Generating Maximum Power

July 31, 2009 by Tim Larkin

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“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”- Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)
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I was watching the Bruce Lee classic, “Enter The Dragon”, with my young son the other night. He loves the choreography of the fight scenes and the rapid rate that the fighters deliver the strikes.

I have to admit those movies are fun to watch. We also enjoy watching “The Three Stooges” for the same reason ñ- the speed of the strikes, although the “Stooges” do it for comic effect.

I remember for much of my youth my martial arts training revolved around speed. I was always trying to punch and kick faster. Often you were judged on how many strikes you could deliver in a given amount of time.

In this newsletter, we’ve already discussed the importance of striking a specific target on the other guy’s body, so lets talk about speed. Where does it factor in when you fight?

First a little physics is in order — Force x Velocity = Power. Most instructors in the combat sport and martial arts world focus on just one aspect of the equation… Speed. (Speed is how fast an object moves, velocity is how fast an object moves from point a to b.)

Why?

Because most of those disciplines are taught in what TFT(tm) terms the Effect-State(tm). The Effect-State revolves around you reacting to an event that already has occurred. In fact, it can be argued that most of society operates in this defensive state of mind. That subject would require a separate newsletter altogether.

In a fight it is natural that if you operate in a Effect-State you will try to compensate for your waiting to see what the other guy is doing — with speed.

Problem is… speed without force is only a portion of the equation, and even if your targeting is accurate, you strike with static force. In fighting, a static-force strike would be a punch using only your arm speed to strike rather than putting your entire bodyweight behind the punch.

Essentially, in the context of fighting, a speed- only response equals FEAR. I’m not saying it can’t be effective sometimes, just that you are counting on ALWAYS being able to be faster than the other guy. I don’t like those odds.

TFT was developed with the idea that you may not be faster or stronger than the other guys but you compensate for those realities by operating in the Cause-State(tm), striking with dynamic rather than static force.

I’ve touched on operating in the Cause-State in earlier newsletters so lets explore using dynamic force.

Dynamic force allows you to strike with the full power equation, putting your bodyweight behind each strike to maximize damage and minimize the length of the conflict.

The key to generating dynamic force is understanding how to properly lock your body and transfer your body weight into each strike. This can be accomplished quickly with some basic exercises and on-the-mat training at a TFT seminar.

Although it is beyond the scope of this newsletter to try to instruct this method, I will say that one way to start the process is to SLOW DOWN your free- fight sessions, hit your targets, and leave your body weapon on the target until your opponent MOVES AWAY from your body weapon.

Most people strike and quickly take their body weapon off the target. This does not allow for the force of the blow to penetrate the other guy’s body. It is the other guy that should move from the force if you want to generate maximum power. This also gives you feedback as to whether you are in balance when you strike.

You may do this at slow speeds and get the feedback without injuring your training partner. Quickly, you and your training partner can increase your speed AND deliver maximum power.

So let Hollywood entertain you with SPEED but make sure you TRAIN for POWER.

Until next time,

Tim Larkin
Creator of Target Focus(TM) Training
http://targetfocustraining.com

PS. To have the notoriously complex subject of Leverage literally handed to you as a set of simple, highly effective principles of action, head on over now to:
http://www.tftjointbreaking.com.

PPS. If you’re planning to attend a live training session, don’t put off your registration. Classes are limited. You can register today at:
http://targetfocustraining.com/livetraining

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“The Importance Of Mind Games”

July 28, 2009 by Tim Larkin

Free Combat Training Principles — Secrets For Staying Alive When ‘Rules’ Don’t Apply

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“Everything I ever really need to know I learned in

Kindergarten.”- Robert Fulghum

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One of the most revealing training exercises I ever conducted occurred while working with a law enforcement unit assigned to protect a high profile politician from another country.

In this particular country assassination was a very real threat for this politician. The law enforcement unit was comprised of some very sharp ex-military spec ops members that had outstanding training and real-world credentials as part of an aggressive counter-terrorist unit.

The problem we had with this unit was their inability to properly anticipate ambushes or potential assassination attempts in the exercises we designed. We knew it wasn’t a lack of intelligence, training, or ability.

So what was the problem???

