We just conducted a 2-day seminar in Austin, Texas, with the great people at Fit and Fearless (www.fitandfearless.com). The first day focused on basic self defense and non-compliant attackers. We created drills where the defender starts from a neutral position and defends against some sort of attack such as a choke, bearhug, etc. Once the defender begins to counterattack, the attacker covers and makes a second attack. This begins as an organized drill, but then becomes much more free-form as elements are added.

On the second day, we did advanced training: knife v. knife and third party protection.

There was another instructor doing seminars as well—Rory Miller, author of “Meditations on Violence.” I recommend his book to anyone interested in reading more about real-world approaches to violent conflicts.

The attendees were fantastic and trained very hard! Thanks to Jeff Levine and everyone at Fit and Fearless for being such fantastic hosts!