Target Focus Training –
Does it Hit the Mark?

By Mark Cheng, Contributing Editor,
Blackbelt Magazine, L.Ac…

Article appeared in the July, 2005 issue of BlackBelt Magazine

Martial arts magazines are full of ads that tout some product that will increase your skill, transform you from wimp to wonder, or teach you the secret techniques that will crush any opponent. I’ve spent a little over 20 years studying martial arts, taught for more than the last 10, and researched arts from Europe, Asia, and Africa so I highly doubted that anything from a non-traditional system would be anything other than a poor re-hash of something I’ve already seen or learned. Some people like me are a little jaded, and we blow off those ads by just flipping the pages to the next full-sized article with the big, flashy pictures. One day, out of sheer boredom and mild curiosity, you might just read through one of those advertisements to see exactly what they’re hawking like I did.

The Origins of TFT

Target Focus Training (TFT), the brainchild of Tim Larkin, is a system that touts itself in those ads as easy to learn, results oriented, and utterly effective. For those readers who read Herb Borkland’s article "Forty Hours of SCARS" in the May 1999 issue of Black Belt Magazine, the name Tim Larkin may be familiar. The tall, well-built, former Jerry Peterson prot‚g‚ used to be the top trainer in the much sought-after SCARS combat system, which was utilized by many military, law enforcement, and private security groups around the world.

Prior to his involvement in SCARS, Larkin himself was poised to graduate Navy SEAL training with honors before a diving accident sidelined him with a ruptured eardrum. With black belts in two martial arts and a background in boxing a la his grandfather, Larkin was fortunate enough to remain part of Naval Intelligence as part of their research and development team on hand-to-hand combat. On Uncle Sam’s dollar, he had the luxury of spending countless hours researching different martial arts and combative training systems to see how the SEALs might better do their job in the field. When a DEA friend introduced Larkin to Jerry Peterson’s SCARS school in San Diego, Larkin knew he was in the right place.

Peterson’s no-nonsense approach to fighting was the polar opposite of what other martial arts schools were teaching. Gone were the rituals of bowing, gone were the rules, and gone were the pleasantries of civilized fight-sport. While many criticized Peterson for being arrogant or rude, Larkin is quick to defend his former mentor. "Jerry wasn’t rude, but he certainly was blunt," he says. "Jerry had the personal life-or-death combat experience to know exactly what works when there are no rules, no ref, and no restraint. So he called it exactly like he saw it firsthand. That’s part of what made him so great."

Larkin has since ventured out on his own, creating his own system called "Target Focus Training(tm)" or TFT. While some martial arts or combative styles deal with the particular training experiences and philosophy of one founding father, TFT is a true system of learning that is solidly backed by cold, hard data on effective human violence. During the creation of TFT, Larkin issued a two-fold call-to-arms. The first issue was to examine the maximum available data on human violence to see what common threads laced through each case. The second issue was to develop a means to convey the understanding of effective violence to the public.

The TFT Group set to work analyzing data on violence from sources that were most carefully documented: law enforcement, military, and prison reports. The best sources of information were the reports on prison violence. In prison, violence, usually resulting in the taking of a life, is considered "business" and involves little or no fanfare, so as to attract the minimum amount of attention from guards or other inmates. Careful attention was paid to what factors lead to the success (i.e., survival) or failure of the participants. This distillation process led to an understanding of violence on a molecular level, giving TFT a strong grasp on the principles of success that worked in every violent encounter.

Larkin and crew then worked get their findings to meet the needs of an even wider audience than before. One could say that the motto during this transformative process was "less requirements, more results", yet even that would miss the mark. The burning question on everyone’s mind was "How do we get socially constrained, normal people to be able to execute the movements that make up a violent act in order to save their own lives?" Yet, in just two and a half days, Larkin and his team somehow got a room full of people to do exactly what the moniker says with shocking effectiveness. Part of the secret, however, lies in their ability to effectively communicate the concepts of his system to people who have never done anything remotely combative before in their lives.