What we finally determined was…

* * * * * * * * * *
They had adopted a defensive state of mind!
* * * * * * * * * *

Yeah I know, by this issue you probably already guessed that was the case.

But I mention it because my staff and I had gone into the training assuming mindset wouldn’t be an issue. In fact some of my guys had worked with members of this group when they were in the military and were shocked by this change.

How did we fix it?

We basically got them to do a role reversal. We actively encouraged them to think like assassins. The actual methods were more detailed and elaborate but the concept was essentially just a change in how they looked at the problem.

This resulted in an amazing increase in the unit’s ability to anticipate and counter assassination attempts long before the politician was ever in danger.

In debriefing this unit we learned they felt that since they were now in a unit designed to “protect someone” that somehow they now needed to be defensive.

In fact even the name of the unit affected this change.

Using English language for illustration purposes, their old military unit was a ‘counter-terror’ unit whereas the law enforcement unit was an ‘anti-terrorist’ unit.

In simple terms a counter-terrorist unit mission is to ‘hunt’ down terrorists while an anti-terrorist unit is designed to ‘defend’ against a terror assault.

It was very enlightening for me to once again see the power ‘words’ can have on performance. Even very seasoned operators fall prey to that trap.

So how does this relate to your day-to-day mindset?

I talk about the Cause-State but still I find many of my clients go through a day in Effect-State.

Why?

Because you get caught in the trap that to be a law abiding citizen you have to wait for something to happen before you can take action. This results in a very poor use of your ‘primary’ weapon. You’ll always be one step behind the aggressor.

It’s easy for me to get my clients that hunt to understand this. That’s because when they’re out in the woods hunting their prey, they have NO fear. In fact, there is eager anticipation as they try to find where the prey may be hiding. Using this thinking, it’s easy for me to get them to adopt the Cause State.

For those of you that don’t hunt, think about when you were a child, playing hide and seek. When you were looking for the ‘hiders’, there was NO fear in you.

You were actively engaged in your environment to seek out and capture these ‘hiders’. In fact, if you were good at the game, you found yourself role playing, asking yourself where you’d be hiding if it were your turn.

Well, that same ‘state’ you learned in Kindergarten is now a key tactic in controlling your fear and hesitation in life. You can actively engage your surroundings during the day without affecting your daily business.

Role reverse and play the criminal in your mind. Rather than wonder, “Who’s around that corner?” just ask yourself how you’d attack. Try this and see the difference in the way you feel.

Until next time,

Tim Larkin
Creator of Target Focus(TM) Training
http://targetfocustraining.com

PS. TFT is totally unique in showing you how to deal with fear. That’s why in just one weekend you walk away able to defeat any attacker threatenin you or your family. Classes are limited so register for one today:
http://targetfocustraining.com/selfdefenseclasses.html

And as time permits, I’ll answer selected questions. Submit your questions at: [email protected]

If someone forwarded this newsletter for you to read, be sure and sign up for your own personal copy at:
http://targetfocustraining.com

There you’ll find the tools that can help you survive a violent criminal attack.

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Olympic Champion To Host Boston TFT Training

July 27, 2009 by Tim Larkin

The August 29-30 session in Boston has a home. And it’s a real doozy.

With 4 Olympic medals, Jimmy Pedro is a legend in the sport of Judo. And his facility in the northern Boston suburb of Wakefield is everything you’d expect from a world champion.

And now we’re pleased to announce he’s allowing us to use his training facility with its 2,200 sq ft of top-of-the-line Zebra mats for this session.

As you know I’m very picky about floor surfaces. It’s one of the reasons we haven’t offered trainings in more locations.

Well, the surface at Jimmy’s facility is the same as what we use in our own San Diego center. And it’s going to help maximize your take-away from this class.

Click here for more information on the Boston class.

Remember: one of the reasons we chose Boston was because a large group reserved a number of the available training spots. That means there’s less room than normal. So you can’t wait on this class.

If you have questions about live training don’t just sit and try to figure it out yourself. Give Vonnie a call at 360-582-9578 (US Pacific time). Or email her at “admin at targetfocustraining dot com”

She can answer most any question you’ve got. And if she can’t she’ll put you through to one of us.

