually WORKS in the real world. In fact, ask any military man who understands strategy. He’ll tell you that deception is KEY -- allowing a much smaller force to take on and defeat a larger, better equipped enemy.

For example, General Eisenhower used “deception” (gasp) against the Nazis just before the D-Day Invasion. You see, Hitler knew an Allied invasion was coming – and that the Allies would have to cross the English Channel and land on the coast of France. He just didn’t know where that force would land. The most obvious landing area was a place called Calais – which was the shortest distance across the English Channel – and Hitler reckoned that this was where to concentrate the German forces to repel the D-Day invasion.

Now ol’ Eisenhower was pretty smart. He understood the power of deception and wanted Hitler to think he’d land in Calais. So he placed a huge force of trucks, tanks and airplanes directly across the Channel from Calais so the German scout planes could easily spot them. A simple deception.

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Hitler was convinced 100% that the Allies really would land their forces in Calais.

What Hitler didn’t know was that this formidable force of airplanes were made out of balsa wood and canvas – the trucks and tanks merely inflated “floats” that could have been in the Macy’s Day Parade.

But it was such an effective deception that, when the real Allied invasion hit at Normandy, Hitler insisted that it was nothing more than a diversion and had his Nazi reserve forces waiting in vain for the attack at Calais.

So, deception is KEY in most military confrontations – AND in personal combat as well.

Okay… you may be rolling your eyes and asking what does all this military stuff have to do with protecting yourself. Well just this. Deception plays on simple human psychology – whether we’re talking about two guys duking it out in a back alley or two hundred thousand troops clashing on the battlefield. The idea is to trick your adversary into thinking one thing, then suddenly turn the tables on him. The result is confusion, hesitation, and panic.

Okay… back to personal combat. Here are a few classic deceptions that really work.

a. Verbal Deception: The idea is to deceive your opponent by verbally expressing the exact OPPOSITE of your real intentions. A LOT of guys commit the mistake of announcing their real intentions. Wrong. Do NOT tell someone you’re about to “kick their ass” and make threatening movements if that’s what you’re really planning to do. A better plan is to tell him that you’re “not looking for a fight”… or “don’t want trouble”… or even that you’re “I’m injured and can’t fight”. Say anything that’ll lull him into the comfortable belief

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that he is indeed master of the universe. The more he has settled into this mindset, the greater will be his surprise and panic when HE is suddenly under attack. So here are a couple of methods of verbal deception: Begging: “Please, don’t hurt me…”. Like I said, the more you can get him to believe he’s the guy in control, the more effective this deception stuff is. Once again, the idea is to set him up for the “big surprise”. Then, put him on the defense, and “back on his heels” – don’t let up after that. Comply: At the very least you should act like you’re complying with his wishes. For example, if some guy asks you to “step outside”, you already know what’s up – so I ask you, is it really necessary to “step outside” and “put up your dukes”? No. A better strategy would be to act like you’re going along with it, then launch into an attack or simply escape. Sound unfair? Good… because that’s what you’re trying for. Like we talked about earlier, you are not living in a boxing ring or a Hollywood movie. You should be striving for as much advantage as you can get. There’s no such thing as “too much of an advantage”. This is your life – use whatever dirty tricks you can muster to end this thing, before you end up in the hospital or the morgue. The concept of “total commitment” means you are NOT fighting fair. Okay… there’s another useful tip for you that will actually force your opponent to make his intentions known. Here it is -- simply hold up your hands. No… not straight up like a train robbery… but in front of you, palms toward your opponent, while saying nice things like “hey man, I’m just trying

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work things out here” or some such thing. There are a couple reasons this works.

i. Even though it looks like a “surrender” position, it’s actually a “fight ready” position. Hands are up and ready for action…

ii. Your hands become a “forward boundary” (which is better than your face) and gives you time and space. If he touches or crosses that forward boundary consider it a “trigger” to action. You must act immediately. Alright, let’s move onto another of the “Four D’s”…

2.) Distraction: This is the second of the “Four Ds” and hinges on another quirk of the human brain -- its inability to completely focus on more than one thing at a time. It’s one reason why so many husbands find themselves in hot water during the football season, (“hmmm… what… the kitchen is on fire? Okay honey… great… get to that in a minute”). The good news is that you can take advantage of this human limitation by redirecting… or “distracting”… your opponent’s attention away from you so you can act with a reasonable chance at catching him off-guard. The bad news is that distractions are often only effective for a split second or so… which means that unless you have an immediate follow-up plan, the distraction is futile. Here are some highly effective PROVEN distractions that’ll give you an opening to launch your attack… a. Cigarette. This is the one time in your life when

smoking may actually benefit your health. Tell your doctor about it. Because flicking a lit cigarette into your adversary’s face will definitely distract him for a moment. The key phrase here is for a moment. If you flick the cigarette into your opponent’s face, then use the time to enjoy a good snicker while watching him dance around brushing off the sparks,

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well… your sense of humor will get the better of you. Deception and distraction tricks are to be used only as simple mechanisms to give you one or (at most) two seconds to launch your attack or escape. But when a typical fight only lasts up to 8 seconds, a second or two is a huge amount of time.

b. Glasses. Reach up with both hands and pretend to adjust your glasses – then throw them in his face. Don’t do this if you’re blind as a bat – you may just end up attacking a nearby tree.

c. Throw loose change on the ground. Believe it or not, reaction to the sound of coins hitting the ground is practically hardwired into the brain and creates a major distraction. I expect the more of a tight-wad your opponent is, the better this works. Now this is mainly an audible distraction -- so unless you’re fighting a stripper -- tossing dollar bills (even twenties) won’t work. Oh… and don’t expect to see that 73 cents again. Consider it money well spent.

d. Spill or throw your drink. This is one Hollywood trick that actually works. First, there’s the shock of ice cubes and cold liquid hitting the face… and second, there’s the instant (and temporary) blinding effect. This can be the most effective method in giving you a couple seconds to do what you gotta do.

Okay… these are just some suggestions – I’m sure you can probably think of a dozen more simple distractions off the top of your head. But you’ll need to keep an open mind and use what’s available to you at the time. Focus your attention on creating a simple distraction along with “target acquisition” (which we covered earlier), and you’ll minimize the “internal dialogue” that causes deadly hesitation and “brain freeze”. But one thing to keep in mind, creating the distraction means “total commitment” to what you’re about to do – whether it’s

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escaping or attacking. Now, let’s move onto the third “D” of personal combat – “Disruption”.

3. Disruption – Basically this is any tactic or technique that

messes with your opponent’s plan of attack. Understand that once again we’re dealing with simple human psychology. Whether your opponent is a Predator, Emotionally Hijacked, or a Bully, one thing is certain. He’s threatening you because he “envisions” in his mind’s eye that this will all turn out to his benefit. Believe me, the picture show in his head doesn’t show that he will be hurt or killed. Nope. The movie in his head has a happy ending for him.

So the point of “Disruption” is to make it clear to him that his plans of easy victory are nothing but a fantasy. You need to screw up his little plans, take away his options, and “convince” him as quickly as possible that this could end very badly for him. The faster you can get that through his head, shift HIS focus inward – and get him “back on his heels” -- the better off you’ll be. Here’s a few ways to “disrupt” his plans.

a. Surprise – The quickest and most effective method to surprising your adversary is to initiate the attack – ie “hit first”. As one world-class streetfighter put it… “you need to demonstrate, to your adversary, that you have a total disregard for his well-being.” This is a nice way of saying that you should try to hurt him. Why? Because the psychological effect is to take the wind from his sails. To strip away his will to fight, and get his “internal chatter” going. Consider, for example, the football team who has a “safety” scored against them. It’s only ONE damn point for goodness sake – but the effect is devastating -- a complete moral buster… caught with your pants down in your own territory…

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tackled in your own end zone… utter humiliation and degradation. This is exactly the same effect you’re shooting for with surprise. Yeah, I know that doesn’t sound “nice”, (and we covered this earlier), you MUST get over the idea that a real man “never hits first”… or that you should “never hit a guy with glasses”… or that you need to draw a line in the dirt with a stick… or some other nonsense that essentially gives your opponent an edge.

b. Close the distance-- If there’s no escape and you’ve determined that a fight is imminent -- you should move-in. If you’re opponent is armed with a knife, you should RUN. Studies show that fighting someone with a knife is a bad idea, no matter what your skill level. Anyway, in a hand-to-hand situation, “moving-in” is another very effective tool to convince him he’s made a terrible mistake and that the happy movie he envisioned is turning into a horror flick. This is not some kind of bluff. By moving-in you’re about to “take the fight to him” and ready to inflict damage and pain. This is where the rubber meets the road and when target acquisition becomes critical. You MUST have a good idea of how and where you’ll strike him. You do NOT want to close-in and then pause and do nothing. The result will likely be initial surprise and possibly some “back peddling” by your opponent, then (when he sees your essentially bluffing), a quick recovery and a counterattack. So don’t “fake”. You should move in with the 100% intention of attacking.

By closing the gap, you effectively neutralize the attacker’s two main weapons, the left and right

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haymaker. This is a major disruption to his strategy and he’s forced to stop and consider a new strategy. Meanwhile you’re busy attacking.

c. Forward pressure – I touched on this earlier, but I want to explain this further… it’s important. My research has PROVED that the guy who most often wins is the fighter who uses whatever means possible to initiate surprise, get his opponent back-peddling, then continues forward pressure against his opponent. You do NOT want to let up. Keep yourself in a fluid state and fire continuous shots at open targets, never “letting up” your attack until he’s been removed as a threat or you’ve had the chance to escape effectively. Watching raw video of real streetfights has further proved this point and demonstrated a certain rhythm to it (it’s typically a wham, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam -- fight over). The incoming shots are like clockwork with little or no pause to “assess” the damage.

4. Destruction – The fourth and final “D” in the “Four D’s

Of Personal Combat” is Destruction. This involves breaking down your opponent physically to remove him from the fight using your own personal “arsenal” of fighting tricks. Okay, this may sound like a fancy way of saying “kicking his ass”, but there’s actually more to it. The better you understand his vulnerable targets and the specific striking techniques to attack those targets, the more effective a fighter you’ll be. The two most critical elements for effective Destruction are, 1) target selection and, 2) how you’ll strike that target. The key is to attack the targets that’ll give you the most bang for the buck – ie targets that’ll produce instant results with high-damage potential.

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What’s surprising is that even an unsuccessful attack on a high damage target so “disrupts” your opponent’s evil plans (spinning up his internal dialogue) that he’s suddenly putty in your hands. For example, Fight-Fast instructor Tom Cruse points out that many times the “elbow snap” technique (designed to break your opponents elbow) does not always break the elbow. But the horrid reality that you attempted to bust his arm like a twig is so disturbing to your opponent that his “internal dialog” can turn him into that deer in the headlights. This can all but shut down his ability to vigorously fight back as he unconsciously switches to a more defensive mode. This is the value of high-damage targets. If you succeed (break his elbow for example) in most cases the fight’s over (although I’ve seen determined fighters battle with a broken arm flopping in the wind, so don’t take that for granted). On the other hand if you don’t succeed, the “Surprise and Shock” value is high and triggers his internal dialogue. In that case you can take advantage of his hesitation and continue your forward pressure attack. Now busting up people is serious business that involves one or more of the following: blood, hospitals, jails and morgues. So you must ask yourself a couple of questions. The first is: “Am I willing to hurt this person?” You’d better be damn sure that what you’re about to inflict on this guy will be justifiable in front of a judge. Ask yourself this before any confrontation as pondering this question during a confrontation is bad idea. You need to be clear about what will trigger an all out attack from you and what you’ll simply walk away from. Okay… assuming there’s a definite threat and you’ve answered the first question “yes” – you must act. So the second question is:

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“What is my target?” The next question is. “What is my next target?” And so on. Keep going until the threat has ended or you have the chance to get the hell outta there.

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

– Sun Tzu

Target Awareness vs. Technique Focus Understanding the difference between “target” and “tool” (technique) is an important concept that goes to the heart of this book. Knowing where to strike (the “target”) is the key. How to strike that target is simply a matter of which “tools” you’ll choose. Learning flashy martial arts fight moves (tools) to make yourself a fighter is somewhat like buying a shop full of woodworking tools to make yourself a carpenter. It doesn’t work -- you’ve first got to understand the “big picture”. Here’s what I mean by that and it may help explain why some experienced martial artists (who may know hundreds of very cool fight techniques), can and often do, have their asses handed to a street fight. Here it is – the “big picture”. Your focus of attention must be on scanning specific targets rather than specific techniques. The reality is that you can have sloppy technique, but still win a fight because you had good target awareness. Because (like I said), a sloppy punch to the side of the

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neck is far better than a beautifully executed high reverse round-house kick that misses the target. Take the time to think about what I’m saying for a moment. You must throw away the idea that a certain punch or kick will solve your fight problem and instead embrace the concept that hitting certain “high value” targets (by ANY means), is what WINS fights quickly. You’re not trying to win any beauty contests here -- you’re only trying to defeat an adversary who’s threatening you or your family. It’s kinda like the beginning golfer who’s worried about what his golf swing looks like. He practices for months in front of a mirror to develop a gorgeous swing. Then one day he steps onto the course to play a real game against real people. Suddenly all that pretty swing stuff doesn’t matter one bit because the winner is determined by the lowest score… NOT the best technique. Ben Hogan was one of the greatest golfers ever to play the game – but by today’s PGA standards he had an “ugly” swing. To his credit, Hogan could give a rat’s ass what anyone said about his swing. He simply did whatever was necessary – pulled out every legal “dirty trick” in his bag – to get a low score. Because when all was said and done, that’s all that mattered. The officials looked at the score card and handed the money to the guy with the lowest score. It’s the same with fighting, but instead of a lower score, the winner is the guy who walks away. You need to do whatever it takes to end the fight as quickly as you can. If you’re busy thinking about what technique you’ll use, you’re behind the eight ball. The smart fighter sees his opponent as a collection of targets. He observes which ones are open and attacks them viscously by any means at his disposal. My extensive research has PROVED this over and over again.

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Few real world fights are won with “pretty” techniques. That’s Hollywood fantasy. Down here in the real world the fighter who wins is the guy who quickly and effectively attacks “high value” targets. As one fight expert put it… “the rookie baseball player is focused on the bat… the professional is focused on the ball”. But don’t get me wrong – technique is crucial. You want that “bag o nasty tricks” in your arsenal. It’s actually comforting when you realize you’ve got BOTH bases covered – that is, you’ve got a solid understanding of an opponent’s most vulnerable targets AND an arsenal of highly effective techniques to take advantage of them. Suddenly you’re the guy walking the streets in total confidence knowing you can “take care of business” if the situation arises. The idea is to concentrate on first things first. And the first step is to choose a target – the second is to choose which tool or technique you’ll use. I can’t stress this enough. I see too many guys endlessly practicing some silly move without ever considering the targets they would use it on. When “crunch” time hits – when they’re facing a real opponent in the real world – their mind races to remember that special technique. Just like the golfer learning to play in front of the mirror, this poor guy has never really learned HOW to fight. He’s simply learned some technique – and it’s given him a false sense that he understands fighting. Don’t fall into this trap. Instead, be the guy who’s instantly evaluating your opponent’s weak spots and looking for targets of opportunity.

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Okay… enough of my lecturing. Here are SIX high value targets (I’m giving you pearls on a silver plate here), some of which I’ve already covered earlier. But I’ve added a couple more. Here they are:

1. Eyes – The eyes are extremely vulnerable to attack. The good news is that – when it comes to eyes – we’re all essentially playing on a level field. I mean, a larger more aggressive opponent doesn’t have eyes any more tough than yours. Take advantage of this “equalizer”. Dirt in the eyes or a simple eye jab can be extremely effective against a larger, more aggressive opponent.

Now when I mention “eye jab” a lot of guys immediately flash-back to the “3-Stooges”. Forget it – you’re not playing Moe here. There’s a specific technique that involves snapping the tips of your fingers as quickly as possible across his eyes. Believe me, it’ll instantly take the fight outta him. As Navy SEAL trainer Frank Cucci points out – “There’s some guys who can ‘hardcore it’ through some pretty brutal punishment… but nobody can ‘hardcore it’ through an eye jab”. 2. Throat – Another effective target is the front of the

throat. A hard punch straight to the throat can often mean “game over”. On the other hand, throwing a fist to the throat can be somewhat tricky as you’ve got to deliver a fairly accurate punch. The fist simply doesn’t fit very well under the chin. A better solution is to form your hand into a “C” and deliver a quick shot under his chin and into his throat. He’ll be instantly on the ground gagging. Of course you’ve got to be careful – you can easily crush someone’s wind pipe and kill them with a shot like that. So I wouldn’t use this against a rude waiter.

