“It’s a must.”

“Cuts through a lot of things you would have to go through in a traditional school (martial arts). This is the most time efficient and realistic approach I’ve ever seen. It’s a must.”

Bruce Kelly
Chicago, IL

“A real-eye opener”

“I have found the Lethal Leverage DVD series to be a real-eye opener. Not being a highly trained martial artist I have had only limited exposure to this area and that exposure principally through books. I have found this medium to be, for me at least, totally inadequate as I found visualizing the written instructions virtually impossible.

“I found that your package really highlighted the brutal effectiveness of these moves and greatly simplified the techniques. Whilst still often “chilling” me, the program has give me a far greater awareness of range of movement to better control these moves in the eventuality of having to use them and made me more confident with using this level of violence in a high threat situation.

In addition the “wake up call” as to the ineffectiveness or downright danger of many common submission holds in a truly violent situation was most poignant. Keep up the great work and I look forward to the Striking package.

Ian Westcott
Melbourne, Australia

“So simple… why didn’t I think of this?”

“Being dan ranked in several styles of martial arts and having been in many altercations while living overseas, I was skeptical about your system. I have to admit that I decided to purchase the series after seeing Matt Furey endorse it.
“What do I have to say about the series…? Well, my first thought was “why didn’t I think of that?” As a Critical Care Registered Nurse I appreciate the in-depth explanation of anatomy and kinesiology. None of the moves are new to me, yet the succession and rationale of the moves made me feel like a novice for not knowing them! The explanation of the reaction to a technique is what I find most helpful.

“I will never regret the time and money spent studying different systems. However, if I was asked by someone what to study to learn to fight or protect themselves it is your system. “I look forward to studying with you in person.”

Brian Erdrich
Eagle River, Alaska

“Other programs left me with questions. You left none!”

“I run a martial arts school in Washington state. My business partner and I have always questioned some of what we were taught regarding practicality. When we came across your program it was like someone flipped the switch. We followed the programs to the letter looking for the questions. You left none!  Then you put out your Lethal Leverage ( joint breaking) program. Well to our surprise there were some questions that we never thought to ask that you answered any way. We attempted to pick the program apart (you know, find the flaw so guys would seem human) and no such luck. Bottom line is if folks are not learning what you teach they’re working on some great exercise programs that have no real life application. Keep it coming and we will see you in a masters program seminar.”

Larry Matlin
American Eagle Martial Arts, Lynnwood, WA

“Easily worth 5 times what I paid!”

“I think of all the years of practice that could have gone to other things — and I’d still have been a better fighter. It was easily worth 5 times what I paid.”

George Davis
International Financial Consultant
Laguna Beach, CA

Tim Larkin’s Target Focus Training Combat Training Principles

“Secrets For Staying Alive When ‘Rules’ Don’t Apply”

When Surviving Isn’t Enough: The Critical Reason Why You Can’t Just Survive An Attack — You Must Win.

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“What can be successfully willed must first be seen and understood.”
-Brigadier General S.L.A. Marshall
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70/30.

That’s the split.

Seventy percent of people I train come to me after the fact. They’re survivors.

But I’m here to tell you — today, surviving isn’t enough.

It’s not even close.

Jim is a survivor.

It was a crisp autumn night he stood frozen with fear as the meth-induced rage of a mugger worked into an unprovoked homicidal attack.

He was stabbed 3 times.

He’s still with us because his girlfriend attempted to stop the thug. She was stabbed twice in the neck and bled-out before the paramedics could arrive.

At 32, Jim had years of martial arts training but he lacked the one thing necessary to win.

John is a police officer with 12 years on the force and numerous defensive tactics courses under his belt. He’s a survivor.

On a bright August day he pulled over a ’79 Chevy Camaro for a dangerous lane change while speeding.

As he approached, the 6’5″, 262lbs very drunk driver got out to contest John’s decision to stop him.

Before he finished the verbal warning he’d used a 1,000 times before, the driver bum-rushed John, lifted him off the deck and slammed him to the pavement.

Following the techniques he’s been drilled in, John fumbled for his pepper spray while the driver only laughed as he repeatedly pounded John’s head against the pavement.

John lost consciousness as kicks to the head and torso rained down from the alcohol-fueled rage.
He’s still on the force today but in an admin job. Nerve damage to his right side is pretty severe.

His facial reconstructive surgery went well and surgeons think he’ll regain 90% control of his facial muscles, eventually.

John’s defensive tactics training was extensive. The board that reviewed the video of the incident stated John responded exactly as he was trained.

The only problem was his training lacked the one thing necessary to win.

Jamie is a survivor, too.

She did everything the serial rapist asked.

But the self defense course she took never gave her a technique for the way this 234lbs brut held her on the floor of her apartment.

When she said she’d do whatever he wanted he responded by punching her face and breaking her jaw. From there it got worse.

After 3 reconstructive surgeries, she eventually recovered from the beating but not from being raped.

Her self defense training had great techniques and real life scenarios. Hell, it even had an instructor in a padded suit attacking them, one she could hit as hard as she wanted.

But it lacked the one thing necessary to win.

Now, rather than giving you the answer, I’d like to hear what you think was lacking in the training of these three survivors.