A True Cross Section of America

Participants in the TFT live-training camp came from a true cross section of the American populace. In a quick glance, you could find everyone from a nuclear physics professor to a housewife. There were a few gentlemen in their 50’s and 60’s. Among the participants I spoke to were a 54-year-old special education teacher from Billings, Montana, a 26-year-old currency trader from Glendale, California, and a 16-year-old schoolgirl who was dragged there by her father.

While a few individuals had some martial arts training, the vast majority clearly did not. Body shapes ranged from lean and mean to quite the opposite. There were even a few people who looked like they were having difficulty simply getting around, having been plagued by either chronic pain or injuries. One of the instructors even showed up with his hand in a cast. Nobody at that Las Vegas training that I spoke to was either law enforcement or military personnel, but interestingly enough, there were several people who said that they found out about TFT from close friends or family members in those fields who highly recommended and endorsed the course and its methods.

Larkin’s team for this weekend’s camp included four other TFT instructors: Chris, Torin, Safy, and Tung. None of these men were built on anything like Larkin’s formidable frame, nor were they particularly fearsome looking. While their eyes were totally focused and utterly serious while teaching, the instructors all carried themselves with warm and approachable demeanors. These men were surprisingly eloquent, not at all the crew of Neanderthals that might be expected. Yet, they would each chime in on a topic of discussion to deliver each message with different insights to the audience, increasing the"knowledge absorption rate".

Nobody wore any flashy uniforms or embroidered belts. Nobody had a holier-than-thou attitude. Nobody referred to themselves in the third person as "master" or any other title beside their given name. In the relatively barren inside of a converted Las Vegas warehouse space, save for the well-matted floor and a life-sized anatomical target chart, Larkin and his crew set about to blow the minds of the participants and completely challenge their preconceived notions about martial arts, self-defense, and what it means to save your own life.

Violence as a Tool

Before a single move was taught, Larkin made certain to set the tone for the rest of the training camp. The first and perhaps most important lecture we received dealt with the taboo topic of violence. Noticeably absent in this lecture were the philosophical fluff on the need to harmonize with your opponent’s energy and the danger of the mystical "death touch". The only constant throughout this presentation was the cold, hard reality of violence – what it looks like when it rears its head, and what could happen to you if you choose to do anything short of using violence to your own advantage.

"Violence is just a tool," explained Chris. "And like any tool, what makes it bad or good is the intent of the person using it. The tool itself isn’t what you should be afraid of, but rather the brain of the person who’s after you." Larkin also hammered home the importance of understanding this concept, adding, "Nobody has a patent on violence, and nobody’s immune to it. If someone decides that they want to pick up a rock, sneak up behind you, and bash you in the back of the head with it, there’s nothing you can do about it. But if he’s intent on crushing your skull and you see him coming, you have to make a choice. What you have to understand is that when violence is the answer, it’s the only answer. TFT is just a guide for you to understand how to use violence when you have to." Torin continued by explaining, "We don’t teach you how to do TFT to someone. We’re going to train you to use violence effectively. There’s nothing romantic or cool about it. But this is what you have to know how to do if you face a life-or-death situation."

Medical School Revisited

That thought-provoking line still ringing in our heads, we were then taken through a seemingly endless array of attacks to a person’s saphenous nerve. The saphenous nerve, running roughly along the inseam of one’s pant leg, is what screams bloody murder to you after someone buries their shin in your inner thigh. With the help of Chris and Safy, Torin demonstrated some dozen or so ways to punish the saphenous nerve, regardless of position. We then worked through each of the variants, striking our training partners and being struck with shins, elbows, knees, heels, and almost every other imaginable implement from almost every imaginable angle short of a handstand. Torin had us striking while standing, kneeling, lying on our backs, and lying face down, yet successfully striking the saphenous nerve with just enough force to buckle or drop our partner. Regardless of our position relative to our target – in this case, the saphenous nerve – we were still able to hit it with enough power to potentially create an injury.