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3. Solar Plexus – This is the soft spot just below the “breast bone” or sternum. A well placed shot to the solar plexus can instantly “knock the breath” outta him because it sends the diaphragm into spasm. This is best used when he’s not expecting it (like while your opponent’s still talking crap), as a tightening of the stomach muscles will protect the diaphragm.

4. Neck – Here’s one I gave you earlier, but it’s a good one. The side of the neck has a bundle of “wiring” running to the brain, which means one good shot to the side to the neck can mean “lights out” for your opponent. The shoulder and head offer a natural “funnel” that’ll guide your hand directly into his neck – which means it’s a “high percentage” shot.

5. Groin – Now you’d think this would be the number one protected spot on any man’s body – especially since every “self-defense” class on earth teaches you to kick for the groin. But amazingly enough, my research has shown that most guys are so interested in delivering or protecting themselves from a haymaker, they rarely pay attention to protecting the “family jewels”. Even a poorly executed kick to the groin – one that doesn’t “connect” -- will still often shock your opponent into an internal dialogue that “freezes” him.

6. Inside knee – The knees are a favorite (and “illegal”) target of kick boxers because they understand just how delicate the structure of the knee is. One good shot to the knee means “taking his wheels out” which means that even if he’s still pissed off and willing to fight, his knee won’t cooperate. It’ll continue to buckle on him like a broken crutch – and that puts him in a bad spot (which is exactly where you want him by the way).

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7. Outside thigh – Another favorite target of Muay Thai fighters is to kick the nerve running down the outside of the thigh (lateral femoral cutaneous nerve). Even a well conditioned fighter can’t stand more than a couple good shin kicks to this nerve before buckling. Very painful… very effective.

Alright, these aren’t the only “high value targets”, but, this will

give you a start. If I had an untrained friend who was five minutes away from a

street fight I’d explain that he needed to 100% commit himself to hitting one after another of those seven high-value targets. I wouldn’t spend that five minutes teaching him techniques... or explaining some silly stance… or anything like that. I’d spend that time showing him exactly where to attack his adversaries “softest” targets.

Ask any Golden Gloves boxer and he’ll tell you that one of his

primary targets is the side of the chin – and it’s NOT because he wants to break his opponent’s jaw. It’s because he knows that one good shot to the side of the chin will “snap” his opponent’s head and probably knock him out. He may not understand all the medical and physical reasons why this happens – but he does understand an unconscious opponent gurgling at his feet means victory.

So combining a well-selected open target (the side of the chin)

with any number of effective tools (a right cross, an elbow, a rolled up magazine, etc) is the secret. It’s a powerful combination that’s hard to beat.

Now for me to fully cover the range of effective tools, and targets, available to you would be impossible within the scope of this book. I couldn’t possibly explain it all -- that’s where my over

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70 different video packages come in. These “quick-learn” packages will teach you targeting AND specific fight techniques that anyone (of ANY size and strength) can use that same DAY if necessary. What’s exciting is that those who study the “Fight-Fast” packages often become a Black-Belt level fighter within 30-days – without all the fancy belts and years of bowing. Now that’s exciting!

Anyway, here’s a mental exercise that will help with your

“targeting”. Make up a list of high value targets (you can use the above basic list that I’ve just provided you), then start playing your own “visualizing” game. Focus on the targets areas of innocent civilians on the street, at the bank, in the grocery store… wherever (though you may want to avoid focusing on anyone’s groin for too long). Consider how you’d attack those targets if you were suddenly forced into a confrontation.

Alright… this may sound like borderline paranoid behavior, but

I’m not asking that you start attacking innocent people. Just get yourself used to the idea of roaming through a checklist of any individuals open targets. The reason is that when and if a confrontation ever does occur you’ve become accustomed to quickly checking available targets. It’s become second nature to you.

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

– Daniel Webster

Creating “Decision Points”: Let’s move on to one of the most critical skills to winning a fight – being able to act decisively while under pressure.

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One of the biggest mistakes you can make in a fight is to “deny” that you’re even in a fight. The confrontation doesn’t start with a punch to the nose, it starts when your intuition tells you “something’s wrong” (something called “combat awareness”). We already talked about allowing fear and intuition to work for you, so I won’t go into it again. But here’s the problem: When you’ve got some pissed off 6’5” drunken rugby player yelling profanities in your face -- it’s difficult to make snap decisions. As we discussed in “Dealing With Fear” one of your body’s “automatic” responses during high stress is to drain blood away from the brain’s cortex (responsible for rational thinking), which guarantees a loss of “higher thinking” (the reason why many those flashy martial arts moves suddenly fly out the window). The solution is to create clear “Decision Points” -- beforehand. This will help make decision-making more automated for you under stressful conditions. The idea isn’t new. It’s something that fighter pilots (and private pilots as well) have been using for years. All pilots are trained to follow specific procedures when trouble hits. It’s a “map”, or formula, that guides them through proper decision making under stress. Why? Because when the wing’s on fire… with hydraulics failing… oil pressure falling rapidly… and passengers screaming in terror -- you want the pilot to be coolly involved in critical decision-making rather than getting caught up in unproductive panic. It’s the only thing that’ll possibly save the plane and passengers. To accomplish this, the FAA has developed a simple, specific, and regimented “checklist” of step-by-step procedures that must be

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followed when specific kinds of trouble hit. There’s a certain security in having a procedure all worked out ahead of time. “What’s that? Engine #3 is ablaze. No problem. Let me calmly finish my coffee, stretch a bit, then grab the ‘Engine On Fire’ procedure manual.” Admittedly we’re not teaching you how to deal with air disasters. But believe it or not facing a dangerous confrontation on the streets is very similar. Why? Because once again you’re dealing with a brain under extreme pressure. You’ve GOT to have a series of decision points – an automated checklist if you will – that reduces internal chatter, and eliminates the need to “figure it out” at a time when your higher thought processes are in lock-down. The idea is to simplify your decision making process. Alright, here are a couple of decision points you should set up beforehand: 1.) Know when the “fight is on”. This is a big one. Because a lot of guys choose to put-off making this decision until it’s too late, then later (perhaps mumbling from a hospital bed) explain that they had no idea what that “mean guy” was up to. In reality, there are often THREE major signs that trouble is brewing.

a) Body language: These are non-verbal signals. It’s typical for the average guy to ignore these, but learn to become attuned to them. It’s not a coincidence (for example), that the same handful of poker players keep making it to the million-dollar play-off matches. Yes, poker is a game of probability and chance, so technically everyone should have the same odds of winning. The question is, why do these guys always win? What makes them different? Well, they’ve simply become experts at discovering and reading their fellow

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poker players “tells”– i.e. the non-verbal indicators that reveal their fellow player’s hand.

Every time you get a good (or bad) hand you may scratch your nose, raise your eyebrows, or wiggle your ears. They are watching and taking notes. Later they take your money.

Same with fighting. There’s a number of “tells” or non-verbal body language signals that indicate an imminent attack on you. These are like gifts from your opponents telling you “you’re about a second or two away from me striking.” Some of these we already talked about.

Here’s a few more. - The “Looking Away” – Just before that right

haymaker is thrown an opponent will commonly look to one side. It’s a sort of distraction technique. As fighter Jim West says “If I’m in a confrontation with someone and they look to the side, it means they’re about to hit me – so I hit first”.

- The “Finger Jab” – Someone poking you in the chest is also a big red flag. It’s a way that your opponent “tests the water” – but instead of testing with a toe, he’s using a finger. He’s building up his confidence and resolve, by violating your personal space. If you stand by and do nothing, it tells him, “the water’s fine… go ahead and attack this guy.”

A poke in the chest, or any violation of your personal space at the initial stages of a confrontation should trigger some kind of immediate response from you.

- The “Shove” – Yet another classic example of violating your personal space -- except this move is almost always immediately followed by a

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punch. You should expect very little time between the shove and when you can expect the incoming blow – which of course means you need to act fast in this situation. Decide beforehand what you’ll automatically do in this type of a situation, because you’ll most likely have NO time to decide during a confrontation (which is the whole point of creating these “Decision Points”). People typically don’t push, then walk away.

- The “Target Gaze” -- An opponent will naturally look at what he’s about to strike. Watch out for an adversary who changes his gaze to your chin or some other obvious target

- The “Chin Drop”: Another “cue” that should prompt you into a decision is seeing your opponent drop his chin. This is a fairly consistent, and subconscious act of protecting the neck … it almost always means trouble.

- Getting Hit: The biggest non-verbal cue is being struck. This isn’t a joke, so hear me out. Many novice fighters can get “blind-sided” and are slow to realize what’s going on. They know something’s wrong, they may even suspect they’ve been hit by that angry looking fellow -- but somehow they just can’t bring themselves to believe it – until they get hit again. If you suspect you’ve been hit, do NOT stand around trying to figure it out. Take immediate action, whether it’s running away or dropping the guy in front of you.

b) Verbal – This is the second major indicator that trouble is at your doorstep. Here are two specific verbal cues that you should look out for:

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- The Threat: “I’m gonna zyx@%# you up!” Okay… this may seem so obvious that it’s not worth mentioning. And I wouldn’t mention it if my research didn’t show that MOST inexperienced fighters do nothing in the face of serious verbal threats. They often stand by and take NO action. Even if you suspect you’re dealing with an Emotionally Hijacked individual (as discussed in Part One), and decided to allow him to simply “blow off steam” you’ve still have analyzed the situation and took decisive action. But a Bully or Emotionally Hijacked individual (rarely will you get open verbal threats from a Predator), often uses the verbal threat as a way to “ramp up” his confidence and emotions (much like the poke in the chest) meaning that things can escalate fast. Think through various scenarios and what would trigger you into decisive action.

- The “Sudden Silent Treatment”: If your opponent has been talking, talking, and talking and then suddenly becomes quiet, it means he’s entered into an internal dialog on what he’s about to do to you. As FightFast instructor Demi Barbitos says: “Fighters don’t talk and swing at the same time”.

c) Previous behavior: This is the third indicator of potential trouble. Judge people by what you see them doing and adjust yourself according. This is where your powers of observation come in. You’ll want (for example) to avoid loud young men who’ve been drinking – especially if there are women accompanying them. Bar bouncer (and cage fighter) Mike Serr points out that nearly ALL intoxicated men will react

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violently if they are confronted or slighted in front of a woman. So a common tactic is to set up a “ploy” to separate the guy from his pack before confronting him. It is more likely he’ll leave or follow direction as there’s no need to “save face”. Because even a small guy with very little chance at winning will fight furiously to avoid being humiliated in front of friends and women.

It’s important to keep in mind that loud behavior with friends and women present can create a volatile situation.

2.) Decision point #2 is: What will trigger you to action (fight or flight)? You can define this in a couple ways:

- Space: You’re pumping gas at a 24 hour station when a hooded man walks toward you. Just how close will you allow him to get before you take some kind of action?

Surprisingly, under these circumstances, most people will take NO action whatsoever. In this situation, for example, when the suspect is 30 feet away or so you should recognize that this could turn ugly. The heart’s beating a little faster and your intuition is probably telling you that something’s wrong. Listen to these signals.

Now “action” doesn’t have to mean brutally attacking an opponent or running for your life. No. Action can mean simply holding up your hand and shouting “Stop right there. You don’t need to come any closer. What do you want?”

Any normal person with good intentions would stop. If he doesn’t, you KNOW there’s something wrong. You’ve just gained some critical information and bought some time and space to plan your next action -- attack or escape.

- Crossing Lines: This does not necessarily refer to a physical line crossing (what will I do when he’s 7 feet away?), but more about what you’d do if (for example) the

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hooded man didn’t listen to you and simply kept approaching. You need to think about that. What would you do?..Now what? This is not a legal decision, it’s a decision to protect yourself. I mean it’s possible this apparent thug doesn’t stop and so you nail him in the knee with a well placed kick. Turns out the guy’s a homeless deaf mute who’ll now be living in YOUR home.

Yes, that is possible. But once again, you’ve got to make decisions to protect yourself physically, first, while being legally defensible.

So the sharper you can define the line, (if he does this, I’ll take that action… if he does that, I’ll take this action… etc), the more decisive your action and the better equipped you are. Imagine different scenarios and decide what “line-crossing” will automatically “trigger” specific actions from you.

There are a couple good reasons to do this: 1.) Good for emotional health – especially when

“pride” is involved. You’ll never regret “backing away” from a fight if it didn’t fit your, earlier decided, decision point. It completely eliminates the laying in bed cursing yourself as a weakling (I should have said this… I should have done that…). Self reflection will be easier.

2.) Automatic response -- There’s no longer a need to think about it. If a certain “trigger” is tripped you don’t have to ponder long and hard. The decision’s already been made for you.

Like I said, some of your “triggers” may not hold up in court.

But by defining your triggers, you also can define what’s NOT your trigger. Someone accidentally bumping into me is not a trigger -- for me. And if he then “flips me off” and calls me a “son of a #!*!” and keeps walking, that’s not a trigger for me either. You see, it allows you to make intelligent decisions under stress

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(and avoid being emotionally hijacked yourself) and never regret those decisions

The most beautiful thing about a trigger is that it allows you to FULLY engage when the time comes. No hesitation, no second guessing because there is no other decision to make other than “am I willing to hurt this guy?” and “what is my target?”. You’re locked in and ready to rock n roll.

“They’ve got us surrounded again, the poor bastards.”

– General C. W. Abrams

PRINCIPLES OF A FIGHT A seasoned streetfighter placed in a ring with an experienced MMA fighter will lose the “match fight” – because the fight comes down to conditioning, training, and following the rules. On the other hand, an experienced streetfighter in his element will often win because the fight now comes down to:

a. Surprise (deception and distraction) – a well placed attack can easily defeat conditioning and training. A well trained ground-fighter hasn’t trained for a vicious eye-gouge.

b. Overwhelm (disruption) – forward blitz that gets him peddling backwards.

c. Violence of Action (destruction) – using high damage potential strikes at high value targets.

This hasn’t changed since fighting was invented. As I mentioned earlier, once your work is done, you’ll want to get out of the area as quickly as possible. Don’t wait for him to recover … don’t wait for his buddies to show up… and don’t wait for emotionally “jacked up” bystanders to attack you. Do what you gotta do, then leave the area as quickly as possible.

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Let’s further flush out this formula for prevailing in a fight. There’s six in the formula… but just knowing the first two will put you far ahead of the game.

1. Combat Awareness – This is knowing when a fight is imminent. It’s a skill that few beginners seem to possess as the average guy doesn’t get in a lot of fights. It’s common to simply “deny” the obvious danger and ignore the flashing red signals your own intuition is sending out to you. If the fight is imminent this kind of denial can place you in a bad spot. Avoid this blinding denial so you can make “total commitment” to flight or fight. The key to combat awareness is to recognize (and not suppress) your own intuition telling you that a fight is imminent. The most powerful tool in your fight arsenal is your BRAIN – listen to it. Keep your head up, eyes open, and always aware of what’s going on around you.

2. Preemptive Attack (Hit First) -- This is HUGE. As any

military commander will tell you, the element of surprise can often be the most important tool. It has allowed small bands of fighters to wipe out entrenched armies (remember Pearl Harbor… or D-day?). Okay… what do armies have to do with you? Well – whether you’re fighting in an army or in a back alley – one principle is the same -- the human factor. The military machines are simply tools – the fighting is between people. Surprising your opponent by attacking first is the great equalizer for a weaker opponent and can often mean a quick victory. You can use deception, distraction, or just immediate action to get the job done. Decisiveness is the key here as your objective is to “strategically end the threat”. Notice I

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didn’t say that your goal is to “beat someone up”. Your goal is to END the fight – not participate in it. Unfortunately there’s often a strong emotional desire to “teach him a lesson”, and it’s a nice thought, but goes against your primary goal – to end the threat. Avoid the romantic idea that you will endure a long battle to emerge the victorious gladiator wiping a drop of blood from the corner of your mouth while swooning women throw roses at your feet. Simply remove the threat and get the hell out.

3. Sustained continued attack – This means fighting without pause – a forward pressure blitz. Now the word “blitz” did not originate from the NFL. No. It comes from the German word “blitzkrieg” and it accounts for the wild success that the Nazis had early on in the war. Essentially the fighting style consists of concentrating your forces on a small vulnerable area then attacking all out without stopping. As a result of the blitz, the Germans were easily able to punch a hole in the enemy’s lines, then defeat their divided forces. Of course it’s unlikely you’ll be fighting armies of men, but the concept is the same. Concentrate your efforts at your opponent’s weakest areas – then stay with it. Don’t stop until the job is done. As I’ve already mentioned -- rookies tend to stop and admire their work – they commit the sin of “stop and assess”. Big mistake. Keep the pressure on until you END the fight or escape. Don’t stop and let him regain his composure.

4. Target Awareness – I’ve already covered this pretty well

– but here’s some more. This is a way of overcoming (not “reducing”, or “ignoring”, or “managing”) your fear by focusing on exposed targets. This gives you the kind of

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positive mental traction to constructively engage your thoughts.

