This Street Fight Changed How I Train
43 years ago, one of my students lost a fight.
When he told me how it went down, how he was sucker-punched, I had a profound realization:
Self-defense is taught incorrectly.
I know this is a provocative statement, but hear me out…
Like so many martial artists, I believed I was teaching real self-defense.
But what I realized that day in 1980 was that I was teaching him combat sports techniques that I assumed applied to self-defense.
We were practicing techniques.
We sparred and hit pads.
We focused on mechanics, speed, power, and timing.
We practiced choreographed demos [and fantasized] how they could be used in self-defense…
Sound familiar?
It wasn’t that the ‘moves’ were wrong…
It was that the training was missing context…
There was no scenario!
We were missing how fear & danger impact physiology and psychology.
AWARENESS CONSENT PREPARATION
We ALL agree to spar or enter a martial art competition…
But we don’t agree to be the target of ‘sudden’ violence!
My sudden realization was that [well-intentioned experts] are looking at self-defense through a filter that stylized and glamorized self-defense.
As my student Mitch described the violence he experienced, I knew what we needed to do…
RESPONSE-ABILITY.
I love this play on words.
The first thing I did was take responsibility.
I apologized to student Mitch (yes, I apologized), and then in the very same session, I enhanced his response-ability, i.e. his ability-to-respond.
We surgically reverse-engineered the entire scenario: the pre-contact cues, the language, the grab, the sucker punch. The fear and more.
Not only did he learn better options to protect himself, but it also changed how he processed the loss, thus helping with any future self-doubt that might create PTSD.
And that day in 1980, my approach to scenario-based self-defense was born.
I had one single goal that consumed me that day during Mitch’s private lesson and it still does 4 decades later: How can I make good humans safer?
The punch that dropped him hit me harder than it hit him!
My student Mitch’s loss inspired an entirely new way to train for violent encounters.
Coach Blauer
If This Story Inspired You…
Join Me At Our Annual Summer Self-Defense Camp.
This YEAR’S CAMP IS GOING TO BE AMAZING!
LAS VEGAS 27-28
THE SPEAR [R]EVOLUTION
👇CHECK OUT THE CAMP OUTLINE 👇
To learn more and to register:
DO YOU TEACH MARTIAL ARTS, SELF-DEFENSE, OR DEFENSIVE TACTICS?
Blauer Tactical Scenario Instructor Course
If you teach martial arts, self-defense, defensive tactics, and combatives this course is a must.
The SPEAR DEFENSE: Evidence-Based Scenario Trainer®