Sometimes it’s difficult for people who’ve never faced violence to imagine what it’s like.

To help you better understand, there’s nothing like listening to someone who’s already been there, describe their experience.

The video below is an interview with Effie, a woman who’s done just that… lived through unimaginable violence first hand.

Kidnapped by a boyfriend, at gunpoint, for more than 20 minutes, in the back of a car.

It’s something she’s had to live with for more than 20 years.

But it wasn’t until her experience at a live, 2-day TFT training session that she finally felt she no longer had anything to fear.

Now she’s courageously agreed to share her experience with others.

This is a video everyone… men as well as women… need to listen to (and learn from).

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What is a grain of sand to a big, strong, skilled and very angry man who wants to hurt you?

Laughable… less than nothing, right?

If you held it out in the palm of your hand… he’d just swat it aside.

It’s meaningless compared to his size, his strength, his anger, his skill.

…Unless it’s in his eye.

Then it’s everything.

It’s blindness and preoccupation. It’s him unable to wield his size, strength, skill and anger as a focused weapon.

The tiniest of monkey wrenches thrown into the right gears at the right time can have enormous impact.

Pitting yourself directly against his advantages is — obviously, I would hope — a losing proposition. You’ll only be able to overpower him if you’re bigger, stronger and more skilled than he is.

Going skill-to-skill alone is dicey since you have no idea of the extent of his training or experience. And hoping your motivation is greater than his is likewise foolhardy.
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2011 TFT Live Training Schedule Announced…

We’ve just released the 2011 live training schedule.

Since my email on this is fairly long, we’ve gone ahead
and loaded it to it’s own webpage on this site.

Please use the link below to go there now
and read through the entire email as it
contains time-sensitive information.

http://www.targetfocustraining.com/emails/2011-schedule

“By far one of the most devastating systems I’ve trained in.”

“As President of the International Society of Close Quarter Combatants, I’ve seen and tested perhaps hundreds of various martial arts and self defense programs.  Tim’s ‘Target Focus Training’ is by far one of the most devastating self protection systems I’ve trained in throughout nearly 30 years of combatives training.   What I particularly found amazing was the ability to almost instantly ‘infuse’ these powerful tactics into the body’s mind-muscle connection.  The result is a natural ‘flow’ to the movements that waste no time in taking out any attacker in mere seconds while instilling bullet-proof confidence that if YOU are the only thing standing between a violent criminal and your family hiding behind you…you’ll know EXACTLY what to do to destroy the threat and walk away safe!”

Jeff Anderson
President, Intl. Society of
Close Quarter Combatants

“…the approach & philosophy of his training will be with me forever.”

“I can say without hesitation that after two days with Tim I know that if I were placed in a situation where I would have to protect myself, my friends or my family that I would be prepared. The few black and blue marks, the “lost” gorgeous weekend, and the lost time with my wife and children were small prices to pay for gaining the skills which I feel I possess now.

Hopefully my wife and children will never have to appreciate the training I received but there is great comfort in knowing that I am far more prepared now for some of the dangers of this crazy world than I was before I met Tim… as Tim notes, the approach and philosophy of his training will be with me forever. By the way, I can’t have a conversation with my friend whom I convinced to come to the course without discussing our weekend with Tim. He too feels that what we learned was invaluable.”

Philip Lakritz, MD
Holmdel, NJ

“What a difference a weekend makes!”

“Since I took the class in San Diego, my whole life has changed for the better. I am able to walk away and avoid situations very easy by knowing that we can ALL be hurt or killed in a seemingly minor scrap. In the past my ego always made me feel like less of a man when I was able to avoid a fight by talking my way out of it.

“I’m in the security business and it is part of my job to handle characters that loiter around our facility. These days, I always approach them with a smile and some conversation which makes them so much easier to deal with. It’s like they can sense that I know a secret and it’s OK for them to just ‘move along’.

“What a difference a weekend makes!”

Carlos Swinney
Willits, CA

“Exactly as advertised”

“Intense, effective, highly recommended. An incredible experience. Larkin and his instructors are the absolute best in their field. Everyone else is four steps behind. What I liked was the intensity, the lack of unnecessary info, jargon and fluff. A complete focus on the fundamentals, the total concentration on results. With this system: 1) You will learn what Larkin says you will learn, and 2) The course is exactly as advertised — intense, targeted, focused training designed to produce immediate results.”

Mark D. Fabiani, Crisis Mgt Consultant
La Jolla, CA

Lou R. writes:

“From what I understand, it is physiologically impossible to access complex motor movements under the adrenaline dump of the fight or flight response.  Apparently, this is why “trained” fighters’ martial arts techniques don’t work when they are attacked.  The techniques are too complex; gross motor movements would be more effective.  My concern with the TFT training is that I would not be able to ”hit” a specific target during a confrontation while experiencing the physiological reaction induced by the fight or flight response (that is, I wouldn’t have the fine motor coordination required to execute the TFT techniques).

My question: Does TFT address how to manage the defender’s fight or flight response?”

——-
Lou,

While there’s nothing anyone can do about the biological facts of fear — the kickoff of the fight or flight response — there is a great deal we can do to prevent it from blossoming into panic.

The number one way to mitigate the response is by training to have something to do once it’s on.

You’ll often hear professionally trained survivors of bad situations say something to the effect of,

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And if the other guy has anything to say about it, then that’s just too damn bad. For him.

Over the years we’ve tried many different ways to talk about ‘the attitude’ you have to have to enter into violent conflict. Most recently we’ve talked about ‘intent’ and ’cause-state’–in the former you have to want to do it, and in the latter we give you all the reasons why you want to be doing rather than getting done.

In the end, all the different ways of talking around the subject swirl into the singular drain of ego. Namely, YOU. Violence is all about YOU, all the time. It’s about what YOU want, what YOU’RE doing to him and getting all of that done to the exclusion of all else.

The other guy has no say in the matter–if he’s busy doing something, that’s his problem, not yours. You are here to commit base acts of savagery on him, and he’s just here to provide motive and venue. (Injuries don’t happen in a vacuum, people…)

For him, his only hope is to escape or kill you. If he gets away, it’s merely annoying. If he kills you, well, by definition there was nothing you could do–so don’t sweat it.

This leaves you free to concentrate on YOU doing things to him. If he tries to block or counter he’s just delaying the inevitable. If he gets in the way or screws with your technique then do as my brother says and “take it out on him when you get him on the ground.”

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A man approaches you on the street with a proposition:

“See that guy over there?” He indicates a big, strapping fellow, his 6’4″ frame enrobed in 300 lbs. of muscle. “He’s coming over here to wrestle you to the ground and choke you out for a million dollars. If you can pin him instead, I’ll give you the million.”

“B-but,” you stammer, “I don’t want to wrestle him!”

The man sniffs. “Doesn’t matter — he wants the million. Here he comes — best of luck!”

How does it feel to suddenly have this contest thrust upon you? To have to worry about your performance, and how it will stack up to his experience level?

For all you know, he could be very good at wrestling — and even if you, yourself, are no slouch in the ring, he’s clearly way outside your weight class. And much, much stronger. As he begins to sprint toward you, you notice he’s a lot faster, too.

How’s it feel now?

Let’s try a different tack:

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