Send your thoughts to me at: http://www.askdatabase.com/campaigns/?af=35874

I’ll review them and discuss this further in my next newsletter.

Until then, ask yourself if you are training to survive or training to win.

And more importantly… do you truly know the difference?

Until next time,

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

PS. New self defense training class: Las Vegas March 7-9, 2008 .This is where you learn to win… not just survive. And you do it in just 3 days. And it stays with you forever… even if you never practice again.

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.

“When Violence Is The Only Answer”
(c) Copyright 2007, The TFT Group

The Essential Differences Between Social Aggression and Asocial Violence

Social Confrontation is:

• Avoidable
• Survivable
• Can be solved using social skills.

Asocial Violence is:

• Lethal
• Unaffected by social skills
• and requires decisive action.

The violence that comes from social posturing is avoidable; it is often loud, dramatic and instantly recognizable. You get to see it coming. And that means you can dodge it if you choose to.

If you don’t choose to (or cannot) leave, these sorts of problems can be handled with the social tools we’re all familiar with. We’ve all talked our way out of a bad situation-you wouldn’t have made it this far in life if you weren’t good at negotiating.

We all know how to calm someone down. We all know how to capitulate. We also all know how to act like a jerk and add fuel to the fire and turn an argument into a shouting match, a shouting match into a fist fight. The important point here is that in social situations, you have a choice.

Social aggression is also eminently survivable. The typical goal in a bar fight is not to kill anyone-it’s simply to best the other person and dominate them physically. Does this mean you can’t be killed in a bar fight? Of course not. What we’re saying is that the death rate in the typical Saturday night punch-up is far lower than one would expect, with the bulk of fatalities being accidental, and the rest because one person really did want to kill the other. You can get killed in a bar fight, or an argument over a parking space, or any other trivial social status confrontation. It’s just highly unlikely.

Asocial violence, on the other hand, cannot be handled with social tools and is far less survivable. Negotiating with a serial killer is like arguing with a bullet-if it’s coming your way words are not going to deflect it. If someone has decided to stab you to death, capitulation only makes their work easier.

Confusing the Two

The big problem arises when we confuse the two-when we don’t know there’s a difference between competition and destruction, between social and asocial violence. No one’s going to get confused in the ring; we are all very good at recognizing social competition, a contest of strength, skill and desire. We cheer for our favorite and the best man wins. It works out great as long as we’re all playing by the same rules.

The big problem is competing with someone who wants to kill you. As social beings we try to drag our rules into a realm that is completely devoid of them-the asocial violent act. This is where things go terribly wrong. While we try to impose our rules to keep everything fair and above board, the killer is only recognizing the laws of physics and how they relate to physiology.

In other words, he’s going to stab you when you’re not looking, he’s going to kick you in the throat when you’re down. If things don’t look so hot for him he’ll capitulate to get you to let go so he can pull a gun and shoot you. He’ll use your social baggage against you.

Violence has nothing to do with competition or communication. It’s purely about destruction. The scariest person in the room is not the shouting, screaming, gesticulating weightlifter making snarling faces-it’s the 5’4″ gangbanger quietly sliding a blade out of his pocket. He’s not going to draw attention to himself; if he wants to kill you, he’s not going to talk about it. He’s just going to get it done.

The good news is that true sociopathy is rare. The bad news is that you can’t really tell the difference. Nor can you read people’s minds to find out their intentions. Faced with these realities, you need a tool that is going to work 100% of the time on 100% of the population-one that is going to work equally well on everyone you use it on. Social persuasion techniques like pain compliance and submission holds require the other person to play by the rules and capitulate.

It’s not going to work on everyone, and the people you want it to work on most-criminal sociopaths-are just plain not going to cooperate. This begs the question: why is it that the people who are most successful at using violence have almost no training? What makes the criminal sociopath so effective?

Social Permissions: Monkey See, Monkey Do

As social, sane people, we tend to think of violence in social terms-either by framing everything as the schoolyard David and Goliath or by believing that if we take our social rules with us into the void place we can somehow hang onto our humanity and therefore not stoop to ‘their’ level.

We tend to think of violence as a force continuum where if he yells at you, you can yell at him. If he pushes you, then you can push him. If he throws a punch then you can hit back. We also believe that the worst kind of violence, that which results in death, happens somewhere out at the end of this progression, if it gets pushed far enough.

The problem is that it is not necessary to get “worked up” or walk through all these various steps to get to serious crippling injury or death; punching someone in the throat or stabbing them in the neck is readily available at all times, in all places.

This is what the criminal sociopath knows.

Can someone ramp up through all the steps and whip themselves into a frothy frenzy that ends in killing? Yes. But what the criminal sociopath knows is that he can get there instantaneously. He can go from smiling and shrugging to stabbing in the amount of time it takes him to reach into his pocket.

And the really scary part is so can you.

Violence is always available; you just have to choose to do it. You don’t need to walk through the social dance one step at a time to get there. You don’t need to get ready, or drop into a fighting stance, or give a verbal warning. You can swing the tool of violence whenever you wish, at a moment’s notice. And this is exactly what you must to do in the face of asocial violence in order to survive.

Wednesday… Part 3, the final installment of this Social vs Asocial Violence post.

All for now,
Tim

http://targetfocustraining.com/