Thanks and great training,

Tim Larkin
Creator, Target Focus Training

PS. As more people watch the DVDs (especially Throwing) and the new online sessions over at our Target Focus Monthly site, some people are voicing concerns that “…your training seems like it may be too rough for me.”

Couple things. First, remember you’re watching instructors execute these sequences (and often they’re Master instructors, folks who’ve been doing this for more than 10 years and often far longer).

In your first class, you won’t go as fast as these guys nor will you be falling as hard as they do.

Everything is done at half-speed.

In fact, some critics of TFT like to complain it’s too slow, that it’s all choreographed. Unfortunately this is just ignorance on their part (and as you might have guessed, none have ever actually been through one of our sessions).

We do have you go very slow. If you didn’t you’d totally destroy your partner. But in the process of going slow there are some huge things happening.

We actually have you gently ‘strike’ and push through each target on your partner. This slowly locks the movement memory into both you and your partner’s subconscious and nervous systems. It takes repetition to do this. But by the end of class, your body’s able to instantly recall these movements without conscious effort on your part. And that’s the way it’s got to be if you’re to survive a true hostile situation.

But the bottom line is: anyone can do this. Big or small. Weak or strong. Experienced or rookie. Doesn’t matter. And because you only go at the speed you and your partner are comfortable with, no one ever gets hurt (outside the occasional scrape or bruise that happens when you spend a day on the mats).

The other thing is all this is anything but choreographed.

We call it “free-fighting,” and for a good reason.

There is NO preset sequence you ever follow. Everything is random, made up by YOU as targets unfold during your turn.

We don’t teach you specific techniques for specific situations, then have you endlessly practice those, as others do.

Violence doesn’t happen like that. It’s totally random.

And that’s why we teach you how to strike targets using very specific principles that allow you to react instantly to anything that unfolds.

While this may be a bit difficult to imagine here, once you go through your first free-fighting session it becomes instantly clear. And 100% natural.
That’s also why people pick it up so easily and so quickly.

Here’s the thing: teaching this all over the world as we do really limits the number of classes we can offer.

That’s why it’s important you take advantage of these unique sessions and REGISTER NOW while spots are still available.

Category Blog | 0 Comments »

The Difference Between A Weapons Fighter And Fighting With Weapons

July 22, 2009 by Tim Larkin

Combat Training Principles — Secrets For Staying Alive When ‘Rules’ Don’t Apply

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“Men have become the tool of their tools” – Henry David Thoreau

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Fighting with weapons is a subject that has generated volumes of writing in the combat arts world. What is interesting to note is that for the most part weapons training is treated as requiring a completely different set of training principles as opposed to ‘empty hand’ fighting.

In fact, there are whole martial arts devoted to just training with a weapon. All this leads to tremendous confusion from the client’s point of view.

Basically, you end up with 2 totally different sets of principles in response to violent attacks:

1) One response for a hand-to-hand assault, and
2) A completely different response to a weapons attack

Now, on the surface you may think this is a very logical way to view two, seemingly different, attacks.

But let’s go back to my earlier point in Newsletter #2. Remember what we talked about?

Your brain is your primary weapon; your body is your secondary weapon.

If that works for you, as the fighter, then it is equally true for the other guy… he just may not know it!

Given this, what is your weapon-wielding other guy most likely focusing on?

You got it… HIS OWN PHYSICAL WEAPON!

That’s right. He’s likely banking on the fact that the intimidation factor of his weapon alone is enabling him to do whatever he wants because you are going to fear his weapon.

And if you are trained to believe there are different rules when fighting against weapons versus hand-to- hand… then he is probably correct.

That other guy is a good example of a ‘Weapons Fighter’.

The definition of a ‘weapons fighter’ is a person who is solely empowered by his weapon in a confrontation. His whole plan of attack revolves around the use of the weapon. If the weapon is lost to him during the conflict then he needs to change his fighting principles to handle his prey.

In fact, without the use of the weapon, he may quit the assault altogether and retreat.

This is not the way I train my clients.

Your fighting principles MUST be the same with or without a weapon.

Fighting is fighting regardless of whether you have a weapon, are facing a weapon, are on the ground, or areassaulted by more than the other guy.