Bomber pilots flying through heavy flak for example talk about being able to overcome their fear of death by simply focusing on the mission and the target. And when asked about a certain courageous act, combat soldiers often later recount that they were simply “trying to get the job done”, and were not trying to be heroic. This is “external focus”. As I mentioned, if you can simply look at your opponent as a series of multiple targets, it will keep you from “freezing” and losing focus. Ignore the insults and mad doggin’ and keep your attention on open targets. If you’re not skilled with an arsenal of fight techniques, then just use any means necessary to attack the most vulnerable targets (remember… the face is rarely an open target). In one of the “underground” fight videos I viewed in my research a fighter used a simple hammer blow to the side of the neck to end the fight instantly. His technique and skill wasn’t pretty and I doubt you’d see Steven Segal performing this in his next Hollywood movie – but the fighter was clearly focused on a target and used any means at his disposal to attack that target – and because of this he won. After reviewing countless videos, most real street fights look like a haphazard tangle of flailing arms – with fighters leaving multiple targets exposed. Kicking – which can be one of the most effective techniques – is rarely used (until someone falls to the ground). I’m not going to get into specific techniques – that’s where the Fight-Fast instructional packages come in -- but target awareness is the key. Do not spend your precious seconds trying to remember that karate chop focus, attempting to manage your fear, or any other “inward” focus. You need to place your focus outward.

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8. Violence of action: As Fight-Fast instructor Tom

Cruse puts it: “You want to do something that demonstrates to your opponent that you have a total disregard for his well-being.”

The object here is to trigger your opponent’s own “internal dialogue” through a display of extreme violence. Remember that the Bully, the Predator, and the Emotionally Highjacked all have a movie-like scenario playing in their head that doesn’t include them being hurt. You need to change the reel in that movie in his head as quickly as possible so that the ending resembles more of a Nightmare On Elm Street.

The more you can “disrupt” this movie and snap the idea into his head that he may have made a HUGE mistake – that he may actually be hurt or killed by you – the more likely you are to trigger his internal dialogue. This leads to hesitation, doubt, distraction, and “back peddling” – all good things for you to take advantage of with continued forward pressure.

And the more adept you are at choosing an appropriate “tool” to strike an open target, the quicker you can convince your opponent that he’s in trouble. So it’s important that you choose targets and techniques that can deliver high damage potential. You’ve got to let your adversary know that you are willing and more than able to hurt him – which means that learning and understanding specific fight techniques is key. Now, you’re in control of the fight.

Let’s cover the two general classes of fight techniques, or tools.

a. Fine Motor Skills – These are typically complex moves that require a high degree of training to learn and continual training to maintain. Your typical martial arts class will teach you these

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skills. By the time you’re a black belt (which may take ten years) you’ll know all sorts of fine motor skill techniques, including flying round house kicks (originally designed to knock a man off a horse), flying knees, spinning back kicks, and a lot more.

Now these “Hollywood” moves look impressive, and they draw a lot of attention when they’re used in a real fight. But once again, we are talking about possibilities vs probability. Sure, it’s possible to make a reverse spinning high round-house kick work in a real street fight… but it isn’t probable. My research has exposed me to thousands of documented street fights, so I’m not saying I have never seen these Hollywood moves work successfully. I have – but they’re the exception.

It’s understandable why many fighters want to use fancy moves. It’s the same reason why basketball players want to swish it through the hoop from half-court – it looks cool. But fighters who actually put “looking cool” over winning a street fight often meet a rather ugly end. Don’t risk it – use the tools that consistently win.

Because my research shows that – when it comes to real world street fighting – using fine motor skill techniques are for all practical purposes useless. It’s mainly because (once again) traditional training is all about technique with little or no concentration on finding vulnerable targets. You’re left pondering about how to use your fancy moves instead of looking for open targets. Pondering is not a good idea in a street fight.

Another reason fine motor skills are often ineffective is that when the “fight or flight” hits, higher thinking processes begin to degrade and fine

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motor skills deteriorate. It’s how the sympathetic nervous system works. As heart rate goes up, fine motor skills decrease, there’s simply nothing you can do about it.

b. Gross Motor Skills – These do not require a lot

of complex biomechanical skills. Nail down a few simple kicks, head-butt, elbows, knee work, and ground moves and you’ll be on your way.

Now don’t get me wrong – these skills don’t come to you in your sleep. You’ll have to actually learn them. But they don’t require a “high level firing pattern” in the brain to work. They’re based on natural movements that don’t require years to learn and they’ll stick with you in a clutch.

In fact, most fights are won with these simple (but well executed) skills – mainly because you’re simply tapping into your body’s own natural movement patterns instead of forcing some overly-complex process that will often fall apart in a real fight.

Okay, some of this may seem to run contrary to what you’ve seen in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) “Sport Fighting”. After all, you may have seen some pretty nifty stuff used in these “cage fights” that actually worked. Well there are four reasons for this:

1. Ring and Rules – The ring is an open area with plenty of fighting room and there are plenty of regulations on hand to protect the fighters. This creates an environment far more suitable for fancy-dancy moves that work.

2. Training Time – Prevailing in the ring requires a fighter to be well trained and highly conditioned. MMA fighters are incredible athletes who train for 4 to 10 hours

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a day – so they are far more capable of complex moves. But winning a street fight rarely depends on conditioning (as it only lasts seconds), and is more about your ability to use every nasty dirty trick at your disposal to end the fight as quickly as possible.

3. Risk vs. Reward – Scoring a beautiful back-flip strike in the ring can make you a name in the MMA world. Guys around the globe will be watching that move over and over again for years and crying out your name in awe. So ring fighters are more willing to take the chance and shoot for glory. After all missing that shot in the ring is no big deal. Sure, it may give your opponent an advantage, but the ref will stop anything before it gets too ugly. But failure on the street is different. You can’t depend on mercy from your adversary, or good citizens stopping the fight, or the cops showing up in the nick of time. So you’ve got to use high-probability moves that won’t open you up to unacceptable risks.

4. Adrenal Stress Accommodation – This is probably the biggest reason why complex fine motor techniques can be successful in the ring. Typically MMA fighters (or boxers) prepare themselves for days, weeks, and months before a fight. And when the bell rings, many take the first minutes to “acclimate” to the high stress levels they’re experiencing. All this allows the fighter to accommodate his own stress reaction and stay out of “hyper vigilance” (which I talked about earlier) and retain much of his cortex’s higher thinking. Of course this is NOT how a

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street fight plays out. Instead of months… you have mere seconds to prepare and respond. There’s simply no time for fine motor skills.

9. Total Commitment: Fight-Fast instructor Glen

Boodry calls this “laying on the hate”. It’s a similar concept to “continued pressure”, but “total commitment” is a mindset or way of thinking and “continual pressure” is a specific technique. And it all starts with the internal question, “am I willing to hurt this guy?”

First, it’s important that you understand that street fighting is a zero sum game. That means there’s no such thing as a “win-win” outcome. You either win or you lose… period. And losing can mean hospitalization, permanent injury or death.

Even “friendly” fights that start with a couple buddies wrestling for fun can quickly turn serious and become lethal. I’ve seen the police reports.

The smart fighters – even experienced match fighters -- avoid personal combat on the streets when possible as they know that the “rules” are different. How? Well, unlike the ring, there are NO rules. They understand that even a “little guy” can use an improvised weapon, or get in a lucky strike for an instant knock out.

You should never resign yourself to taking a beating under the assumption that you’ll take a couple shots then lick your wounds and go home. My research has shown that one of the most popular “gang-banger” moves is “stomping” your head once you’re down. There’s no guarantee you’ll live through something like that, and if you do, that you won’t be drooling from a wheelchair for the rest of your life.

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Here are some assumptions you’ve got to keep in mind for any fight that’ll help you stay totally committed in a confrontation:

a. Zero Sum Game – There is NO potential win-win. There are thousands of “let’s step outside” kinda fights that end in permanent injury or death every year.

b. Defeat is not a temporary set back – and it’s NOT an option. Because keeping the option open that it may be “okay” if you get a good ass beating means that you’re also okay with the possibility of permanent injury or death – or that the people you’re supposed to be protecting will be left to the mercy of your adversary.

Never get comfortable with the idea that if you simply let this guy beat you up a little it’ll be better than really pissing him off by fighting back. This is why getting the first question right in your head is so important. “am I willing to hurt this person?” Not, “am I willing to fight this person?” you must be 100% committed to victory. c. Your adversary has NO rules. Let me tell you

about an “underground” match fight I witnessed between a baby-faced “tough guy” and a hardened tattooed ex-con.

I touched on this earlier – but let me tell you the rest of the story. This videotaped fight was supposed to require bamboo sticks and “Baby face” said, in private, he’d use his stick to break his opponent’s fingers. The ex-con (on the other hand) said, in private, his goal was to “kill” the guy. That’s it… didn’t even mention the sticks.

Guess what?

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When the fight started and the ex-con simply threw down the stick, leaped on his opponent, and tore half his face off with his teeth. In those seconds of terror, baby-face could only scream “he’s biting me… he’s biting me… he’s not using the stick… he’s not using the stick.” Certainly an ugly… brutal… and shocking way to make my point, but unfortunately it’s all true. A real fight means NO rules. You cannot expect your adversary to show mercy or fight “honorably”. It’s like the fighter pilots in WWI. Both sides used to use airplanes to spot enemy troop movements. There was an unwritten code of honor where – as enemy planes passed one another – they would salute the opposing pilot. Nice guys, considering that they each held critical information about how to slaughter thousands of opposing troops on the ground. One day the Germans figured they could stop the British flyers by simply flying over them with a brick hanging from a rope. Brick into the wooden prop and game over. The British were appalled at such a cowardly and dishonorable act. My goodness, how naïve. Don’t you dare make the same mistake – you MUST assume that your opponent has no rules and will do anything he can to hurt or kill you. These principles aren’t designed to make you a smug tough guy – they’re designed to allow you to avoid or, if necessary, win a fight. d. Always leave immediately. Don’t stand around

“waiting to see what happens”… because winning the fight is as good as it gets – it’s all downhill from there. Get you and your family the hell out. Hanging around means there’s a good possibility you’ll be caught up in the next round

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of drama from friends or from citizens who might perceive you as the “bad guy” or even from the police. That doesn’t mean you’re necessarily running from the law – it’s just that you want to talk to the cops on YOUR terms – without the extra drama and confusion. Bottom line – as Navy SEAL trainer Paul Vunak points out… “Get out while you can.”

Okay… we’ve covered a LOT of ground, but there’s still more to

come. Look for the next part in your email soon where we’ll cover how to actually prevail in a fight. I know you’ll want this, so keep your eyes peeled.

“I have never advocated war except as a means to peace.”

– Ulysses S. Grant

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The Ultimate Guide To Fighting and Winning

Part 5

“All war is deception.”

– Sun Tzu

This is the fifth section of my Fight Guide. As I’ve said all

along, this is a journey – so don’t sell yourself short and skip ahead. You’ll want to first read Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.

Now let’s get into a section some people like to think of as a sort of “mystical magic” – non-verbal communication. I assure you, there’s no “magic” involved with this – it’s all hard science that is designed to place you in a far stronger position when dealing with dangerous people. Let’s take a look.

“Let him who desires peace prepare for war.”

– Flavius Vegetius Renatus

Nonverbal Communication Believe it or not, words and language are actually your SECONDARY form of communication. That’s right, whether you’re aware of it or not, your main form of communication is not transmitted verbally, but rather nonverbally.

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Here’s some fun facts:

- Studies show that 65 – 85% of communication between people is carried out nonverbally – which means at least two-thirds of our total communication occurs nonverbally.

- Over the course of an entire day, the average person is

actually engaged in talking for only about 40 minutes. Yeah hard to believe, but it’s true. The rest of the time you are busy communicating through nonverbal body language. (now that 40 minutes doesn’t include you guys who like talking to yourself).

- The people with whom you’re engaged in conversation with

will put more “weight” on your nonverbal information than on your actual words. Typically your nonverbal messages are not controlled consciously -- so it reflects your true feelings, emotions and moods. The person you’re talking with subconsciously understands this and uses your nonverbal signals to develop opinions, beliefs and feelings about you without even knowing how they did it. Your own experience should reinforce this notion if you consider how you form almost “instant” judgments about someone’s character in the first minutes of meeting them. Yes the brain is a powerful and scary thing.

- You will form and solidify an opinion about someone within

the first 4 minutes of knowing them – after which point it will be difficult to change that opinion. People resist changing their minds about someone, (a process called “selective perception”), and we will ignore any information that is contrary that that initial impression. Not only that, research shows that we’ll even amplify any information that reinforces that initial opinion. It’s on the television news all the time. The shocked neighbor expressing something like

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“but he is such a nice, quiet man… I just had dinner with him. I can’t believe he had all those people in his freezer.” Even in the face of hard facts to the contrary, people will tend to hang onto their initial judgments.

Okay… so what does all this “non-verbal” stuff have to do with you protecting yourself and your family? Well actually a lot, because your adversary -- if he’s human -- is quite attuned into what kind of person he is willing to confront. As we discussed earlier, he is rarely willing to engage in a confrontation he thinks may end badly for him – so he’s essentially looking for a victim. It’s all done by “sizing up” your non-verbal signals mainly because he can’t ask “Can I humiliate, dominate, rob and/or beat you senseless with little or no danger to myself?” Nope, in all my years of research I’ve never come across that. My point is this: Your opponent will always be actively “sizing you up” by your non-verbal signals – that is, your body language. It’s why dominant alpha, males – no matter what their size -- are rarely picked on by bullies or targeted by predators. They convey nonverbal signals that they can and will “take care of business” if necessary. What’s surprising is that these non-verbal signals cut across all barriers and are instinctively understood by all humans – no matter what language they speak verbally. In the end, your goal should be to use nonverbal communication to your advantage – to take “conscious” control over them so you can “sell” a certain image of yourself. To do this, we need to dig a little deeper into specific “Power Signals”.

“Tolerance becomes a crime

when applied to evil.” – Thomas Mann

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Power Signals

There are three groups of power signals, each group or range communicates a personality or character quality.

1. Alpha Signals: Leadership, Dominance, Control. An Alpha will initiate action and take up space.

2. Beta Signals: Competence, Credibility, Intelligence, Confidence. A person with Beta characteristics interacts and shares space.

3. Gamma Signals: Friendliness, Likeability, Interpersonal Attractiveness. A Gamma will respond and give up space.

Now an average person displays varying degrees of each trait depending on their situation – although anyone hovering near one extreme or another will become an extreme person. In other words, if you always act as an Alpha then you become a bully… act only as a Beta, you seem cold and uncaring (think of Mr. Spock)… act only Gamma and you’ll be sickeningly submissive. So yes, there is a time and a place for each of the three. For example, most people will veer heavily Gamma when pulled over by a cop, (“yes sir… you look very handsome in your blue uniform this evening, sir”). In that scenario, acting too alpha may just land you in jail – or at least a more expensive ticket. On the other hand a college student speaking to his professor would most likely act in the Beta range as he exchanges ideas and opinions. But make no mistake; the student ultimately acknowledges on some level that the professor is still the bossman. Now, let’s say you are a platoon leader in the heat of combat… a top-cop planning a raid on a heavily armed dope house… the top-ranking fireman on the scene of a 5-alarm blaze… or even an owner of a car dealership leading a group of sales people. In such situations you must demand complete obedience and respect from

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your subordinates. This isn’t some kind of macho game – you must act powerfully, almost larger than life, or the consequences can be unimaginable. Bankruptcy… loss of property… people hurt or killed. There is no room for a Gamma in these positions (“c’mon guys, pleeease go attack that machine gun nest. C’mon, pretty pleeeease”). People who are unable or unwilling to display Alpha signals in such situations are rarely able to rise to levels of great responsibility and power. And if they are thrust into that position they must either adapt to the Alpha role or will not have the respect they need to lead people effectively. So when it’s all boiled down, there are 3 ways you can send (encode) your nonverbal information.

1. Passive encoding: nonverbal signals that are unconscious. You are unaware of the non-verbal signals you are sending.

2. Active encoding: nonverbal signals that are consciously sent. You are aware of your non-verbal body language and that others are reading it.

3. Goal oriented encoding: This is your goal -- to use nonverbal signals deliberately and strategically in order to produce a desired outcome. Goal oriented encoding is also known as “Power Signals.”

Now it’s important to understand that most of us are capable of portraying any of the three ranges at any point in time. This knowledge can yield powerful results for you. It means you are, essentially, like an actor putting on an appropriate display of body language to achieve a particular reaction from others. There are four ways of achieving this… Physical Presence… Expressions… Gestures… and Sound. Let’s examine all four.