As the morning progressed, we were continually introduced to more targets and more methods of striking them. The "target-focus training" concept was becoming clearer with each progressive round. With the introduction of each target also came the careful explanation of the results that were expected from a properly executed strike to said target. The level of explanation by each member of the staff was on the level of a medical professional, and being one myself, I was quite impressed. No oversimplified "hit him there and it hurts" explanations at all. Each strike was followed by an analysis of exactly what anatomical structure is being hit, how it feels, what the reaction will be, and what other possible outcomes might result from that reaction – e.g., a diagonal stomp to the inside of the ankle (medial malleolus) causes the person to stumble or fall, which may cause him to hit his head on the pavement, which may in turn cause a concussion, which may result in a knockout or death.

Since my specialty is orthopedics, I was listening very carefully for anything that
sounded remotely off the mark. However, the descriptions that the instructional team gave were on the par of some emergency room trauma specialists. There were more than a couple times that I felt like I was getting a refresher course in anatomy and physiology from guys who were admittedly not medical professionals. "The human body just functions in one way when you’re alive," explained Torin. "While some people use an understanding of anatomy and physiology for preserving that functionality, we’re more interested in how to apply that knowledge to alter or impair human functionality for the sake of survival. If someone is fully intent on harming you, and you can’t leave them in a non-functional state, all your training will be for naught."

TFT Training Methods

Strikes were executed with a transfer of weight through the target, but without full speed. That was the one saving grace between training and injury. Throughout the duration of the camp, Larkin kept urging us to take it slower. "People who are going too fast aren’t concentrating on targeting," he bellowed. And sure enough, as I took a moment to look around the room, those individuals who were coming in with some preconceived notion of machismo or martial capability were exactly those who were going too fast, myself included as Tung pointed out, later proceeding to smoke me in slow motion. Larkin later explained that moving too quickly while working on targeting is a sign of anxiety, stress, or fear. "You have to be able to pick your target and strike it without becoming emotionally involved in the process. If you start training with a panicked state of mind, you’ll react that way in a real situation and likely freeze-up," he explained.

"This is as close to reality as it gets, people!" Larkin shouted as he brought us out of a water break. As people took their seats along the wall, he continued with a story about a fastidious rangemaster who required that policemen shooting on his range empty their spent cartridges into their pockets instead of his floor. Later, when some of those policemen were killed in a shootout, they were found with the empty shells in their pockets. "The lesson here was that people will do as they train, and if you pratice kicking a pad and then separating so that the referee calls a point, there’s a strong likelihood that you’ll do the same in a real situation," said Larkin. "Those policemen were trained to pocket their empties, so in a real-life situation, they wasted crucial seconds under fire to do that. What we want you to do is to train like you’re going to fight for your life. The only difference is the speed with which you’re doing your movements."

The continuous slow speed training reminded me of my own Tai-Chi practice, forcing me to maintain balance and posture, while pointing out each time my balance was compromised. Like an NFL slow-mo playback, I felt like each and every false step was clearly on display, making it easier to understand and correct. During the next de-briefing session, the issue of speed was brought up by a participant who wondered how such slow-motion training would help him if he were attacked.

Chris answered by explaining that TFT participants who have actually been in situations are usually surprised at how quickly they finish violent encounters. "Have you ever experienced a punch coming at you in seemingly slow-motion, but you can’t seem to get out of the way fast enough?" Chris asked. "Well let’s put a new spin on it. If you’re targeting correctly and you’re doing the hitting, the adrenaline rush makes everything seem like it’s moving in slow motion while you’re thinking that you’re not hitting fast enough for a real life situation. In reality, your strikes are injuring one target after another before your attacker has time to react." Indeed, as the pain or injury from one target strike causes a reaction, the fighter has already perceived and moved on to the next target and
the next, not waiting idly for the attacker to change position and give a green light. Everything in effective violence revolves around constantly moving through your target with your entire body – footwork, weight transfer, and strike. As Torin animatedly exclaimed, "When it comes to striking, it’s all of me, all of the time."

So What’s the Difference?

The rift between martial arts and combat sports and real-life fighting often lies in the training methods and the rules of competition. "Martial arts generally revolve around some set of rules or etiquette. Violence inherently has no rules," says Larkin. "If you want to know how to beat a certain guy, look at how he trains or how he competes. Find out exactly what isn’t allowed, and then go and do just that. We’re not interested in points or a submission. This is about causing injury. Pain is subjective. Injury, on the other hand, is an objective state where your attacker is in some fashion rendered non-functional." Such is the street wisdom of TFT.

