“Side of the neck!”

That’s what flashed through Jarrod’s brain as the 9mm Glock 17 pressed hard against his ear.

It was a windy, cold night in Fall River, MA and the deserted industrial park was the perfect place for a predator to attack.

Opening his car door Jarrod realized in an instant what an idiot he was going back there on a Friday after working hours.

All he needed was to pick up the sweater he’d left at the office. His wife wanted it for the family pictures that weekend. He reasoned it’d only take a couple of minutes to run in and out, plenty of time to make it home for the Celtics game.

Sure, he clearly remembered the office memos about attacks in the parking lot and the cars broken into. But at 6’1” and 230, he didn’t think such threats applied to him.

Besides, he’d be in and out in just seconds…

…But that’s when it happened!

“Side of the neck!”

It was the first thing his peripheral vision picked up. And the thug was more than close enough for him to step in, rotate and strike the side of the neck with his ulna bone (pinky side of the forearm) just as he’d learned.

Stepping in while rotating his torso into the strike instantly dropped his attacker like a sack of potatoes. On the way down, his head careened off the car before smashing into the parking lot’s concrete surface. He was out cold.

As trained, Jarrod was ready to follow up but with his attacker non-functional and the Glock now 8 feet away, it simply wasn’t necessary.

So the next call was to 911; then his wife. The Celtic game would have to wait.

*****

This is just one of the many stories clients have shared with me about how they used TFT training to save their life.

Jarrod told me it was the simple basics we teach of being able to, 1) instantly see a target and, 2) know how to injure that target, that saved his life in this situation.

Because of his mat time he knew how close he needed to be to plow his bodyweight through the side of the neck. He also knew that penetration and rotation through the target made sure the muzzle of the 9mm never crossed his body.

Having studied the physics and physiology of injury to that target he was confident he would interrupt blood flow (jugular, carotid) and disrupt the 2 nerves in the side of the neck causing the man to faint and go unconscious.

The happy surprise was the additional head trauma the thug suffered via the car and the concrete, bonuses Jarrod hadn’t planned on but gladly accepted.

It’s just one example of how grounding in sound principles in your self defense training provides you with the best options.

Training in various techniques not backed by such principles is what ends up getting people maimed, crippled, or killed as I shared in my last post.

So let’s quickly review:

  1. Jarrod identified a target (principle),
  2. He then knew which body weapons to use (method),
  3. He understood that to survive he had to take out the man rather than disarm him (principle).

Again, he credits this simple process with saving his life.

But there’s more to this story…

…Because Jarrod now realizes this never should have happened!

Had he listened to his gut he’d have avoided ever putting himself into this unnecessarily risky situation.

And that’s my question to you:

Even with your training, how many unnecessary risks do you take with your life on a regular basis?

Take time to think about it. And as you identify them ask yourself, even if highly trained, would you have wanted to be in Jarrod’s shoes… unnecessarily?

Until next time,

Tim Larkin

PS. Our live training classes are where you learn these principles quickly and easily… in just 2 days. But they fill very fast (next month’s class in Las Vegas is the latest to sell out, even after we doubled the floor space).

That’s why you’ll want to go here and join one of the remaining 2010 sessions today.

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