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“Decide to be aggressive enough, quickly enough.” – motto USMC

The 4 Non-Verbal Channels There are four areas or “channels” that you can purposely “manipulate” in your nonverbal communication -- Physical Presence, Expressions, Gestures, and Sound. Now a lot of people take offense at that word “manipulate”. Get over it if you can. Because the benefits derived from effectively controlled non-verbal signals (Power Signals) are HUGE. If you still have problems with it, think of it like this. Torn jeans and a t-shirt may be your favorite outfit, but would you wear that to a job interview? Probably not. Why? Because you are attempting to (gasp) “manipulate” the interviewer by purposely controlling your non-verbal communication. (“What kind of manipulating creep are you?”) Alright… enough said. Let’s go over the first of the four “non-verbal” channels – Physical Presence. Physical Presence: This is your appearance, posture, and use of space. Dress may seem obvious as I just pointed out, but posture is also an element in communicating your emotional state. Posture – or the way you “stand”, sit, or carry yourself -- generally conveys how much interaction you desire, your particular reaction to an individual, and your current level of self-confidence. There are two main elements of posture: your physical orientation and the position you adopt.

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For example, body lean is the best indicator of a person’s involvement in the situation. If you are face to face with the person you are speaking with and maintain an open body position with a slight forward lean, you’re conveying an interest in that person and a desire to continue interaction. If, on the other hand, your orientation is at an angle to the other person and you’re maintaining a closed body position, you’re conveying a lack of self-confidence, or a desire to end the encounter. Use of space is the last component that conveys your physical presence. It relates to how space is utilized and occupied, particularly the distance between people. To increase the perception of you’re “alpha-ness”, you’ll want to pay close attention to your posture and your use of space. Alphas are not all that concerned about violating another’s personal space because, the way the Alpha sees it, it’s all his room anyway. Here are some more “Physical Presence” tips to being an Alpha.

1. Darker color clothing, uniforms, and clothes that emphasize height will increase the perception of dominance.

2. Portray power and confidence by standing square to the other person, and maintaining a wider foot stance than normal.

3. Lean forward while speaking and then straighten while listening.

4. Interact at a closer distance than normal and claim more personal territory through your posture and sweeping gestures.

5. When entering an establishment (bar, restaurant, etc), pause at the door and take a look over the entire place. When seated, don’t be concerned about “taking up room” (maybe by slinging your arm across the chair next to you).

6. Alphas are always in motion, rarely sitting absolutely still for any length of time.

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Expressions: During a confrontation almost all of your adversary’s attention will be focused on your face – so your facial expressions will be their main source of information. So it’s important to understand what you’re actually saying with your face and eyes so you can effectively control your nonverbal communication. There are a few things you can concentrate on that will give a lot of control over your nonverbal communication. Here they are: 1. Neutralize your expression. Alphas typically have extremely controlled facial expressions. Someone who is perceived to be highly dominant is very good at neutralizing any hint of emotion from their face. 2. The Eyes: This is huge. I’m sure you’ve heard that the eyes are the “gateway to the soul” and in many ways that’s true. Research shows that the eyes are the most effective “tell” of a persons emotions, level of interest, arousal, or attentiveness. The eyes also play an important role in persuading and influencing the attitudes of others. Now it’s tough to try and consciously control everything that’s happening with your eyes and still remain sane – so we’ll concentrate on the big stuff. Subtle eye movements can communicate enormous amounts of information to your adversary. It’s all going on subconsciously, so it almost seems like “voodoo” or something. But believe me, there’s no witchcraft or magic going on here. As I’ve said, this is all based on science and observation – and I’ll bet you’ll find it as fascinating as I did. Anyway this “Visual Dominance Ratio” (VDR as it’s called in the world of geeks), is a reliable index to the amount of power one

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individual possesses over another. It seems as though nature has endowed eyes with the ability to encode power and dominance. Visual dominance can be measured and expressed as a ratio. The VDR is a measure of the percentage of time looking - while speaking, relative to the time spent looking - while listening. As the level of making eye contact while speaking increases, and the level of making eye contact while listening decreases, your visual dominance ratio goes up. In fact, communicators who exhibit a high VDR of 55/45 (55% making eye contact while speaking to 45% eye contact while listening) are perceived to be significantly more powerful communicators than those with a moderate VDR of 25/75. Okay… maybe I’m getting a little too technical here, so I want to you consider this in real world terms for a moment. Think about a person you personally knew who commanded a great deal of power and respect. Maybe an old boss. Now, honestly, did he hang on your every word? Probably not. While you talked he often looked away, maybe even worked on something else while you were trying to make an important point. On the other hand when he spoke to you he practically burned a hole in your head with his eyeballs. These are Alpha characteristics. So if you want to send out alpha-signals you’ll have to start paying attention to your own eye contact patterns while talking and listening. Looking away while speaking (gaze aversion/gaze avoidance) can be disastrous for your Alpha standing – especially a downward averted glance. Looking downward is universally recognized as a sign of weakness and submission to another. Individuals who exhibit consistent gaze avoidance or gaze omission are presumed to be afraid to look at others. These individuals are judged to have minimal leadership capacity and are usually relegated to the low-status category.

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To establish a high Alpha ranking (or a high VDR) you must spend a larger percent of the time making eye contact while speaking than you do while listening. As the VDR formula suggests, too much eye contact at the wrong time can also decrease perceived power and status. Continual eye contact and attention while being spoken to equates to lower power and status because it looks like you’re “hanging on their every word”. Eye contact while listening is showing interest in what is being said and granting permission to the other communicator control over the conversation. While this is very beneficial behavior for increasing the gamma-signal, it enhances the other person’s alpha-signal while diminishing your own. When it comes to establishing dominance or power, you must remember that it’s a zero-sum game. You either win or you lose the Alpha game. So to send Alpha-signals, you need to:

1. Effectively neutralize emotional expression… 2. Eliminate the downcast and shifty eyes… 3. Make sure you’re making more eye contact while speaking

than when listening… 4. Avoid visual attentiveness to individuals who compete with

you for dominance. Also, when greeting an individual avoid the “eyebrow flash” (raising your eyebrows up and down quickly during initial eye contact, is a gamma signal), an open mouth expression, or winking. Instead, mutual glances, or a simple smile prove to be successful greetings that don’t yield power. Gestures: Unlike postures, gestures are generally confined to a specific part of the body and are relatively quick motions meant to emphasize a certain point or to reinforce or de-intensify the perceived strength of emotions.

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A typical example of an “Illustrator” gesture would be hand motions while giving direction, pounding on your desk, or shaking a fist. A hand or finger in a baton-like motion to emphasize or accent particular words or phrases during a conversation is another example. Even though illustrators are used with your conscious awareness they can still convey subconscious information about mood, self-confidence, and power. A decrease in the use of illustrators during communication can indicate waning interest, non-dominance, a decrease in self-confidence, or an indication of deception. On the other hand “Adaptors” are gestures that are done almost subconsciously as a reflex action. A typical example is nervously scratching your face. Adaptors communicate a great deal about an individual’s attitudes, anxiety level, comfort/discomfort, and self-confidence level. Since communicators who exhibit adaptors aren’t using them with the intent to communicate, they’re usually unaware that they’re using them. As a result, adaptors are an important source of involuntary information about the psychological states of individuals who exhibit them. It’s important to be familiar with these signals, become aware of your usage of them, and begin eliminating them. Let’s look at the two types of adaptors and the signals they convey:

1. Self-Adaptor: A self-adaptor is a gesture that involves the hands to another part of the body and provides reliable information about the current level of self-confidence and self-esteem. A common example of a self-adaptor is any gesture that involves the hand-to-face. Gestures, such as covering the mouth, decrease both the beta and alpha-signals because they signal insecurity about what is being said (or about to be said) and indicate possible deception. Other self-adaptors include: picking or scratching, rubbing or massaging

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(typically the forehead or neck regions), covering the eyes, or the combing of the fingers through hair.

2. Object-adaptors: The object-adaptors involve the use of the

hands to touch, hold, or manipulate an object in the immediate environment. Object adaptors, while not as indicative of the psychological state of the person exhibiting them, do often reflect uncertainty. During police questioning, suspects frequently play with objects close to them at the moment of deception.

Let’s talk about “touching”. Now before you get too excited, let me clarify myself. I’m talking about a gesture that involves contact with another person. Like self-adaptors and object-adaptors, touch can communicate a great deal about a person’s psychological state. Unlike other gestures, however, touch is much more conscious and controlled and is an important means of communicating when up close. Touching is one of the most powerful means for establishing and maintaining social contact because it effectively communicates caring, comfort, affection, and reassurance. It also serves a major role in communicating power. In touching exchanges between men and women, men typically touch women more frequently than women touch men. But among same sex, touching among men tends to increase the level of discomfort and anxiety. High status individuals are more likely to touch and initiate touch with lower status individuals. This is viewed as a signal of exercising dominance. Therefore, touching is seen as a reliable indicator of status. So here are some “Gesturing” tips to being an Alpha.

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1. Avoid using any adaptors – especially touching your face or playing with objects.

2. Make sure your gestures are very controlled and deliberate. 3. Always initiate the touch (a handshake for example). 4. Simultaneously touch two areas to establish dominance. An

example of this would be shaking his right hand while grasping his shoulder with the left.

Also, touching outside of the normal regions can show dominance over a lower status individual. A pat on the back to show approval is acceptable and clearly demonstrates dominance. A pat on the head, however, would appear very condescending, and would most likely be challenged. And well… a pat on the rear-end means you’re likely on very thin ice. Sound: The fourth channel of nonverbal signals is sound, or “vocalic communication”. Simply put, sounds convey meaning. Aside from facial gestures, the voice is the most powerful channel for transmitting the emotional state of the communicator. Perceived personality characteristics and social class are also revealed through the various attributes and characteristics of the voice. The voice can be very effective in shaping whether the speaker is introverted, extroverted, likeable, dominant or submissive. Here are some “Sound” tips to being an Alpha:

1. Speak with a loud, strong voice. 2. Pace yourself at a moderately fast rate with full resonance. 3. Articulation and correct pronunciation are very important for

effectively portraying status. 4. Dominance can be displayed in crisp and clear speech, as

though you were issuing commands. 5. Avoid “non-fluencies” words such as “umm,” “like,” or “you

know” used between sentences or weak expressions such as, “I guess,” or “ok”. These dramatically decrease your alpha-

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level presence. Vocal cues of confidence are vitally important.

6. Throat clearing and nervous coughing are perceived as non-Alpha traits.

Let’s move onto when (and how) it’s possible to “cool down” a situation before it escalates into physical violence.

“If you look like a rabbit, and act like a rabbit, you will be treated

like a rabbit – prey for all predators.” – Stony Brook

The Art Of De-Escalation Always avoid getting into a physical altercation if it’s possible. When a confrontation does occur, there are times when it’s actually possible to “de-escalate” the situation with some simple techniques (de-escalation refers to lowering the “tension” to the point of avoiding a fight). The bad news is these techniques are ineffective against anyone but an “Emotionally Hijacked” individual (remember him… that’s the pissed off guy who’s been politely asked to seek out anger management classes). What makes this even dicier is that using “de-escalation” techniques on the wrong type of adversary – i.e. a bully or predator -- may actually burn up the few precious seconds you’ve got to act decisively. So you want to be careful with this. In fact I saved this subject matter until now because I wanted to make sure you understood first that one of the biggest hurdles to winning a fight is internal dialog, hesitation, and wishy-washy indecision. The last thing you should do when facing a dangerous opponent is to spend time pondering whether you can “negotiate” your way out of a fight.

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You’ll need to be the judge on this. Like I said, if you’re certain that your opponent is simply some Emotionally Hijacked individual, then by all means, use the following de-escalation techniques. In de-escalation it’s important that you remain calm. Your adversary will be yelling, cursing, possibly threatening you, but again, if you’re certain he’s simply emotionally hijacked because he feels he has been “wronged” by you, then simply remain calm. Do not buy into this person’s emotions and yell back to defend your point of view no matter how right you may think you are. Instead, try and understand why this person is so upset THEN try to be understood. You should follow these 4 steps, in this order:

1. Get them Talking 2. Keep them Talking 3. Summarize with Feeling 4. Acknowledge and Respond

Get them Talking The Emotionally Hijacked individual is irrational, so putting up a defensive argument, no matter how logical, will only escalate the situation. Understand that you’re dealing with a kind of person who handles problems on an emotional level – much like a child. Yes, they may have truly been wronged, but instead of dealing with it rationally like a normal adult, they will explode in an emotional tantrum. Dealing with a child inside a full grown man’s body can be scary – but it can be done. Here’s a procedure to get them talking.

1. First off, a person who is talking (or yelling) is a person who hasn’t made up their mind about hitting you yet. This is good. They are simply venting and you should be listening. This does not mean that you throw out everything you’ve learned. No. You should always look for your open targets while

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keeping some distance. Do not let them get into striking distance, but if they do, remember to go to your trusty “hands-up” position (hands up, open, relaxed, and palms forward – gesturing, “I don’t want any trouble”). This acts as a early trigger, protection from a haymaker, and has your hands in a “fight-ready” position.

2. Once you get this person talking you must resist the

temptation to respond to things they say, even if you believe they are absolutely wrong. Let them say what they gotta say and remain silent, while showing that you are listening.

3. Remain neutral, don’t agree, disagree, interrupt or argue

Keep them Talking You’ll want to keep them talking – mainly because a person who stops talking (or ranting) is most likely engaged in an internal dialogue about attacking you. So if the talking stops, initiating more dialogue will allow your opponent to vent, lessening the chances you’ll be hit, and ultimately de-escalating the situation. There’s a number of ways to keep them talking:

1. Encourage the other person to clarify and elaborate. This not only keeps them talking (which keeps them from fighting), but shows that you are listening. It may also help your opponent clarify his own thinking. He just may think “man… am I being an idiot”. But then again… he may not.

2. Directly tell him to keep talking: “Tell me more about it,” “go on,” or “really”. DO NOT challenge his thinking at this point, (“how could you have thought that?”). This will only get him more angry.

3. Remain non-committal, using, ‘uh-huh”, “I see”, etc. Summarize with Feeling

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After the person “runs out of steam,” you should rephrase, in your own words, your understanding of what this person just told you. This is a delicate process and so there’s some definite rules you’ll want to stick to.

1. Summarize, but DO NOT parrot back exactly what they said – this may just irritate them.

2. Reflect their feelings in your summary. This shows that you understand what they said and recognize how they are feeling emotionally. “Okay… you’re mad because I scratched your Harley… and you’re angry because it’s your mom’s, I understand.”

3. Never say: “I know how you feel” even if you think you do. This is a bomb phrase, because your adversary is not interested relating with you – he only wants to be understood.

Be sincere – or at least act sincere.

Acknowledge and Respond Once you get verification (verbal or nonverbal) that you understand their position correctly, then you can respond with your own message. “I really do understand that you care a lot about your girlfriend and are protective of her. I also understand that you are angry that I was looking at her, but I want you to know that I wasn’t looking to challenge you. You’re a lucky man to have a beautiful girlfriend and I didn’t mean any disrespect.” “I understand that you thought I cut you off on purpose, and I would be pissed off too if I thought someone did that to me on purpose. But, it wasn’t on purpose; I just wasn’t paying attention, my apologies.”

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Okay… so far it seems we’re bowing down to this jerk and doing everything we can to look like a wimp. But remember, you are not “submitting” to this emotionally hijacked person, you are simply remaining calm and allowing the emotional outburst to pass. It’s a heck of a lot better than a fight that can wind up with someone in a hospital, jail, or morgue. But -- as I’ve said -- the predator and the bully have other motivations for confronting you than the Emotionally Hijacked. The bully is trying to protect or establish his “social rank” (whereas only total submission by you will work), and the predator has something tangible to gain by attacking you. Think of it like this: if you were about to be attacked by some punk looking for “initiation rights” into a gang – could you “de-escalate” the situation? Could you talk him out of joining that gang? I doubt even Montel Williams could do that. In fact, using de-escalation techniques on this kind of character may actually encourage him onward as he now sees you as a weakling who won’t fight back. Another not-so-nice thought: Even a flawless execution of these de-escalation techniques on an Emotionally Hijacked person may not work. Trust me, you just won’t talk your way out of a physical confrontation if he’s made up his mind to fight you. In light of this you want to always protect yourself in the following manner:

1. Keep your distance. Even if things turn ugly, having space between you and your adversary at least gives you a little time to recognize that things are turning ugly. Like the “hands-up” technique mentioned earlier, distance is a forward trigger. If he tries to close the distance after you establish an appropriate boundary, then you either move in for the attack or flee.

2. Show confidence, not fear or aggression in your voice and body language.

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3. You must discern whether or not he is venting or “building up.” It’s easy to fall into the assumption that “okay, he’s venting… I’ll just give him time to express his emotions, then I’ll continue using my de-escalation techniques.” But, you must determine whether or not he is actually venting. He may be trying to psych himself up enough to fight you. This is where keeping your distance helps you. Your adversary might be angry and yelling and walking toward you. You maintain distance and tell him to “stop right there… we can talk from here.” If he stops and yells, then he is blowing off steam. However, if he ignores your very reasonable request, then its fight or flight.