There are other differences as well. Technically, the dynamic nature of TFT is another glaring point of disparity. There is no heavy bag training or striking dummies, as such training causes the fighter to become used to handling a static target. Human reaction partners help to emphasize the body awareness needed for constantly moving into and through the targets. It is this penetration of force that ties into another of TFT’s more interesting concepts – no blocking.

Blocking per se is not a means of causing injury and is therefore wasted motion. "Wasted motion and time means that you’re giving your attacker more opportunities to introduce you to the afterlife," said Torin. "Understanding that all targets are equal allows you to strike the first available target that catches your attention. When you injure that target, the central nervous system automatically responds with a natural protective reflex. That gives you time to continue penetrating into the other guy’s space until he’s completely neutralized. Penetrate, rotate, injure, and repeat until satisfied," he continued.

The Goal of TFT

Tim Larkin, the creator of Target Focus Training, simply stated that the goal of the system is "giving you the tools necessary to survive a violent encounter so that you can live a more peaceful life." While some may decry the brutal nature of some of the techniques that are covered in TFT live training sessions as creating trained killers, the reality is quite the opposite. Because of the careful explanations of exactly what the physiological results would be with each strike, whether a kick to the saphenous nerve or a kneeling shin across the trachea, each and every participant left with a greater appreciation for the fragility of the human body and a greater sense of social responsibility.

On the last day of the live training camp, Larkin and crew explained the difference between social aggression and asocial violence. Social aggression occurs when one person tries to assert dominance over another without the goal of killing or maiming them: for example, someone pulling up next to you, cursing, and flipping you off because he thought you cut him off. Asocial violence is a markedly different issue: for example, someone driving his car right into yours, striking your car full-on, and sending you off the road and down a cliff. These discussions helped demarcate the differences between fighting, aggression, and violence – words that are used almost interchangeably in our society, yet with markedly different meanings to one who has a clear understanding of them.

"You never know just by looking who’s a sociopath and who isn’t," said Larkin. "If anything, my years of studying human violence and creating TFT have made me more aware of proper conduct, good manners, and humility. Simply because I don’t want to run the risk of either losing my own life or potentially killing someone else, I’m the first to say ‘Please excuse me’ or ‘I’m sorry’ even if I’m not the one at fault." Torin capped the discussion by saying, "If you have a choice to use violence, it’s probably just an instance of social aggression."

Throughout the weekend, the instructors spent an incredible amount of time conditioning each participant’s thought process. By Sunday afternoon, we saw that the target focus principle was applicable in any situation, even with a weapon or against an armed attacker or in multiple attacker situations. Constantly reviewing and updating their own teaching and training methods, Larkin and his instructional team made certain that everyone who came was capable of surviving a real situation if they walked out the door. Indeed, more than one of the participants gave the course the highest possible endorsement. As seasoned practitioners with more than a year of training with Larkin, they eagerly came back to attend the same live-training sessions that total beginners were coming to.

For me, a veteran of the martial arts and medical professional, I saw and heard
explanations that would be the envy of any trauma specialist along with principles that some traditional martial arts only cover in the black belt levels, yet taught effectively to beginners over the course of a weekend. Without cloaking techniques in mysticism, without diluting the realities of combat in unrealistic sport formats, and without sacrificing safety for realism, Target Focus Training delivered an uncompromising course on the intelligent and responsible use of violence. I’d have to say that Larkin’s TFT is right on target for anyone serious about survival.

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About the author: Mark Cheng is a Chinese medicine professor and a Chinese martial arts instructor with over 20 years experience in Shaolin kung-fu, Yang style Tai-Chi, and Combat Shuai-Chiao. He is a contributing editor to Black Belt Magazine, authoring the Legends of Kung-Fu monthly column.

About the subject: For more information on Tim Larkin or Target Focus Training(tm), please visit http://www.targetfocustraining.com