Get Tim Larkin's series of self defense reports, "Secrets For Staying Alive When Rules Don't Apply," and enter for your chance to win a free $1497 live training seminar.
Extensive selection of self defense tools utilizing all forms of media that take you from base principles to complete and immediately useable applications of the entire TFT System.
The fastest way to ingrain the TFT System into your subconscious is to follow a specific path of instruction. Now there are two ways to accomplish this.
If we were training to be crisis negotiators, we’d need to talk to each other. A lot. All the time, in fact, to keep that line of communication open so it doesn’t collapse, go dead, and sink into the opposite of communication, destruction. If you can keep the guy talking, you’re postponing the killing.
But that’s not what we’re training for. We’re training for that unthinkable moment when communication and empathy break down and there’s no getting it back. We’re training for what to do when the guy hangs up and starts shooting.
There are only three options in that moment:
Escape,
Be lucky, or
Act to secure your own survival.
Escape is great if you can get it — and a no-brainer, really — but it’s not always an option. If he’s locked the doors (Virginia Tech) or you’re on an airplane (911), there is, literally, no escape.
“Finally!” you say to yourself, easing into your favorite chair.
It’s 9:30PM. And after 3 Dr. Seuss stories and a mini Wrestle mania, the kids are in bed. Man, are you beat!
Your wife is finishing the dishes as you grab the remote and start searching the DVR for something mindless to watch.
She’s not quite done when the doorbell rings. And your annoyed glance from the couch prompts a quick “I’ve got it” from her.
But your eyes barely settle back on the TV as her bloodcurdling scream and the sound of breaking glass from your front door shatter the night. read this entry »
Look for the full version to be published in their newsstand magazine as well.
The final US 2-day class for 2009
Since we’ve already had questions about the next US class, I know at least some missed the note in the PS of my last email.
The next full, 2-day live training in the US this year is also the LAST for the year in the states. It’s in Dallas, October 17-18, so just around the corner.
Registrations have increased dramatically with everything happening over here (and wait until coverage hits from The Sunday Times and its worldwide circulation).
Well the debate in the UK about whether or not citizens of Great Britain should be able to protect themselves with effective self defense training rages on.
The Slough councilman in the piece does his best to label me as an extreme response to what he considers acceptable self defense training (read: ineffective, feel good techniques).
He also makes my point for me that traditional martial arts and self defence training take far too long to become even marginally effective in a kill-or-be-killed criminal assault.
I am never surprised when well meaning people miss the boat when it comes to dealing with asocial predators but this councilman even caused me to pause with his position.
After you watch this please share your thoughts.
And remember: as you go through a live training experience with me I assure you there is nothing gratuitous or extreme about TFT when you consider the threat you are preparing for via the training.
3 new Target Focus Training live classes are confirmed!
San Diego, April 26: A short-notice 1-day session at our headquarters training site. People are always amazed at the skill level they walk away with after only a single day. Read about it here.
After this class you’ll have more useable knowledge that can save you life in a violent street encounter than someone who’s spent 20 years in the martial arts. And your training will leave you more competent than 99.5% of law enforcement or military personnel.
Remember, we were teaching these courses at US Naval Warfare Command back in the late ’80′s before anyone else even knew what ‘reality’ fighting was about. And it’s not about learning a few simple moves that look cool and MAY work “sometimes.” It’s about quickly learning a complete system… in just hours… one that guarantees your subconscious can call up instantly, without conscious thought, to destroy an attacker REGARDLESS of the situation, whether he’s got a weapon, or he’s bigger and badder than you.
You learn how to not just claw someone’s eyes… but easily blind them if that’s your only available alternative. You learn to not just kick him in the shins… but rather to effortlessly break his knee joint if it’s your only means of escape. And you learn to take his life with your bare hands… if it means saving your own.
There’s nothing else that remotely compares… anywhere.
There’s another 1-day session in the works. Possibly Brooklyn. Stay tuned this week.
And a brand new, 2-day advanced class for those that have been through a previous live session.
And finally, an unusual situation will have us teaching for the first time a full, 3-day class in Sydney, Australia and London, England. In the past these classes have always been just 2-day affairs. Watch for an announcement on these in the next week.
If you missed the Google video that demonstrates what a real self defense class looks like, check it out here.