4. Always have an escape route. Do not get yourself cornered. Remember that you are simply trying to avoid a fight. By getting cornered you have put yourself in a position where if the de-escalation doesn’t work you MUST fight. Always keep the option open, of simply running away. Sprinting is great for your cardiovascular system – and oh… it’ll keep you out of jail too.

So that’s it for Part 5. We’ve covered some major ground here – especially in the range of acting Alpha and avoiding physical combat before it begins.

“Insisting on perfect safety

is for people who don’t have the balls to live in the real world.” – Mary Shafer, NASA Engineer.

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The Ultimate Guide To Fighting and Winning

Part 6

“Let’s Roll!”

-- Todd Beamer Sept. 11 2001, Passenger of United Flight 93

Congratulations… you’ve made it all the way to section SIX of

my Fight Guide. If you’ve read the first five sections… excellent… you already have a damn good idea how to fight and win. If you haven’t read the first five sections, then you’re in the wrong place – you need to get the first five sections HERE.)

Okay… you may feel you’ve got this nailed down… but hold on! You don’t know it all yet. I’ve got plenty more critical tips and tricks for you – so let’s stop wasting time, roll up our sleeves and get started.

“Never do an enemy a small injury.”

– Machiavelli

Altercation vs. Personal Combat Now, I haven’t really discussed this, but it’s time. The difference between Personal Combat (a truly life-threatening fight) and a simple altercation. An Altercation is where you’re life is not necessarily in danger – but you are still in a physical confrontation. It’s more of a situation where you need to control and restrain. An example might be your

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drunken brother-in-law who needs to “escorted” out of the house because he’s table-dancing with a lampshade on his head… or the neighbor who’s upset because your dog “unloaded” in his yard… or any situation where shattering your opponent’s nose with a vicious head-butt would be considered “over the top.” And that’s the problem. Spending precious time pondering whether or not you’re in an altercation or a real-to-goodness fight leaves you wide open. It’s all squishy “gray area” – and we don’t want gray area. Why? Because (as I keep pounding home again and again)… winning a fight absolutely depends on instant decisions. Go or no-go. Fight or flight. Yes or no. Wishy-washy indecision is your enemy. Black and white decisions are where it’s at. But thankfully there’s an answer for this altercation problem – and it allows you to act decisively without fear of killing your obnoxious buddy. I’ve documented (and have produced a number of detailed DVD packages) that cover very specific fighting styles and techniques designed to “control and restrain”. In fact it’s what cops, bouncers and security officers often use to subdue or detain an individual with the least amount of damage. This is good stuff. There’s few things in life more powerful than taking charge of a volatile situation without hurting and maiming people. Think about it – cops, bouncers, correctional officers and the like cannot simply “take out” their adversary with the kind of vicious disregard that we’ve been talking about throughout this book. Nope… no head butts, no brutal kicks to the knee, no bone-shattering hammer blows. Sorry… no can do. They’re legally obligated to control the subject with the least amount of damage.

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But before you get too happy about contain-and-control tactics – I want to point out a downside. This type of fighting takes more training, is more difficult to implement, and puts you at greater risk for injury. Why? Because it’s a heck of a lot easier to simply glance over your opponent’s open targets then attack them viciously with complete disregard for his safety. Now, a good way to tell if you’re in an altercation or an actual “personal combat” situation is to look to your gut (no, don’t look down at your stomach). Your intuition. If you’re experiencing a huge adrenal dump and all the signals of “fight and flight,” you need to trust that and know you’re in a situation that requires total commitment on a level that ultimately could prove lethal. Irritation and a slightly elevated heart rate on the other hand is telling you you’re in an altercation. Only YOU will know. The trick here is to listen to what your body is telling you. Like I said, I’ve personally developed a number of excellent “cop-training” products designed specifically around the idea of contain, control, and comply. Correctional officer Tony Walker (who works in one of this country’s most violent detention facilities) has an astonishing collection of specific control and pain compliance techniques that are perfect for altercations. It’s called “Quiet Man’s Fighting System” We’ve also produced a DVD package with police officer Mike Gillette (who created quite a name for himself busting up huge meth labs) demonstrating dozens of highly effective control and comply techniques. And of course Mike Serr (the well-known bar bouncer) developed and his famous “Finger Magic” -- designed to quickly and quietly escort an unruly drunk out of an establishment without a big scene.

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Here’s another way to look at it. If your answer to the question “Am I Willing To Hurt This Person?” is “No,” then you’re in an “altercation” situation that probably will require “control” tactics. It’s why you must have your decision points well developed before you actually find yourself this type of situation. And speaking of which, let’s move onto more questions that will help you develop your decision points and internal triggers.

“Whoever said the pen was mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.”

– General Douglas MacArthur

Developing Your Internal Triggers: Picture this. An electrician is standing on a step-ladder working on a ceiling light. There’s bare wires exposed and he asks you “Is the light switch turned off?”. What’d think would be his reaction if your answer was “well… kind of…”? He’d probably get off the ladder and check for himself. He can’t put his safety on the line. The switch is either on or it’s off. There’s no gray area about it. That’s exactly how you need to think about your “Internal Triggers”. You set up your switches beforehand and when one of them is tripped, you automatically take some kind of action. The point is to be mentally prepared with personal guidelines in place to deal with a confrontation BEFORE it ever takes place. Grappling with these questions during a confrontation is like trying to “figure out” where the rip-chord is after you’ve jumped from the plane (“hmmm… where is that darn thing…”) Yeah… you got it… splat.

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So I’ve developed a list of questions that are a good way for you to start laying the groundwork for your internal triggers. Take your time and think through scenarios. Make up your mind about what would trip your trigger and what you’d do… then solidify your decisions and internalize them. Because my own research – as well as my own life experiences -- shows that “lack of confidence” is actually a “lack of knowing what to do”. Think about that for a moment. Consider the things in your life that make you feel insecure. Doesn’t it almost always boil down to simply not knowing exactly what to do? Be honest with yourself. Because it’s impossible for this book… a video… or any form of man or beast to change you into the kind of confident, decisive man you want to be -- without your cooperation. So I developed the following questions – and I want you to dig deep on these. This is where “knowing exactly what to do” begins. It transcends fighting because it develops a sense of “knowing exactly what do to” that touches every aspect of your life. People will start noticing “something different” about you. They can’t quite put their finger on it, but they like what they see.

1. What’s worth fighting for? We tend to be committed if the reason is “bigger” than us. Stuff like protecting a child… a woman crying for help… a family member in danger. These are bread-and-butter reasons for which most guys are willing to fight. But – like I suggested – you’ve got to “dig deeper”. It’d be nice if the world was this black and white. You’ve got to ferret out those gray areas and turn them into black and white in your own mind. Don’t leave this to chance. Start the process. Do you fight when

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insulted? How bad does the insult have to be? What about verbal threats? Now I personally know enough about “taking care of business” to seriously hurt (even kill) someone if absolutely necessary. I’ve got nothing to prove, so I don’t fight over embarrassments or slights. If I’m insulted I stay cool… perform a quick inventory of his open targets… check for anything in his hands… glance around for any of his “buddies”… escape routes… nearby “improvised weapon”… recheck open targets… and so on. I occasionally smile. He has no idea. I like that. I don’t reveal my cards until it’s absolutely necessary, and in most cases it’s never necessary. There are a lot of idiots that aren’t worth my time (or yours). I leave it at that. On the other hand, if I were in the position of platoon sergeant ordered to lead men up “hamburger hill” under heavy fire, then simply shrugging off a direct insult would most definitely damage my ability to lead. I would fight (and risk death) against any man challenging me at that moment only because of the incredibly high stakes involved. My point is that fighting for dignity is not something that can always be dismissed. Of course that leads to the question…

2. When is “saving face” worth fighting for? As I’ve suggested on more than one occasion, there are times when maintaining “Alpha” leadership and control are imperative. Cops, soldiers, high-level management, and other such situations require that you can command a place in your subordinates mind. This standing or authority can be easily shattered by “backing down”

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when challenged and so sometimes fighting is necessary if you want to maintain that status. It’s called “protecting future loss”. Let me give you another example. “Dennis” (this is a true story) is a senior fire fighter responsible for “managing” the response crew at the scene of 911 emergencies. He and the crew face dangerous and volatile situations where people can and DO get killed. Fires, health crises, chemical spills, shootings, car accidents, you name it, they respond to it. So it’s imperative that police, paramedics, and especially his fellow firefighters follow his orders without question. It isn’t some cool “macho” game – this is absolutely necessary. Without a clear “pecking order” of decision-makers, chaos, panic and death can easily rule the day in an emergency. This isn’t theory. Okay… so during a dinner at the firehouse, one young rookie fireman (a “big dumb kid” as he was described) made numerous subtle cutting remarks to Dennis. Hmmm… seems innocent enough. A couple of good natured “put-downs” to add some light humor to the firehouse. Much of the crew laughed along with the jokes… and even Dennis chuckled at bit. Problem was that the rookie continued on… and wandered over an “invisible” line. Without warning Dennis suddenly slammed him into the lockers with a choking forearm to his throat. The crew shut-up… the shocked rookie struggled, squirmed, and apologized… and a few awkward moments later order was restored. But the question still remains… was risking an all-out fight with a larger younger firefighter worth the risk? Dennis thought so. There was a direct challenge to his authority and doing nothing would have eroded and damaged his standing with the crew. He needed to act quickly reestablished who giving

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orders and who was taking them. Dennis was willing to risk death or permanent injury to “protect future loss”. It’s important remember that the young rookie could have fought back fiercely. Even a fight that starts with playful banter can end in permanent injury or death. With that in mind, go through a list of scenarios and predetermine situations in which you would fight. Protecting loved ones is clearly something most guys are willing to risk fighting for. Protecting “future loss” is not always as clear. 3. Who will suffer if I do nothing? Most guys understand that there can be serious consequences to fighting, but what about doing nothing? First of all, the phrase “doing nothing” sounds as if you’re an invisible man making no decision at all – allowing the winds of fates to simply roam the universe freely. Wrong -- don’t fall into that quicksand. As it pertains to fighting “doing nothing” is an active decision to not challenge another person. Doing nothing IS a decision… not the absence of one. You’re simply choosing to do nothing. Sometimes doing nothing is a great decision… sometimes not. Start breaking down certain situations, determining where “doing nothing” is wise or when it could get you or loved ones hurt of killed. What if an adversary is holding a family member hostage? “Doing something” -- such as hastily charging the hostage-taker -- may get your loved one (or you) killed. But what if he then attempts to pull them into a car? Well, few people return alive from that kind of abduction, so doing nothing is not a great option. Start breaking down and categorizing those gray areas into on/off switches or “triggers”. Black or white. Yes or no. Go or no-go. 4. Who am I responsible for?

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Another thing to consider is who will be affected by you being permanently injured or killed in a fight. I’m trying to give a wake up call here. I had a friend – a big guy – who played “John Wayne” and broke up a fight between two little guys -- both of whom wanted to fight. His reward for getting involved? He had the ligaments of his knee completely torn apart by a kick. Turns out that one of the “little” guys was a Muay Thai kickboxer. In the end my friend had to undergo many painful surgeries and the loss of his job. If you asked him today if getting involved was worth it he’d answer -- without pause -- “no.” It was poor decision because the fight was between two people who wanted to fight. It wasn’t a good choice to get involved. Remember that your decision will affect your entire family.

5. When is protecting my personal freedom important to me? Okay… I’m not talking about fighting Communism here. Let me give you an example. You’re sitting at a coffee shop with your family when some punk approaches and says that “that table is my favorite. You’d better move.” I personally know a LOT of guys who’d fight in that scenario. But, let’s give a little twist to this. Let’s say the same punk approached you with a GUN in hand while demanding that you move from the table. Suddenly, retaining that table doesn’t seem so important, does it? Well, that’s the way you’ve got to start looking at this. How did you know in the first scenario that the man wasn’t armed? You don’t. Now, there’s no right or wrong answer here. I only want you to consider why you wouldn’t give up that table in one situation, but you would in another.

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Now, we are by nature social animals, so saving face and protecting your personal freedoms may be extremely important at times. But let me give you another example. My son’s 14-year-old friend “Bobby” was confronted by a bully on a number occasions and decided that running and telling the authorities was the thing to do. It got the bully and some of his friends suspended from school, which made them very angry. The result was more harassment and threats -- which led to yet another suspension from school. That got them even MORE angry… which led them to harass even more… Okay, I’ll bet you’re getting the idea. This situation had escalated so far out of control that it soon became clear to Bobby he could be hurt or killed – especially considering that many of today’s young people are willing to use lethal violence. So, was the initial choice not to fight the right one? Well, only Bobby can answer that one. It’s not always clear cut. This is another example of “protecting future loss”.

6. Am I willing to hurt this person? I don’t ask this to create a sense of bravado (“you’re damn right I’ll hurt him”) but to help you with the instant decisions you’ve got to make during a confrontation. In a dangerous street confrontation, if you answer “no” to this question then your plan had better be to escape. Because how can you possibly “commit” to kind of “disregard for his well-being” that’s required to win a street fight. You can’t. And since this is a “dangerous street confrontation” I wouldn’t use “control and constrain tactics” in this scenario unless you have a damn good reason – like you’re a cop making an arrest or something. On the other hand if your answer “yes,” then you can move forward with your plan of attack.

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And finally, if you’re answer is “I dunno”, then is sounds like you’re deciding to “do nothing” – which means you’ll be unable to commit to running or fighting. This is the worst of all positions to be in. In the end, having clearly defined Internal Triggers allows you to build pre-determine decision points on what you’d do in certain situations. Have your parachute prepared before you get on the plane. This is the key to opening the door on a new sense of confidence.

“If you have a strong enough ‘why’

you can bear almost any ‘how’.” – Nietzshe.

The “Other” Category of Self Defense Okay… so far I’ve yakked quite a bit about three self defense categories including: 1.) Pre-emptive Attacks (you hit first)… 2.) Counter Attacks (you hit back)… 3.) Escape and Evade (you get the hell outta there). But I have not touched the fourth category of self defense -- Personal Security. Personal Security We can never be perfectly safe – even in our own homes – but there are measures we can take to lessen the odds of being confronted by a dangerous criminal in our home or car. Sure, you can get those odds near zero by locking yourself inside a steel cage with hair-triggered claymore mines planted around you, but that can lead to a mess. Better to take a few simple easy steps that don’t require explosives. Here are some ideas: Home:

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Research shows that people who are willing to take some simple action rarely have trouble with their home being robbed or burglarized. Remember that the typical individual willing to break into your home is almost always a “Predator” – and a Predator is far more likely than the “Bully” or the “Emotionally Highjacked”. And (if you recall), of the three the Predator is the most likely to “scope out” his victims and the least likely to get involved if he feels there’s a chance he will be caught, injured or killed. This is why the following “Personal Security” steps work so well – the Predator is simply wary of anything that will put him in jeopardy.

1. Burglar Alarm. Have simple alarm system with a motion detector alarm and motion detector lights around your home. The price of a system can be amazingly cheap.

2. A Dog. A BIG dog if possible. Research proves that this is one of the best deterrents – even better than a burglar alarm – because of the noise and potential danger of being bitten. But a small “yapper” is effective too as it alerts everyone in the house that there is an intruder. Some apartment dwellers in big cities even found that using a recorded dog bark hooked to a motion detector was highly effective in keeping burglars away.

3. Look Occupied. When you leave home, keep a radio tuned to a 24-hour talk station and keep a couple lights turned on inside the house. A predator will rarely want to break into a home he feels is occupied with awake and alert people.

4. Sound Occupied. Your answering machine should never inform a caller that you are out but instead that you “can’t take the call right now”. Don’t give out a bunch of information that you wouldn’t want in the hands of a predator (“Hi… this is Tammy. I’m alone for the weekend counting a lot of cash, so I can’t get to the phone right now…”). Okay, you get the idea. Better to simply say something like “You’ve reached (phone number), please leave a message.” Avoid names and details.

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5. No Place To Hide. Keep the shrubs next to your house trimmed in a way that makes it difficult for someone to hide.

6. Got Light? Keep flash lights in several places throughout your home. Have one that illuminates well and at least one that doesn’t require batteries (you shake or crank them).

7. Peep Hole: Use a door peep hole or a video security camera to see who’s at your front door without having to open the door or being seen or heard. Depending on door chains for your security is a mistake as they are easily broken by a motivated intruder

8. Trust your instincts; do not allow anyone into your home if you are the least bit suspicious.

9. Hidden Keys: Bad idea to hide house keys outside your home as Predators can be cunning creatures. They may see you hiding or retrieving the key, or may simply “figure out” your hiding spot (which is why you should forget about the “under the matt” spot). Give a spare key to a trusted neighbor.