When you truly understand that your brain is your primary weapon, your body your secondary weapon, and EVERYTHING else (read knife, club, or weapon of choice) is ancillary, you then become a person that knows how to FIGHT WITH A WEAPON… rather than being a ‘weapons fighter’.

The former gives you unlimited options; the latter limits you to the weapon in hand.

My clients achieve the former because they are taught consistent principles that don’t change whether they fight with a weapon or against a weapon.

They understand how to properly use all weapons yet remain focused on the fact whatever they hold in their hands is just one of many weapons they command.

By understanding how to fight with weapons they also understand how to defeat the ‘weapons fighter’. This significantly improves their odds when attacked
without the use of an ancillary weapon.

So what will you train to be — a ‘Weapons Fighter’ or a person who knows how to FIGHT WITH WEAPONS?

Until next time,

Tim Larkin
Creator of Target Focus(TM) Training
http://targetfocustraining.com

PS. When weapons are involved, it’s often difficult to know what to do. My ‘Nuclear’ Weapons DVD series wipes away all the confusion by defining all Target Focus Training principles as they relate to knives, guns and clubs. Read more about it at:
http://targetfocustraining.com/weapons

And as time permits, I’ll answer selected questions. Submit your questions at:
[email protected]

If someone forwarded this newsletter for you to read, be sure and sign up for your own personal copy at:
http://targetfocustraining.com

There you’ll find the tools that can help you survive a violent criminal attack.

Category Newsletters | 0 Comments »

What Is the Ultimate Motivation in a Life-or-Death Fight?

July 19, 2009 by Tim Larkin

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“We must be eager to kill, to inflict on the enemy – the hated enemy — wounds, death, and destruction. If we die killing, well and good, but if we fight hard enough, viciously enough, we will kill and live. Live to return home to our family and our girl as conquering heroes — men of Mars” -General George Patton
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By this time you probably detect a theme in my newsletters about the focus you need when faced by a real life-or-death confrontation.

It’s simply this: when faced with a life-or-death violent confrontation where using violence is your only option:

1. Don’t hesitate. 2. Find your target and strike your target. 3. Keep striking targets until you have destroyed the other guy.

Many clients come to me from other ‘self-defense’ training where they are forced to deal with simulated attacks. I’ll pass on the quality of that training approach and instead focus on the ‘motivation’ these systems use to keep the client from freezing under attack.

These ‘motivators’ revolve around fighting for your life, fighting to go home to loved ones, fighting to protect loved ones, or some variation of those themes.

But if you take a good look at those reasons they all fall short for one critical reason: They are NOT what truly gets the job done to focus yourself like a laser in order to destroy the other guy. At best, they are byproducts of the “ultimate motivation”.

So what IS the ultimate motivation in a life-and- death struggle?

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AN ABSOLUTE FOCUS ON INFLICTIING AS MUCH DAMAGE
AS POSSIBLE TO THE OTHER GUY!

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Pretty simple.

What allows you to go home to your loved ones, to protect them or yourself during a violent attack is — hurting the other guy.

Imagine this scenario: A mugger puts a knife to your throat.

Now, two totally different responses…

The person motivated to ‘protect’ himself/herself grabs the wrist and tries to wrest control of the knife.

The person motivated to hurt his/her other guy shifts their torso, penetrates forward and delivers a closed fist punch to the other guy’s Adam’s apple.

Two totally different responses, with totally different results…

The former runs the risk of losing control of the knife and getting seriously injured or killed.

The latter, by focusing on hurting the other guy, neutralizes the knife by punching the Adam’s apple and starts to shut down the other guy’s Central Nervous System.

The byproduct of the latter action is he/she gets to go home, protect the vulnerable loved one with them, or whatever other motivation they thought was the reason they hurt the other guy in the first place.

The General Patton quote is pretty rough, but the context was motivating his troops for war… literally the same as what you’re facing in a true life-or- death struggle. He wanted each and every one of them to come home, and he knew the best chance they had was if they focused on inflicting as much damage as possible to their enemy.

You’ll notice… he didn’t urge them to think of their loved ones as a motivation to fight.

He told them that if they fought to inflict as much damage as possible on the enemy, they’d return home to them.

Take a second to re-read that quote. I think you’ll probably see it in a much different content.

