TOPIC OF THE WEEK: BEING AN AMERICAN

(let me preface this before anyone decides to get butt hurt over this. What you believe is your right, I'm not here to say you are wrong and I am right, but given the climate in today's world and everything that has, is and will happen,  this is a very eerily relevant and an eye opening perspective on the current American Condition)

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on immigrants and being an American in 1907.

'In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language.. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.'
Theodore Roosevelt 1907

TIP OF THE WEEK: EXHAUSTION VS. AGGRESSION

 

In reality self protection training the ultimate goal is to prepare your students for the realities of Violence and give them the tools to successfully deal with it and go home safe. In this statement lies the question . . . how?
      Yes with tools & tactics, yes with combative fitness . . . but understanding the mentality that drives it is what will make it applicable or irrelevant. To create a training environment that facilitates this mentality means to design as realistic stimulus as you can safely create to replicate the emotional and psychological realities of a "REAL" threat.
      Here lies the dilemma . . . no matter what you do, it's always just training. You know no one is there with malicious intent, no one is trying to take your life.
      The goal is to flip the switch from prey to predator or "Access State" (harnessing fear & adrenaline to enhance performance rather than allow it to degrade it. It's having the ability to dehumanize your attacker and do whatever it takes to eliminate the threat. )
      I believe to create state, you have to have a scenario that merits it . . . to me, there is no better way than AGGRESSION!
      Creating drills to access aggression vs. drills that merely exhaust are far more beneficial to "Accessing State". Now with that said, I'm not saying that exhaust ion drills are not useful, but I think they are better for those who have the ability to "Access State" .
New students, who have never accessed state, don't yet understand the dynamics, so exhaustion drills simple just point out that when you are tired performance degrades . . . . I think we can all agree that we all know that already. When you have a student access their "Inner Mean Gene" you open their eyes to what they are capable of in "Survival Mode".
      With an understanding & ability to "Access State" exhaustion drills are a great way to really push students to their limits. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst . . . or better yet
SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM (if you want peace, prepare for war)
When you train, understand why you train, understand that going through the motions is NOT an option, understand that you are training for worst case scenario. Train hard, be vigilant!

Training US Army 25th ID - Schofield/Oahu

Beau Durocher - Chief Instructor/Beach Cities Krav Maga        Jeff Pelletier - Chief Instructor/Hawaii Krav Maga

                PERSONAL PROTECTION & SELF DEFENSE:
                                                    (The Carpenter & the Hammer)
                                                                               

     
     
     You may hear them often used to describe the same thing. I pose the question, is there a difference between the two? Or are they merely another way to say the same thing? In my opinion . . . absolutely! Let me explain . . .
Personal Protection is a State of Awareness, a mentality that is predicated on being prepared, taking a pro active approach to Personal Defense. You have heard me quote over and over that Personal Protection is NOT your right, it's your RESPONSIBILITY. It's what allows you the ability to assess a potential threat before it happens and choose the appropriate action, primary objectives being to avoid, escape or deescalate.
      Now on the other hand, Self-Defense implies that Self Defense was needed, that a threat has already presented itself in a physical attack and now you must respond to eliminate the threat, primary objectives being to overwhelm your opponent with so much violence that they no longer want to/or have the ability to continue their attack. It goes along the the premise that Violence is never the answer, but when it is . . . it's the only answer. See the difference?
      Now with that said, understand they are like two sides to the same coin, they both have the ultimate goal to "Go Home Safe". Self Defense is a modality of Personal Protection. Like a carpenter and his hammer, "Self Defense" is the hammer, while "Personal Protection" is the Carpenter.

FIGHT LIKE YOU TRAIN?