10. Lock Up. It’s common for people to lock their home when they leave… but not when they stay. Always keep doors locked -- even when you or your family members are home

11. Good Locks. Install good locks in all your entrances (deadbolts are best) and secure all windows with locks as rarely will an intruder break a window for entry. Too much noise and potential for injury.

12. Cell Phone: Don’t depend on a “land line” phone as the wires can be cut. Always have a charged cell phone within easy reach next to your bed.

13. Power Protection: It’s a good idea to lock your breaker box as clever robbers and rapists like to simply pop off the main breaker before breaking into your home.

14. Light Up The House. Have an electrician install a master switch in your bedroom so that you can turn on all the main lights in your house without having to turn on your

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bedroom light. This allows you a place to hide… but not the Predator.

15. Click-Clack. There’s nothing that scares a Predator more than the sound of a shotgun being locked and loaded. A simple loaded shotgun under the bed at night, is a great deterrent, it should be kept in a secure place during the day, out of reach of children (even if you don’t have children). Shotguns are easy to master -- do yourself a favor and take a class.

16. Practice. Rehearse drills for yourself and your family members for fire, home invasion, and other emergencies.

Automobiles: 1. Keep It Locked. Always keep doors locked when driving. This

not only keeps you from being flung onto hard asphalt during an accident, but stops someone from simply hoping into your car at a stoplight. Whenever you leave your car unattended – even for a minute – lock the doors. This avoids any “surprise” visitors popping up from the back seat.

2. Ready Position. The highest risk in car jacking is as you approach or exit your vehicle, so have your keys ready as you approach your car. Look around to make sure all is safe and get into your vehicle quickly. Standing at your car fumbling in your pocket and distracted by keys is unsafe.

3. Shed Some Light. Always check the back seat before getting into the car. Keep a small “LED” thumb light on your key ring so that you can check through the window at night.

4. Shed More Light. Always park your car in well lit areas. 5. Don’t Get In The Car. Do not allow yourself or a loved one to

be taken into a car by force – even if you’re threatened with a gun or knife. You’re far better off taking your chances NOT getting into the car as crime statistics clearly show that the survival rate of car abductions is very small.

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6. When coming to a stop in traffic (signal, stop sign, or traffic back up) always give yourself “wiggle” room between you and the car in front of you (at least ¾ of a car length).

7. Do not let a suspicious car follow you home. There is a strong urge to get to safety if you believe your being followed, resist the temptation to head for home instead go to the nearest police station or fire station.

8. Consider installing an automatic garage door opener and motion sensor lights in your drive way. As you pull up to your drive way make sure there is no one suspicious near by, and as you pull into your garage check to make no one is hiding in wait, as you close the garage watch your rear view mirror (a common trick is to wait in hiding somewhere close to the garage and then to enter the garage as its being closed)

9. Never, ever allow yourself to run out of gas. Consider a ¼ tank to be an empty tank

Pepper Spray

I can honestly say that pepper spray is often overlooked and under-rated as personal security device. Make no mistake – it is a powerful weapon that has many benefits without the kind of legal baggage that of knives, guns, and stun guns, and kubotans. If your state and county laws allow the purchase and carry of pepper spray do yourself a favor and seriously consider this.. Here are some advantages of Pepper Spray:

1) Ease of use- pepper spray requires minimal training and maintenance. Its small size makes it easy to carry and conceal

2) Less risk of liability- It is considered non-lethal and has a low risk of permanent injury.

3) Quicker trigger – It encourages less hesitation. Using lethal force such as a gun, knife, or club requires a

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fairly high bar of provocation, which often causes the defender to hesitate too long. Pepper spray is non-lethal so you are more likely to use it without hesitation. It also gives you more flexibility and keeps more options open for you since it can be used when force is necessary, but lethal force is not.

4) Distance- Pepper spray can be used from a distance -- up to 20 feet with some units -- unlike a knife, a stun gun, or a kubaton. This can afford you more time to run or engage.

5) Highly effective- The historical data on pepper spray shows an excellent history of success by law enforcement, security personnel, and civilians. This isn’t some kind of experimental weapon anymore – it’s PROVEN to work and many times save injury to both parties as it eliminates the need to “duke it out”.

Most of the documented cases of the use of pepper spray have been overwhelmingly positive. The success in civilian use seems to show a higher reported success rate compared to police use, (although both are high). I suspect there are three possible reasons for this:

1) To avoid collateral exposure to bystanders police tend to use pepper spray that has a stream or foam delivery system. Although this does keep overspray to a minimum, the poor atomization of this type of delivery system lowers its effectiveness.

2) Police officers are usually required to warn the suspect before using the spray. This takes the element of surprise away, the person resisting arrest now knows what’s coming and can “psyche up” for it. On the other hand, a person who isn’t expecting it, suddenly has his eyes on fire, lips burning and difficultly to breathing. The emotional shock is

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powerful. Advance warning removes the shock effect.

3) As we’ve discussed, the objectives are different for police as compared to civilians. When dealing with hostile situations police must contain, control, and comply (the 3 C’s). A highly motivated person can still resist officers’ attempts to restrain them even while in pain and lack of vision. But your main objective is to simply “end the threat”. Believe me, a shot in the face with pepper spray will end the threat. Now get the heck out of there.

The type of spray you choose is important. Here are some tips on selecting pepper spray:

1) Pepper spray can be rated in two different ways; one is the OC percentage in relation to the other ingredients. “OC” is oleoresin capsicum – the stuff that makes pepper spray burn. The other way to rate the effectiveness is the Scoville Heat Units or SHU. The SHU measures the “hotness” while the OC% measures the concentration. What I want you to remember is that the SHU is much more important than the OC%. High OC% tends to be thicker and more difficult to atomize (disperse) making it less effective in attacking the mucous membranes and respiratory systems. High SHU with a lower OC% will be faster acting, and will “feel” much hotter to the attacker. Choose a spray with a minimum of 2,000,000 SHU (some go as high as 5 million SHU). If the SHU is not listed don’t buy it. Also make sure it has an expiation date on it, over time pepper spray looses its strength.

2) The delivery system is almost as important as the SHU. Pepper sprays come in Stream, Foam, Fog, and Cone. As mentioned previously, police and

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security prefer for to use stream or foam because there is less risk to bystanders. The fog has the highest level of overspray, but is the quickest acting. I personally prefer the cone spray since it’s as fast acting as the fog, but somewhat limits overspray. A good compromise.

3) Pepper spray comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. If you want it for personal carrying, select a small container that fits easily in your pocket. Like any personal weapon it must be immediately available or it’s of no use. If you keep it in your trunk, the car-jacker will not wait for you to retrieve it. You can use Velcro to mount pepper spray for in easy access in your car.

Even though peeper spray requires minimal training you still need to learn how to use it for maximum advantage. Take a course (check with your local police department) or consider purchasing our training DVD. Purchase a training spray, it works like a regular spray except it sprays water.

Alright -- that’s a wrap for Part 6. There’s more coming your way… so keep your eyes peeled.

“We make war that we may live in peace.”

– Aristole

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The Ultimate Guide To Fighting and Winning

Part 7

“A desire to resist oppression

is implanted in the nature of man.” – Tacitus

You’ve made it to the final chapter… congratulations. But before you get too excited, you don’t know everything yet… there’s plenty more. Let’s take a look at how you can begin to take what you’ve learned so far and develop a fight system that fits you like a glove. Now here’s where begin to suggest specific DVD packages, but I don’t want to confuse you with the dozens and dozens of packages I’ve got available to you (help… which one do I choose) so I’ve put together three packages for you to get you started – a silver, gold and platinum package that will get you up to speed quickly and without a lot of fuss. Anyway, some of this material you’ll recognize as we’ve already covered it earlier. I did this only because I want you to putting together the pieces into a cohesive picture. But before I say anything more, let’s first talk more about how you can build your own personal combat system. Here we go…

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“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.”

– Benjamin Franklin.

Designing a Personal Combat System At this point you probably know more about fighting and winning than MOST guys. But that’s not good enough. Ultimately you’ll want to end up in a place where you’ve designed your very own personal combat system. One custom made just for you. The good news is that without a lot of trouble you can take it to the “next level” – essentially becoming a black belt level fighter very quickly and without much training. Our extensive DVD instructional library allows you a unique opportunity to pick and choose from dozens of instructors – all of whom were personally hand-picked by me for their unique abilities, experience, and ability to teach. I created this library because up until this point it was virtually impossible for guys like you to be taught by any one of these instructors. Most are well respected, fighting men who lead dangerous lives as spec op “black bag” soldiers, hardened street brawlers, experienced cage fighters, or the like. And let’s say you DID manage to get a hold of one of these fight instructors (and convinced him not to kill you), the cost and time involved would make little sense. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel my friend. Everything you need to build your own personal combat system has already been created for you.

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The first step in designing your own personal fighting system is to break up the fight into its component parts. Now a fight is a fluid state. It simply cannot be artificially dissected into parts and still be a fight -- so breaking it down into its component parts is a compromise. Never-the-less we need to do it to clarify some points.

Fighting Ranges -- A fight can be roughly divided into 4 Fighting Ranges. I’ve got a lot of good DVD packages explaining this in detail including:

a. Paul Vunak’s “Street Safe I” package… b. Tom Cruise’s “How To Build A Streetfighter In 40

Hours”… c. Frank Cucci’s “Seal Team Unarmed Combat Course”

package. You’ll discover dozens of fighting range secrets that would be impossible for me to fully cover here – but here’s a quick idea of some hand-to-hand fighting ranges: 1. Weapons Range: This distance represents the reach of a

club, knife, gun, pepper spray, or improvised weapon. Obviously there’s a LOT you need to consider for anyone armed with a weapon. For example, police officers consider anyone armed with a knife is a lethal threat anywhere within 30 feet. Now that may seem like a huge distance, but research has PROVEN over and over that a determined person armed with a knife can close a distance of 30 feet and inflict lethal wounds before an officer can draw his weapon and shoot.

There are some more surprises – like when you should charge an assailant armed with a gun (and when you shouldn’t)… how you can easily disarm a weapon… when to run like hell (and when to hold your ground)… and tons of improvised weapons tricks (you gotta see how Bob Taylor

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throws a sticks a simple paperclip in “Dead Eye Power Throwing”) that will get you out of most hairy situations.

2. Striking Range: This is the distance you can reach someone with an arm or a leg and is the fighting range that most martial arts deal seemed concerned with. There are many tools and nasty tricks you can use from this range and my little company has produced many excellent DVD instructional packages addressing this fighting range including:

a. Russian “super soldier” Vladimir Vasiliev’s “Russian Fighting System…

b. Christophe Clugston’s “Combat JKD” c. Mike Goldbach’s “3 Fighting Secrets”

3. Close in Range: Sometimes called the “trapping range” this is within a foot of your opponent and it’s where you’ll be able to end a fight within seconds using such simple moves as head butts, knees, and elbows. These are high-damage moves that can mean hospitalization, permanent injury or death for your adversary, so use them wisely and be careful when practicing (I’ve seen well-trained fighters get knocked unconscious while “practicing” these moves).

Curiously, many martial arts don’t have many tactics that cover this fighting range, but in terms of ending a fight fast, the Close-In Range is where it’s at. The problem is the transition from Striking Range to Close-in Range because it’s unlikely your adversary will allow you to simply walk up to within one foot without striking you. But the good news is there are dozens of transition tricks to get you into position for a “lights out” finishing move. Some of my favorites are:

a. Paul Vunak’s “Street Safe I” package… b. Jim West’s “Fight To Win” package…

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c. James Painter’s “Rock N Roll Prison Fighting” system…

4. Ground Range: Often referred to as grappling. Ground

fighting in the real world is NOT the same as what you see in the high school gymnasium or a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) match. I don’t care if you took state championship in wrestling, there are a couple of things you need to consider before willfully taking it to the ground. First, most fights do not take place on padded floors with plenty of open space. Nope, sorry to say that -- unless you’re lucking enough to get into a real fight inside a dojo – you’ll be rolling around on tile, concrete or asphalt with plenty of obstacles to run into. Even if you win you’ll be scraped and bang-up to a bloody pulp.

Another thing, ground fighting often means long minutes tangled together on the ground (anyone who’s watched a wresting or UFC match can attest that it’s a slow methodical process). But on the street you must ALWAYS operate under the assumption that your adversary has various goons and buddies who’d be more than delighted to kick and stomp your head while you’re struggling to get that Full Nelson applied. So there are good reasons you want to end it fast… on your feet. Despite all this, I would recommend that you learn a dozen or so simple but effective ground moves because any fight that lasts more than 12 seconds almost always goes to the ground. So you’ve got no choice but to discover some tricks that’ll get you out of a pinch. I’ve got a few recommendations for you that’ll either let you end it on the ground fast, or get him off of you instantly:

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a. Ultimate Ground Fighting – with Sharam Moosavi. Dozens of solid groundfighting secrets that work on the street.

b. Escape From Impossible Holds – with Mark Hatmaker. A ton of material that will allow you to escape quickly from even the most experienced ground fighting holds.

c. Paul Vunak’s “Street Safe III” – Advanced (but easy to learn) moves designed to get him off you quickly. This is very ugly material that you’ll only want to use in a desperate situation.

Alright… I can already hear an uproar from the black-belt crowd screaming that these four “ranges” do not cover the multitude of ranges often taught in martial arts. That’s right… some fight systems teach 5, 6, 7 ranges and more. There’s the “Kicking Range” and a “Punching Range”, a “Trapping Range”… some utilize a “Short Weapons Range” and a “Long Weapons Range” and on and on. This is all fine. My only point is that you consider (but not over think) your use of space in obvious ways. Because I don’t care how well-trained you are in a particular punch – it won’t work if your adversary is fifteen feet away. Yes… another of my classic ridiculous examples, but you get my point. On the other hand I’ve seen some fight systems hinge so tightly on “fighting ranges” that it becomes a pre-occupation for the fighter (“am I within 2.5 feet?... okay… time to retool myself from kicking range to punching range”). Again… you haven’t got time to “think” about various tactics, ranges, and techniques. You simply must keep target awareness then use the most appropriate tool to strike.

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Fighting Tools – Think of this like a carpenter – to get the job done he uses three basic tools – a table saw, a planer, and a nail gun. Yes there are a ton of other tools he’ll want at his disposal, but without these essentials he won’t even be able to get started. So in general, there are 3 groups of hand-to-hand Fighting Tools available to you – and within each group there are a bunch of options available to you. They are:

1. Strikes: These are offensive moves that include kicking, punching, head butts, elbows and knees. With all the variations available there are literally thousands of such moves to choose from – which can get confusing. But no worries, I’ve done all the work of sorting through this material for you. I’d recommend the following DVD packages:

a. Glenn Boodry’s “Real World” Advanced Package… b. Bruce Drago’s “Hardcore Street Scenerios” package… c. Dale Comstock’s “American Combat Karate package…

2. Blocks/Checks: Essentially these are defensive moves. Once again, there are simply so many parrying, redirection, and stopping maneuvers available that I couldn’t possibly cover them all here. So again, one of the big problems for guys like you is sifting through tons of dirt and sand to discover those valuable golden nuggets. But don’t fret, there’s no need for any heavy digging – I’ve done all that for you. Here are some packages specifically designed to demonstrated advanced (but simple to learn) blocks and checks:

a. Ray Ellingson’s “Untouchables” package… b. Larry Wick’s “Tactical Street Survival” package… c. Gabe Garcia’s “Mean Streets” package…

Okay… understanding defensive moves is important, but it’s more important to remember that if you’re blocking, you’re not attacking. That’s not the position you want to be in. Your

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odds of winning are greatly increased if you are on the offensive and forcing your opponent to defend himself. All these packages deal with using defensive moves as a method to turn the tables and take the attack to your opponent.

3. Manipulations: This includes offensive throws, joint locks,

breaks, choke holds and escapes. There is plenty for you to choose from here, including:

a. Tony Walker’s “Street Survival”… b. Mike Gillette’s “Cop Fighting Skills”… c. Mark Parra’s “Brutal Headbustin Secrets”…

A lot of manipulation techniques boil down to pain compliance and “control and contain” tactics. This is extremely popular among anyone who makes their living in law enforcement and security as their goal is to control people and not necessarily “end the threat”. I would recommend learning these techniques for the kind of “altercations” I talked about earlier – where you need to control someone without causing too much damage.

Remember, there’s no need to get confused about which package you should get. You can either customize and build your own personal combat system from scratch or simply trust me on this and choose from my

1. Silver Pak… 2. Gold Pak… 3. Platinum Pak.

Now I touched on this earlier, but what the heck, I’ll bring it up again. You want to have as many “tools” available to you as possible. Yes, I’m sure you heard certain “experts” claim that having multiple fighting tools will “overwhelm” you in a fight. Nonsense. The more fighting tools and skill sets you have available to you, the more target opportunities you’ll have at your disposal and the sooner they will appear.