Tim Larkin’s Target Focus Training Combat Training Principles
“Secrets For Staying Alive When ‘Rules’ Don’t Apply”
The Mindset To Survive And The Will To Win
*************************************************************** “A man who waits to believe in action before acting is anything you like, but he’s not a man of action. You must act as you breathe.” – Georges Clemenceau ***************************************************************
So what was lacking in the training of the 3 survivors mentioned in my newsletter titled, When Surviving Isn’t Enough: The Critical Reason Why You Can’t Just Survive An Attack — You Must Win? To refresh your memory we had a seasoned martial artist, a woman who attended numerous self defense workshops, and a 10 year veteran police officer with extensive defensive tactics training.
Each survived their violent encounter but none of them survived and won. My question to you was what was lacking in the training of each of the survivors?
Well according to the literally thousands of responses you readers gave me, here are the top 2:
Mindset
Will
Mindset by far was the most popular response. Often it was coupled with another term like “aggressive-mindset.” Most who responded with this answer felt the survivors’ training failed to develop the proper mindset to survive and win these encounters.
Those that offered “will” as the lacking ingredient usually stated that the training of the 3 survivors failed to provide them the “will” to use violence.
Some of you provided some very well thought out responses and your efforts are much appreciated. This exercise helped me to confirm that most people are being led off track by buzz words and tough talk favored by many chest-thumpers in the self protection industry.
All the talk about ‘mindset’ in this industry makes everyone sound the same. Most people still believe you need to be in a certain ‘state’ to be able to respond to violence. Color charts are drafted and everyone feels good about how to get ready to ‘kick some ass.’
And then there’s ‘will’.
Some people stated that the 3 survivors lacked the will to do injury and this was a failure of their training. But how do you train will? Think about how useful will is when it comes to things like losing weight or working out.
Believe me, many in this industry will tell you that’s exactly what to do. They’ll lecture you on mindset and come up with numerous drills to ‘install the will-to-kill.’
But neither mindset nor will is what lacked in any of the survivors training.
Large amounts of the training in all 3 of the survivors’ cases were devoted to proper mindset and will. Yet, as properly noted by you, it was not there when they needed it.
That is because mindset and will are NOT training objectives.
Proper training develops everything needed to survive and win. The problem is there is very little proper training offered to the general public.
Here’s an example:
We just got word from a TFT instructor traveling through Europe who saw an old training partner. This training partner was short and obese and had not trained in years yet recently he survived, and won, a violent encounter with 2 thugs.
When asked what happened he said he was in the city walking home one night when these 2 thugs, much bigger than he, jumped him.
The instructor asked what happened next.
The training partner said, “I knocked out the first guy and ran after the second but I got too tired and couldn’t keep up, so I just walked home.”
The instructor asked if there was any more to the story and he said “No.” He’d just been attacked by 2 thugs and he pretty much treated it as no big deal, even though this was his first encounter with real violence outside of ‘training.’
The fact that he was trained properly provided this man with the ability to survive and win a nasty criminal encounter against 2 bigger, stronger and faster thugs.
Here’s the thing. He wasn’t concerned about mindset nor did he have to rely on will to take action.
He was never told his obesity was a detriment to his ability to injure someone. He was given the skills necessary to get the job done using his human machine not by trying to look and move like some athletic instructor.
When the time came for him to use the skills, he was able to easily recognize the situation and apply his training. He didn’t need a color chart, to talk tough or to practice sticking his thumb into oranges to have the will to attack the eyes.
When his time came, his training worked seamlessly in the real world — something that didn’t happen for the 3 survivors in the last newsletter.
So be wary if you navigate the world of violence relying on mindset and will.
Neither of these, together or alone, provides you with the proper training. And it’s proper training that seamlessly gives you the necessary elements to survive and win, something many hope to tease out of the ‘mindset’ and ‘will’ debates.
So now the question becomes, “How do we know what proper training looks like?”
I’ve written about this in the past but as we dig deeper into the subject of “not just surviving but winning” I’d like to hear your take on what you think proper training is.
At first, it may be hard to wrap you mind around because it goes against everything you’ve ever been told or trained for or even believed. But it’s what people who win use. And when you understand it, you’ll know how to win too.
Training doesn’t start until the mouth stops. 