Until next time,

Tim Larkin
Creator of Target Focus(TM) Training
http://targetfocustraining.com

PS. PS. To have the notoriously complex subject of
Leverage literally handed to you as a set of simple,
highly effective principles of action, head on over
now to:http://www.tftjointbreaking.com

PPS. In just one weekend you can learn to defeat any
attacker using the Target Focus Training system. See how at:
http://targetfocustraining.com/livetraining

Category Newsletters | 0 Comments »

CCTV Captures Brutal Beating of An Aussie Footballer

July 16, 2009 by Tim Larkin

This CCTV footage is graphic. I’ve posted the link to the story and video below. This is another visual example of how quickly anti-social behavior can go asocial. Here’s a Link to the Story:

Aussie Footballer Choked Unconscious While Helping Friends

I don’t post videos to merely show gratuitous acts of violence. I strongly feel we need to study these clips in order to better understand what real violence looks like as opposed to the media images or the images we see in the combat sport world. Also much of the Martial Arts and various self defense training rarely accounts for how real violence goes down. I will let you readers make your comments first then I will post mine later this week.

Category Blog | 7 Comments »

Your Roadmap To Destroying The Other Guy

July 13, 2009 by Tim Larkin

Combat Training Principles — Secrets For Staying Alive When ‘Rules’ Don’t Apply

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“Hit quickly, hit hard and keep right on hitting. Give the enemy no rest, no opportunity to consolidate his forces and hit back at you. This is the shortest road to victory” – General Holland M. ‘Howlin’ Mad Smith, USMC

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Most instructors don’t advocate ‘hitting first’ and following the above quote’s advice. They get enmeshed in self-defense laws, spiritual, and social morays surrounding the issue of such a seemingly aggressive approach.

We have already established that fighting is not something that is entered into for any reason other than to stop an attacker whom otherwise would do you serious, life-threatening, physical harm.

Let’s take a brief look at this ‘hit first’ principle. In a violent confrontation you have 2 choices:

1) You may CAUSE the other guy to respond to your action or,

2) You may REACT to the action of the other guy.

If you choose the latter you are taking a defensive and potentially, a very dangerous method of self-protection.

It requires that you watch the other guy initiate the attack, quickly figure out what is happening and then be able to effectively COUNTER that attack.

Essentially with this choice, you allow the other guy to control the fight and then attempt to wrest control after the fact.

There are some very interesting options when using this ‘counter’ strategy but any way you look at this it is a defensive approach.

An educated fighter, however, understands that if he is the first to strike his target then he will control the situation.

So even though the other guy moves first to say, throw a punch to the face, the fighter keys off of the movement and kicks the other guy’s bladder before the punch even get halfway to the face.

As the other guy reacts to the blow, the fighter delivers yet another strike to a specific target, then another — until the other guy is no longer a threat.

What gives this fighter the confidence to IGNORE the attack and focus on his target of choice?

That confidence is a result of a specific understanding of the human body’s nervous system and how to manipulate the spinal reflex reactions designed to protect the body.

The same reactions that automatically pull your hand off a hot surface can be triggered to destroy the other guy and completely shut down his ability to fight.

This literally becomes your ‘roadmap to destroying the other guy’. The specific methods used to maximize this knowledge go beyond the scope of this newsletter.

Suffice it to say that a competent instructor can give you a tremendous advantage by utilizing this knowledge. With it you can make rapid progress in your ability to control a violent confrontation.

This knowledge breeds confidence that in turn, breeds your desire to ‘hit first’. I can’t say it any better than Howlin’ Smith but I’ll add that learning about spinal reflex reactions is your shortest road to victory in a life or death fight.

Until next time,

Tim Larkin
Creator of Target Focus(TM) Training
http://targetfocustraining.com

PS. Spinal reflex reactions are covered in detail along with all aspects of TFT in our new 17-DVD series, “Surviving The Most Critical 5 Seconds Of Your Life”. I’ve put up a few video clips from this new live Seminar series as well as more of the initial customer comments. See what others who’ve watched it had to say):
http://targetfocustraining.com/video.html

And as time permits, I’ll answer selected questions.
Submit your questions at: [email protected]

If someone forwarded this newsletter for you to read, be sure and sign up for your own personal copy at:
http://targetfocustraining.com

There you’ll find the tools that can help you survive a violent criminal attack.