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Think of it like working on a car. You’ll want more than an adjustable wrench and a hammer with you (although I DID once replace a water pump like that… which I don’t recommend). The more tools you’ve got, the more options you’ll have to get the job done. It’s that simple. Because as I’ve already mentioned, the typical untrained street fighter really has just two effective tools -- a right haymaker to the head and a left haymaker to the head. (Wow… what a cornucopia of moves). So when it comes to target awareness and fighting ranges this guy is left asking “is my opponents head open now? Am I in range for a haymaker?” That’s a rather limited menu of options. Whoever is suggesting that this is a good thing doesn’t understand the nature real-world fighting. You want options. Having more options does not mean more decisions, just more opportunities. Now I want to talk a little about the “dialogue” in your head for choosing your target and the appropriate tool. This has more to do with “knowing” and less about carrying on a well-structured conversation in your head. It leans heavily on intuition, feelings, flashing words, and images. Your brain should work in a kind of short hand with decisions made in fractions of a second. Anyway… when it comes down to it there are 3 Fighting Skill Sets you’ll need:

1. Initiating Skills – Extremely important to practice since your best chance at winning means initiating a pre-emptive or counter attack. As we’ve discussed at length there are definite skills and triggers you’ll need to know and you can discover more in Jesse Lechuga’s “Hwa Rang Sul”.

2. Control of Space Skills – this includes knowledge about fighting ranges, what kind of stance you’ll need, how to use

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concealment and cover (useful if your adversary is armed), and a variety of fluid movement techniques as demonstrated in such packages as demonstrated in “John Nottingham’s Viper”.

3. Entering Skills – Entering Skills refer to techniques and skills that allow you to close into your attacker without getting hit. This is an important skill since many of the most devastating tools in street fight are in Close Range. You’ll need to know a variety of dirty tricks, distractions, and feint strategies like that demonstrated in “Bob Taylor’s Small Man’s Advantage”.

Again… it’s important to remember that a fight is a fluid state – a constant state of flux -- that does not translate well into broken-down and overanalyzed components (hmm… let’s see, he’s 15 inches away at this moment -- which means he’s in trapping range… which means I think I can use an ear slap… oh wait… darn it… he’s moved). No way. A fight is more of a wham… bam… bam… bam-bam… and it over. Everything’s got to be automatic. I’ve seen too many “book taught” fighters get lulled into a false sense of security because they compartmentalize fighting – thinking about it in separate and individuals components. When a real fight hits their shocked at how fast and fluid it is. So I’ve set up some tips that’ll help. Use them as a guide to combine real-world fighting tools from all 4 ranges.

1. Make sure you have learned multiple options in each of the Fighting Skill Sets.

2. Choose fighting tools that are effective (high probability of success), that feel natural (based on natural body movements), rely on gross motor skills (which means they won’t deteriorate under stress), and are easy to maintain.

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3. The more tools you are willing to learn and master for each range, the more options you’ll have in crunch time.

4. Learn at least 6 to 12 fighting tools for each fighting range. If you are in a profession that deals continually with violent confrontations you’ll want to expand that fighting tool repertoire.

5. For the striking range it’s a good idea to learn at least 2 to 4 techniques from each of the three categories of fighting tools (strikes, blocks, and manipulations). Always put more emphasis on strikes rather than on blocks or manipulations, unless you are in a professional law enforcement or security occupation.

6. Read this book several times and commit it to memory – it’ll give you the structure and the foundation to build your own Personal Combat system.

7. When studying our training DVD’s, add the techniques and tactics that fit you best. Every person is built differently, so you don’t want to use anything that seems unnatural or clumsy for you. All the techniques taught by our team of instructors pass our rigorous standards of high effectiveness and consistency. This is stuff that actually works – which means that building your own combat system becomes a matter of choosing what works best for you. If it seems to “fit” you, it will usually be easier to learn.

8. Apply the 80/20 rule. I’ve explained all about this concept below.

“A warrior may choose pacifism. Others are condemned to it.”

– unknown

The 80/20 Principle

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This principle states that 80% of the consequences stem from 20% of the causes. Now of course this isn’t a hard and fast rule -- it’s more like a rule of thumb – but it can have powerful consequences. Let me see if I can clarify this for you with an example. The Japanese used the 80/20 principle to concentrate 80% of their efforts on just 20% of the industrial cycle – that cycle being production costs and quality control. By focusing on a small but important sector – and doing a better job than any of their competitors – the Japanese lowered their cost of production while at the same time raising the quality of their product. The result? Well nothing too big… just one of the world’s most powerful economies. Okay, so what does this production and economic talk all have to do with fighting? Well just this. This 80/20 rule transcends into more than just industry – it permeates everything in life. So when developing your own personal fighting system, you’ll want to look to those techniques that have the absolute highest probability for success and lowest required maintenance time. This is what will drive your success. When turning to DVDs for instruction, Fight-Fast has sought out teachers that focus their efforts on the fighting side of martial arts -- not the “art” side. I have personally run across plenty of instructors who claim that their training is suitable for the “street” when the simple truth is that it is not. At Fight-Fast we’ve already done the hard work for you by seeking out instructors based on their real-world talents, experience and ability to teach -- not necessarily what level “belt rank” they’ve achieved or the lineage of instructors they’ve studied under.

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Once again, you’ll be concentrating the vast majority of your efforts -- 80% -- on the 20% of tactics and techniques that will do you the most good – the ol’ 80/20 rule working for you! Four Methods Of Obtaining Your Objective: Too many guys think that learning how to win a fight means that your objective must be fighting. Wrong. Your objective is to “end the threat.” There are four ways to end the threat. Here they are:

1. Avert or avoid – This is all about not putting yourself in a dangerous environment to begin with. It’s about being aware of your surroundings. My research has shown that people who frequent violent areas of town often become (for some mysterious reason) victims of violent crimes. So a crime victim might say “I was in a dark back alley near Skid Row at 2 in the morning and I was viciously and unexpectedly attacked by thugs”. Now I ask you… seriously… how much of a victim is he really? The world is not your own personal playground. You must take responsibility for the sticky situations you put yourself in.

Of course people can and DO get into confrontations where they’d least expect it… at ball games… outside work… at the gym… any number innocent places. But it’s a game of calculated chance. Because the odds of running into serious trouble on a street corner ripe with drugs and prostitution is greater than on the steps of a Mormon church on Sunday morning.

Another more subtle form of avoiding a confrontation is how you carry yourself. Proper body language and an air of self-esteem can go a long way in broadcasting to criminals that you’re not an easy mark. Knowing some simple ways to “take care of business” instantly adds a level of self-

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confidence that people recognize. This also leaks into other areas of your life and the confidence will be noticed.

2. De-escalate – I’ve already covered this in excruciating detail

– so I won’t bother to go through de-escalation techniques again except to point out that this is one option to obtain your objection (which is to “end the threat”… remember?)

Let’s review again the three types of opponents you’ll face and when and where you can possibly de-escalate the fight.

a. Bully – There’s little chance at successfully “de-escalating” a confrontation with a bully. He’s interested in dominating you, and at the point of confrontation he may view anything less that dishing out a good ass beating as “backing down”. And bullies don’t typically back down.

b. Predator – You have even less of a chance to successfully de-escalating a confrontation with a predator as once he’s chosen you to be a victim he will not be talked out of it. A predator must simply be convinced as quickly as possible that he’s made a mistake by choosing you as a victim.

c. Badger – An emotionally volatile individual that DOES respond well to specific de-escalation techniques. Of course the trick is to be sure which type of opponent you’re dealing with. If it’s a Badger, try to de-escalate if it’s safe.

3. Escape – This is a highly under-rated consideration. If you’re

not trying to protect yourself, your loved ones, your dignity, freedom or future… then why bother fighting? Avoid the fight completely, or run and get the hell out of there. This should be the FIRST thing you consider.

For example… a Muay Thai kickboxing champion had his car stolen in San Francisco (a true story that made front page

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news). It was ripped off right under his nose as he watched from the front window of his own dojo. He was humiliated and quickly took chase on foot – and amazingly caught up with the car thief at a red light (traffic in San Francisco is very slow indeed). Angry… adrenalin pumping… and in the best fighting shape of his life he yanked open the car door and confronted the car thief… And was immediately shot dead where he stood. Now, when you analyze the situation, there was NO good reason this kickboxer needed to do anything but call the cops and get some paper work filled out. He had insurance, the danger was already passed (the thief was driving away for Pete’s sake), there wasn’t a girlfriend, grandmother, or baby in the car. It was his foolish eagerness to fight and confront a dangerous criminal that ended his one and only life. Learn a lesson from this. Do not be too eager to fight.

4. Disable the Adversary – This is where all the target

acquisition and fighting techniques come into play. I won’t go over all the specific techniques, but I will repeat this: the secret is to quickly pick open targets and then using specific fight techniques to attack those targets – never the other way around. Now notice that I use the word “adversary” and not “attacker.” Here’s why… as we talked about earlier, YOU may be the attacker. Standing around whistling in the wind until a threatening person has the opportunity to define himself as an “attacker” is not a good idea. If you wait until HE is the attacker, it means you’re the defender, which lessens your chance at winning.

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You’ll want keep certain “High Probability Tactics” in mind. These are tips designed to give you a great chance of success in a street fight or personal combat situation.

Eye Contact – Good eye contact demonstrates that you are confident – which can be especially important to convincing an adversary that you will fight back -- not the easy target they were hoping for. You’ll want to break eye contact when the fight is imminent. Instead, look to his hands for weapons then to his chest to determine his movement. The direction of his chest determines from which side he’ll be throwing a haymaker (if he turns to his right, he’ll be throwing a right handed shot). You don’t want to allow eye contact to suck you into his emotional state as it often begins the destructive “internal dialogue”. Instead check for weapons, look for movement, the quickly begin your target acquisition. Distraction – Throwing change on the ground, flipping a cigarette into his face, or a quick jab to the eye can allow you to set up for a devastating first strike or a quick escape. You won’t get any more than a 1-2 seconds head start before your adversary snaps back, so use that time to your advantage – either strike or flee. Larry Wick has a number of quick physical distractions (really amazing) that instantly strips away your opponent’s focus for a second or two. Deception – The purpose is to provide you with an element of surprise. You can’t go wrong with the submissive-looking hands up and ready “forward trigger” position combined with a verbal “hey man… I don’t want to fight”. Good stuff that lulls him into a false sense of security. When you suddenly “lay on the hate” he’ll be thrown back on his heels… panicking and wondering why he ever messed with you.

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“This is the law: The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is

the brain. All else is supplemental.” -- John Steinbeck

Self Defense and the Law First of all I want to be clear -- I’m no lawyer. I can’t give you specific legal advice and this section is not meant to back you up in court or anything like that (“but Bob Pierce said I could cut his throat…”). It is incumbent upon you (and every citizen) to learn the laws in your state as it pertains to self defense. But I do want to take this chance to try and clarify some legal aspects. Take it for what it’s worth. First of all, many of the principles that we teach you in this book have the potential to land you in legal hot water. I’m not trying to back away from one word of what I’ve written -- the purpose of this book is to teach you the principles and tactics that’ll give you the highest probability of surviving a violent confrontation. But it does not give you the best strategies of winning a potential legal battle. Every state in the U.S. has its own specific laws relating to self defense. This is my own non-professional opinion on what the general intent is: Use of force is justified when you reasonably believe that it is necessary for the defense of yourself or others against the immediate or imminent use of unlawful force, and there is no reasonable and apparent avenue of exit. The force used to defend

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yourself must be no more than reasonably required (proportionate) and necessary to stop the immediate threat. Individual state laws differ from this, but I think in general it’s I’m giving you a reasonable opinion. Here are some points that’ll clarify the above statement:

-- “Unlawful Force” means that the attacker is someone other than a police officer or anyone who is legally authorized to give you a beating …

-- “Reasonably Believe” is rather dicey as it leaves you wide

open to the interpretation of the police… prosecution… and the jury. What appears to be a “no-brainer” to you may be twisted beyond all recognition by ambitious lawyers and prosecutors looking for fresh notches on their belt.

-- “Proportionate” means your response should be similar to

the threat. In other words if someone slaps you, you slap back. Shooting him in the head would be considered to be a “disproportionate use of force”.

-- “Immediate Threat” means that the threat of harm is not

something that’ll happen at some future time. This also means that once the attacker is no longer a threat to you, the fight should end. Any final kick to the ribs or parting head stomps will be seen as acting outside the category of immediate threat.

I’ve got a lot of friends who are lawyers and -- speaking off the record (of course) --they’ve given me their own ideas on how best to avoid a criminal or civil lawsuit from fighting:

1. Never hit first. Allow your attacker to get the first strike… 2. Always give clear warning to your attacker before you

defend yourself…

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3. Always match your attackers force with less or equal force…

4. Never stand your ground, retreat to safety regardless if others may be in danger…

5. Your attacker’s life is more important than yours. Show a greater concern for your attacker’s safety than your own…

6. If your attacker falls to the ground, or is temporarily unable to continue his assault, do not continue the counter-attack, stop and assess maybe he will decide to leave or stop the attack…

7. After successfully defending yourself from an attack, do not leave! Stay in the area and wait for authorities to arrive…

8. Use just enough force to do the absolute minimal damage to your attacker and remain “calm and cool” so that you can weigh every action you take with careful deliberation, ( this is the state of mind the jury will be in when they second guess your actions).

This is not a joke. Follow these steps as spelled out by legal experts and you may just stay out of jail – although you’ll lose any fight and probably won’t be able to avoid the hospital or perhaps the morgue.

You can see why I advise guys like you to take responsibility for your own protection and that of your family and let the legal chips fall where they may. Because, despite what anyone says, the legal system is not set up to protect you. Nope. Its function is to put people in jail and -- when it’s your turn on the legal hot seat -- the prosecutor’s job is to do everything he can to get you there.

As I’ve pointed out numerous times, hitting first give you a huge advantage. As you remember, the pre-emptive attack is a core component of winning a fight. If you can, always strike first -- and if possible 2nd, 3rd, and, 4th.

Yet a pre-emptive attack is the riskiest of all categories in terms of legal consequences. The more pro-active you become in defending

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yourself or others from harm, the more you expose yourself to legal action. The earlier you make your personal triggers, the more vulnerable you become to litigation.

Every state has laws giving individuals the right to defend themselves and others from the threat of harm, however some give broader rights than others. And to complicate it more, civil law (take your money) has a different set of standards than criminal law (go to jail). And all of them are open to the interpretation of the local DA’s office (“do we want to prosecute or not?”), presiding judges, and juries.

We’ve all heard horror stories of people reasonably and successfully defending themselves against hostile attacks only to be sued later, or having to defend themselves against criminal charges. There is no winning in these situations. Win or lose you will be out time, money, and expend a large amount of psychic energy.

As unfair as that may seem, it’s the reality of what you’re dealing with.

Reminds me of the story of the armed Good Samaritan who chased off a man trying to rape his neighbor. As was chased off into the night, he screamed to the man that “next time I’ll be back for YOUR wife!” What he didn’t anticipate was that the man chasing him was also an expert marksman who didn’t hesitate to shoot him through the spine. He was permanently paralyzed and a jury convicted the Good Samaritan of using excessive force. The man later said he didn’t regret shooting the attempted rapist because he’d rather spend time in prison than wonder when and if the rapist would return for his wife.

Welcome to life on planet earth. So you have to ask yourself, do you protect yourself from criminals or do you protect yourself from the legal system? Well when it comes to fighting I have some suggestions that may just help you have it both ways.

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Now to the average bystander a “pre-emptive attack” looks like you are the attacker and your adversary is the victim. A witness may never see that a suspicious individual approached you… that you firmly requested him to stop and stay back… that he simply ignored your commands and continued toward you anyway… and that you felt threatened. All this may go completely unnoticed and unreported by a witness.

On the other hand, what the witness does see -- and what he later reports to the police and testifies to in court -- is you that blew out your opponent’s knee with a vicious kick… shattered his collar bone with a “very scary” hammer blow… then knocked him unconscious with a chop to that “poor man’s” neck. Bystanders will often not understand how the events unfolded, so you need to help everyone around you to become good witnesses for you.

Here are some ideas to getting witnesses on your side:

We are all susceptible to “false memories” because the human memory is not a video recorder that accurately captures a stream of event. Nope. Instead we store certain “cues” in “memory nodes” which are associated with other memory nodes of the same approximate time.

When recalling a past event we simply retrieve cues from the various nodes and reconstruct or “fill in the blanks” as best we can. And there are more blanks than cues – so there’s an awful lot of filling in the blanks. Think of it like one of those children’s “follow the dots” pictures. You can construct a rather detailed picture with relatively few dots.