      


You have heard that when shit and fan meet in the street you will fight like you train . . . anyone in the know, knows this to be true. If you train in a Martial Art sport modality (competitive arena for points and titles) then the rules inherent to the sport will dictate your actions in the street. Sport modalities have rules to protect the fighter from injuries that can be "Career Enders" . . . and rightly so. Even with the rules in play, competitors still receive career ending injuries, but they are rare, but now imagine if biting, head-butting, groin strikes, submission breaks, eye gouging and over all malice intention was allowed . . . you would see a very different event. So to think that training in a sport modality will give you all the necessary skills for the street is faulty logic. Does that mean that a Martial Artist in a sport modality can not defend themselves in the street? . . . Of course not. They may be able to defend themselves, but at some point they will come up short. Think of what the street presents that a sport modality doesn't . . . multiple attackers, weapons, blitz attacks and all with the malice intent to take your property or your life, or both. Think about it this way . . . in a competition when a competitor is grossly injured, what happens? The ref steps in and the competition is over. What happens in the street where there are no refs or rules? You are at the complete mercy of the attacker, and if they decide to stop you got lucky, but now a days it can/and does go to the extreme.
With that said we will step into the "Pavement Arena", Reality Self Defense. We train with the understanding that we are here to do what ever it takes, for as long as it takes, so that we can go home safe. The attacker cares nothing about us . . . so we care nothing about them. We practice scenarios and stress drills, we surround you with multiple attackers, we train for defending against guns, knives, bats, etc . . . We train strikes that have no rules, sounds like we got it covered right? Yes . . . and No!
Here is the dilemma . . . You can just go through the motions, without the proper mentality, without full commitment . . . and in the end you are not much better off. The key lies in the mentality behind the training, the intensity that you bring to it, the understanding to access aggression during training that makes the difference. So if you are training a reality self defense system without the "Reality" . . . then you are only getting a small peace of a very large pie . . . so train hard, train with intensity, train with the right mindset, train with the right tools & tactics and the wolf will cower in fear when he runs into a sheepdog.

SAFETY TIP - NOT ALL CRIMINALS ARE STUPID

SAFETY TIP: NOT ALL CRIMINALS ARE STUPID

1. LONG - TERM PARKING
Some people left their car in the long-term parking at San Jose while away, and someone broke into the car. Using the information on the car's registration in the glove compartment, they drove the car to the people's home in Pebble Beach and robbed it. So I guess if we are going to leave the car in long-term parking, we should NOT leave the registration/insurance cards in it, nor your remote garage door opener. This gives us something to think about with all our new electronic technology.
2. GPS:
Someone had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard. When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen. The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents. Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.
3. CELL PHONES:
I never thought of this! This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her cell phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet, etc., was stolen. Twenty minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says, "I received your text asking about our Pin number and I've replied a little while ago." When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text "hubby" in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.
Moral lesson:
a. Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc.
b. And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.
c. Also, when you're being texted by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet "family and friends" who text you.
4. PURSE IN THE GROCERY CART SCAM:
A lady went grocery-shopping at a local mall and left her purse sitting in the children's seat of the cart while she reached something off a shelf/ Wait till you read the WHOLE story! Her wallet was stolen, and she reported it to the store personnel. After returning home, she received a phone call from the Mall Security to say that they had her wallet and that although there was no money in it, it did still hold her personal papers. She immediately went to pick up her wallet, only to be told by Mall Security that they had not called her. By the time she returned home again, her house had been broken into and burglarized. The thieves knew that by calling and saying they were Mall Security, they could lure her out of her house long enough for them to burglarize it.

KRAV MAGA - EVOLUTION IS KEY

EVOLUTION IS KEY TO FUNCTIONAL PERSONAL PROTECTION

Krav Maga is always evolving. When the dynamics of attacks change, so must the defenses. There are many ways to do things, some more valid then others wouldn't you agree?
Here is the dilema . . . sometimes a specific method or technique has been taught for so long, by so many, that it's no longer questioned and is taken as law. It is assumed that it works because "They" say so. As instructors, we must constantly assess and adjust to make sure that what we are teaching offers the most effective method to our students. But as students, It's not wrong to question why you may do something "This way", it's not wrong to see how others do things. The most effective method is the one than works . . . period.
No one system answers every potential threat, has the answers to every scenario. If you think you have found a better way or a better method for a specific defense . . . pressure test it under extreme conditions . . . and if it consistantly works add it to your tool box and replace what is no longer valid, but do not do so lightly. Make sure you fully understand why it's better. Does it defend more potential threats, put you in a tactically superior position, etc . . .
I believe Krav Maga is the perfect system for personal defense, and the ultimate "BOLT-ON" to an exsisting system . . . but only if it keeps with the inate evolutionary structure that is was designed for.