Category Newsletters | 0 Comments »

New Blog Updates

July 9, 2009 by Tim Larkin

Last month we opened up blog comments for the first time on a video with an opening screen that shows, Warning: GRAPHIC CONTENT.

121 comments later we’ve decided to begin adding more of these and other posts to the blog on a much more regular basis.

As with anything new, it even took us a while to get our own comments to upload properly (if you didn’t see Chris’ comments on this blog, take time to read them now. They’re near the bottom of the comment list of that Warning post).

If you’re not a regular reader of the blog, two new posts have gone up already this week, and a third’s on the way. The first is titled, The Only Self Defense Weapon That Can’t Be Outlawed. And the second, which just hit yesterday, shows the grim reality of using violence in an anti-social situation.

You can check them all out here:http://targetfocustraining.com/blog/

Now, a few notes about the blog:

If you haven’t done so, you may want to sign up to receive blog updates. The spot to do that is in the upper right of any blog page. You’ll be notified as each new post hits. (You may occasionally get more than one blog posting notice from us as we work out the kinks of uploading video – just bear with us for a bit).
Please use your name when posting a comment. You don’t need to use your last name or where you’re from if you don’t want but let’s get rid of all the “anonymous” comments. When the comment box asks you to “Choose an identity” just select “Name/URL”. You can ignore the URL part and just fill in the name field.
These blog comments are not a place for those looking for a soapbox to vent their philosophies to the world. Please keep comments to the topic of the post.
You’ll notice we’ve created a link, “Click Here to Post A New Comment” to make it more obvious where to leave a note. Once you click that, it opens another small window. At the top of that is another link, “Jump to comment form.” Just click that and it’ll take you straight to the spot to leave your note. We’ll be adding new features to the blog as we go along.
As you can imagine, we can’t begin to respond to all comments individually. We’ll insert notes randomly as Chris did above and sometimes I may create an entire new blog post just to address issues related to your comments on a previous post. In fact, watch for this shortly as we try a totally NEW way of adding our comments to the videos you’re watching. Look for it in the next few days.

So if you haven’t already, pop over now to see what’s happening. There’s going to be a lot of “food for thought.” And as usual, much of it’s gonna be pretty controversial.
http://targetfocustraining.com/blog/

Tim

Tim LarkinCreator, Target Focus Training

Category Newsletters | 0 Comments »

Video Shows Fatal Stabbing Of UK Student

July 9, 2009 by Tim Larkin

Here is surveillance camera video of a fatal stabbing at a UK university from the recent past.

There is no audio with this video. I’ll reserve my comments on this clip until you’ve had a chance to post yours. (Hint: Be careful from which perspective you make your comments on this act of violence. I’ve covered my thoughts on how to view these items in my book and other past posts.)

Also, if you see what appear to be 2 videos below, just click and watch the first one. The second is just a picture and is occasionally popping up in some browsers.

Category Blog | 53 Comments »

Sports Related Death Provides Grim Self Defense Lessons

July 8, 2009 by Tim Larkin

Here is an example from the sports world of anti-social behavior resulting in a death. Please take time to read this sad report from Canada:

Dad Blames Hockey For Killing Rugby Blow

You can’t call it an accident because it was intentional though the judge determined that the other boy did not have the “intent” to kill the victim.

Problem is most people are ignorant of the effects of throwing a human body against the planet. This throw landed the victim in a way that caused considerable head trauma and ended up killing the victim days later.

Instead of this kid teaching the other kid a “lesson” for putting him in a headlock, he ends up with a manslaughter charge.

It’s a grim reminder of why we culled our research data on putting injury into the human body from injuries documented in Sports Medicine Journals.

These are injuries resulting from humans colliding with other humans, and humans colliding with the planet (like this one).

In the realm of Self Defense you must study relevant data on injuries to the human body so that you can reliably know how to injure someone when your life is truly threatened… and to avoid the anti-social behavior quagmire of unintended consequences.

As always your thoughts and comments are encouraged.

Regards,

Tim Larkin
Master Instructor
Target Focus Training

Category Blog | 1 Comment »

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