Why You Can't "Learn To Take A Punch"

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A fool always finds one still more foolish to admire him.
- Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
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Been getting a lot of emails about a couple of documentaries that
played again recently on cable TV.

Basically, the point of one show was to highlight martial arts
teachers who taught their students various ways to 'condition'
themselves to 'take a hit'. The finale of the show was when four
guys simultaneously punched the master in the neck and he walked
away.

The other show focused on martial artists doing things like:
bending spears with the hollow of their neck, sitting on the
floor in a cross-legged position while ten students attempted
with 'all their might' to push the master over, and a variety of
others who could pass needles through their skin without
bleeding, cut themselves, then 'miraculously' stop the bleeding,
put sharp objects in their eyes, etc...

The emails I got from you guys asked: 1) What do you think of the
benefit of this type of training? , and 2) How does TFT
'condition' the body to take a hit?

Well, to answer the first question... I think conditioning the
body to 'take a hit' is a complete waste of time.

"Why?" you ask.

Simply because... violence is so unpredictable.
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I can almost guarantee that the area of your body you chose to
'condition' will NOT be the area attacked in a real situation.

More importantly there are over 70 anatomical areas of the human
body that provide some 200 SPECIFIC targets that cannot be
'conditioned'. As you can see... it's very easy to injure the
human body just by knowing a small numbers of these 200 options.

As to the second question, "How does TFT 'condition' the body to
take a hit?"

That one is easy... WE DON'T!

You can't condition the body for real violence... and neither can
those people listed above. Don't be impressed with parlor tricks.

To the guy putting a sharp object in his eye... offer to do it
for him (just be prepared to stab him in the eye).

For the guy bending the spear with his neck... step behind him
and shin kick him to the groin, then watch how easily the spear
pierces his throat!

The guy having four others punch him to the neck (I'm not even
going to address the fact that all the punches simply cancel
each other out)... just have ONE guy punch him to the kidney,
then strike his windpipe with a forearm. Then the other three can
call the paramedics.

For the guy sitting cross-legged and having everyone attempt to
push him over... take your fingers and dig them straight up under
his chin and watch him topple over.

Finally, the sword swallower... I guarantee if you take your
fingers and jam them down his throat, he will gagged and puke
just like everyone else.

The point is this: the human body can be trained to handle
trauma to a specific area under CONTROLLED conditions. This has
nothing to do with creating injuries. Take away the controls...
and chaos reigns.

That's why attempting to control the uncontrollable is a very
poor use of your time.

The good thing about proper targeting is that you get injuries
REGARDLESS of the other guy's size, strength or speed.

Remember... the best way to survive a violent encounter is to be
the one doing the violence.

So spend your time making sure you get the most out of the tool
of violence. Let the other guy waste his time bending spears.

Well, that's it for this newsletter.

Until next time,

Tim Larkin
Master Close-Combat Instructor,
Creator of Target-Focus(TM) Training

PS: Targeting and causing injury utilizing available tools are
the focus at each of our live training sessions.

These continue to garner impassioned reviews, like this one from
David Mullins of Bakersfield, CA, who attended a recent training
in Las Vegas: "My expectation prior to coming here was to learn
a little more than what the videotapes had conferred. I thought
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didn't know squat. The class has truly been a life changing
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exceeded my expectations, far beyond anything I imagined. It
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WILL cause injury. I can't tell you what a FREEING feeling that
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This is light years beyond anything out there."

Or Chris Stoddard of LaGrange, WY who said, "Unquestionably the
most simple and straight forward information you can get to save
your life. If you can see through the Hollywood violence of the
movies and really wrap your mind around the idea and brutality of
ending your killer's life or at least forever changing the
physical characteristics of it, then sign up now. What you learn
will change forever how you approach nearly every situation. It
IS life changing!"

We don't hold many of these events so you'll want to take
advantage when they are offered. You can register for the next one
by going here:
http://www.targetfocustraining.com/livetraining