But there are a few problems. First, (as the well respected professor and psychologist Dr. Lotus points out), this follow-the-dots kind of memory is extremely prone to error – especially under stressful conditions. Second, the manner in which a person is questioned after an emotional event can (and does) alter memory – explaining why different witnesses to the same crime can have

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wildly different accounts (“police are on the lookout for a tall blond woman… or a short black man…). And third, people are simply not aware that they are filling in blanks – meaning that they’ll firmly believe a memory is accurate even when it’s just plain wrong. Even suspects who are 100% cleared by police with irrefutable DNA evidence and a rock-solid alibi are still hauled into court because someone swears “that’s the guy”.

Anyway, you can use this all to your advantage. Here’s how. Many instructors teach students to use a “battle cry” when initiating a pre-emptive or counter attack. This is a good idea since it can startle your adversary, help focus your attention to the task at hand, and keep you from holding your breath. But instead of howling out the rebel-yell, simple yell “Get Back” or “Leave Me Along”, as you initiate an attack.

What this does is immediately announce to bystanders that YOU are the victim. You are implanting verbal cues suggesting that you are defending yourself. Keep it going for as long as necessary by shouting other suggestive comments like “Why are you attacking me… I told you I didn’t want trouble… Why are you making me defend myself…” and so on. You’ll stand a much better chance of having friendly witnesses.

Another thing… it’s usually not a good idea to hang around after a fight, but “fleeing the scene” can be easily misinterpreted. A good compromise is to call the authorities (police and or ambulance) immediately after an attack on a cell phone while exiting the scene or call from a nearby public phone. Explain that you did not feel safe staying at the scene but will meet them wherever they request.

“The more you sweat in training,

the less you bleed in battle.” – Motto of Navy Seals

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TRAINING METHODS: A complete review of proper training and conditioning methods for combat is beyond the scope of this book however I do want to point out that the average guy looking to defend himself on the street doesn’t need to endure a lifetime of training. On the contrary, the entire purpose of this book and my many DVD packages is to simplify everything. I’ve received emotional letters from dozens of customers who simply watched a certain program – did NO training – and were able to recall and use it correctly when they needed it. Doesn’t get much better than that. But if you’re serious about implanting this information deeply into your body, you’ll want to consider training it. Street fighting does not require the same level or type of conditioning as sport fighting. Surprisingly, cardiovascular endurance isn’t a significant factor in a street fight, I now this is a controversial claim but research and 18 years of study and observation backs it up. Remember, true street fights (as opposed to mutually agreed combat) rarely last longer than 10 seconds. Understanding and employing the 4 D’s (Deception… Distraction… Disruption… Destruction), will trump cardiovascular conditioning. So with that in mind, having the ability to initiate and maintain continuous explosive action for 8 to 10 seconds will give you a huge advantage in a fight. Design your training accordingly. For street fighting focus on anaerobic conditioning (strength and power training). Eight to ten seconds may not seem very long but try going all out on a heavy bag for that amount of time…it’s pretty tough. The more realistic you train the better. This includes the emotional component as well. Here are some tips:

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1.) Practice initiating a pre-emptive attack and counter attack from multiple positions and stances. If you practice the 4 D’s you won’t be initiating the attack from a classic boxer’s stance. More than likely your hands will be up, open, and forward in an “I don’t want any trouble” submissive posture. This is the position you want to practice launching from.

2.) Practice maintaining a constant barrage. And if training with a partner, maintain constant forward pressure. Constant Barrage is more important than Strike Accuracy. Practice Target awareness. If working on a heavy bag, imagine different targets being made available, if working with a partner, make sure he or she offers you a variety of targets to attack

3.) Practice your verbiage as you initiate an attack as well as anything you might say during the attack. Make it as real as possible. If you working with a training partner have your partner play the part; yelling, threatening, cursing, etc. His goal should be to drive up the emotional content as much as possible.

4.) Develop a “Strike” mentality - Start hitting a heavy bag. A partner with “strike mitts” is even better, because it allows you to get used to movement. Practice striking with your hands, elbows, shoulders, head, and knees and mix up “Hi-Line” shots (at the head and chest) and “Lo-Line” shots (at the stomach, ribs, groin and legs).

5.) Get a “Battle Cry” - As I just discussed, this does a couple things. First it throws off your adversary for a couple of crucial seconds at the beginning of your action sequence. His brain will be burning up valuable seconds trying to process what all the yelling is about (“what the hell…”) while your attack is under way. Very effective. The second function of the battle cry is to prompt your brain into action. There’s a big difference between thinking about taking action and actually taking action --

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and it’s easy for most people to get “locked down” in planning . Your brain needs a kick in the butt to transfer it’s energy from the thinking and planning mode into the action mode – the battle cry is a verbal “go” that’s imperative to getting yourself moving forward. It’s nothing new -- soldiers have been using this for thousands of years as a way to overcome freezing and to strike fear in their enemies. But you’ll want to use this verbal battle cry in training ONLY when you launch into an attack so that it holds power and is an “internal trigger”.

6.) Always practice proper execution: Watching countless videos of actual street fights as they happened has only cemented what my research has already strongly suggested -- that real-world fighting is sloppy. It is the rare exception for a fighter to properly execute a complex martial arts move. This is why it’s important to practice proper execution as you’ll be more likely to retain a percentage of it when “crunch time” hits. As expert shooter Bennie Cooley points out, if you can group your shots with 3 inches of each other during practice, you may just retain a grouping the size of a paper plate in real combat (which is considered excellent shooting in the real world). Or as Bruce Lee once pointed out: “I do not fear the man who as practice 1000 kicks one time… I fear the man who has practiced one kick 1000 times.”

But Bruce was a little off in his numbers. Studies show that it takes about 2,000 repetitions of a move before it’s actually “implanted” into your brain’s neural pathway for easy recall even under stress. Now 2,000 sounds like a big number, but it’s not. The key is to practice a move correctly. Here is a proven method for developing your skills.

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1.) Level 1 a. Practice a move in front of a mirror slowly. This

allows you to “self correct” anything your doing wrong. Keep practicing until you are satisfied that your technique is correct.

b. Practice the same move in front of mirror at full speed. Again… this allows you the opportunity to self correct.

c. Try it again… this time in slow motion with your eyes closed. You’ll want to periodically sneak a peek in the mirror to see if you’re still on track with your technique.

d. When your satisfied with your technique, perform it at full motion with eyes your eyes closed. This will start hardwiring the move into your muscle memory.

2.) Level 2 – Get your hands on a heavy bag… they’re not

expensive and the exercise value alone that you’ll receive it is worth every penny. a. Now practice the same move on heavy bag – slowly.

Use a mirror again if you can to periodically check your technique. If you see that it’s flawed, go back to Level 1.

b. Practice the technique on heavy bag at full speed. Try to visualize how you’d use the move on specific target areas.

3.) Level 3 – Practice with a partner. Now I realize not all

of us have someone willing to act as your punching bag, but for those who are committed to taking their skills to an expert level, having a live person to practice on is important. For any specific move you want to: a. Practice with partner slowly… then when you’re

both comfortable.... b. Practice with partner at full speed.

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Of course this is only a brief description of how to train -- the DVDs will take you through specific moves and techniques in detail. But it’s important to remember to always be careful with your partner – especially if you’re just getting started. Make sure your partner understands how to “tap-tap-tap” on your side whenever they feel uncomfortable. Most of the moves you’ll discover are ones that can be used “straight out of the box”. They’re almost always simple, easy to learn, and devastating --- so you must use care during any practice. Avoid “showing off” your new moves to unsuspecting friends or family members as it’s easy to put them in the hospital or permanently injure (even kill) them. You’ll discover some powerful information – which requires you to accept some big responsibilities. Use discretion.

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”

– Mark Twain

REVIEW – Prevailing in a Dangerous Confrontation: We’ve come to the end of our journey. I hope you’ve gotten as much out of this as you can. I suggest you read this book at least a few times. Before I close this show down, I’d like to review some of the most important points about prevailing in a confrontation. Here they are:

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1.) Don’t look like easy meat – All three type of attackers – the Bully, the Predator, and the Badger will all be less likely to attack someone they feel will fight back – especially the predator.

2.) Combat awareness – trust your gut (rapid cognition or thin slicing): Remember that studies PROVE your “gut” or intuition is actually emotional intelligence. In my research victim interviews almost always reveal that the victim felt “something wasn’t quite right,” but chose to ignore it (“I had this feeling”…). You don’t have to have ESP – just start listening to that little voice that’s telling you something is wrong. Don’t fight fear – use it to your advantage. Most guys spend enormous amounts of energy suppressing these feelings, which can result in runaway internal dialogue and “brain freeze.”

Trust your feelings or emotions. If there’s a suspicious guy looking around, walking toward you and reaching in his pocket you know in your gut something’s not right with this situation. You must act on this “forward trigger.”

3.) Controlling Space – Remember that controlling space is

one of the most important aspects of maintaining control over your protection. You don’t want to knowingly allow a potential threat to get too close. You’ll need to: a. Create a “forward trigger” based on space. If a potential

threat trips that trigger, have some immediate action planned (“Hold it, stop right there!”)…

b. Look for an escape – this is your best option if you have no family to protect…

c. Angle to one side or the other, never backward. Moving to your right – his left as it’s likely he’s right handed and you’ll be working on his weak side.

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d. Know the specifics about fighting ranges. Remember that a determined person can cover six feet within a fraction of a second so implementing a “combat awareness” is necessary… not “paranoid.”.

4.) Distance is your friend. As I’ve pointed out, you’ll want

to give yourself space. Don’t allow yourself to suddenly be dealing with an adversary face to face. Weapons expert Bennie Cooley, for example, points out that a person armed with a knife can close a distance of 30 feet and inflict a lethal wound before someone can pull a gun from a holster and shoot. It was this specific information that led many police and government forces to implement new guidelines for when an officer should draw his weapon.

5.) De-escalation – If you are certain your adversary is

“emotionally highjacked” you may attempt to use the specific de-escalation techniques I’ve covered for you. A bully or a predator does not respond well to these tactics.

6.) Pre-set Triggers – Have ready mental “decision points”

on what will actually “trigger” an attack by you on your adversary. Because your odds of winning a fight go up dramatically if you strike first (yes… a preemptive attack), and preemptive attacks depend on pre-set triggers that work exactly like a switch. Off… off… off… ON… pow, wham, boom, bang. This is because pre-set triggers guarantee that you’re not trying to “figure it out” in the heat of battle. Here are some “External” triggers that should prompt action:

- Shove – stats show that someone who pushes you is a couple seconds away from hitting you. This is a HUGE forward trigger that requires your immediate attention. Your about to be hit…

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- Boundary Violations – now I’m talking less about your neighbor’s dog dumping on your lawn, and more about your opponent willfully crossing “invisible lines.” Stuff like: i. Stepping in too closely to you…

ii. Jabbing you with this finger… iii. Grabbing your shirt… iv. Dropping of his chin…

Another common hint that he’s about to attack you is (and I didn’t believe this one ‘til I read the stats) he will remove his coat and/or shirt. So, unless you’re in a strip joint, if an aggressor starts taking off his jacket and shirt it usually means trouble. If he starts taking off his pants… well… I’m not sure what that means. But, one tip is to attack while he’s got his jacket half off – great time to strike.

- Non-Compliance Triggers – If you give a verbal command to someone like “stay back” and they keep coming, well, that should trigger some kind of action on your part. Another variation on this is to simply ask an personal acting aggressively toward you “are we okay?” Anything other than an affirmative response should consider a trigger to be tripped.

7.) Forward Blitz – One the physical fighting is on, you’ll

want to keep the pressure on and maintain a continued and uninterrupted attack that does not stop until the threat has ended or you can escape. This is extremely important since most rookies (and nearly everyone’s a rookie) want to “stop and assess.” That is, they strike, stand back to see it if worked, maybe try it again, stand back… Huge mistake. Do not stop. You must throw everything you can at him once you’ve begun your attack. Use ALL the weapons in your human arsenal, including hands, knees,

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elbows, feet, head butts… the whole works. Keep the pressure on and do NOT let up.

8.) Total Commitment – To prevail in a fight you must

resign yourself to a total commitment toward your decision. Never launch an attack, then change your mind. Continue the forward blitz until the job is done.

9.) Leave the Area – Now that you’ve ended the threat,

you’ll need to get the hell out of the area as quickly as possible. Hanging around usually means you’ll be confronted by his buddies or other angry bystanders who don’t understand what’s happening. If you’re concerned about the law, call the police and point out that you’re concerned about your safety.

“In war there is no substitute for victory.” -- General Douglas Macarthur

Conclusion Okay… there you have it. All my hard work and research laid out for you like a red carpet. I know you’re walking away with some valuable info here. You’re on a new footing – now take this wire frame and start filling it out with tactics and techniques. Before I close I want to tell you one last story. Shortly after the release of one of my first DVD instructional packages (I’ve got 82 titles… so you know this was some time ago), I started receiving a letters from customers. I still get a little choked up thinking about these letters because it’s when I knew –

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for the first time in my life – that I was doing some real good in the world. Like the letter I received from James Walsh in Pennsylvania: “Last year while on family vacation in Nashville, TN, we were victims of an armed robbery at our hotel. I was horrified to watch one of the three gunmen holding my wife Donna and our two small boys hostage while I gave him all our money. After I did as ordered we realized that he was going to kill us anyway. Suddenly! I remembered something my brother Dave taught me about slapping the gun away from us. He had learned this technique from one of your self defense videos. Your video saved our four lives, and I just wanted to say thank you very much for teaching my brother who in turn taught me how to safe myself and our children”. … Or Shelby Schoonover in California: “…I’ve only been exposed to your training a short time, yet when my house burned down and I caught a looter twice my size stealing stuff, it only took one move to put him down until the cops arrived. This is so simple and easy to learn, it’s amazing. “ …Or how about Ron Allen from Oklahoma who wrote: “I have to serve summons to angry people late at night. It’s just too dangerous in the real world to rely on something that may or may not work. Your instructional DVDs gave me a definite advantage in real situations. It’s practical, it’s easy to learn and it works. I’ve used it to deter violent criminals, and to defuse difficult situations. This is something you can rely on with confidence.” …Or Gregory Westerfield, from New York:

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“I had an incident with another fellow who walked up and shoved me to the floor. In response, I used the “Pop-Up” I learned from your DVD and he went sailing for fifteen feet before he touched the ground. I only watched the DVD twice before this happened and never practiced the moves! I’m not especially threatening, only 5’9” and 124 lbs. I’m not fast, I don’t have much strength, and I’m not violent. However I ended the ‘incident’ in less than 3 seconds. I walked away unharmed, while my opponent walked away with a limp that stayed with him for three days. I believe your instructional DVD deserves special praise. The moves are so devastating, that even the defensive moves can end a fight. When I saw that he was unable to continue the fight, I stopped and walked away. Thanks for allowing me the privilege of ordering the DVD, keep up the good work!” …Or Vernon Bach from California: “I am a Correctional Officer (prison guard), at a maximum security prison in Southern California. There are nearly 1,000 male inmates on the facility that I work at, and most of them have life sentences and are never coming home. Most of the prisoners would kill or hurt you if the chance was there. Working long hours in such an environment does not leave me much time to put time aside to train in a form of self-defense and make time for my family too. That was all the more reason to give your product a try. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. Watching your videos at home at my own pace, in my spare time was just the answer I was looking for. Since I purchased the DVDs, I have run into a few serious incidents, where I put to use what TRS taught me, and my partners and myself had walked away from the situation basically unharmed. Without the knowledge I obtained from your DVD packages, the results could have been bad for us.” … Or Goude Gordon from Hawaii:

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“You really saved me a butt kicking. I am 70 years young and a security supervisory and just 5’10” 160lbs. It was ambulance time… for them… not me (too bad). Thank you. You saved my behind!” …Or Ed Rosenblum from Brooklyn: “I work in a federal prison in New York. We have some of the toughest prisoners in the world in our custody. Among the groups represented are the Mafia, Chinese Gangs, Jamaican Posses, the Russian Mafia, the Latin Kings, the Netas, and Colombian Drug Lords. I have ordered various DVD packages from TRS to try and prepare me for any type of situation I might encounter while working here. Although I possess a martial arts background I am always willing to try something new if it will help me in a dispute. I have used some of the techniques taught in your videos and they definitely work! The last DVD I ordered contained techniques that I have never seen before -- the most devastating system I have ever seen. The package was extremely helpful in learning the basic moves quickly. I walk with a certain confidence on the job now and you’ve helped me to achieve this mental state. Keep up the good work.” And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve literally got thousand of such letters. I save every single one of them too. It PROVES to me that gathering together the most accomplished fighters in the world to reveal their most treasured fight secrets is helping people. It’s allowing average guys around the world to protect themselves and their loved ones. Now it’s your turn. It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get started. God bless…

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Bob Pierce Prez, FightFast, Inc.

“War is not about who is right,

it is about who is left.” – unknown